Chapter 1739: Zither in the Wilderness

Zu An chuckled and said, “Sure, then I’ll be relying on you from here on out.”

Qiu Honglei had a strange expression. Both of their cultivations were far above his, so that was why Wei Suo couldn't tell. If he knew their real cultivation ranks, just what kind of expression would he have?

Zu An was a bit apologetic. The Wei clan’s disaster potentially had something to do with him. Brightmoon City’s Wei clan and the Imperial Palace’s Wei Dan were relatives. Old Mi had ended up getting rid of their biggest backer, so without that, the Wei clan was doomed to fall. Still, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. If not for that, Wei Suo wouldn’t have obtained those miraculous encounters and reached his current state.

“Right, I heard that you were taken by the capital as a prisoner. Something happened to our Wei clan at the time too, so I couldn't do anything even if I wanted to help. Are you a court criminal now?” Wei Suo asked, sighing as he brought up past events.

Zu An thought about how he had been punished by Zhao Han because of his status as the Fiend races’ Regent. He replied with a strange expression, “To a certain degree, I guess I am.”

“Don’t worry. After a bit more time, you should be pardoned and I think you’ll be fine…” Wei Suo said in consolation. He suddenly realized that Zu An had such a beautiful woman at his side even while fleeing for his life. Meanwhile, he only had his own right and left hands to accompany him. Who was he even comforting here?

“Right, what kind of place is this?” Zu An finally asked about the thing he was the most curious about. Qiu Honglei also perked up her ears.

“This is Ruo Lan Temple,” Wei Suo reflexively replied.

Zu An was speechless. He said, “I saw the stone tablet, so I know this is Ruo Lan Temple. I wanted to ask what was going on with this world.”

“Oh, so that was what you were asking about,” Wei Suo replied, coming to a sudden realization. He then replied, “I don’t know.”

Zu An and Qiu Honglei were stunned.

Wei Suo then explained, “I just came into a small secret dungeon to look for treasure, but a black hole suddenly appeared in the sky. That secret dungeon seemed to start breaking down. When I woke up, I had already arrived in this world.”

Qiu Honglei couldn't help but ask, “Oh, when did you wake up?”

When he heard such a beauty ask him a question, Wei Suo immediately sat up straight. However, he still didn’t dare to look her straight in the eye because of her beauty. He replied, “About three days ago, I think.”

“Three days ago?” Zu An and Qiu Honglei both exclaimed, exchanging a look. They had clearly just entered this world, while Wei Suo had already been here for three days. Could it be that while they passed through the spatial vortex, the flow of time was distorted?

“Then did you find out anything in these three days?” Zu An asked.

“I woke up in a nearby town three days ago. Because I initially planned to get a proper meal once I left the dungeon, I didn’t bring many supplies. I was tired and hungry, but the town’s people didn’t have any sympathy. Not only did they not give me any food, they wouldn’t even lend me a place to stay,” Wei Suo grumbled, his voice full of resentment. He was clearly quite unhappy with that experience.

“Fortunately, because of my resourcefulness, I found something to eat from the people who lived in the barren wilderness,” Wei Suo continued proudly, sticking out his chest. “Of course, in return, I have to help them get rid of ghosts.”

“Get rid of ghosts?” Zu An and Qiu Honglei asked in surprise. What was going on here?

“Those wilderness folk don't have much knowledge and experience, so they probably bought into some lie and began spreading it, saying that Ruo Lan Temple contains ghosts or something,” Wei Suo said, waving his hand dismissively. “How can there be ghosts in this world? My guess is that it’s probably just some thieves hiding here, and in order to avoid detection, they deliberately made up some supernatural rumors to scare those people away. I’ve encountered those kinds of things before.”

Zu An had a pensive expression. He had thought that the forest was especially cold and gloomy. He hadn’t known what was happening back then, but after he heard the explanation, he wondered if the place could be haunted. He had seen and experienced all kinds of things since he transmigrated to this world of cultivation. Since there were even daoist immortals, it wasn’t all that strange for there to be ghosts.

However, the Fiend races outside and the ‘fiends’ he had envisioned weren’t quite the same. On top of that, he had rarely encountered things resembling ghosts. They either turned out to be departed spirit skills used by evil cultivators, or certain refined souls. However, the souls of the deceased were often just an agglomeration of soul force and death energy, and didn’t really have a consciousness.

The only ghost he had encountered with consciousness seemed to be the servant of the Peacock King race’s Princess Kong Nanwu, Maid Nan Xun. However, she had used the Tiger race’s innate skill to capture a ghost, and then added her own special skills to allow the ghost to live in the human world like a normal being. Maid Nan Xun had even ended up becoming a courtesan queen, so she was quite a bit different from the ghosts found in horror films.

“Then have you found any traces of ghosts so far?” Qiu Honglei asked curiously. As a high-level cultivator, she wasn’t scared of people, but the idea of mysterious ghosts really made her feel a bit flustered.

“I just got here today. I looked around during the day, but I didn’t find anything,” Wei Suo said, coughing lightly. “Maybe those bad people got scared when they saw this awesome hero appear and scampered off.”

Qiu Honglei looked amused as she secretly said, “Ah Zu, this classmate of yours is quite… interesting.”

Zu An replied, “That’s just how he is, pretty interesting.”

Just then, Wei Suo suddenly cried out. He removed the stick from the bonfire, only to see that the bread was already charred black. He had a pained expression as he ripped off the charred surface to see if there was anything he could eat inside, but after being roasted for so long, it had already been completely burned black.

As such, he took out another small loaf from his bag and asked, “Did you two eat yet? I’ll treat you. Those villagers gave me these, and they taste pretty good.”

Zu An asked curiously, “Just now, it sounded like you were roasting chicken wings, though?”

Wei Suo’s face reddened. He said, “Can we not talk about that… Where would you find chicken wings here? I was just thinking about that… Once I deal with this Ruo Lan Temple, I’ll definitely seize those chickens raised in the mayor’s courtyard!” He couldn't help but swallow his saliva after he spoke.

Zu An couldn't help but laugh. He then took out some precious bird and beast meats from his Brilliant Glass Bead, saying, “Throw these on the fire. I have quite a bit on me.”

He had traveled extensively over the years, and on his travels, he always collected various meats and herbs. Either way, the Brilliant Glass Bead had more than enough space. Others couldn’t enjoy such a privilege, though. Storage pouches were rare to begin with, and the amount that could be stored in them was even more limited; often, they were only able to contain some life-saving essentials. Rarely would they be used to keep food.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Wei Suo’s eyes lit up. He immediately tossed the bread he had treated like treasure aside. He drooled as soon as he caught the meat, saying, “You should’ve told me sooner! Why would I eat bread when you have this stuff?”

He began to hurriedly roast them as he spoke. He swallowed his saliva before saying, “It’s still boss who knows how to have a proper livelihood. Compared to you, I feel as if I’ve been in prison all this time.”

Zu An couldn't help but chuckle. The three of them soon began to chat while having a meal.

…

Suddenly, they heard a beautiful and distant zither sound from outside. Zu An wasn’t too good at music, but he could still tell that the one playing the instrument was quite skilled. He couldn't help but speak some praises.

Qiu Honglei harrumphed. “I guess it’s not bad, but they’re still far from me.”

Zu An smiled. Only then did he remember that Qiu Honglei had been a queen among courtesan queens, publicly acknowledged to be unparalleled in both beauty and arts. She wasn’t like the women from his previous world who only had pretty leather bags, but didn’t have any skills and only knew how to jerk their bottoms around a bit, and yet got a ton of attention.

Zu An stood up. He was about to look around when Wei Suo quickly grabbed him, saying, “Boss, you just learn a bit from someone well-acquainted with the ways of the world like me. How can there possibly be a zither-playing beauty in this wilderness? It’s clearly a trap.”

Zu An said with a smile, “I’m aware of that. I just wanted to see who was causing a fuss.”

“If they’re doing this, they definitely have some motive. It will make no difference if we remain here, and we can at least avoid stepping into any traps they’ve prepared,” Wei Suo said, sharing his knowledge gained from experience.

Zu An figured that made sense. They had just arrived in this world and didn’t know anything. It was better to be careful and observe some more first.

Sure enough, after the zither played for a while, it suddenly stopped after seeing that no one emerged. A while later, someone knocked urgently on the door. A slender figure vaguely appeared, calling out, “Is there someone there? Help!”

The woman’s voice was lovable and gentle. Even without seeing her, the three got the impression of a pitiful and lovely air.

Wei Suo’s eyes immediately lit up when he heard the voice. He quickly stood up to welcome her.