Chapter 85: The Life-Draining Talisman

Chapter 85: The Life-Draining Talisman

Translator: yikaii Editor: yikaii

"Open the door!" Zheng Shouhe pressed the dagger against Wen Xiangyu's back.

Wen Xiangyu had no choice but to open the door.

Upon opening the door, a handsome face appeared—it was Lu Yang.

Wen Xiangyu desperately signaled to Lu Yang to run away quickly, but Lu Yang, as if he hadn't seen her signals, showed a professional fake smile, "Here's your skewer."

Zheng Shouhe also put on a professional fake smile, easily deceiving the seemingly naive Lu Yang, "Young man, come in and sit, I'll get you the money."

Believing him, Lu Yang entered, commenting on the pitch-dark room, "Not even a light on, sleeping so early."

Seeing Lu Yang naively walk in, Wen Xiangyu was panicked. She braced herself, ready to push Lu Yang out.

Zheng Shouhe, noticing Wen Xiangyu's unusual behavior, was too late. He coldly laughed, threw Wen Xiangyu behind him, and stabbed towards Lu Yang in the dark.

Accustomed to the darkness, Zheng Shouhe expected Lu Yang, coming from the brightly lit street, would need time to adjust to the dark. This was his chance!

Seemingly destined to be a bloody night, Lu Yang kicked Zheng Shouhe four to five meters away.

So much for talking science with a cultivator.

Unexpectedly for Zheng Shouhe, Lu Yang's kick was too heavy and solid, like a boulder smashing into his chest, causing him to see stars, break several ribs, and cough up a large amount of blood!

Realizing he was in serious trouble and needing a hostage to survive, Zheng Shouhe forcibly suppressed the pain in his chest, attempting to grab Wen Xiangyu's wrist.

"If you dare to move again, I'll kill her!" Zheng Shouhe threatened menacingly.

The person in Zheng Shouhe's arms coldly laughed, "Who are you planning to kill?"

Zheng Shouhe looked down in horror to find he hadn't grabbed Wen Xiangyu, but Lu Yang!

Lu Yang, with one palm on Zheng Shouhe's chin and snatching the dagger with the other hand, easily disarmed and dismembered Zheng Shouhe.

"What luck, encountering so much trouble just delivering a skewer."

Lu Yang sighed, lit a candle, and the room was faintly illuminated.

Wen Xiangyu couldn't believe how quickly the situation had turned; the skewer delivery boy was like a god descending to earth, swiftly subduing the fierce criminal.

"Are you alright?" Lu Yang helped Wen Xiangyu, who was sitting dazed on the ground.

"No, no problem."

"That's good, then. Pay for the skewers, please." Lu Yang politely said.

"Ah? Oh... right." Wen Xiangyu then remembered Lu Yang came to deliver the skewers and incidentally saved her.

After paying Lu Yang, Wen Xiangyu was overcome with fear and tried to say something to ease her nerves, "You, you're a cultivator?"

"Yes."

"Cultivators run stores too?"

"For living."

Lying on the ground, groaning in pain, Zheng Shouhe regretted everything, wondering what bad luck it was to encounter a cultivator. Are cultivators now reduced to delivering skewers to make a living?

Lu Yang watched Wen Xiangyu with a look of one who had narrowly escaped disaster and chuckled, shaking his head, "Let me accompany you to report this."

"Thank you," Wen Xiangyu remembered the thief upstairs, "Oh right, there's another person upstairs, probably his accomplice."

Wen Xiangyu, upon waking, saw Zheng Shouhe and Lu Zhi together, assuming they were collaborating but had fallen out over her beauty.

Lu Yang went upstairs and, finding Lu Zhi securely tied up, assumed he was Zheng Shouhe's accomplice: "So, it's a group crime."

Lu Zhi protested, "Don't lump me in with him; I'm a thief, he's a kidnapper, our crimes and punishments aren't the same!"

Lu Yang laughed, "You seem quite knowledgeable about the law."

"We check the laws before we act to see how many years we might get," Lu Zhi explained, evidently experienced.

"Then let's go to the magistrate office and see how many years you'll get."

Hearing they were heading to the magistrate office, Lu Zhi quickly begged for mercy, "Wait, wait, wait, brother, let's talk this out. We're all hustling in the same world, why the harshness? Look, I'll give you something valuable if you let me go. How about it?"

Lu Yang, assessing Lu Zhi as merely a mortal, asked, "What valuable thing?"

"A yellow paper that can put people to sleep. With this paper, whoever you want to sleep will sleep, and you can do whatever you want to them!"

Connecting this to the recent oddities, Lu Yang furrowed his brows, sensing a complicated issue, and demanded coldly, "Where is it?"

Lu Zhi wasn't foolish enough to just reveal, "Promise to let me go first!"

Lu Yang solemnly swore, "I, Chu Xulong, swear by the heavens, if I don't let you go, may I be struck by five thunderbolts!"

Overjoyed, Lu Zhi revealed, "The yellow paper is in a corner outside the first floor."

Clearly, Lu Zhi wasn't the brightest.

Lu Yang jumped down from the second floor and found the yellow paper after circling the building.

The paper was inscribed with symbols Lu Yang couldn't understand, appearing to be some kind of talisman.

After securing the talisman, he returned upstairs, "Where did you get this?"

"Under the big stone bridge. I was escaping by boat once and happened to look up to see a piece of yellow paper there."

Nodding, Lu Yang went downstairs to collect Zheng Shouhe's legs and took both men to the magistrate office, with Wen Xiangyu following closely.

"Hey, hey, hey, you're not keeping your word!" Lu Zhi shouted.

Lu Yang sneered coldly, "The one to be struck by lightning is Chu Xulong, what does that have to do with me, Lu Yang?"

Coincidentally, Constable Wei was on duty that night. Seeing Lu Yang bringing in two criminals to the magistrate office elicited a "It's you again" feeling from him.

After hearing the criminals' stories, Constable Wei became serious. Zheng Shouhe, having committed homicide, was a severe criminal, marking a significant achievement for Lu Yang.

"This is the yellow paper Lu Zhi mentioned." Lu Yang handed the paper to Constable Wei, who also realized its significance.

He had heard of people feeling unusually sleepy during the day but hadn't thought much of it. Now, it seemed someone was deliberately causing trouble.

The region might be hiding countless such papers!

However, Constable Wei didn't understand the symbols on the paper. He decided to wait for the chief officer to start his shift in the morning and consult him.

"Thanks a lot. I'll send you another commendation banner tomorrow," Constable Wei said to Lu Yang and Wen Xiangyu after completing their statements and bid them farewell.

Before leaving, Lu Yang made a trip to the jail to speak with Chu Xulong, "I've got a brother named Zheng Shouhe coming in for a while, please take care of him."

Chu Xulong sneered, ready to show Zheng Shouhe the extent of his stone-spitting skills.

After escorting Wen Xiangyu back to her tofu shop, Lu Yang firmly declined her offer of tofu.

After such an ordeal, the barbecue shop had already closed for the night. Upon his return, Lu Yang found the two ghostly workers washing dishes.

Lu Yang showed the symbols from the yellow paper to Lan Ting, "Can you look at this talisman? Does it cause people to fall asleep?"

After carefully examining it, Lan Ting expressed surprise, "Where did you find this? It's a Life-Draining Talisman. It absorbs people's lifespan, and those affected display lethargy and an overwhelming desire to sleep."

"This talisman only affects mortals and has no effect on cultivators."

(End of the chapter)