Thinking this over, Pei Ling asked Chen Mei, "Senior Sister Chen, how many spirit stones does a jar of this spirit wine cost?"
"Don't worry. My brother just thinks our cultivation is too low, and drinking both jars now would be a waste. It'd be better to save one for later. When the time comes, you'll definitely get your share." Chen Mei smiled gently as she reassured him.
Hearing this, Pei Ling couldn't help shaking his head inwardly. He suspected that Chen Huan had taken the letter-delivery mission mainly for the spirit wine.
Now that he had the benefits in hand, what reason would he have to share them with anyone else?
Still, Chen Huan was at the sixth level of Qi Refining. Pei Ling couldn't very well fall out with him over a jar of spirit wine...
"It's fine. I was just asking," Pei Ling replied. As he spoke, he seized the chance to drink a few more cups. Spirit wine that could slightly boost his cultivation certainly shouldn't go to waste.
After finishing the spirit wine, Pei Ling said no more and focused on picking at the dishes.
That night, after attending the banquet, Pei Ling and the others were assigned rooms in the guest courtyard by the steward.
The City Lord's Mansion's guest courtyard occupied a separate garden in the southeastern corner. The so-called guest rooms were pavilions and towers scattered among rockeries and ponds.
The steward had clearly assigned their lodgings according to their cultivation levels. But when it came to Pei Ling, Huang Xian suddenly spoke up. "Junior Brother Pei hasn't been in the sect long and doesn't know his way around. He should stay with Senior Brother Chen and me. That'll make it easier for us to guide him."
The steward looked a little surprised, but said nothing. "In that case, Young Master Pei Ling, please stay in the small building between their residences."
Pei Ling found Huang Xian's words a little strange. Along the way, Huang Xian hadn't ignored him entirely, but he'd been neither warm nor cold toward him. Chen Mei, on the other hand, had been very enthusiastic, with something to say every day. If Chen Huan had asked Pei Ling to stay with him, that would have made sense. But why had Huang Xian spoken up?
Then again, perhaps it was because Chen Mei had been too warm toward him, and Huang Xian didn't want him lodged near her?
These days, all Pei Ling could think about was earning spirit stones. He was happy to have some peace and quiet, so he said nothing.
He hadn't been able to rest properly on the Yin Corpse Cloud these past few days. After entering his room, he sent away the maid who had offered herself to him, then collapsed into bed and fell asleep.
But he hadn't been asleep long when a frigid aura jolted him awake!
Pei Ling shot upright in bed. His eyes were barely open, yet his hand had already seized the Aversion to Life Saber from beside his pillow.
He swept the room with a wary gaze. Shadowy furnishings met his eyes, but nothing seemed out of place. The frigid aura, however, was growing heavier.
The silence around him was uncanny. The small building stood amid lush vegetation, and once night fell, insects usually chirped without pause. But now, all was silent. He could even hear his own heartbeat with perfect clarity.
Pei Ling's heart lurched. In an instant, the last traces of sleepiness vanished.
Without stopping to think, he planted a foot and hurled himself at the nearby window, smashing through it as he shouted for help. "Senior Brother Chen! Senior Brother Huang!"
His voice echoed through the empty courtyard in a series of mournful wails. Pei Ling flipped over and landed in the courtyard outside the small building, only to stare in shock at the stillness all around him. It was as if he were the only person there.
And what he saw was no longer the vibrant garden he'd entered earlier. It had become a desolate ruin.
The ground was layered with thick dust, as if it hadn't been cleaned in years.
The flower beds, once lush and green, now bristled with black vines like grasping claws. They looked so sinister that anyone would instinctively want to give them a wide berth.
The rippling pond had turned dark and murky. The koi within had become strange creatures whose dorsal fins sliced swiftly through the water as they darted about, their movements eerie and savage.
Pei Ling's heart tightened. He slowly drew the Aversion to Life Saber and warily scanned his surroundings.
Just then, he heard the faint patter of footsteps approaching at an unhurried pace. He looked up, but saw no one. As he puzzled over it, his gaze dropped—and he sucked in a sharp breath. On the bluestone path, thick with dust, a line of footprints was winding toward him!
The footprints were tiny, as if they belonged to a child. Judging by their size alone, they were almost pitifully endearing.
But Pei Ling felt no tenderness. Instead, a chill ran down his spine.
He tightened his grip on the Aversion to Life Saber. As the footprints drew near, he suddenly swung at them.
"Ah!!!!"
A child's shriek, impossible to tell as male or female, rang through the courtyard!
The scream was shrill and piercing. It should have startled Chen Huan and Huang Xian, who were staying in the nearby buildings, not to mention Chen Mei and the others farther away.
But the rooms all around remained silent, as if no one had ever lived in them.
Pei Ling's heart swirled with alarm and suspicion. He hadn't felt the Aversion to Life Saber strike anything, but the invisible thing had clearly been hurt. The next moment, faint footsteps sounded from every direction.
Then a sight that made Pei Ling's scalp crawl appeared: countless tiny footprints spread across the courtyard floor.
There were even crawling marks left by babies, surging toward him like a rising tide.
"Specters? Monstrous entities?" Pei Ling thought in alarm. He unleashed the Blood Fiend Saber Technique, his blood and qi surging. Amid the ashen courtyard, a glimmer of bloodlight seemed to rise. The Aversion to Life Saber swept in a great arc around his body, and a gauzy veil of blood mist wrapped around its blade, faintly illuminating the small patch of ground before him. This time, he still couldn't feel a thing—but he could see them.
Wherever the blood mist passed with the blade, it revealed countless translucent children, large and small, all seemingly under the age of ten. Yet their faces held none of the innocence children their age should have. Instead, they were filled with an indescribable eeriness.
Pairs of eyes stared at Pei Ling, showing only the whites and no pupils. Their ghastly gazes brimmed with utmost malice.
As if Pei Ling were the enemy who had slaughtered them.
When the blood mist swept over them, they vanished as helplessly as snow under the heat. But their malice did not diminish—instead, it grew.
"Senior Brother Chen! Senior Brother Huang!" Pei Ling shouted as he hacked in every direction. "Senior Brother Zhang! Senior Sister Xiao! Senior Sister Chen! There's something wrong with the City Lord's Mansion!"
The buildings around him remained deathly silent. Only in the courtyard where he stood did shrieks ring out without pause, while the children surged toward him in ever greater numbers, charging forward one after another, fearless of death.
What in the world was going on?!
After calling for help again and again to no avail, Pei Ling stopped counting on anyone to rescue him and began thinking about how to escape on his own.
Why was there such danger in the guest courtyard where the City Lord's Mansion was hosting the Chongming Sect disciples?
As for Chen Huan and the others, that was one thing. But today was the first time Pei Ling had met City Lord Duanmu, and he had no grudge against him whatsoever.
Could the families of Li Siguan and the other two have bribed City Lord Duanmu?!
No, that couldn't be it!
Pei Ling quickly dismissed the thought. City Lord Duanmu was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. If he wanted to harm Pei Ling, he wouldn't need all these tricks. He could simply attack him directly.
But if City Lord Duanmu wasn't behind this, who would dare play tricks inside the residence of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator?!
Before you continue