Wanxi Rebirth - Chapter 8

“How do you know that Lin Chaoyao came to the Linglong Pavilion and then went to the Ghost Market?”

While waiting for the teleportation array to arrive, Yue Tingxi couldn’t help but ask via a spiritual message.

“I asked Miss Lin for her assistance in placing a small positioning artifact on Lin Chaoyao.” Qin Suiliu calmly made up a lie. “I didn’t expect it to come in handy so quickly.”

Yue Tingxi subconsciously thought of the phrase “all’s fair in love and war,” and then recalled the decisive and cruel nature of Miss Qin in her previous life, who would stop at nothing for revenge.

She had thought that Miss Qin only “blackened” after losing everything, but she didn’t expect that a single betrayal of principle would be enough to quietly nurture the seeds of “blackening,” like a venomous snake coiling coldly around those who provoked the Qin family.

“As expected of Miss Qin! From now on, we’ll know his every move!” Suppressing her emotions, she continued to act, giving Miss Qin a lot of face by flattering her. Then she deliberately changed the subject, “Speaking of which, I’ve never been to the Ghost Market. I’ve only heard Shasha mention that the Ghost Market is on the east street of the ‘Chen’ layer, and that even the demon race hides their identities there to sell goods.”

“You want to go to the Ghost Market?” Qin Suiliu looked at her.

“No, the Ghost Market is too chaotic. The ‘Xuan’ layer is much better.” Yue Tingxi said, while cracking her knuckles. “I was just thinking, is it possible to use the environment of the Ghost Market to drag Lin Gou into a dead end and beat him up!”

If the sect leader were to die in the Ghost Market, it would definitely attract a thorough investigation from the Immortal Sects. Since she couldn’t kill him for now, letting out some steam was an option!

At this moment, the teleportation array appeared before them, and Yue Tingxi was the first to step into it.

She wondered if it was her imagination, but she seemed to hear a very light laugh from Miss Qin.

“If there’s a chance, I’ll try to let you punch him a few more times.”

The teleportation array activated, and she heard Qin Suiliu’s unhurried spiritual message, “However, Lin Chaoyao is very sharp. Even in the Ghost Market, you can’t use your tail.”

“You can rest assured.” Yue Tingxi promised. “I want to get my revenge with my own hands!”

[Host, the key observation target [Yue Tingxi] is still in a missing state. The key focus target [Qin Suiliu] has been missing for over half an hour.]

In a corner of the Ghost Market, while waiting for the Spirit Communicator to arrive, Lin Chaoyao once again heard the scanning results that gave him the most headaches.

“Can’t you view the action records of these two NPCs either?” he asked without much hope.

[Yes, Host.]

[Hint: Missing and disappeared are states after the system’s scan has been blocked. You can still find them using human methods.]

“A tracking artifact?” Lin Chaoyao frowned.

He used to have as many of these low-level items as he wanted, but now they had been wiped clean by the world’s correction force along with the memories of past cycles. The original owner himself had always acted openly and honorably, and disdained to use such artifacts.

Fortunately, you could buy all sorts of strange artifacts in the Ghost Market. He would go and pick out some reliable ones later to stock up.

[Host, are you sure you don’t want to send trusted subordinates to stake out the Qin family?]

“Ha, you must have scanned the data of those NPCs from the Azure Sun Sect, right?” Lin Chaoyao sneered. “That Elder Hua who was the greeter today is an exception. The others are all the same as the original owner. They even repeatedly opposed this marriage.”

As for why they didn’t say anything after escaping the control of the artifacts, it was simply because the wedding had already taken place. The die was cast. They couldn’t stop the sect leader from going his own way. Instead, by helping and congratulating him, they were accomplices, one and all.

When he rebutted the system, Lin Chaoyao’s tone was still a little regretful. “It seems that the previous me must have used high-level items that widely enchanted NPCs and tampered with memories. That snake demon was probably also under the control of an item—I remember that after a certain modern world ended, the administration rewarded me with a [Doting Wife Tag] that only worked on female characters, right? Otherwise, given her character, it would be a miracle if she didn’t strangle me and throw me down the mountain.”

The system didn’t respond, and as always, it dutifully scanned the surrounding environment, trying to preemptively eliminate any potential hidden dangers.

As the lowest level of the Linglong Pavilion, the streets of the ‘Chen’ layer were simple and unadorned, even more inconspicuous than the most ordinary, deserted alleys in Mirror City.

Yue Tingxi had said she didn’t want to go shopping, but once she was in a place she had never set foot in before, the sprout of curiosity in her heart sprouted uncontrollably.

It was all the fault of that wretched dog Lin! She hadn’t been shopping for five whole years!

To dispel this thought, she took the initiative to ask Qin Suiliu, “Where are we going to beat the dog?”

“Follow me.” As Qin Suiliu spoke, she grabbed her wrist through her sleeve.

Yue Tingxi subconsciously wanted to pull her hand back.

She didn’t like being touched now, especially by Miss Qin!

“The Ghost Market is too chaotic. I’m afraid you’ll get separated from me.” But Qin Suiliu was very persistent.

“…Are you treating me like a child?” Yue Tingxi muttered, but considering that it was indeed her first time here and she was very curious, she reluctantly allowed Qin Suiliu to lead her into the crowd.

—”Don’t sulk! There are a lot of trees in the mountains. If I don’t hold your hand, what if you get lost again?”

Suddenly, her own voice echoed in her mind.

…It was that lost child again.

As she followed Miss Qin through the sea of people, for some reason, her memories also began to recover little by little.

Twenty years ago, she happened to save two children in a dangerous place near a cliff in Xishan.

One of them was the little girl who liked nine-mile fragrance. When she habitually went to hold her hand, as she would with the young demons, she was dodged with a frown, and the girl emphasized seriously, “This is not proper!”

Yue Tingxi was stunned for a moment, and then she burst out laughing, teasing her, “Then which do you think is more important, propriety or not getting lost?”

“…Both are important!”

“If you have to choose one?”

“…” The little girl immediately showed a very conflicted expression, but in the end, she took the initiative to grab her sleeve—just a small corner of the sleeve, and she emphasized in a very soft voice, “Not getting lost comes first, but I haven’t forgotten about propriety.”

—Yue Tingxi couldn’t help but look at her wrist.

Miss Qin seemed serious. She really seemed to be afraid that she would get separated, otherwise, why would she be holding on so tightly?

Yue Tingxi mumbled to herself in her heart, while speeding up her steps to walk side by side with Miss Qin, so that the pain in her wrist would be a little less.

“So, what is he doing in the Ghost Market?”

About a quarter of an hour later, she followed Miss Qin to a stop in front of a low, dark house, and couldn’t help but ask, “A special transaction place? Or… is he looking for someone?”

Besides, the aura here made her feel very ominous and very uncomfortable, even reminding her of the mass graves on the outskirts of the human city.

Were the residents here really human?

“He’s both looking for someone and trading.” Qin Suiliu answered. “Have you heard of a ‘Spirit Communicator’?”

Yue Tingxi was stunned, and then her face darkened. “Of course. Even in our world, a Spirit Communicator is like a rat on the street!”

“Spirit Communicator” was not a good profession. Its evil deeds were clear even to young demons who could barely speak: manipulating corpses, enslaving souls, destroying sea of consciousness for soul-searching, and even being able to temporarily resurrect the dead. They were “heretical creatures of the ghost path” that were shunned by everyone like rats on the street.

According to historical records, the human and demon races had more than once formed an alliance to eradicate Spirit Communicators, soothe the resentment of the deceased, suppress vengeful spirits, burn or bury the distorted corpses that had been modified, and for this, they had paid a heavy price.

Now, there should be no sign of Spirit Communicators in the human world—long before she was born from spiritual energy, the last of the Spirit Communicators had already been exiled to the chaotic demon realm.

“…Could he be planning to find a moving corpse to replace me?” Yue Tingxi suddenly had a strange thought, but after thinking about it carefully, she felt that it was exactly the kind of thing Lin Chaoyao would do. “After all, the wedding has already been held, and the former fiancée also came to break off the engagement this morning. Now everyone is watching the Azure Sun Sect become a laughingstock. He can only stabilize the morale by finding his new wife back as soon as possible.”

“As for whether this wife is the original one, no one knows except him. In this case, a corpse with no identity that can be easily controlled is a really good choice.”

She took the opportunity to pull her hand back and once again cracked her knuckles. “Are we going to set up an ambush and wait for them to come out and hit them with a sap, or are we going to rush in and catch them ‘in the act’?”

“Aren’t you afraid of the puppet evil art anymore?” Qin Suiliu deliberately looked at her.

“I am, but aren’t you here?” Sticking to her act, Yue Tingxi asked back, “Miss Qin wouldn’t just abandon a ‘honored guest who saved her life’, would she?”

She saw Miss Qin pause slightly, and then heard the other party say seriously, “Confronting him head-on is satisfying, but Lin Chaoyao himself is not easy to deal with, and this is also a stronghold for Spirit Communicators. My artifact can only track and monitor; it can’t ‘scout’ for danger for others.”

“However, I do have a plan that requires your assistance.”

A quarter of an hour later.

Inside the house where the Spirit Communicator was hiding, Lin Chaoyao felt that his right eyelid was twitching particularly hard.

“Sect Leader Lin, your goods.”

A voice that leaned towards a male’s came, weak and hoarse, but if you listened carefully, you would find that it contained a joy and excitement that was suppressed with great effort.

Lin Chaoyao looked up. The person who came had short hair and a black robe, with a green covering his face so that even his eyes were not visible.

The masked man leaned on a wooden staff with one hand, supporting his strange walking posture, and slowly walked out of the darkness. With his other hand, he was casting a spell, causing a peach wood box that was following him to slowly land on the ground.

“Now, can you tell me… why, after a short time, you are willing to ask for help from a filthy Spirit Communicator like me again?” the masked man asked softly. “At that time, you were obviously very angry… You never expected that after I was saved by your help, I would collude with demons and become a heinous Spirit Communicator.”

He repeatedly emphasized the words “Spirit Communicator,” which made the already displeased Lin Chaoyao even more annoyed.

That was the rigid original owner, not him.

“People always change.” He responded faintly, while tapping the peach wood box with his fingertip. “You just need to know that this business is the beginning of my recognition of you. To achieve a great cause, one must resort to any means necessary. Not only Spirit Communicators, but even secretly cooperating with demons is not a big deal.”

“In fact, I’m very clear that your long-cherished wish is to unseal the demon realm and let the true powerhouses dominate the weak, while I hope to use the demon disaster to unify the human realm and gather the strength of all the immortal sects to open a door to the upper realm. In a way, we have a consistent goal…”

Just as Lin Chaoyao was about to continue, he suddenly felt the spiritual energy flow around his body stagnate. A sensation of numbness instantly came from his mouth, lungs, and tongue, and in a moment, it spread to his limbs.

[Warning! Toxin invasion detected! Emergency search for antidote in progress—]

Lin Chaoyao suddenly looked at the person sitting opposite him.

The Spirit Communicator’s face was changing rapidly, becoming blurred. In his hazy vision, he actually saw colorful data bars.

…Is it a disguise item?! How is that possible!

“You hypocritical dog! Who has a consistent goal with you!”

Along with a familiar yet unfamiliar female voice, he felt his vision go dark—

It was as if a fist was coming straight for his face.

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