Chapter 63: Who has this seat seen

The city of Lin'an was in the midst of a war, with its bloodstained streets and ruined walls. The city's outskirts were left in a state of stagnation and withered by the miasma of evil spirits.

He looked up and saw a fresh belly hanging from the stump of an old acacia not far away, with a dozen black crows pecking around it, drops of blood and scraps of flesh splattering down.

Beneath the tree, the body of a middle-aged man lies prone, his abdomen torn open by sharp claws, blood and organs dripping from the ground. No one could tell whether he had died with his eyes open or closed; his eyes had been pecked out.

Mo Ran is no stranger to such scenarios.

In his previous life, he had slaughtered the seventy-two cities of the School of Confucianism, when blood was spilled and corpses were strewn all over the place, in the same way.

But for some reason, in his previous life, the blood had been so painful that every ounce of flesh and bone in his body was screaming with abandon. But now, when he suddenly saw a similar tragedy, a layer of cold, half-hearted pity rose in his heart.

As he pondered, he heard the sound of horses' hooves and a cloud of dust rose ahead.

Anyone who can ride a horse in such a desperate world is most likely not a good person.

Mo Ran immediately grabbed Chu Wanning and brought him behind him, but the old Lin'an road was empty and there was no place to hide. In the blink of an eye a line of light horses emerged into the dust and smoke, and on closer inspection it became clear that the horses were not strong, some of them were so hungry that their ribs were visible, and there were a dozen men sitting on their backs, each with a bridle.

Those men wore the uniform style of white background rolled vermilion strong clothing, head wearing red and white plume hoods, the eyebrows strung double dragon strangled forehead ring. Although their clothes were not very clean, they were very neat and tidy, and although their faces were extraordinarily thin, they were still hale and hearty. What is even rarer is that they all carry a powerful bow and a quiver full of arrows behind them.

In the chaotic world of beacons, the two most valuable things are food, and weapons.

They are clearly not ordinary people.

Mo Ran was wondering if the visitors were good or evil, enemies or friends. But one of them, a 14 or 15-year-old boy, cried out in a miserable voice, "Dad!

The young man stumbled off his horse with a thud, fell into the mud, rolled back up, stumbled towards the tree and threw himself on top of the dead middle-aged man, crying out, "Daddy, daddy!"

The others also showed compassion, but they had obviously seen too much life and death, so much so that they were even a little numb, so apart from the boy who was crying over the corpse, no one else dismounted to advise him.

Someone noticed Mo Ran and Chu Wanning not too far away, froze for a moment and asked in Lin'an's heavily accented official language, "You're not from here, are you?"

Mo Ran said, "Yes, we came from Shu."

"So far away" the man was taken aback, "How do you survive in this world, when the night is full of evil spirits?"

"I know some spells." Mo Ran knew that words would be lost, and seeing that these people had no ulterior motives, he pulled Chu Wanning out to interrupt the conversation, "This is my brother, we were passing by and couldn't walk anymore, so we wanted to take a break."

When the men in the group saw Chu Wanning, a few seemed to be slightly stunned and two even whispered to each other.

Mo Ran said alertly, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." The young man at the head of the group said, "Let's get down to business. If you want to rest, go to the city. Xiaoman's adoptive father went out to look for food during the day, but it rained heavily yesterday and he didn't make it back in time for darkness, so look at this," he sighed heavily and said nothing more.

Xiaoman was the boy who cried out in pain, and it was his foster father who died under the tree. It always happens in troubled times, when a family goes out to look for food, and in the morning a nice person goes out and never comes back at night.

Although he knew that this had happened two hundred years ago, Mo Ran could not help but feel a slight astringency in his chest when he saw the boy crying his heart out, almost crying for blood.

However, after the slight astringency, a sudden shock came over me.

In a previous life, he killed without blood, so why did his heart grow soft

At once Chu Wanning was dragged along and the young rider was bidden farewell.

The man at the head of the group said, "Once you are in Lin'an, find a place to stay first. Lin'an will soon move to Putuo, where there is abundant spiritual energy and is not yet infested with ghostly energy. You are all alone, so why don't you come with us?"

"City-wide relocation"

"Yes." The man's eyes burned and his face glowed as he spoke of it, "Thanks to Master Chu's good plan, the whole town has been able to save their lives. No more, no more, we have to search the outskirts of the city before dark to see if there are any survivors to take back to the city.

He called Xiaoman, but Xiaoman was still in tears, holding the body of her adoptive father, and did not look back.

Mo Ran sighed, pulled Chu Wanning and whispered, "Come on. We'll go into town first."

Chu Wanning nodded and suddenly asked, "You said they moved the whole city, did they make it or not?"

Mo Ran took his small, cool, baby hands and said, "Do you want to hear the truth or the lie?"

"It's natural to listen to the truth."

"It's better for children to hear falsehoods."

Chu Wanning then said, "They didn't make it." "That's right." Mo Ran said, "Look, you know what the truth is, but you have to ask again, as if asking me once will change the ending."

Chu Wanning ignored him and continued, "Do you know why they didn't go through with it?"

"Look you're asking me again, I'm not an old goblin who has lived for two hundred years, how am I supposed to know this?"

Chu Wanning was silent, and only after a moment did he say sombrely, "Two hundred years of Lin'an, and almost all the people of the city are dead."

Mo Ran :""

Chu Wanning said, "Not many escaped."

"No, senior brother, you are young, how do you know all about it?"

Chu Wanning gave him a blank stare: "Elder Yu Heng has spoken about this more than once in the old history, but you don't listen to the lessons and instead ask me why I know so much about it."

Mo Ran was speechless and said, "I've been distracted in my master's class and he hasn't even scolded me yet, so why are you scolding me?

As they walked, they passed the gates and before they knew it, they were inside Lin'an's main city. This ancient city, which stands on one side of the Qiantang River, has been fortified, with exorcisms dotting its walls and rim.

Outside the city are piles of uncountable corpses, all covered in evil spirit curses, and corpses like these are known to rise at night if not disposed of.

The Daoist priests took advantage of the midday sun to come out and take incense and ashes outside to brush them away, and for those with extraordinarily deep curses, they were dipping vermilion in wine and drawing charms to dispel them.

In front of the horses at the gate stood two guards, dressed exactly like the line of youths they had just seen outside the city, also with red piping on a white background, double dragon strangling forehead rings, arms drawn with bows and quivers full of arrows behind them.

"Stand still, who is it?"

Mo Ran then explained again as he had just said, that the two guards did not mean to stop people from entering, but to make a registration, so they let them in after recording them both.

Before he left, Mo Ran thought of the "Master Chu" mentioned by the rider, Mr. Ma Nian, who said that Lin'an had moved the city because of the good idea of the "Master Chu", so the key to breaking the false formation must lie in this Master Chu. The key to breaking the false formation must lie in this Master Chu.

"Excuse me, I would like to enquire about someone with Your Excellency." Mo Ran said.

The guard lifted his eyes: "You've come from the Middle Shu Area, and you know someone else."

Mo Ran smiled and said, "No, it's because some military masters I met on the way mentioned a gentleman named Chu, saying that he was going to take the whole town to Putuo in two days.

The guards looked him over and over, perhaps because they thought that Mo Ran had come all the way here unscathed with a little baby, so he must be capable of something, and said, "Master Chu is the eldest son of the Lord Commander. A month ago, when the Ghost King came, Master Chu was tragically killed.

"Mo Ran and Chu Wanning looked at each other and Mo Ran turned to say, "How strange, is the son of the Sheriff also skilled in magic?"

"What's so strange about that," the guard gave Mo Ran a look, "that the great sects are allowed to Xianxia, but not the casual mortal practitioners?"

""

There are casual practitioners, but they have never been able to make it to the top.

Mo Ran thought to himself, "Is it possible that this Master Chu, with his half-barrel of water, has come up with a blind idea that has cost the lives of all the people of Lin'an?

But following the guard's directions, Mo Ran immediately realised that he had been wrong. The gentleman who happened to have the same surname as his master was clearly no trifler.

For he saw the Shangqing Junction.

Shangqing boundary is a very powerful qi purification boundary that can block all evil breath within its range. As long as this boundary is open, not only ordinary ghosts and monsters, but even a thousand year old evil spirit will find it difficult to step into it.

However, the scope of this boundary requires the practitioner to be physically present as the eye of the formation. The area covered is so small that even a great master like Chu Wanning can only use the Shangqing boundary to cover half of the Peak of Death and Life.

At this moment, the Master Chu of two hundred years ago has created a Shangqing boundary that covers a ten-mile radius of the Taishou Palace, far less than Chu Wanning, but no more than an ordinary man.

Mo Ran originally wanted to try his luck and have someone inform him that a monk had asked for his assistance, so he could see if the Prince of the Imperial Household would be willing to meet him.

I had just turned a corner when I saw three long queues at the entrance of the Imperial Guard's office. Six waitresses dressed like the cavalrymen on guard set out large, thick wooden buckets, and hundreds of old, weak, yellow-faced women and children gathered in front of the palace to receive their porridge and rice in turn.

After receiving the congee, they all went to the begonia tree in front of the house. There was a man in white standing under the tree, with his long, inky hair loosely tied up in a bundle, handing out sheets of drawn talisman paper to the crowd and giving them instructions on what to do.

He has his back to Mo Ran, so it is not possible to see his face.

But those who had received the talisman papers all said to him gratefully, "Thank you Master Chu for your kindness, thank you Master Chu for your kindness," and dispersed with a chant.

So this is the Prince of the Imperial Household

Mo Ran was curious and pulled his little brother around to take a look.

With just one glance, Mo Ran's eyes widened like a thunderclap

Isn't this Chu Wanning?

Not only Mo Ran, but also Chu Wanning himself was stunned. Looking at the end of the queue, Master Chu looked emaciated, with his sword brows and phoenix eyes, and a softly curved nose, and even his white clothes resembled his own.

Chu Wanning :""

Mo Ran :""

After a long moment of stiffness, Mo Ran faltered and said, "O Brother."

"Hmm."

"Do you think this Master Chu, in particular, looks like a person?"

Chu Wanning dryly: "Like Elder Yu Heng."

Mo Ran slapped his thigh, "No, what's going on? Who is this man and what is his relationship with the Master?"

"How would I know if you ask me."

"Aren't you listening carefully?" Mo Ran was in a hurry.

"It's not like it's going to be taught in this class." Chu Wanning was furious.

The two men then stopped talking again and moved slowly forward in the queue, both staring at the gentry with unblinking eyes.

On closer inspection, Master Chu does not look exactly like Chu Wanning. His face is more refined, his eyes are less narrow, his pupils are warmer, and his gaze is softer than Chu Wanning's.

Mo Ran looked at him and suddenly let out an "eek" and looked down at his little brother again.

"You let me have a good look at it."

"What for?" Chu Wanning turned her face away, not without a moment of weakness.

Mo Ran saw him duck and became more and more unrelenting, reaching out to pinch his face and forcing him to look back. He looked away for a moment, then suddenly realised what was happening and muttered, "Oops."

Chu Wanning, calm and collected: "What, what's wrong?"

Mo Ran narrowed his eyes, "No wonder those people outside the city were mingling when they saw you... I suddenly realised that you look a bit like your master too."

""

Chu Wanning was busy breaking away from him, but the tips of her ears were red: "Nonsense."

"But it's so strange, how come those guards they can see it at a glance and I can't think of it half the time"

Chu Wanning :""

I was puzzled when a child's voice shouted, "Father."