Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 393 The Temple in the Snow
"This time it should work," he heard Li Wuxiang say. But his tone was complicated, and it didn't seem like he was happy.

Zhao Qi gazed at the ruins and then noticed something: "It looks like this place has been burned down; the entire town has been burned. And it's burned down..."

It wasn't that long ago. Maybe just two or three months ago.

The rice paddy where the two were standing still had piles of wheat straw that hadn't been removed yet. The incident likely occurred during the autumn harvest season, when the entire town of Jinshui was suddenly plunged into chaos.

"Let's go take a look." Li Wuxiang took a step forward, and Zhao Qi quickly followed.

Li Wuxiang, being a Nascent Soul cultivator and not yet human, naturally didn't feel cold. However, Zhao Qi was a Qi Refining cultivator, and since it was autumn in Maple Valley, his Qi Refining physique could withstand the cold, so he was still wearing only a single layer of clothing.

It had just snowed, making it three degrees colder than usual. When Zhao Qi reached the entrance of the Chen family compound, he felt his toes were frozen stiff, and his ears were almost numb. He could only circulate his inner energy to keep warm, thinking that he should hurry to the abandoned house to find something to wrap around himself.

He rushed in ahead of Li Wuxiang. The courtyard was covered in snow, and he trudged through it, when suddenly he heard a cracking sound under his foot, as if he had stepped into something. He stopped, pulled his foot out, and saw that he had stepped into the chest cavity of a corpse.

"Dead man!" Zhao Qi whispered.

Li Wuxiang slammed his palm down on the ground behind him, creating a whooshing gust of wind that swept away all the snow in the courtyard. Zhao Qi raised his hand to protect his eyes, and when he lowered it again, he found the courtyard filled with corpses—

There were at least fifty or sixty skeletons lying haphazardly, all clean, grayish-white bones, without any trace of decaying flesh. They must have been killed in this courtyard first, and then burned in a fire, so they could be crushed underfoot.

Zhao Qi was shocked: "The people of Jinshui... have all been killed!?"

Li Wuxiang stood at the courtyard gate without coming in, only nodding and saying, "Hmm."

"Who did this? Oh, no, this is an illusion you created—why did you do this? And what did you mean by 'inappropriate' just now?"

Li Wuxiang pointed to the east wing of the courtyard: "Let's talk inside, or you'll freeze to death."

The Chen family's courtyard had a tiled roof, so although the east wing had been burned once, there were still some broken tiles covering the roof, and the wind subsided considerably once you went inside. But everything inside the house was burned to the ground; there was nothing left but snow and blackened, broken walls.

Li Wuxiang looked at the trembling Zhao Qi, sighed, and took off his outer robe, handing it to him.

"Do you remember what I told you about your circumstances? I said that you would be different depending on your circumstances."

Zhao Qi was hurriedly getting dressed when he heard this and nodded in response. But the next moment, he seemed to realize something, slowed down, looked up at him, and slowly put on his clothes.

“The things in the illusion weren’t created by me. Just treat them as real—the Jinshui where I wasn’t, the Jinshui where Zhao Kui didn’t capture me. Here, people will have different experiences.”

"In the last illusion, I asked the guards at the gate. They said you founded a sect in Jinshui."

Zhao Qi looked up: "Huh?"

“Hmm.” Li Wuxiang nodded. “They said that after you came to Jinshui, you lived in the Chen family compound, then you became a Daoist couple with Chen Xiu and settled down. You also established a sect here and took in many people as Ranshan disciples. The town soldiers have a pretty good impression of you as the sect leader. They probably just think you are a bit strict with them.”

"No, what exactly do you want me to do? What's wrong with that place? I'd really like to see what I do here—" Zhao Qi paused, his expression changing drastically as he looked outside, his lips trembling, "Then here…"

"You might have done it."

Zhao Qi jumped up immediately: "How could this be!? I..."

He couldn't continue. Li Wuxiang reached out and patted his shoulder: "Don't panic, this is just an illusion. How should I put it... Zhao Qi, although you were older than me in the past, you spent your whole life on Ran Mountain, with Zhao Kui above you. You didn't make any decisions for yourself, so you were no different from a child."

"Children's minds are fickle; good or bad can happen in the blink of an eye. Zhao Qi in the previous illusion might have been swayed by just one look from Chen Xiu—"

"One day, when she went out, she caught a glimpse of a little bird on a branch behind you and couldn't help but smile. You thought the smile was directed at you. Before, you only thought of her as a little girl, but because of that smile, you actually noticed her. Gradually, feelings developed between the two of you, and you settled down there, becoming Zhao Qi, who founded a sect in Jinshui."

"Zhao Qi here might also have been annoyed by a single glance—Chen Xiu saw not the little bird in the tree behind you, but a crow, and felt disgusted, giving her a disdainful look. Because of that glance, you developed a slight resentment towards her and also became annoyed with her. All sorts of small things accumulate over time, and the ending is completely different."

Zhao Qi's lips trembled, and he shook his head slightly, leaning against the wall, looking as if he wanted to hug his head again.

He's acting like this; he really is like a child. Li Wuxiang thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What? It's definitely not because of Chen Xiu? Then I understand. No wonder Liu Jieling saw through it. And no wonder Zhao Yu couldn't be blamed either."

These words did indeed catch his attention, and Zhao Qi was taken aback: "...What?"

"Zhao Yu is so beautiful, truly a beauty of unparalleled grace. You two grew up together, yet neither of you has ever mentioned anything about romantic feelings in front of me, nor have you mentioned anyone else. Is it possible that you don't like women? And Liu Jieling even noticed that?"

"Huh? What's going on? Zhao Yu is my junior sister! I need to cultivate! Wait, what did Liu Jieling figure out!?"

"You called Zhang Jingzhong away in the middle of the night, and Liu Jieling thought you asked him to satisfy your homosexual desires."

Zhao Qi's attention was truly drawn, and he frowned: "What do you mean by homosexuality?"

Li Wuxiang sighed: "It's because you like men."

Zhao Qi was stunned, and after a long while, he said, "How can a man like another man?"

Li Wuxiang looked at him and nodded: "So you really aren't. But don't be confused, this kind of thing isn't uncommon—are you feeling better now?"

“If it wasn’t Liu Jieling, how could he—” Zhao Qi slammed his fist against the wall twice, then sighed, “Fine. Fine, it might have been me. So what do we do? You…you brought me here to kill me!?”

"Correct."

"Why? To temper my character?"

Li Wuxiang thought for a moment: "Just think of it this way—this illusion wasn't created by me... I created it. I borrowed a bit of human fortune to create it. The you here is also a projection of your origin in the mortal world, the true spirit of your origin in the mortal world. Remember what I just told you, are you and your self in the Crimson Heaven considered to be of the same generation?"

"Then you should be similar to the one here. I want you to kill the evil self here, take the soul, and return to the Myriad Transformations Realm to refine it with your authority as the Blood God of Destiny."

"...You borrowed the fortune of humanity? How did you do it?"

"Have you forgotten? I told you before we came not to ask."

Zhao Qi was silent for a moment: "Okay, but will this work? Will it prevent that thing in the Crimson Sky from possessing me?"

“I don’t know. That’s why I asked you to try. But at least we know now that this trial illusion works, you can come, and you won’t die.”

Zhao Qi rubbed his arms and slowly squatted down. After thinking for a while, he said, "What you're doing... what we're doing... it's not considered heresy, is it? I'm talking about the feelings in my heart. Like you said about me before, some things are hard to explain as good or bad."

"Yes. No one can distinguish everything; we can only try our best not to go astray."

Zhao Qi grabbed a handful of hard snow from the ground and rubbed it on his face, then blew his nose and rubbed his hands with the snow: "Let's go! How do we find me... find him!?"

"You'll have to think about it yourself. If you killed the people of Jinshui and set fire to the town, and that happened not long ago during the autumn harvest, where would you go?"

...Bishan is right behind the Xue family's house. Xue Baoping once said that when the Xue family moved to Jinshui, the town was quite prosperous, and there wasn't much land around. Her grandparents chose a gentle slope on Bishan behind their house and expanded a stone cave in the mountainside, big enough for one person to sleep and rest, so they could slowly cultivate some farmland.

Afterwards, the town suffered a disaster, the population dwindled, and the land became empty. The Xue family spent money to buy ready-made farmland, and the place was abandoned. Over the years, apart from Xue Baoping occasionally visiting, no one else knew about it.

Zhao Qi was very reluctant, but he still had to tell Li Wuxiang that the evil version of himself might be hiding in Bishan.

"I actually knew about Xue Baoping when I first came to Jinshui." As the two walked up the mountain through the snow, Zhao Qi said loudly in the wind, "Back then, I asked Chen Xin if there were any good restaurants in this town, and Chen Xin told me about Xue's Restaurant, saying that it was closed now. When I heard that she was a young girl who had survived on her own, I thought that maybe she would be suitable to take me on as an apprentice!"

"You said the Xue family has a small cave on the mountain, so I might hide there. I was worried about food and drink the whole way to Jinshui. You said you're not in this illusion, so Zhao Kui must have refined the Guangchanzi and gone to the big city to collect incense. Maybe he's even gone back to Ranshan! So I definitely haven't found the Jin Chanzi, and I won't want to go back to Ranshan!"

"Then I... he might go looking for Xue Baoping and take her as his disciple, and that's how he might find out about that stone cave! It's the perfect place for quiet cultivation!"

“If it was because of something… he killed everyone, and it's winter now, what if he needed food and drink? It was right after the autumn harvest, maybe he wanted to have the harvested grain transported to the mountains to build a temple there… No, no! Maybe that's why they started fighting and killing each other! Chen Xin refused to hand over the grain!”

He stepped into a snowdrift and almost slipped, but Li Wuxiang pulled him back.

Once Zhao Qi had steadied himself, he couldn't help but complain, "Couldn't you take me flying up? Or send your spirit to search for me?"

Li Wuxiang spoke in a low voice, but his voice was very clear in the strong wind: "I shouldn't be here. Think of this illusion as a bowl of water. I am a Nascent Soul cultivator with the Great Tribulation Fruit level. My arrival here is like a sesame seed, and you are like a speck of dust. Neither I nor you should be here. But you are too small, so it doesn't matter. But my influence is much greater. It's best not to use your supernatural powers if possible."

"Alright, Sesame!" Zhao Qi sighed loudly, "Let's keep looking!"

The two crossed another mountain ridge and trudged down into the valley. After crossing another hillside, Zhao Qi and Li Wuxiang almost simultaneously sniffed—there was a smoky, pungent smell in the air. Though faint, it was quite noticeable in the mountains.

"Found it!" Zhao Qi crouched down and took three steps at a time to reach the top of the slope. Then he lowered his body again and waved to Li Wuxiang.

Li Wuxiang followed and saw the gentle slope Xue Baoping had mentioned before. Ahead lay another valley, steep on both sides, covered in snow. But in spring, summer, and autumn, this should have been a small stream.

On the other side of the ditch was the slope Xue Baoping had mentioned—about two or three acres in size, and semi-circular in shape. The gentle slope, against the mountainside, had a stone wall, where the cave that Xue Baoping said her grandparents had carved out should be located.

But now the cave is blocked by three sheds. These sheds, built with wood, thatch, and old door panels, surround the entrance to the cave in a U-shape, leaving an open space in the middle.

The shack was rather makeshift, with a wooden frame, walls made of thinner branches, thatched with straw, and secured with salvaged door panels. The roof was similarly constructed. Piles of thatch and firewood, covered in snow, were also stacked outside the shack, presumably for easy access and protection from the wind and cold.

In one of the three shacks, the easternmost one has only half a wall, and the smoke comes out from the unsealed upper half.

As the two were looking, a little girl came out. She wore thick, tattered clothes layered on top of each other, revealing a bright green skirt underneath. Zhao Qi and Li Wuxiang whispered almost simultaneously, "Chen Xiu."

Chen Xiu came out from the doorway carrying a small pot. After walking to the wall, she squatted down, grabbed a handful of snow from the ground and put it into the pot. She then pulled a clump of thatch from the pile of thatch next to her to scrub the pot.

Her hands must have been freezing; she would scrub a few times, then pull them to her mouth to breathe on them before continuing. When Li Wuxiang had seen her before, she was dressed like a modest young lady. Now, her hair was a mess, her face was dirty, her nose and cheeks were red from the cold, and she was wiping her nose with her other hand while scrubbing the pot—she looked utterly pitiful.

Zhao Qi frowned: "Why would you take her in? Her aptitude is terrible."

Then he snorted again: "What a scoundrel! I never treated my junior brothers and sisters like this when I was on the mountain. He lives in the cave himself and makes a bunch of little brats live outside."

“Ranshan has good infrastructure, and Zhao Yu was in charge of managing it for you back then, right?” Li Wuxiang pulled him, “Come on, let’s go take a look.”

"Wait a minute." Zhao Qi ripped a piece of cloth off Li Wuxiang's outer robe and covered his face with it. "Alright, let's go!"

The two took a longer route, approaching the mountain wall from the east side of the slope. It had stopped snowing, but the slope was windward, and the wind was strong, whipping up snowflakes from all directions, creating a misty atmosphere. Under the cover of this snow and mist, they approached the hut opposite the rock face, hiding behind a pile of thatch against the wall.

From this angle, you can see the stone cave. A door panel has been installed, and thick straw has been nailed to the panel, making it look quite warm. You can also see the shed to the east—this is the kitchen. Inside, there are two stoves built of yellow earth, one large and one small, similar in layout to the Xue family's old kitchen, but much simpler.

Inside the house, there was a stack of sacks piled high. It was clear at a glance that this was the grain harvested by the people of Jinshui Town in the fall.

And there was another person. Neither Zhao Qi nor Li Wuxiang were surprised when they saw him—Xue Baoping.

Something was probably cooking in a large pot inside the shed, steaming hot. Xue Baoping was also dressed in layers of clothing, ladling water into the pot and tasting it. After taking two sips with her small gourd ladle, she seemed to hear something, stopped moving, listened carefully again, put down the ladle, and went outside.

From this angle, Chen Xiu was no longer visible, but Xue Baoping quickly pulled her back—she was carrying a small iron pot in one hand and wiping her eyes with the other, crying. Xue Baoping led her to the burning stove and pressed her down to sit on the ground: "If you're cold, come back and warm yourself by the fire. Isn't crying making you even colder?"

Chen Xiu sobbed, stammering, "I...I'm not...I'm not cold...I..."

Xue Baoping took the pot from her hand, walked to the door, rubbed the snow a few times, and turned back to say, "Don't cry. Haven't you noticed that because you're always crying, Master is starting to dislike you a little?"

"No... I miss my father, my mother, I..." Chen Xiu said breathlessly, but covered her mouth with her sleeve to stifle her sobs.

Xue Baoping finished washing the pot and went back to put it on the small stove: "I know what you want—"

"You...don't know..."

Xue Baoping stood with her hands on her hips, tilting her head to look at her. Chen Xiu seemed to realize she had said the wrong thing, and stammered, "Oh, I... I remember now, your parents are... gone too..."

Xue Baoping then lowered her hand and said softly, "It will get better slowly. Spring will come in another month, and it won't be cold anymore."

"I'm not..." Chen Xiu was still crying, "I, I'm having my period..."

Xue Baoping was taken aback. Then she heard a soft cough, and Li Wuxiang and Zhao Qi also heard a soft cough—they heard it more clearly because it came from the shed next to them, and it was Zhao Qi's voice!

Zhao Qi is in here!?

"Do not look at what is improper, do not speak what is improper! If you can't even endure this little bit of hardship, how can you endure the hardships on the path of cultivation!?" Zhao Qi's voice sounded stern from inside the shed, carried through the howling wind. "After you've eaten, tell them all to come out and temper their muscles and bones! Today I'll tell you the first thirty words of the 'Embracing Dew and Clouds' chapter—'Children raised in rural families are all spoiled rotten!'"

Li Wuxiang turned to Zhao Qi and mouthed, "Brother Zhao, you're so impressive."

Zhao Qi's face turned red instantly.

Chen Xiu immediately stopped crying. But Xue Baoping walked to the door and comforted her in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft: "Don't blame Master for being angry. If Master hadn't driven away the evil Taoist priest who harmed the town and rescued us all, we wouldn't even feel cold. Master has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Don't cry, I'll secretly boil some water for you in a bit."

After she finished speaking, she glanced towards the shed. Three breaths later, Zhao Qi's voice came again: "After the meal, I'll boil two pots of water for you to bathe and cleanse yourselves before you can listen to the lecture! A bunch of good-for-nothings! Xue Baoping, do you think I can't hear you? Trying to read people's minds and being opportunistic, if you dare to do that again, you'll kneel outside for half an hour!"

Zhao Qi? He drove away the sorcerer? He saved them? Li Wuxiang was taken aback and looked at Zhao Qi beside him.

But Zhao Qi wasn't surprised; instead, he seemed somewhat lost. He shook his head and sighed softly, "I used to want to be a better master, not like Zhao Kui, or like this."

……

Five thousand three hundred today.

(End of this chapter)