What happened next took my breath away, because Bai dragged something out of that seemingly heavy bag——is that a body?
I was startled and then noticed that something was wrong.
It was not technically a corpse, maybe ‘human body’ would be more appropriate to describe it. Because the exposed skin looked healthy and had the same color as a living person. After Bai dragged the whole body out of the bag, I saw his face. It was clearly Wen Jiubo!
What is going on?
Before I could recover from the shock, the wind suddenly started to blow. As sand and dust were blown into the air by the wind, I lifted my hands to cover my eyes.
After the gust of wind calmed down, I noticed that the Wen Jiubo, who was standing behind me, had disappeared. The other Wen Jiubo, who was just lying in the bag, rubbed his forehead and sat up.
“I really appreciate that, Bai,” said Wen Jiubo as he frowned; he seemed displeased. “I don’t mind if you put my body in such a rag bag, but dragging it all the way here was a bit too much?”
“Well, what else can I do?” Bai’s voice clearly gave away that he did it intentionally. “You’re so heavy, I can’t carry you on my back!”
Wen Jiubo rolled his eyes at Bai. He stood up while rubbing his temples.
“That, that…” I said dryly, raising one hand. “Am I the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on here now?”
“This is a long story.” Wen Jiubo glanced at Bai, dusting his clothes. “This is not a good place to chat. Let’s go back to the old residence first.”
The old residence was in ruins.
The house looked as if it had been attacked by a tornado, the plants in the courtyard, the walls, and the furniture inside the house had all been knocked to the ground, even the huge ash tree in the courtyard wasn’t spared, as it was split in two on the ground.
Wen Jiubo stepped into the courtyard without saying anything. I could not see his expression from where I stood, but I could feel his sadness.
Although he never said anything, I knew that this old residence was undoubtedly built on his hard work. The warm weather and the ever-blooming flowers, he worked so hard to make this place like a haven of peace in the dark.
But now it…
While I was looking around in sadness, Wen Jiubo had already walked into the room. The plaque that said ‘House of Exorcism’ dangled over the door of the living room as if it would fall anytime soon.
“This is really bad,” Bai whispered. He followed Wen Jiubo and stepped into the house.
Wen Jiubo walked into the house and sat at the edge of the bed. Bai and I found a place where we could sit down.
“Gu Yu, you must have a lot of questions now, right?” Even though Wen Jiubo was sitting in debris, he still looked like an emperor. “You can ask me now, I will answer you truthfully.”
Yeah… I have a lot of things to ask him. However, I almost forgot the questions after that terrible adventure.
“I don’t understand,” I said straightforwardly. “Xu Yingchen, the Taoist priest Lingxiao, told me that he killed you. He didn’t lie to me, did he? I saw you being killed, and I later found you in the gap of Yin. So… you really died, right? But why you are now…”
“Well, this question is quite simple,” Wen Jiubo said with a smile. “I died, and the reason why I’m sitting here right now is that I was resurrected.”
That sentence made me feel like Wen Jiubo was teasing me, which made me very upset. “Don’t treat me like a kid, what do you mean?”
Wen Jiubo smiled. “No, look. It’s simple. I told you a long time ago that humans are made up of two parts, the body and the soul, right?”
I nodded.
“The ones who have souls but no physical bodies are ghosts; the ones who have bodies but no souls are monsters; the ones whose souls don’t match their bodies are demons.”
“Their souls don’t match their bodies?” I asked.
“Correct. In other words, humans can only have one physical body, right?” Wen Jiubo asked, but he went on before I could answer. “As long as a human is alive, their soul and body cannot be separated. A person only has the physical body that they received during their birth. If they lose their bodies, they will die. But look at me and Bai.”
I glanced at them.
“Is the body we’re using currently different from our original bodies?” Wen Jiubo asked.
“Well… you were born as a nine-tailed fox, and Bai is a weasel.” I was not sure.
“Weasel?! I’m a ferret, ferret!” Bai jumped up at once, but I ignored him.
“Yes,” Wen Jiubo went on. “The bodies we are using now are created by magic. That is to say, we are not using our original bodies, but we can still survive in this world. This is hard for humans to understand, right?”
I nodded.
“However, like humans, our souls and our bodies are still closely interdependent. If the soul leaves the body, we will gradually lose our minds and turn into evil spirits.” Wen Jiubo said, “So, that dream when you saw me getting killed was real. Back then Xu Yingchen did kill me. ”
I became more confused, and I hurriedly interrupted him, “Wait, but you are standing right in front of me, safe and sound. And you’re not a ghost, you can breathe——”
Then, I suddenly stopped talking since I understood what he meant.
Does that mean…
Wen Jiubo smiled after he saw my expression.
“Yeah, just like what you’re thinking right now. The body I am using now is not the same one Lingxiao stabbed. ”
My eyes were wide open. “But how did you do this?” It sounded absurd.
“As I said, it is very simple.” Wen Jiubo smiled. “The one he killed was a doll.”
“A, a doll?”
“Thank you for telling me that I would die. You see, I’m a very selfish person,” Wen Jiubo said with a smile. “So after that, I tried my best to save myself. Therefore, since the moment you told me about my future death until the day when Lingxiao came through my door to murder me, I was busy making a doll that would look exactly like my real body.”
I was surprised. “Is that even possible?”
Wen Jiubo nodded. “Of course. Using pork flesh, a dog’s heart and some rabbit blood, along with some magic, you can create a doll that is exactly the same as a real body. However, Lingxiao is a very intelligent person. If I just hid my soul and controlled the body remotely, he would have instantly discovered that it wasn’t my real body. So I chose to hide my original body and enter the doll I made so that he could ‘kill’ me.”
I gradually understood the ins and outs. I was astonished by Wen Jiubo’s boldness.
“But you were actually killed by him! If I didn’t go to the gap to find you…”
“Then, I’m afraid I would have died there.” Wen Jiubo smiled.
“You are crazy!” I clenched my teeth; my heart beat violently because of fear. “Escaping from the gap was extremely dangerous! We almost died back there! ”
However, Wen Jiubo did not care at all. “Only by enduring despair can you find hope. If I didn’t use this method, then I would definitely have died in the hands of Lingxiao, and so would you. No, that madman would probably have done many more horrible things.”
I was speechless. Why could he stay poised and calm after these two near-death experiences?
Bai quickly jumped out and tried to ease the awkward tension in the air. “Well, well, well, we should be glad since you two have returned, right?”
I looked at Bai and noticed something strange.
“By the way, Bai, how come you can stay in your human form now? I’m very curious, didn’t you lose all your demon power? ”
Surprisingly, Bai knitted his eyebrows and shook his head. “I don’t know. Theoretically yes… but I don’t know why, it seems like our surroundings are filled with demon energy, so I can easily transform into my human form.”
“Is that so…” I muttered. Is it because of Lingxiao? Did that bastard do something dirty after he took the Jade Ruyi?
Oh, right!
I suddenly remembered a very important problem. I almost forgot about it after we escaped from that gap.
“Well, Wen Jiubo,” I suddenly changed the subject and stared at Wen Jiubo. “I want to ask you something. This is what Xu Yingchen told me, although I know what he said is not very credible, I still want to ask you, just in case. ”
“Em?” Wen Jiubo answered and turned to me.
“He said that the person who sealed you was not him, but… me.” I asked with a puzzled face, “What did he mean by that?”