Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 412 Shui Luo Ayi
Mo Li's ten fingers were slender and icy cold. His knuckles gently touched Ran Qing's face as if he were holding a fragile work of art, afraid of hurting Ran Qing.

The anxiety and worry in her eyes were genuine.

The two stared at each other so closely that they could almost feel each other's breath.

Ran Qing's expression became dazed again.

But this time, it wasn't because he saw any strange hallucinations.

He felt at a loss simply because of Mo Li's intimate and gentle touch.

At that moment, Ran Qing inexplicably thought of Li Hongye, and of the death diary written in Li Hongye's voice in the Yin Shou Book.

In the past two years of his interactions with Li Hongye, there had been a vague sense of ambiguity, but never such close contact.

After realizing this, Ran Qing felt a sudden surge of inexplicable shame.

He instinctively took two steps back, hastily creating some distance.

“I…I’ve gone in,” he said, instinctively lowering his eyelids, afraid to look into Mo Li’s eyes, lest the girl in front of him discover the turmoil in his heart.

Ran Qing forced a calm demeanor and recounted the situation: "Those things burrowed into my head, but they didn't harm me. Instead, they added thirteen sticks of blood-red soul incense to my body..."

As Ran Qing recounted the situation, his emotions truly calmed down as he focused on the important matters and shifted his attention.

Ran Qing recounted the events that had just occurred to the girl in detail.

After listening, Mo Li was surprised to see that Ran Qing's hands had faint damp marks on her long-sleeved clothes.

However, because Ran Qing was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt today, the color of the blood was not noticeable.

Mo Li hurriedly went into the next room and brought back a small medicine box.

"Quick, take off your clothes, I'll bandage you up."

When Ran Qing used the ox bone knife to pry out the wriggling protrusion under the skin, she left five wounds on her body.

Because he was not skilled with a knife, all five wounds of varying depths pierced the flesh, and blood was dripping down.

Mo Li ran back carrying a small medicine box, but Ran Qing was still hesitating.

Young people are shy and embarrassed to expose their upper bodies in front of girls.

Mo Li walked straight over and half-forcefully stripped Ran Qing of his clothes off, then pressed him down onto a stool.

"...Don't move. Your injury needs to be treated. Since you can't use the Ghost Eye to heal right now, you can only wrap it in bandages for now."

"The wound isn't deep, but if it's not disinfected and cleaned, it will become infected."

“Once it festers, it’ll be all over. You’ll probably have a high fever, so forget about dealing with the evil spirits. We don’t even know if those few ghost eyes can cure the viral infection.”

Mo Li kept talking as he used hydrogen peroxide to clean the wound on Ran Qing's arm.

When the clear, cool hydrogen peroxide was poured onto the wound, it immediately produced a fine foam.

Although it doesn't hurt, the visual effect is extremely bad.

Mo Li carefully treated the wound, then took out white gauze to apply it to Ran Qing and bandaged it.

There are three wounds on my left shoulder.

There are two wounds on his right shoulder.

The blood dripping from the wound had flowed down Ran Qing's chest and abdomen, and much of it had seeped into the bandage wrapped around Ran Qing's right arm.

After treating the wound on her right shoulder, Mo Li took out a bandage and handed it to Ran Qing: "Change the dirty bandage too..."

Beneath the bandages wrapped around Ran Qing's right arm were ghost eyes.

As instructed by the Goat God of Ghost Eyes, they need to be covered up when not in use.

Ran Qing took the clean bandage handed to her by Mo Li and, without trying to hide it from him, untied the dirty bandage from her arm in front of him.

Ten wriggling ghost eyes appeared in the main room, instantly locking onto Mo Li, who was standing right next to them.

Mo Li remained calm, showing no reaction to the horrifying scene.

Only after Ran Qing rewrapped her arm with bandages did she speak, saying, "...There are ten ghost eyes now."

Mo Li noticed that Ran Qing's number of ghost eyes had increased.

Ran Qing nodded and said, "When the Ghost-Eyed Sheep God took away His memorial tablet, he gave me a few more."

The Ghost-Eyed Sheep God who made a contract with Aunt Liu is incredibly reliable and generous.

In comparison, the group of evil lords behind Ran Qing's Nuo opera mask were all restless and insane lunatics who could not be trusted at all.

Ran Qing also understood more and more why Aunt Liu looked troubled when she saw the Nuo opera mask on the day he raised the spirit tablet.

This mask is really nothing special...

After the bandages were wrapped around his arm and covered his ghost eyes again, the room suddenly fell silent.

The boy and girl, alone indoors, seemed to have lost their voice.

Both of them looked around nervously, unsure of what to say, as if some invisible taboo was restraining them, preventing them from speaking freely.

This abrupt silence lasted for quite a while before Mo Li finally broke the silence by speaking first.

"...Actually, we can consider Master Liu Fang's suggestion."

Mo Li looked at Ran Qing with a deep gaze and said, "Although Li Hongye is fierce, it is just a vengeful ghost and cannot even be considered an evil master."

"The reason it was able to stir up such a huge storm is entirely because it borrowed the power of the ancient Luo Ghost Kingdom."

“If you’re determined to leave, she might not be able to stop us.”

Mo Li said softly, "We don't actually need to fight her to the death. We should preserve our strength and go outside to find experts from Bureau 769 for help. When the time comes, we can bring people back to Zangke. With more people, we will have a greater chance of successfully suppressing Li Hongye."

"At that time, you can also use the methods of spirit mediums to capture her and interrogate her to find out the truth..."

Mo Li spoke gently, completely considering things from Ran Qing's perspective.

What she said did make some sense.

As long as we ignore Li Hongye for the time being, we can use Master Liu Fang's connections to gather manpower outside, and then bring back a large force to deal with Li Hongye.

The success rate will be higher, and it will be safer.

The only thing to worry about is whether, while Ran Qing and the others are away, the Ancient Luo Ghost Kingdom will drag the entire Moonlit City into the underworld...

But from a selfish point of view, Ran Qing is just a seventeen-year-old high school student, and he has no obligation to risk his life for the people of this city.

When faced with natural disasters, the power of an individual is too weak.

The ancient Luo Kingdom is so terrifying that even if Li Hongye can be stopped, no one can be sure that those pale ghostly figures will not continue to harm people after Li Hongye is suppressed.

In the small house where the two were alone, Mo Li gently persuaded Ran Qing.

Mo Li, who had previously unconditionally supported Ran Qing in front of outsiders, could no longer hide his worry for Ran Qing.

Seeing the worry and concern in the girl's eyes, and listening to her advice to leave, Ran Qing silently lowered her head.

He seemed to be caught in some kind of hesitation.

Ran Qing's silence caused Mo Li to stop trying to persuade her.

The two companions, who had shared life and death many times and had a close relationship, seemed to be bound by an invisible taboo at this moment, as if there were many things in the air that they could not touch or dared not touch.

An awkward silence made it difficult for the two to continue their conversation.

Mo Li opened his mouth and said, "...I'll go out first. Call me if you need anything."

She wanted to leave.

As with every previous instance, whenever their conversation touched upon a sensitive or private topic, they would tacitly stop and skip that topic.

But this time, just as the girl was about to turn and leave, Ran Qing, who had been keeping her head down, suddenly spoke. This time, Ran Qing did not avoid the departing girl.

He stared at the girl in front of him and stopped her with his words: "I can't leave. If I leave, my teachers, my classmates, my friends... they will all die in this city."

“Especially my very important friend, she will die the moment Li Hongye finishes raising the evil spirit and refining the corpse.”

"There's no need to wait for Moonlit City to be dragged into the Wujiang Ghost Realm. As long as Li Hongye completes her demon-raising and corpse-refining process, she will die..."

Ran Qing stared into Mo Li's eyes and said these words in a calm but firm tone.

Upon hearing these words, Mo Li trembled.

She instinctively took two steps back, clenching her fists nervously with her back pressed against the door.

Mo Li looked around fearfully, his eyes darting around, and said in a daze, "...Then let's go stop Li Hongye and save everyone. Zong Shu and I are willing to go with you."

Mo Li spoke these words with a guilty conscience, pretending to be deaf and dumb and ignoring the important information in Ran Qing's words.

She tried to avoid it as she had done before.

But this time, Ran Qing, having made up her mind, didn't give her a chance to avoid it.

Sitting on the wooden stool, Ran Qing stared straight at Mo Li and said, "...Aren't you going to ask who my friend is?"

Mo Li lowered his head and mumbled, "...I don't want to know."

At this moment, the girl seemed to have been forced into a corner with no way to retreat, and Ran Qing had forcefully blocked all her escape routes.

The usually decisive, cheerful, and sunny girl rarely showed such an embarrassed and disheveled expression.

This scene even looked somewhat pitiful, evoking sympathy.

But Ran Qing was heartless and refused to let her go.

After taking two deep breaths, Ran Qing said, "I have a friend who told me she was a dead person when we first met."

"At the time, I thought she was joking."

"But as I spent more time with her, I realized that what she said might not be a lie."

"My good friend who shared life and death with me, she is really dead, a dead person who has been dead for many years."

"And it wasn't even an ordinary dead person."

"Her status during her lifetime was extremely distinguished!"

Ran Qing stared intently at the girl in front of him and said, "Am I right? Shui Luo Ayi!"

The name Ran Qing called out last made the tense girl tremble.

She suddenly looked up, staring incredulously at Ran Qing in front of her, her face filled with terror, as if she had seen a ghost.

"How...how do you know this name?"

Mo Li found it hard to believe.

The girl's shocked expression made Ran Qing momentarily dazed.

He seemed to have returned to that eerie high platform, with countless writhing black shadows beneath his feet.

But the next second, Ran Qing shook her head, banishing the chaotic scene from her mind.

Staring at Mo Li in front of her, Ran Qing smiled and said, "...I saw it when you were massaging my temples just now."

"So, you really are the last Ghost King of the Ancient Luo Kingdom, right?"

"The one lying in the Ghost King's coffin was originally you..."

Since she had decided to lay her cards on the table, Ran Qing made no attempt to hide anything and revealed everything in the simplest terms.

Two years ago, Aunt Liu's daughter passed away.

"Sixth Aunt couldn't accept her daughter's death, so she went to the underworld, hoping to use the Ancient Ghost Coins to revive Mo Li."

"However, what emerged from the coffin was not the real Mo Li, but a ghost, the former Ghost King of the Ancient Luo Kingdom... Shui Luo Ayi."

Ran Qing stared at the girl's face and asked, "Am I right?"

The dark, stuffy room fell into a moment of deathly silence.

A tense, rigid atmosphere gripped the two people staring at each other.

Ran Qing remained calm, showing no hostility whatsoever, and even appeared quite relaxed. This was despite the presence before him being the legendary Ancient Luo Ghost King, a terrifying and sinister being.

Mo Li, her hands clenched into fists and filled with tension and unease, carefully observed Ran Qing and confirmed that the boy in front of her showed no hostility or dislike towards her.

She quietly clenched her small fist, then slowly lowered and relaxed it.

Looking at Ran Qing in front of him with a deep gaze, Mo Li plopped down on the ground and muttered, "...When did you guess?"

Mo Li gave up all resistance and, in a show of weakness, admitted his true identity.

Ran Qing smiled at Mo Li's reaction and said, "...Actually, I guessed it a long time ago, but I didn't expect you to be the Ghost King at first. It wasn't until recently that I confirmed your true identity."

"I never imagined that the Ancient Demon King, whom I had always been worried about and afraid of, had actually been by my side all along..."

After sighing with mixed emotions, Ran Qing looked at the girl in front of her and asked, "When did you regain consciousness?"

Ran Qing wanted to know when her sixth aunt had died.

According to the rules of using the "life-buying money," after the person who used the "ghost money" to buy their life dies, the ghost that was bought into the human world will regain self-awareness.

Aunt Liu was already dead before she met Ran Qing; she had simply used forbidden evil magic to summon a ghost to impersonate her…

Ran Qing felt sad every time she thought about her sixth aunt's fate.

Mo Li looked at Ran Qing expressionlessly and said, "...I'm different. When I walked out of the Ghost King's coffin, I was free."

"From the very beginning, there was no resurrected Mo Li."

"Although I tried my best to act like a daughter to appease her, the old woman was too perceptive. I only pretended for two days before she discovered the flaw."

"She almost killed me if I hadn't run fast enough."

When Mo Li spoke of how he had almost been killed, there was no hatred in his eyes, but rather a hint of sadness.

Her gaze drifted, as if she were lost in some kind of memory.

After a long period of silent reflection, Mo Li said softly, "That old woman was sharp-tongued, ruthless, and cruel, but she was truly a good person."

"She couldn't accept a fake daughter, but she didn't try to kill me either."

"Although she told me to get out of Zangke, she took out all her savings and gave them to me to help me get through the most difficult period when I first returned to the human world and was unfamiliar with everything."

"So after I realized she was completely dead, I came back, thinking that at least I could collect her body and take care of her funeral arrangements."

"But I never expected that before that old woman died, she left behind a foolish apprentice like you who knows nothing."

With that, Mo Li smiled complicatedly and said, "But that person only looks stupid; in reality, he's very cunning."

"I thought I was pretending well, but in your eyes, I'm just a clown who's already been exposed..."

Mo Li gave a self-deprecating, bitter smile, a smile that was quite complex.

The story she told finally cleared up a doubt in Ran Qing's mind.

Why did Mo Li part ways with her mother two years ago?

It turns out she wasn't some rebellious teenage girl, but rather the Demon King who possessed a clear sense of self from the very first second of her resurrection.

Sixth Aunt's efforts to revive her daughter were unsuccessful...

(End of this chapter)