Chapter 139 Testing

Xie Xiushi tilted his head, his eerie, horizontal pupils gazing calmly at Su Yuanbai.

After a moment, his mouth slowly opened, and a puff of gas—like powdery down, neither cloud nor mist, resembling distant stars—poured forth from his mouth, instantly enveloping Su Yuanbai’s entire body.

The maidservant, who had been knocked to the ground by Xie Xiushi, scrambled up in panic and fled the main chamber.

"Let me see who you truly are."

Xie Xiushi murmured softly. His voice did not sound human; the bizarre syllables were hoarse and ancient, echoing like a primordial chant from the dawn of time.

The starry, cloud-like gas that diffused across Su Yuanbai writhed and churned as if possessed of a self-awareness, yet it persistently failed to coalesce into a definite shape.

"Hiss..."

A low sigh escaped Xie Xiushi’s lips, and black light surged over the ram's horns upon his forehead. The tips of the horns conjured a square-shaped, carriage-like ghost.

This spirit possessed the head and eyes of a Vermilion Bird.

Floating above Su Yuanbai, it parted its beak slightly, and a torrent of scorching flames erupted, landing directly upon the ethereal, star-like gas shrouding Su Yuanbai’s body.

Instantly, the gas ignited like beacon fires, gradually taking on the facial features of a woman within the flames. The woman wore the same crane-embroidered crimson robe as Su Yuanbai, and her pupils burned with a demonic, deep-green light.

"Neither an ancient Heavenly Emperor, nor a primordial Demon Emperor, nor even a remote Qin Divine Emperor." Xie Xiushi stared through his strange horizontal pupils at the female visage taking shape in the flames, a trace of perplexity crossing his features. "Then why could you strip away this thread of my divinity and awaken my divine consciousness?"

Xie Xiushi waved his hand, extinguishing the fire. The gas that had blanketed Su Yuanbai slowly converged into a black-patterned silver sword.

Gripping the sword in one hand, Xie Xiushi thrust it fiercely toward Su Yuanbai's chest.

The tip of the blade failed to pierce Su Yuanbai’s chest—a result that did not surprise Xie Xiushi. What caused his horizontal pupils to dilate in shock, however, was how the sword tip instantly dissolved into that powdery, star-like gas, sinking deep into Su Yuanbai’s body.

A golden radiance bloomed across Su Yuanbai’s chest, and the divine image of the Ghost-Gold Sheep, one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions, slowly emerged.

"So... that is how it is."

Xie Xiushi murmured softly, as if a realization had struck him. The black light surging over his ram's horns faded into stillness. His horizontal pupils rippled and returned to normal, and his limbs went limp as he collapsed to the floor.

***

"Young Miss!! Master Xie seems to have gone mad!"

The maid’s terrified voice rang out from outside the room, followed by a flurry of urgent footsteps as she half-ran into the main chamber.

"What did he do?" Cui Dandan frowned, looking at Xie Xiushi, who lay unconscious beneath the bed.

Wu Yang rushed straight to the bedside, reaching out to check Su Yuanbai’s breathing and pulse. Without hesitation, he tossed back the bedcovers to inspect whether Su Yuanbai bore any wounds.

The maid hurriedly explained, "Master Xie knocked on the door and entered. After knocking me down, he exhaled a breath of powdery gas onto this young master."

"There are no visible injuries on his body. His pulse and breathing remain completely unchanged," Wu Yang said, turning his head to look slowly at Cui Dandan.

Wu Yang then rolled the unconscious Xie Xiushi over, carefully peeling back his eyelids to observe any changes in his pupils, and checked his body for signs of supernatural transformation.

"No demonic corruption, and presumably no demonic possession either," Wu Yang said in a deep voice.

Cui Dandan looked at the pair of ram's horns on Xie Xiushi’s forehead and said calmly, "The fiends and demons in the city could not possibly pass through the Floating Dream Formation without making a sound. The only possibility is that the anomaly lies within himself."

"You mean... the Ghost-Gold Sheep of Fierce Ram Ridge?" Wu Yang grasped Cui Dandan’s implication immediately.

"Xiaofang, you may step outside first," Cui Dandan said, glancing back at the maid following her.

Xiaofang, the maid, was utterly obedient. Not only did she pull the door shut as she left, but she also gathered the guards lingering nearby and led them to the entrance of the inner courtyard.

"Though I know not how his body produced such a transformation, the fact that he can breathe fire, possesses those horns, and that you mentioned he claimed to be an immortal..."

Cui Dandan left her sentence unfinished, but the unspoken meaning was clear.

"Yet Fierce Ram Ridge lies in the northern territory of Nanxi County, hundreds of li away at the very least. Furthermore, ever since that Ghost-Gold Sheep settled in Fierce Ram Ridge, it has only ever appeared to terrify travelers passing by; it has never been known to come out and ravage the populace."

Wu Yang’s brow furrowed tighter as he looked down at Xie Xiushi, who lay unconscious in his arms.

"This matter likely requires asking the young master who lies still asleep upon the bed," Cui Dandan said, raising her gaze to Su Yuanbai. "Xie Xiushi is merely a fisherman from the South Sea fishing village. The farthest city he has ever visited is Floating Dream City. Therefore, he could not possibly have gone to Fierce Ram Ridge, nor could he have the slightest connection to the Ghost-Gold Sheep."

"Then how on earth did he turn into the Ghost-Gold Sheep?!" Wu Yang asked, still utterly bewildered.

***

"The only connection to the Ghost-Gold Sheep in Floating Dream City is that Fiery Residence Ghost. The flames upon the Fiery Residence Ghost were a shred of the South Ming Separation Fire bestowed upon it by the Ghost-Gold Sheep. Cui Ya once told me in private that the Fiery Residence Ghost was destroyed by this young master, and Xie Xiushi’s mutation also occurred after this young master touched him," Cui Dandan said softly.

Wu Yang felt a chill run through his heart.

"I suspect he might well be an avatar of the Ghost-Gold Sheep," Cui Dandan said, a conjecture taking form in her mind.

To her surprise, Wu Yang rejected the hypothesis with unwavering firmness.

"He is absolutely, impossibly the Ghost-Gold Sheep of the Twenty-Eight Mansions," Wu Yang said, staring resolutely at Cui Dandan. "His background and identity are undoubtedly far more terrifying than we can possibly imagine."

"Let us hope he is not, and let us hope that his terrifying background proves benevolent toward the human race."

Cui Dandan did not argue with Wu Yang. The suspicion in her mind was merely a sudden thought, and she knew well that the handsome man on the bed could hardly be the Ghost-Gold Sheep.

After all, he had no reason to destroy the Fiery Residence Ghost that he himself had presumably created.

Tap, tap, tap.

Urgent footsteps sounded once more, followed by three uninterrupted knocks on the door and the joyful shout of the maid Xiaofang.

"Sister Ya’s fireworks have bloomed in the northern part of the city!"

The tension on Cui Dandan’s face immediately eased, though it quickly hardened into grim resolve once more as she stared at Wu Yang, whose expression was equally grave.

Though the two exchanged not a single word, it was as if everything had been communicated.

"I will have her brought into the Floating Dream Pavilion," Wu Yang said, standing up and gripping the two staves he had placed on the floor. He looked at Cui Dandan, his voice suddenly turning unnaturally calm. "Even if it costs me my life."