Wanxi Rebirth - Chapter 12

Yue Tingxi had a strange feeling that Miss Qin’s gaze was a little intense at the moment. She probably interrupted the interrogation and had annoyed her somewhat.

Despite this, she still answered truthfully, “I can’t focus on my book; I’m too anxious to save her. Did he confess? If not, how much longer will it take?”

“Your timing is perfect. He has confessed the most crucial information I wanted to know. The rest can be asked slowly,” Qin Suiliu said, turning away and walking in front of her. “Let’s go, we’re going to save her.”

Yue Tingxi’s sense of smell was always sharp, but as Miss Qin passed by, she didn’t detect the residual scent of blood or burning from a harsh interrogation. She wondered if the young lady had used a cleansing spell before coming out.

The Qin family members guarding the underground private prison had been ordered to leave. As they exited, they saw these people diligently guarding the passage on both sides. There were simply too many people. No matter how curious Yue Tingxi was, she decided against asking Miss Qin about the interrogation results at that moment. She silently followed her, leaving the underground area and heading toward the room where the peach-wood coffin was stored.

When Qin Suiliu pushed open the door, Yue Tingxi immediately saw Lan Kongming, who was waiting inside.

— The Book of Worldly Affairs recorded that Lady Qin’s most beloved mother, during the night of the Qin family’s annihilation, fought alone with a single sword, desperately trying to block the swarming hordes of fierce walking corpses. When her bones broke and she could no longer wield her sword, she used talismans. When the talismans ran out, she used her own blood as a medium to activate a secret art, condensing it into blood blades and chains to block the advance of the corpse army. Not until her last drop of blood was gone and she couldn’t move a single finger did Lan Kongming fall, creating an escape route for her daughter with her life.

Yue Tingxi couldn’t help but look at Lan Kongming a few more times. Then, she heard Miss Qin let out a soft sigh.

“Mother, Tingxi and I are enough here,” Qin Suiliu said, even trying to gently push her mother out of the room. “The corpse aura is heavy and bad for your health. You shouldn’t stay for long!”

“It’s just a ‘living puppet,’ don’t underestimate your mother’s abilities!” Lan Kongming glared at her, and gently clapped her hands twice. The peach-wood coffin opened on its own, revealing the victim inside.

Yue Tingxi subconsciously looked over. She saw that the woman was quite beautiful. It was unclear if she had been disguised or if she naturally possessed a “noble” appearance. In any case, her face and demeanor were indeed befitting the status of a sect leader’s wife.

However, compared to a truly living person, this woman’s face was exceptionally pale, completely devoid of color. Her lips were also slightly purple, reminding Yue Tingxi of descriptions in storybooks of people suffocated by bandits.

“We need to use silver needles to prick specific acupoints and let the blood out to force out the corpse poison, followed by a medicated bath,” Qin Suiliu said. She then took out a spirit recording jade and handed it to Lan Kongming. “I’ll perform the needling first. I’ll have to trouble you with the medicated bath, Mother.”

Lan Kongming knew perfectly well that her daughter was still worried about her health.

“Alright, you two be careful as well.” She didn’t refuse her daughter’s kindness this time, accepting the jade. She looked at the unconscious woman. “Just now, when I unsealed the peach-wood coffin, I examined her condition. All of her meridians are blocked. She is not an immortal cultivator. But that makes sense. Spiritual mediums were expelled from the human realm long ago. Even if there are remnants, they wouldn’t dare to target immortal cultivators again.”

With that, she left the room, closing the door and casting a barrier to prevent disturbances.

“If that’s the case, since this woman could be transported to the Ghost Market and fall into the hands of a spiritual medium, either she or her family was scammed with promises of benefits by human traffickers, or she was seriously ill and had nowhere to go. She might have heard a rumor that someone in the Ghost Market could cure her, so she went there to try her luck,” Yue Tingxi speculated.

After patiently listening to her analysis, Qin Suiliu spoke, “This person was once a courtesan at the Red Dust Pavilion on the ‘Di’ level. She was an orphan, sold to the Red Dust Pavilion as a child. She started as a servant who served tea, poured water, and did laundry.”

“When she was thirteen, her singing voice was discovered by a nobleman. Because her appearance and temperament weren’t particularly outstanding, she became a courtesan who performed hidden behind a curtain, singing with her face concealed.”

“In the twelfth month half a year ago, she caught a cold. The medicine she took was tampered with. Not only did her cold not get better, but she also lost her voice completely, making it difficult for people to even hear her normal speech.”

At this point, Qin Suiliu paused. “But she still wanted to live and didn’t want to be deemed ‘useless’ and thrown out of the Red Dust Pavilion by the mistress. So she took all her silver and spirit stones to the Ghost Market to find a good doctor.”

“Did she find He Shen herself, or was there a broker?” Yue Tingxi asked.

“Another pipa courtesan who grew up with her told her about the rumors,” Qin Suiliu replied. “However, that courtesan had once received a ‘favor’ from He Shen. From time to time, she would secretly get corpses from an old friend who managed funerals for mortals in Suspension Mirror City and give them to He Shen. So she could be considered a broker.”

The convoluted relationships made Yue Tingxi frown.

Seeing that she didn’t seem to want to continue the conversation, Qin Suiliu walked toward the still-unconscious woman. With a wave of her hand, a soft gray light lifted her and placed her on a clean, soft bed, ready to perform the needling.

“What can I do?” she heard the demon behind her ask.

Even though she could complete the task alone and didn’t need Yue Tingxi’s help, Qin Suiliu still took out a bag of spirit stones and handed it to her. “When I perform the needling, I’ll have to trouble you to inject spiritual power into her.”

Spirit stones are spiritual objects naturally condensed from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. The higher the quality of the spirit stone, the purer the spiritual power that can be extracted, making it less likely to cause problems, whether used for healing or cultivation.

As the silver needles pierced the skin, Yue Tingxi guided the spiritual power from the spirit stones to attach to them, further stimulating the acupoints. She quickly saw a dark, eerie, greenish-black substance climb up the needles, which she guessed was the forced-out corpse poison.

The first three silver needles quickly turned completely black. Qin Suiliu directly used the attached spiritual power to pull them out one by one and placed them on a white cloth soaked in spiritual power and a special medicinal liquid.

Around the sixth needle, the girl finally stirred. She suddenly opened her mouth, breathing rapidly and heavily. Fine cracks began to appear on her beautiful face, looking like the dissolution of a disguise.

“Is it working?!” Yue Tingxi was both surprised and delighted.

“This is just the beginning. She must unblock all seven orifices to pass this ordeal and escape the ‘living dead’ state,” Qin Suiliu said while taking a new silver needle in her hand, intending to let the girl rest for a bit before continuing. “But she has been refined into a living puppet for quite some time, so even if she wakes up, she will likely be disoriented for a long time.”

“At least she’s free from being controlled,” Yue Tingxi, who had a similar experience, was optimistic. “Even for a short-lived mortal, she’s still just a young girl. She has a long future ahead of her!”

Hearing this, Qin Suiliu’s hand, which was holding the needle, trembled slightly.

— “I… I don’t know if I can be as amazing as you in the future…”

A distant memory silently surfaced in her mind. She “heard” her child-self, tearfully and stutteringly, say this.

— “How old are you now?! You’re young enough that I can count your age on my fingers! You have a long future ahead of you!”

The snake demon crouching in front of her teased her with a smile, gently rubbing her face. The watery sleeves occasionally brushed against her skin, making her feel a little ticklish. She instinctively wanted to dodge but was also inexplicably fond of this subtle feeling. So she awkwardly turned her face away, not letting the other party notice any emotion in her eyes.

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