Yellow Springs Inn (Zhang Xiao Qi) Chapter 21

Quick recap: Luo Qian Qi went out to chase Li Yan Xin, who killed her father. Zhang Xiao Qi was waiting in Thousand Jade Hall and managed to kill Li Yan Xin with the Night Devil Blood Mirror. Luo Qian Qi came back covered in wounds, so Zhang Xiao Qi is tending to his wounds. The delivery guy who visited the weird forest and his coworker have been killed.

T/N: Just wanted to say thank you for all the comments! I'm glad you guys seem to be enjoying this so far, and I really appreciate the support~ And sorry I haven't updated in so long. Exams really took a toll on me, but hopefully I can start translating in batches during the summer!

Also, I haven't decided yet if I'll change all the names to English or leave them in romanized Chinese, since there aren't many votes, so please vote!

Here are the names again:

Chi Xiao Sword 赤霄剑 -> Scarlet Firmament SwordJiu Qiao Fu Long Whip 九巧伏龙鞭 (Zhang Xiao Qi's weapon) -> Nine Agile Encroaching Dragons Whipand also Night Devil Blood Mirror, in Chinese Ye Mo Xue Jing夜魔血镜 Zhang Xiao Qi's prop which was introduced in the last chapter (Chapter 20)

Let me know what you guys think!

Chapter 21: 另有其人 Someone Else

"Oww, Xiao Qi, lighter!" Luo Qian Qi cried out.

I gave Luo Qian Qi a look, then lessened the pressure exerted by my hand.

Soon I had finished applying the medicine then patted his back, "Alright, successfully finished!"

With that I packed up the medicine box and returned it to the cabinet.

Luo Qian Qi lay on the bed watching me and said, "I already arranged for a Thousand Jade Hall disciple to make the funeral arrangements for Uncle Li!"

I nodded, then said, "Actually, Uncle Li really cares for you!"

Luo Qian Qi nodded and did not say anything further.

I was silent for awhile, and when I looked back at Luo Qian Qi, I found he was already asleep.

Maybe Li s.h.i.+'s death and Li Yan Xin learning evil arts struck him hard and took a toll on him.

Within such a short time period, first there was Luo Qian Ping and Luo Cheng Guang's betrayal, then Li Yan Xin and Li s.h.i.+'s death; no matter the person it was hard to accept these events!

I looked at Luo Qian Qi's sleepy face and sighed, then rose and stood in front of the window.

Outside the moon had risen; the moonlit Thousand Jade Hall appeared very quiet, with the occasional sound of crickets chirping.

The sky quickly became bright again, the day's sunlight replacing the night's moonlight s.h.i.+ning into the room, s.h.i.+ning on my face.

"Does the sunlight make you feel uncomfortable?" Luo Qian Qi at some point had already walked over and stood behind me.

I looked at him and smiled, "The morning suns.h.i.+ne is very warm, I don't feel uncomfortable!"

Luo Qian Qi smiled and looked at me, "The preparations for Uncle Li's funeral are almost done, let's go and take a look!"

I nodded, then followed Luo Qian Qi into the main hall.

The main hall was already arranged for mourning. Li s.h.i.+'s coffin was placed in the center of the hall.

Thousand Jade Hall's disciples saw that Luo Qian Qi had arrived, all respectfully greeting, "Hall Master!"

Luo Qian Qi waved toward them, then brought me over to Li s.h.i.+'s coffin to place down three incense sticks.

The funeral proceeded very smoothly, until at noon, police officers arrived at the door.

At the head was a forty-year-old policeman. He was called Peng Sheng.

Peng Sheng displayed to Luo Qian Qi his officer badge. Luo Qian Qi said to Peng Sheng, "Officer Peng, what matter that brought you to our Thousand Jade Hall?"

Officer Peng took out a photograph and handed it to Luo Qian Qi, "Do you recognize the person in this photograph?"

Luo Qian Qi took the photograph handed to him by Officer Peng and took a look. The person in the photo was the boss from yesterday that was looking for Thousand Jade Hall's help.

Luo Qian Qi said, "I recognize him."

Officer Peng said, "Come, take him away!"

At this, the several officers at his sides took out handcuffs and prepared to cuff Luo Qian Qi.

Seeing the situation, the Thousand Jade Hall disciples were prepared to walk up and fight those officers.

Luo Qian Qi waved toward them, gesturing for the disciples to retreat.

The Thousand Jade Hall disciples upon receiving the Hall Master's order obediently retreated.

Luo Qian Qi looked at Officer Peng, "Officer Peng, arresting me should require justification!"

Officer Peng took the photograph from Luo Qian Qi's hands and chuckled, "The person in this photo died this morning, he died in his office, finally his employee found that he even alerted the police!"

Luo Qian Qi's tone was calm, "How is this related to me?"

Officer Peng smiled coldly, "Originally it had no relation to you, however the office of the deceased was full of the words 'Thousand Jade Hall' and 'Zhang Xiao Qi!'"

Luo Qian Qi laughed coldly, "So since Thousand Jade Hall was written you found me?"

Officer Peng froze, "You aren't Zhang Xiao Qi?"

"Pfft," I was unable to resist laughing, while the corners of Luo Qian Qi's couldn't help raising slightly.

Is this officer an idiot, just by hearing you can tell Zhang Xiao Qi is a girl's name; he actually looked for a grown man, I sincerely wonder how he became a police officer!

Luo Qian Qi looked at the police officer and said calmly, "My apologies officer, I am Luo Qian Qi, the Hall Master of Thousand Jade Hall, not Zhang Xiao Qi!"

Officer Peng was aware of his own error in arresting the wrong person, forcing a laugh with embarra.s.sment, "Hall Master Luo, my deepest apologies, I…"

Officer Peng had not finished speaking when Luo Qian Qi interrupted him, "Alright, no need to say these formalities!"

Officer Peng nodded, then his tone changed, "Hall Master Luo, I don't know if Thousand Jade Hall has this Zhang Xiao Qi person; if so I must ask that you hand her over and let us investigate!"

Luo Qian Qi laughed coldly, "Thousand Jade Hall does not have this Zhang Xiao Qi person, but if it's a ghost we do!"

Officer Peng and the police officers behind him froze. Officer Peng laughed, "Hall Master Luo, you must be joking, how can ghosts exist?"

Luo Qian Qi chuckled coldly, "Officer Peng, I know that you police officers are atheists, but you cannot deny their existence!"

Officer Peng froze, then laughed, "Hall Master Luo, since this Zhang Xiao Qi you speak of is a ghost, then why not ask her to appear for us to see!"

Luo Qian Qi looked at me standing next to Officer Peng and smiled, "She's right next to you!"

Officer Peng froze, then turned to look next to him, but did not see that I was there.

Officer Peng laughed coldly, "Hall Master Luo, you said that she is next to me, but how come I can't see her?"

The corners of Luo Qian Qi's mouth revealed a bit of a smile. I materialized and laughed mischievously at Officer Peng, "Officer Peng, nice to meet you!"

"Ah!"

Officer Peng looked at me and screamed, retreating backward a step.

I looked at Officer Peng and smiled, "Officer Peng, isn't it that you don't believe ghosts exist? Then what are you acting so afraid for?"

Officer Peng walked back to where he originally stood, harrumphing, "If it wasn't that I was scared silly by Luo Qian Qi's words, do you think I would have been scared by you?"

Luo Qian Qi laughed and glanced at me, and immediately I used my ghost force to change the surroundings into an overcast day; this way I wouldn't have to be afraid of the sun.

Powerful ghosts could utilize their own ghost force to change the surroundings as well as the direction of airflow, molding the surroundings into those of their preference, and the extent of change was only limited by the ghost's capabilities.

Officer Peng stared blankly at the sky that had turned overcast, and asked, "How come the weather suddenly changed?"

"Hehehe, hehehe."

In the surroundings, numerous little ghosts with missing arms and legs began to gather. And because I had changed the air convections, the area had very strong yin aura, so Officer Peng and the others could also see ghosts.

Officer Peng and the other five police officers had been talking like fearless young calves to a tiger, but when they saw these little ghosts, their legs became limp and they sat on the ground, and one was so scared he even wet his pants.

I looked at the state of the police officers and couldn't help holding my stomach and laughing out loud, and even the corner's of Luo Qian Qi couldn't resist turning upwards.

After I waved my hand, the surroundings returned to its normal appearance, and those ghosts left.

I looked at Officer Peng and laughed out, "How was that Officer Peng, after this do you believe that ghosts exist?"

Officer Peng and the others calmed down, then one by one they stood up from the ground.

Officer Peng first eyed the little police officer who had wet his pants. He waved toward the little police officer, indicating that he should go and take care of it.

Even after the little police officer left Officer Peng's mood had yet to stabilize.

Officer Peng said to me and Luo Qian Qi, "Alright, we're alright now, but I hope that you can explain to us why the deceased would write 'Thousand Jade Hall' and 'Zhang Xiao Qi' on the wall!"

I laughed coldly, "We aren't that familiar with that fatty, it was him that came to us yesterday asking us to catch a ghost!" (T/N: She called him 胖子 , which is basically means fat person. I don't know if there is a kinder translation than fatty? Because saying fat person sounds a little awkward…)

Officer Peng froze, "The deceased asked you to catch a ghost yesterday?"

Luo Qian Qi nodded, "That's right, and he didn't even pay before he left!"

Officer Peng looked at Luo Qian Qi and laughed with a bit of embarra.s.sment, "Hall Master Luo, right now he is already dead, I'm afraid that this money cannot be retrieved from him anymore!"

After pausing for a moment Officer Peng continued, "Then did you catch that ghost?"

I laughed, "We did catch it, though it probably isn't the one we caught, or else he wouldn't have died!"

Luo Qian Qi nodded, "Officer Peng, even if you wanted to arrest someone, the evidence must be complete before arresting; just relying solely on some words the deceased wrote on the wall to come knocking at our Thousand Jade Hall's door; don't say I didn't warn you, Thousand Jade Hall isn't so easy to push around!"

Officer Peng froze, he didn't think Luo Qian Qi would be so uncooperative.

Luo Qian Qi said to the disciples by his side, "See the guests off!" and with that Luo Qian Qi walked to the mourning hall.

I looked at Officer Peng and the others and laughed coldly, and then followed Luo Qian Qi into the mourning hall.

Luo Qian Qi's mood had originally been poor, and these police officers happened to choose such a time to come knocking at his door; did they not see that Thousand Jade Hall was decorated for mourning? (T/N: it seems like the mourning hall isn't a separate hall; it's probably just the inner part of the main hall that's decorated for mourning)

After Luo Qian Qi and I walked into the mourning hall, Thousand Jade Hall's disciples escorted the police officers away.

Three days pa.s.sed and nothing occurred, but after Li s.h.i.+ was buried those police officers came knocking at the door.

Luo Qian Qi sat on the main hall's chair, while I sat by his side fiddling with the teacup on the table.

I looked at those police officers and let out a smile, while those police officers looked at me and couldn't help s.h.i.+vering.

Luo Qian Qi said in an icy tone to Officer Peng, "Officer Peng, say what kind of evidence you found, have you come to Thousand Jade Hall to arrest someone?"

Officer Peng hurriedly laughed and explained, "No, no, Hall Master Luo, last time we were a bit offensive, we give our deepest apologies great Hall Master Luo, this time we have come out of hopes that Hall Master Luo can help us solve a case!"

Luo Qian Qi did not say a word, I put down the teacup in my head, "Officer Peng, aren't you police officers atheist? Why did you think of asking Thousand Jade Hall to solve your case then?"

Officer Peng laughed nervously, "This…well, things are different now!"

I looked at Officer Peng and chuckled before continuing to fiddle with my teacup.

Officer Peng let out a sigh, then said, "I won't keep it from you guys, in the past three days another four people have died, two of them were police officers!"

Luo Qian Qi froze up, "More people died, what exactly is going on?"

Officer Peng said, "When we left Thousand Jade Hall that day we prepared to return to the police station, but the car had driven to a forest not too far away when the engine of the car suddenly died, so we took a look. At some point an officer said he wanted to go to the restroom, but after he left he never came back!"

"Have you gone to look for him?" I interjected.

Officer Peng nodded, "We looked, but we just about looked through the whole forest and couldn't find him; in the end we found him at the delivery company!"

I froze up, "The murderer even mailed back the corpse, customer service is pretty attentive!"

I saw Officer Peng, whose face was a little pallid, probably from some lingering fear, say, "No, we found him at the delivery company boss's office!"

Luo Qian Qi and I met gazes, feeling like this phrase seemed to be very familiar.

Thinking back a little, I remembered that originally the fat boss told us that it was in the delivery guy's trunk that they found Xiao Li's corpse.

So the person who killed Xiao Li and the delivery guy was not actually Li Yan Xin, but someone else.

T/N: Sorry for the obnoxious length of the TL notes all the time! I'll do my best to cut down on them since I'm sure it disturbs the reading experience at least slightly.

I think I said before that the murderer was someone we met before, since I thought it was Li Yan Xin, but welp, it isn't. In the next chapter, the real perpetrator will be revealed~