Chapter 181: The Rosy Skeleton and Yunjian Temple
"Hehe~ Seems like you and I have quite the connection, little brother."
The great demoness in the attic froze for a moment, then said in a teasing tone.
"Indeed."
Chu Yang nodded, then slammed his fist forward, shattering the wooden door of the attic. A cloud of pink mist billowed out toward him. Instantly, he focused his mind and held his breath.
With his current cultivation level, he could enter a state of embryonic breathing at any moment—no need to breathe through his mouth or nose. Holding his breath for days on end wouldn't be a problem.
"My, how aggressive you are, little brother! I spent a great deal of effort building that attic, and now you've smashed my door to pieces. Are you going to compensate me properly?"
The feminine voice gradually turned from coy to icy cold.
"Oh? And how should I compensate you?"
Chu Yang strode swiftly toward the source of the voice in the mist.
"Give me that fine body of yours—your blood and flesh will do nicely!"
The pink mist suddenly surged with a terrifying crimson light, and the demoness's voice turned sharp and piercing!
"Come take it, if you dare!"
Chu Yang hurled a punch forward, channeling the power of a hundred dragons and a hundred elephants. The space in front of him warped violently with a thunderous roar.
The flowing mist froze in place, then exploded under the pressure of the punch, revealing a panicked great demoness deep within—
A skeleton with partially refined flesh and blood!
Red and pink muscles clung to her bones like a gauzy garment stitched from living tissue.
"Ahhh!"
The skeleton let out a shrill scream, seemingly terrified that someone had seen her true form. A heartbeat later, she transformed into a humanoid figure, hiding her skeletal body.
She took the form of a mature, alluring woman—at least a seven in looks, but a ten in figure by Chu Yang's standards.
"Hah! A rosy skeleton, eh? Pitiful thing, having to steal a skin from someone else just to hide your ugliness."
Chu Yang mocked her mercilessly.
"This is my original form!"
Her voice grew hysterical. Chu Yang's words seemed to touch a nerve, like he'd triggered a deep taboo.
She reached into the surrounding pink mist and conjured a long whip, lashing it toward Chu Yang with a roar. The air cracked with the sound of splitting wind.
But Chu Yang's figure vanished in an instant. The whip missed and struck the stone wall beside him.
Smack!
The wall exploded, leaving behind a long, narrow crack as though smashed by a massive iron hammer. The blow carried tens of thousands of pounds of force—comparable to a top-tier internal arts master in the martial world.
"You're fast!"
The rosy skeleton hissed with fury, then lashed out again with her whip.
"Fast?"
Chu Yang sneered, standing completely still this time, eyes open as he watched the whip lash toward him.
"Ooh, I like a fiery one. Brainless brutes like you are my favorite!"
The skeleton's shrill laugh echoed through the attic.
Suddenly—
A blinding light burst from Chu Yang's body, like a radiant sun soaring into the sky, piercing the mountains and rivers. In an instant, the demoness's whip and the surrounding pink mist were incinerated to nothingness.
Then a second light emerged—a radiant moon rose high behind him.
The phenomenon of sun and moon sharing the sky unfolded like a divine painting, vast and overwhelming. The entire Tower of Euphoria began to shake violently under its power.
Even the rosy skeleton, a mighty demoness, turned pale with fright!
She had never seen such a terrifying human cultivator before.
Chu Yang thrust his palms forward. The sun and moon transformed into a grinding millstone of light, crashing down with terrifying force.
The skeleton shrieked and, ignoring all pretenses of beauty, reverted to her skeletal form. Her white bones gleamed, and thirty-six of them glowed with a faint purple light.
Each bone shone like a gemstone. The purple light connected them, forming a barrier that managed to withstand the crushing light of the sun and moon.
"Those are relics?" Chu Yang murmured in surprise. "You, a demon, actually have relics left behind by a high monk after enlightenment? Thirty-six of them, and you've even forged them into a single integrated artifact."
"The light of Buddha should be golden, but your demonic aura has stained it purple. What a waste."
Countless beams of light clashed furiously within the tiny attic. The space itself trembled, as if on the verge of being torn apart.
Chu Yang summoned Fengdu, ready to bring this battle to a close.
The Yellow Springs surged from the void, an endless torrent of rootless water, flooding toward the purple barrier.
"See how the Yellow River descends from the heavens!"
As the Yellow Springs flooded the attic, the rosy skeleton vanished without a trace—only shattered bones remained on the ground.
"She ran off quick enough... but she won't live much longer."
Chu Yang resumed his climb. At the top of the attic, in a small chamber, he found a barely breathing Lu Xiaofeng. In another chamber, he discovered Hua Manlou.
Compared to Lu Xiaofeng, Hua Manlou was in much better shape—pale and weak, but otherwise unharmed.
Lu Xiaofeng, on the other hand, had blackened eyes and barely a thread of life left in him. His vital essence was nearly depleted. Had Chu Yang arrived any later, he would've died for sure.
"You idiot... what are you doing here?"
Lu Xiaofeng's dazed eyes caught a familiar face.
"Lu Little Chicken, your old man's here to collect that wine money you owe."
Chu Yang's face darkened. This bastard actually had the nerve to call him an idiot again. He'd been planning to heal him, but now maybe he'd let him suffer a bit longer first!
"Thank you for saving us. May I ask—are you a friend of Lu Xiaofeng's?"
Hua Manlou, being blind, tilted his head slightly to listen. He could hear the rushing water but had no idea where it was coming from.
"Friend? Hardly. I'm his debt collector. The guy owes me a mountain of wine money!"
Chu Yang replied gruffly.
The more he looked at Lu Xiaofeng, the more annoyed he became. He seriously considered kicking him to death right then and there.
"Then you're definitely a friend," Hua Manlou said with a gentle smile. "These days, there aren't many who get to owe wine money—especially his kind of friends."
Lu Xiaofeng didn't catch what they were saying. He rolled his eyes and fainted again.
"Can you walk?"
"I can."
Chu Yang hoisted Lu Xiaofeng with one hand and turned to descend the stairs. With a thought, he had Fengdu retract the Yellow Springs.
The Yellow Springs vanished into the void as if they had never been.
Hua Manlou, with his acute hearing, wore a stunned expression—he felt like he was hallucinating, but followed silently behind Chu Yang.
When the group returned to the ground floor, the once-crowded casino was now eerily empty.
Li Gexiao burst in from outside, panic-stricken. When he saw Chu Yang, he shouted, "Your Highness! The whole Tower of Euphoria was shaking just now—I thought the whole place was coming down!"
Then he noticed Lu Xiaofeng hanging limply in Chu Yang's hand and exclaimed, "Lu Little Chicken? Why's he limp like that? Don't tell me he's dead!"
Lu Xiaofeng twitched and let out a barely audible groan.
"I can still be saved…"
"Where's Lord Qian?"
"I saw him trying to flee, so I dealt with him—slashed him once. Took care of those masked thugs too."
"Well done."
"What kind of monster was that in Tower of Euphoria?"
"A skeleton demon born from a human corpse. Somehow she had relics from a high monk embedded in her body—no idea how she got them."
Chu Yang briefly explained the demoness's origin, then handed Lu Xiaofeng over to Li Gexiao, who quickly propped him up.
Li Gexiao asked, "Where's that demoness now?"
Chu Yang shrugged. "Escaped. That Buddhist relic of hers is no joke—she actually got away from me alive."
"But she won't survive the night…"
Li Gexiao scratched his head. "Should we go after her?"
"Of course. Buddhist relics like that are priceless," Chu Yang smacked his lips. "High monks are rare these days."
Hua Manlou frowned slightly and said softly, "I may know where that demoness came from…"
Chu Yang and Li Gexiao both turned to him.
"Before coming to Tower of Euphoria with Lu Xiaofeng, I visited a temple called Yunjian Temple," Hua Manlou said. "The villages around it were plagued by demonic presence, but the temple itself was unusually serene. I thought the abbot must have profound Buddhist attainment, but now I'm not so sure—it felt… odd."
"A temple big enough to house over a hundred novices, but there was only an old abbot and a girl reciting scriptures for her mother."
Just then, Lu Xiaofeng stirred again.
"Yunjian Temple…"
Worried he might die from talking too much, Chu Yang sent a bit of life force into his body.
Li Gexiao quipped, "You're hanging by a thread and still thinking about the case. Want me to write you a letter of recommendation to apply to the Six Gates bureau?"
Lu Xiaofeng chuckled weakly, "If they hear you recommended me, they'd beat me out of the office. Your drunken reputation's not much better than mine."
"Hahahaha!!"
Li Gexiao and Chu Yang burst out laughing.
Listening to their bold laughter, Hua Manlou felt a surge of admiration. These two had stormed a demon's lair for a friend. They were brave, loyal, and peerless in martial prowess.
He felt a desire to befriend them.
"I am Hua Manlou. May I ask your names?"
Lu Xiaofeng coughed and cut in, "One's a broke drunkard, the other's a spoiled rich playboy. Just call them Drunkard and Young Master."
Hua Manlou shook his head. "You jest. They saved my life. I can't speak as frivolously as you."
Lu Xiaofeng rolled his eyes.
Li Gexiao said, "Call me Li Gexiao. The one beside me is Chu Yang, Young Master Chu."
"Hero Li and Young Master Chu, is it?" Hua Manlou tilted his head, as if recalling something. "But… I think I heard someone call you 'Your Highness' earlier?"
Lu Xiaofeng scoffed, "Do either of them look like a prince to you?"
"If one of them is a prince, I'll change my name to Lu Little Chicken for real!"
Li Gexiao patted him on the shoulder meaningfully. "A gentleman's word is his bond."
Lu Xiaofeng froze, face pale. "Don't tell me…!"
Chu Yang laughed heartily, "He's messing with you, idiot."
Li Gexiao cracked up.
"You scared the crap outta me! Try that again, and I'll piss in your wine, drunkard!" Lu Xiaofeng clutched his chest and let out a deep breath.
The trio bickered all the way out of Tower of Euphoria.
As they stepped outside, a thunderous rumble echoed behind them—the entire mountain collapsed, burying the tower beneath it.
The mountain was already riddled with cracks, and with the Yellow Springs flooding it, it could no longer support the tower's weight.
Once outside, Li Gexiao whistled sharply.
"What now? Got backup waiting out here?"
Lu Xiaofeng said sarcastically.
And the next second—a massive wolfdog, more imposing than a tiger, leapt out from the dark forest, startling Lu Xiaofeng so badly he nearly jumped out of his skin.
"You actually do have backup?!"
Li Gexiao patted the beast on the head and said, "This is my boy, Wangcai. Say hi."
The wolfdog looked at Li Gexiao with a puzzled expression—hadn't they agreed to name it "Xiaofeng"? How long had it been, and the name had already changed?
The wolfdog shook its head as if it didn't quite like the new name.
Lu Xiaofeng took the opportunity to tease him with a laugh: "You picked a name that even the dog doesn't like. You really don't have a shred of literary talent. Hopeless, like mud that won't stick to the wall."
Chu Yang suddenly spoke. "I think it sounds pretty nice."
Lu Xiaofeng retorted, "Nice, my ass!"
Hua Manlou quietly tugged at Lu Xiaofeng's sleeve.
"What?" Lu Xiaofeng asked.
"Master Chu seems to be in a bad mood. I'm afraid he'll beat you up."
"I didn't insult him. Why would he hit me?"
"What if he's the one who named it?"
"Uh…"
Lu Xiaofeng suddenly realized the gravity of the situation.
The same realization dawned on the large wolfdog as well. Its intelligence was nearly at the level of a spirit beast, so it naturally understood what Chu Yang and the others were saying.
It quickly wagged its tail and trotted over to Chu Yang, barking softly as if to express that it actually liked the name very much.
"Is it still too late to apologize?" Lu Xiaofeng said sincerely to Chu Yang.
Chu Yang shook his head, and regardless of his injuries, kicked him straight into the air. Then he placed his hand on the wolfdog's head.
Wangcai stuck out its tongue, wearing an ingratiating smile.
"I told you to stand guard outside. If you don't find that skeleton, we're having dog meat hotpot tonight."
With a yelp, Wangcai dashed off, using its keen sense of smell to track the red-powdered skeleton's demonic aura and lead the way for the group.
Without pause, they traveled through the night toward the Yunjian Temple mentioned by Hua Manlou.
In the original plot, Yue Qing—the one responsible for forging counterfeit silver notes—was hiding in Yunjian Temple. He had been coerced by Boss Qian and a constable named Luoma to mint vast quantities of fake currency for their profits.
To retire cleanly, the two tried to fake their deaths and divert attention by using the Tower of Euphoria as a smokescreen. However, their scheme was immediately seen through by Lu Xiaofeng.
But in this world, the constable Luoma didn't exist. Only Boss Qian was behind the circulation of the silver notes tainted with demonic energy.
And the one in the Tower of Euphoria was also a rosy skeleton demon, preying specifically on those consumed by desire. Its connection to Yunjian Temple had grown increasingly murky.
With the plot spiraling out of control, the information Chu Yang had was no longer reliable. He too was curious—what exactly was the connection between Yunjian Temple and the rosy skeleton?
As the night deepened, the chill in the air thickened. When they finally reached Yunjian Temple without pause, they found that what should have been a solemn and sacred Buddhist sanctuary had become filled with sinister winds—like the very gates of the underworld.
(TN: Will you revive Chu Yang? Voting is open for 24 hours only in my Patreøn. Thanks.)