NOVEL NEXT Ch. 27
Chapter 27: Ink Wash Painting
The black rain had truly turned Upper Jade Capital into an ink wash painting, but the picture lacked the most important person.
“Young master, where are we going now?”
“Lake of Retained Affection.”
Xia Lianxue’s wrists were like snow, and she swung them before Lu Changyuan: “Weren’t we going to fetch the pill?”
“The pill has not appeared yet, so we went to find a position first and wait for it to surface.”
“But what was so special about Lake of Retained Affection, young master? Noodle Granny and you both regarded this lakeside so highly.”
Lu Changyuan said naturally, “There was a great demon sealed beneath the lake for one thousand five hundred years.”
Xia Lianxue looked toward the distance and said softly, “I knew.”
Of course she could tell.
Because that enormous disgusting tentacle was swaying in the center of the lake as though it wished to rise and pierce the sky; black mists emanated from the tentacle, dyeing the rain black.
“Young master, Third Princess was also here.”
Lu Changyuan looked up; in midair there was the figure of someone holding an umbrella.
The girl wore a jade-green waistband and a deep-green Daoist robe, her figure slender and graceful; the black rain dared not come near her, which made her skin appear even paler with a faint cherry-like sheen.
Lu Changyuan smiled, “It seemed the matter at home was serious; she intended to take charge of it.”
Several cultivators bound by black qi were visible along the lakeshore.
Those people looked in pain and could not break free; their cultivation and flesh were being transmitted bit by bit through the black qi to the great demon beneath the lake.
“Mr. Lu.” Su Youwan stepped down, treading emptiness as she came: “You came here to do what?”
Lu Changyuan replied, “What became of that elixir that surfaced?”
“Mr. Lu still liked to answer questions with questions.”
“Mutual.”
Su Youwan shook her head; her hair white as snow drifted: “It was said the Imperial Sword Sect snatched that elixir. It was still hiding somewhere in the city.”
Those who had seized the elixir and those who had not had none managed to leave Upper Jade Capital; all had been drenched by the black rain and dragged into dreams.
Lu Changyuan asked again, “So what did you plan to do?”
Su Youwan was as calm as ever: “Youwan did not know what to do either. What did Young Master Lu intend?”
Before Lu Changyuan could answer,a clear male voice came from behind: “Fellow cultivators, let us first help each other and cut off those tentacles; otherwise the city’s cultivators would die under that damned thing.”
The newcomer carried a sword and held a gourd.
He did not use an umbrella; the rain drenched him through, yet it could not mask his sharpness.
He was Li Qingcao of the Grass-Sword Sect.
A swordsman among the Nine Gates and Twelve Palaces, his sword-heart had been hardened as if he had slain snow demons atop a mountain for ten years; a mere nightmare could only bind him for a brief moment.
He looked again toward that rainy night, feeling no sensation anymore, only nostalgia.
That had been the road he had walked.
No matter how deeply etched, it was merely the feelings of youth; nothing could compare with wine in a gourd and a sword in hand.
Li Qingcao glanced at Su Youwan, then at Xia Lianxue.
“It turned out to be Third Royal Highness and Fairy Xia… Brother, I have not asked your name.”
He paused, then remembered to introduce himself: “Grass-Sword Sect, Li Qingcao.”
Lu Changyuan smiled, “Lu Changyuan, a mere physician.”
“Oh, Brother Lu.” Li Qingcao, naturally familiar, walked up to Lu Changyuan and lifted his wine gourd: “I feel like we met too late, Brother Lu. Do you drink?”
Lu Changyuan regarded Li Qingcao with fondness, as if he saw the sect master of Grass-Sword Sect from years ago.
The same easy familiarity, the same fondness for gourd-wine and sword.
So Lu Changyuan said, “Forget it. I had heard Grass-Sword Sect men loved wine to excess. I accepted Brother Li’s kindness but would not deprive a man of his love.”
Li Qingcao was surprised: “Then I will treat Brother Lu to wine another day.” He swung his sword into a cross-behind stance: “I shall cut a stroke first; if I cannot, I hope you all will assist.”
The swordsman truly acted with decisive speed; he charged forward with his sword, a streak of azure light.
The tentacle fell at the strike.
Li Qingcao could not believe it: “Could it be my swordplay had improved? No — what was that sound?”
The tentacle plunged into the water like saltpeter, and the lake began to boil.
From all directions came a teeth-grinding creak, as if something were assembling, or as if some rat were gnawing on human bones.
Soon everyone understood the sound.
They were bones — countless white bones.
Numerous skeletons of those who had died beneath Lake of Retained Affection crawled ashore piece by piece; the creaking was bones grinding and turning.
No.
Not only bones; the cultivators who had died the night the pill surfaced rose as well.
These dead cultivators had vacant eyes, their bodies bloated from soaking and exuded stench.
Li Qingcao turned and said coldly, “What fiends and ghosts are these?”
He slashed another stroke.
Bones fell like trimmed weeds, shattered bones striking the ground and the water with crisp sounds.
Lu Changyuan said, “It seemed demonic qi controlled the corpses like puppets.”
They did not pose too grave a threat by themselves, but released they would harm the common people.
Li Qingcao fastened his gourd again: “Everyone, let us split up. I will guard the lake to prevent the skeletons from leaving. You all go save the cultivators bound by black qi. When I arrived I had already awakened two junior sisters; they would help you. How about it?”
Lu Changyuan smiled, thinking Grass-Sword Sect remained as meddlesome as ever: “Brother Li was benevolent; it could not be refused.”
“Where was Third Royal Highness?”
Su Youwan turned and did not speak to Li Qingcao.
She glanced at Lu Changyuan once more, lightly opened her umbrella, and slowly vanished into the curtain of rain.
Li Qingcao sighed and looked at Lu Changyuan: “Women are so hard to reason with, Brother Lu.”
Lu Changyuan dared not take that line, for Xia Lianxue stood smiling at his side.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A melodious female voice rose inside the imperial treasury.
“I was wondering when a top courtesan would appear.”
A woman in full black robes, her face entirely obscured, had sat atop another dragon-head throne without anyone noticing.
Her laugh echoed through the entire treasury.
Her voice carried a certain seductive charm that made listeners restless.
The Second Prince, Blood Smoke Rakshasa, and Elder Zhen had not noticed when she had entered the treasury with them.
“I thought some promising talent had appeared whom I could take back and cultivate. After days of travel to reach here, I was truly disappointed.”
If Lu Changyuan had been present, he would have complained to this black-robed woman for stealing one of his wine jars without paying.
“So you, this yin-yang person, were scheming secretly.” The black-robed woman said with disdain: “I wondered why Blood Demon Palace interfered so deeply in Glazed Dynasty affairs. Did you not fear retribution from the Daoist Sects?”
Blood Smoke Rakshasa watched the waves boiling on the water’s surface.
Red mists rose in places; merely seeing them conveyed heat.
The treasury’s lake had already begun to seethe.
He recognized the black-robed woman’s identity, so he was not flustered: “The Daoist Sects might not concern themselves with this matter. When did you arrive? Did you come to compete with my palace for swords?”