FCRCG Chapter 18

The people outside had already left, but Nan Deng still felt uneasy.

This seemed to be the first time someone had come here to find Lian Yi, and they clearly knew him.

But Lian Yi had told him to leave and the person actually obeyed.

Lian Yi remained silent for a moment. “An insignificant person.”

From his tone, Nan Deng could sense a hint of indifference. He stared at Lian Yi for a while, then released his grip on his sleeve. “Why did he call you… Lian…”

Lian what? The sentence was abruptly cut off. Nan Deng had been too anxious because of the stranger’s visit and hadn’t heard it clearly, but it definitely wasn’t the name “Lian Yi”.

“It’s a title I use for work,” Lian Yi explained. “He’s my subordinate.”

Nan Deng blinked, surprised. “So you have a job…”

Lian Yi rarely went out. During the day, when Nan Deng was sometimes asleep, he didn’t know what he did at home.

Lian Yi gave a soft “Mm,” then raised his hand to unbutton the last of his coat, revealing a white short-sleeved shirt underneath.

Nan Deng pressed on, “So, did you go to work tonight?”

“I went to handle something,” Lian Yi stepped closer, bending down to get nearer to Nan Deng. “Were you scared?”

At that moment, his demeanor was completely different from when he had told someone to leave. His voice was low and soft.

Nan Deng faintly smelled the scent of a soul from him, unable to resist wrapping his arms around him. “No.”

The cold mist of water seemed to brush against him again. Lian Yi closed his eyes, asking, “Did anyone come by before I returned?”

As Nan Deng hugged him, for a brief moment, he felt a delicate, soft sensation pass over his skin.

But it disappeared as quickly as it came, like an illusion.

Nan Deng shook his head. “No, I’ve been here the whole time.”

The array inside the house was still intact. Only the outermost layer had been broken by Gu Xu’s people.

Thankfully, Nan Deng hadn’t left the house or opened the curtains, or the Celestial Masters outside might have seen him.

He had been in too much of a rush to leave tonight. If he had known Gu Xu was in such a hurry, he wouldn’t have stepped out even for a second.

Lian Yi looked up and glanced at the rabbit head on the sofa.

The appearance of Hui Shou was perfectly timed, a huge help.

If he remembered correctly, this Chaos God had been missing for almost twenty years, yet suddenly appeared tonight.

Lian Yi hadn’t witnessed the scene at the time. But from what Lin Jiu had said, it was clear that Gu Xu’s people had suffered heavy losses.

The rabbit head was watching TV, its semi-transparent body slouched in the center of the sofa, its eyes blank, like a motionless doll.

Lian Yi had a suspicion in his mind, but he didn’t yet have enough evidence.

“Does that mean you don’t have to work anymore tonight?” Nan Deng loosened his hold on Lian Yi and took his hand. “You should go rest and sleep early.”

Lian Yi responded with a soft “Mm,” and then went to the bathroom to shower alone.

When Lian Yi came out of the bathroom, he went straight to the study.

Zhuo Qing’s soul was still sealed in the drawer. Lian Yi picked up the glass jar and the black object inside began to slowly move.

“Have you figured it out?” Zhuo Qing, unaware of everything that had happened tonight, impatiently said, “Quick, feed me your living soul!”

Lian Yi’s response was off-topic. “Gu Xu knows you’re here.”

He had originally thought that by killing Zhuo Qing and sealing his soul away, even if Gu Xu guessed it was him, he wouldn’t be able to find any evidence and could delay things for a while.

However, Lian Yi had still underestimated Gu Xu. He must have some special magical artifact that allowed him to locate Zhuo Qing’s soul within a certain range, which is why he had come straight to his residence tonight.

Zhuo Qing paused before sneering. “So what if he knows? After all this time, he hasn’t come looking for me.”

If he were still alive, he would still have reason, but now that he was dead, he had long been consumed by resentment and lost his humanity. He no longer trusted anyone.

Lian Yi remained silent for a long time. Zhuo Qing began to sense something was wrong.

“What are you thinking?” Zhuo Qing gritted his teeth. “Did you make another deal with Gu Xu? Or with Xie Yun?”

Zhuo Qing didn’t have many students. When Lian Yi was about seven or eight years old, he was brought into the inner courtyard. Despite their poor relationship, they had still been teacher and student for so long.

Zhuo Qing had an idea of Lian Yi’s temperament. From the coldness in his eyes, he sensed a faint murderous intent.

“The restraints on you were placed by me. Only I can undo them,” Zhuo Qing continued. “How about this? Give me half of your living soul… No, a third!”

“Really?” Lian Yi’s expression remained unchanged. “Will you keep your promise?”

“Of course,” Zhuo Qing, thinking he had made progress, quickly reassured him. “I’ve taught you for so many years. No matter what, I am still your teacher…”

“Taught?” Lian Yi lowered his eyes, his voice cold. “Your teaching involved throwing me into a pile of resentful spirits and letting me fend for myself?”

He had kept Zhuo Qing’s soul in order to learn how to break the restraints. But after all this time, Zhuo Qing refused to speak, even trying to deceive him into giving up his living soul.

As for any deal, Lian Yi didn’t believe a single word.

Now that Gu Xu had found Zhuo Qing’s location, keeping him alive would only be a burden.

“What are you going to do?”

For the first time since being locked up, Zhuo Qing showed fear and panic. “You don’t want to live anymore? You madman…”

Lian Yi turned and called out to the door, “Xiao Tu.”

This was the first time he called out the rabbit head’s name. Soon, the rabbit head barged into the study.

Its pitch-black eyes glowed slightly as if it knew the reason Lian Yi had called it.

Lian Yi deliberately lowered his voice. The rabbit head accurately heard it from the living room.

It jumped over to him, and Lian Yi squatted down.

He placed the glass jar in front of it. “Do you want to eat?”

The rabbit head was excited. Without hesitation, it immediately bit open a corner of the glass jar and started gnawing on the soul inside.

Zhuo Qing screamed in pain, his voice intermittently saying, “You can’t kill me… otherwise, otherwise in just a…”

The study suddenly fell silent. The rabbit head licked its lips and let out a small burp.

It nudged the empty jar towards Lian Yi, accepting his offering, before turning and jumping away.

The study was warded with a soundproofing spell, so none of the noise reached outside.

In the living room, Nan Deng was still sitting on the sofa, completely focused on the TV.

Lian Yi stood up and casually threw the glass jar into the trash.

Elsewhere in the city, Gu Xu’s subordinates were treating his injuries.

Hui Shou’s sharp teeth had left deep gashes on his back, from his shoulder to his waist, with a large amount of blood soaking through his clothes. Despite three uses of hemostatic magic, the bleeding still couldn’t be stopped.

Bang—

Watching the compass lose its target with the needle settled, Gu Xu crushed the porcelain cup in his hand.

The compass no longer pointed to the location of Zhuo Qing’s soul. Either his soul had been instantly moved to a more distant place, or Lian Yi had killed him, causing his soul to dissipate, making it impossible to locate.

On the table was also a ceramic jar, delivered by Lin Jiu during the night.

He said it contained resentful souls personally captured by Lian Yi tonight. Because there were too many, he had sent them over first for Gu Xu to handle.

Lin Jiu and the celestial masters who stayed behind to clean up and handle the aftermath saw Lian Yi and could confirm that he had returned from outside. Before the appearance of the Filthy Head, he had not been at his residence.

Moreover, the souls he had captured would be registered, which would help offset the mistakes made earlier by not responding to the distress signals.

“How come he’s just conveniently not here?” Gu Xu’s voice was full of suppressed anger and frustration. “Just happened to capture so many resentful spirits?”

He had been seriously injured and had lost so many of his trusted subordinates. Zhuo Qing’s soul was also nowhere to be found, leaving him unable to do anything to Lian Yi.

Ding—

The communicator on the table rang. Gu Xu picked it up to answer.

The light was dim on the other side of the projection screen and a silhouette could be vaguely seen.

“Did you already know?” Gu Xu looked at the figure. “Zhuo Qing’s soul is also missing. It must have been refined by Lian Yi…”

“Hui Shou,” the figure interrupted him with a deep, hoarse voice, accompanied by a sound like electricity crackling. “Is it really over there?”

“I saw it with my own eyes and almost got eaten by it,” Gu Xu said with some displeasure. “It’s definitely the Chaos God, no mistake. You should hurry and send more people.”

Tonight, he had been too excited when seeing Hui Shou and had been careless without any defenses, which was why he had been injured.

But at least now he had clues about the Chaos God and the Mountain God, which was a good sign.

As for the celestial masters that were eaten, they could only be considered sacrifices to the Chaos God.

Xie Yun sighed slowly. “Finally…”

“So the malevolent energy we captured earlier was from Hui Shou,” Gu Xu continued. “It wasn’t a Ghost King at all.”

“Ghost King?” Xie Yun chuckled. “They’re still searching… but they won’t find it.”

Gu Xu looked up. “What do you mean?”

“Just old matters, nothing to worry about,” Xie Yun casually waved it off. “Focus on healing.”

He cut off the communication and the projection screen went dark.

—

In the morning, Lian Yi woke up and opened his eyes to find Nan Deng lying on the pillow beside him.

“You’re awake?” Nan Deng gently stroked Lian Yi’s hair. “Do you have work today?”

Lian Yi looked at his pale, translucent fingertips. “No need.”

However, he had to start thinking about when to quietly leave this place.

Nan Deng yawned. He hadn’t slept all night and was already tired.

Lian Yi sat up, preparing to give the bed to Nan Deng.

The blanket still carried Lian Yi’s warmth. Nan Deng happily snuggled up, only to suddenly see Lian Yi let out a muffled grunt, his brow furrowing tightly.

Nan Deng hurriedly asked, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

Lian Yi’s face turned pale, veins bulging on his forehead as if he were suffering from intense pain.

He didn’t respond and fainted in front of Nan Deng.

The rabbit head, hearing the noise, rushed over and gently twitched its nose.