Before this, the girl had been irritatedly circling in front of their window, knocking on the ground with her pole, stomping her feet, glaring at everyone, waving her arms around. Now, however, her actions changed. She gestured, as if she wanted to express something. Jin Ling wondered, “Strange. Can’t she talk?”
Hearing this, the girl’s ghost paused, then opened her mouth.
Blood gushed out from her empty mouth. Her tongue had been pulled out from its root.
The disciples were covered in goosebumps, yet they felt a same sense of sympathy, So that was why she could not speak. Both blind and mute—how unfortunate.
Wei WuXian, “Is she using sign language? Does anyone understand?”
Nobody understood. The girl was so anxious that she stomped her feet, using her pole to write and scribble on the ground. Yet, she clearly wasn’t from a scholarly family. She was illiterate and couldn’t write anything. With only a mess of stick-figures, no-one could understand what she was trying to say.
Suddenly, from the far end of the street came a series of sprinting footsteps and human pants.
The girl’s spirit suddenly disappeared. She’d probably come back again, though, so Wei WuXian wasn’t worried. He quickly put the board back and continued peeping outside from the slit. The rest of the disciples wanted to see the situation outside as well, and all squeezed in front of the door. A row of heads stacked from the top to the bottom, blocking the entire slit.
Although the fog had thinned for a while, at the moment, it started to circulate again. A figure clumsily broke through the fog and rushed over.
The person was dressed in black. As if he had been injured, he staggered as he ran. A sword hung by his waist, which was also enveloped in black cloth. Lan JingYi whispered, “Is he the mist-faced man?”
Lan SiZhui whispered back, “Probably not. The mist-faced man had entirely different moves from this person.”
A group of walking corpses followed the person. Moving quickly, they soon caught up to him. The person faced the attacks by unsheathing his sword. Its bright, limpid sword glare sliced the fog open. Wei WuXian silently cheered, What a good move!
However, after the attack, the strange yet familiar spurts sounded again. The black-red powder shot out from the corpses’ severed limbs. The person was surrounded by them. With nowhere to hide, he stood where he was, and was immediately engulfed by the powder. Lan SiZhui was shocked by the scene. He urged in a hushed voice, “Senior Mo, this man, we…”
Another group of walking corpses went over and surrounded the person. The circle shrank smaller and smaller. His sword slashed out again, and more corpse-poisoning powder bursted out. He breathed in more of the powder as well, appearing as though he was already beginning to lose his balance. Wei WuXian spoke up, “We need to help him.”
Jin Ling, “How do you intend on helping him? We can’t go over there now. The corpse-poisoning powder is everywhere. You’re gonna get poisoned if you go near.”
After a moment of thinking, Wei WuXian left the window and walked inside the central chamber. The boys couldn’t help but follow him with their eyes. Differently-postured paper mannequins stood silently between the two wreaths. Wei WuXian strode in front of them, and stopped in front of a pair of female mannequins.
Each of the paper mannequins looked different. Yet, this pair seemed as if they were purposely made to be two twin sisters. Their makeup, clothes, and features were all the exact same. With curved brows and smiling expressions, one could almost hear their “hee-hee” laughter. They wore double-buns, red earrings, gold bracelets, and embroidered shoes, closely resembling a pair of maids from a wealthy family.
Wei WuXian, “How about these two?”
He lightly brushed his hand against a boy’s unsheathed sword, producing a cut on his thumb. Turning around, he smeared two pairs of eyes, four pupils, onto the mannequins.
Then, he took a step backward. With a faint smile, he chanted, “Eyes behind thy long lashes, lips parted, smiling in tease. Mind not the good or evil, with smeared eyes I summon thee.”
Out of the blue, a chilly breeze drifted across the entire shop. The boys couldn’t help but tightly grip their swords.
All of a sudden, the twin mannequin sisters suddenly trembled.
The next moment, giggles of “hee-hee” really came out of their brightly tinted lips!
It was the Summoning of Painted Eyes!
As if they saw or heard something hilarious, the pair of paper mannequins giggled incessantly. At the same time, the eyes painted with human blood spun rapidly inside their sockets. The sight was truly stunning, but also truly frightening. Standing before them, Wei WuXian lowered his head in salutation.
With respect, the pair of paper mannequins also bowed slightly, returning salutations of a higher level.
Wei WuXian pointed outside the door, “Take the living person back inside. Other than him, eliminate everything.”
Shrill laughter emerged from the mouths of the paper mannequins. An eerie gust of wind threw the doors open!
Side by side, the two mannequins swept outside and into the circle of walking corpses. It was beyond belief how, although they were mannequins made from pieces of paper, they had such strong powers. With dainty shoes and drifting sleeves, they severed the arm of a corpse with one swish of their hands, then severed half of a head with another—it was as if the paper sleeves had been turned into keen blades. The flirtatious giggles continued to echo through the entire length of the street, bringing about both horror and allure.
Not long afterward, the fifteen or sixteen walking corpses had been chopped into broken chunks that lay limply on the ground!
The two paper maids gained a complete victory. Obeying the command, they carried the weakened escapee inside. Then, as they jumped outside again, the doors closed on their own. Each of them guarded each side of the entrance as if they were lion statues that guarded estates, and finally quieted down.
The disciples inside the room were shocked speechless.
They had only seen and heard the descriptions of improper cultivation methods from books and their own seniors. At the time, they couldn’t understand it, If they were improper methods, then why would so many people still want to learn them? Why would the YiLing Patriarch still have so many imitators? And, now, after they had seen it with their own eyes, they finally realized the fascination around these sorts of practices. Moreover, this was only the tip of the iceberg—the “Summoning of Painted Eyes”. Thus, after the boys got over the initial shock, there were no signs of repulsion on their faces, but instead excitement that couldn’t be concealed. They felt that it enriched their experiences, allowing for more conversations between their juniors and them. Jin Ling was the only one who didn’t look too well.
Lan SiZhui went over to help Wei WuXian with the stranger. Wei WuXian spoke, “Nobody come near. Be careful not to touch the corpse-poisoning powder. It’s possible that even physical contact would poison you.”
When the person was carried inside by the paper mannequins, he was already in a state of only half-consciousness, appearing as if there was only little energy left of him. Now, though, his mind had become clearer. He coughed a few times, covering his mouth with his hand as though to prevent any powder that he had coughed up from affecting other people. He spoke in a low tone, “Who are you?”