Chapter 101: Awakening

Under the moonlight, a figure leapt across the eaves of the pavilion.

Cui Ya had secretly brought Xie Xiushi back to his residence. No matter how careful she was, the faint sound of stepping on the roof tiles was inevitable.

Normally, no one would hear it, but in this manor lived two extraordinary individuals.

“Isn't this the personal maid of Miss Cui? Why isn’t she serving her lady properly inside the mansion, and instead getting involved in such sneaky mischief?” Gan Wen sat atop the ridge, holding a silver-patterned crescent blade, and smiled lightly as he looked at Cui Ya dressed in black, walking along the eaves.

“Put our master down,” said Wu Yang, standing beside Gan Wen. He was another guard, holding a bronze staff engraved with white ape motifs, his sharp eyes fixed on Cui Ya carrying Xie Xiushi on her back.

“Why did you come along? Who cares about that crystal coffin?!” Cui Ya first noticed that Gan Wen’s expression remained unchanged, but when she saw Wu Yang beside him, her face changed dramatically, and she shouted at Wu Yang in alarm.

“Our master has been stolen; does it matter whether or not we look at that crystal coffin?” Gan Wen retorted with a light laugh.

Wu Yang frowned, glanced at the calm Xie Xiushi on Cui Ya’s back, and just as he was about to leap off the eaves, a flash of cold light suddenly appeared.

Even though Wu Yang stepped back in time, the arm holding the staff was slashed deeply, blood instantly staining his gray clothes.

“Money offered but refused, you insist on paying with your life?” Gan Wen lightly wiped the blood from the blade of his silver-patterned crescent moon knife with two fingers. The faint smile on his face under the cold moonlight appeared strangely eerie.

“You take the master and leave first. Meanwhile, help me check that crystal coffin,” Wu Yang said, tearing open his garment to wrap the wound on his shoulder, switching hands to hold the staff, and exhaling heavily as he looked at Cui Ya nearby.

“Don’t meddle. Let him go. I can ensure you return safely. Otherwise, it’s too easy for a young lady to get into trouble at night,” Gan Wen said with a sideways smile, watching Cui Ya.

“I’m just like my lady—softness won’t work on me,” Cui Ya said coldly.

Then, to the surprise of Gan Wen and Wu Yang, she threw Xie Xiushi down from the eaves. Though the height was not fatal and there was grass below, it was enough to break some bones.

“He stopped you just now, which means things are still unfolding. The best choice is for us to team up quickly and deal with him, rather than being picked off one by one,” Cui Ya said.

At that moment, several plum blossom needles shot from her sleeve.

Swoosh, swoosh.

Gan Wen slowly stood on the ridge, barely glancing at the needles piercing his body, allowing them to embed themselves without any reaction.

Clink.

The needle tips bent and fell into the gaps between the tiles.

“You’ve already reached the point of being enveloped by martial energy?” Wu Yang frowned deeply as he watched.

“Enveloped by martial energy? That requires perfect external force and smooth internal energy flow. Not everyone is blessed with martial talent like you,” Gan Wen said, holding his silver-patterned crescent blade as blood trickled from its tip. Standing in the moonlight, he smiled lightly at Wu Yang.

“It’s demonic energy,” Cui Ya said gravely, drawing a pair of double-edged short knives from her back waist, eyes alert as she watched Gan Wen, who was surrounded by a faint eerie red glow under the moonlight.

“You still couldn’t persist on the martial path,” Wu Yang said solemnly, swinging his staff with his left hand, eyes bright and focused on Gan Wen.

His movements left a shadowy afterimage, and amid the swirling staff qi, a white ape phantom appeared faintly on his body.

“You’ve reached the stage of martial soul possession. Why is it that despite training together for over two decades, your progress in martial arts has been so rapid, while I struggle to even produce a trace of martial energy and find no way forward?” Gan Wen suddenly laughed wildly. His mouth stretched into a grin, revealing sharp, elongated teeth, and his once black hair turned fiery red and disheveled.

“I would be a burden here.”

Seeing this, Cui Ya retracted her short knives and looked at Wu Yang not far away.

“You go first. I have defeated him once in the Prefect’s Mansion of Nanxi Commandery; I can do it again,” Wu Yang said gravely.

Without hesitation, Cui Ya turned her back to Gan Wen and leapt down from the eaves.

A flash of cold light, tiles scattered.

Clang.

Wu Yang’s figure, like a white ape, suddenly appeared behind Cui Ya, blocking Gan Wen’s powerful diagonal slash with his seemingly ordinary bronze staff carved with white ape motifs.

“If you want to die, don’t blame me for not sparing old ties!” Gan Wen’s eyes glowed with an unnatural red light. His body began to swell, tearing his clothes to reveal rock-hard muscles with bulging veins like coiling dragons.

Wu Yang noticed Cui Ya had disappeared into the night with Xie Xiushi and swiftly counterattacked.

Bang.

The eaves of the house were cut nearly in half by Gan Wen’s heavy slash, tiles and beams crashing onto the lawn, stirring up a cloud of dust.

Wu Yang lowered his head to inspect the scratch on his staff, holding it with his left arm in defense. His sharp eyes gleamed as he launched an attack toward Gan Wen.

Behind Wu Yang, a white ape phantom appeared, swinging its powerful arms toward Gan Wen’s head.

Gan Wen laughed wildly, the twenty-pound silver-patterned crescent blade in his hand moving as lightly as a feather, trailing a faint demonic red glow.

The two clashed fiercely, sparks flying, the sound of metal striking metal ringing out continuously.

Not far away, in the inner courtyard’s side chamber, the copper lock hanging outside the door had been cut.

The door was ajar, revealing a figure about five feet tall, entirely clad in white, swaying before a crystal coffin.

He listened as the battle raged outside, then slammed the coffin’s lid open and dragged out the handsome man lying inside.

Then, he laid down inside himself.

The crystal coffin was crafted from mysterious crystals harvested from the depths of the South Sea and forged by the master craftsmen of the South Sea Dragon Palace. Even a corpse placed inside would transform into a mysterious ice corpse king within a century.

Let alone a living person.

Resting briefly inside brought clarity; half a moment cleansed all filth. Continuous lying down nurtured spiritual energy and enhanced one’s cultivation without effort.

But this five-foot-tall figure clad in white had forgotten one thing. Although the handsome man he dragged out had no pulse or breath, he was not truly dead.

“Comfortable?” a calm whisper sounded in his ear, causing him to nod involuntarily.

But he quickly regained composure, opening his white eyes to silently gaze at the smiling handsome man standing by the coffin. Slowly, he raised an arm, as if to get up.

Suddenly, the raised arm transformed into a white dagger, stabbing into the handsome man’s forehead.