Versatile Mage c1-2021, page 325
As Mo Fan was still feeling confused, a person suddenly appeared on the stairs in front of them.
A neat ponytail tied up on her head, and side fringes dangling around her shoulders fully displayed the girl's delicate charm.
She was dressed in plain, simple-colored clothes. The only eye-catching part was the swallowtail butterfly pin on her slightly uplifted c.h.e.s.t. Her b.r.e.a.s.ts were not huge, but it was obvious that she was going through puberty, and together with her skinny physique, they gave her an obvious curve!
"Miyata?" Mo Fan remembered the girl's name. He looked at her in surprise.
In the afternoon, the sunlight was still shining on her as she was carried her little basket. She looked innocent and charming, just like some girl next door, yet it was quite scary how she had appeared on the stairs out of nowhere. No matter how innocent her smile was, it still looked somewhat eerie!
"What Miyata?" Jiang Shaoxu looked at Mo Fan in confusion.
"The girl ahead," said Mo Fan.
Jiang Shaoxu glanced ahead with a confused look.
However, she soon turned around and giggled, "I thought you're more interesting than the other guys, but you're using such a boring trick still. Do you think I'm going to dive into your arms just because you said there's a girl in front of us? You have to be better if you want to take advantage of me..."
Mo Fan's forehead was covered in black lines when he heard Jiang Shaoxu's words, "You can't see her? You seriously can't see her?"
"Stop trying to trick me, there's nothing ahead!" Jiang Shaoxu proceeded down the stairs.
After going down the stairs, Jiang Shaoxu passed by Miyata without noticing there was a girl standing right beside her.
Miyata looked at Jiang Shaoxu with a smile as she walked past. For some reason, Mo Fan felt a chill running down his spine when he saw it.
"I forgot to ask your name in the afternoon. I'm glad to meet you, friend from the east," said Miyata politely to Mo Fan.
Mo Fan was not the kind that would easily wet his pants after seeing something supernatural. He remained calm and said in a deep voice, "I'm Zhao Manyan. Is it true that my friend can't see you and hear you?"
Jiang Shaoxu took a few steps more before she realized that Mo Fan was still mumbling to himself. She turned around and smilingly said, "Are you seriously still going on with the joke? Stop talking to yourself, let's head into town. I've got things to buy. The air by the sea is too moist, I don't feel too comfortable."
"I'm not sure either, but since you and your friend are busy, I won't disturb you anymore. Zhao Manyan... not a bad name..." said Miyata softly.
She slowly disappeared into the darkness after finishing the sentence.
Mo Fan stared ahead with a blank face. There was nothing in front of him, apart from a lingering fragrance!
Chapter 757 - Soul Eater
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
Mo Fan quickened his pace to catch up to Jiang Shaoxu, yet he was still preoccupied by his thoughts about Miyata.
The girl was like a ghost, yet she was not actually a ghost. Mo Fan was confused about why he could see the girl when Jiang Shaoxu could not?
"Such a boring man," Jiang Shaoxu rolled her eyes at Mo Fan and led the way. Either way, she was disappointed in Mo Fan's petty trick.
She did not think it was bad for a man to flirt and take advantage of a woman since she was such a gorgeous beauty, yet the trick Mo Fan used was too lowly...
As a matter of fact, Jiang Shaoxu was quite scared of supernatural stuff. Otherwise, she would not ask Mo Fan to keep her company. She found it hard to accept even though she knew Mo Fan was joking!
"Alright, my bad, guess I'll be going back to the temple. My mind is full of question marks now," Mo Fan did not want to waste his time further when he realized that the girl was actually mad.
"Don't go, we'll come back as soon as I buy the stuff I want," Jiang Shaoxu glared at him.
"Seriously, being so smug when asking for a favor? Do I look like someone that boring? I really meant it when I said there's someone there..."
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The atmosphere turned lively as they arrived in the city. The truth was, Mo Fan had never gotten used to staying in quiet places. He felt like he was abandoned by the world, like an old man spending their last years living alone on a mountain. He preferred to stay in big cities, with concrete walls and huge glass panels, luxurious cars, trams, youthful girls, m.a.t.u.r.e girls...
Xixiong City was extremely clean, with lots of Japanese-style streets, paths, houses, parks and old trees scattered across the place, places where one could easily spend their entire afternoon enjoying the scenery...
They came to a busy street. Jiang Shaoxu was here to buy some skincare products and snacks. She did not buy anything special.
They saw a small izakaya on their way back, located at the intersection of two fairly quiet streets. The place was decorated with some lanterns, and a menu written in Japanese. There was a little hill behind it.
"Come, let's have some drinks," Jiang Shaoxu totally lost control of herself when she saw the izakaya. She immediately dragged Mo Fan over.
The owner of the business smiled when he saw the gorgeous lady, revealing his yellow teeth as he said something in Japanese.
Mo Fan looked at the owner as he spoke. Even though he could not understand a single word, Mo Fan never understood why the Japanese had to open their mouths so wide, just like the Koreans, when they were talking. -Can't they close their mouths after finishing their sentences? Must they really keep their mouths open and expose their teeth?-
Jiang Shaoxu chatted with the owner for a while, before the man gave her two bottles of sake. One warm, one chilled, to guarantee the taste of the sake.
Mo Fan had never tried it before. He almost poured the sake into a glass of ice water. Jiang Shaoxu smilingly tapped on his shoulder.
"So it's your first time in Japan," the owner spoke in a different language. It seemed like he was very aware of Mo Fan's presence.
"Yeah," Mo Fan nodded and pointed at the barbecue rack to order some aromatic squid.
"Where are you staying at now?" asked the owner.
"In that temple," Mo Fan pointed at the dimly lighted temple on the mountain.
The owner's eyes widened and he stopped cooking the squid.
"You...you're staying there? The Yanming Temple?" the owner's voice turned strange all of a sudden.
"Yeah," Mo Fan realized something from the owner's expression. He was also bothered by lots of questions, thus he quickly asked, 'Is there something strange about the temple?"
"Oh, oh, nothing, but I suggest you not to stay in the temple. It's not a good place. It was once a good temple, but not anymore," said the owner.
She blinked like a kitten and said with a soothing voice, "Tell us more about it, we just arrived here..." Jiang Shaoxu was now intrigued too.
The owner was indeed an old pervert. Even though he looked reluctant to spill the beans, he could not control his mouth at all. He lowered his voice and said, "Someone lost their soul there!"
"Lost their soul?" Mo Fan opened his eyes wide.
"In the past, the Yanming Temple was known for blessing people's marriages. Even the young folk from other cities would come here just to pray in the temple. However, there was a young man who went to the temple and fainted for no reason. He never woke up since then, none of the Healing Spells worked… some old folks said that he had lost his soul, his body had turned into an empty shell," said the owner.
Mo Fan's jaw dropped.
Jiang Shaoxu completely treated it as a story. She always enjoyed listening to the gossip from the owners of izakayas in Japan.
"A piece of advice, just pretend you didn't see anything even if you do if you really want to stay in the temple..." the owner lowered his voice further.
"What if we don't?" asked Mo Fan. Somehow, Mo Fan believed in the owner's words.
"That's going to bring you nothing but trouble, you'll lose your soul!" said the owner.
"Hehehe, I know how to steal someone's soul too, check this out...muacks," Jiang Shaoxu gave a passerby a fly kiss and blinked her eyes.
The passerby was a little drunk, and he staggered after getting teased by Jiang Shaoxu.
Jiang Shaoxu giggled when she saw the man trying to recover clumsily, showing her vixenish temperament.
"There's nothing I can do if you don't trust me." The owner was too lazy to argue further.
Mo Fan wanted to listen more, yet the owner was reluctant to say any further. Even the squid was tasteless in his mouth...
---
After supper, the two went back to the stairs leading up to the temple. Mo Fan kept looking around him, worried that Miyata would show up again.
"Do you really believe the story? Stop being silly, you're an a.d.u.l.t now," Jiang Shaoxu started laughing at Mo Fan.
"You didn't want to believe me and the owner, just keep believing yourself then..." said Mo Fan indifferently.
Miyata did not appear. Mo Fan and Jiang Shaoxu went back to their room. The light was still on.
The people in the temple did not rely on electricity for lighting in order to save money. They normally used oil lamps. It was rather antique, yet when Mo Fan and Jiang Shaoxu came back, the electric lamp was still lit up. They could see blurry shadows moving back and forth inside the room.
"Did you find him?" asked Ai Jiangtu.
"No, he really went missing," said Jiang Yu.
Mo Fan and Jiang Shaoxu went into the room as they were talking. The others immediately looked at them as if they had just seen a ghost.
"Who's missing?" asked Mo Fan immediately.
"You two, we spent a long time looking for you. We thought you two were missing. Where did you go, we were almost worried to death," said Jiang Yu.
"We went down the mountain to buy some stuff… by the way, is something wrong? Why is everyone so tense?" asked Jiang Shaoxu when she realized that something was not right.
The room fell silent, and no one answered her question.
Mo Fan looked around him and realized that someone was missing from the team.
Taking a second look, he immediately shivered in fear!
Zhao Manyan was missing!
Chapter 758 - The Strange Incident in the Temple
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
A golden-haired man was lying on the tatami. His face was covered by a thick blanket. For some reason, the temperature in the room was freezing, and the man under the blanket seemed to be the reason.
Mo Fan walked up to the man and flipped the blanket open. He saw Zhao Manyan's face.
His face was pale-white. Although Zhao Manyan was the pretty-boy kind, his skin tone was normally quite healthy instead of its current pallor.
Mo Fan touched the blanket and realized that it was extremely icy too. The cold was coming from Zhao Manyan's body.
"Zhou Xu found him first. He was meditating in the room when he felt cold all of a sudden. It took him quite some time to figure out that Zhao Manyany was the source of the chill, like he was poisoned. He didn't react at all, and has stayed the same even until now," said Nanyu.
The incident was too bizarre. Apart from Zhou Xu, Zu Jiming was also in the room when it happened. They were busy minding their own business. Zhao Manyan ended up like this all of a sudden, giving them a great fright.
Everyone immediately gathered in the room when it happened, yet they realized that Mo Fan and Jiang Shaoxu were missing, sending them into a panic. Luckily, the two only went to the city to get some supper.
Now, the only problem was Zhao Manyan.
"He's alive, but he's in a deep sleep. Nan Rongni strongly suggested that we not wake him up f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y. Otherwise, it would inflict serious damage to his spirit. We have to find out what poison it is first… the strange thing is, we asked an old monk to take a look, yet he immediately ran away while murmuring under his breath. He did not give us any useful information, so it's unlikely that they will give us any help," said Jiang Yu.
"Is the Healing Element not working?" asked Mo Fan.
Nan Rongni shook her head.
"Is his life in danger?" asked Mo Fan again.
"Not for now, but the cold from his body is quite strange. I'm afraid that it will severely affect the functions of his body," said Nan Rongni.
Mo Fan nodded. He understood the situation.
He turned around and saw Jiang Shaoxu with a shocked expression. She finally spoke up when everyone ran out of ideas, "Does this mean what the owner of the Japanese bar said is true? There's some kind of Soul Eater here? Zhao Manyan does look like he has lost his soul!"
"What Soul Eater?"
"Jiang Shaoxu, enough with your nonsense. Stop scaring us when we're on a barren mountain," said Mu Tingying unpleasantly.
As they were Magicians, it was not scary if they knew the demon creatures were responsible for it, yet if it involved something supernatural, it would be somewhat terrifying!
Jiang Shaoxu immediately told everyone what she heard from the owner of the izakaya.
Everyone felt uneasy after hearing the words. Did Zhao Manyan really lose his soul?
"Stop being so superstitious, we're from the magic society," Nanyu stopped everyone from thinking further.
"Mo Fan, you mentioned you saw a girl, was that real too?" asked Jiang Shaoxu as she recalled something.
Mo Fan did not respond, yet Jiang Shaoxu had her answer from his expression. Mo Fan felt a great chill go down his spine as soon as Jiang Shaoxu mentioned it!
"By the way, why did it have to be Zhao Manyan? There are so many of us here; if there's really a Soul Eater, why did it only target Zhao Manyan?" Mu Tingying asked, a question that was indeed worthy to be discussed.
Mo Fan's lips twitched. It all made sense now. Should he spill the beans?
Mo Fan was totally dumbfounded!
First of all, why was he the only one that could see the girl? What exactly was the girl, to come and go without a trace? He was already an Advanced Magician; it did not make sense that he could not sense if she was alive.
Second, did he really curse Zhao Manyan?
Mo Fan did not forget that he had given Zhao Manyan's name to the girl, and Zhao Manyan turned out to be the victim!
Did that mean the Soul Eater could only target someone after learning their name?
Everyone was at a loss. Even after Zhao Manyan and Mo Fan told them what they knew, the others chose not to believe it. They were more willing to explain Zhao Manyan's condition was some kind of poison.
"Does anyone know where did Zhao Manyan went tonight?" asked Zu Jiming.
"He didn't go anywhere, just the mountain behind the temple, the well, the corridor, the memorial temple...didn't we already investigate those places?"
"We should split up, but don't go anywhere alone. You few should ask the old monks about anything strange in this temple. As for everyone else, go check the places Zhao Manyan has been to, see if there's any plant nearby, since it's more likely that he's poisoned..." ordered Ai Jiangtu.
----
The team immediately split into smaller groups. They had to find the reason for Zhao Manyan's being poisoned as quickly as possible.
Nan Rongni also mentioned that since the Healing Element did not work, they had to focus on finding the truth behind it. Zhao Manyan had stayed in the temple's vicinity. It would not be difficult to find some clues.
Mo Fan was allocated to a small group too. Their job was to find the young girl.
Jiang Shaoxu wanted to know the truth, too. She volunteered to join Mo Fan's group. The others in the group were Jiang Yu and Mu Ningxue.
"What you said just then, was it real?" Mu Ningxue walked up to Mo Fan and asked sternly.
"Why would I joke about something like that? There's something wrong about this temple. If you don't believe me, I think you all should head down the mountain and ask the residents of the town about the temple," said Mo Fan.
If only he could see the girl, it would be meaningless for the others to follow him. Perhaps the owner of the izakaya or the residents nearby would know some useful information.
"I'll stay with you, it's dangerous for you to be alone," said Mu Ningxue.
"Mm, it's better to stay in pairs. Jiang Yu, let's go head down the mountain," said Jiang Shaoxu. She knew now was not the time to fool around. She immediately followed Jiang Yu down the mountain to ask around about the temple.
Mo Fan and Mu Ningxue walked toward the stairs. Mo Fan remembered there was a diverging path covered by weeds in the middle of the stairs. Mo Fan had no idea where the path would lead to, yet he remembered it was where the girl had disappeared. He might find some clues there. Besides, the path was purposely sealed off!...
Chapter 759 - May I Know Her Name?
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
Mo Fan and Mu Ningxue went to the middle of the stairs where he had stumbled on the girl previously.
Mo Fan looked at the diverging flight of stairs and saw that the path was overgrown with weeds. Some vines were blocking the path.
There was also a white line across the path, implying it was a prohibited area. The white line felt even stranger the more Mo Fan looked at it, as if it was some kind of seal locking something inside.
Perhaps it was only him, but the path looked eerier under the dim moonlight!
"Is this where you saw the girl?" asked Mu Ningxue.
"Mm, but I saw her first in the afternoon. She went to the temple to look for a young monk, so she chatted with me because I was talking with the monk. I didn't notice anything odd about the girl at first," said Mo Fan.
"Most of the monks went down the mountain for some ritual just before nighttime. They told us they will be back in a few days," said Mu Ningxue.
"I know, or else I would be asking the bald donkey who can see the girl like me some questions. I bet he could easily tell us the truth," said Mo Fan.
Mo Fan had just learned that the monks had left, leaving only an old monk behind to look after the temple. The old monk was acting strange since he knew about Zhao Manyan's situation. He kept murmuring about how something was impossible.
