CHAPTER 53: CHAPTER 53: WORSE THAN BEASTS

After Chen Qin finished speaking, silence fell over the room.

’Why am I here?’

Looking at his junior sister with a slightly flushed face, this question suddenly popped into Zhang Ze’s still somewhat groggy mind.

Putting down the cup in his hand, he fished out a small ball still pretending to be dead from his pocket. Looking at the patterns on the ball, Zhang Ze realized he was still in the Four Continents.

He circulated his True Qi, feeling it surging through his meridians, confirming to himself that he was still on the path to immortality.

The moonlight outside the window was beautiful, and the junior sister in front of him was also truly beautiful.

It was a perfect moment to do something beastly.

Why?

Chen Qin looked at Zhang Ze, clutching the hem of her skirt, her mind also in a whirl.

She saw her senior brother reaching out and pinching her face.

Chen Qin felt as if she were a little drunk.

Zhang Ze, pinching Chen Qin’s cheek, let his eyes wander, noticing that nothing around him had been reduced to powder.

The brother-in-law should not be around.

Why?

Chen Qin’s breathing became a bit rapid as she recalled the novels she had found in Mei’Er’s boudoir.

Although she couldn’t quite understand them yet, she found them fascinating.

This scene seemed familiar, like something written in the books.

She felt something wasn’t quite right with this situation, but she didn’t know exactly what.

Run.

Zhang Ze noticed Chen Qin’s face was a bit hot and softer.

He gently pinched again.

Swallowed hard.

Why?

...

The classic afternoon of the next day.

On the streets of Cold City, outside the City Lord’s Mansion.

Zhang Ze and Chen Qin stood amidst the crowd, surrounded by the roar of voices.

The senior brother and sister found it noisy.

Having stayed up all night, though they didn’t feel physically tired, their hearts were weary. Now the noise around them made them even more agitated.

Chen Qin followed behind Zhang Ze, silent and appearing worried.

Zhang Ze wanted to speak but didn’t know how to start.

Recalling the bed collapse from last night, Zhang Ze felt a headache coming on.

He hadn’t done anything, yet the bed had collapsed.

He wondered what the previous occupants of that dilapidated room had done to make it so fragile.

When the bed collapsed, the ambiguous atmosphere vanished instantly, and Zhang Ze was so embarrassed he wanted to die.

Chen Qin was even more embarrassed, wishing she could find a hole to crawl into.

The awkward atmosphere was contagious and resonated, much like ambiguity.

Though they had done nothing, it felt as if they had done everything.

In the latter half of the night, they sat on the rooftop in silence, blown by the cold wind, saying nothing to each other.

Until the sun rose, and the sky brightened, Zhang Ze dryly said,

"Let’s go see Aunt Niao..."

"Okay."

After explaining the bed collapse at the counter, Zhang Ze watched the landlady, whose fox ears twitched, and saw the teasing look in her eyes. He listened to the seductive words she spoke, saying they didn’t need to pay, just remember to come back next time.

Zhang Ze knew he couldn’t clear his name.

But what could he say?

Proclaiming he did nothing and was worse than a beast last night?

Meanwhile, Chen Qin continued to oscillate between embarrassment and warmth. A glance at Zhang Ze’s eyes made her warm up automatically, only to plunge back into the depths of awkwardness after a while.

After leaving the inn, the place where Aunt Niao lived was just outside the city.

However, after asking for directions and following the address, they found nothing. The place Elder Wang’s note mentioned was uninhabited.

All they saw was a stretch of barren grassland. There wasn’t even a piece of broken tile, let alone the ruins of a house.

They asked an old farmer cutting pigweed. The old man rubbed his bald head,

"I don’t know. This place has been like this since I was a kid, probably fifty or sixty years."

Zhang Ze found this quite eerie.

He wondered whom Grandpa Wang had been writing to all these years and who had been replying.

[Side Quest: Cold City Mystery]

[Merging quests, Hatch and Cold City Mystery fused into one side quest]

[Find the Bird Demon Feather Jade and complete the Stone Pill hatch]

The system refreshingly popped up a prompt for Zhang Ze.

"Let’s... ask in the city..."

"The City Lord or the Sword Hall might know..."

Chen Qin’s voice was so quiet it was barely audible.

"Okay," Zhang Ze nodded.

Cold City has a City Lord, but calling that person the City Lord isn’t quite accurate.

In Jade Heart Sect, the only small righteous sect in Cold City, the current Sect Leader is at the Nascent Soul level, rumored to have connections with the Celestial Sect.

The Sect Leader, Taoist Munian, with a naturally benevolent face like a Maitreya, also loves to meddle in worldly affairs.

And with so many monsters in Cold City, there’s no shortage of such affairs.

Over the past century or so, this has made the Sect Leader of Jade Heart Sect become the de facto City Lord. He built a City Lord’s Mansion in the city, assigning disciples to rotate patrols, handling various matters.

The Sword Hall in Cold City enjoyed the leisure as well,

as dealing with those from the Demon Race tends to be quite life-shortening.

...

Yangguan Road.

Qiu Jidan was serving a sentence.

Psychologically imprisoned.

"Is it far off? What about the relationship between beauty and ugliness?" The old instructor flicked a Sword Qi at the desk in front of Qiu Jidan.

"What does this mean?"

Qiu Jidan stammered for a long time, unable to come up with an explanation. He hadn’t expected that joining the Sword Hall would involve taking classes.

And the study was all about righteous principles. Listening to the old man’s convoluted phrases, as a disciple from a line of three generations of villains in the Demon Sect, Qiu Jidan wished he were dead.

"If I’d known, I would have gone to Cold City," he cursed in his heart.

Early this morning, Qiu Jidan had tidied his place and sealed three of his Qi acupoints using the Secret Technique of the Hundred Demons Sect.

Though he couldn’t exert his full power, it ensured that his Demonic Qi wouldn’t be exposed.

He lit a talisman to contact Wang Sheng, and after waiting a while, he finally received a response, arranging a meeting place.

Leaving his residence, he exhaled a breath of stale air. He wondered if it was an illusion, but he felt that his lung disease had recently improved quite a bit.

This lung disease stemmed from his cultivation technique. It wasn’t fatal, but unless he advanced to the corresponding High Tier, or sought medical attention from Medicine King Valley, there was no chance of recovery.

Thinking about Zhang Ze, Qiu Jidan pondered if he should get Song Qingpao to kill that Outer Disciple and seize the Stone Pill.

But if he spoke of it and someone found out after the fact, he would be skinned alive upon returning to the Main Helm, even if he got the Stone Pill.

[Sub-quest: Cold City Mystery]

[Merging quests, Hatching and Cold City Mystery into one sub-quest]

[Find Bird Demon Feather Jade and complete the Stone Pill Hatching]

The system, as if to refresh its presence, gave Zhang Ze a prompt.

"Return to the city and ask..."

"The City Lord and the Sword Hall might know..."

Chen Qin’s voice was very low, almost inaudible.

"Alright," Zhang Ze nodded.

Cold City has a City Lord, but it’s not quite accurate to call him a lord.

The Jade Heart Sect, the only small righteous sect in Cold City, has a present Sect Leader with a Nascent Soul cultivation level, rumored to have certain connections with the Celestial Sect.

The Sect Leader, Taoist Munian, was born with a Maitreya face and had a natural tendency to meddle in worldly affairs.

And with many monsters in Cold City, there were plenty of such matters to attend to.

Over time, in the past hundred years or so, the Sect Leader of Jade Heart Sect became the City Lord. He established a City Lord’s Mansion and assigned disciples to rotate duties, handling various affairs.

As for the Sword Hall in Cold City, they enjoyed ease and comfort.

Since dealing with those demons was indeed somewhat life-shortening.

...

On Yangguan Road.

Song Qingpao was sitting in prison.

In a psychological way of imprisonment.

"Is it only this? What about the correlation between virtue and ugliness?"

Qiu Jidan mumbled for a long time, unable to express an explanation.

After all, he was a purely extreme person, whose ancestors had not studied the principles of righteousness for three generations.

"If I had known, I would have told Song Qingpao to kill that Outer Disciple and take the Stone Pill from him."

He lit a talisman to contact Wang Sheng, but had to wait a long time before receiving a response and settling on a meeting place.

But he knew he couldn’t let anyone find out. If they discovered after the fact that he had done this, he might be skinned and bones picked upon returning to the Main Helm.

But how to say this to her, he didn’t know.

He just knew he had a matter to report.

He walked to the end and only then noticed a beggar crouched in the corner of the alley.

"I don’t know, young master, this place has been like this ever since I was a kid—fifty or sixty years at least."

...

The City Lord’s Mansion in Cold City, a lady dressed in blue walked to the terrace; her figure was lithe, and her eyes full of charm, so delicate that she was irresistible.

The maid thought the mistress was talking to her.

"Mistress, those loose cultivators outside the mansion heard rumors from someone, thinking we at Jade Heart Sect have kept the Secret Realm Cave Heaven’s information hidden."

"Nevermind," the lady paused after speaking, "Xiaolian, help me back."

The maid placed a Fire Spirit Stone into the stove. The lady had an old lung ailment, and during autumn, she relied on the warmth of the Spirit Fire Stone.

"You did well, now go, I need to rest awhile."

After the maid left, when the lady opened her eyes again, her autumn-water-like pupils had turned to the color of snake jade.

"""