Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 275 Who Dies?

Zhao San meant that Shi Yizhi was about to die.

that's the truth.

Just an hour after Zhu Ye and Shi Yizhi left the underworld, a cold wind blew through the backyard of the Peach Blossom Goddess Temple, and the bonfire in the courtyard suddenly turned a strange color.

"Miss Lu, look, isn't this fire a little too red?"

Jiang Wanli couldn't help but move closer to Lu Mao'er, and said tremblingly.

Lu Maoer followed Jiang Wanli's gaze and saw that the huge campfire had changed from a bright warm yellow to an orange-red, and was even gradually turning red.

Just then, the incense in the incense burner in front of Shi Yizhi's "memorial tablet" suddenly went out. The half-burnt incense ash hung from the incense sticks, trembling in the wind, but it just wouldn't fall down.

"Brother Jiang! Brother Jiang! The incense has gone out!"

Those with sharp eyes were the first to see this and immediately shouted. Jiang Wanli was so startled that he turned his head and hurriedly lit the incense again.

After the incense was relit, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but the bonfire in the courtyard turned even redder.

Just then, another gust of cold wind blew by, extinguishing the incense that had just been lit.

Then, a red embroidered shoe suddenly appeared beside the campfire. Then, taking advantage of the firelight, the embroidered shoe moved towards the place where Shi Yizhi and Zhu Ye were lying, with each step landing on its own. Next to the embroidered shoe, there were many water stains, which looked like a woman's footprints, moving little by little along with the embroidered shoe.

"what--"

The timid people immediately gasped, but the clever ones covered their mouths and watched the scene before them in shock.

Jiang Wanli was so frightened he wanted to faint on the spot, but at this very moment, he was perfectly lucid—

Moreover, he also had the task of protecting the physical bodies of Zhu Ye and Shi Yizhi. Because he was timid, he no longer needed to go to the underworld himself. If he couldn't even protect the physical bodies of the two of them, he would curse himself!

"You! You! Stop right there!"

Summoning courage from who knows where, Jiang Wanli suddenly stood up, grabbed a stool from the nearest bench, and shouted.

Upon hearing the shout, the embroidered shoe actually stopped, but soon the toe turned in a different direction, pointing towards Jiang Wanli.

Just as Jiang Wanli's legs were so weak he almost couldn't stand, Lu Mao'er suddenly took out the embroidered shoe that had been shown to everyone earlier from her bag—it was clearly a pair with this embroidered shoe.

Lu Mao'er tossed the embroidered shoes a little in front of the fire, then gripped the twin swords on her back, poised to strike, and shouted, "I caught your shoes while fishing this afternoon. They're back to their rightful owner. Go back to where you came from!"

As soon as Lu Mao'er finished speaking, the embroidered shoe tip, which was facing Jiang Wanli, turned slightly to face Lu Mao'er.

"Go find the temple keeper immediately!"

Seeing this, Lu Mao'er drew her twin swords as she spoke, staring intently at the embroidered shoe.

The twin blades were small, curved swords, like crescent moons, gleaming with a cold light; one glance revealed them to be no ordinary weapons.

However, the embroidered shoe suddenly moved. With lightning speed, the embroidered shoe almost instantly teleported in front of Lu Mao'er. Lu Mao'er subconsciously raised her twin swords to protect herself, and released her true energy, which became a golden protective aura.

Immediately afterwards, a clanging sound, like metal clashing against metal, rang out. Suddenly, a dark, misty substance fell from the ground, then melted into the soil like water, making a sizzling sound.

Looking at the two swords in Lu Mao'er's hands, a large black spot appeared on the blade of one of the curved swords, and the surface of the sword was also much duller, no longer possessing the divine luster it had just displayed.

Suddenly, the embroidered shoes took a few steps back, and the toes of the shoes slowly turned in different directions.

The tip of the embroidered shoe first turned towards Jiang Wanli, but before Jiang Wanli could react, it slowly turned back towards its original target—Zhu Ye and Shi Yizhi's body lying on the straw mat!

Some clever people in the crowd had already run to ask the temple keeper, but the backyard was still a bit far from the frontyard, and it would take some time for them to come and go. Lu Mao'er had only blocked one move in the short time it took, so there was no time for the temple keeper to arrive.

In a moment of desperation, Jiang Wanli suddenly remembered what everyone had speculated about earlier, and hurriedly shouted at the top of his lungs, "Who! Who practices such an extremely yang and fierce technique! Please help! Ghosts are most afraid of that!"

However, at this moment, seeing that even Lu Mao'er, who had a sixth-grade cultivation level, could only withstand one blow before his weapon was ruined, who would dare to step forward and pretend to be strong?

Jiang Wanli's voice was very clear in the silent night, but no one responded, which made the tip of the embroidered shoe turn towards him again.

Seeing this, Jiang Wanli hurriedly circulated his true energy, condensing a layer of protective qi around his body, preparing for battle. Unfortunately, his cultivation was only at the eighth rank, which was hardly impressive. His cultivation technique was also water-based, inherently yin in nature. When he used it, not only did it fail to intimidate the owner of the embroidered shoes like Lu Mao'er had, but a faint sneer even drifted in the wind, as if mocking his overestimation of his abilities.

"Master, my senior brother only... only went to the underworld because of me..."

Jiang Wanli knew perfectly well he was being mocked, but for some reason, boundless courage rose within him. However, he couldn't suppress his physical fear, and his words stammered, "I...I...I finally made it this far, I want to cultivate immortality, you...you can't...you can't stop me—"

With that, he finally let out a loud yell, grabbed a stool, and charged forward—

Lu Mao'er saw Jiang Wanli's determination to fight to the death and became somewhat anxious, loudly stopping him: "Don't be impulsive!"

But Jiang Wanli knew in his heart that the reason why someone had to watch over the incense and the body during the "walking in the underworld" was to prevent unclean things from taking over the body of the person walking in the underworld. If the incense went out and the body was taken over by unclean things, then the person walking in the underworld would really die!
Shi Yizhi was hated by the Mountain Lord because he saved him. It was also to resolve the Mountain Lord's matter that he had no choice but to try to find a way to reach the City God through the underworld. Otherwise, Shi Yizhi would not have taken this risk. He was the one who mistakenly entered the Mountain Lord's territory and was the one being chased by the Mountain Lord. He was determined not to harm Shi Yizhi, who helped him, because of his fear of death!

Moreover, Shi Yizhi bears the heavy responsibility of revitalizing the Shi family, and his own Jiang family... also has brothers and sisters...

In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Jiang Wanli's mind, but when he grabbed the stool and smashed it over the embroidered shoes, all those thoughts vanished from his mind.

"Uh-"

An invisible black mist passed through Jiang Wanli's abdomen, and the sizzling sound rang out again, this time from Jiang Wanli's stomach.

Jiang Wanli screamed and stared wide-eyed.

His stomach was ripped open, his intestines spilled up to his thighs, and blood splattered all over the ground.

But he gritted his teeth, used up the last bit of his true energy, poured it into the stool, and then slammed it down in front of him with all his might.

"Hee hee hee--"

A piercing laugh rang out, and the layer of light blue true energy vanished in the blink of an eye. True energy at the eighth rank was indeed useless.

But Jiang Wanli still stared intently, refusing to swallow the anger in his mouth.

"You beast!"

Lu Mao'er's eyes turned red when Jiang Wanli screamed in agony after being pierced by the black mist. She circulated her true energy and began wildly slashing at Jiang Wanli's embroidered shoes with her twin swords.

Several wisps of black mist fell to the ground, making a hissing sound, echoing the sound coming from Jiang Wanli's abdomen, which made Lu Mao'er pant heavily—purely out of anger!

If the enemy is visible, then it doesn't matter how you fight them.

But this invisible and intangible enemy gave her a feeling of utter helplessness, like she'd been screwed over!
When Lu Mao'er suddenly attacked, the surrounding crowd was startled awake and then screamed and scattered in all directions.

Just then, Huang Miaozhu finally arrived late. He was shocked by the scene in the backyard and threw out the talismans from his arms without restraint.

The owner of the embroidered shoes seemed to finally sense the danger. With a shrill cry, the embroidered shoes clattered as they ran out of the yard.

Just as she reached the edge of the courtyard, the embroidered shoes suddenly stopped moving.

As Lu Mao'er was wondering, she saw the temple keeper bow to the empty courtyard and say, "Gentlemen, you've arrived! What a mess! Someone died right under the nose of the Peach Blossom Goddess! Oh dear! Oh dear! You'd better take her away quickly!"

After Huang Miaozhu finished speaking, Lu Mao'er saw that the owner of the embroidered shoe seemed to be dragged away, leaving a long trail on the ground.

After being dragged several feet away, the embroidered shoes disappeared.

"Cough cough cough..."

Just as he was wondering, Shi Yizhi, who was on the straw mat, suddenly coughed—he had returned to his physical body.

"Brother Jiang! Brother Jiang!"

Because his legs were too weak to exert any strength, Shi Yizhi practically tumbled and crawled to Jiang Wanli's side: "Brother Jiang! How are you?! I'll take you to the clinic!"

Jiang Wanli's wide eyes reflected Shi Yizhi's image. He forced a smile, his voice barely a whisper: "I...I saved...your...flesh..."

When Jiang Wanli mentioned the word "meat," he didn't have the strength to say another word, and Shi Yizhi's tears immediately flew out: "Brother Jiang!"

(End of this chapter)