White Bone Demon Trail

Chapter 86 Ling

"Striving for supremacy?"

You Junzi chuckled in surprise, “Lord Wuxiang, you think too highly of me. The court is still at peace, the young emperor is still young, and although Empress Dowager Wen relies heavily on her relatives, she can still guard the country’s borders. Luoyang has not fallen, and the territory of Nanzhao is still under the rule of Dazhao!”

"But I see that the people living in the human world below the mountain are suffering, and even the closure of the immortal sects to the mountain means that there will be a major event of a change of dynasty in the world!"
Brother You, you command such a group of veterans. I've also noticed that the stronghold contains swords, bows, and armor. If you intend to start a rebellion, the timing, location, and popular support are all in place!

Bai Wuxiang walked past him, stirring up a gust of wind that sent a green leaf fluttering past You Junzi's blue gauze robe.

"Hehe. This is Lord Wuxiang teasing me." You Junzi stood up and looked at the people coming and going in the village. He said, "In this life, I only wish to live out my days in Wanxiang Mountain, watch the people in the village prosper, and accompany Lord Wuxiang through a period of time. That would be enough."

"That's a real pity, Brother You, with all your talent. If you were to serve as a minister, you would surely be able to become prime minister. Perhaps then, the scenery down this mountain would be more populated and less plagued by demons."

Bai Wuxiang sighed and turned to him, saying, "But Brother You, you don't need to worry. Even if time is merciless one day, and the villagers are gone for generations, there will still be people on Wanxiang Mountain who remember that there was once a great sage named You Junzi in this Black Stone Village."

"In that case, I must thank Lord Wuxiang." You Junzi replied with a smile, sensing the hidden meaning in the demon's words.

"Hehe, I've had my tea, and I should go back to the mountain to cultivate." Bai Wuxiang put down his teacup, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Brother You, when we meet again next year, you should treat me to a drink. It must be good wine."

"Rest assured, Lord Wuxiang, I will keep it in mind." You Junzi bowed and looked up, only to find that there was no one in front of him.

He smiled, picked up the teacup that Bai Wuxiang had drunk from, put it in the table, and sighed, "This is the first time Lord Wuxiang has drunk my tea. It's quite a happy occasion."

……

In Jiangling, in the south, lies the Zhang family residence.

Inside this grand, six-courtyard mansion with high walls and tiled roofs, young Xiao Le was sitting on the bed, looking at himself in the mirror from left to right. The mirror only reflected a blurry image of him, which was only slightly clearer than the dressing mirrors displayed in the boudoirs of young ladies in ordinary mansions.

His mother, Zhang Wancui, supported her back as she walked into the small house and then closed the door.

"Xiao Le, tell your mother where you got this mirror?" Zhang Wancui looked at her son holding a mirror by the bedside and immediately took it from him, saying seriously, "We were taken in as distant relatives. These are all important people living here. Did you steal this little mirror?"

"Mom! I didn't steal anything! I have a secret to tell you!" Xiao Le said mysteriously, getting out of bed, putting on his little shoes, and standing in front of the only light source in the room, the oil lamp. He pointed to his shadow and said, "Shadow! Come out quickly, let Mom see you!"

However, his shadow mirrored his movements perfectly, without the slightest hint of strangeness. Xiao Le's face showed disappointment countless times.

Zhang Wancui's face turned pale. Could her son be possessed by an evil spirit?

She didn't hold the mirror properly and it fell onto the floor of the brick house with a "clang," but the mirror remained intact.

She bent down to pick up the mirror, while Xiao Le anxiously argued, "Mom, I really didn't lie to you. There's a kind person in my shadow. On New Year's Day, I was so hungry at noon that my stomach hurt, and it was my shadow that handed me half a chicken. I ate it and then I didn't go to sleep."

"Half a chicken?" Zhang Wancui was stunned. Several months ago, the incident of the ghost in the Zhang family had spread to the surrounding villages and towns. She still remembered that day. The pepper chicken soup she cooked was clearly a whole pot of four chickens. Her aunt stole half of it. How did it end up in this little kid's mouth?
But her own child would never lie to her. She had been to Jiangzhou City and seen the world. Only magicians would do such a thing. Otherwise, it would only be the stories of demons and monsters passed down from generation to generation!

Thinking of this, Zhang Wancui suddenly waved her hands and threw the mirror away, but there was still no crack on the mirror.

Xiao Le quickly picked up the mirror and said, "Mom, that person told me to take good care of this mirror and not to break it."

"By the way, did the person you mentioned ever touch you anywhere?" Zhang Wancui quickly looked her son up and down.

"It only ever touched my hand. Mother, it was the only one in the yard who played with me. The other kids in the yard all called me a little bastard."

That's why I've remembered it all this time; I haven't seen it for several months. Don't tell anyone else.

Xiao Le held the mirror in his hand, slightly raised his head, and in the dim candlelight, his thin body was illuminated. His small shadow fell onto the corner of the hut, folding from the ground and sticking to the earthen wall.

Hearing this, Zhang Wancui couldn't help but tear up, and hugged the little boy, saying, "Okay, Mom won't tell anyone."

Xiao Le isn't a little bastard; Xiao Le is Mom and Dad's good boy.

Zhang Wancui held Xiao Le and coaxed him to sleep. Then she picked up the small mirror, sat under the oil lamp, and murmured, "Brother Liang, I miss you so much."

A night breeze blew through the dying lamp oil, dimming its color. Suddenly, her shadow moved, transforming into a dark-skinned man who smiled and said to her, "Wanmei, I'm back."

She rushed into Ah Liang's arms with joy, tears welling up in her eyes.

In the dim candlelight, a pair of lovers separated by death embraced and wept.

Zhang Wancui's head slumped, and she suddenly came to her senses.

She stood up, looking lost and forlorn, and called out, "Brother Liang!"

But the house was empty.

As she recalled the scene in her dream, her eyes welled up with tears. Chen Aliang and she were originally a couple arranged by their parents. Although it was their parents' arrangement, they had put their hearts into choosing each other. The two of them went through five years of ups and downs together as an ignorant couple. Aliang was once blown away by the wind and waves in the river and never came back.

She always stayed by Xiao Le's side, and no matter how the world changed in an instant, she could never forget the figure who stood by her side through the storms.

After giving birth to Xiao Le, Zhang Wancui's family was killed by rebels crossing the Yangtze River. Alone with Xiao Le, she kowtowed and begged for mercy several times before finally being taken in by the Zhang family.

No matter what the Zhang family was like, she and her orphan mother were able to find a place to stay in this chaotic world, and she wouldn't mind suffering any hardship. She only remembered that the Zhang family patriarch was a great benefactor to her and her orphan mother.

"Haha~"

A soft, yet extremely pleasant laugh rang out. Zhang Wancui, pale-faced, stared at her own shadow under the candlelight, which had somehow turned into a ghostly blue glow.

The shadow raised its head, as if it had come to life, and a clear, playful laugh rang out along with the old woman's hoarse voice, "Since you can see me, you must be a person of extraordinary destiny."

I've come to pick up the lens.

Suddenly, a long, thin, dark hand scooped up the mirror on the old, worn-out table.

Her shadow chuckled and said, "Don't worry, your child helped me. This bone jade is a thank-you gift from me."

It can protect him so he can grow up safely and without any defects in his bones; he will be a promising martial arts student in the future.

As it spoke, the slender black shadow spun like a fox's tail and disappeared along with the mirror.

On the ground, only a piece of jade-like bone lay, its surface shimmering like jade. The eerie blue candle on the table went out, plunging the room into darkness. The only thing left was this peanut-sized piece of jade, which Zhang Wancui, trembling with fear, picked up and examined closely.

She suppressed her fear, filled the lamp with oil in the darkness, and relit the candle.

That night, she didn't sleep a wink and made a pendant for Xiao Le.

A shadowy figure appeared, and two recently deceased souls, carrying a precious mirror, descended on the wind into Mount Wanxiang. A slender hand grasped the mirror's surface—it belonged to Bai Wuxiang from the White Bone Cave.

He opened his eyes and looked at the two ghosts in front of him: one was a young girl, and the other was an old woman in tattered clothes.

This was the first time Bai Wuxiang had used this spirit communication technique from hundreds of miles away, and he finally found the two ghosts.

These two ghostly spirits were the lingering souls of those who had just died during the day. Bai Wuxiang used his demonic powers to manipulate their souls, enabling him to use the legendary ability to move objects from afar without them even being visible.

The reason he spoke in such a strange voice in front of Xiao Le's mother was because he used the faint resentment of these two ghosts to perform a telepathic communication technique, which led to that eerie falling scene.

The reason he was able to use his spiritual powers to summon divine thoughts from hundreds of miles away and then command the power of ghosts was because these two recently deceased mortals stopped at a teahouse and heard about the name Wuxiang.

Bai Wuxiang rarely tried to comprehend the wondrous uses of demon gods because he didn't know how to use them. But after witnessing the process of the gods descending, Wuxiang's demonic thoughts gave rise to this wondrous method.

Bai Wuxiang looked at the treasure mirror that had returned to his hands and chuckled softly, "It seems that the name Wuxiang needs to be known to all the people in the world. In this way, if I can comprehend the Four Forms, I can transform into a true god or demon in a single thought!"
If all beings in the world understand the absence of form, then they can be without form!
You agree?
Fellow Daoist Xiao.

As soon as these words were spoken, Xiao Qianli, who was sensing the treasure mirror in a cave a thousand miles away, suddenly opened his eyes and his expression changed.

She opened her eyes in horror and exclaimed, "How did he sense that I was spying on him?"

This formless demon god never expected to possess such benevolence; instead of killing the mortal mother and child earlier, he showed gratitude and repaid their kindness.

This demon god's wisdom seems to be learning from the human race!
Thinking of this, a strange fear arose in her heart. If the world were to know about this formless demon god, it would be impossible to control the situation!
Moreover, could she possibly deal with such a terrifying demon god who was adept at bewitching people?
……

In a secret realm on Mount Sanqing.

Three hazy, ethereal primordial spirits, one dark blue, one yellow, and one azure, appeared together. They sat upright in the lush, verdant sky of this secret realm, like three supreme deities.

"Junior Brother Xuanming! You sensed it too!"

"Not bad, senior brother."

I sensed the presence of an ancient god!

"This demon god is indeed extraordinary."

Even killing the Demon God might not be enough to suppress Him!

"Should we...take action?"

"Since the heavens remain unmoved, we need not worry. Let's just wait and see; after all, it's not a demon of calamity and death, but merely a skeleton."

In the Wanxiang Mountain, Bai Wuxiang gazed at the calm treasure mirror, which was actually empty.

The divine lightning descended and was swallowed by the treasure mirror, instantly extinguishing the demonic thoughts that had been captured within it.

Subsequently, the divine lightning was also transformed into streams of light by the treasure mirror and collected into the two black and white stone beads above and below the mirror.

Bai Wuxiang stared at the treasure mirror for a long time. This treasure mirror could only be said to have some restraining effect on him, but it was definitely not a treasure that could suppress and kill him.

Through the magic mirror, he peered into the surroundings. In the world of the magic mirror, a pair of huge, pure white pupils suddenly appeared, observing the surroundings in the mirror.

But after only a few glances, he was repelled by the laws reflected in the mirror.

Bai Wuxiang reached out and wiped away a drop of blood from the corner of his eye.

He chuckled to himself, "I can actually bleed."

"

With each increase in his cultivation level, Bai Wuxiang's bones would undergo some changes.

He had no intention of taking human form, but Bai Wuxiang's physical body, consisting of 206 white bones, was gradually growing towards the stage of flesh and skin growing from bones.

Bai Wuxiang raised an eyebrow and said, "It seems... I am growing!"

He did not reject his body's instincts; as the original being, he naturally had his own physical body and consciousness.

He is also the Formless Demon God, but he is also the White Bone Demon.

Bai Wuxiang seems to have figured out the key to cultivation, otherwise it would have been impossible for his true form to grow a physical body.

The human skin he was wearing was actually the skin of the young master of the Bai family. Bai Wuxiang didn't realize it when he put it on, but once he took it off, he would find that the skin was damaged in many places.

"Tick-tock~"

Bai Wuxiang reached out and caught a drop of water from the stone wall above his head. The drop of water gathered at his fingertips and gradually condensed into a crystal-clear bubble.

The bubbles floated silently in the air, and even drifted back and forth with the wind.

The little white fox, who had just woken up in the cave, curiously stretched out its paw and gently touched it with its fingertip.

"Bang~"

The bubble suddenly burst open, and countless water droplets gathered into a ball of water. From the water vapor emerged a young man with gentle, captivating eyes and a tender demeanor.

He was barefoot, wearing a light blue robe, his long hair flowing freely. The ripples on the cold pool emanated from his feet like a leaf falling into the water, creating barely perceptible waves.

"Take the treasure mirror and deliver something to me."

As Bai Wuxiang spoke, a small wooden box spontaneously floated out from a crack in the old stone.

The small wooden box and the treasure mirror both fell into the hands of the barefoot boy.

He smiled, bowed slightly, and uttered a single word: "Ling".

"As ordered."

As soon as he finished speaking, he transformed into a tiny drop of water, falling into the cold pool and creating ripples.

The little white fox, not far away, stared wide-eyed, wondering in the direction the person had disappeared.

(End of this chapter)