Free Web NovelChapter 11: Chapter 11—Lu Clan’s Courtyard
Chapter 11—Lu Clan’s Courtyard
"Bizarre area?" Lei Cheng scowled.
Mo Yong laughed—a sharp, rising sound that carried down the corridor. Yet not a single servant looked over, too absorbed in the wedding preparations rushing around them. Not a trace of sound had reached their ears. Lei Cheng’s power saw to that.
"Which area?" Lei Cheng hissed quietly.
Mo Yong’s eyes wavered. He swallowed—still carrying a faint edge of fear—and took a small step back. "The Lu Clan’s main courtyard." He answered swiftly as Lei Cheng’s fingers twitched toward a snap.
Lei Cheng went through his memories rapidly.
’Bizarre come in two types. First—freely movable. Second—fixed. Fixed Bizarre are permanently bound to a certain area. But they are the most powerful kind.’ fгeewebnovёl.com
"Lu Clan." He muttered it quietly. A memory surfaced: a cheerful little girl playing hide-and-seek with him and the other children at Qiu Academy. They had studied language together, laughed together. She had been the eldest daughter of the Lu Clan. The last time he had seen her, she was six years old.
He had later heard that the Lu Clan was wiped out—massacred so completely and so brutally by their enemies that the accumulated rage and resentment of an entire family gave birth to a Bizarre creature over the ruins of their courtyard. Since then, no one who entered the old Lu Clan site had survived beyond five days.
Mo Yong spread his arms wide, a mocking smile playing on his face. "So what if you kill me now? Even if the young lady of the Xiao Clan kills me during the ceremony, you’ll follow me soon enough."
"Indeed." Lei Cheng nodded calmly. ’No one has survived more than five days after entering that courtyard.’
He raised his brows. "But what about you? You were the one who took me there. You entered that courtyard as well—so how did you plan to come out alive?"
Mo Yong’s lips curved up.
Lei Cheng’s eyes sharpened. "Bizarre cultivator Shen?"
Mo Yong nodded. "Yes." He reached into his robes and pulled out a talisman—inscribed with glowing red symbols across its surface. He turned it between his fingers, flicking it casually. "This was glowing brilliantly before. Now it has lost almost ninety percent of its light."
"So it worked," Lei Cheng said flatly—less a question, more a realization.
"Why didn’t it work on you?!" Mo Yong’s voice rose. "That talisman suppresses Bizarre power—your abilities shouldn’t have been able to function!"
Lei Cheng raised his palm. The talisman flew smoothly out of Mo Yong’s grip and landed in his hand.
"Give that back!" Mo Yong yelled.
Lei Cheng tucked it into his pouch without a word. ’I’ll examine it with Enlightenment later.’
He took a slow breath and folded his arms. "Now, let’s go through everything carefully. You stated before that I passed out from drinking five bottles. You took me back by carriage. On the way home, you detoured to the Lu Clan’s old courtyard." He narrowed his eyes. "But once a person enters that courtyard, escaping is no simple matter—much less while dragging an unconscious young master. The courtyard has a barrier around it. Entry is simple. Getting out is life-threatening. So how did you get out?"
Mo Yong simply glanced pointedly at the pouch where Lei Cheng had just placed the talisman.
’The talisman. Of course.’
Lei Cheng tapped the pouch slowly. ’Another problem added to the list.’ He rubbed his forehead and sat down on the edge of the bed.
Mo Yong’s eyes glinted with dark amusement. "You will die as well," he murmured. "You will follow me to the underworld."
Lei Cheng snapped his fingers.
Mo Yong crumpled. Fresh wounds split open across his body as intense pressure bore down from all sides. He tried to speak—but the crushing weight was too great even to form words properly.
"Mo... mo... mo..."
He wept as the pressure mounted.
Lei Cheng went through the known details of every death connected to the Lu Clan’s courtyard. Over the past decade, many cultivators had entered the ruins hoping to slay the Bizarre creature inside. Only a handful had escaped alive—and even those survivors had not lasted more than five days afterward.
’The first symptom,’ he recalled, ’would be the dreaming.’
He clicked his tongue. ’I haven’t been able to sleep properly since waking up. I can’t even check the symptoms.’
He lowered his gaze to his chest. ’But this fox mark—it doesn’t match any recorded symptom of the Lu courtyard.’ He exhaled slowly. ’So there are two separate Bizarre after me.’ He looked up at the ceiling with a hollow, bitter expression.
’Among all the survivors who had ever escaped the Lu Clan’s courtyard—including the one person who had lasted until the fifth day—not one had ever displayed a fox mark.’ He glanced down at himself. ’Their symptoms had been different entirely: an internal burning sensation, like being set ablaze with no visible fire on the body—and then, as the days passed, they were reduced to ash.’
He patted himself. ’I still don’t feel that burning.’
He turned back to Mo Yong—still pinned to the floor, whimpering under the pressure—and dashed forward, driving his foot down hard onto Mo Yong’s back.
"Idiot."
Bang!
"Fool." ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Bang!
He stomped down repeatedly, pouring every ounce of fury into each impact. After a long moment, he stopped, panting, chest heaving.
"I really want to kill you."
He waved his palm. Mo Yong spat blood—then looked up with a bloody grin. "Young Master—just look at yourself." His voice was raw but sharp. "Using Bizarre power drains your lifespan, doesn’t it?"
Mo Yong tried to force himself upright on trembling limbs. He collapsed halfway, his elbow hitting the floor—
Thud.
—and dragged himself back up through sheer spite.
"Even if you somehow survive the Lu courtyard’s Bizarre—you’re already exhausting your own lifespan." He grinned through blood-stained teeth.
’Kill me now if you can.’ He screamed it inside his own head. ’I am completely fed up with this rich brat’s torture.’
"Young Master."
A delicate voice called softly from the corridor.
Lei Cheng moved quickly, dispersing the Illusion Intent. Every bloodstain, every mark of difference vanished from the room in an instant. It looked exactly as it had before. Mo Yong stood uninjured, wearing Lei Cheng’s form, dressed in the red dragon robes, prepared for the wedding ceremony. Lei Cheng stood beside him, wearing Yun Che’s plain servant appearance.
Creak!
The wooden doors swung open. Lin Mei stepped in, eyes soft and gentle. "Young Master... it is time."
"I won’t! Just kill me—!"
Mo Yong scowled furiously, spun toward the window, and leapt out in a single motion.
Lei Cheng raised his palm to stop him—but froze midway.
"Where do you think you’re running?"
Lin Mei asked softly.
The room went cold.
A bloody, foul smell spread slowly through the room.
Lei Cheng stiffened. His body shook. He turned slowly.
Crack! Crack!
Lin Mei’s head split and reshaped—a fox’s head emerging in place of her face, covered in fine golden fur. Her limbs snapped backward at the joints with a grotesque crack, bending entirely in the wrong direction. She dropped onto all four reversed limbs. Six long golden tails fanned out behind her, swaying slowly.
She was no longer human.
Lei Cheng stepped back—once, twice.
"Lin Mei—"
He stared.
"You are a Bizarre."
Lin Mei—now a humanoid fox creature—stood with her chest arched toward the ceiling, back toward the floor, reversed limbs splayed beneath her. Her fox head tilted at an unnatural angle. All six golden tails curled and swayed behind her in eerie silence.
