NEBM Chapter 52: Perplexing

No one expected this to suddenly happen. The youth never thought that A’Lin would act so suddenly. What’s more, their bodies were so close together that the youth was completely defenseless against him.

Shen Zhixian stood far away and neither he nor Yan Jin were paying attention to what they were doing. They only looked over when they heard strange movements, just in time to see a hand completely penetrate the youth’s chest before pulling back sharply.

The scene was terrible.

Yu Yuan was the first to react. He shouted A’Lin’s name sternly and took two steps forward, wanting to catch the murderous A’Lin.

But Yu Yuan had scruples and didn’t immediately pull out a sword. A’Lin didn’t have so much restraint. On his pale face, his lips hooked, revealing a smile full of evil humor. His bloody hand curled into claws and flashed toward Yu Yuan.

After witnessing the skill with which this claw can penetrate the chest, Yu Yuan didn’t dare to take it lightly. He lifted his hand, unsheathed his sword, and blocked A’Lin’s offensive.

Seeing that he couldn’t make a move, A’Lin didn’t continue with the battle. He ran away without saying a word.

Except for Yu Yuan and A’Lin, several other disciples surrounded the severely wounded youth. They anxiously tried to give him spiritual power in an attempt to stop the bleeding. With a spasm in his throat, the youth vomited a bubble of blood, then he opened his eyes wide and let out a silent gasp.

With a single glance, Shen Zhixian could see that the youth could not be saved. When he noticed that A’Lin was running away, he instinctively tried to chase after him. But Yu Yuan stopped in front of him. “What do you intend to do?”

Yu Yuan heard his fellow disciples shouting for him, telling him the youth was dying. This all happened so suddenly, causing his stress level to dramatically rise. His hand holding the sword bulged with blue tendons. If one were to look carefully, one could see that his hand was also shaking.

Of course, he knew that Shen Zhixian wanted to chase after A’Lin. He also wanted to chase after him and wanted to ask what was going on. But the other disciples were here, and with Yan Jin here too, he couldn’t feel rest assured.

…As for Yan Jin and this man, who knew if they will even return.

After so much delay, A’Lin’s figure had already disappeared. When Shen Zhixian saw that he was gone, he pulled his gaze to the group of chaotic youths. He sighed and, with obvious compassion in his eyes, said, “No more chasing. You should look at your fellow disciples first. ”

Yi Yuan saw that the two people really didn’t intend to leave. Gritting his teeth, he re-sheathed his sword and hurried to the injured youth’s side.  Because he was kneeling on one knee, his attention fixed on the dying young man in front of him, he didn’t notice that when Shen Zhixian turned around, he calmly flicked his fingertips.

There was a cluster of grass by the side of the road. When the strand of breeze blew across it, a half-finger blade of grass broke off. It floated a little, fluttered toward the ground, and disappeared silently in the direction that A’Lin had ran away.

Yu Yuan’s hand paused for a long time on the side of the severely injured youth’s neck, which was gradually turning cold. The neck was motionless, the pulse there no longer jumping.

The other three disciples were originally calling out the youth’s name. But when they looked at Yu Yuan, they slowly stopped.

With red eyes, the junior disciple who’d had the best relationship with the dead youth said, “Senior Brother Yuan, he…”

Yu Yuan retracted his hand, his expression gloomy, and shook his head. “Pass a message to Master. Junior Brother Lin, I’ll trouble you to make a fire.”

Their Master came from a sect that followed free and unconstrained pursuits. After death, they don’t like to be trapped in the ground. Instead, they preferred to be cremated and set free in the world.

It took them an hour to make funeral arrangements.

The youths eyes were all red. No one expected that their first trek to gain experience would lead to such tragedy. They began with seven people, and now there were two missing.

After Yu Yuan calmed down a little, he began to think carefully. He first thought of the A’Lin from last night. A’Lin went off alone by himself due to his stomach issue and was obviously weaker when he returned.

A’Lin was famous for his timidity. Let alone killing a person, he’d had to be coerced to harm even a minor demon. And just now, that ruthless A’Lin….

He would rather believe that it was not the real A’Lin or that he was forced.

When Yu Yuan told everyone his speculation, all the youths showed incredulous looks.

Qin Lin frowned. “If that wasn’t Junior Brother Lin, then where’s the real Junior Brother Lin? If he was forcibly taken away…But, we’re just disciples of a small sect. Who would go to such efforts?”

However, forcibly taking a small disciple away was truly as simple as eating and drinking. Even if they were to fight outright, things wouldn’t go too well for them. As things stand, even if they were well prepared, the failure rate was still extremely high. A’Lin had journeyed with them for a long time. In the light of day, they still couldn’t see any abnormalities in him. Therefore, the idea of him being kidnapped as part of a trap was minimal.

Yu Yuan also knew this too. He looked at Lin Qin and hesitated. “I want to go back to the forest area where we camped last night and take a look.”

So everyone hurried back again. Shen Zhixian sighed. He didn’t say anything but merely followed slowly.

Yu Yuan said that he wanted to go back and see if there was anything wrong with the place where A’Lin went last night and to check for any unusual signs.

The fierce “A’Lin” was so cruel that the youths had very low expectations that the real A’Lin would still be alive. But, to their surprise, when they returned to the last camping spot, they actually saw the chubby, timid youth.

“A’Lin?” Yu Yuan blurted out. He almost walked over but he suddenly thought of what had just happened earlier and stopped short. He watched with vigilance at the youth with his head poking out from behind a tree. He said, “What are you hiding there for? Come out.”

The youth stretched out his head nervously, listening to Yu Yuan’s words with dismay. “Senior Brother Yuan, can you throw me some clothes first …”

He stretched out his arm and shook it. The fluffy arm was naked, with no sleeves in sight. He quickly retracted his arm again. “I’m out of clothes …”

After some time, A’Lin came out from behind the tree.

Yu Yuan’s clothes were a little tight on him, making him feel uncomfortable. He clenched his teeth and pulled the belt to try and loosen it. Then, he gasped out, “Oh, I thought you guys didn’t want me anymore!”

He was very timid so, last night, he didn’t dare go too far. The surrounding area was dark and the moonlight was dim. He’d just untied his belt when he felt a flash of pain in his head, and then he passed out.

When he woke up again, the sun was shining on him through the leaves, gentle and warm—Eh? What happened to his clothes?!

The stunned A’Lin, wearing only a pair of underpants, jumped up in shock. Terrified, as if he’d seen a ghost, he rushed back to the place where everyone rested. But, when he got there, everyone was gone.

A’Lin was dumbfounded. At first, he thought that the other disciples were only playing a joke on him. Yet, even after looking around, no figures could be seen. Finally, he accepted the fact that he’d been thrown away.

Looking at his situation, he felt a little overwhelmed. He was wearing only a pair of underpants and had no idea who’d taken away his storage bag. He hesitated for a long time, but couldn’t muster up the courage to leave. Fortunately, before he completely freaked out, he heard Senior Brother Yuan’s voice.

A’Lin finished speaking and found that the others were silent. He looked at the people around him and noticed that one person was missing. “Where’s Senior Brother Zhang? How come I didn’t see him?”

Senior Brother Zhang was the young man who’d died.

Yu Yuan looked at him calmly and quietly, with a hint of self-blame in his eyes. “Junior Brother Zhang was killed.”

He briefly explained what happened. A’Lin’s eyes widened, and his body began to tremble. Each word that came out shook. “Zhang, Senior Brother Zhang…pierced through the heart…two months ago…”

His words were muddled, but everyone still understood at once—the thing that A’Lin bumped into two months ago. The ordinary villager who died with a fist through the heart!

And, according to many senior cultivators, the murderer was Yan Jin!

Shen Zhixian felt their eyes brushed over to where he and Yan Jin stood. He narrowed his eyes slightly and carefully looked at A’Lin again. “When it happened, we were standing far away, beyond reach.”

Lin Qin stared at Yan Jin with eyes that only grew increasingly more doubtful. He slowly said, “How do we know that you don’t have a partner?”

……

After the incident, the group of youths avoided Shen Zhixian and Yan Jin and quietly discussed the issue amongst themselves. Shen Zhixian was too lazy to inquire into their thoughts and ignored them altogether even when they looked over with suspicion.

After finding A’Lin in the forest that day, the other youths began to doubt him. It wasn’t until A’Lin almost cried and murmured a lot of things that only they knew, did their suspicion dispelled.

—At least on the surface, the youths seemed to have regained harmony.

However, whether it was intentional or not, the chances of A’Lin being avoided was simply too high. Sometimes when he chatted with other disciples, he couldn’t have said more than a few words before they pretended to casually change the topic and find other excuses to quietly move away from him.

After being shunned again by his fellow disciples, A’Lin stood in place, feeling at a loss with his fists clenched tight. After a moment, he relaxed his fists, as if he’d suddenly understood something.

He gradually became quieter, and no longer talked and laughed with everyone as usual.

The atmosphere once again dropped to a freezing point.

Shen Zhixian silently observed their performance. In fact, he could understand the youths’ mentality. But even if he understood it, he still couldn’t help but want to sigh. Look, people were always so strange. Earlier, when he’d said that Yan Jin was framed, the group of youths were not convinced. Now, this suspicion fell on their fellow disciple…

They’d even analyzed the possibility of A’Lin being possessed, and they continued to diligently searched for any proof of A’Lin’s innocence.

In the end, this couldn’t be helped. This group of youths had undergone a storm and, because they were inexperienced, they couldn’t help but feel somewhat panicked. Regarding this matter, they were also a little biased. Shen Zhixian couldn’t help himself and, after hesitating for a moment, still decided to be nosy.

He found an opportunity to have a tactful conversation with Yu Yuan, but happened to be overheard by Lin Qin.

In the past few days, this skinny youth had grown increasingly more hostile toward him and Yan Jin, often reminding everyone not to communicate with them. When he heard Shen Zhixian’s words, his anger burst out and he snapped, “Who needed your good intentions? Who’s to say that you’re not manipulating things from behind the scene?…”

He hatefully added, “I blame you both. If not for you … ”

Whatever else he was going to say died away when Yu Yuan pulled his sleeve. After unwillingly stopping, he snorted angrily and began walking away.

After taking a few steps, he still couldn’t help turning back to Yu Yuan and said, “Senior Brother Yuan shouldn’t believe him. He doesn’t have good intentions!”

Yu Yuan responded, sighed, and really didn’t talk to Shen Zhixian any more. He walked away in silence.

Shen Zhixian suddenly felt a killing intent nearby. He turned his head to look at Yan Jin, just in time to see the flash of killing intent in his eyes before he could hide it.

“What’s wrong?” He covered Yan Jin’s five fingers with his sleeve and calmly sent out a bit of spiritual force.

“They scolded you.” Yan Jin’s voice was a little tight. He sternly repeated, “How dare they scold you…”

Shen Zhixian smiled, shook their clasped hands carelessly, and said without care, “After all, in their eyes, we’re the bad guy. I was prepared for it.”

“But you haven’t done anything!”

Yan Jin seemed to be suppressing something. He squeezed Shen Zhixian’s hand for a moment, before immediately relaxing his grip. He said quietly, “No matter what, let’s go find the Undead City, okay?”

Shen Zhixian saw that Yan Jin’s mood seemed to be bad. He made a faint hum. “It’s obvious that someone is framing you. The longer we take to discover the truth, the worse your reputation will be and the more the rumors will spread. We need to take this seriously…”

Yan Jin said, “It doesn’t matter to me.”

Shen Zhixian, ” ……… ”

He hesitated for a while. After thinking carefully, he said, “A’jin, were you thinking about resolving this quietly?”

Shen Zhixuan spoke very tactfully. In fact, he wanted to directly ask Yan Jin if he was planning to quietly find the person creating all the rumors and resolve it with violence.

Thanks to the blessing of the contract, he could clearly feel the killing intent in Yan Jin’s heart. It was like boiling water, incessantly grumbling and roiling.

Yan Jin didn’t say anything.

After watching his reaction, Shen Zhixian knew that his guess was correct. He seriously said, “No, there are many ways to solve this. That is the worst way … If you have any ideas, you must tell me first. Don’t let yourself do things quietly. ”

The cultivator who repeatedly murder without care will recieve retribution. He didn’t want Yan Jin risk his future prospects. Although he knew that Yan Jin was the protagonist in this world and will most likely not meet with any mishaps…he still didn’t want to see Yan Jin undergo any suffering.

Yan Jin lowered his eyes and said in a low voice, “But I don’t want their words to dirty your ears.”

Shen Zhixian pursed his lips and tilted his head to see that the group of youths weren’t paying attention to them. He suddenly stopped and turned to hug Yan Jin. After hugging Yan Jin, he whispered something in his ear.

He spoke quickly. But, as soon as he was done, he quickly let go of Yan Jin. He coughed as if nothing had happened and continued to move forward.

Yan Jin’s eyes brightened slightly. He thought for a while and whispered, “Can it be every day?”

“No.” Shen Zhixian pretended to be calm. When he felt the killing intent from within the contract retreating like a tide, he couldn’t help but relax. With his voice lowered, he spoke as if he was coaxing a child. “It depends on whether you are good or not.”

They bantered leisurely. Meanwhile, as they continued to rush day after day, the youths’ moods did not ease and became increasingly more anxious.

Even Shen Zhixian bending down to pick up a blade of grass would attract their guarded eyes.

When Shen Zhixian saw them looking over, he held up the grass and said to Yan Jin with a smile, “Look, it has a clear vein and a beautiful shape. What a lovely blade of grass.”

The youths looked at him for a long time in silence before turning back.

When Shen Zhixian saw them turning their heads away, he moved his fingertips and turned the dark green blade of grass over, revealing the back—the green leaves were stained with something so fine that, if one were not looking carefully, one might not even notice it.

Black ash.

“Puppet Wood ash,” Shen Zhixian looked at Yan Jin and mouthed. His smile gradually faded.

This was the small blade of grass he’d sent after the retreating “A’Lin.” As long as it wasn’t too far away, he could sense the small blade’s position.

There hadn’t been any news a few days ago. However, yesterday, he began to feel that the blade of grass was not far away, and today he finally found it.

Nevertheless, it was only a blade of grass and not the person himself.

Maybe…that “A’Lin” was not even human at all.

“A’jin.” Shen Zhixian whispered softly, “I don’t think this matter with A’Lin is over quite yet.”

His hunch was right. This wasn’t the end.

The next day, they travelled quickly, and after half an hour, they entered the domain of a small cultivation sect.

The youths belonged to a sect called Yuanming Sect. This small sect, however, was called the Qiongyu Sect. To be honest, these sects were so little known that Shen Zhixian hadn’t even heard of these two names.

The youths, whose faces had been dark for several days, finally displayed a rare smile. This was because their Master was very familiar with this sect.

The town under the little sect was very lively, and everyone’s face was full of smiles. The youths entered the town and asked around before they discovered that, in two days, Qiongyu Sect would hold a companion ceremony for the sect leader’s inheriting disciple and his junior sister.

Yu Yuan’s Master and Qiongyu Sect had deep ties and a lot of contacts. Since they’ve came, the youths also have no reason not to congratulate them.

However, because of Shen Zhixian and Yan Jin, this visit seemed a bit troublesome. Yu Yuan didn’t think it would be a good idea to take the two people up the mountain directly, but he didn’t feel at ease leaving behind his fellow disciples. Therefore, he could only Lin Qin bring a gift up the mountain first, explain the matter with the sect leader of Qiongyu Sect, and they could come up with a plan.

Lin Qin agreed and soon went up the mountain with a gift. He adhered to his responsibility and declined the suggestion that he go and rest first.

Spirit Master Qiongyu was very busy recently. Fortunately, Lin Qin was led straight to him with little obstruction.

For the companion ceremony, Qiongyu Sect actually sent an invitation to Yuanming Sect. As a result, the sect leader smiled at Lin Qin, thinking that he came because of the invitation.

Lin Qin met with him respectfully, relieved to see Spirit Master Qiongyu. Because it was not easy to raise a too heavy topic so soon, he could only congratulate him.

This greeting lasted for two quarters of an hour. He was still racking his brains on how to bring up the topic when there was a sudden noise outside. Intermixed in this noise was a voice saying, “Aiya, wait a moment.” Someone walked quickly passed him and fell on his knees before Spirit Master Qiongyu.

It was a chubby boy, trembling all over. He propped his hands on the ground, slightly arched his five fingers, pressing the fingertips hard to the ground, and said in a trembling, anxious voice, “Sprit Master Qiongyu, please find justice for this junior.”

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