Chapter 67
Though it was just a piece of skin, the skin in front seemed to have its own thoughts and humanity.
Floating unsteadily in the air, the skin tightened and charged forward.
What kind of supernatural creature is this?
A strong smell of blood rushed into Qiao Wan's nose. She stepped back while holding Gui Qi, feeling a little obstructed by the woman hanging on her. She forcefully pulled Gui Qi off her and threw her behind.
Gui Qi panicked and jumped back, "Xin... Xin Yi, don't leave me!"
The skin rushed towards them, shook violently, and suddenly opened wide, intending to envelop both of them.
Qiao Wan swung her iron hammer to block.
With one bite, it swallowed the large hammer.
Different from what she imagined, the warm and delicate flesh.
It was a little tough to chew.
The skin swallowed the hammer and firmly wrapped around it, pulling it back.
However, it clearly underestimated the strength of the female cultivator in front of it.
With one pull, Qiao Wan didn't budge a bit.
The young girl stood firmly, her arm muscles slightly bulging, and pulled back with a calm face.
Playing tug-of-war with her?
Gui Qi trembled on the ground, her eyes fixed on the skin, feeling dizzy.
Not only feeling a bit dizzy but also wanting to vomit.
Ever since she encountered "Lu Wan," she hasn't had good luck!! Besides being entangled with the young master, there's this skin in front of her, performing a tricky trick.
While Qiao Wan and the skin were tugging, she pondered with a serious face.
This skin in front of her could assess the situation and display a level of "intelligence" that a mere skin shouldn't have.
It was just a piece of skin, how could it have a brain? Even if it was a magic tool made from human skin, it shouldn't be this sentient.
Unless someone was behind the scenes pretending to be a god.
Just as Qiao Wan wanted to see who was behind it, the skin suddenly loosened, slid down from the hammer, shook off its skin, and two small horns stepped on the ground, turning around and running away!
Gui Qi's eyes widened in astonishment. What kind of weird thing is this?! How can it still run?!
At that moment, Qiao Wan suddenly felt light. Before a scream could escape Gui Qi’s lips, she had already lifted Gui Qi up. (It’s kind of confusing, it look like as if Qiao Wan was the who was about to scream)
Chase!!
The skin stepped on the ground and quickly vanished into the night.
Qiao Wan carried Gui Qi and followed all the way to where the maids lived.
She watched the skin climb over the window and enter the house. Without hesitation, Qiao Wan broke the window and entered.
The room was empty.
Qiao Wan's bed, which had been tidied up when she was promoted to Yunxiu Yard, was already clean and neat.
Qiao Wan quickly glanced at Du Heng's bed.
"Where is Du Heng ?"
Gui Qi gasped, her face turning pale.
Qiao Wan carried Gui Qi and threw her onto the bed.
Gui Qi raised her hands on the bed, her pale face shouting, "Xin Yi ...you! You go find Du Heng !"
Qiao Wan didn't even look back, searching quickly around the room.
Gui Qi trembled, shrinking on the bed, her gaze fixed on Qiao Wan , not daring to speak as she rummaged through things.
Kicking over a box, a stack of books tumbled out.
Qiao Wan squatted down, preparing to search through them.
Whoosh—
A person's skin suddenly shot out, slapping Qiao Wan in the face before quickly disappearing into the night.
Qiao Wan instinctively reached out to grab it but failed.
The pale exoskeleton on her hand quickly retreated.
As she was hit, blood began to seep from Qiao Wan’s face. She didn't bother wiping it off, squatting down to pick up the open book on the ground.
The person's skin had hidden itself between the pages.
Seeing Qiao Wan staring at the book, Gui Qi's expression changed drastically. Using all her limbs, she rolled off the bed and reached out to snatch it back.
But she was too slow.
Qiao Wan was already holding the book, reading it aloud.
"The Cultivation Journey of a Difficult Wife?"
Gui Qi was both embarrassed and angry.
Qiao Wan : ...
She finally understood what the young maidservant meant by her behavior earlier.
Gui Qi silently gritted her teeth, not daring to argue.
Regardless of how others saw her, she truly liked the young master.
In a low voice, Gui Qi said, "I genuinely like the young master."
Qiao Wan was puzzled. "What do you mean by telling me this?"
Gui Qi glared at her and secretly clenched her teeth. "I apologize for what happened a few days ago. Tonight, thank you for saving my life."
No matter how others looked at her, she liked the young master.
In that moment, she had already prepared herself to be looked down upon.
But Qiao Wan didn't pay much attention to this matter.
Gui Qi : ...
Perhaps she had gone to the wrong studio today = =
In just one night, she had witnessed preserved meat hanging in a book, and a person's skin that could run and jump. Gui Qi's world view had been completely overturned.
But this person's skin...
Gui Qi thought dazedly.
She seemed to have heard of similar cult techniques somewhere.
Before she could think further, a booming sound suddenly came from outside the house.
Qiao Wan and Gui Qi looked at each other and threw the books in their hands, rushing out simultaneously.
In the distance, they saw a bright blue pillar of light shooting up into the sky from the south!
The radiant blue light soared into the sky from the south, bursting open, almost turning the entire Cen family estate into daylight.
Any sizable family would have protective formations. This pillar of light seemed like a part of the protective formation had collapsed.
Thinking back to the incidents with Ru Jing and what Mu Fang mentioned about the Cen family.
Qiao Wan thought blankly. Is this...the Lin family? Or those demons?
This pillar of light had turned the entire Cen family estate topsy-turvy.
The entire Cen family was in chaos all of a sudden.
It was midnight.
Everyone in the Cen family gathered in one room.
The room was brightly lit.
Several pieces of cured meat were neatly arranged on the floor.
Qiao Wan and Gui Qi only saw one of them, but many others had been found throughout the house. Now, all these pieces of cured meat had been moved to the main house.
In the crowded main house, Gui Qi finally spotted Du Heng. Seeing that she was safe, Gui Qi felt relieved.
The disturbance that just happened was too big. The first person to arrive was Mrs. Cen. When she saw the cured meat on the floor, her face changed dramatically.
After a moment, Cen Xiangnan, the head of the Cen family, arrived with a serious expression.
Cen Xiangnan was handsome and had a resemblance to Cen Qingjia and Cen Qingyou.
After a brief glance, both Cen Xiangnan and Mrs. Cen looked away. They didn't speak much, and their coldness didn't seem like that of a married couple.
"This is..." Cen Xiangnan frowned.
Mrs. Cen's face became even paler, and she remained silent.
Cen Xiangnan closed his eyes, sighed, and walked toward the main seat.
Within a short time, almost everyone from the Cen family had gathered.
Cen Qingjia and Cen Qingyou were also present.
Having received an urgent message, Cen Qingyou hurried back.
Qiao Wan stepped back behind Cen Qingyou.
When Cen Qingyou caught a glimpse of Qiao Wan, he asked in a low voice, "Are you okay?"
Qiao Wan replied, "I'm fine, thank you, Second Young Master."
In this situation, Qiao Wan and Gui Qi, the two maidservants, could only stand aside.
Gui Qi, who had just cried and vomited, was almost fainting. But now, she couldn't help but secretly look towards Cen Qingyou.
Unfortunately, Cen Qingjia, worried and distraught, didn't glance in this direction.
The round-faced maidservant's eyes dimmed for a moment.
Soon, as witnesses, Qiao Wan and Gui Qi were brought forward.
Cen Qingjia finally looked in the direction of Qiao Wan and Gui Qi for a moment.
Never before had they witnessed such a grand scene. Gui Qi shivered on the ground.
Mrs. Cen spoke gently, "Don't be afraid. Just tell us how you encountered these..."
Considering the feelings of the two young maidservants, Mrs. Cen deliberately chose different words.
"Just tell us exactly how you encountered these things."
"Xin Yi, you go first," said Mrs. Cen.
Qiao Wan nodded and said, "I saw that Second Young Master hadn't come back, so I went out to look for him. Along the way, I smelled blood and then I saw these things."
Gui Qi's account wasn't much different from Qiao Wan's.
"This is very suspicious," someone suggested after listening to Qiao Wan and Gui Qi. "We should lock up these two maidservants first."
Qiao Wan suddenly looked up.
When Mrs. Cen met Qiao Wan's gaze, she shook her head and said, "It's not their fault. They were scared tonight."
Mrs. Cen sighed and looked at the bloodstains on Qiao Wan's face.
"Xin Yi, Gui Qi, come with me."
"Does it hurt?"
In a room, Mrs. Cen rolled up her sleeves and personally applied medicine to Qiao Wan.
The cool ointment was applied to her face, and the bleeding from the fresh wound stopped in an instant.
Mrs. Cen held the ointment and gestured to Qiao Wan, "Is there anywhere else that hurts? Roll up your sleeves, let me see."
The woman's fair and slightly cool fingertips touched her face gently, stained with a little bit of flower juice on her nails.
With lowered eyelashes, she exhaled gracefully.
Qiao Wan suddenly felt a little uncomfortable and turned away, "I'm fine."
Mrs. Cen smiled, "That won't do. After all, you're a young girl. You can't have scars on your face."
"I heard you can play the flute?" Mrs. Cen asked, putting the ointment back into her sleeve.
"Well... can you play a tune for me?"
Qiao Wan nodded and took out the short flute from her pocket, placing it horizontally against her lips.
As soon as the first note was played, Gui Qi looked at her with a complicated expression. A hint of envy could be seen in her lowered eyelashes.
Qiao Wan played "Falling Plum Blossom".
This tune, most musicians can play it. By playing this, it wouldn't reveal her true identity.
In the distance, the wind blew through the black locust trees at night.
Mrs. Cen closed her eyes and listened slowly.
The melody was indeed beautiful and moving, containing a hint of spiritual power. The combination of music and healing quietly flowed through the night, from the inner room to the outer room, soothing the emotions of many people without them realizing it.
Cen Qingyou glanced in the direction of the inner room, feeling a little surprised.
He didn't expect Qiao Wan to have this ability.
At that moment, several people rushed in from outside.
Kunshan envoys, Mu Xiaoxiao and some others heard the loud noise, and just as they stepped inside, they heard the melodious sound of the flute.
"Falling Plum Blossom!" Mu Xiaoxiao exclaimed, "That's 'Falling Plum Blossom'!"
"Who's playing the flute?"
Pei Chunzheng, who was leading the way, was suddenly startled, thinking about what was under the steps of Yunxiu Yard. His face instantly became even more grim.
It's true that most musicians can play "Falling Plum Blossom".
But others didn't know, he knew best in his heart.
Because Lu Pihan, Qiao Wan, she often played this piece, "Falling Plum Blossom".
He stood frozen in place, just a wall's distance away, not moving forward or back, his heart pounding violently in his chest.
Inside the room, Mrs. Cen opened her eyes again and smiled, "Now I know why Grandma Chen chose you."
Qiao Wan asked, "Why did Grandma Chen choose me?"
"She picked you because it's something she likes." Mrs. Cen sighed, "You don't know, when I was young, I wanted to be a musician."
Her hometown was by the river, and later she moved to Qizawa Province.
When she was young, still a girl, she loved sitting at the bow of a boat and singing.
At that time, with her graceful limbs and beautiful voice, her songs could float along with the flowing river water, drifting towards the distance.
Unfortunately, she didn't become a musician and instead became a sword fighter.
After getting married, she rarely used a sword again. Instead, she became a healer.
Mrs. Cen seemed to feel something and gently touched Qiao Wan's head, humming softly with her lips.
"Thinking of the plum tree on the west island, picking the plum blossoms and sending them to the north of the river. The single garment is apricot red, and the double temples are the color of young ravens. Where is the west island? It is crossed by two rowing boats at the bridgehead. When the evening comes, the orioles fly and the wind blows through the crow's nest tree."
The melodious Wu dialect gradually spread.
Qiao Wan felt a bit stiff, but gradually relaxed her limbs.
The woman was intentionally comforting her.
Since Qiao Wan regained her memories, most of the people around her have been like Ma Huaizhen and Lu Pihan. As for who she was in her previous life, Qiao Wan had long forgotten.
Whether it was Kunshan or the demon realm, none of these places were her true home.
The past ten years of her life were filled with grey and bloody experiences.
But the woman's fingers were warm.
Dressed in a ginger-colored palace gown, Mrs. Cen sat by the window, lowering her eyebrows and speaking with a slightly hoarse voice, like the murmuring of a stream, slowly soothing her tense nerves.
Qiao Wan silently pondered, and her thoughts turned to the dozens of salted meats in the other room.
Mrs. Cen was a gentle person.
But in the realm of cultivation, gentle people were rare.
Because the gentler someone was, the more likely they were to die early.
...
After giving Qiao Wan her medicine, Mrs. Cen asked her and Gui Qi to go back and rest.
Those dozens of salted meats were none of their business, and they shouldn't be the ones managing it.
As Qiao Wan and Gui Qi walked down the stairs of the main house, Gui Qi was still a bit dazed, muttering to herself, "This matter definitely isn't that simple."
"Did you see it just now, Mrs. Cen and the head of the family?"
Qiao Wan asked in response, "What happened to Mrs. Cen?"
Gui Qi's face looked complicated as she replied, "I overheard something when I was chatting with Du Heng and the others before."
When Mrs. Cen was young, she was not famous for her "Suspension Thread Spirit Needle."
Instead, she used a sword, the apricot red fine sword hanging on the wall.
It was said that when Mrs. Cen was still young, she was engaged to Cen Xiangnan, the head of the Cen family, and they were waiting to get married in the future.
And Mrs. Cen was eagerly looking forward to it.
But one day, Cen Xiangnan disappeared and came back with a girl named Miss Lin, who was enchanting and clearly not a decent person.
Miss Lin was born into the Lin family but was from a side branch. This branch practiced evil arts and had close relationships with the Corpse Expelling Sect and the White Bone Temple. Because of this, they were expelled from Qizawa Province by the main Lin family and sent to the southwest.
Cen Xiangnan went to the southwest and fell in love with the demon girl and asked the old head of the Cen family, claiming that he and Miss Lin were truly in love. He said he would not marry anyone else except her.
This infuriated the old head of the Cen family, who almost choked on his breath.
The young man was stubborn, and Cen Xiangnan argued with the old head of the Cen family, saying, "The majority of those on the right path are hypocrites, while the demonic sects are truly honest." This was an extremely pretentious statement.
Seeing that there was no way to resolve the situation, in the end, both the old man and the young man compromised.
Cen Xiangnan had to marry Mrs. Cen, the girl from the Lin family could only be a concubine.
After getting married, Cen Xiangnan and Mrs. Cen did not get along well.
Later on, when the Lin family and the Cen family confronted each other, "Miss Lin" was killed by the Lin family in front of Mrs. Cen and couldn't be saved in time.
Even though Mrs. Cen and Cen Xiangnan's feelings were not strong before, with the death of the girl from the Lin family, Mrs. Cen became disheartened and completely broke up with Cen Xiangnan.
Even though it wasn't fair to blame Mrs. Cen, emotions overpowered reason and Cen Xiangnan held a grudge against her for not trying hard enough back then.
Perhaps due to excessive sadness or the inability to let go, Mrs. Cen gave up her sword and studied medicine. She used her "Spirit Needle Technique" to save numerous people, attracting many who sought her help from far away.
"The Painting Skin Skill is the technique used by the Lin family."
When Gui Qi thought about what she had just seen, her face turned pale and she almost vomited.
She had thought it was just a made-up story told by the servants, but she never expected that there would be such a wicked method of skinning people to create artifacts.
These days, there is an eerie atmosphere outside the Cen family's residence, and it turns out that the Lin family took action while the Qizawa Province was plagued by demons.
After Qiao Wan left, Mrs. Cen returned to the main house.
"What does the head of the family plan to do?"
As Mrs. Cen slowly approached, Cen Xiangnan felt a bit uneasy.
The woman was beautiful, gentle, and her eyes were clear and bright.
The woman noticed this and lowered her head slightly, avoiding the man's gaze, calmly looking at the scattered corpses on the ground.
"The old grudges from back then can never be avoided and will eventually come knocking on our door."
...
The whole Cen family spent the night in a strange and silent atmosphere.
Qiao Wan couldn't sleep well that night, tossing and turning, thinking about the conflicts between the Cen family and the Lin family.
Taking a pulse turned out to be much harder than she imagined.
Cen Qingyou didn't come back all night, and when he returned the next day, he brought Ru Jing with him, intending to go out and deliver the deceased's body for spiritual liberation.
Qiao Wan asked, "Can I accompany you, Young Master?"
Cen Qingyou tactfully replied, "This matter is... heavy. You shouldn't come along."
Cen Qingyou's candid concern made Qiao Wan feel pleasantly surprised.
"I want to go with you," Qiao Wan pondered for a moment, "After all... I also witnessed it yesterday, and if I don't see him being laid to rest, I'll never feel at ease."
"Are you afraid?"
"Not really."
Cen Qingyou smiled, "Alright. If you're still scared, I'll recite the scriptures for you when you come back."
When they reached the gate of the residence, they saw a few familiar figures from afar.
Upon seeing Qiao Wan and Cen Qingyou walking together, Mu Xiaoxiao greeted them with a sweet smile, "Second Young Master."
Cen Qingyou nodded and smiled back, "Mu immortal friend, Pei immortal friend, Feng immortal friend, Xiao immortal friend, good morning."
After exchanging greetings, Qiao Wan didn't forget to explain to Qiao Wan, "There's not enough medicine in the mansion. Pei, the immortal friend, and others have come to get medicine. They will be accompanying us today."
Qiao Wan remained silent.
Pei Chunzheng noticed her strange look and stared at her intently.
Qiao Wan turned her head away.
The young boy's back stiffened, and he clenched his fingers tightly, without making a sound.
Xiao Boyang noticed something unusual and glanced at them.
In the blink of an eye, Mu Xiaoxiao had already grabbed Feng Wangyan's arm and walked ahead with Cen Qingyou.
Qizawa Province was much quieter compared to when Qiao Wan had just arrived.
There was a faint demonic aura in the streets, with few people and most shops closed.
Qiao Wan had not been staying in the Cen mansion for long, but in just a few days, the outside world had undergone earth-shattering changes.
Over a dozen "preserved meats" had been cremated overnight in the Cen mansion, packed in boxes and carried by Cen Qingyou. They were returned to each family, along with bags of spirit stones.
Some of these preserved meats were sons, others were fathers.
The separation of loved ones was heartbreaking to watch.
But Cen Qingyou seemed calm. He and Mrs. Cen shared a similar quality, a steady and powerful force that calmed people's hearts.
Their footsteps echoed on the ground, and the Buddhist beads tinkled.
When they finally reached the center of the street, Qiao Wan's expression changed.
Just around the corner, she seemed to have caught sight of a distinctly black and white figure!
Jia Yin!
