Chapter 289 - 290: Mourning Dragon Lair?
The Yin Spirit Necromancer girl’s light purple eyes were fixed on Li Xinghua, with a hint of curiosity.
“Sister, are all the women outside as beautiful as you?” the Yin Spirit Necromancer girl, Mistress Ruoshuo, asked.
“Have you never left Pear Blossom Gully?” Li Xinghua inquired.
The ridge was desolate, with not many trees around to provide concealment, so if any dangerous creatures approached, they could be spotted immediately.
The Yin Spirit Necromancer shook her head, “Grandmother never let me leave, even stepping out of the village would earn her scolding.”
“Is she very strict with you?” Li Xinghua calmly conversed with the Yin Spirit Necromancer girl.
“Yes, especially strict. She wouldn’t permit me to tell others that I can see spirits. She forbade me from communicating with those wandering spirits and repeatedly ingrained in me the notion that all the spirits I saw were illusions,” the Yin Spirit Necromancer girl nodded.
“You don’t really like your grandmother, do you?” Li Xinghua said.
The Yin Spirit Necromancer girl did not reply.
“Since she has passed away, why don’t you leave Pear Blossom Gully?” Li Xinghua probed further.
“I asked Grandmother if I could leave Pear Blossom Gully. She told me that unless all the tribespeople of Pear Blossom Gully died, I should not even think about stepping out of the gully,” the Yin Spirit Necromancer girl answered.
“Is that considered a curse?” Li Xinghua said.
“Yes, I never dared to defy her.”
“So you plan to kill everyone in the village?” Li Xinghua’s tone remained unchanged as she spoke these words as if she had known it all from the moment they started talking.
The light purple pupils dilated, and the Yin Spirit Necromancer girl stared at Li Xinghua, panic appearing on her small oval-shaped face.
Not far away, a faint Charming Shadow inexplicably clung to a flat part of the ridge, even though there were no trees or rocks nearby to cast shadows.
This Charming Shadow was Zhu Minglang, who had already arrived. Upon seeing that everyone except Li Xinghua had been lured beneath the ridge fissure, Zhu Minglang intended to make a move on this Yin Spirit Necromancer girl.
But with one hand behind her back, Li Xinghua waved at Zhu Minglang, signaling him not to appear just yet.
Li Xinghua wanted to test the Yin Spirit Necromancer girl.
Was the Yin Spirit Necromancer girl still hiding something?
“I… I… I haven’t…” the Yin Spirit Necromancer girl nervously stammered in reply.
“Are you controlling the dead?” Li Xinghua still gestured to Zhu Minglang, hidden not far off, to wait a little longer.
The Yin Spirit Necromancer girl was silent, her eyes not daring to look at the sister who seemed capable of seeing through people’s hearts.
“Yes… it’s true.” After a long while, the Yin Spirit Necromancer girl finally admitted.
“Aren’t they your tribespeople? Why kill them?” Li Xinghua questioned.
“I didn’t kill them. I was controlling them only to drive you away, but you were too strong,” the Yin Spirit Necromancer girl said.
“Did the Mourning Dragons kill them?”
The Yin Spirit Necromancer girl shook her head again.
Not far off, Zhu Minglang’s brow furrowed.
Things seemed more complicated than imagined.
But this Yin Spirit Necromancer girl, manipulating the dead, was a fact, and it was very likely that she was the leader of the Mourning Dragons. The true situation beneath the fissure was still unclear. Regardless, it was imperative to capture her first and then press for details.
Zhu Minglang walked over.
The Ice Morning White Dragon on Zhu Minglang’s left moved with deliberate steps, its cold moon-like eyes filled with intense hostility as it stared at the necromancer girl.
Meanwhile, the Sword Spirit Dragon had actually been hiding under the sunlight, and as Zhu Minglang approached, the tip of the Sword Spirit Dragon Sword pointed directly at the girl.
If she harbored any thoughts of harming Li Xinghua, she would be immediately slain by the Sword Spirit Dragon.
The necromancer girl shivered, her cheeks pale as she looked at Zhu Minglang.
“No matter the depth of hatred, there’s no reason to kill an entire village. You’re even more vicious than those Mourning Dragons,” Zhu Minglang said icily to the girl.
“I… I didn’t kill them,” the necromancer girl’s voice trembled.
“That grave you mentioned, I’ve seen it. It’s not just any drowned Yin Spirit. So deliberately luring my companions to this so-called Black Lake in the Cave… The Black Lake is probably the Mourning Dragon’s lair, isn’t it? You’d better keep those restless Mourning Dragons in check, otherwise your death will be quite unsightly!” said Zhu Minglang.
The necromancer girl looked at Zhu Minglang in terror, her expression one that couldn’t possibly reveal her innermost thoughts, as if Zhu Minglang had wrongly accused her.
“What do you mean by ‘unsightly death’?” Suddenly, a familiar voice came from the pitch-black fissure.
Nan Yuso climbed up using the hanging vines.
Soon after, Hu Bailing, Fang Niannian, and Song Luo emerged from the crevice, obviously clueless about what had happened here.
Zhu Minglang was taken aback.
How did they come up unscathed?
Wasn’t there a Mourning Dragon lair below?
Then why did the necromancer girl go to such lengths to lead people here?
“Didn’t you encounter anything?” Zhu Minglang asked, puzzled.
“Lots of gemstones; if we had enough time, we could have salvaged them all. Of course, we poured down all the Detoxifying Resin too. It shouldn’t be long before every village in Pear Blossom Gully has clean water,” Hu Bailing said with a smile.
All went well. There really was a Black Lake in the Cave, and Hu Bailing’s instincts told her that this was indeed the source of Pear Blossom Gully’s mountain stream. As for the numerous gemstones at the bottom of the lake, resembling river sand, Hu Bailing was very tempted, but she also knew to whom they truly belonged.
“No Mourning Dragons?” Zhu Minglang looked at Nan Yuso.
“The Polluted Night Mourning Dragon didn’t discover this place, and there’s no trace of any Mourning Dragons in the Black Lake,” said Nan Yuso.
Zhu Minglang exchanged a glance with Li Xinghua.
Then they both turned their gaze to the necromancer girl’s face.
Had they been wrong?
But she had just admitted to controlling those dead people.
“How about you, how did you get here so quickly?” Hu Bailing asked.
“The Mourning Dragon Army in Stone Village has retreated. Only a small part remains lurking on the periphery,” said Zhu Minglang.
“The Mourning Dragons are very wary and cautious. They must also be fearful that we would gather all our forces to exterminate them, so they immediately abandoned Stone Village and hid elsewhere,” said Song Luo.
“What were you discussing so seriously just now?” Hu Bailing pressed.
“Nothing much, I was just asking her if she saw any unusual Mourning Dragons in Stone Village. I suspect the Mourning Dragon Army must have a leader with intelligence comparable to humans. Knowing its characteristics and abilities, and dealing with it might make the rest easier to handle,” Zhu Minglang said with a smile, casually glossing over the recent interrogation.
The necromancer girl kept her head down, silent, one hand unconsciously clutching the corner of her garment, as if she had breathed a sigh of relief or as if she feared something.