Chapter 2 – Shed one's mortal body and exchange one's bones

He could only rely on his feet for the thirty miles, furthermore, he was carrying a person on his back, the advance was naturally very slow.

Fortunately, this person was not very heavy, perhaps it was because he was so burnt that what left was a withered body, carrying him was effortless.

All along the road was spick and span, even the snakes, insects, rats and ants were missing from sight.

Yet, the place they were heading was especially conspicuous.

From thirty miles away, Xu Xing Zhi could already see a gigantic tower meeting the sky at the southeast. It linked straight to the horizon with golden rays glistering. If you survey the area spread beyond one's eyes, there will only be the traces of the carver's blade on them. (1)

Even if there was no guidance from the black shadow, Xu Xing Zhi will still choose to head there.

Daytime does not exist in the wilderness, and the sky was dull, like the leucoma(2) growing from the eyes of an elderly. It might have rained heavily earlier on. The initial shower had stopped and the sky was of a dusky color, the verdurous forest rippled like like a green wave.

Xu Xing Zhi carried a dying burnt corpse, trekking in the forest.

However, the surrounding was really too quiet, so quiet that it brought fear to the heart and mind, Xu Xing Zhi simply started whistling.

The sound was bright and distinct, as if it could seep into the damp stones.

When he smoothly finished an old folk tune, he sincerely praised himself: "It's so good."

The person on his back slightly moved, a gust of hot air blew unto his neck.

……Seem like he was laughing.

But when Xu Xing Zhi looked back, his head was quietly leaning on his back. There was no movement at all.

Probably was an illusion.

After pa.s.sing through the forest, rugged hills started appearing. Xu Xing Zhi's legs were getting weak and he was truly exhausted. He simply found a dry and clean cave and entered in.

The cave had a block of moss covered rock. Xu Xing Zhi wanted to put the person down and lean him against the rock, but he realized that this pair of arms were stiffened, as if it used all its strength to circle itself on his neck, leaving only some s.p.a.ce for him to breathe.

Fortunately, Xu Xing Zhi did not put him down. If he really put him down, he might be accidentally strangled by him.

Xu Xing Zhi had no other choice, yet he doesn't dare to pat at his body. He was afraid that he might unintentionally shake the fragile limbs off: "Hey, wake up. Can you wake up?"

The person behind squirmed his body.

Xu Xing Zhi said: " We shall rest here for a while. You let go of me.

The person behind struggled with difficulties to release his curled arms by a little. He did not actually let go of Xu Xing Zhi but grasped at the corner of his clothes.

His badly burnt voice was hoa.r.s.e and horrible: "…….You are going?"

Even if this face was truly horrifying, Xu Xing Zhi's heart was quite undisturbed.

On one hand, after meeting the monster and having to fight at close quarters, his face was splashed with blood. Thus, he remained calm regardless of what he looked upon now.

On the other hand, in the wilderness full of demons, for a monster who still maintained a shape of a human doesn't seem to be very scary.

Xu Xing Zhi settled the person down on the moss rock. He then attentively took off his outerwear and wrapped it on his body, saying: "…..not going."

The burnt empty eyes were staring right at Xu Xing Zhi, weakly said: "Why did you save me?"

Xu Xing Zhi tucked his clothes properly: "Are there so many whys?"

He murmured: "What if I died on your back, what will you do?"

Xu Xing Zhi found it quite hilarious: "Naturally, I will carry you home. If not, do you think I will throw you on the road?"

With nothing else to continue, he stood up: "There is a river outside, I will go get some water back. Don't remove the clothes, otherwise, you may peel off your skin and start shouting pain."

That person, like a puppy, clenched tightly at the clothes Xu Xing Zhi had wrapped around him: "……..it is not painful."

After Xu Xing Zhi left, he then grabbed at the sleeve of Xu Xing Zhi's clothes, greedily smelling.

The pieces of skin and flesh on his body dropped as he tugged about, yet he doesn't seem to had sensed any pain since the beginning.

He softly called: "Senior brother, senior brother."

Xu Xing Zhi walked out of the cave and squatted at the riverside. His heart contained a sense of unrealness, lingering and refusing to dissipate.

He kneeled down and attempted to wash the blood stains off his hands, yet the smell of blood was getting stronger as he washes. It was unbearable.

Xu Xing Zhi's kneecaps went soft and he retched a few times at the riverside and nothing came out.

He wiped his mouth and lay on the riverside, staring at the wild green sky. He reached out and touched his waist.

The dagger with the aura of heaven and earth was still there, reminding Xu Xing Zhi that he had an uncompleted mission.

Xu Xing Zhi did not notice that more than ten yards away in the forest was a snakehead as big as a dustpan slowly swimming out.

What was left of the snake was only a complete head, and its torso was all skeleton and bones, only some of its decaying flesh were remain joined.

The snake was silently heading towards Xu Xing Zhi's direction as it revealed its bright red tongue, it also moved its lower jaw.

If it opens its lower jaw, it was sufficient to swallow Xu Xing Zhi's head in one bite.

Xu Xing Zhi was clueless as he lay on the gra.s.s, daydreaming.

The snake was getting closer to Xu Xing Zhi, but yet it creased any movement at ten feets away from him.

Instantly, as if it smelled something terrifying, it turned back and slithered away. Frantically fleeing in disarray, the bones made screeching sounds as it swept along the ground.

After hearing the abnormal noise, Xu Xing Zhi instantly touched the dagger at his hip as he flipped over, and looked behind ——

Behind him was an empty s.p.a.ce, only some strange marking wriggling to the forest, and then vanis.h.i.+ng off.

……f.u.c.k.

Xu Xing Zhi deduced that this place was not a place to stay any longer. He swiftly picked a piece of broadleaf from the tree at the riverside and washed it at the river. He simply curled it and collected some water.

As he was collecting the water, he unintentionally saw his reflection on the surface of the water.

Despite knowing that this place was filled with danger, Xu Xing Zhi still spent some time staring in a daze.

This face was really not bad, the build was tall and had the gentry style of a hero. Had the standard stoic face yet when there's a movement, the face was full of ostentatious. The whole facial features were not doubt handsome this one word.

Perhaps the temperament was too conceited, the corner of the left eye rested a teardrop mole. When Xu Xing Zhi straightened his face, he could actually see a few suppressed cool expression.

Xu Xing Zhi thought that for heaven to actually gave this face to such a chatterbox like himself, this really was a reckless waste of G.o.d's good gift.

As Xu Xing Zhi was lamenting, the giant snake that went back to the forest was silently writhing in pain.

——Its joints were being broken one by one by a mysterious power, the sound rang brightly, like a piece of broken gra.s.s.

When Xu Xing Zhi returned back to the cave, he noticed the black shadow was already sitting up, his hands fiddling with a piece of withered gra.s.s.

Starting from the bottom of the withered gra.s.s, he had already folded out several broken marks.

He counted as he folds: "…….5, 6, 7……"

He saw Xu Xing Zhi was coming back and placed his both hands to his back, head looking at the direction of Xu Xing Zhi.

……obsessed to obedience.

Xu Xing Zhi saw that his spirit was not bad, after feeding him the water he added: "Let's hurry go. There is something wrong with this place."

Black shadow nodded, he put down the badly folded gra.s.s and reached out his two hands. The intention was very clear.

….carry me.

Xu Xing Zhi sized him up: "I see that your injuries are not very serious, walk yourself."

Black shadow was not moving, he only looked up at Xu Xing Zhi.

Xu Xing Zhi looked at him for a few seconds, not making any movement: "Get up."

Black shadow's hands remained outreached, his chin slightly withdrawn, showing a face full of grievances.

Xu Xing Zhi faced the charred black human's blurred facial features and stood on his ground for a while, his eyebrow frowned with annoyance: "….tsk."

Once again exiting the cave, the black shadow was still laying on Xu Xing Zhi's back with Xu Xing Zhi's outerwear on him.

Xu Xing Zhi pulled at his trousers and waded across to the other side of the river. The black shadow turned his head back and looked at the dense forest before he gave a cold smile.

The skeleton snake collapsed on the ground, the bones were kneaded into a pile of mud and the ground was full of traces of struggles.

It lay on a sheet of gra.s.s field, no longer breathing.

A group of ants as big as broad bean came out from their nest, within a short period of time the skeleton snake was devoured cleanly.

The strange thing was that they  evaded the footsteps left by Xu Xing Zhi. They were scared to the extreme, instantly finding another route to go about, as if there was a terrifying beast that just pa.s.sed by.

Nothing was spoken in the thirty miles, it was indeed boring. Xu Xing Zhi spent close to twenty miles worth of distance tidying up the original owner's memories. He noticed that most of the scattered pieces were minor trifles, there were zero completed clips, even the face of Meng Zhong Guang was a blur.

Originally, Xu Xing Zhi felt that it was strange, but after a second thought, he felt that it was quite logical. This memory was obtained from a dead corpse, there was nothing surprisely about any hazy memories.

The only thing he knew now was that Meng Zhong Guang has a cinnabar on his head.

To kill Meng Chong Guang, he had to aim there.

Left and right(3) were all boring, Xu Xing Zhi initiated a conversation with the person on his back: "How did you get all these injuries?"

That person hoa.r.s.ely said: "…….plotted by someone."

Xu Xing Zhi asked again: "How long have you stayed in the wilderness?"

He said: "I don't remember. Probably around one hundred years long."

Xu Xing Zhi took it that he was joking, he cut straight to the main point: "Do you know Meng Chong Guang?"

Black shadow was silent for a while: "Why you are looking for him?"

Xu Xing Zhi noticed there a connection. He was slightly surprised and answered: "He is my junior brother….."

Black shadow was about to say something when the two of them suddenly heard a wave of noise in the far away. A gust of hot wind accompanied by spiritual energy harshly rippled here, nearly pus.h.i.+ng Xu Xing Zhi to the ground.

The loud rang originated from the tower at the southeast.

Black shadow actually showed anxiety, pus.h.i.+ng at Xu Xing Zhi's shoulder: "That is the place, hurry go! Hurry go!"

According to Xu Xing Zhi's personality, he will definitely immediately run in the opposite direction, the faster the better. He will never ever keep in contact with any inauspicious stuff. But the moment he thought of the possibility of Meng Zhong Guang being there, Xu Xing Zhi bluntly gnashed his teeth and rush forward to where the gigantic tower was.

The closer they approached the center of the battle, the more Xu Xing Zhi could feel the lather of the person behind.

Similarly, the closer they were to the gigantic tower, the inexplicable sense of oppression made Xu Xing Zhi breathless.

The first thing that entered Xu Xing Zhi's vision was a youth standing on a cliff. A horrifying looking iron ghost mask blocked his upper half face. He was in a high position and the black clothes fluttered, like a crow. His palm was filled with a faint violet light swirling.

….but it was only a small sized crow.

Xu Xing Zhi remembered this person, he had also appeared in his story before. He is a subordinate of Meng Zhong Guang. His ghost cultivation was exceptional, he had a very good understanding of the techniques of ghost cultivation.

But Xu Xing Zhi didn't manage to give him a name in time.

To be accurate, in the whole story, Xu Xing Zhi only named Meng Zhong Guang.

According to Xu Xing Zhi's setting, the world was divided into human cultivation, demon cultivation, ghost cultivation, and devil cultivation. Only human cultivation was publicly accepted as the righteous path, with the ability to lead the three realms.

The so-called demon cultivation was born from the essence of heaven and earth. It is the cultivation of animals and plants.

The so-called ghost cultivation was based on the principle “all beings will die, death will return to the land.” It allows the command of ghosts and also the corpses.

As for human cultivation and devil cultivation, both are human-based, but the big road leads to the sky, each walks their own sides. Human cultivation cultivates the path and the heart, it emphasizes about small but steady streams flowing forever and the heaven will naturally grant it; devil cultivation cultivates the bone and the skin, it emphasizes about pouring oil onto the flames and the heart will be tempted to insanity. (4)

And those trapped in the wilderness was either the demon, ghost, devils or those who had committed crimes, and fallen from the righteous path.

Xu Xing Zhi glanced to the top and sure enough, there was numerous shabby wearing ghost shuttling up and down. Their hands each grasped a sharp blade, fighting violently against the enemies.

The center of their foreheads was flickering a faint violet cloud mark that was similar to the ghost mask youth.

The ghost mask youth stood at a high point. Even though he was wearing a suit of black, he was still too eye-catching. Very soon, a sharp arrow aimed at his chest flew like a lightning, making a beeline towards him.

When the distance between him and the arrow was reaching ten feets, a half yard long nine revolution spear(6) suddenly guarded at his front. It met the tip of the arrow and they clashed at one another.

The two peaks clashed and streaked out an electric arc. From the center, the spear forcefully smashed opened the arrow!

Following behind, a burst of mirage flickered in front of the ghost mask youth, slowly revealing a human figure.

The human figure caught the end of the spear and flipped his wrist. The spear was forced to draw out a complete light arc in mid-air.

That was an extremely handsome youth and it was a shame that in the center of his brows was lighted up with a light violet cloud.

……..This showed that he was just a deceased soul.

He temporary abandoned the fierce battle and turned towards the youth wearing the ghost mask. Leaning down, he kissed at the tip of the nose covered by the mask, with a smile on his face, he said: "…….. why are you so careless, you don't even know how to dodge this."

The ghost mask youth was stunned first, and then was shamed and angered: "Zou Bei Nan, you better get down now!"

His fingers snapped and a violet light swirled. The youth holding the spear uncontrollably fell down from the cliff and he flipped a few times in the air before he stabilized his footstep.

The ghost mask youth touched the tip of his nose and was biting his full lips that was tilted to one corner, like he was sulking.

Xu Xing Zhi heard a genuine sigh from black shadow on his back: "…..all is good."

Xu Xing Zhi asked him: "What do we do now?"

Black shadow faced the sky and blew a whistle.

Xu Xing Zhi was unsure as to what he was doing. Just when he wanted to ask, a skeleton emerged from the back of a huge stone, scaring Xu Xing Zhi to the point of unable to catch his breathe.

This was a female skeleton, the whole body was clean and clear and there was no trace of flesh. However, she still had a head full of black hairs that were neatly tied up with a twilight colored ribbon.

She saw the charred black human at first gaze and surprisedly asked: "You only went out for a stroll to clear the heart, how did you become like this?"

Black shadow didn't answer but coldly asked: "What happened?"

The skeleton girl extended out her boney left hand and rested them on the left pulse of black shadow: "They belong to the Fei Mountain."

Black shadow laughed: "………unaware of their own strengths."

The skeleton girl's bones began to surface a faint green light. She pushed the light waves into the black shadow's body: "Let me help you tend to your injuries……….you don't have to worry. Even if you don't come back, Qu Chi and Zhou Bei Nan will still win."

After listening to this sentence, Xu Xing Zhi felt that something was weird but the sound of artifacts clas.h.i.+ng interrupted his thoughts. He didn't continue pounding on and he popped his head out from their hiding spot.

In the midst of the battle, foes and comrades were hard to distinguish. Everyone's clothes were torn and their appearance was haggard. If there was something different, then it will be the 13 or 14 -year-old girl.

Her figure was thin, wearing a torn and ruined set of brown and her sleeves were pulled over the elbows, revealing a thin wrist as white as the snow.

And the disparity was shown in her hands that each held a sword. The twin sword was made of bronze. If she were to stand up, it will not be much shorter than her height but she can easily swing them with one hand. In one leaping, the blade slashed at the other's neck.

Her face was stained with numerous blood spots, making her even more white and fragile looking.

Exactly like what the skeleton girl had said, this gang of people who came to hara.s.s the tower was retreated like a tide, dragging their soldiers away.

The maiden took back the twin swords and slotted them back to the intersecting cross sheath at her back, she was ready to lift her legs and dash. (8)

Xu Xing Zhi was anxious, he directly came out from his hidden spot, loudly shouted: "Do not chase!"

The battle took place in an empty valley, and his voice swayed upwards in layers, swirling incessantly.

The maiden heard the news and turned back, she was not surprised to see a male stranger and crooked her head slightly.

And the ghost mask youth standing on the cliff followed the sound and looked downwards, the purple light in his palm at once disappeared. The groups of ghost controlled by him and the floating talisman all fell to the ground with a 'ta' sound.

He muttered: “…Senior brother Xu?”

The maiden was not afraid of him, she raised her voice and asked: "Why do you not chase? They were clearly defeated and were fleeing!"

Xu Xing Zhi pointed to the direction they left in: "The flag did not fall, the formation remains undisturbed when they were fleeing, have you seen such a methodical escape?"

The maiden was stunned for a moment, unsure if she should chase or not chase.

And the skeleton girl who was tending to black shadow looked at Xu Xing Zhi, the rib cage was making a pounding sound.

"Listen to him."

A frosty command traveled from Xu Xing Zhi's back.

Xu Xing Zhi looked back and stared at once.

The burnt skin of black shadow unfolded, the extremely dehydrated sh.e.l.l rapidly grow, his height soon surpa.s.s Xu Xing Zhi's.

He was like a b.u.t.terfly that emerged, discarding the burnt and rotten coc.o.o.n, revealing the inner original form.

His skin was extremely white, white to the point of indistinctly pulsing rays of light, the so-called "male beauty sultry", he probably took up the last one word. From head to toe, his body was overflowing with a mist of languorpus, yet it does not bring any disgust. The corner of his eyes was slightly slanted up and the end of his eyes was dyed with a natural red.

He used Xu Xing Zhi's outerwear to wrap around his body, yet it was more seducing than him not wearing anything. What should be covered was not covered.

Xu Xing Zhi only saw his face briefly, yet he can't s.h.i.+ft his sight from the abdomen and below.

……f.u.c.k.

This person that looked like a beautiful lady, pull it out and it was bigger than mine.

Xu Xing Zhi let his imaginations ran wildly for a long while before he realized that he had omitted something important when he was looking just now.

…..in between this person's brow, was an extremely beautiful cinnabar.

Xu Xing Zhi looked up and met with a pair of peach blossom eyes.

The owner of the peach blossom eyes and cinnabar looked straight at Xu Xing Zhi, his gaze was deep to the point of enticing, yet it contained the desire to possess this person in front until he drowns: "Senior brother, Zhong Guang waited for you for so many years, you finally came to find me."

End of chapter 2.

Here's how i visualise Guang Zhong:

Translated at rrrrhexiatranslation

Footnotes/meanings if you are unsure or you can comment and i will explain to you:

(1)人工斧鑿=traces of artifical work

(2)膿翳 = click here to see something similar

(3)左右 = everywhere

(4)  人修，修道修心，講究的是細水長流、自然天成；魔修，修骨修皮，講究的是烈火烹油，癲迷人心 = Human cultivation talks about the path and the heart, focusing on perserverance and you will be rewarded. Devil cultivation talks about the body, focusing on pa.s.sion and temptation.

(6)九轉纓槍 = click to see

(8)拔足欲追 = ready to chase

Keke