Shui Miao tried to practice energy cultivation, but he couldn’t calm his mind at all. Every time he attempted to focus, his thoughts were interrupted by a strange force, and his dantian showed no reaction whatsoever. After repeating this several times, he helplessly gave up. This was a result he had anticipated, but even so, he couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed after truly failing.
When he had the divine power before, he hadn’t thought himself particularly fortunate.
Now unable to channel his spiritual energy, he realized how foolish he had been, acting too impulsively and ending up in such a pitiful situation.
“If I could regain my fairy powers, I would certainly cherish them!”
Shui Miao sighed deeply and lay down on the bed.
He had been here for two days and hadn’t thought much about his mother and friends, since he had left a note when he departed, and everyone had enough money to live comfortably, so there was no need for him to worry unnecessarily.
Rather, he was quite curious about this Miao region and found everything fresh and new.
“Shasha…”
A soft sound of footsteps echoed. Shui Miao slightly furrowed his brow; from the sound, it was clear that two people had arrived, both women—one a young wife, and the other seemingly Numb-face.
Shui Miao sat up from the bed, and by then the door had already opened—it was indeed Numb-face and the young wife.
Strangely, Numb-face didn’t let the young wife enter the room, instead locking her outside, as if she were the true master of the room.
The young wife was very puzzled, but she didn’t leave. Instead, she pressed her ear against the door to eavesdrop.
Numb-face wasn’t stupid either. After entering the room and standing beside Shui Miao, she lowered her voice and said, “It’s bad news. the Immortal went to the western village and hasn’t returned for a long time. This matter started because of you. You’re so capable; I think you must handle it. If the Immortal runs into trouble, the consequences would be terrible, and the entire eastern village would suffer!”
Numb-face wasn’t entirely thinking about herself—she was also concerned for the villagers.
“Numb-face! I can’t use my spiritual power at all now. Asking me to help is like forcing a duck to climb a tree,” Shui Miao said indifferently. After all, with the jade pendant protecting him, he actually hoped the蛊巫 would come looking for trouble. That way, he might regain his spiritual power sooner.
Seeing Shui Miao’s reluctance, Numb-face continued, “Don’t forget, it’s the Immortal who’s helping you disguise yourself. If something happens to him, you’ll revert to your original appearance. Then how will you stay here?”
“…”
Shui Miao was speechless. Did he really care so much about staying here?
Seeing his silence, Numb-face grew anxious and tugged at Shui Miao’s arm. “You slept with the young wife. Once she realizes you’re not Zhang Ling, she’ll surely commit suicide. Under these circumstances, for your sake and hers, you must think of a solution.”
This statement hit the nail on the head.
Shui Miao had been somewhat willing to go before, but now that Numb-face was threatening him, he became unwilling again. Thinking back to last night, he was glad he had maintained his principles and hadn’t acted inappropriately with the young wife—otherwise, Numb-face’s words would have come true. However, her words reminded Shui Miao that he couldn’t stay any longer; remaining here would only bring more trouble. After quickly considering his options, Shui Miao smiled slightly, walked to the door, suddenly opened it, pulled the eavesdropping young wife inside, and then said to Numb-face, “You can ask her yourself whether I slept with her. Also, no one can force me to do anything—not even you, Numb-face.”
Shui Miao’s sudden declaration left both Numb-face and the young wife stunned.
“What are you saying? Do you want to die?”
Numb-face hadn’t expected Shui Miao to be willing to risk exposing his identity instead of helping her.
The young wife was even more surprised. Suddenly, she felt this man was a stranger—not her husband.
“It doesn’t matter. So what if I die?” Shui Miao coldly shook his head at Numb-face, then turned to the young wife and said, “Sorry, I’m not your husband. Your real husband is already dead. Don’t worry about me anymore—my life and death have nothing to do with you. Also, as for that guy from the Gu Wu sect, I’ll find a way to deal with him. You should find someone else to marry. You’ll definitely be happy, because you’re still young.”
After saying this, Shui Miao turned and walked away.
But Numb-face quickly grabbed his arm. “You can’t leave. You must go to the Dragon God Temple to save the Immortal.”
“What exactly is going on? You have to explain clearly,” the young wife also grabbed Shui Miao.
“Hehe, so what if it’s just a life? I suddenly realized—I don’t want to keep hiding anymore. I want to confront him, even if it means death. Of course, I’ll go to the Dragon God Temple, but the time for me to go is not for you to decide.” Shui Miao himself didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt exhausted living without spiritual power, unable to endure even a single day more without it. Turning around, Shui Miao looked at the young wife, then grabbed her hand and pulled her outside. “We haven’t done anything together—you’re still innocent. Come with me; I’ll take you to find your husband’s body.”
Instinctively, the young wife followed Shui Miao downstairs.
Now it was Numb-face’s turn to panic. She had originally come to ask Shui Miao for help, but instead ended up ruining everything.
She chased after them.
The villagers were all curious, and several followed behind to watch the commotion.
Shui Miao pulled the young wife all the way to where he had come ashore, found the pit where he had buried Zhang Ling that day, and discovered the pit had been dug open—with no body inside. Seeing this, Numb-face quickly pulled the young wife aside and told her that her husband wasn’t dead—he had just gone mad, appearing normal but actually not. The young wife was confused by these words, as were the others, who listened with skepticism.
Where had the body gone?
Shui Miao was very puzzled. He had buried the body well—how could it just disappear?
Could it be that Zhang Ling had risen from the dead and crawled out?
Shui Miao felt something was off and carefully examined the ground. He noticed a trail, and from its shape, he deduced it was a mark left by someone dragging a corpse.
The body had been taken!
A heavy feeling settled in Shui Miao’s heart. He quickly followed the trail. The riverside’s damp soil still showed traces that could be seen clearly.
Numb-face told the young wife and others to go back, while she followed Zhang Ling.
But the young wife no longer believed Numb-face. She felt that Shui Miao’s words earlier must have been true—no fool could possibly speak like that.
So the young wife ignored Numb-face and followed Shui Miao with several childhood friends.
Without the Immortal, Numb-face was just an ordinary person, unable to stop anyone.
“What are you looking for?”
The young wife asked from behind Shui Miao.
Shui Miao raised her gaze toward the west—the direction of the shallow riverbank in the western village. “A corpse. Your husband’s corpse. If I’m not mistaken, it was stolen by the蛊巫 from the western village. It seems I’ll have to go find him earlier than planned…”
“But you are my husband!”
The young wife blocked Shui Miao’s way, speaking in Mandarin. “Zhang Ling, stop this. Every time you wake up, you go searching for the蛊巫 to seek revenge. Not again… I know you’re Zhang Ling. You’re trying to trick me into giving up and not standing in your way. You’re wrong! I won’t believe you. Stop being ridiculous—we can’t defeat him.”
The young wife was convinced that Shui Miao was Zhang Ling and firmly believed he was lying to her for revenge.
Shui Miao felt both amused and frustrated—admitting his identity, yet no one believed him.
Numb-face didn’t know what to say. Initially, she had been pushing Shui Miao to go, but now that he was really going, she instead felt he shouldn’t go, since Long Wuyeye was indeed a sinister figure.
“Zhang Ling, don’t go—he’ll curse you!”
“Yeah, Zhang Ling, we should plan revenge carefully. Think about your parents. If something happens to you, how could they bear it in their old age? They’ve already lost two sons!”
“What if we call the police?”
“Don’t be naive. The cops are too scared to say anything when they hear about our village. Long Wuyeye is a dark figure—everyone within a hundred miles knows that!”
“…”
A group of girls from the village spoke up, trying to stop Shui Miao from going to the western village.
“Enough!”
Shui Miao suddenly shouted, “Don’t say another word. Even if that Gu Witch has three heads and six arms, I will still go and face him. All you people know is fear—you’re already paralyzed with terror before even confronting him. How can you fight him like that? To put it another way, the reason the Gu Witch is so arrogant is precisely because all of you are too timid and avoid conflict. Since you’re afraid to face him, let me, an outsider, deal with him instead.”
After passionately delivering these words, Shui Miao turned and ran toward the western village.
Everyone stood there, stunned by his speech.
They felt that Zhang Ling truly seemed different now.
“Ah! Well, I’ve lived this long anyway. I’m not afraid. You all go back—I’ll go with Zhang Ling,” Numb-face, moved by Shui Miao’s words, became somewhat indifferent to life and death and followed toward the western village.
“Regardless of whether he’s really Zhang Ling or not, I must go, because… because he is my husband!”
The young wife gritted her teeth. Her thinking was rather traditional—if this man in front of her wasn’t Zhang Ling, she would still follow him for the rest of her life. She had never embraced or kissed any man before—last night was her first. For that first time, she had no regrets.
“We’re going too! At worst, we’ll fight Long Laogui!”
“Yeah! He’s killed so many people—we won’t endure any longer…”
“Let’s go!”
Several young girls, full of youthful passion and courage, showed no less bravery than men.
With no one stopping him, Shui Miao quickly crossed the shallow riverbank of the Shuilong River.
After running about a hundred meters west, Shui Miao saw a thatched hut in the woods. It looked like a small temple. A large stone stood to the right of the hut, carved with four black-painted characters: Black Dragon God Temple.
“Sssssss…”
Shui Miao’s hearing was extremely sharp. As he saw the characters, he suddenly heard a faint hissing sound from the bushes behind him. Instinctively turning his head, he saw a snake as thick as a waist, black in color, sticking its head out of the bushes with its black tongue flickering. Its pair of glossy snake eyes stared unblinkingly at him!
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