After Death, I Became My Shijie’s Palm-Sized Birdie – Chapter 74
by Little PandaWorthy Master
The Demon Realm wants to use this sea to bury the Immortal Venerable.
“Shijie, that person is…” Wen Qiwu murmured to Yun Heng in a lowered voice.
Yun Heng spared the corpse a single glance. No surprise, no alarm showed in her eyes — she only drew Wen Qiwu a little closer into her arms, keeping the stench of that thing’s blood off her shimei.
“Let’s head back,” Yun Heng said.
The sweets had already been bought, and Wen Qiwu had picked up a few other Jiaoyue City specialty pastries for her Mustard Seed Space besides — but faced with a scene this bloody, she’d lost all appetite for sampling them.
“What is the meaning of this!” The City Master Manor’s men arrived in short order, shouldering through the crowd to surround the killer.
The murderer had just finished his noodles. He rose to his feet without the least hurry — and it was the manor’s own lead guard who froze at the sight of him, his steps going stiff.
“Killing a man in broad daylight in Jiaoyue City — take him away!” The guard, ferocious-looking on any ordinary day, spoke without much conviction behind the words. He waved his men forward to seize the killer, and the other side neither resisted nor argued, still wearing that air of lofty disdain.
The guards closing in did so with the utmost care, half-terrified the man would erupt without warning and slaughter every last one of them. Yet strangely, the very killer who had ended a man’s life over a passing word made no attempt to struggle or flee — he simply stood there, motionless, and let himself be taken.
They fitted him with spiritual-power-suppressing artifacts, but his composed, unhurried bearing was so intimidating that the guards kept a careful distance and dared not use any forceful measures.
Their caution was well founded. Anyone with eyes could see something was wrong here.
“He doesn’t seem the least bit afraid of being arrested. Could he have people inside the City Master Manor?” Wen Qiwu had left with her shijie as soon as the man was seized, and only once they were well away did she bring it up.
If a vendor who ought to be rotting in a cell could reappear outside with a new face, then why shouldn’t a killer walk through the motions of an arrest and stroll back out again?
The City Master Manor as it stood was probably riddled through with holes, infiltrated by every faction under the sun. Wen Qiwu worried for her shijie’s old friend — could she truly keep things under control in a state like this? Her shijie kept being unable to see that City Master at all, and she was afraid something might happen to her.
“But even so… the Dragon Gate Grand Ceremony is about to begin. At a juncture like this, he shouldn’t be running so brazenly rampant — wouldn’t that just paint a target on his back for every faction in the city?” Wen Qiwu half suspected the man had killed in the open street on purpose.
“Perhaps it’s a show of force,” Yun Heng said softly.
“A show of force?” A thread of insight flashed through Wen Qiwu’s mind.
“Do you remember what they said to each other just before the fight broke out?”
Of course she remembered. The two had come from different factions — one belonging to Jiaoyue City’s local powers, the other an outsider — and the two were enemies.
“The ‘old frog’ that man spoke of refers to the previous City Master’s uncle. He carries demon race blood — the other half of his bloodline belongs to the Spirit Frog Clan. Back then, to steal his nephew’s seat, he quietly pushed Bai Jiao into a death struggle with the previous City Master, planning to reap the spoils while the two of them tore each other apart — only to be driven out of the city by Bai Jiao once she’d won.” Yun Heng had once happened to hear Bai Jiao speak of Jiaoyue City’s past. Bai Jiao had been born into a small clan in decline, a family that contributed nothing but dead weight — she had dealt with the devil and gambled her life time and again before standing where she stood now.
Unfortunately, the previous City Master’s uncle had fled quickly, and Bai Jiao had never managed to kill him. That today’s chaos in the city bore his fingerprints was hardly surprising.
Yun Heng hadn’t originally known the current lay of the factions in Jiaoyue City, but the threats the two sides had exchanged had given her a rough picture. “All these years, that half-spirit frog demon has never once given up on fighting his way back. That’s why he moved so fast after Bai Jiao’s accident. Among the forces inside Jiaoyue City right now, his should be the largest.”
“But there are outside powers trying to carve their way in for a share of the spoils — no. Perhaps they don’t merely want a share. They want to carry off the whole pot.”
The greed on their faces had already shown itself on the face of the man just taken away.
“They need to establish dominance — to cow the other factions as quickly as possible. And the cleanest way to do it is to make an example of the city’s largest power. What that man did just now was a performance, staged for the other factions to watch.” Yun Heng’s gaze swept across the half-shut windows on every side. Behind each of them came hushed whispers. They had all raised barriers against eavesdropping — but breaking through those barriers would hardly be difficult for her.
Wen Qiwu followed her shijie’s gaze and spotted the suspicious windows too.
“If he doesn’t answer quickly, the factions that once followed him will abandon him. My guess is by tonight at the latest, that half-demon will make his move.” The Dragon Gate Grand Ceremony fell on the evening of the day after tomorrow — there was no time for slow maneuvering. So Yun Heng reasoned that tonight would decide which side emerged to replace Bai Jiao.
“So… the City Master means to let them clip their own wings first?” Wen Qiwu said, the pieces falling into place.
Yun Heng only smiled, confirming nothing and denying nothing. “She likely has some such plan.”
Wen Qiwu nodded. The situation was already tangled enough — better to let it tangle further. Let the fish hiding in the water leap out and rip into one another; that would make it all the easier for the City Master to sit secure above the fray, master of the fishing terrace.
Reassured, she gazed left and right the whole way back and bought a good deal more of Jiaoyue City’s specialties.
The killing in the street hadn’t dampened the city’s mood in the least. Everyone here was a cultivator; murder and plunder were old news. Once the killer was hauled off, the streets grew lively again.
Wen Qiwu bought a string of shells from a little girl — each one hand-picked for its beauty — and Yun Heng fastened it on for her. The shells were no bigger than a fingernail, yet every one was crystalline and exquisite, setting off the skin of her neck until it looked fairer, softer still.
Then she set about choosing a string for her shijie — and while she was picking, two figures passed behind Yun Heng.
One tall, one short; one old, one young; faces so unremarkable that if you dropped them into a crowd, you’d lose them in the space of a breath.
As the elder of the two passed behind Yun Heng, his footsteps faltered — the barest hitch — and then he moved on without leaving a trace.
Yun Heng turned, drawn by some instinct. All she saw were two utterly ordinary backs disappearing around the corner ahead.
Only once he could no longer feel Yun Heng’s gaze did the old man stop.
“Worthy Master? What is it?” the young man asked.
“…Strange. Why would that person be here?” the old man addressed as Worthy Master murmured to himself.
“Who?” the young man asked, baffled.
Worthy Master’s expression turned graver. “A very troublesome existence.”
“Even you find someone troublesome?” The young man’s face went taut at once.
This lord was the most mysterious being in all the Demon Realm. No one knew how long he had lived — only that generation after generation of Demon Lords had reverently called him Worthy Master. The young man had followed him for many years, and this was the first time he had ever seen such an expression on his face.
“Anyone would find her troublesome.” Worthy Master glanced back toward where Yun Heng and Wen Qiwu stood, murmuring, “She should be on the verge of succumbing to madness. It’s impossible for her to be here…”
He had run the divinations countless times. That Immortal Venerable’s ending admitted only two outcomes — suicide, or a fall into demonhood. Yet the scene before his eyes diverged from his calculations.
A dread of matters slipping beyond his control knocked against his heart.
“Who are you speaking of…” The young man let curiosity get the better of him — and was met with a look from Worthy Master so sinister it shut his mouth at once.
Yun Heng was the greatest stumbling block to the Demon Realm’s expansion. Unless she was removed, no ambition the Demon Realm held could even be spoken of.
Strange. Could her target also be the Dragon Gate? But as far as he knew, the Dragon Clan’s legacy contained no arts of resurrection or anything of the kind.
Worthy Master sank deep into thought. The plans ahead would have to be handled with far greater care.
But if Yun Heng insisted on interfering, they would be in serious trouble indeed. Endless retreat would only push them, step by step, into a corner with no way out.
And this was the moment the Immortal Venerable stood at her weakest. Strike while she was down — if it could be managed, he would dearly like to see the Demon Realm’s most intractable enemy remain in this sea forever.
…
“Rumble!”
The sky had only just darkened when a clap of thunder split the night.
Someone was battling above the city. The air was thick with violent immortal power and Demonic Qi flickering in and out of sight. Those of weaker cultivation felt the very air they breathed turn to something viscous; for ordinary mortals, it was worse still.
Gao Fu shoved open her window and let loose a string of curses at the sky, the sickly child clutched in her arms. The little one could neither hear nor see, yet her small frame was trembling violently — she had to be feeling the effects of those clashing powers.
Truth be told, Gao Fu was quite fond of this child. She’d been the last person in the whole inn to meet her, and yet the girl was clinging to her of all people — even Miss Xiao Tong and Qiwu didn’t get that kind of treatment.
One thing had led to another, and somehow the child had ended up in her care — and then tonight, this.
The figures in the sky grew less and less restrained. The forces clashing up there climbed steadily from the Nascent Soul Realm toward the Earth Immortal Realm, and Gao Fu’s face changed. She immediately had defensive barriers raised.
Once the fighting rose to the Earth Immortal Realm, some of Jiaoyue City’s protective measures might no longer stop every last attack.
Soon enough, her premonition came true.
Some Golden Immortal on one side or the other lost all restraint and summoned a forbidden technique. The pitch-black night sky burned crimson in an instant, and countless meteors — each larger than the inn itself, molten magma streaming off their bodies — came streaking down like falling stars.
Jiaoyue City’s defenses teetered on the edge of collapse before the forbidden technique a Golden Immortal had called down. If those things broke through the barrier above the city, the consequences defied imagination.
Their madness had far outstripped every estimate. In the instant before the barrier shattered, a cold beyond cold swept in — the magma-slicked meteors were sheathed in solid ice, and then a single sweep of sword intent scoured the sky above Jiaoyue City clean, every last meteor bursting into fine, harmless ice shards.
“Cough…” Yun Heng gave a soft cough as she withdrew her sword. Wen Qiwu’s heart seized with worry. She hurriedly fed her shijie a pill, then gently patted her back to help her breathe.
“Did it pull at your old wounds?” Without waiting for her shijie to say a word, Wen Qiwu simply began checking her over.
“I’m fine. That slash was just a little rushed, that’s all.” Yun Heng drew Wen Qiwu softly into her arms.
Only when she heard her shijie’s steady heartbeat did Wen Qiwu finally let out a breath. “Shijie, your injuries have barely begun to heal. Any real exertion will drag at them. You have to be careful.”
Yun Heng’s expression was gentle and calm, and the sight of it eased Wen Qiwu’s heart. But where Wen Qiwu could not see, Yun Heng glanced down at her right hand — the hand that had swung the sword — and in the depths of her expression sat something grave. Her hand had been stained with Demonic Qi.
When she had pushed open the window and slashed outward, something had been lurking right there beyond it… and she had brushed against it…
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