"Pardon our rudeness for such an unruly welcome to our humble place. I hope we didn't look like a joke to you, Sir."
The elders of the sect finally noticed the weirdness of the disciples before them. He was standing before them without any expression on his face.
"Speak! The sect master is asking you a question?" an arrogant elder yelled out.
Hei Anjing glances at him coldly once and immediately moves away his eyes away. Him as if he had seen something unwanted. He is completely ignoring his very existence.
A cold yet alluring voice echoes in the room saying, "Did this King allow you to speak? Neither did I allow you to look at this King."
The elder who overstepped his boundary suddenly got his tongue cut and his eyes started to bleed out blood.
A wordless scream resounds in the quiet room leaving the terrifying sight of someone who lost both his eyes and tongue all at the same time. The temperature in the room suddenly drops and a layer of thin ice covers the floor, walls, and ceiling.
The ordinary-looking disciple before them transformed into a handsome man whose face was half covered by a thin black veil matching his black robes with white snowflake patterns moving as if it was alive itself. Lu Er recognized him.
"You are that person we bumped into at the marketplace this morning. You remember my brother and me?" said Lu Er.
Hei Anjing who ignores his surroundings while in the middle of the crowd unfurls his fan and says with a confused tone, "What are you talking about?" He truly doesn't remember. Hei Anjing never cared for strangers, much less gave them attention.
Lu Er's thoughts, 'He didn't see us that time?'
"Ahh! Look! What is happening to him?"
"What is that black fog!?"
A sudden commotion took place in the room. Some elders immediately noticed that the elder that was rude towards the man in the veil suddenly started emitting a black fog from his mouth, nose, and ears. They watched him transform from a human form to a bat-shaped monster and flapped on the ground while struggling to keep himself alive but the ice inside the room slowly froze it until all of it had turned ice and broke into a white mist.
Upon seeing this scene, only then did Lu Er and everyone from the Lu Weifeng Sect (Green Wind Breeze Sect) realize that this elder with them is not a human but instead a devil. Their faces turned paler at this scene. Who would expect that there is a devil among them?
Hei Anjing spoke when he saw that they looked at each other with caution and fear.
"Do not worry. There is only that one from Inferno. All of the rest are mortals. At least for the mortals that are present in this place at this moment."
"Mortals? You called us mortals. Is the Senior here someone from the upper realm?" asked Lu Er politely.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtHei Anjing didn't answer nor deny Lu Er's question, instead, he spoke of Lu Yi's situation.
"This king could cure that one sleeping on the wooden bed but... You shouldn't have used the method of transferring qi to his tainted body. It would only strengthen the death qi in him."
"What senior means is that he can save my big brother!?"
Lu Er suddenly kowtowed in front of Hei Anjing, even somewhat forgetting about his silver eyes that are similar to what his late friend had. To him, his elder brother had always been his top priority among the rest.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
"Please save my brother. Senior, I beg you please save my brother," said Lu Er.
Unfortunately, Hei Anjing had lost interest in saving him. If not for the good merits the brothers had gathered, he would choose not to get involved with them. But these two had traces of someone from the Devil Race and it is his duty to eliminate that race.
Hei Anjing said, "I can cure him for you and you tell me where and what you've met to end up like that?"
"I will tell you everything I know. All the details. We will also help you fight!" said Lu Er.
Hei Anjing spoke, "Help me? But you couldn't recognize an evil familiar like that one."
He was talking about that fake elder who dared to glare and yells at him.
Hearing these, Lu Er and the elders of the Lu Weifeng Sect (Green Wind Breeze Sect) felt embarrassed. What the man in front of them had said was true after all.
One of the oldest elders spoke to Hei Anjing politely. He didn't dare to raise his head and stare directly at Hei Anjing. After witnessing the scene with the fake elder just now, they now know that the young man before them had a special background that none of them can offend. They even heard him call them mortals.
Only immortals from the upper realm call cultivators. The land of humans who haven't ascended yet as mortals.
"Daren, our sect might not be able to lend help because our strongest is down with death qi."
"Strongest? Do you mean him? He is not bad. He is fighting the death qi on his own even without your help he would be able to survive a few more days. But the coercion had gotten stronger when you tried to halt it by infusing qi. Which caused him to fall into a coma in his current state," said Hei Anjing.
Lu Er spoke, "Infusing qi would make the death qi stronger?"
"You didn't know. Death had always longed for the living. Death qi desires life. Resentment qi desires blood. Life qi or the qi of the world desire stability. Don't you cultivate immortality? How can you not know common sense?" said Hei Anjing. He seems to be reprimanding them yet his expression remains void.
Lu Er asked, "S-Should we stop infusing qi right now?"
"He would die immediately if you do so. After all, you had already made the death qi in him stronger. I will do it. You guys stay by the side."
Hei Anjing approached Lu Yi at the center of the room. As he requested Lu Er and the elder choose to stay at the side while continuing to send qi to Lu Yi.
After hiding his fan, Hei Anjing used his left hand to input his qi into Lu Yi's body, pushing the other people's qi out. His qi is pure and stronger which made it hard for others' qi to mix with his. Lu Er and the elders who were pushed back almost lost balance from the pressure of a pure qi.
Cough!
An older elder commented, "The purest qi of Yin. His main element must be ice."
"Ice element? Silver Eyes? Is he..." Lu Er mumbled but he didn't dare to complete his words.
Based on their conversation alone just now, this man obviously doesn't recognize him or his brother. There is no way he would be that person.
Lu Er mumbled, "It cannot be him. Brother Bai had died more than ten years ago in front of everyone and within Yun Jieye's embrace."
Everyone watched as Hei Anjing infused his qi in Lu Yi, completely halting the death qi in his body. Suddenly needles made of ice pierced the meridians affected by death qi and everyone witnessed the transparent ice needles turn black. Hei Anjing did it multiple times until the blackening in Lu Yi's body completely disappeared. Only a slight frost on his skin was left slowly purifying the residue of death qi in his body.
After Hei Anjing was done with Lu Yi he walked toward Lu Er and said, "I've done my part. It is now for you to do your end."
"Yes. Please follow me to the other room," said Lu Er as he left his elder brother in the care of the elders.
He moved location and brought Hei Anjing into his office where they continued their conversation. Meanwhile, the elders who were left behind checked on Lu Yi.
"Good. Good. There is no more death qi in the Eldest Master's body. He is cured!"
"That's great. Why is half of the Eldest Master's body covered in Ice?"
"Don't touch it. It must be to remove the residues that might be left hidden in the Eldest Master's body."
"First Elder. What should be done with these ice needles? It completely turned black."
"Burn it and melt it outside the sect. That black thing must be the death qi extracted from the Eldest Master's body. But save some just in case. Also, send someone to prepare some tonics for the eldest master and continue preparing for the feast. There should be more esteemed guests coming over in our sect."
"Yes, First Elder!"
---
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAt the Sect Master's receiving hall.
The reception hall in the Lu Weifeng Sect (Green Wind Breeze Sect) isn't as extravagant as the hall owned by the richest sect in the mortal realm. There is nothing much in the hall, just a center table, and a few more tables at the right and left of the hall. A pair of pillow seats for each table was provided. Lu Er guided Hei Anjing to the main table.
On the table spread a few pastries bought from the marketplace and some of them were familiar to Hei Anjing, especially the flower-shaped ones among the sweets.
Lu Er said, "Please go ahead and enjoy the sweets. I will have someone serve some tea."
"Do you have milk tea?" asked Hei Anjing.
"Yes. Would you like it hot or cold?" asked Lu Er.
Hei Anjing answered, "It's evening. It's not good to drink too much at this time. Serve it hot."
"As you wish."
Only then did Hei Anjing and Lu Er sit face to face at the main table. Hei Anjing eats the sweets behind the veil while Lu Er watches him.
"Please excuse me for rudeness but can I ask for your name, Senior? I am the Sect Master of the Lu Weifeng Sect (Green Wind Breeze Sect). My birth name is Lu Er and my courtesy name is Lu Tian."
"I am surnamed Hei and called Wuan. This is also my courtesy name. As you have guessed I am from the Heavenly Realm."
"Upper Realm with the surname of Hei?" mumbled Lu Er as he suddenly asked, "Please pardon me for asking. If you can answer, I hope you don't mind me asking. Are your silver eyes inherited or mutated?" asked Lu Er.
Hei Anjing slightly narrowed his eyes as if confused as to why this mortal was asking about his eye color but in the end, answered him honestly.
"I got my eye color from my father so this is something I was born with. Though, it would sometimes change in color when I use my abilities. But I wouldn't explain further about something personal. I would like it if you could tell me what I want already. If it is what I think it is then it is my duty to eliminate it," said Hei Anjing.
Lu Er slightly trembled when he heard Hei Anjing's reply about his silver eyes but chose to smile trying to hide it. Unknown to him, Hei Anjing saw his reaction and was confused as well.
Hei Anjing's thoughts, 'Is there some special meaning about these silver eyes of mine? Though argent eyes are rare, Immortal Father's family is said to possess them as well. My brother wasn't born with it as he got his mother's gold eyes instead. In our family, only my father and I were born with silver eyes.'
Lu Er got what he wanted to know and started telling Hei Anjing what he and his elder brother saw at their family's graveyard.
"The location is at our Clan's Ancestral Mound. It was found at the boundary of Luan City. It was supposed to be protected by an illusion array so ordinary people aren't able to enter it. But a few days ago, we got reports from the city that there is sudden inflation in the number of people missing from the city. Most of them were females and children. They all said that those victims had disappeared near the entrance of our Clan's Ancestral Mound"
"So my elder brother, Lu Yi, and I came to investigate the mound. Things were normal at first until we reached the entrance of our Ancestral Mound. The Clan's cemetery is built underground. This prevents the undead from climbing up if the corpse ever mutates. But what we saw there is something I've never seen before."
"Thick black fog was coming out of the stone door as if it was limitless and... We saw a monster in human form that is neither dead nor living. Its skin was bloodless and pale, and I could even see the dead and black veins tracing on his skin. When I saw him he was drinking the blood of a young lady who was already dead at that time. His mouth was full of sharp teeth and covered with fresh blood. What is more astonishing is that his irises... It was deep red as if it was made of blood yet his pupils are pure black."