Chapter 35: How Did They All Disappear?
Shen Yuanzhi hastily dealt with the farce, found another strong man to replace the previous one, and ordered someone to stuff the straw dummy back into the sedan chair.
His face remained grim, but he had no choice but to continue.
“Alright, alright.” He waved his hand again.
The servant below understood and once again shouted at the top of his lungs:
“Depart!”
The musicians began to play sporadically. Although the procession was disorganized, it managed to start moving again.
The street was now empty, desolate, with only a few fallen leaves dancing at their feet.
Bai Xuzi simply stood behind Fan Yue, not daring to get too close to the sedan chair anymore.
He had originally thought they were going to welcome the bride, but it seemed the magistrate had skipped that step entirely and just used a straw dummy.
He had even thoughtfully draped it in red cloth.
“…”
Truly, his courage was commendable.
Fan Yue glanced impassively at the little demon behind him. He was currently clutching his sleeve tightly, his lips pressed into a thin line.
He looked quite well-behaved.
As if sensing the gaze, the little demon looked up, and for a moment, their eyes met.
After a moment’s hesitation, Fan Yue asked:
“Still cold?”
Bai Xuzi couldn’t quite describe the feeling in his heart. He just found it a little strange. Was the other man… concerned about him?
But, it didn’t seem necessary. He was just a little demon.
A follower, that’s all.
“Not cold anymore, not cold anymore,” Bai Xuzi quickly explained, lowering his head again to hide his discomfort.
Why was he looking at him like that?
That gaze… emmm… if he had to describe it.
Bai Xuzi felt as if the other was looking at a dish, a dish he wasn’t in a hurry to eat. The gaze was a bit chilling.
The road was still quiet. Bai Xuzi didn’t particularly like the atmosphere and shrank into his clothes.
Then he scooted closer to Fan Yue.
For a windbreak.
But it was this very movement that allowed Fan Yue to see the few disciples behind Bai Xuzi.
His eyes lifted slightly, a hint of sharpness in them.
A black mist had already condensed in his palm…
“Brother, with the way things are, are we going straight up the mountain later?” Bai Xuzi suddenly remembered something he was concerned about and asked directly.
He had originally thought the magistrate would properly welcome the “bride,” but now it seemed like he was just going through the motions.
Looking around, he saw that no one was wearing red, and there hadn’t even been a request to change.
Coupled with that creepy straw dummy…
“Yes.” Fan Yue pulled his gaze back and looked over.
The black mist was silently extinguished.
After getting a positive answer, Bai Xuzi automatically lowered his head, carefully considering what this was all about.
The trees of Linshan were being cut down indiscriminately, and the surrounding spirits had lost their homes. They would surely become even angrier.
But if the town was constantly shrouded in the panic of a “ghost mountain,” it wouldn’t be a solution either. That’s why Shen Yuanzhi was so desperate to put on this show, to try and pacify the people in his own way.
Bai Xuzi looked around and saw that everyone in the procession was pale and walking with an unsteady gait.
They didn’t look like they could handle much of a scare.
“What are you thinking about?” Fan Yue asked directly, raising his hand to cast a sound-proofing spell.
Bai Xuzi was pulled back to reality and said slowly:
“I’m thinking about what to do later…”
The procession had already straggled to the outskirts of the city and was about to start climbing the “ghost mountain.”
Fan Yue’s expression changed slightly. With a hint of nonchalance, he asked:
“What do you want to do?”
Hearing this, Bai Xuzi frowned. That was a strange thing to say. Why was he suddenly bringing him into it?
“Can I have a say in it—” His tone was full of resentment.
“You can,” Fan Yue interrupted directly.
Bai Xuzi was stunned and even stopped walking.
Since the procession was still moving, Fan Yue simply reached out and manually nudged the dazed little demon forward.
“N-not this.” Bai Xuzi stammered, feeling that this question was a hot potato.
Why was he asking a small fry like him?
“Answer,” Fan Yue reminded him, then glanced at Bai Xuzi, a hint of confusion in his eyes.
Why did he forget how to walk whenever he started thinking?
He simply set up a barrier and did what he had been wanting to do all along.
Bai Xuzi instantly transformed back into his original form. Before he could react, he was scooped up, his rabbit legs stretched out straight.
“Is it that hard to answer?” a voice came from above.
Bai Xuzi frantically checked his surroundings and saw that the others didn’t seem to notice anything unusual; they weren’t even looking in his direction.
Only then did he relax.
He tilted his rabbit head back and answered honestly:
“Your Majesty, I don’t know.”
That was the truth. Besides, Bai Xuzi still couldn’t figure out why Fan Yue was bothering with such a small matter. He had thought this kind of thing was left to his subordinates.
So now, here he was, mixed in with the crowd, blatantly playing the role of a “guard.”
It was quite… strange.
Bai Xuzi had originally found the atmosphere a little frightening, but after being enveloped in several of Fan Yue’s barriers, he felt like he had become the innermost doll in a set of Russian nesting dolls.
But not feeling the cold wind was quite comforting.
He stretched out his paws and rested them on the other’s arm, looking down at the small stones on the road. It was a different kind of feeling.
This wasn’t much different from riding in a sedan chair…
Realizing this, Bai Xuzi was horrified and shook his rabbit head like a rattle drum.
“Can’t think of an answer…” a voice murmured from above.
Bai Xuzi’s ears twitched. He didn’t look up, just lay on the other’s arm, resting.
“Then how about I kill this entire procession?” Fan Yue’s expression was very calm. He was genuinely considering it, and his tone even held a hint of seeking advice.
Bai Xuzi froze for a moment, then, feigning composure, he looked at how many people were in the procession.
The magistrate, servants, strong men, and that group of Azure Cloud Sect disciples.
At least eighty people.
Bai Xuzi’s paws shrank back. He silently lifted his rabbit head and happened to meet Fan Yue’s eyes.
Calm and indifferent.
He didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with it at all.
“Um, Your… Your Majesty, that… do we have to kill them?” Bai Xuzi spent a long time mentally preparing himself, and even took a deep breath, before he dared to ask.
Hearing this, Fan Yue raised an eyebrow slightly. He seemed to find the way the little demon looked up at him rather cute.
He gently poked him with his finger.
Bai Xuzi was suddenly poked in the rabbit mouth. He was both scared and surprised, and a little dazed.
“Not necessarily. We can kill them, or not kill them,” a faint reply came from above. The content of his words was chilling.
It was a matter of life and death, yet he was so nonchalant.
It seemed both choices were insignificant.
Hearing this, Bai Xuzi was suddenly angry and retorted:
“Ah, Your Majesty, you can’t be so casual about this!”
His paw, without him noticing, pressed down on the back of Fan Yue’s hand. His rabbit head was twisted back, his two large ears lying obediently behind his head.
On his rabbit face, one could inexplicably see a hint of worry.
Fan Yue’s posture was very relaxed. He gently wound his well-defined fingers, and the two ears slipped between them.
“Why not?”
Bai Xuzi was instantly at a loss for words. H-how could he ask that?
“What does it matter if they’re killed?”
Fan Yue spoke again, his eyes shifting to the little head, seemingly a little puzzled.
Bai Xuzi’s head was still being kneaded, and it felt a little heavy. It was even a bit of an effort to look up.
But he didn’t dare to push that hand away.
He could only barely reveal one rabbit eye and persistently say, “Your Majesty, you can’t just kill them randomly. Otherwise, what have we been waiting for all these days?”
Hearing this, Fan Yue’s movements paused, and his expression changed, a hint of unease in it.
“Your… Your Majesty… it’s so heavy!” Bai Xuzi’s head was completely pressed down, unable to bear the weight. He lay on Fan Yue’s arm, panting.
Fan Yue: “…”
He finally lifted his hand, and only then did the little demon spread out his paws, looking relieved.
Bai Xuzi shook his head and looked toward the front of the procession, only to find that it was already too dark to see anything.
The torches they were holding were not very bright anymore.
They had already reached the vicinity of Linshan.
Bai Xuzi thought for a moment and felt he still had to try a little harder. Fan Yue’s perception of humans was too weak.
So he instinctively felt they were unimportant, that their life and death didn’t matter.
It was a bit like a child looking at ants crawling on the ground. To crush them or not to crush them was a matter of a single thought.
“Your Majesty?” Bai Xuzi looked up and asked.
Fan Yue pressed his lips together, thinking the other was still asking about the previous question. After a moment’s thought, he gave an answer:
“It wasn’t because of this matter.”
Bai Xuzi was completely baffled. What was he talking about? He couldn’t understand.
“Staying in Yunde Town was just a whim, with no other consideration,” Fan Yue added, his expression calm.
Just then—
The sound of the suonas stopped, and the procession came to a halt, followed by a new wave of commotion.
Bai Xuzi had to temporarily stop his brainstorming and turned to look outside.
They had just reached the foot of Linshan, but it was only the edge, still a great distance from Lin Da Niang’s small wooden house.
Why did they suddenly stop? Bai Xuzi found it strange.
Weren’t they supposed to go up the mountain to test the groom’s courage? Why stop here?
Shen Yuanzhi coughed loudly a few times, then straightened the large silk ball in front of him and spoke with great righteousness:
“Fellow villagers!”
The murmuring in the crowd stopped, and all eyes turned to the magistrate on the horse.
“Linshan is just an ordinary mountain, but it has caused such great panic among the people, which is truly inappropriate. This official has personally set an example, breaking through difficulties and dangers…”
Bai Xuzi tilted his rabbit head, feeling that the current direction was a bit strange. Was the magistrate starting his self-praise?
But—
He looked back at his happy home.
They hadn’t even entered Linshan yet.
“We have reached our destination. You have all witnessed that nothing unusual has happened. We can now return from here!” After Shen Yuanzhi finished speaking, he waved his hand.
Although the procession was hesitant, they slowly began to turn around.
Bai Xuzi was instantly shocked. T-this was so perfunctory!
Although he knew from the beginning that it was all for show, he didn’t expect it to be this much of a show.
You could say they hadn’t entered Linshan at all.
The disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect at the back were also deeply surprised.
But more than that, they were relieved.
Since there was nothing to do, they were happy to be idle.
“Senior Brother, should we just leave now?” The previous junior brother trotted over and whispered to Wang Huan.
Wang Huan was chewing on a foxtail grass and looking ahead. Hearing this, he waved his hand in annoyance.
“Go, go, go, all of you, don’t bother me.”
The junior brother bowed even lower and then asked respectfully, “Then, Senior Brother, we’ll go first and meet up in town?”
“Mm-hmm,” Wang Huan replied casually, a deeper look of confusion on his face.
After the junior brother next to him had gone back, he muttered to himself:
“Are those two a couple? Why are they always stuck together, never separating…”
“Am I seeing things? Why haven’t they even changed their posture?”
…
Bai Xuzi watched helplessly as the group of people began to turn back. He wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say.
“They’re leaving just like that?”
Fan Yue looked down at the little demon, who had half his rabbit body sticking out. After a moment’s thought, he stuffed him back in.
“Human nature is like this, it’s not surprising.”
Hearing this assessment, Bai Xuzi was unable to refute it for a moment. After all, the magistrate was also human, and it was normal for him to cherish his life.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have surrounded himself with three layers of protection, inside and out, and even used a fake bride.
And in the end, he didn’t even enter Linshan.
But—
Bai Xuzi lifted his rabbit paw, rested it on Fan Yue’s arm, and tried hard to turn his body around, saying very seriously:
“Your Majesty, you seem to have a prejudice against humans.”
Having thought he had caught a small flaw, he pointed out this fact with a hint of pride, looking like a little moral guardian.
Fan Yue looked back down at him and replied very calmly:
“Mm, I do.”
The little moral guardian was instantly speechless. He hadn’t expected the other to admit it so readily.
Fan Yue looked at the rabbit leaning back, thinking it might fall, so he reached out and scooped him back.
“Then, Your Majesty, can we not go on a killing spree?” a weak voice sounded.
Fan Yue’s movements paused slightly, a deep look of incomprehension in his eyes…
Bai Xuzi really couldn’t hold it in. In the end, he pulled out an “angel’s halo” from his “pocket” and put it on his rabbit head.
“Um, Your Majesty, please don’t look at me like that…” His gaze was evasive, a little shy.
Bai Xuzi was indeed a demon in this life, but he… he had been a human for a long time, and he still couldn’t quite adapt to the demon’s way of thinking.
To watch a pile of people die and then remain indifferent.
He couldn’t do it.
“But Your Majesty, I’m not trying to force you, I’m just…” His voice was weak, and in the end, it even sounded like he was comforting himself, “I’m just expressing myself.”
Bai Xuzi was also a little emo. After all, there was nothing he could do.
He was an empty spirit body; it was hard enough for him to stay alive, let alone save people.
He’d just wear a little halo of sainthood, though it probably wouldn’t do much good.
He felt even more dejected.
Fan Yue looked down at the little demon, and an image of the strangely dressed figure he had seen in his sea of consciousness suddenly flashed through his mind…
But he was only distracted for a moment before his gaze cleared.
So what if he had a past? This little demon was his now, he couldn’t run away.
But just then—
“Ah!” A terrified scream came from the procession. The torch was instantly extinguished, as if it had been deliberately knocked to the ground by something.
The crowd instantly fell into chaos. Shen Yuanzhi seemed to have fallen directly from his horse.
From the grass and the woods, the sound of some unknown object came.
A rustling sound, getting faster and faster.
“Where are the cultivators of the Azure Cloud Sect! Help!” Amidst the noise, Shen Yuanzhi’s cry for help could be heard.
But in the darkness, Wang Huan gritted his teeth and spat on the ground.
“Damn it, those lackeys, how did they all disappear!”
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