Remembering You For Eternity

2.29 Demons From The Past

The flurry of investigations as well as scouring of the bamboo forest and the immediate vicinity around Autumn Hill, ultimately forbade any other visiting practitioners to leave Hui Lin Sect.

However, soon it was clear that pretty much everyone had an alibi to absolve them of guilt, nor was there any motive to have committed such an atrocious act:

A number of young disciples from various sects' bodies had been found. Although their bodies were intact and were devoid of any signs of struggle, it could not be said to be the same with their faces.

Their faces had been badly deformed to the point that their skulls were visible. If not from the regalias, sect-specific robes, or ornaments that they still wore on their bodies, no one would probably be able to tell their identities.

"Mistress, their Shang dantians are corroded." The white tiger purred by her side. To everyone else, he was simply a large white cat - the guardian of Hui Lin sect - sitting idly while licking his paws. Though a number of people was vexed at the lack of use of this guardian, that such tragedy could still occur under its nose.

"Malice has eaten their souls alive, destroyed their cultivation roots, rotting their dantians. These are empty husks of humans they used to be. These people are no more. It is unusual, as the bodies show that their deaths were not that long ago, and usually I should be able to sense leftover qi. But theirs, have been sucked dry."

"Only malice could devour someone to that extent, devouring a person until not even a sliver of what made them human, is no longer."

Upon hearing that in her head, YuLan had to force herself to look at the bodies, despite how she wanted to retch and leave the place immediately. The eyes that were looking at no one, their pupils still seem so vivid in color, the eyeballs protruding in the hollow sockets, were as if the deceased were the ones watching instead.

The missing young practitioners, that were now all corpses without faces, were simply laid side by side. Their seniors, their teachers, their elders, who managed to identify them, sighed or cried in grief nearby.

By Ao Xiang's and Lu Bing's side, their Fire Phoenixes flew in circles, but none of them flew towards the bodies. Clearly, there was nothing left to be purified.

In the first place, it was strange to have found the bodies in the forest, where the qi was the cleanest in the whole sect. No malice in their pure form should have been able to enter.

Ao Xiang, however, had not been able to tear his gaze away from one particular body. The figure lying on the ground was the same as everyone else, the face was horrendously disfigured. However, anyone could definitely tell that the deceased female was a disciple of Hui Lin sect from the light green robe she wore.

Sage Guang Qu's figure also shook slightly. The wooden plaque that served as identification, that must be carried by all Hui Lin's Martial Artist disciples, was still attached to the body's waist-belt.

It read: [Qing Lian]

"It can't be...," Ao Xiang murmured, his hands shaking. If he had any doubt that the plaque had been misplaced on someone else' body, he clearly remembered Qing Lian's favorite simple hair ornament, the wooden bangle she always wore, the sword tassel that he personally had given her - the sword was still affixed onto the body's belt. Clearly, the person did not even have the chance to defend herself before her death.

"Qing Lian-jie!" A shrill crying voice disrupted his thought. Princess Zuo Shan'er lunged towards the immobile body and hug the latter close to her bosom, ignoring the filth and dry blood staining her silk robes. Tears flowed from the Princess' swollen eyes, aggrieved at the death of the person she had grown close to during her stay in Hui Lin sect.