Ash Heng had always been curious about why this person, the youngest in both age and seniority in Linglong Temple, had ended up becoming the temple master.
Outsiders could not figure it out, but Yu Qing himself naturally knew the reason clearly. The true inheritance of Linglong Temple was hidden and secret. It was only passed on to inner disciples, the so-called true disciples.
After their master passed away, only two inner disciples remained in Linglong Temple. One was him, Yu Qing. The other was his little martial uncle, who was still travelling outside and had not returned.
The difference between inner and outer disciples lay in whether one had cultivated a certain technique. That technique was called “Guanyin”.
The technique was divided into two cultivation methods: “Guan” and “Yin”. He cultivated the “Guan” formula, which trained the eyes.
When a person walks, dust rises under their feet.
When a hand waves, it stirs up wind.
Wind blowing can determine the shape and direction in which smoke drifts.
If you place a bowl of water on the ground and ripples suddenly appear on the surface without any wind, the cause might be a heavy object falling nearby, or the vibrations from someone walking past.
The Guan formula works by observing tiny details to interpret and deduce the cause-and-effect relationships behind certain movements.
The Yin formula trains the ears. For example, lying on the ground and listening to sounds transmitted through the earth can determine how many people are passing in a place you cannot see.
That little martial uncle who was travelling outside cultivated the Yin formula.
That meant Yu Qing only needed to observe the subtle changes in drifting smoke to roughly guess certain activities within a certain range.
For instance, right now, the faint drifting changes in the steam rising from the stove alerted him to something abnormal. Something ominous had sneaked into this residence.
It was precisely because of this confidence that he, the one protecting Ash Heng, dared to separate from his charge and sit in the kitchen cooking.
Without any hesitation, Yu Qing suddenly stood up, quickly left the kitchen, and headed straight for the study lit by a single lamp. He knocked hard on the door twice.
Ash Heng, who was reading carefully under the lamp, looked up. The smile that had just appeared on his face vanished instantly. From Yu Qing’s distant and indifferent expression, he sensed something unusual.
The two of them had been childhood friends. In Jiupo Village and the surrounding area, they were the only ones of similar age who could play together as equals. So both of them understood very well what certain special reactions from the other meant.
Yu Qing walked straight to the desk and said calmly, “The food is ready. We can eat. Come on, let’s go taste it.” His gaze deliberately flicked towards the sword placed on the desk. The sword was the one he had casually tossed there earlier.
Ash Heng gave a faint smile, put down the book, stood up from the desk, casually picked up the sword in his hand, and walked out of the study side by side with Yu Qing.
The two arrived at the kitchen. They lifted the lid of the pot by the stove. The spiritual rice had turned into crystal-clear, plump purple grains, like pieces of purple crystal. It looked extremely beautiful. The fragrance was still faint and elusive.
Using the miscellaneous noise from the stove, Yu Qing spoke softly to the person beside him, “What we feared has come. The thing Pu the clerk mentioned has really arrived.”
Ash Heng was slightly startled. He also whispered, “That should not be possible. We came into the city quietly and settled here. No one should be watching us so closely. To be found so accurately, could someone have betrayed us?”
“No one betrayed us. I feel a bit embarrassed.” Yu Qing slightly lifted his chin, his nostrils flared, gesturing towards the contents of the pot. At the same time, he picked up the spatula and scooped the cooked spiritual rice into a bowl.
Ash Heng instantly understood. The intruder must have been particularly sensitive to the smell coming from the pot. This fellow Yu Qing had been careless. He probably never expected that a demon creature had actually wandered into this city. The smell of cooking spiritual rice had drawn the demon here.
At first he felt some worry, but seeing that even now Yu Qing was still focused on the food in the pot and did not take the intruder too seriously, he immediately felt reassured.
Still, he was a little nervous. After all, he had never seen a so-called demon before. The surroundings were deathly quiet. He had no idea how Yu Qing knew a demon had arrived. Just as he was about to look around, Yu Qing casually brought the spatula to his mouth. There were bits of sticky rice scraped from the bottom of the pot on the edge.
“Do not look up.” Yu Qing warned in a low voice. Then he spoke casually in a relaxed tone, “Come on, taste how it is.”
Ash Heng felt shock and doubt inside. Subconsciously, because of the other’s words, he sensed something above his head. At this moment, he really followed whatever Yu Qing said. He obediently opened his mouth to take the scraps from the spatula.
There really was something above his head. More precisely, there was something above both of their heads.
A long worm had somehow crawled into the kitchen at some point. It was hanging from the beam, slowly descending with its upper body gradually deforming.
The wriggling upper body bulged into the half-body outline of a woman. The snake head turned into a woman’s face. The stretched snake scales had not yet disappeared. Its pupils were vertical slits. The spreading hair twisted like little snakes. Sharp fangs gradually appeared in its mouth, flicking a bright red tongue. On the black scaled body were irregularly distributed dull yellow scales. Filthy-looking, half-human arms silently extended from both sides, turning into ten sharp claws quietly reaching for the backs of Ash Heng and Yu Qing’s necks.
Just as the claws were about to touch their heads, when even Ash Heng could faintly smell a foul stench, Yu Qing suddenly flipped a plate on the stove to cover the large bowl of spiritual rice. The spatula he had been using to feed suddenly whistled upward.
Bang! The handle broke. The spatula head was forcefully embedded into the snake demon’s head.
He casually tossed the broken handle aside. At the same time, he swung his arm to pull Ash Heng into a strange position shift, moving them out of the way to avoid the dripping liquid from above.
Before Ash Heng could react to what had happened, Yu Qing had already turned his body and flicked his finger, dislodging the sword from its sheath in Ash Heng’s hand. He casually grabbed the sword and slashed horizontally through the air.
Puff. Blood sprayed. A filthy head fell from above and landed with a clang right into the hot pot, rolling around.
Seeing a head fall, Ash Heng jumped in fright. Then he saw the half-human body still twisting in mid-air. It rapidly deflated like a quickly leaking balloon, quickly shrinking back into the shape of a snake, except now headless, with blood dripping steadily.
Meanwhile, Yu Qing, sword spinning in hand, had already moved away from Ash Heng. He slashed towards the wall beside the stove.
Clang! The wall broke, a chunk collapsed. Ash Heng’s mouth twitched. Under the kitchen light, he clearly saw what was behind the broken wall. Another half-human snake demon stood upright, looking like a filthy bald man. Its claws were spread, ready to break through the wall and attack. A line of blood ran diagonally from shoulder to opposite ribs. Half its shoulder slowly shifted and separated.
The sword light still turning in his hand, Yu Qing swung and shouted, “Go!”
A flash of cold light shot out, piercing through the roof with a crash. Several tiles fell.
After a moment of silence, Ash Heng saw sparse drops of blood falling from the roof again.
Suddenly there were two loud thuds. First, the snake demon behind the broken wall fell to the ground in two pieces. Then the roof was smashed open with a hole. A large snake fell from the roof, crashing to the ground and slowly twisting. Its head had been pierced through by a sword.
Holding the large bowl in one hand, Yu Qing walked over, pulled out the sword, shook off the blood, and casually threw it.
Whoosh! Ash Heng felt a shock in his hand. He looked down and saw the sword had returned to its sheath. He looked at Yu Qing, who was grinning at him. Then he looked at the three large snakes. One lay dead outside the house, one hung half from the beam, and one lay dead on the ground.
Dust swirled. Ash Heng’s throat bobbed repeatedly. His heart still pounded with lingering fear. The overwhelming stench made him feel sick and want to vomit.
“It’s gone. For now, there should only be these three. I was not deliberately trying to scare you. I wanted to end it quickly and avoid making too much noise or too big a disturbance, so as not to attract unwanted attention. Actually, there is no need to be afraid. These are just three snake demons that cannot fully transform yet. Their strength is limited. No real threat. Come on, what are you standing there for?” Yu Qing gestured with one hand towards the large bowl of spiritual rice he was holding, as if to say, were you not going to taste it? Go ahead and enjoy it now.
Ash Heng wanted to leave, but this was truly his first time experiencing such a scene. He was genuinely frightened. His legs felt weak and he could not move easily. Yet he did not want Yu Qing to support him. He did not want to be laughed at. He wanted to keep some dignity. So he said, “It is my first time seeing a snake demon. It is a rare chance to broaden my horizons.” Meaning he wanted to stay and look.
“Then take your time looking. I will go outside to check if anyone was alarmed. After eating, I still need to find Pu the clerk to handle the aftermath.” Yu Qing left those words, took the bowl, and walked away.
Outside in the courtyard, he headed straight for the gate. Just as he was about to open it to check the situation outside, there was a sudden crash from the kitchen behind him, followed by half the room collapsing with a rumble.
Yu Qing whipped around, stunned. Seeing that Ash Heng had still not come out, he nearly had his soul fly away in fright. In a flash, he rushed over.
Bursting into the collapsed kitchen, amid the swirling dust, Yu Qing swung his sleeves repeatedly to clear the air. He pulled a piece of firewood from the stove to use as a torch. The lamps in the room had already been smashed out.
Soon, Yu Qing stood frozen in place. The bowl he had been holding tightly in one hand slipped and shattered on the ground. The cooked spiritual rice scattered everywhere. Then, like a madman, he frantically cleared away the piled debris. Beneath it came Ash Heng’s painful gasps.
After clearing the mess, Yu Qing half-crouched beside the fallen Ash Heng and said in a trembling voice, “Bookworm, bear with it.”
Ash Heng, face twisted in pain, gave a miserable smile and nodded. His body was covered in dust. A fallen beam had pressed directly onto one of his arms. Blood was seeping out.
With a muffled groan from Ash Heng, the beam was lifted away. Yu Qing’s eyes filled with bitter sorrow as he stared at the crushed arm. The impact had struck exactly at the elbow, which was now flattened.
Forcing himself to focus, he quickly pressed several acupoints on Ash Heng’s body to prevent excessive blood loss and to ease his pain as much as possible. He took out a pill from his clothes, stuffed it into Ash Heng’s mouth, and helped him swallow it. Then, using materials from the fallen roof tiles and beams nearby, he took two planks, clamped the broken arm between them, tied it securely, and only then carefully lifted Ash Heng off the ground and carried him away from this blood-soaked place.
Yu Qing no longer cared about observing whether the surrounding residents had been alarmed. They could not stay here any longer. He urgently needed to take Ash Heng somewhere suitable for treatment. He headed straight for the main gate.
Ash Heng, now almost completely drained of strength, still clutched Yu Qing’s sword to his chest with one hand. Seeing that Yu Qing intended to abandon this place, he weakly bumped the sword hilt against Yu Qing’s chest and said with difficulty, “The back basket. There are important items inside. Cannot leave it behind.”
Yu Qing stopped, quickly turned back, entered the study, picked up Ash Heng’s back basket and slung it over his shoulder. He also slid the sword into the basket. With the basket on his back and the person in his arms, he ran to the courtyard wall, leapt, and jumped straight over…