Back To When The Demon Lord Was A Beggar - Chapter 21

As the voice trailed off, their attention was instantly drawn away. Unlike the others in the inn, whose remains were intact skins, half of the senior brother’s skin lay on the ground while the other half was charred. It was clear that the person behind this not only slaughtered innocent lives but refused to let the dead rest in peace. Such a person deserved a thousand deaths, and even dying to atone for their crimes would be too merciful.

Though Shen Shangli’s heart ached, she no longer wept. The man was dead, if crying were useful, she would willingly cry for decades. Her senior brother’s corpse no longer resembled a human form, the only thing she could do now was bury him properly and hunt down the culprit to avenge him.

Suddenly, Chu Nanzhen seemed to think of something. He turned to Wu Xiang and said, “Back in the Mist Forest, didn’t you say you could see how the deceased died? Why don’t you take a look at these?”

Perhaps they could catch a glimpse of the mastermind who murdered the senior brother and turned Central City into this nightmare. Chu Nanzhen sat for a moment to steady himself, his strength gradually returning, though his throat still burned with a searing pain.

Upon hearing of this ability, everyone present turned their gaze toward Wu Xiang. Wu Xiang’s mouth twitched. He suddenly pointed at Zhi Shiyi and cried out, “Aiya!” He hurried over, cupped Zhi Shiyi’s face in his hands, and looked him over from side to side. “Shiyi-er, are you better? You didn’t even say a word once you recovered, I was so worried about you just now.”

Zhi Shiyi frowned and sharply slapped the hands away from his face, his expression clearly saying, Who asked for your concern? Hearing this, Chu Nanzhen looked over. Indeed, Zhi Shiyi looked much better, a bit of color had returned to his cheeks, unlike the pallor from before. Chu Nanzhen felt a quiet sense of relief, but he was still set on going to the sect. An illness needed treatment and couldn’t be delayed, it wouldn’t be good if Zhi Shiyi ended up with a lingering ailment like his own.

The moment Zhi Shiyi turned his head and met Chu Nanzhen’s gaze, the tension in his brow smoothed out. He cast a brief, cool glance at Wu Xiang and said flatly, “Back to the point.”

“Xiao Chu, I feel dizzy. May I sit with you?” he asked with a look of feigned grievance, lightly touching his forehead.

He changes faces faster than one flips a book, Wu Xiang thought to himself.

“Sure,” Chu Nanzhen replied, moving to stand up and bring a chair over. He figured if Zhi Shiyi fainted later, he’d be there to catch him so he wouldn’t hit the floor.

“No need,” Zhi Shiyi interrupted. These two words were spoken with such vigor that he didn’t sound dizzy at all. Before Chu Nanzhen could ask, an extra chair appeared beside him. Zhi Shiyi looked up with a faint smile and said, “Sit.”

And so, Chu Nanzhen silently sat back down.

“Master Wu, since you have this ability, could you please help us?” Shen Shangli’s voice carried a hint of entreaty. After all, with no clues other than the human skins, finding the killer would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

“The killer is a man. Judging by his voice, he’s middle-aged,” Chu Nanzhen reminded them. Though he knew it wasn’t much, any small clue helped.

“Do you think using this kind of immortal art is easy?!” Wu Xiang crossed his arms and curled his lip. “To see the scenes before death, one must look through the body of the deceased. Of course, it’s possible even if only the skin remains. The important thing is that seeing these things requires a price, it’s not for free. Moreover, there are so many skins on the floor, do you expect me to look through them one by one? I’ll go blind before I finish a fraction of them.”

It was normal for such immortal arts to require a price, it was a matter of equivalent exchange.

“What is the price?”

Chu Nanzhen and Shen Shangli asked in unison.

“Whatever the cost, as long as we find the killer, I don’t care if it shortens my life,” Shen Shangli declared. Once she caught the murderer, she would take his head with her sword and bring it to her senior brother.

Hearing her words, Wu Xiang’s eyes widened in shock. “Is my life not worth living or something?” he snapped. “Talking about shortening lives, it’s easy for you to say when it’s not yours!”

“Uh” Shen Shangli scratched her head awkwardly. She had assumed the price would be paid by her, not Wu Xiang. It seemed she had gotten it backward.

Wu Xiang sighed and pointed to his left eye. “It drains the eyes, so naturally, the eyes must be replenished.”

This method severely exhausted one’s cultivation and required a source of essence to sustain it. Since he had to use his eyes to see, the essence naturally had to be “eyes.”

He recalled back in the Mist Forest, there were always people who didn’t believe in the supernatural and entered with wicked, filthy hearts. Back then, with Ji Chushan around, she would always see through their hearts and eat their eyeballs. They had been well-fed and never lacked for supply. It wasn’t like now, since Ji Chushan and the Mist Forest were gone, he hadn’t tasted a single one.

Mostly, it was because he had eaten too few himself to see through the hearts of others and distinguish good from evil. He smacked his lips, feeling a bit nostalgic for those times.

Easy enough!

If it’s just eyes, the Qianshan Sect has plenty.

Shen Shangli said, “The Qianshan Sect raises many cattle and sheep. Master Wu can eat as many as he likes.”

Wu Xiang turned to her with a look of utter shock, as if saying, Do I look like the kind of person who eats those things?

Zhi Shiyi, who had been mostly silent, finally spoke up to remind her, “He is a cat demon. He doesn’t eat those.”

Only then did Shen Shangli remember Wu Xiang’s true nature. Wu Xiang tilted his head up and added, “A cat demon with profound spiritual power! Watch your words!”

“In that case, I apologize for my rudeness. The Qianshan Sect has many ponds filled with fish. As I said before, Master Wu can eat as many as he wishes.” Cats eat fish, so that should be fine, right?

Prejudice in the human heart is a great mountain. Wu Xiang sighed and rubbed his brow in frustration. “Since it uses my eyes, I must replenish with human eyes. Don’t treat me like some common cat demon. Since I practice this art, I am different from them.”

Eating human eyes? How is that different from evil arts…

Shen Shangli was shocked but quickly regained her composure. After a long pause, she spoke with a serious expression, “I am willing to trade my own eyes for the truth.”

Everyone present was stunned. As the future leader of the Qianshan Sect, how could she lose her sight? She would be targeted and framed by those with ill intentions. If others in the sect conspired against her, she wouldn’t be able to hold her position. The seat of the Sect Leader was always coveted by those watching from the shadows, the strong rose to the top while the weak had to swallow their resentment. Moreover, as the leader of the world’s foremost cultivation sect, countless eyes would be fixed on that position.

Wu Xiang wasn’t unreasonable, and he followed a strict principle: “Never eat the eyes of a good person.” To him, Shen Shangli seemed far kinder than himself. If he actually ate her eyes, he would feel a heavy weight on his conscience, it might even become a hurdle he could never overcome. He scanned the room, his gaze finally landing on Lin Fengye. Lin Fengye felt his skin crawl, a foreboding sensation washing over him.

Sure enough, Wu Xiang tilted his chin and said, “I’ll eat yours then. You’re not a good person anyway.”

 Lin Fengye was instantly offended. He stood up and roared, “On what grounds? How do I not look like a good person?! I don’t think you look like a good person either, why don’t you eat your own?”

He was just passing through and had happened to save Chu Nanzhen and the other. It was enough that he hadn’t asked for a reward, and now he was being slandered! If he weren’t a good person, he would have let those two die in that massive pit.

“Tch. The moment you walked in, I thought you looked familiar. I felt like I’d seen you somewhere. Then I remembered the Mist Forest. I clearly remember you coming with Shiyi-er and the others. From the moment you stepped into the forest, Ji Chushan saw right through you. Attempted murder, does that count as a good person? An evil brat like you even dares to lie, you deserve to be eaten!”

Back then, there had been a reason for his intent to kill, it was all to make some quick money, and he had turned over a new leaf now, so why bring it up? Besides, they were the ones who wanted the truth, not him. This was a very convenient calculation on Wu Xiang’s part.

And furthermore.

“Who are you calling an evil brat! You ugly, filthy cat!” Lin Fengye stood up, hands on his hips, and yelled back, his momentum matching Wu Xiang’s.

DTGN

“I’m filthy?”

Wu Xiang felt both angry and amused. He turned his head away with a “Hmph,” then turned back and roared, “You evil brat! You look like a groundhog, how do you have the nerve to talk about me?! I’m thousands of times better looking than you!”

Both of them rolled up their sleeves, their mutual irritation written clearly on their faces. It looked as if they were about to come to blows. Chu Nanzhen rubbed his brow, annoyed. If they kept arguing, his head was going to explode. He let out a sigh and interrupted them, “Enough!”

Wu Xiang shot Lin Fengye a vicious look, turned away with a cold snort, and got back to business. “I’m not as petty as some people. I can help you first, but I have a condition.”

Zhi Shiyi said, “Name it.”

“The Mist Forest is gone and I have nowhere to go, so I’ll be traveling with you from now on. If we run into people who deserve to die, gouge out their eyeballs and feed them to me. Consider it a replenishment for this time.”

Zhi Shiyi agreed without a second thought. Sitting to the side, Chu Nanzhen poked his arm and whispered, “Those who deserve to die are all caught by the government. How would we run into them? Aren’t you just making him an empty promise?”

However, Zhi Shiyi replied, “The government always has oversights. They can control the commoners, but they can’t control cultivators. If the criminal is a cultivator, we might just run into them. There are millions of things in this world, we’re bound to encounter some filth. Since he wants to eat filth, let him. As long as it doesn’t kill him.”

“Fair point.”

Wu Xiang walked over to the senior brother’s skin and knelt down. He lightly brushed his hand over the skin, and a vision appeared before everyone’s eyes. In the illusion, crimson flames scorched every corner, a towering inferno that couldn’t be quenched. Screams echoed continuously. A pair of fair hands were covered in blood, even bearing charred marks from being burned.

Then, the vision dissipated. This snippet left them confused, they couldn’t quite make sense of it. A fire burned the whole city, the people died, and then what? Where was the killer? They hadn’t seen him in the vision at all.

The atmosphere froze for a moment. After a long silence, Zhi Shiyi spoke three words slowly and calmly, “The Imperial Palace.”

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