Chapter 21

Xu Manman slowly approached and unlocked the restraints on Immortal Lang Yin. The flower trembled, was enveloped in white light, and instantly transformed into human form.

Immortal Lang Yin, dressed in white clothes as pure as snow, had sharp and cold features. Before Xu Manman could speak, the Jushuang Sword was already at her neck.

Xu Manman instinctively stepped back, her back pressed against the edge of the table.

“Brother… no, Immortal… Immortal Lord…” Xu Manman almost bit her tongue. Seeing Immortal Lang Yin’s eyes as cold and sharp as wind and frost, she almost mistook him for the Demon Lord Lang Yin. All her past misdeeds flashed through her mind, making her so guilty she could hardly speak.

Immortal Lang Yin coldly demanded, “Why did I revert to my original form? Why was I trapped in the pot? Why am I here?”

Xu Manman sighed in relief—fortunately, he didn’t remember last night and didn’t recall her ruthless actions.

“Immortal Lord, have you… lost your memory?” Xu Manman feigned confusion.

Immortal Lang Yin remained silent.

“It turns out that Jing Wuye was a pawn of the Soul-Reaping Division planted in the Myriad Thorn Palace. Yesterday, he lured us into the Spirit-Forbidden Formation of the Blood Sect. Seeing that we were at a disadvantage, I pretended to be a spy for the Blood Sect and used some sweet talk to deceive him. He brought us here, to the headquarters of the Soul-Reaping Division, the Hall of No Return.”

Immortal Lang Yin listened to Xu Manman’s explanation with apparent disbelief. He stepped closer, leaning slightly, his gaze icy and intimidating. Xu Manman unconsciously leaned back, her hands on the table’s edge, her back forming a graceful arc.

“If what you say is true, why are your cheeks flushed, your heart racing, and your eyes avoiding mine? Could it be a guilty conscience?” Immortal Lang Yin pressed, creating immense pressure on Xu Manman.

“Immortal Lord… you have a sword at my neck, of course I’m scared. I always react this way when I’m scared…”

Xu Manman struggled to meet Immortal Lang Yin’s eyes, but saw her own embarrassed, flushed face in his deep, dark pupils.

Smelling the floral scent from Immortal Lang Yin, Xu Manman felt her face grow even hotter. It was hard not to think about what her actions meant, and to imagine the high and mighty Immortal Lord being helpless under her playful teasing…

Her guilty conscience was indeed that of a flower thief.

Immortal Lang Yin narrowed his eyes slightly, stepped back, lowered his sword, and silently watched her.

Xu Manman swallowed, her voice dry, “Why is Immortal Lord looking at me like that?”

Immortal Lang Yin said, “Now that the sword is no longer at your neck, I want to see how you explain your guilty conscience.”

Xu Manman was on the verge of tears, her face mournful, “That’s not what I meant… Immortal Lord, I really didn’t lie. If I had ill intentions towards you, I wouldn’t have unlocked the formation to release you. Don’t you agree?”

Immortal Lang Yin frowned, seemingly convinced by this argument. He raised his left hand and clenched it, feeling the spiritual energy continuously flowing into his body, quickly filling the previous void.

“Moreover, I haven’t lied at all. It’s Immortal Lord who lost his memory and is wrongly accusing me.”

Xu Manman covered her face, pretending to be wronged, and countered, “Wuwuwu… if only Manman were here, she wouldn’t let me suffer this unjust accusation and humiliation… Manman… wuwuwu…”

Xu Manman cried passionately, even squeezing out a tear while secretly observing Immortal Lang Yin. He watched her with an indifferent expression, making it impossible to guess his thoughts.

Xu Manman felt helpless. Immortal Lang Yin was hard to read and more unpredictable than she was, making her excellent acting skills go to waste. Anyone else would have been flustered and apologized by now.

“Finished crying?” Immortal Lang Yin waited a moment before speaking, “If you’re done, answer my next question.”

Xu Manman sniffled and lowered her hands, revealing slightly red eyes, her voice hoarse, “What else does Immortal Lord want to ask?”

“Did I behave unusually last night?” Immortal Lang Yin asked.

Xu Manman hesitated, “I’m not familiar with Immortal Lord, so I don’t know what would be considered unusual…”

Xu Manman thought this answer was foolproof.

Immortal Lang Yin said, “At night, I might behave differently, and by day I forget what happened. I used to force myself into sleep to avoid any unpredictable events. Few people know this secret. Now that you do, I won’t hide it, but you must keep it a secret from others.”

Xu Manman immediately swore, “Rest assured, Immortal Lord, I will keep my mouth shut. If you don’t trust me, I can make a heart demon blood oath.”

Immortal Lang Yin glanced at her raised hand and said, “Alright.”

“?” Xu Manman was stunned.

She was just being polite, but he took her seriously.

Xu Manman forced a smile. “But making a heart demon blood oath would harm my vitality. With a formidable enemy before us, I should preserve my strength to avoid affecting our subsequent actions.”

“Alright,” Immortal Lang Yin nodded faintly.

Xu Manman’s eyes flickered as she couldn’t help but ask, “Immortal Lord, have you always had this amnesia?”

She had always thought Immortal Lang Yin just went to bed early, having a good habit of retiring at sunset. After knowing him for three hundred years, she discovered this significant secret only after his death.

Immortal Lang Yin replied, “It has been this way since I transformed into human form.”

“Do you know the reason? I have some knowledge… I am proficient in the ways of plants and trees. Maybe I can help a bit.”

Xu Manman initially wanted to be modest but then realized that this immortal being before her was not familiar with worldly matters, so she decided to speak the truth.

“No matter how proficient you are, how can you compare to Revered Nian Yi,” Immortal Lang Yin said indifferently.

“In Liangjie Mountain, I heard that Revered Nian Yi is the most knowledgeable person about plants and trees in the world. Later, I sought him out at Siyi Sect to inquire about this matter. Revered Nian Yi once said that the Dao creates all things; when something is too full, it will lack; when it overflows, it will spill. There is no such thing as perfection. I was born strong, and having gained much, I must also lose something. This might be my destined fate.”

Listening to Immortal Lang Yin’s slow explanation, Xu Manman finally understood how her master and Immortal Lang Yin became acquainted.

Her master was always a smiling old man, seemingly ordinary but with profound wisdom in dealing with the world. However, Xu Manman was too familiar with her master. She could tell that the true meaning behind her master’s words to Immortal Lang Yin was simply—who knows what’s going on!

To be able to say “I don’t know” in such a profound and mysterious way, besides her master, only she herself could do it.

I truly inherited my master’s teachings—Xu Manman thought to herself.

“Now that I have recovered my spiritual energy, I can fight my way out,” Immortal Lang Yin said, turning to walk towards the door.

Those with power indeed speak with confidence…

Now that they had left the Spirit Forbidden Formation, Immortal Lang Yin’s spiritual energy was continuously recovering. With his cultivation level, it wouldn’t be difficult to crush the Soul-Reaping Division.

But Xu Manman grabbed his arm and hurriedly said, “Immortal Lord, don’t be hasty!”

Immortal Lang Yin paused and looked at her, a hint of suspicion in his eyes.

“Why are you stopping me?”

Xu Manman forced a laugh.

“Please listen to me, Immortal Lord. Jing Wuye is preparing a teleportation array to send us to the Fate-Defying Division to be dealt with by Fu Yue Shenzun. If we kill everyone in the Soul-Reaping Division now, we won’t know where the Fate-Defying Division is and won’t be able to rescue Fu Yue Shenzun. It’s better to hide our identities and wait until we’ve figured out the details before taking them all down. I also heard that the Fate-Defying Division is the core of the Blood Sect. If there’s a resurrection technique, it will only be in the Fate-Defying Division.”

Xu Manman’s reasoning made sense, so Immortal Lang Yin didn’t argue with her.

“Then according to you, I have to transform back into my original form and seal myself in that flowerpot?” he asked with displeasure.

“You can set up the sealing formation yourself. When the time is right, you can unseal it yourself,” Xu Manman said.

This method was indeed good. Others would see the prison intact, never imagining that the key was in the prisoner’s hand. However, Immortal Lang Yin seemed a bit reluctant to transform back into a flower, but after thinking for a moment, he reluctantly nodded.

“When do we act?” he asked.

“Right now, Li Que and Ao Xiu are detained elsewhere. They don’t know about this plan yet. I need to find them first to avoid any mishaps due to a lack of coordination.”

Immortal Lang Yin nodded.

“I will go with you.”

“No, I can go alone. You stay here to avoid being discovered.”

Fortunately, this time Immortal Lang Yin was more cooperative. After ensuring he was well hidden, Xu Manman opened the door and went out.

As soon as she closed the door, she patted her chest and let out a long sigh of relief.

Her heart was indeed pounding, and she wasn’t sure if it was more due to guilt, shame, fear, or something else…

She was truly terrified that Immortal Lang Yin would discover what she had done. If he did, even becoming flower fertilizer might not suffice to vent his anger.

Now that she knew some secrets, many past doubts seemed to have explanations. Why Immortal Lang Yin never appeared at night, why he never showed his original form, and why he had once stopped her from cultivating plants…

Wait a minute, why did Immortal Master Langyin stop her from planting flowers? What did her dabbling with flowers have to do with him? It’s not like she touched him!

Could it be that Immortal Master Langyin actually has feelings for me, Xu Manman? Xu Manman wondered, touching her chin.

Li Que and Ao Xiu were tightly bound by the webs of ghost-faced spiders, imprisoned in another side hall. Before Xu Manman reached the place, she saw two ghost-faced spiders at the door playing a finger-guessing game.

The two spiders, leaning against the corridor walls, extended their eight legs.

“Wu Kuishou Liu Liu Shun…”

(T/N: I put it like this for aestatic purpose because it sound so weird in English..hehe)

“Ah! You lost; take a hit!”

The spider on the left said, with a vicious grin appearing on its ghostly face, and then one of its legs swung at the other’s head, knocking it sideways.

Xu Manman was taken aback, never expecting ghost-faced spiders to have such human-like hobbies…

“You guys actually know how to play finger-guessing game,” Xu Manman said as she approached, curiously observing. The two spiders immediately stood straight, worried that Xu Manman might scold them for playing while on guard duty.

The spider that had been hit muttered, “Just learned a bit…”

The other one respectfully said, “Master, we are diligently watching the prisoners.”

Xu Manman laughed, saying, “I’m not blaming you. I’m just curious. A finger-guessing game is a human game where each person plays with one fist, showing numbers up to five. You each use eight legs; how can you play without exceeding ten?”

The spider with several scars on its face suddenly realized, “No wonder something felt off. I always lose because you keep playing high numbers!”

The beaten spider angrily tried to hit its companion.

“How would I know that! I wasn’t doing it on purpose!” the other spider quickly explained.

“Stop fighting,” Xu Manman said with a smile.

“I have a solution.”

The ghost-faced spiders, their hideous faces showing lively expressions, looked flattering and respectful.

“Please teach us, Master!”

“You can each wrap three of your legs,” Xu Manman suggested.

The spiders were delighted. “That’s a great idea! Master, you are indeed wise!”

One of the spiders started wrapping its legs with silk, raising its hind end to do so.

Xu Manman laughed, “That’s not right. If you wrap your own legs, it’s too easy to untie.”

“Exactly, exactly.”

The injured spider, having lost trust in its companion, raised its rear and spat silk, wrapping three of the other’s legs.

“Now you can’t untie them!”

The other spider, not wanting to be outdone, immediately retaliated, wrapping its companion’s legs as well.

Xu Manman smiled, “You two play here while I interrogate the prisoners.”

The spiders bowed deeply to Xu Manman. One kicked the door open respectfully, “Master, shall we untie their mouths?”

The door opened wide, and Xu Manman immediately saw the two large cocoons hanging in the spider web, glaring at her with anger. She smiled, “Sure. But I’ll set up a barrier first, so their nasty yelling won’t disturb the Soul-Reaping Envoy’s meditation.”

Xu Manman’s nimble fingers flew, and a faint light quickly enveloped the room, isolating all sound.

The moment the spiders untied the webs, they heard Li Que’s furious cursing, “You treacherous, vicious woman…”

Luckily, the barrier quickly cut off the sound.

As the spiders closed the door and left, they thought, “This master is truly resourceful. No wonder Jing Wuye said we should curry favor with her. She might become the Burning Heaven Envoy someday…”