Chi Lian merely chuckled, lifting the corners of his mouth in disdain—a gesture eerily reminiscent of the Killing Hall. “If you stand in my way, then yes, you are corpses,” he said coldly. To emphasize his indifference, he moved his hips, thrusting inside Feng Yi several more times.
Xuan Ye’s fury erupted. With a flick of his fingers, the Moonlight Blade flared with brilliance and darted toward Chi Lian’s face. The blade’s edge grazed him, cutting a long wound beneath his eye.
The green fire in Chi Lian’s eyes burned even brighter. Blood trickled from the fresh wound as he locked his gaze on Xuan Ye. “I hate it when anyone touches me with a blade,” he growled, his tone deadly. “And now, you’re as good as dead.”
As he spoke, a foul wind rose in the graveyard. Holding Feng Yi aloft, Chi Lian lashed out with his long tail, striking Xuan Ye square in the chest.
Ban Xia’s eyes widened in shock. She noticed Xuan Ye’s movements becoming sluggish, as though he couldn’t evade the blow. Gripping the Moonlight Blade tightly, he swung it to create a luminous arc that pushed himself out of the immediate battle.
“Run,” Xuan Ye said, his voice strained. “I’m not in good shape. Leave now and don’t look back.”
“What do you mean you’re ‘not in good shape’?” Ban Xia’s voice trembled, recalling their first meeting in a mountain cave, when he had explained his condition left him unable to move. “Are you saying this came without warning?”
“There wasn’t any…” Xuan Ye gritted his teeth and reversed his grip on the blade, summoning every ounce of strength to force Chi Lian back a few feet. “Now go!”
“None of you are going anywhere,” Chi Lian said with a light laugh, finally revealing his full serpent form. His reddish-brown scales gleamed as his body coiled, generating a gust of damp, foul-smelling wind.
Before Ban Xia could scream, something enormous descended, enveloping her and Xuan Ye in a suffocating, slimy darkness. The stench was unbearable, and the air grew oppressively tight.
Half an hour later, Chi Xue and the procuress arrived at the cemetery. All they found were Xuan Ye and Ban Xia.
The scene was disturbingly bizarre. Ban Xia was cradled in Xuan Ye’s arms, while he knelt on one knee, as if trying to shield her. Although nothing was visibly restraining them, it was clear they were trapped. The air around them seemed to tighten like an invisible vice, and the faint sound of bones creaking under pressure could be heard.
“What’s going on? Where’s Feng Yi?” the procuress asked, lighting a torch.
In the dim light, Ban Xia peered through a gap and glimpsed strange patterns surrounding them.
They were snake scales, unmistakably. Whatever was wrapping them was so thin it let light pass through, making it clear they hadn’t been swallowed into a serpent’s belly.
That left only one horrifying possibility: they were ensnared in a snake’s freshly shed skin, which reeked of blood and clung to them with increasing pressure.
“What happened here?!” the procuress pressed again, moving closer with the torch. She waved it near Xuan Ye, but the so-called snake skin remained invisible. However, she noticed something was very wrong with him.
The snake skin had fully covered Xuan Ye’s mouth and nose. Trembling, the procuress reached out to check and found no breath at all—not even the faintest trace of life.
“They’re trapped by a malevolent force,” Chi Xue finally blurted out after his characteristically long reaction time. He froze for a moment before panicking, pulling out his tattered book and flipping through it frantically. “This is bad! Really bad! Why isn’t there anything about this in Master’s book? We’re doomed!”
“What about Feng Yi?” The procuress’s voice became shrill, her grip on the torch trembling. Suddenly, a gust of eerie wind extinguished the flame in an instant.
Ghostly blue lights began to flicker all around the cemetery, floating and wandering aimlessly. Chi Xue, with his heightened sensitivity to spirits, seemed to hear whispers of vengeful souls murmuring in the darkness.
“Are there ghosts? Are there ghosts?!” The procuress’s voice was sharp and grating, echoing her growing terror.
As if in response to her frantic question, something above them suddenly flared with brilliant light, instantly dispelling the ghostly fires.
It was the Moonlight Blade, spinning midair. Chi Lian had failed to trap it, and now it hovered, radiating a fierce glow as it sensed the presence of vengeful spirits.
Chi Xue looked up, staring dumbly at the crescent-shaped blade for a long moment before smacking his forehead in sudden realization. “I’ve got it! I’ve got it! I know now, Master, I know!”
“Know what?! Let me tell you, your friends are already as good as dead. If you can’t figure something out, that girl won’t last much longer either!”
“Ya Jin will never die!” Chi Xue’s voice suddenly grew louder, uncharacteristically firm. He jumped high, reaching for the blade. “Do you see this? This is the sacred weapon of my clan—it can destroy all evil! If I can hold it, I’ll definitely be able to break this curse!”
As he spoke, his hand grasped the hilt of the blade. But as soon as he touched the leather grip, the Moonlight Blade quivered violently and slipped from his grasp, sending him tumbling to the ground in a most undignified heap.
“I know, I know—I’m not your rightful master. But I’m borrowing you to save your master. Can’t we make a deal?” Chi Xue said earnestly, looking up at the blade as he scrambled to his feet to try again.
The blade resisted even more fiercely this time. It flung him back again, and he landed flat on his back, his posterior taking the brunt of the fall.
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