That afternoon, Duan Yun went to Jade Town to stock up on supplies.
He was not Murong Brothers, able to lie there without eating, drinking, or even relieving himself.
He had to eat. He had to live a normal life.
These past few days, thanks to him—the human weed cutter—Jade Pearl Manor had undergone some new changes.
Especially the rear courtyard. After he had swept through it with Body-Breaking Sword Qi, it no longer felt ghostly and sinister, as if ghosts were lurking in every patch of grass. Instead, it had begun to resemble a proper lawn.
Having such a huge courtyard really was wonderful.
You could practically race horses in it.
Little Gray was the one benefiting from it. No horses had started running around the manor, but the donkey certainly had.
Thinking that his Toe Sword had reached great mastery today, and that he ought to cozy up to Murong Brothers to see whether he could get hold of Twelvefold Spring Rain, Duan Yun bought himself a great deal of delicious food and drink.
He bought two jin of crispy roast pork belly from the roast meat shop alone, then two roast ducks. Naturally, there was no shortage of wine either.
The roast meat seller was called Old Chen. Putting it tactfully, he had an honest-looking face. To put it bluntly, he was rather ugly.
In truth, the food in his roast meat shop did not look much better either, all dark and blackened. But the flavor was undeniably excellent, rich with smoky fragrance.
There were other customers in the shop at the time.
Those two customers were discussing the hauntings in Jade Town's mine.
"Whatever you do, don't go there just for a few scraps of jade. Old Zhang went inside a few days ago and still hasn't come out. The night before last, he appeared in a dream to his family and said a ghost had caught him and was skinning him alive."
"That place is heavy with yin energy. Who knows how many people were buried in those mines back then? Who would go there for no reason?"
"It's not just the mine. The lake around here isn't peaceful either. Last month, someone went fishing and got eaten by a carp."
"Eaten by a carp? How huge would that carp have to be? A Carp Spirit?"
"Of course. But the strangest place is still Grave Mountain. Someone put straw men up there, and they say the things keep changing positions. Last month, when I went to visit my father's grave, I felt something was off."
"Alas, our town is ignored by grandmothers and unloved by uncles. Nothing but bizarre misfortunes happen here. That's just how it is."
Listening to all these rumors and gossip, Duan Yun found the town rather interesting.
At first, he had thought Jade Pearl Manor was haunted.
As it turned out, there really was a ghost.
A lazy ghost.
On his way back, Duan Yun did not see the rumored Carp Spirit. Instead, he saw that chest again.
Whether it was the chest in Clear Tea Market's lake or the one in this Jade Lake, it truly resembled a seductive slut draped in transparent gauze, tempting him every moment of every day.
What the hell was inside this chest now?
Having been fooled once, Duan Yun was still curious. But this time, the thought of dragging the thing out of the water passed through his mind and went straight back out again.
When he returned to the manor, Duan Yun saw Murong Brothers reclining on the steps.
This was the first time in so many days that he had seen him outside, rather than sleeping on the mat inside the house.
Duan Yun could not help saying, "You actually came out. What a rare sight."
"I only came out to look at my pets."
"Pets? You have pets?"
"Of course I have pets. Unfortunately, my pets died."
Duan Yun asked in confusion, "How did they die?"
"They were killed," Murong Brothers said as he looked at him.
Duan Yun blinked, his eyes clear and innocent. "The person you're talking about wouldn't happen to be me, would it?"
"Is there anyone else here?" Murong Brothers countered.
"What exactly were your pets?" Duan Yun asked.
"Two Jade Spiders brought back from the Western Regions. They were very obedient and only liked spinning silk inside the house. The Jade Silk spun by one male and one female was made into textiles often sent to the imperial palace as tribute," Murong Brothers stated.
Duan Yun raised a brow. "Then I really did kill them."
"You actually dare admit it."
"What, are you going to avenge them? Perfect. Let me see your Twelvefold Spring Rain."
Rather than backing down, Duan Yun grew excited.
Yet just then, Murong Brothers abruptly changed his tune. "Don't be like that. They were only two spiders. You bought quite a lot of braised food today. Ah, and this Green Bamboo Wine was a good choice. The bamboo on Grave Mountain behind us grows out of burial mounds, black and thick. Nothing could be better for brewing wine."
Duan Yun asked doubtfully, "You're not getting revenge anymore?"
"No. Moving is too tiring. Just compensate me with some wine to drink," Murong Brothers said lazily.
Hearing that, Duan Yun could not help saying, "Why do I feel like those Jade Spiders were fake? They were just two ordinary large spiders. You're only saying all this because you want some wine."
Murong Brothers sighed with feeling. "I never expected that though you are so young and have only just entered the martial world, you would already be so clever."
"Don't worry. I'll only take one sip."
"Drinking is fine, and eating meat is fine too. Trade me a secret manual for it," Duan Yun said.
Murong Brothers shook his head. "Brother Duan, my friend, whether we call each other friends or not, we are at least neighbors. You've seen what this saber technique has brought me. I don't want to harm you."
Duan Yun thought it over. "All right."
As he spoke, he took a gulp of wine and tossed the bottle to Murong Brothers.
He deliberately threw it off target.
Murong Brothers' body slid along the ground, and the wine bottle landed steadily upon his chest.
He opened his mouth, and the wine flew into it.
Having drunk Duan Yun's wine, Murong Brothers did not want to freeload. "Aside from the saber technique, I can teach you anything. This wine-drinking techni—"
Before he could finish, he froze.
Duan Yun extended a finger, shooting out a stream of liquid.
One sniff told him it was wine.
There was another expert?
He had considered drinking wine while lying down and sucking it in to be an ultimate skill. Yet this fellow could shoot wine from his finger!
At that moment, Duan Yun said, "You don't understand. The pleasure of shooting wine is far greater than drinking it. Shooting wine feels much better than drinking wine."
Even Murong Brothers, lazy to an astonishing degree, became curious. "How much better?"
"There's a saying: a wife is not as good as a concubine, a concubine is not as good as stealing around, and stealing around is not as good as almost getting caught. The gap between drinking wine and shooting wine is even greater than the gap between having a wife and almost getting caught," Duan Yun boasted.
A trace of emotion appeared in Murong Brothers' usually vacant eyes.
Duan Yun continued, "Want to learn? You can use—"
"Don't want to."
"Hm?"
"I'm too lazy to learn."
Duan Yun: "..."
Still, he refused to give up. "Once my finger technique is mastered, it can do more than shoot wine. It can shoot people too, and it can nourish yin and strengthen yang!"
He believed no man could refuse the temptation of shooting wine, shooting people, and nourishing yin and strengthening yang.
Unfortunately, Murong Brothers was not a proper man.
Lying there, he suddenly stopped moving, as though he had recalled some painful memories.
"Nourish yin and strengthen yang, nourish yin and strengthen yang... If I hadn't wanted to leave myself an intact corpse, I would have cut off my bird to make a wise choice the moment my father fell ill."
Murong Brothers gazed at the sky, his tone sorrowful. "Alas, if I were a woman, perhaps I would not have so much pain."
Afterward, he returned the wine flask to Duan Yun and went back to curl up on that mat.
Before this—before the talk of nourishing yin and strengthening yang—Duan Yun had briefly felt that this person wanted to live.
Because he had sensed the breath of a living person from him, the desires of a living person.
But once nourishing yin and strengthening yang had come up, he felt Murong Brothers had become a "Living Dead" again.
What a case of good intentions leading to bad results!
Duan Yun felt both guilty and depressed. Unable to stop himself, he asked, "What exactly will it take for you to pull yourself together, and for you to teach me your saber technique?"
"Aren't you surnamed Duan? Unless you can bring that Duan Old Devil from your Duan Clan here and turn me into a woman."
As though deliberately making things difficult for him, or wanting him to retreat in the face of difficulty, Murong Brothers answered in that gloomy manner.
Duan Yun immediately felt as if his heart had seized up. He could not help complaining, "I am Duan Old Devil, but I really can't do that!"
I only know how to nourish yin and strengthen yang!
Before you continue