CH 14.2

Tao Ming’s snow hat was also swept away. He stood in the courtyard, not knowing how to respond.

The fluttering snow hit Lou Muge all over his face. He rubbed the handful of water beads on his face, as a wash, and ordered Wen Changchu, “Go in and take the stone statue. Let’s go find the other three.”

Wen Changchu grinned, then turned around and went into the room.

Long before he finished speaking, Ning Shaosi had already prepared to open the umbrella. The ink-dyed umbrella surface in the snow reflected a dark shade.

The snow was so thick that it could bury half of the calf when stepping on them, so walking was extra laborious. The streets were basically empty. Wen Changchu walked in front to clear the way, and Lou Muge and Ning Shaosi were much more relaxed behind.

“This Shan’an City is neither big nor small, but I have no idea where the other three might be buried.” Wen Changchu kicked a foot of thick snow and said with impatience, “Why not just arrest those two brothers and beat them to a pulp first, before asking them the whereabouts of the other three stone statues?”

“Not a good idea.” Lou Muge said, “Who knows if there is another demonic spirit behind that pair of brothers? What we want to catch aren’t those used as pawns.”

Ning Shaosi took up the rear, covering the snow for Lou Muge. Half of his body was outside the umbrella with layers of hoarfrost forming on his black fox fur. Nevertheless, he spoke steadily, “The quartet stone statues have been set up for a while and are infused with spiritual power to detect the other three.”

Wen Changchu suddenly stopped in his tracks, raised his eyebrows and attempted to find fault with him. “Why didn’t you say it just now?” Then he turned his head and complained to Lou Muge, “Boss, this man is deliberately wasting our time.”

“I didn’t mean to waste time,” Ning Shaosi quickly explained himself, “It’s just that there are people coming and going in the city. If we take action in the city, Zhang Rong and others will know about it…”

Ning Shaosi was born beautiful. His two eyes were inexplicably poignant, enough to melt anyone’s heart. In effect, Lou Muge couldn’t help but want to defend him. He said to Wen Changchu, “Cut the nonsense and quickly take out the stone statue.”

“Oh.” Wen Changchu responded casually. Without much hesitation, he took out the stone statue and put the heavy figure in his palm. It seemed to have become lighter. He cast a light from the tip of his finger and tapped it. In an instant, the light enveloped the black statue.

The shrill and wailing screams burst out and pierced Wen Changchu’s ears. His face immediately wrinkled into a ball, with disgust exuding all over his body. He snapped angrily, “Shut up!”

The countless dead souls in the stone statue were frightened by his power and stopped for a moment, except for one restrained sobbing. Wen Changchu didn’t care much about it and instead probed the stone statue with his spiritual power. A moment later, he heard shrill screams that were similar to the ones just now in the distance.

Wen Changchu raised his head in astonishment, and followed the source in the expanse of white snow. He saw a mountain that seemed to rise from the ground, and it was there that those faint screams came from.

Seeing his reaction, Lou Muge asked, “How is it? Have you found it?”

Wen Changchu pointed to the mountain peak. “The sounds come from that mountain…”

“Is there only one place?” Ning Shaosi looked at him as well and asked.

Wen Changchu moved his ears to listen and nodded. “There is only sounds on that mountain.”

Ning Shaosi’s eyes subtly flickered, and his calm face turned gloomy. He turned his head somewhere, and then said to Lou Muge, “Since you heard it, let’s hurry up.”

Lou Muge, however, hesitated and looked at the fluffy snow. “It’s snowing so hard. It’s going to be inconvenient to climb up the mountain. How about we wait for the snow to stop?”

Ning Shaosi said, “I’m afraid that when the snow stops, the stone statue will have been dug away.”

Lou Muge regarded him in confusion: “What do you mean by that?”

“Four statues in different directions were buried in the formation. We dug out one, so there should still be three buried in the ground. However, Wen Changchu only heard one just now. It means that the remaining two have been dug out, and that culprit may also be on his way up the mountain.”

Lou Muge’s eyes lit up: “You’re right. Let’s go and intercept that person.”

After the three people discussed, they headed toward the mountain, but the heavy snow blocked the road, making the mountain path truly impassable. The soles of Lou Muge’s shoes seemed smeared with oil. He would slip every couple of steps. If not for his quick reaction, he would have hurtled several times. 

In the end, he still lost his footing and hurtled ten foot away. He skidded in the snow and fell on his butt. He kicked the air a few times and said, “I haven’t slipped so many times since I started to walk!”

Ning Shaosi approached him with his umbrella. He dragged him out of the snow pit and patted away the snow dust on him. He stuffed the umbrella into his hand and said with a warm smile, “Let me carry you on my back. We’ll climb the mountain faster.”

Lou Muge barely processed these words in his brain, but before he could respond, he saw Ning Shaosi already untying his cloak. He draped it over his shoulder and tied the knot in front of his neck.

He obviously was a barely grown up teenager in front of him, but his reaction and actions made Lou Muge suddenly feel cared for. The instinctive refusal slipped around his mouth and was swallowed back into his belly.

Ning Shaosi squatted down in front of him: “Hop on.”

Lou Muge was momentarily stunned, but he still climbed onto his back. The somewhat thin and young-looking back carried Lou Muge up. His every step was surprisingly steady. Wen Changchu followed and looked at them, seemingly already inured to the unusual.

This time, part of Ning Shaosi’s body no longer needed to be drenched in snow, because Lou Muge was lying on his back. The umbrella was enough to cover both of them. Without Lou Muge to hold them back, the group climbed the mountain very quickly. When they encountered pits or difficult places to walk, they easily skimmed over them.

Wen Changchu listened and searched for the sound. Unexpectedly, he saw some people on the mountain who he didn’t want to see. His eyebrows suddenly wrinkled, and he whispered, “Why are they here?”

Lou Muge raised the umbrella, followed his gaze and made out Zhang Rong, Ze Wan, and Ze Qian’s figures in the distance.

What Ning Shaosi said earlier flashed through his mind, but he immediately denied it. Zhang Rong and his company were from the Immortal Realm, definitely not the demons that were haunting the city.

Is it really just a coincidence?

Lou Muge stepped down from Ning Shaosi’s back and said to Wen Changchu, “Go greet and stall them.”

Wen Changchu handed the stone statue to Lou Muge, “The sound is around here.”

“I’ll give you a secret signal once we find it,” Lou Muge said.

The two discussed with heads together. Wen Changchu didn’t ask what the signal was. He just turned and ran toward Ze Wan. Every time he bumped into the three of them, he was bound to quarrel with this girl.

Lou Muge hid the stone statue in his cloak. When he turned his head, he found Ning Shaosi squatting beside a pile of stone statues half as tall as a grown man, staring at the ground in a trance.

“What are you looking at?” He walked forward and stood beside him. He looked down and found a large pit that Ning Shaosi dug out from the thick snow on the ground. The pit revealed the upper body of a corpse. The snow on the corpse’s neck was dyed crimson with blood. His eyes were tightly closed, and his face was devoid of any color, as if he’d been dead for a long time.

Lou Muge was startled. After taking a closer look, his heart skipped a beat and pounded chaotically.

He gulped and turned his head towards Wen Changchu, who was bickering with Ze Wan. He turned his attention back to the corpse buried in snow in front of him, confirming once more that the corpse had a face identical to Ze Wan’s.