Shen Qingqiu raised his head. It was as if two bright yellow lanterns had appeared outside the palace hall, the pair of piercing golden eyes staring wide-eyed at the scene. In the middle of each eye was a vertical pupil, which appeared to be unusually sinister.
The crowd of blind corpses, upon hearing this sound, seemed to be intimidated by some invisible force. They no longer resumed with their tearing and pouncing; instead, they withdrew into themselves, lowering their heads and shrinking back their shoulders. Eventually, they retreated into a tight huddle, trembling.
That pair of large lantern-like eyes stared straight at Shen Qingqiu for a moment, until they suddenly looked away. After a while, a figure emerged outside of the palace hall. Shen Qingqiu, identifying the new visitor, wasn't surprised.
He called out pleasantly, "Xizhi-Lang.1"
Zhuzhi-Lang slipped mid-step.
He rubbed his nose. Although he was depressed, he wasn't one to be rude. Smiling, he said, "Since Master Shen is willing to address me like this, then please feel free to continue to do so."
Shen Qingqiu said, "The person who stole the corpse from the Palace Hall vault really was you."
The bluish-black poison that covered the entire body was most likely the venom of the jade serpent. The reason why Mu Qingfan's cursory inspection had been unable to find a wound was probably because the snake's fangs were too small to leave a visible mark. If one were to examine the bodies more closely, they would find small tooth marks on the fingertips or the bottom of the heels.
Zhuzhi-Lang said, "The situation happened too quickly. I had no choice but to continue on to the next stage of the plan. I hope Master Shen will be magnanimous enough to forgive me."
Shen Qingqiu coughed dryly. "The situation happened too quickly"; no matter how you considered it, this "situation" was caused entirely by him when he had fumigated realgar wine to subdue Zhuzhi-Lang, turning the other party back into their original form. Not only that but adding insult to injury, he had furthermore ridden Zhuzhi-Lang's snake form for an entire stretch of the road.
He said, "You summoned me from the Holy Mausoleum, which can be said to have solved one of my... difficulties. Before, you wanted me to go to the Demon Realm. Now that I'm here, can you finally tell me your purpose?"
Zhuzhi-Lang said, "Reason number one, I've already explained to Master Shen. Since you've helped me, I will repay the favor many times over.2 As for the second reason, Master Shen wasn't exactly summoned by the humble me... it's better to ask Junshang directly."
Shen Qingqiu said, "Alright. Where is Tianlang-Jun, then?"
Zhuzhi-Lang stared blankly, before saying, "I thought that Master Shen and Junshang had already met."
Already met?
Shen Qingqiu lowered his head and stared at the stone sarcophagus.
Could it be that the corpse inside... was Tianlang-Jun?
Strictly speaking, this couldn't even be called "meeting," okay?!
The coffin lid that he had just spent some time on trying to open without budging suddenly began to shake, opening by itself. Inside, a person slowly sat up.
This person set an elbow against the edge of the coffin, a faint smile appearing on his face. He said, "Qing Jing Peak Lord, I've looked forward to meeting you for a long time."
Shen Qingqiu was stunned.
.......This whole family's interests were wide and extensive, but it seemed eventually all of their hobbies were the same kind of eccentric. The son enjoyed hugging corpses, the father enjoyed lying inside a coffin.
