Magical Artifact

"They... they're all dead..."

Hearing the sorrow and sigh in Bai Zishan's voice, Lu Mingyue's eyes dimmed as well, and much of her excitement at escaping death faded.

"I did everything I could..."

After waking from the Yellow Springs Nightmare, Lu Mingyue had used every means at her disposal, exhausting the cultivation within her.

She had indeed done everything in her power to protect Meng Hai and the others.

Unfortunately, the gap in strength had been too great. Of the six who had stayed behind, apart from Meng Hai, the other five escorts had all been reduced to stark white bones!

"No, it wasn't your fault! If anyone's to blame, it's those two evil cultivators!"

Bai Zishan spoke hurriedly, trying to comfort Lu Mingyue. When he saw her look at him, he hastily averted his gaze, and a sudden blush crossed his reasonably handsome face.

Lu Mingyue's heart skipped a beat.

Although she was young now, she was a transmigrator, after all, and had some experience with matters of love between men and women.

The way this young man was acting...

Could he have fallen for me?

"Miss Lu, Young Master Bai, I have no way to repay you for saving my life. This old man will remember your kindness!"

Just as Lu Mingyue found herself letting her imagination run wild, Meng Hai's voice rang out beside her, interrupting her thoughts.

"Escort Chief Meng, you're being too generous. None of us expected to encounter evil cultivators. If you and your men hadn't done everything you could to help, Brother Bai might have escaped safely, but I might not still be alive..."

Seeing Meng Hai bend deeply at the waist to bow to them both, Lu Mingyue hurriedly stood and steadied him.

She was not merely being polite. At least as Lu Mingyue saw it now, if Meng Hai and his men had not risked their lives to hinder Guo Ding, and he had formed that Yellow Springs Ghost Coffin two breaths earlier, she would have been the first to die!

Now she had survived, but five of Meng Hai's disciples had died...

"To tell you the truth, this old man isn't merely being courteous. Nearly all the escorts from our Evergreen Escort Agency have lost their lives here. On my own, I can no longer escort you both safely to Taiping City..."

Meng Hai's face was full of bitterness. Even his formerly sturdy frame had stooped, as though he had aged more than a decade in that instant.

"This is the escort fee I requested from you earlier. This old man had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai-I never realized you were immortals. I'm ashamed. Now that I cannot fulfill the escort agreement, I can only return to Cang Province!"

As he spoke, Meng Hai took out a pouch of silver and handed Lu Mingyue all the half-payments for the escort fee that she, Bai Zishan, and even Guo Ding and his wife had paid earlier.

"Escort Chief Meng, can you be sure you'll be safe returning alone?"

Lu Mingyue naturally knew that Meng Hai could no longer escort the two of them to that Taiping City, wherever it was. The journey was so dangerous, and the Evergreen Escort Agency had not had many escorts to begin with.

Now five escorts had died, while Meng Hai's son and the other two escorts were nowhere to be found.

Even though she did not know Taiping City's exact location, she truly could not bring herself to ask the old man before her to continue escorting them at a time like this.

"Why don't you rest here for the night first, Escort Chief Meng, and see whether Brother Changqing and the others return? Then you can travel together, and the three of you can return to Cangzhou Prefectural City. Would that work?"

Hearing Lu Mingyue's suggestion, Meng Hai hesitated for a moment, then cupped his fists and bowed to her again.

"In that case, this old man thanks you, Fairy!"

Even the way he addressed her had changed.

Lu Mingyue could not help sighing inwardly, but in Meng Hai's eyes, they were immortals standing far above him.

No matter how approachable she acted, she could not change the understanding Meng Hai had formed over decades.

Especially since this Escort Chief Meng had now experienced two encounters with cultivators.

The rogue cultivator several years ago had nearly wiped out his Evergreen Escort Agency. Now Guo Ding and his wife had very nearly taken his life.

How could Meng Hai remain calm and at ease before two immortals?

"There's no need to be so courteous, Escort Chief Meng."

Lu Mingyue sighed and looked at the skeletons in the distance. Suddenly, a spark of inspiration flashed through her mind.

"I used to collect corpses for the government office with my grandfather. As for these remains, were you planning to take them back for burial, Escort Chief Meng, or...?"

"A corpse collector?" Meng Hai gave Lu Mingyue a somewhat surprised glance, then hurriedly lowered his head. After a moment's thought, he said, "They followed me for so many years, only to meet an end like this. This old man has let their parents down. Whether or not I can return to Cangzhou Prefectural City, I must take their remains back!"

"In that case, let me help you gather their remains!"

Without waiting for Meng Hai to refuse, Lu Mingyue went to pick up the white bones, sorting them together according to their different auras.

The five skeletons all looked much the same. Without Lu Mingyue, Meng Hai would naturally have been unable to tell them apart.

Especially since the bones had been scattered across the ground, then swept up by Yang Qin's whirlwind spell before her death and strewn everywhere.

With Lu Mingyue there, however, Meng Hai could at least be certain that his five disciples' remains would not be mixed up.

Miss Lu is a fairy, after all. She certainly wouldn't make a mistake.

Meng Hai thought this to himself as he tethered the horses to the only intact carriage, then helped Lu Mingyue wrap up each of his five disciples' remains separately.

Meanwhile, Bai Zishan rested beside the campfire, putting on the appearance of utter exhaustion while secretly studying the young woman carefully gathering the bones.

A corpse collector? Could she have collected Bai Yunzi's body, and that was why he gave her his legacy?

Naturally, Bai Zishan could not obtain an answer to this question. At least, he could not obtain that answer now.

What surprised both Bai Zishan and Meng Hai was that, after gathering the five escorts' remains, Lu Mingyue actually went to wrap up Guo Ding's body and head as well.

And she used Lu Mingyue's sash!

"Fairy Lu, that sash of yours..."

Not only did Bai Zishan's eyes flicker, but even Meng Hai could not help looking at the sash Lu Mingyue had spread out, his face full of puzzlement and surprise.

"It's the corpse-wrapping cloth I used when I collected bodies. Although I no longer need to collect corpses for the government office, that trade once kept me fed, so I carry this corpse-wrapping cloth with me to keep myself from forgetting the hardships I suffered as a child."

Lu Mingyue offered this explanation with a smile, glanced at Bai Zishan, and wrapped up Guo Ding's body.

She was certain Bai Zishan could not sense anything unusual about the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth.

That was because she had studied this Corpse-Wrapping Cloth carefully when she broke through to the Qi Refinement First Layer.

It seemed to be nothing more than a piece of cloth made from a somewhat unusual material!

The reason Lu Mingyue was not worried about Bai Zishan uncovering the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth's secret was that, every time she had broken through a cultivation layer over the years, she had dripped her own life-bound essence blood into it.

The first time she dripped her life-bound essence blood onto it, Lu Mingyue had felt the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth become one with her.

Like Bai Zishan's little azure sword, although it had displayed no additional functions, this Corpse-Wrapping Cloth had indeed become Lu Mingyue's life-bound magical artifact!