Why is the Demon Venerable Like That? - Chapter 15

“What do you mean by that!” Concubine Zhang wanted to raise her voice to project some authority, but in this ghostly mansion, she did not have the guts to shout.

Lu Yuan replied, “I mean exactly what I said.”

Lu’s father was shocked. “How do you know that?”

Lu Yuan said, “I saw it with my own eyes.”

If you saw it, why are you so calm? Lu’s father questioned him loudly with his eyes.

“Because I have a heart condition, and I cannot afford to have significant emotional fluctuations,” Lu Yuan answered with a calm expression.

Lu’s father was left speechless, unable to retort.

Lu Yuan casually picked up a chair that had been blocking the door and sat down. “This matter at home has something to do with Lu Mingzhu, right?”

At this point, there was no point in denying it. Concubine Zhang covered her face and began to sob softly.

“Mingzhu was just bewitched. She was deceived!” As if remembering something, Concubine Zhang, who had been listless, rushed over and grabbed Lu Yuan’s arm tightly. “She was deceived by a monk from outside Tiandu City!”

Outside Tiandu City, there stood a temple named Jiezhao Temple.

Every morning and evening, as the sun slanted, the light would always fall onto the gilded lotus pedestal of the Great Buddha in the main hall. The golden patterns would ripple as if there were ten thousand rays of Buddhist light. It had stood on West Chong Mountain outside the city for countless years. The temple had a constant stream of pilgrims and was filled with eminent monks who were highly respected and virtuous.

Lu Yuan lowered his eyes to look at Concubine Zhang, who was half-paralyzed on the ground. Ignoring the arm she was gripping painfully, he asked with interest, “Tell me the details.”

“It was about two months ago, after you got married. Mingzhu started running to Jiezhao Temple frequently. Then, one day, she told me in a possessed manner…” Concubine Zhang glanced nervously at Ling Chuandu. “She told me that soon, Young Master Lin would marry her.”

Lu Yuan rubbed his prominent finger bones and remained silent for a long while. When he was expressionless, his features looked sharp and cold, making anyone who looked at him feel that he was a cruel and vicious person.

Ling Chuandu remembered the scene when he met Lu Yuan in Lin’an Town. At that time, the man’s facial lines were soft, and even when stained with blood, his eyes remained gentle. In just a few short days, it was as if he had become a different person.

Lu Yuan had naturally heard of Jiezhao Temple. In his previous life, he had even brewed tea and discussed the Buddhist scriptures with several of the monks there. Could it be that after a hundred years, business has been bad, and the old monks of Jiezhao Temple have started swindling people?

…This possibility was even more absurd than the monks praising his tea-brewing skills.

Lu Yuan slowly pried open Concubine Zhang’s fingers and asked, “Which monk in the temple told her that?”

As he asked, he looked not only at Concubine Zhang but also swept a glance toward Ling Chuandu. Ling Chuandu shook his head slightly. Lu Mingzhu had never mentioned this matter to her lover.

Concubine Zhang frowned. “I don’t know. I only remember her saying that the Master looked very handsome.”

Handsome?

Lu Yuan carefully went through all the Buddhist cultivators of Jiezhao Temple in his memory. He honestly could not think of any Master who could be called “very handsome.” Most monks at Jiezhao Temple, unlike other sects, did not care about maintaining a youthful appearance; they believed that beauty was just bones, nothing more than a layer of skin. Therefore, most of those eminent monks had white hair and long beards, with faces as wrinkled as dried walnuts. Calling them kind was a stretch; even someone like Lu Yuan, who was not picky about looks, could not agree with the claim that they were handsome.

“Father, Mother, are you inside?” The door was rattled by someone, but it did not open.

Concubine Zhang and Lu’s father froze in place. Lu’s father instinctively caught Concubine Zhang as she threw herself at him. The two of them trembled together. “She, she clearly has not come out in a long time.”

The person outside was quite strong. Finding the door would not budge, she suddenly increased her force.

The chairs behind the door toppled over. The person at the entrance stood quietly in place, and behind her, the light and shadow dissipated. Without knowing when, the outside had become pitch black; it had turned into night.

Lu Mingzhu was dressed in red, her lips vivid and bright, a complete change from her previous delicate makeup.

It had only been about half an hour since Lu Yuan entered this mansion. According to the time, it should have been noon.

“Who are you?” Lu Yuan’s waist was lithe, standing like an ancient blade about to be unsheathed, exuding a chilling intent.

“Sister, what do you mean by that?” Lu Mingzhu smiled, her paper fan shyly covering the lower half of her face. “I am naturally Mingzhu.”

The black, spiderweb-like death aura on Lu Mingzhu began to emerge, gradually wrapping around her entire body. Her bright red skirt had turned dark red.

The System pointed at the mission to find Lu Mingzhu, which was still hanging there awkwardly. The System: [Isn’t this already found? Is this a bug on my end?!]

Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, Lu Mingzhu let her head hang, as if she were tired, and dragged her body toward the room. She giggled, moving toward Lu Yuan with a clear target.

A long sword used for decoration on the wall suddenly unsheathed. Ling Chuandu’s face darkened as he stepped forward, pointing the sword directly at Lu Mingzhu’s throat. His appearance was more terrifying than the neither-human-nor-ghost Lu Mingzhu.

Lu Mingzhu looked at Ling Chuandu with resentment, pushing the sharpened blade with her hand. Dark red blood flowed across the edge and dripped onto the floor. She grabbed the blade carelessly, blood dripping down in a steady stream.

Ling Chuandu disgustedly released the hilt, a murderous aura rising in his gray eyes. “Lu Mingzhu was someone who would be terrified by the slightest scratch. She was always afraid of leaving a scar.”

Hearing this, Lu Mingzhu laughed. “Do you know why I was afraid of leaving scars?”

She looked somewhat similar to Lu Yuan, but upon closer inspection, her features were more elegant and refined. She possessed the kind of look most favored by men who liked to dabble in literature, like Lin Chuan.

“And why are you blocking my way in front of Sister? What are you afraid of?” The death aura appeared on her face, which was gradually cracking. Like a fragile piece of porcelain, she was falling apart.

Lu Mingzhu suddenly tilted her head back and shrieked. Black fog erupted from her throat, charging toward the two of them. The black fog overturned the furniture in the room along the way, and Lu’s father and Concubine Zhang were unfortunately knocked unconscious. Even the walls, doors, and windows were swept away and destroyed by this whirlwind of black fog.

Ling Chuandu’s expression was icy. Although his cultivation was stagnant, he did not put someone of Lu Mingzhu’s level in his eyes. His fingers moved slightly, brushing aside the black fog that was attacking Lu Yuan. The black fog was like wind meeting a mountain, obstructed and unable to advance further.

Lu Mingzhu crouched like a ghost. Seeing that Ling Chuandu’s attention was drawn by the black fog, she leaped forward and threw herself directly at him.

“Why do you shield Sister? I have always wanted to kill you!” She whispered intimately into Ling Chuandu’s ear.

Lu Mingzhu’s soft hands had turned into ghostly white bones, which she drove directly into Ling Chuandu’s left shoulder. In an instant, half of his shoulder was soaked in blood.

Lu Mingzhu’s face was twisted, pieces of her facial tissue falling off to reveal black, hollow cavities. She laughed wildly, “You thought I wanted to kill Lu Yuan? Ridiculous! Ridiculous! Hahahaha!”

She pulled her hand out suddenly, aiming to pierce Ling Chuandu’s heart and crush it.

Before Lu Mingzhu could succeed, a cold sensation pressed against her back. Lu Yuan coughed slightly. His old illness had not fully recovered, and his soul was incomplete; in this place filled with death, he naturally felt uncomfortable. However, the long sword in his hand remained steady. “Lu Mingzhu, let’s talk.”

Lu Mingzhu did not look like she had the plague at all; she looked more like she was possessed by some evil spirit.

Lu Mingzhu did not seem to feel the sword pressing against her back and stepped back carelessly. “You do not look like Lin Chuan.” Her eyeballs, along with her decaying face, gradually fell out of their sockets, hanging loosely by a few nerves.

“You know magic.” Lu Mingzhu stared at him with her empty sockets. “When I feigned an attack on Lu Yuan, you indeed used magic.”

She tilted her head in confusion. “You are not Lin Chuan. But… but your scent has not changed. This is so strange.”

“Is this place… real?”

The secret realm made a strange, cracking sound, like a fragile shell breaking.

Oh no, the secret realm is collapsing!

Lu Yuan improvised, “He has been seeking Buddha and asking for the path at Jiezhao Temple recently.”

Lu Mingzhu’s optic nerves finally reached their limit, unable to hold onto those two eyeballs. The eyeballs rolled down, stained with blood, to Lu Yuan’s feet.

“Jiezhao Temple…” Lu Mingzhu repeated, muttering, “Right, it is Jiezhao Temple.”

Lu Mingzhu turned around and “looked” at Lu Yuan. “You were sickly when you were young, but the food and things you used were always the best.”

“You did not have to make any effort to attract all of Father’s attention. When I celebrated my birthday, I was setting off river lanterns outside. The servants came to tell me you were crying at home, and Father left me on the riverbank. He left in such a hurry that he even trampled on my river lantern.”

“I held the broken river lantern and cried alone on the shore. He did not even look back at me once.”

In her childhood, Lu Yuan could only stay in her room alone. She could not go out, could not be exposed to the wind, and even the slightest cold would cause her to have a high fever.

Lu Mingzhu had curiously observed this sister who rarely left the house during a family banquet. Concubine Zhang just pulled her behind herself, warning her not to speak to Lu Yuan. She is precious; if she gets bumped or bruised, she will cause trouble for you.

At that time, she did not know what “precious” meant, nor did she know how Lu Yuan was different from her. Lu Mingzhu only knew that this pale-faced girl, who was always held by the First Madam, looked very pitiful. She must be very lonely, having to stay by herself.

Concubine Zhang had the habit of going to Jiezhao Temple to burn incense every year, and Lu Mingzhu would follow. After seeing Lu Yuan, Lu Mingzhu had an extra thought. She knelt before the meditation cushion and wished that her sister would get better soon, and also that she wanted a little rabbit, a very small, very cute one.

Then she thought about whether she was being too greedy. Buddha is very busy; how can I make two wishes? So she said in her heart, Then I do not want the little rabbit. Let Lu Yuan get better.

As a result, when she got home, the cook was preparing to make spicy rabbit dices. When Lu Mingzhu saw it was the small, white kind of rabbit, she asked the cook if she could not kill it; she wanted to keep it as a pet. The cook neither refused nor agreed, only saying she would have to ask the Master.

Naturally, Lu’s father would not refuse such a small request from Lu Mingzhu. Besides, a child’s hobby was probably just for novelty; in a few days, the servants would have to feed it for her.

Lu Mingzhu ran back excitedly, only to find the rabbit missing. She anxiously checked the pots one by one. The cook hurriedly stopped her, saying the little rabbit had just been taken by Lu Yuan and had not been put in the pot. She anxiously ran to Lu’s father, saying her sister had taken her rabbit.

Lu’s father said, “It is just a rabbit. I will give you a new one tomorrow, okay? Let Lu Yuan have this one for now.”

“I was jealous of you to death.” Lu Mingzhu’s blood-red tears flowed from her eye sockets.

I prayed for you at Jiezhao Temple, and you grabbed even a rabbit from me.

The things I wanted required my father’s permission, while you just had to open your mouth to get them.

Lu Mingzhu’s bloody tears streamed down. “I started to hate you from then on.”

She blinked her empty sockets, which were still shedding tears. “But you are not the one who should die.”