After Redeeming The Beautiful and Tragic Heroine [Transmigration] - Chapter 17

“Who are you?”

A low, husky voice, like fingernails scraping the ground, echoed eerily in the cramped, dim room.

Yu Yuan shuddered all over and instinctively shrank behind Xue Qingshu, only poking her head out to look at the curtain. “Master, can Shadow Corpses talk?”

Xue Qingshu stared at the curtain and withdrew her divine sense. “Shadow Corpses don’t speak. It’s a person outside.”

With that, she flashed, disappearing from in front of Yu Yuan. The next moment, she was standing before the curtain, one hand shooting out, savagely gripping someone’s throat.

The person clearly hadn’t expected a hand to suddenly shoot out from behind the curtain and seize them. Their feet slowly lifted off the ground, their neck was forced back, and their entire face flushed crimson from the lack of air.

“Let—let go…” The person barely managed to squeeze out the two words, struggling to pry off the pale hand wrapped around their neck in a bid for survival.

But Xue Qingshu gave him no chance. She tightened her grip, making it clear she had no intention of letting him live.

The person realized Xue Qingshu’s intention. He grabbed her hand, ceased his frantic kicking, and used his last ounce of strength to say: “This… this old man is Qin… Qin Sheng.”

Qin Sheng?

At the mention of the name, Qin Niang, who was sitting on the bed, suddenly shot up and rushed to kneel beside Xue Qingshu. “Immortal Lord, that’s Elder Qin outside, he’s not a bad person, I beg you to let him go!”

Qin Niang clutched Xue Qingshu’s skirt, looking straight up at her.

Xue Qingshu lowered her gaze, squinting at Qin Niang, a flicker of impatience crossing her eyes. A nuisance. These people are truly a nuisance.

One has a bleeding heart, the other is a foolishly loyal old servant. She had been utterly destroyed by them back then, and now the two of them were eagerly rushing toward her again.

Her grip tightened a little more, but in the end, she simply let go of Elder Qin and tossed him inside the curtain.

“Speak. What were you doing, skulking around outside?” she asked Elder Qin coldly.

Elder Qin tremblingly rubbed his reddened neck and explained: “Shadow Corpses are rampant outside. When this old man saw them, he was scared half to death, so he quickly ran back to the infirmary, intending to hide and save his old life.”

“Who knew? As soon as this old man entered the infirmary courtyard, he saw two vague figures in the mist, who had entered the hall before him. The old man thought they were Shadow Corpses, so he hid in the bushes outside. While hiding, this old man suddenly remembered that Miss Qin Niang was still sleeping inside. Fearing for her safety, the old man bravely entered the hall as well. It turns out, it was the Immortal Lord and the Young Sect Master who had entered the hall.” Elder Qin rambled on and on.

After listening, Yu Yuan keenly observed: “Elder Qin knows about Shadow Corpses too?”

Elder Qin, who had just let out a breath: ?! He stiffly turned his head toward Yu Yuan and forced a smile. “The Young Sect Master doesn’t know, but this old man has read all the medical texts in the world, so he knows a little, just a little, about these wicked, Yin-aligned creatures.”

Just a little? Yu Yuan was skeptical. Xue Qingshu was completely unconvinced.

Without courtesy, she grabbed Elder Qin’s throat again, lifting him up and threatening: “This Lord dislikes being lied to most of all. If you want to live, you will honestly tell us everything you know.”

Elder Qin: … He hadn’t expected a righteous Immortal Lord to be so violent.

But in this situation where she was strong and he was weak, he dared not say a word, only clinging to Xue Qingshu’s hand and begging: “Immortal Lord, this old man will speak, right now.”

Xue Qingshu looked with disgust at the hand Elder Qin had placed on her, and tossed him back onto the floor.

Elder Qin breathed a sigh of relief again, ready to start spinning a lie. However, Xue Qingshu’s next sentence: “This Lord doesn’t mind smashing open the secret room beneath the medicine cabinet.”

Instantly sent a chill through Elder Qin.

Though he didn’t know how Xue Qingshu knew about the secret room under the cabinet, he understood: since she knew the room existed, she probably also knew the origin of the City Lord’s Manor Shadow Corpses and the way to deal with them.

Therefore, after a quick thought, he dared not prevaricate any longer. “Immortal Lord, this old man truly knows how to resolve these Shadow Corpses. It is indeed related to the secret room beneath the medicine cabinet. This old man will take you inside right now.”

After saying this, he shakily climbed to his feet, lifted the curtain, and walked toward the main hall. Xue Qingshu followed closely. Yu Yuan helped the still-kneeling Qin Niang up, and together they also followed into the hall.

In the main hall of the infirmary, Elder Qin closed the main door, and the entire hall immediately plunged into absolute darkness.

Soon, however, a faint light began to twinkle in the darkness, like scattered fireflies, illuminating the surroundings.

Yu Yuan watched the sight, recalling her first visit to the Medicine Hall, and couldn’t help but say: “This is what it looks like when the doors are closed. Your infirmary apprentice, did he never notice anything strange?”

In the darkness, Elder Qin’s voice sounded. “He is merely a mortal, with mortal eyes. Naturally, he couldn’t see anything amiss.”

A mortal? Yu Yuan clenched her fist. “Where is he now?”

Elder Qin heard the tension in Yu Yuan’s tone and couldn’t help but chuckle softly before explaining: “This old man realized the situation in the estate was wrong, so he sent the boy away. What? Did you think this old man would kill him to silence him? Nonsense. This little apprentice of mine is clever and smart, always saying he’ll take care of me in my old age and bury me when I die. This old man would never let him die.”

Elder Qin was rambling on as he pushed the medicine cabinet aside. Then, he began to chant a series of incantations.

The incantation was quite long. Yu Yuan stood to the side, listening for a long while, her thoughts drifting away. She began to ponder the oddity surrounding “Immortal Lord Wen Ti” over the past few days.

From the disappearance of her Natal Artifact, the Flowing Light Zither, to the Scripture of Purity and Stillness, and finally, the Brahma Illusion. Her villainous master seemed to know the Brahma Illusion very well.

Or rather, inside the Brahma Illusion, the other person always seemed to know what was going to happen next and she could resolve it with ease.

Although Immortal Lord Wen Ti was incredibly powerful, Yu Yuan thought that no one, no matter how strong, should be able to predict the future.

In the faint firefly light, Yu Yuan looked at the ‘Immortal Lord Wen Ti’ beside her, asking in her heart, Who exactly are you?

Xue Qingshu naturally couldn’t hear Yu Yuan’s thoughts. In the darkness, she looked toward the curtain and said chillingly: “Since you’re awake, behave yourself.”

Wei Haoran, who was just tiptoeing out from behind the curtain: ! His breath hitched, and his voice was unsteady: “Immortal Lord, this disciple knows his mistake!”

Xue Qingshu ignored him. But Elder Qin responded to Wei Haoran.

“Who? Which ill-mannered wretch is that! Didn’t you hear this old man chanting an incantation! How unlucky, this old man was almost done and now I have to start all over again!” Elder Qin cursed Wei Haoran for a few moments.

Soon, however, he composed himself and started the chant again. This time, Elder Qin recited the door-opening incantation very quickly, as if afraid another Wei Haoran would pop up and interrupt his flow.

As the final word of the incantation landed, the spot where the medicine cabinet had been let out a “Rumble!” A moment later, a hidden door opened.

Beneath the hidden door was a secret passage, with candles flickering on both sides, barely illuminating the blurry outline of the stone steps.

Elder Qin walked in front, descending into the passage first. Xue Qingshu dragged Wei Haoran along, making him follow behind Elder Qin.

Yu Yuan and Qin Niang, one following the other, walked behind Xue Qingshu.

They descended the steps, which ended at a corridor that stretched out farther than the eye could see.

Elder Qin’s pace was extremely fast. Before long, he had put a great distance between himself and the dawdling Wei Haoran, whose mind was racing with ways to explain himself to Xue Qingshu.

Xue Qingshu followed behind Wei Haoran, making no attempt to rush him, walking at a calm, unhurried pace.

It wasn’t until the corridor suddenly shuddered violently that Wei Haoran realized something was wrong.

“That… that old man is gone?!” he cried out in alarm.

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