Chapter 11: This Venerable One Is Gonna Smooch, Rejoice!

"Y-Yes, that's me!" said Madam Chen, weeping. "But I didn't write on the tablet! Why would I curse my own child? I—"

"Indeed, you would not have done it while awake, but that's not necessarily true when you're asleep." Chu Wanning lifted his hand to pick up the memorial tablet as he spoke, channeling spiritual energy into his palm.

Suddenly, bloodcurdling screams erupted from the tablet, followed instantly by a heavy, festering scent of the blood that trickled forth from it.

Chu Wanning's eyes were cold and piercing, his voice stern. "Arrogant, wicked spirit—you dare to run so rampant!"

Faced with the potent spiritual power gathered in his palm, the writing on the tablet was forced to recede bit by bit, screaming as it did. It soon became faded and, finally, vanished altogether. Chu Wanning squeezed with his pale, slender fingers, and the entire memorial tablet shattered.

The Chen family, watching from behind, was stunned.

Even Shi Mei was struck. He couldn't help exhaling, "How impressive."

Mo Ran also couldn't help exhaling, albeit internally. How vicious.

Chu Wanning's face turned slightly in their direction. His elegant features were devoid of feeling, but a few specks of blood had splattered his cheek. He lifted his hand to examine the blood on his fingertips before speaking to the Chen family. "All of you, stay in the courtyard today. Don't go anywhere."

Obviously, none of them would dare do anything but comply after that display, and they promptly answered, "Yes! Yes! We'll obey Daozhang's every instruction!"

Chu Wanning strode out of the shrine room, indifferently wiping the bloodstains off of his face. He lifted a finger to point at Madam Chen. "Especially you. Do not fall asleep under any circumstances. That thing is capable of possession, so you must remain awake no matter how drowsy you become."

"Yes…yes, yes, yes!" Madam Chen agreed repeatedly. Then she asked tearily, with a measure of hesitance, "Then, Daozhang, my son…is…is he safe?"

"For now."

Madam Chen stared blankly. "For now? Not forever? Th-then what must be done to keep my son safe?"

"The demon must be captured," Chu Wanning replied.

In her panicked worry, Madam Chen forgot her manners and threw courtesy aside to ask urgently, "And just when is Daozhang planning to go capture it?"

"Right now." Chu Wanning's gaze swept over the Chen family. "Which of you knows the exact location of the red coffin's exhumation? Lead the way."

The surname of the eldest son's wife was Yao. Despite being a woman, she was tall and gallant. Though her face had some dread in it as well, she was relatively calm compared to the others, and immediately offered her help. "I know the location, since it was selected by my late husband and myself. I will guide Daozhang."

Chu Wanning, Mo Ran, and Shi Mei followed Madam Chen-Yao. Heading north, they soon arrived at the plot of land that the Chens had purchased. The area was overgrown and poorly lit, and it had been cordoned off—there was no one around for miles. It was also completely silent; not even the sounds of birds and insects could be heard.

Halfway up the mountain, the foliage gave way to a clearing.

"Honored Daozhangs, this is the place," said Madam Chen-Yao.

A grave-sealing rock lay on top of where the red coffin had been dug up. Mo Ran burst out laughing at the sight of it. "What good is that crappy rock gonna do? It's clearly the work of amateurs. Just toss it aside."

Madam Chen-Yao was apprehensive. "But the professional from town who we consulted said that the demonic beast inside the rock holds the evil spirit down and keeps it from getting out."

Mo Ran smiled sarcastically. "That professional sure has been effective so far."

Madam Chen-Yao balked. "Toss it aside! Toss, toss, toss!"

"No need," Chu Wanning said grimly. He lifted his hand, fingertips glowing golden as Tianwen answered his call. A single flick of the willow vine, and the rock shattered to pieces. Expressionless, Chu Wanning walked over to stand amidst the debris and once again raised his hand in a threat. "What are you hiding for? Get the hell up!"

A strange grinding sound came from below before a twelve-foot-tall wooden coffin burst forth from the ground, spraying earth and dust that flew everywhere.

"This coffin has such aggressive demonic energy!" Shi Mei said, startled.

"Step back," said Chu Wanning.

Tianwen struck the tightly sealed red coffin in a backhanded lash, sending sparks flying. There was a moment of silence, then the lid of the coffin shot open, and the object inside was revealed as the thick smoke from the explosion dispersed.

Inside the coffin was a completely naked man. He had a straight nose and handsome features and would have looked merely asleep, if not for the paper-pale pallor of his skin.

Mo Ran's gaze zoomed below the man's waist, then he made a show of covering his eyes. "Aiya, the stinky jackass isn't wearing any pants."

Shi Mei and Chu Wanning stared at him.

"My husband!" Madam Chen-Yao cried out, surprised. She made to rush toward the coffin without a second thought but was restrained by Chu Wanning, who reached out to hold her back.

"This is your husband?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes! That's my husband!" Madam Chen-Yao was stricken with both fear and grief. "How did he end up here? We definitely interred him at the ancestral grave, fully dressed in burial clothes. How did he…" Before she could finish, she began to bawl, beating her chest in anguish. "How could this happen?! So wretched—so wretched! My husband…my husband!"

"Madam Chen," Shi Mei murmured, "My condolences."

Chu Wanning and Mo Ran, on the other hand, both ignored the weeping woman. Chu Wanning didn't know how to comfort people, and Mo Ran had no compassion to speak of. Both their attentions were fixed on the corpse in the coffin.

Mo Ran had already gone through this once before and so knew more or less what was coming. But he had to act his part, so he stroked his chin and remarked, "Shizun, something's fishy about this corpse."

"I know," Chu Wanning replied.

Mo Ran paused. He'd actually had an entire speech planned out, ripped directly from Chu Wanning's original explanation and analysis from their previous lifetime. He'd wanted to whip it out in this one to give Chu Wanning a shock—but how could he have predicted that Chu Wanning would just casually throw out an "I know"?

As a teacher, wasn't he supposed to encourage his disciples to speak their minds, and to praise and reward them for doing so?!

Refusing to give up, Mo Ran pretended not to have heard that "I know" and kept going. "This corpse shows no signs of decomposing. Chen-gongzi died over half a month ago; in this kind of climate, he should've long since started rotting and leaking pus, and a layer of fluid from decay should have accumulated in the coffin. That is the first problem."

Chu Wanning shot him a cold "you may continue" kind of look, but he said nothing.

Unaffected, Mo Ran continued to recite Chu Wanning's explanation from his previous lifetime. "Second, the demonic energy emanating from this red coffin was very strong before it opened, but conversely, it vanished after it did so. Moreover, there's practically no demonic energy on the corpse itself, which is also quite abnormal."

Chu Wanning said nothing.

"Third, have you noticed that, ever since the moment the coffin opened, there's been a sweet fragrance on the wind?"

The scent was awfully subdued; one wouldn't have noticed it at all without paying careful attention. At Mo Ran's words, Shi Mei and Madam Chen-Yao realized that there was indeed a faint, sweet smell in the air.

"You're right," said Shi Mei.

Madam Chen-Yao sniffed, and her face blanched. "This fragrance…"

"Mistress Chen, what is it?" asked Shi Mei.

Madam Chen-Yao was so scared that even her voice changed tone. "This fragrance is my mother-in-law's secret formula: Hundred Butterfly Fragrance!"

No one spoke for a moment. That line written on the memorial tablet in the shrine room, "Erected by a living member of the Chen-Sun Clan," seemed to appear before their eyes.

"Could it be that this whole thing really is the elder Madam Chen's doing?" Shi Mei asked.

"It's unlikely," said Mo Ran.

"It is not," said Chu Wanning.

The two spoke at nearly the same time, then looked at each other.

Chu Wanning's look remained even. "Go ahead."

Mo Ran spoke without modesty. "As far as I know, the Chen family made their fortune off of the madam's unique Hundred Butterfly Fragrance. Its formula is kept secret, but the finished product isn't hard to obtain. More than half the girls in Butterfly Town wear this perfume. In addition, we looked into this beforehand, and it seems that Chen-gongzi also quite liked his mother's Hundred Butterfly Fragrance and often mixed it into his bathwater when bathing. So it's not at all strange that his body carries the scent. What is strange is that…" He turned his head back toward the naked man in the coffin. "He's been dead for half a month, but this fragrance is as fresh as if it had only just been applied. Am I right, Shizun?"

Chu Wanning was silent.

"If I'm right, could you praise me just a teensy-weensy little bit?" Mo Ran asked.

Chu Wanning said only, "Mn."

Mo Ran laughed. "You really don't like to waste words."

He'd hardly gotten in two chuckles before they were lost in a flurry of billowing robes as Chu Wanning grabbed him and swiftly moved them back several feet. In his hand, Tianwen glowed brightly golden, fiery light dancing. "Look out."

The smell of Hundred Butterfly Fragrance in the air suddenly thickened, and a white fog materialized as the scent filled the clearing, spreading with alarming speed. Almost instantly, the entire area became a sea of fog so dense that one couldn't even see the fingers on their own hand.

Mo Ran's heart stirred. The illusory realm was unfolding.

"Ah!" Madam Chen-Yao's shriek was the first thing he heard in the thick fog. "Daozhang, hel—"

She didn't get to finish before the sound of her voice was cut off.

Chu Wanning's fingertip glowed blue as he placed a tracking enchantment on Mo Ran's forehead. "Be careful. I'm going to check out the situation."

Then he quickly disappeared into the impenetrable fog, heading in the direction of Madam Chen-Yao's cry.

Mo Ran touched his forehead, laughing in low tones. "Well, well, well. Even the position of the enchantment is exactly the same as in my last lifetime. Chu Wanning, you really haven't changed at all."

The fog dispersed as quickly as it came, and before long, it was completely gone. However, the scene that revealed itself to Mo Ran was even more startling than the fog had been. At least, it had given him quite the scare in his last lifetime.

When the fog disappeared, the desolate and overgrown mountain he should've seen was gone. In its place was a vast expanse of an intricate and elegant garden landscape, filled with pavilions and winding verandas, rock gardens and verdant trees, and a cobblestone path that stretched beyond what the eye could see.

The mere sight of this place made Mo Ran want to roll on the ground in joy. This tyrannical jackass had been thinking about this very illusory realm all day. In his previous life, they'd all become separated here as well. Mo Ran had run into Shi Mei first, and under the illusion's enchantment, had kissed him for the first—and only—time in his life.

Unfortunately, that time, Shi Mei had fled as soon as Mo Ran let go, perhaps out of fright. Mo Ran had barely even gotten a taste of sweet nectar before it was snatched away, leaving him terribly unsatisfied.

Later, after the illusory realm was broken, Shi Mei hadn't kicked up a fuss about it. It was as if the kiss had never even occurred, and neither of them ever brought it up again. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, Mo Ran had wondered if it had just been a fantasy born of his deep obsession.

Fantasy or not, Mo Ran thought as he licked his lips, Shi Mei isn't getting away that easily this time! I'm gonna get my fill of smooches all at once!