Back from the Dead

As if Eldest Senior Sister could ever be lying. "Of course I believe Junior Brother Lu took his own life," Dai Bufan said, forcing a smile while his legs trembled. Never before had he felt death so close at hand. No matter how one looked at it, this seemed like Eldest Senior Sister had accidentally killed Junior Brother Lu and was preparing to destroy the evidence and dispose of the body, yet he had stupidly rushed over out of concern for Lu Yang. Had he lived long enough? In this situation, he couldn't even protect himself! Those immortal peaches truly weren't easy to take. One moment he accepted an immortal peach and owed Junior Brother Lu a favor, and the next moment he had to pay for it with his life. Was this what they called predestined karma? "Well, Eldest Senior Sister, please carry on. Call me if you need anything." Dai Bufan backed away quietly. Catching Yun Zhi off guard, he bolted and flew away with all his might, not daring to look back once. "Wait, come back." How could Yun Zhi let Dai Bufan escape? If she didn't clear things up now, it would be impossible to explain later. With a single thought from Yun Zhi, Dai Bufan was dragged straight back, retracing his exact path. "Eldest Senior Sister, spare my life! I really didn't see anything!" Seeing the dire turn of events, Dai Bufan immediately dropped to his knees and begged for mercy. Yun Zhi massaged her forehead and explained helplessly, "Little Junior Brother really isn't dead. He is just playing dead right now. He just played dead so well that he fooled the soul lamp, that's all." Dai Bufan had never heard of such a technique, but right now he was the meat on the chopping block, so he would believe whatever Yun Zhi said. The Immortal Fairy had sensed Dai Bufan's arrival long ago. Adhering to the principle of keeping her existence hidden from outsiders, she had immediately ducked aside. Originally, Yun Zhi would have also sensed Dai Bufan approaching, but she had been agonizing over whether to scorch her junior brother and got momentarily distracted. If she had known Junior Brother Dai was coming, she definitely would have hidden Little Junior Brother's corpse well... Wait, why did that still feel wrong? Yun Zhi felt baffled. It seemed no matter how she handled this, it was awkward. When Yun Zhi approached Lu Yang holding the golden flame, before the fire could even touch him, Lu Yang suddenly bolted upright like a resurrected corpse, letting out a loud yowl. In Dai Bufan's hand, the soul lamp reignited from the ashes. "He really was playing dead?!" Dai Bufan was astonished. To think such a wondrous technique existed, capable of fooling even a soul lamp! Was it a lost ancient technique, or something Eldest Senior Sister had created? Dai Bufan breathed a quiet sigh of relief. It seemed he wouldn't have to die after all. "Junior Brother Lu, are you all right?" Lu Yang grimaced in pain. He had been dead asleep just now when a sudden scorch to his soul woke him right up. Once he woke, however, that scorching sensation vanished. "N-nothing's wrong. Senior Brother Dai, why are you here?" *I came here to be buried alongside you,* Dai Bufan thought. "Are you really all right? Why don't you look at yourself?" Dai Bufan looked Lu Yang up and down with a peculiar expression. "Look at myself? What's there to look at?" Lu Yang asked, confused. He looked down and found his corpse lying neatly on the ground, while he was projecting out of his body as a soul! If Senior Brother Dai hadn't been present, Lu Yang would have demanded an explanation from the Immortal Fairy on the spot. "Minor issue. It's really fine," Lu Yang said, waving a hand to indicate everything was under control. Seeing that nothing was terribly wrong with Lu Yang, Dai Bufan departed, still full of suspicion. Once Dai Bufan was gone, Lu Yang leaned backward, trying to fuse back into his physical body. Unfortunately, it failed. When he stood back up, he was still in an out-of-body state. "Fairy, come out and explain what's going on!" The Immortal Fairy popped out from behind a large tree, full of praise for Lu Yang's talent in techniques: "Little Yang, you've grasped the basics!" Lu Yang pointed at his soul, then at the corpse on the ground: "You're sure this counts as grasping the basics?" "Of course! What is the Art of Playing Dead? It's an art of deceiving heaven! To fool heaven and earth, you must first fool yourself. "Your physical body is currently in a deceived state—it has become a corpse! "If you don't believe me, have Girl Yun try using corpse-driving art on it. I guarantee she can make your corpse move." Lu Yang didn't dare say he doubted her. "In your current state, you could even commit insurance fraud. You'd definitely make a fortune. "So your current state shouldn't be called an out-of-body soul. You ought to be called a wandering spirit," the Immortal Fairy corrected, her wording quite precise. "Your progress is much faster than Little Ling and Lianyi's. When the two of them first started learning, what they did couldn't even be called the Art of Playing Dead—it should've been called the Art of Playing Asleep! When they couldn't play dead, they just forced it, as if I couldn't tell they were pretending to sleep." Standing by and observing Lu Yang, Eldest Senior Sister nodded slightly. "I see. Playing dead fooled the soul lamp, fooled Dai Bufan, and even fooled your own physical body. It seems, Little Junior Brother, you could even fool a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator." Eldest Senior Sister could tell that when Lu Yang performed the Art of Playing Dead, a faint thread of vitality still remained in his soul. Vitality of this level was something not even Tribulation Transcendence cultivators could see through. "Fairy, save the compliments for later. Tell me how I get back to normal first," Lu Yang said calmly, not letting the praise go to his head. "Simple! Just perform a body seizure." "Body seizure?" Just as Lu Yang was about to ask whose body he should seize, he looked down and saw his own corpse lying quietly on the ground. "Seize your own body, of course!" The Immortal Fairy circled around Lu Yang's corpse, pitching it enthusiastically like a salesperson hawking clearance items: "Look how well-matched your soul and your body are! A match made in heaven! You won't feel the slightest rejection when seizing your own body!" Lu Yang: "..." *I admit what you're saying makes sense, Fairy, but could you please stop talking?* Although Lu Yang had never systematically studied how to conduct body seizures, as an unfortunate victim who was frequently possessed by the Immortal Fairy, experiencing it a couple of times was enough for him to learn. Circulating his profound technique, he merged with his physical body and successfully performed a body seizure on himself. Hands on her hips, the Immortal Fairy said proudly, "Hmph hmph, now do you know why this immortal is so proficient at taking over your body? It was all practiced back when this immortal developed the Art of Playing Dead!" Lu Yang wasn't quite sure what she had to be proud of. "Is that how the Art of Playing Dead is performed?" Eldest Senior Sister murmured softly. She attempted to circulate her profound technique, sitting on the imperial chair, completely devoid of vitality. Just then, a spatial gate opened, and Daoist Lord Hanhai came rushing in holding a soul lamp to check on things. "Has something happened to Yun Zhi?" The moment he arrived, he saw Yun Zhi sitting on the imperial chair, her vitality entirely dissipated, without a single shred detectable. Upon seeing this, Daoist Lord Hanhai actually breathed a sigh of relief: "So she's just playing dead." Nearby, Lu Yang asked in confusion, "Grandmaster, you also know the Art of Playing Dead?" Daoist Lord Hanhai was baffled: "What Art of Playing Dead?" "Then why did you say she was playing dead?" Daoist Lord Hanhai rolled his eyes. "There isn't a single injury on her body, no sign of any battle, nor does it look like her technique went awry. If she isn't playing dead, could a brat like you have killed her instead?"