Ex-Wife is a Big Villainess
Chapter 845 - 412: Cooperation with Jiang Wan_2

Chapter 845: Chapter 412: Cooperation with Jiang Wan_2

Under Jiang Shouzhong’s astonished gaze, a corpse seemed to be pulled upward by invisible threads, slowly levitating, with a hissing sound suddenly emanating from its chest, sending chills down one’s spine.

In a moment, a red worm as bright as flowing fire was forcibly extracted.

The red worm dashed like lightning to Jiang Wan’s face and was instantly sucked into a small porcelain bottle placed on the ground.

Jiang Wan sealed the porcelain bottle and stood up saying, "Lead the way."

Jiang Shouzhong, still in shock, subconsciously asked, "To where?"

"To the place where you live."

Jiang Wan replied again, unhurriedly.

Seeing Jiang Shouzhong still standing in place, she tilted her head slightly, allowing a strand of her dark hair to slide over her snow-white skin, and looked at him with a half-smile, "What? Afraid I’ll eat you?"

Jiang Shouzhong’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he remained silent and walked out of the City Lord Mansion with Jiang Wan.

As they exited the gates of the City Lord Mansion, Jiang Shouzhong suddenly felt a subtle change in the air around him, distinctly perceiving a mysterious sticky sensation.

He instinctively paused and looked back.

Only to see the towering gates of the City Lord Mansion silently closed behind him.

Outside, the streets were still bustling with people, and the noisy hustle and bustle of the marketplace continued as usual, as if the strange occurrences inside the City Lord Mansion had not affected it at all.

"This place is now shrouded by a Formation, ordinary people can’t enter anymore."

Jiang Wan’s voice was clear and melodious.

Jiang Shouzhong stared at the familiar yet slightly unfamiliar beautiful face of the girl, with his brows furrowed, puzzled, and asked, "What on earth is going on here?"

Jiang Wan was about to speak when her gaze unintentionally caught sight of a peddler selling sugar-coated haws not far away.

The girl’s starry eyes brightened instantly, and she reached out with her jade-white little hand toward Jiang Shouzhong, her fingertips slightly curled upwards, gently swaying in the air.

"What?"

Jiang Shouzhong was bewildered by her sudden action.

"Money."

Jiang Wan parted her red lips slightly, uttering the word succinctly.

"What do you want money for?"

"Give it to me."

Jiang Wan’s voice became slightly urgent, her little hand hovering in the air paused for a moment and then stretched forward again, her eyes carrying an undeniable insistence, "Listen!"

"..."

Left with no choice, Jiang Shouzhong reluctantly fished out one tael of silver from his person and handed it to her.

"A bit more."

Jiang Wan maintained a serious face, yet there was an indescribable endearing naivety about her demeanor.

Jiang Shouzhong’s mouth twitched slightly, and he continued to fumble about his person.

After some rummaging, he finally produced the last piece of gold left on him.

Jiang Wan weighed it in her palm, then walked straight to the hawker selling sugar-coated haws.

With a casual gesture, she tossed the money in her hand generously to the vendor. With the vendor rendered speechless in surprise, she effortlessly lifted the specially made stick filled with sugar-coated haws.

Jiang Wan returned to Jiang Shouzhong and handed him the sugar-coated haw stick that resembled a small tree.

Jiang Shouzhong instinctively took the stick and slung it over his shoulder.

The man’s awkward movements seemed somewhat clumsy.

Lifting onto her tiptoes, Jiang Wan retrieved a sugar-coated haw, taking a light bite.

The girl squinted her cat-like apricot eyes, the sweet tang infused with sourness bringing a smile to the corners of her eyes and brows, full of ease and contentment: "Let’s go, we can chat as we walk."

Jiang Shouzhong glanced at Jiang Wan with an odd expression.

"Let’s go."

Jiang Wan shook her head, causing the ornaments atop her head to quiver slightly.

Jiang Shouzhong adjusted the sugar-coated haw stick on his shoulder and headed toward the inn.

"I came here to track down an Immortal."

Jiang Wan had a candied hawthorn in her mouth, speaking somewhat unclearly, her cheeks puffed up like a gluttonous little hamster.

Jiang Shouzhong pondered as he responded, "I overheard them mentioning an Immortal before, but from what I can speculate, there isn’t truly such a thing in this world as an Immortal."

"Child, you are correct."

Jiang Wan quickly finished the candied hawthorn in her hand and eagerly reached to take another string from the stick.

She raised the candied hawthorn high towards the sunlight, squinting her eyes into slits, examining it closely, and said:

"Indeed, there are neither Immortals nor any so-called Immortal Realm in this world, just an otherworldly Taoyuan. Those so-called Immortals can be called Taoyuan beings."

Taoyuan beings?

Jiang Shouzhong recalled the mysterious place he and Xiao Lingqiu once visited and the terrifying demons they encountered, secretly noting, "This is hardly a Taoyuan."

"Taoyuan beings generally find it difficult to step into the Lower Realm, but there are some special pathways, like the Taoist Ancestor of Zhenxuan Mountain, relying on the Mountain’s fortune protection to manifest in the Mortal World."

Jiang Wan slightly lifted her small face, looking towards Jiang Shouzhong, with lips stained by sugar, reflecting a layer of crystal-like grease in the sunlight, adding to the allure with its gloss. "You’ve probably met that Taoist Ancestor, haven’t you?"

Jiang Shouzhong nodded, "I have met him, there were some incidents then, and he disappeared afterward. To be honest, I felt that guy wasn’t a good person."

"It’s quite normal; anyone entering Taoyuan Holy Land seems to change."

Jiang Wan gently opened her crimson lips, speaking softly, "That Taoist Ancestor was once a genuine Saint, caring for all beings, but after Ascension, upon returning, his mind seemed altered. Perhaps, he was forced to accept certain rules of the Taoyuan Holy Land."

"What rules?"

Jiang Shouzhong’s eyes reflected a hint of curiosity.

Jiang Wan walked to a puddle of sewage, gently hopping a tiny step.

Her powder-white skirt fluttered gently, with the candied hawthorn in her hand swaying, nearly touching her dress.

Jiang Wan extended her tongue, scraping the sugar residue from the corner of her mouth, and uttered four words, "Immortality Rules."

Jiang Shouzhong frowned, "I don’t understand."

Jiang Wan suddenly halted, her expression held a light smile, akin to a ghostly flower reflecting on water, recently playful like a lively Que’er, now hidden, replaced by a calm and proud demeanor.

She raised her elegant hand, her jade finger pointing to the sky:

"What is the ultimate purpose of Ascension? Naturally, it is to become an Immortal. And after becoming an Immortal, the sole pursuit at heart is nothing but ’Immortality’."

With a brief pause in her tone, Jiang Wan’s enchanting eyes fixated on Jiang Shouzhong, saying languidly:

"I can clearly tell you that as long as you Ascend into Taoyuan Holy Land, you’ll have a way to achieve Immortality.

The method is simple, to deprive mortals of their fortune and life. In Taoyuan Holy Land, each day that the Immortals extend their life, a year’s lifespan is taken from the mortals on earth."

Listening, Jiang Shouzhong’s heart was rocked by waves of shock.

Is this the so-called Immortality Technique?

Jiang Wan continued, "The Immortal I’m tracking is such; after leaving Taoyuan Holy Land, his life gets severely depleted. To eke out survival, he must absorb more people’s vital energy just to barely sustain."

She took out the porcelain bottle previously containing strange worms, shaking it before Jiang Shouzhong: "A single worm like this is incredibly sinister, enough to drain the vibrant vital energy of a hundred cultivators."

Jiang Shouzhong looked at her puzzled: "How did you know so much?"

Jiang Wan smiled lightly, her smile carrying both a girl’s playful liveliness and a steadiness from life’s experiences: "Sometimes, when you stand high enough, you see things others can’t."

Jiang Shouzhong remained silent for a moment, then suddenly grew curious again: "Did you really die of illness back then?"

Jiang Wan seemed not to hear, reaching out once more to pick another string of bright red candied hawthorn from the stick, gently biting it at her mouth, speaking unclearly:

"I guess, that Immortal should have taken the Fifth Prince and the others into Ghost City."

Ghost City?

Jiang Shouzhong was baffled again.

Jiang Wan’s eyes held a trace of distance and mystery as she slowly said:

"A thousand years ago, there stood a Ghost City here. It was known to be crafted by a powerful cultivator titled ’Ghost King.’ This person sacrificed tens of thousands of lives just to forge an Undying Body.

Yet in the end, faced Heavenly Tribulation punishment, his body exploded to death.

After his demise, his followers fled to Heavenly Mountain, and later wandered in Beirong, becoming the renowned Snow Domain Divine Soldiers.

And that legendary Ghost City, apart from the last emperor of the former dynasty, has never been entered by anyone else."