Vindicated After a Wrongful Death - Chapter 2

The familiar roar of the snow wolf shook the thick layers of dust from the depths of Xiang Zhongjing’s memory, revealing a small corner of his past.

Cultivators of the three realms were divided into three main branches. Sixty years ago, Xiang Zhongjing’s sect was one of them, called the “Quyi Sect.” Su Cansheng, meanwhile, was the senior disciple of another branch, the “Shangyao Peak.”

Listening to the wolf’s howl drawing nearer, Xiang Zhongjing vaguely recalled a time when he had visited Shangyao Peak as a guest. Seeing how majestic and pure white the wolf was, he had wanted to get a closer look, only to nearly have half his arm bitten off by the ferocious beast.

Back then, Su Cansheng wasn’t close with him. He hadn’t even looked his way, merely warning the two-story-tall wolf with a face of indifference, “Don’t just eat anything, it’s dirty.”

Xiang Zhongjing, whose fingers were nearly bitten to the point of bleeding, could only stare in silence.

Since that day, he had been somewhat afraid of that wolf.

Now that Su Cansheng had sent the wolf to find him, it seemed he really couldn’t wait for the beast to treat him like a bone, chewing him up and swallowing him whole.

There was no time for second thoughts. Xiang Zhongjing estimated his direction and hurriedly reached out to pat the youth on the head. “Thanks, we’ll meet again if fate allows.”

With those words, Xiang Zhongjing shed his lazy, leisurely attitude. As if a vengeful ghost was locking onto his soul from behind, he kicked off the ground. Wrapped in his dual ghost-fires like a phoenix rising from the flames, he sped toward the south.

The youth stared blankly as Xiang Zhongjing’s back was swallowed by the darkness, foolishly touching his own head where he’d been patted.

A moment later, the snow wolf arrived before the group. Its claws slammed into the earth, sending a spiderweb of deep cracks through the ground.

The youths who had just managed to scramble up: “…”

Thump, thump. Another pile of them fainted.

Sixty years had passed, and the snow wolf was now a fully grown spirit beast, magnificent and brimming with ferocity. It leaned down to sniff the only youth who hadn’t fainted.

The beast’s breath washed over the boy, making him squeeze his eyes shut in involuntary terror.

The youth was paralyzed with fear, his legs turning to jelly. As the wolf’s breath swept past him, he slumped onto the ground, nearly bursting into tears again.

The snow wolf caught a familiar scent and let out a sudden roar, speaking in a human tongue, “Where… is he…”

Though spirit beasts possessed intelligence, they were still beasts. Being able to force out those two words was already its limit.

The youth’s tears pitter-pattered down. Trembling, he pointed a finger toward the north.

“Th-th-th-there…”

The snow wolf looked in the direction the boy pointed, its fierce vertical pupils flickering. It was impossible to tell if it believed him.

Just then, a talisman on the wolf’s ear suddenly glowed. A cold voice drifted from the void.

“Chase south.”

The youth: “…”

The youth immediately pulled back his finger, terrified the wolf would bite it off.

The snow wolf roared at him in anger, “Human… bad!”

The massive, spirit-infused roar left the youth’s mind a total blank. He couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed face-first onto the ground.

The snow wolf ignored him, taking to the air once more to pursue Xiang Zhongjing to the south.

As the third watch approached, Xiang Zhongjing was running faster than a rabbit. The two clusters of ghost-fire on his shoulders dutifully cleared the way. Within fifteen minutes, he reached a desolate graveyard.

A gust of yin wind howled past, and the surrounding darkness seemed to turn into massive, soft hands, crawling toward him like shadows.

Xiang Zhongjing didn’t even look. When a shadow hand reached for him, he impatiently kicked it away.

“What time is it now?”

With his cultivation gone, Xiang Zhongjing had to rely on the ghost-fires to keep from being caught. He was already short of breath after running for only a short while, yet he remained obsessed with the time.

The two clusters of fire were sticking out “tongues” of sparks, seemingly mocking his exhaustion. Upon hearing his question, the flames transformed into little hands and pulled out the lotus clepsydra given by the youth.

Xiang Zhongjing stole a quick glance.

It was almost the third watch.

He had to be back before the third watch, or he might end up dying a much worse death.

The lingering howl of the wolf echoed behind him again. Xiang Zhongjing’s foot slipped on a tombstone, and he tumbled down, rolling several times before landing miserably inside a ruined grave.

Absolute bad luck.

Xiang Zhongjing brushed his messy hair aside, spat out the sand in his mouth, and used his hands to scramble out of the old coffin.

Just as he crawled out of the grave, the relentless snow wolf descended from the sky. It landed heavily in front of him, its body so massive that the ground shook upon impact.

Since this was a graveyard, a series of muffled thuds echoed as coffins beneath the soil shattered from the vibration.

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

Xiang Zhongjing stared up expressionlessly, meeting the wolf’s gaze.

The wolf’s eyes were fierce, its vertical pupils dilated to fill the entire socket, looking like a predator bracing itself before a kill. Even its breathing grew deep and rapid.

Xiang Zhongjing thought, This is the end of me.

The two ghost-fires on his shoulders had been shivering and hiding in his hair, but sensing the wolf was about to pounce, they flared up. They merged into the form of the fierce beast used to scare the youth earlier, baring their teeth and letting out a “Roar” in a desperate attempt to intimidate the wolf.

The snow wolf casually swiped a paw.

The ghost-fires were instantly snuffed out.

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

The two tiny sparks fled back into his collar, practically crying, so wilted they couldn’t even produce a flame.

Xiang Zhongjing scrambled to think of a way to escape, his right hand subconsciously covering his motionless left hand, the injury Su Cansheng had inflicted sixty years ago when he crippled it with a sword strike.

Seeing this movement, the snow wolf vaguely remembered their first meeting, when it had almost bitten that hand off.

Its fierce eyes filled with a bit of grievance and regret. Its ears drooped, and it carefully tried to act cute like it did for its master, leaning down to lick Xiang Zhongjing’s left hand.

A lick, and it won’t hurt anymore.

Then he definitely won’t be afraid of me.

Seeing that blood-red maw, Xiang Zhongjing recoiled half a step in horror.

The wolf froze.

Disgust flickered in Xiang Zhongjing’s eyes. Holding his left hand, he spoke coldly, “Who does Su Cansheng think he’s looking down on? Even with a crippled hand, I can still slaughter you. If he wants me dead, tell him to come himself.”

The snow wolf hesitated, deciding to try another way to act spoiled and get on his good side.

However, its tiny brain had no concept of the fact that “a mountain-sized beast acting spoiled is equivalent to a natural disaster.” It simply rolled its body, which could have crushed a hundred Xiang Zhongjings, across the ground.

The coffins deep beneath the graveyard began to shatter and pop again.

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

The snow wolf whimpered affectionately, “Woof-hoo.”

But in Xiang Zhongjing’s eyes, the hideous beast looked like it was eyeing a snack to go with its wine. It opened its fang-filled maw, roared at him in anger, and made a move to swallow him whole.

Xiang Zhongjing’s meridians were in chaos. He was nearly shaken into spitting blood by the sheer pressure of the spirit beast’s aura. Clutching his two sparks, he involuntarily took another step back.

And then… he fell into the ruined grave again.

Thinking he was being buried, the snow wolf anxiously began digging with its claws, trying to get him out.

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

The soil dug up by the wolf’s claws flew into the air and rained down on Xiang Zhongjing. A single swipe nearly buried him.

Xiang Zhongjing found it beyond belief. Was this stupid wolf planning to bury him alive since he hadn’t died yet?!

Xiang Zhongjing had been famous since childhood, a man whose sword had stunned the provinces. No matter how fallen he was, he wouldn’t let himself be pressed to death by a mere wolf pup.

As he looked up at the dirt continuously falling from the wolf’s digging, Xiang Zhongjing’s face went completely cold.

He struggled to grasp the two sparks, about to channel his spiritual power, when he suddenly froze.

The sparks felt like bone fragments the size of a finger joint, smooth as jade. The two ghost-fires were waiting for Xiang Zhongjing to make a move, but he didn’t budge for a long time.

The fires looked at him in confusion.

Xiang Zhongjing, who had been full of murderous intent a moment ago, now looked on the verge of a breakdown. “Which fire should I use? Red? Blue? Please, my ancestors, why can’t you two just merge?!”

Under such an emergency, his indecisiveness had flared up again.

The ghost-fires: “…”

Seeing that the dirt kicked up by the wolf was about to bury him, the fires let out a crackle. Just as Xiang Zhongjing wished, they intertwined and merged into a swirling red-and-blue flame, urgently prompting him.

Seeing he no longer had to choose, Xiang Zhongjing immediately channeled the sliver of spiritual power he had spent years accumulating. The ghost-fire exploded in size, nearly roasting his hand like a pig’s trotter.

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

The red-and-blue fire unleashed its full power, creating a wall of flames that leveled the entire ruined grave. Caught off guard, the snow wolf was blasted backward by the fire.

Xiang Zhongjing struggled to his feet and stumbled forward.

Not far away was the familiar white jade “Soul-Settling Coffin.” If he could just hide inside, even Su Cansheng wouldn’t be able to hurt him.

The snow wolf looked at its paw, where a patch of fur had been singed bald. It stared at the bald spot for a long time before letting out a mournful, aggrieved howl.

The master’s orders were too hard. How was it supposed to just take Xiang Zhongjing away?

Now look, it was bald.

The wolf was incredibly upset, but it couldn’t defy its master’s orders. It picked itself up and ran toward Xiang Zhongjing again, planning to carry him back by force in its mouth.

It wasn’t good at talking; it would let the master do the speaking.

Xiang Zhongjing heard the movement behind him and glanced back, only to come face-to-face with the wolf’s blood-red maw lunging at him with murderous intent.

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

Right then, the clepsydra at his waist let out a soft, crisp chime.

In the ink-black graveyard, two blindingly bright lights suddenly appeared, nearly blinding Xiang Zhongjing’s sensitive eyes.

The light was so intense that even the high wall of his ghost-fires lost its luster.

Xiang Zhongjing froze, his expression finally changing.

The third watch had arrived.

In a place Xiang Zhongjing couldn’t see, the graveyard was instantly encircled by a massive dark shadow. The dull sound of the body rubbing against the ground was bone-shaking and terrifying.

At the end of those two bright lights were the golden vertical pupils of a giant dragon.

The dragon in the darkness slowly coiled around the white jade Soul-Settling Coffin in the center, blocking Xiang Zhongjing’s path back.

The dragon’s voice drifted from the darkness, sounding like an ancient, low-toned bell in a temple, carrying an irrepressible, cold murderous intent.

“Xiang Zhongjing.”

“I finally caught you.”

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

Before him was the enemy dragon he had sealed sixty years ago; behind him was his nemesis, the snow wolf who had sealed him for sixty years.

Xiang Zhongjing suddenly felt that he shouldn’t have blown up that ruined grave earlier. If he had just stayed lying in there, he could have truly rested in peace.

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