Chapter 44 - Ling Fengxiao’s Cylinder
They clearly asserted that they had eradicated all the demonic creatures, but a living corpse appeared in the middle of the library.
Still, this situation didn’t allow him to think too much.
Lin Shu quickly turned, hiding himself behind the bookcase at the girl’s back, away from her line of vision. Then, he took out his spatial bag.
He didn’t know the fighting power of the living corpse. All he knew was that he seriously lacked even the power to bind a chicken.
In a moment, his thoughts turned, and he took out the “Zixiao Sustainment Pill” that Ling Fengxiao had given him before, and took two pills.
This was a holy medicine capable of preserving life. Once consumed, the pure medicinal power immediately protected the heart, preventing his life from being stolen away by the living dead.
All he could do was eat the medicine—then, the bookshelf made a loud noise, evidently being broken into pieces. For a moment, all he could hear was the sound of books collapsing and falling, and a pale hand accompanied by a cold wind flew out from behind the bookshelf.
The instinct embedded in Lin Shu’s bones was forced out by this life-and-death situation, and he leaned back at the same moment the hand shot out, barely avoiding it.
He raised his hand, and the hidden arrow mechanism on his wrist was activated. Three small iron arrows radiating a cold energy shot out at the hand, and one of them nailed itself to the palm with a “boom” sound.
It was all thanks to Ling Fengxiao, who had taken him to the Treasure Pavilion to select a weapon. Now, he was carrying hidden weapons that could save his life, else there would really be no room for self-protection at this moment.
Lin Shu took a few hurried breaths, then pulled his leg from the bookshelf, and ran in the opposite direction.
In the light, that grey shadow had already rushed out from behind the bookshelf like a ghost!
He gritted his teeth, shot a few hidden arrows behind him, and continued to run forward.
The drumbeat of footsteps grew louder behind him. The danger-sensing talisman urged him to go faster, and her cold breaths could be heard. Even the rattling sound in her throat drew closer and closer.
He couldn’t escape.
Lin Shu wanted to call out for Ling Fengxiao, but he was so tensed up that his throat closed up. It was like he was caught in a nightmare and couldn’t make a single sound.
And even if he shouted, the library was so wide and deep. Even if it was Ling Fengxiao, if she wasn’t listening attentively, she would never detect it.
After recognizing his isolated and helpless situation, he drew a sword that wasn’t Folding Bamboo from his bag.
–Since all that the demonic creatures saw and heard would be transmitted back to the Great Witch, who knows if the living corpses would do the same!
He held the three-foot-long sword in his hand and folded his figure to the right. He turned around, and thrust the sword directly towards the approaching living corpse.
With a cry, the long sword pierced the chest of the living corpse. The sword tip touched something that was as hard as iron and stone, and it felt a lot like hitting a gold mine.
He had no spiritual power, so no matter how good the sword was, it was simply metal in his hands, and couldn’t fully showcase its inner power.
The girl let out a low whistle in her throat. Her five fingers turned into claws, and she quickly surged forward, trying to claw at his face.
Lin Shu turned his sword horizontal, barely blocking her attack. Taking advantage of the apparent stalemate, he quickly activated the hidden arrow mechanism again, and the small arrows shot out into the girl’s face.
When she retracted her hand to block, Lin Shu tried his luck and retracted the sword, sharply ducking to the left, trying to escape again.
However, he couldn’t keep up with the speed of the living corpse.
There was a sharp pain in his left shoulder, and he was bodily pulled back.
Lin Shu didn’t know where his strength came from, but he held back the piercing pain in his shoulder and forced himself to turn around.
The girl’s face had been completely distorted.
From the beginning, living corpses could no longer be considered humans. They had various habits similar to animals, didn’t know how to use weapons, and their attacks were all done through biting.
She opened her mouth, revealing dark grey teeth, which were about to bite Lin Shu’s neck.
–Now.
Lin Shu raised his left hand with much difficulty and pressed a red round bead into the mouth of the living corpse.
The essence of Lihuo.
According to the Big Miss, the living corpses are neither alive or dead, invulnerable to both swords and guns, and the only thing they are afraid of is being burnt by true fire.
In this world, even true fire would be hard-pressed to surpass the innate embers burning inside the essence of Lihuo.
After this, Lin Shu suddenly lost his strength, and only waited for the living death to bite him.
But he was calm inside.
Even after he was bitten, he had already consumed the Zixiao Sustainment Pill, so he would not die.
But this corpse would have long grown cold.
If he had to fight with his bare hands, it would be impossible for Lin Shu to win. Now, however, he had these props to preserve his life.
The reason why, was clearly because he had a rich wife, but this girl did not.
Lin Shu thought about his current situation, and found that when there were no other means of resistance, he gave up resisting and waited for a bit with a peaceful mind.
The girl’s throat rattled, and the pale skin of her neck faintly revealed a red flame, but she still did not give up attacking Lin Shu. Just when she was about to bite his neck—
A sword.
A sword reeking of murderous energy flew over, straight and flat.
Lin Shu almost thought he was hallucinating.
But the living corpse’s movements really did freeze for a moment.
In the next moment, a red shadow rushed in from afar. Light glinted off the blade, and the girl lifted both arms to block the blade.
Lin Shu was grabbed by someone and pulled to their chest. Then, he was suddenly in mid-air.
Seeing the narrow space between bookshelves, and how the sword’s energy exploded in all directions, even if the living corpses had bodies that were as hard as gold mines, they couldn’t hold up against the brutal sword force and had to retreat.
Lin Shu watched quietly as the Big Miss was about to hold him with one hand and fight with her other hand. Even like this, she was capable of beating the living corpse until it had no power to fight back.
He felt like he should be applauding.
When there was nowhere else to retreat to, the living corpse, whose skin was already red all over, roared desperately, and stood up straight to face the two of them.
Lin Shu heard the Big Miss sneer and throw “Identical Sorrow” into the air, freeing up her hand. She actually intended to face the living corpse with her palms.
An incredible spiritual power gathered in her palms, and directly pressed against the chest of the living corpse.
The moment the palm of her hand met that chest, the whole world seemed to be silent for a moment, then a huge flow of spiritual energy erupted from that connection, and the living corpse was blown away, at least twenty steps away.
Then, the sword came falling back down, and Ling Fengxiao caught it, returning the blade to its sheath.
In the next moment, Lin Shu was hugged tightly and they dropped into a roll.
His whole body suddenly became hot, and he felt a violent heatwave sweep the area.
After a few more breaths, Ling Fengxiao let him go, got up, and then pulled him up.
“It’s dead,” Ling Fengxiao said.
Lin Shu looked forward, and saw a raging fire in front of him. It was a spiritual flame.
It was probably the spiritual power contained in Ling Fengxiao’s palm that had stimulated the true fire embers in the essence of Lihuo inside the living corpse, burning it from the inside out, and then—it exploded.
Otherwise, how could these dozens of bookcases be burnt so neatly?
Lin Shu turned to look at Ling Fengxiao.
Just now, to avoid the fire, they had rolled on the ground and their hair were a little messy. Ling Fengxiao pushed aside the strands of hair stuck on her cheek and asked him very quickly: “Are you hurt?”
Lin Shu shook his head.
Ling Fengxiao continued to ask: “Did she touch you?”
Lin Shu nodded.
Ling Fengxiao frowned immediately: “Where?”
Lin Shu: “Shoulder.”
It still hurt.
Ling Fengxiao said: “Undress.”
Lin Shu was a little hesitant, but the Big Miss’ tone was firm, and he could only untie his robe.
The Big Miss came behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.
Lin Shu felt like a joke.
However, the Big Miss’ next move was simply too cautious—she pulled down the collar of his inner robe very gently, revealing on the smallest bit of his back, and then pressed her fingertip against the shoulder that had been grabbed by the living corpse. After a while, she pulled the neckline and closed it up.
“I was being careful,” Ling Fengxiao’s voice relaxed a little, and she said: “Blood poisoning is very easy to pass on. Fortunately, you’re not infected.”
It turned out to be checking whether he was infected.
Lin Shu rearranged his clothes and said: “That’s good.”
It was so hard to get his life back, and it would be embarrassing now to become a living corpse if he had been infected with blood poisoning.
His heartbeat was still a little fierce, and he took a few more deep breaths to calm down. Just when he wanted to thank the Big Miss, he saw her looking at him, and she asked: “Were you frightened?”
Lin Shu shook his head.
“I didn’t see you come out in a long time, so I was afraid you were being bullied again...” Ling Fengxiao let out a long sigh. “Instead, I heard the sounds of a fight.”
The pet owner’s love shook the earth.
Because she was afraid he was being bullied, so she came over to help, only to find an almost murder scene.
Lin Shu said: “... Thank you.”
“No, if something happens to you, I...” Ling Fengxiao paused, didn’t say anything, then continued. “I will go to the dreamscape to call the Great Master.”
Lin Shu nodded: “Okay.”
The Great Master came very quickly, and brought many Zhenren from the Taoism Institution with him.
The first thing to do was to put out the fire.
The fire was so intense that tens of thousands of books were burned.
Lin Shu felt very ashamed, and stood next to Ling Fengxiao, looking at the Great Master like he was looking at a creditor.
Ling Fengxiao: “I burned it.”
Great Master: “Ordinary books are easily replaced, but this rare ancient book...”
Ling Fengxiao: “There is one in Qifeng Pavilion.”
Great Master: “Very well.”
Lin Shu felt like they appeared to have reached a deal.
After extinguishing the fire, the Great Master strode to the body of the living corpse in the center.
The essence of Lihuo still glowed warmly, but it was much dimmer than before.
The body of the living corpse had been burned to charred bones and black ashes. The Great Master groped amongst the bones and took out a jade talisman.
“Disciple Chu Meisao from the Confucianism Institution,” he said.
As soon as the witchcraft seed had been removed from Jasper Heaven’s Taoism Institution, the Confucianism Institution had an incident.
Shang Lingjian asked Lin Shu and Ling Fengxiao carefully about what had happened. After a long silence, he slowly said: “Check them.”
Then, he looked around the bookshelf that had burned out, and asked: “What books were here originally?”
Lin Shu replied: “Miscellaneous History of Immortals.”
Shang Lingjian appeared to be lost in thought.
Ling Fengxiao asked: “What were they looking for?”
Shang Lingjian shook his head. “Still unknown.”
Old Master Yue still hadn’t recovered from his coma, so they could only start the search from Chu Meishao’s whereabouts for the past few days. However, her classmates and roomates who lived together all said that there had been nothing unusual about her, and just the day before, she had still been obediently attending class and memorising books.
The Great Master suspected that there was a Beixia demonic cultivator with a very high level of cultivation that had snuck into the academy, or there was a Beixia traitor in their midst.
In any case, the academy began a thorough investigation, and all the disciples were prohibited from going out. They had to stay in the bamboo garden, under the tight watch of Zhenrens.
Ling Fengxiao took Lin Shu back to Jingfeng Xiyu Garden.
Serving tea, pouring water, complaining of the cold, and asking if it was warm.
Lin Shu was dominated and forced on the bed. The medicine was applied again. When the Big Miss asked if the wound was still painful, he felt that after he had been involved in a fight against a living corpse, he had turned from a hamster into a first-class protected animal.
He leaned against the back of the bed, holding the quilt in his hands. Originally, the wound on his shoulder could be tolerated, but once someone cared about it—the high and mighty Big Miss was suddenly filled with a suffocating virtuousness, making Lin Shu feel squeamish. The pain suddenly flared up.
Ling Fengxiao wanted him to sleep.
He couldn’t sleep.
He didn’t know what to do since he couldn’t sleep.
The two of them were relatively silent, and there was a moment of awkwardness.
After tossing for a while, Lin Shu said: “Let me read for a while.”
“I will take the book,” Ling Fengxiao replied. “Which one do you want?”
Lin Shu asked for the textbook of “Appreciation of Mystical Stones”.
According to the original plan, this class was supposed to be held tomorrow. However, now that something had happened, he didn’t know when the class would start.
He was still waiting for class to start, before going to ask the master in charge what material “Ling Fengxiao’s cylinder” was made of, and how to open it.
For this reason, the cylinder was placed next to the textbook.
Just as he thought about it, he suddenly saw the Big Miss pick the cylinder up and look at it.
He suddenly felt hope. The Big Miss was very knowledgeable and probably knew what it was. He didn’t need to ask a stranger like the Zhenren teaching a class.
Before he spoke, he heard the Big Miss say: “What is this doing outside?”
How interesting.
Hearing that sentence, it appeared that the Big Miss really did know what it was.
“I can’t open it, so I wanted to ask the Jade Daoist to identify it. I took it out in advance,” Lin Shu said. “Do you recognise it?”
Under the light, the Big Miss’ figure suddenly stopped.
Just like the girl this morning, entirely motionless.
After a long time, the Big Miss spoke. Her tone was very slow and slightly erratic: “You don’t recognise it?”
Lin Shu replied honestly: “I do not.”
There was another dead silence.
In the middle of this dead silence, the Big Miss looked at the cylinder and finally spoke, but in a slightly unnatural tone. She gently repeated the last sentence: “You...don’t recognize it?”
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