Chapter 66
Little did Qiao Wan expect to run into him just as she stepped onto the stairs.
The young man visibly paused for a moment.
Of course, Qiao Wan didn't think that Pei Chunzheng had come specifically to find her.
Keeping a stranger's attitude in mind, Qiao Wan replied with a mask on her face and a lantern in her hand, "The young master left Yunxiu Yard in the evening and has not returned yet."
Pei Chunzheng's gaze remained steady on her, his voice calm.
"I understand, thank you."
Qiao Wan nodded.
After a while, she suddenly noticed that the young man in front of her had no intention of leaving at all.
Pei Chunzheng kept his eyes lowered, his gaze fixed on her hand.
Qiao Wan subtly tightened her fingers, then relaxed them again.
The Face Changing Pill only altered her facial features, but her limbs and body remained unchanged.
Because Qiao Wan...
had no money.
It was a truly sad story.
The spirit stones she had on her could only afford her to change her face; changing her body shape was beyond her means.
After so many years together, Pei Chunzheng remembered her figure.
A gust of night wind blew, rustling the Bodhi leaves in the courtyard.
The lantern in Qiao Wan's hand swayed, casting an uneasy, dim yellow light.
Pei Chunzheng remained silent, neither moving forward nor backward.
After all, he was the original male protagonist, a melancholic young man known as the Great Demon King. Pei Chunzheng's eyes, black as ink, resembled a deep abyss capable of devouring one's heart.
His gaze carefully scanned her features and limbs as if quietly discerning something.
Overlapping her with the Qiao Wan from his memories, they merged into one.
The air almost became stagnant.
Tensions rose, and the atmosphere became eerie.
Finally, Qiao Wan spoke first.
"Are you a taoist friend?"
The boy's slender eyelashes lifted slightly, as if abruptly pulled away from a memory.
His gaze, too, mercilessly withdrew from Qiao Wan's face.
And once again, his expression changed.
It was the gaze of someone looking at an insignificant stranger.
"Since taoist friend Cen is not here, I will come back another day."
The boy's robes drew a clean and sharp arc in the air as he turned and left.
Qiao Wan silently stood on the stairs, holding the lantern for a while.
During the time Pei Chunzheng watched her, she was silently observing him as well.
But Qiao Wan's focus was slightly different from Pei Chunzheng's.
The wound from the time she stabbed him at the Mudstone Secret Realm seemed to have healed, and his cultivation seemed to have improved.
Compared to Pei Chunzheng, it seemed she hadn't made much progress since she came down the mountain, still stuck at the second level of Qi cultivation.
Qiao Wan put down the lantern and squatted down, rubbing her face.
Although Jia Yin had guided her along the way from Kunshan, pure combat skills couldn't unleash their full power without combining them with spiritual power.
And then there was the Nourishing Bead.
If she could find the Nourishing Bead, then she could naturally ask Mrs. Cen for help with her pulse.
But where exactly was the Nourishing Bead? That was the question.
Just at that moment, the lantern on the ground was blown down the steps by the night wind.
Qiao Wan quickly reached out to catch it.
With this catch, she suddenly noticed something was not right.
In the wind...
Qiao Wan's hand, which had just reached out, suddenly stopped in mid-air, and her face changed.
There was something in the wind.
A hint of blood mingled with the night wind, but it was hard to distinguish without careful observation.
With a serious expression, Qiao Wan stood up and, following the scent of the night wind, walked down the steps and out of Yunxiu Yard.
The Cen Residence was too big.
Stopping and starting along the way, Qiao Wan stopped in front of a moon cave.
Suddenly, she heard a familiar female voice behind her.
"Xin Yi?"
Qiao Wan quickly turned around and saw a round-faced maid standing behind her, looking surprised.
Gui Qi.
With past grievances present, Gui Qi looked at Qiao Wan with a somewhat unpleasant expression.
"What are you doing here?"
"Aren't you supposed to be serving Second Young Master?"
Qiao Wan glanced at her and then turned her head, saying, "Stop making noise."
Being completely disregarded like that by someone, Gui Qi's expression changed and worsened.
The old account from before hadn't been settled yet, and seeing Qiao Wan's attitude, Gui Qi took a step back and glanced at the palm of her hand. After confirming that Qiao Wan wasn't holding anything strange, she breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but start to taunt.
"What? Alone here in the middle of the night? Did you upset Second Young Master?"
Qiao Wan still didn't turn around, leaving Gui Qi with just the back of her head. But her tone became a bit more serious as she said, "Shut up."
Gui Qi felt a surge of anger in her chest, nearly making her gasp for breath. After regaining her composure, she forced a smile and coldly laughed in a strange tone.
"Oh, so you've already learned how to act important?"
"I've known for a long time that you, this little vixen, don't have any good intentions. You've only been here for a few days, and you've already gotten close to the young masters."
"Just a slut, thinking you're someone important?"
"Let me tell you, just a moment ago, when I passed by the entrance of Yunxiu Yard, I saw everything clearly. You and a man were avoiding Second Young Master, meeting secretly in the courtyard in the middle of the night. Did you really think no one saw?"
"How disgusting." Gui Qi became more excited as she spoke, spat, and gritted her teeth. "You can't stay put."
She had seen it clearly at that time. Qiao Wan was standing in front of the steps like that, with eyes full of tenderness exchanged between them.
After speaking, Gui Qi took a breath and felt a bit nervous. But she still forced a smile, stared at Qiao Wan's figure, and waited to see her reaction.
If worse comes to worst, they could just start a fight here.
That's what Gui Qi was thinking, happy and content.
After all, she had never liked Qiao Wan.
But Qiao Wan still didn't say anything. Not only did she not say anything, but she also lifted her foot to leave.
This... This wasn't what Gui Qi imagined.
Gui Qi was stunned and quickly caught up, shouting as she pursued, "What?! Did I hit the nail on the head? Feeling guilty?!"
Even if you're feeling guilty now, it's too late, I've already seen it.
What else do you have to—
Bang!
Suddenly, the person in front of her slammed on the brakes, turned around, and Gui Qi stumbled forward, completely unprepared, and collided with them.
With this collision, a sharp pain shot through her nose, making Gui Qi's face contort in pain, and she let out a low cry.
She reached out her hand.
Covered in blood.
How...how did this little person have such a solid body?
In the midst of the pain, Gui Qi gasped for breath and thought to herself.
Hiss...
It really hurts.
There's blood from the collision.
After coming to her senses, Gui Qi covered her nose, glaring angrily at Qiao Wan, her eyes filled with even more hatred.
She wanted to peel this little person's skin off!!
But the girl in front of her still didn't react, she didn't even look at her.
Or perhaps...
Her gaze never fell on her throughout.
Qiao Wan was looking up.
At the tree branches above.
In the dark night, the shadows of the trees loomed, and the branches were like open ghostly hands.
Between the fingers, a figure was revealed.
A figure, covered in blood and flesh.
At this moment, even Gui Qi finally noticed that something was wrong.
The blood on her nose couldn't possibly be this much.
So much that Xin Yi also got some blood on her.
So much that it even dripped onto her own arm.
A warm sensation trickled down her arm.
Gui Qi reached out and wiped her arm, trembling with fear, then turned her head to follow Qiao Wan's gaze.
An immediate scream burst out of her throat!
"Ah ah ah ah ah—"
"Mmm mmm mmm mmm!"
Before she could finish screaming, Qiao Wan suddenly stepped forward and covered her mouth.
Gui Qi stared in horror, looked at the tree branches above, and then looked at Qiao Wan.
It was clear in her eyes.
A person!
It's a person!
A person who had their skin peeled off! Someone had died!!
Qiao Wan didn't even blink her eyes, speaking quickly and calmly, but she tightened her grip on Gui Qi's mouth even more, "I know."
"Shut up."
As she covered Gui Qi's mouth, she looked up.
The bloody scent was coming from here.
A blood-soaked figure hung from the tree, completely skinned, hanging there like a bright red piece of cured meat.
Gui Qi struggled desperately, flailing her limbs, still being held down by Qiao Wan, who was imposing and polite.
Compared to Qiao Wan, Gui Qi was like a frail and powerless bird caught in a hunter's net, struggling for a while but unable to move Qiao Wan even a bit.
Qiao Wan lowered her gaze, threatening with a fierce and evil look, "If I let you go, will you stay quiet? Can you do that?"
Gui Qi went limp all over, tears instantly welling up in her eyes, she nodded, "Mmm mmm mmm."
Qiao Wan let go of her hand.
Fresh air rushed into Gui Qi's lungs, and she immediately coughed heavily, without any hesitation, she immediately opened her throat and yelled!
She knew she couldn't let her go!
Before Gui Qi could make a sound, Qiao Wan quickly moved forward, swiftly and accurately grabbing Gui Qi's throat again, tearing off a piece of cloth from her sleeve, crumpling it up and shoving it into Gui Qi's mouth.
Then she pulled out a hammer from her pocket.
Thud—
The iron hammer hit the tree branch, and the person hanging from the tree fell heavily to the ground with a loud crash.
Qiao Wan, dragging the mute Gui Qi, walked forward.
The round-faced maid struggled even harder when she saw this.
She didn't dare to look at this person.
Lu Wan actually dared to approach!!
It would be one thing to just walk past, but she wanted to take her along! She wouldn't go, no matter what!
Gui Qi tried her best to crawl back, but as soon as she crawled a few steps, Qiao Wan grabbed her collar and pulled her back, pressing her in front of the body.
The young girl's face turned fierce, "Behave for me."
As Qiao Wan dragged Gui Qi to the front of the body, a strong smell of blood filled the air, making Gui Qi's eyes well up with tears and she trembled uncontrollably.
She couldn't even look at the body in front of her.
Qiao Wan, dragging Gui Qi, squatted down to examine the situation of the body in front of her.
It was a man, probably in his twenties.
The skin was peeled with great care, intact. It was a delicate job that would take a long time to complete.
The woman beside her suddenly froze like a quail.
Qiao Wan thought for a moment, then turned her head to look at her and wiped her bloody left hand on the woman's fair cheek.
The woman flinched, too scared to make a sound.
There were two streaks of blood on her face, and her eyelashes blinked, making her look pitiful.
Qiao Wan threatened in a harsh voice, "Do you see? There's a dead body. The killer shouldn't be far away. I'll go after them, and you go find help. Don't cause a fuss."
"Do you hear me?"
The girl's fair fingers were calloused, and the blood smeared on her face had a rough texture.
Gui Qi nodded vigorously.
Qiao Wan released her.
With the example from before, the round-faced maid no longer dared to misbehave.
A dead body was a serious matter.
Gui Qi quickly scrambled out, rolling and crawling.
Qiao Wan clenched the hammer and tensed her body, her eyes scanning the surroundings.
And in less than half a second.
A heart-wrenching scream echoed in the darkness.
"Xin!! Xin Yi!!"
"Help meee!!"
Accompanied by a faint gust of wind, the round-faced maid came rushing back, tears streaming down her face, and she ran straight into Qiao Wan's arms.
Qiao Wan held Gui Qi with one hand and instinctively swung the hammer!
"What is that?!"
The expected dull thud did not come.
Instead, the hammer felt heavy as if something tightly wrapped around it.
Gui Qi, frightened, clung to Qiao Wan's limbs like an octopus, unable to pull her away or even speak.
But Gui Qi didn't need to say anything, Qiao Wan now knew what was chasing her.
Pulling on the chain, Qiao Wan forcefully pulled back the hammer.
Finally, she saw what was wrapped around the hammer.
It was a piece of human skin.
The one who was chasing Gui Qi was this human skin.
The skin slid off the hammer and floated unsteadily in mid-air.
"Ah ah ah ah-"
Seeing this scene, Gui Qi screamed again.
Halfway through her scream, she suddenly remembered that Qiao Wan was still there.
Gui Qi let out a cry, which turned into a whimper. She wrapped her limbs tightly around Qiao Wan, no longer showing her proud and arrogant attitude.
"Wuwuwu... Xin Yi... help... help me..."
The round-faced maid looked at Qiao Wan with watery eyes, filled with tears.
She... she was here to compete...
Help... help me!!!
Something doesn't seem right!
Did she go to the wrong place?
