Chai Xian

Was I dreaming?

Mu Nanzhi scrutinized him carefully, and after a while, seeing that nothing bad had happened, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"You brat, you brat!"

She reached out and slashed Xu Qi'an's scalp a few times, feeling a secret sense of satisfaction.

The princess secretly vented her dissatisfaction at being neglected along the way. Although this guy had treated her fairly well, except for the occasional night spent in the wilderness, he had mostly kept her in the best inns and fed her the most delicious food.

But isn't this a bit too much of a show of respect?

Aside from that time he went a little "overboard" with Sun Xuanji, normally he'd just hold her hand at most. Even if I had a different face, I'd still be the most beautiful woman in the Great Feng. Am I really that unattractive?

You hit Xu Yinluo!

The little white fox peeked out from the bed, its dark eyes fixed on Mu Nanzhi, like a child who had discovered a great secret, and said in a sweet voice:

I'm going to tell him!

Mu Nanzhi rolled her eyes and said, "At worst, you can come and beat him up too, and I won't say anything."

The little white fox tilted its head, thought for a moment, and said, "Alright!"

It nimbly crawled out of the warm bed, jumped off the bed, went to the edge of the small couch, and leaped with all its might.

"Oops!"

It failed to jump up and bumped its belly against the edge of the bed.

"Useless thing, you claim to travel thousands of miles a day?"

Mu Nanzhi pouted and carried it to the bed.

"Stealth and speed are my innate Divine Ability, but they consume too much Law Power. I'm still young, and my strength is too weak."

As it spoke, it climbed onto Xu Qi'an and began slapping him across the face with its two front paws, scolding him playfully as it did so.

"I'll let you sleep with Sister Ye Ji and I won't give you any money. I'll let you sleep with Sister Ye Ji and I won't give you any money."

Although the force was not great, its momentum was formidable.

After it finished fighting, Mu Nanzhi smiled and picked up the little white fox, saying, "Tell me, what does it mean that Sister Sleeping Night Princess doesn't give money?"

All she knew was that Ye Ji was the little white fox's older sister and Xu Qi'an's ex-lover.

In the cellar, Xu Qi'an felt as if he were back home, enduring the pungent smell, experiencing both pain and pleasure.

He crouched low and crept stealthily along the corpse whose hood had been removed, until he saw the walking dead. "He" kept removing the corpse's hood, as if searching for something.

Who is he? Or rather, who is controlling him from behind the scenes?

With these doubts in mind, Xu Qi'an remained patient and waited quietly.

Time slipped away quietly, and half an hour passed. He carefully examined all the corpses, and then went through a small door.

A cellar within a cellar?

The oil lamp on the wall emitted a dim yellow light. Just as Xu Qi'an was considering whether to go in, "he" came out, gently closed the door, and turned back the way he came.

Without hesitation, Orange Cat An retreated immediately after he left.

It left the cellar before the walkers, leaped out of the courtyard, and hid itself in the green belt outside the yard.

Not long after, a dark figure sprang straight out of the yard and landed with a "thud".

Afterwards, he silently crept towards Chai Xing'er's residence, listened to the sounds of their lovemaking in the courtyard, and then left without a second thought.

This person was very familiar with the Chai residence and skillfully avoided the night patrols of the residence's young masters, leaving the Chai residence without any major incidents.

Throughout this process, Xu Qi'an followed behind "him".

In the cold night, the zombies moved extremely fast, weaving through the streets and alleys, avoiding the patrolling city guards. This was not difficult, as the night patrols in a small prefecture like Xiangzhou were limited.

It couldn't be as tightly controlled as the capital.

However, because Chai Xian had been killing people everywhere recently, the government had increased patrols, and the city gates were closed after dusk.

The orange cat, Ann, followed the walking corpse around and around until they finally arrived at a small river.

Thump.

Water splashed up, and the zombie nimbly jumped into the water and disappeared.

He discovered me? No, the manipulated corpse doesn't possess the divine abilities of the original body, unless the corpse itself is at the Spirit Refining Realm. But if that were the case, he should have discovered me long ago.

Orange Cat An followed the river's gaze to the towering city walls in the distance, and suddenly understood the other party's intention.

He planned to dive into the river and travel along it out of the city.

The orange cat ran wildly along the riverbank, and only when it got close to the city wall did it leap into the water.

The reason for this is that cats don't have the stamina to swim hundreds of meters in water, and the subsequent tracking also needs to be considered.

The river water was icy cold and so murky that it was difficult to see. The orange cat paddled its limbs underwater, successfully passing through the city wall and appearing outside the city.

Ripples spread across the dark water as the orange cat paddled vigorously to reach the shore.

Generally speaking, these waterways that run through cities are usually fitted with iron nets underneath, but this is not always the case, since people in that era had extremely poor hygiene habits and would throw all kinds of garbage into the river.

It can easily cause blockages.

Therefore, whether or not iron fences were installed depended entirely on the local government's self-discipline.

After getting ashore, the orange cat Ann slightly raised its head, twitched its nostrils, and smelled a faint stench of decay.

It shot out like an arrow, and soon, in the dim moonlight, the figure of the walking corpse could be seen.

The "human" and the cat maintained a relatively safe distance and traveled for an hour. During this time, Xu Qi'an stopped to rest several times to replenish his energy.

Felines are characterized by their high speed but extremely poor endurance.

The long journey had taken a toll on the orange cat's energy.

If it were a dog, Xu Qi'an felt that it would be no problem for it to stay with him until the end of time.

After passing through fields, dense forests, and wastelands, a small village finally appeared ahead, nestled in the silent darkness.

"To be able to control a walking corpse this far, the manipulator's cultivation level must be quite high," Xu Qi'an, an expert in corpse-cursing insects, thought to himself.

He doesn't have that ability right now, at least not.

The zombie moved with practiced ease along the muddy path until it arrived at the gate of a house, where there were two tall haystacks in the yard.

The zombie raised his hand and gently knocked on the door.

The door of the mud house opened, and someone carrying a lantern skipped out. He was short and seemed to be a child.

The child opened the gate to let the zombie in, then closed the gate and went back inside.

Then, a light shone through the small window.

"Uncle Xian, have you found Sister Xiao Lan?"

The voice was soft and clear; it belonged to a girl.

"No!"

A weary voice replied.

The orange cat immediately leaped onto the city wall and crouched in the courtyard to eavesdrop.

"What should we do? Damn it, who is framing Uncle Xian?" the little girl said indignantly.

The voice didn't answer. After a long while, it said, increasingly wearily, "I don't know. It's getting late, Er Ya, go to sleep."

"Oh!"

The girl responded, then the candle went out and all was quiet.

Uncle Xian, Sister Xiao Lan, the zombie who infiltrated the Chai residence is Chai Xian!

The orange cat, Ann, immediately made a judgment.

Inside the inn in Xiangzhou City, Xu Qi'an opened his eyes.

He suddenly sat up, startling Mu Nanzhi and the little white fox who were huddled under the covers whispering to each other.

Did you hit me just now?

Xu Qi'an said angrily.

"She (it) hit it."

Mu Nanzhi and the little white fox both tried to shift the blame.

I'll deal with you later.

Xu Qi'an muttered something to himself, then said in a deep voice, "I'm going out for a bit. You guys go to sleep first."

Mu Nanzhi didn't bother to ask. She reached out and patted the little white fox's head. With this little creature by her side, she wouldn't be so scared.

Xu Qi'an vanished as a shadow.

In the small village, the orange cat Ann was about to quietly leave, awaiting the arrival of its true form.

"Friend, you're a guest, why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Orange Cat Ann heard a noise coming from the haystack beside her, and four figures emerged from the haystack.

The moonlight was dim, and the four people, dressed in tattered clothes, were expressionless and lifeless, their dead eyes staring at the orange cat.

"I've been discovered, so I'll try to act cute right here. I wonder if that'll get me through." He thought to himself, then spoke in a human voice, chuckling softly:

"Chai Xian?"

The door of the mud house opened, and a man dressed in cloth came out carrying a lantern.

He had handsome features, stood 1.8 meters tall, and possessed a gentle and reserved demeanor, with a deep-seated worry between his brows.

The moment Xu Qi'an saw this person, his mind went blank, overwhelmed with boundless joy.

In his vision, this person was surrounded by golden light, and the faint shadow of a dragon could be seen moving around his body, exuding an extraordinary aura.

Dragon Qi Host!

Compared to the county tyrant whom he beheaded with a single stroke, this man's dragon aura was many times more concentrated; it was one of the nine crucial dragon auras.

The reason I didn't realize the other party was a dragon energy host was because his physical body was not there, nor was the fragment of the Earth Book, so there was no connection between him and the dragon energy.

Only now, seeing this person in person, did Xu Qi'an perceive the dragon's aura.

"So Chai Xian is the host of dragon energy? I've searched high and low without finding him, and now it's right here! If it weren't for this sudden whim and the frequent cases in Xiangzhou, I probably wouldn't have stayed here for long. This isn't luck; it's the synergistic effect between dragon energy and me."

Xu Qi'an was so surprised he almost meowed.

Who are you?

He composed himself and replied calmly, "Just a wandering knight."

Chai Xian examined the orange cat, nodded, and said softly, "This is not a place to talk. Come with me."

Leaving the courtyard, the two arrived at a secluded alley. Xu Qi'an took the initiative to speak, "I heard about the Chai family in Xiangzhou and was quite curious about it, so I went to investigate the Chai family at night. I didn't expect to run into you."

Chai Xian said calmly, "So?"

Xu Qi'an bluntly stated, "I already know what happened. There are many suspicious points regarding your patricide; it's probably not as simple as it seems on the surface."

Chai Xian seemed somewhat surprised and said with some distrust:

"Why don't you tell me? There are many suspicious points. Where are they?"

"The biggest suspicion is 'parricide.' Although there are indeed fathers who are not human in this world, the head of the Chai family has treated you quite well. No matter how much you are in love with Miss Chai, you only need to take her away. Why make things so bad?"

"If you are truly a villain, determined to repay kindness with enmity, then you've already killed someone and taken away your childhood sweetheart. You should have fled long ago. Why linger in Xiangzhou?"

The orange cat spoke eloquently and clearly.

Chai Xian paused for a moment, then sighed:

"Unfortunately, there are too few intelligent people like you in the world. I didn't kill my godfather, nor did I kidnap Xiao Lan. I stayed in Xiangzhou to find out who framed me."

"Oh? Tell me, what have you found out? Who do you suspect?"

The orange cat, Anle, stalled for time, waiting for the real cat to arrive.