I propped myself up, leaning out of the flying carriage to look. Sure enough, a mass of ominous black energy swirled in the distance like a tornado, reaching toward the sky. Faint peals of yin thunder rumbled as bolts of lightning darted erratically through a blood-red firmament, looking as though it might rain gore at any moment. I knit my brows in disgust and retreated back into the carriage, taking several deep breaths of the fragrant air within.
Wei Qingming gave a faint smile, her expression enigmatic. "Perhaps we won't even need to lift a finger against this ghost."
I turned the thought over in my mind and looked closer. That tornado was shifting left and right, as if it weren't attacking but rather evading. A faint, white speck—no larger than a bean—was locked in a fierce struggle with it. As the flying carriage drew nearer, I finally saw clearly: who else could be the only other living person in this Ghost Realm besides us but Lu Lingfeng!
Aside from my Fifth Sister, Zhu Yixin, who favored red, all the female disciples on the mountain wore white. Setting aside her truly difficult personality, Lu Lingfeng was actually a very beautiful woman; her aversion to smiling only added a cold, enchanting grace to her demeanor. At this moment, her robes billowed and her long, ink-black hair fluttered in the air, making her look quite celestial. However, the weapon in her hand was a bit of a stylistic mismatch—it was a shabby, half-broken wooden bucket...
From within the tornado, black ghostly hands reached out from time to time, each wielding a different weapon. It was as if this wasn't a vengeful spirit, but a warehouse for the Underworld’s exotic armory. Lu Lingfeng’s martial skills were actually quite good—the best among us sisters, in fact. Yet every time she clearly had an opening to strike back, she only dodged without parrying, focusing all her energy on holding up that wooden bucket and chanting under her breath.
"She actually wants to capture this Ghost Manifestation..." I pressed a hand to my forehead. "She’s truly bold."
Wei Qingming, however, seemed quite well-disposed toward my eccentric Second Senior Sister. With a slight smile, she continuously flicked out yellow talismans. They formed a brilliant, thin line that rapidly assembled into an Evil-Slaying Array, shrinking the Ghost Manifestation’s range of movement to assist her. My heart bled at the sight; those were all top-grade Second-Rank Soul-Suppressing Talismans produced by the Wujing Sect. Each one cost at least a thousand spirit stones, and she was just tossing them out like that just to satisfy my sister’s strange hobby...
Finally, the tornado’s movements grew slower and slower until it could no longer spin. The wind dissipated, revealing the true form of the Ghost Manifestation. This was the most decent-looking ghost I had seen since entering; at least she was wearing clothes. From a distance, she looked like a graceful, slender woman, though she was a bit too tall... only an inch or so shorter than that unnatural giantess, Wei Qingming.
Like a cornered beast, the female ghost made a final, desperate gamble, flinging her sleeves wide to hurl all her remaining weapons at once. Lu Lingfeng seized the opportunity, lifting the wooden bucket and flipping the lid. With a *clatter*, she scooped them all inside. Then, spinning on one leg on her tiptoes, her white robes blooming like petals, she *swish*—captured the still-stunned female ghost. *Snap.* She briskly shut the lid.
The female ghost thrashed violently inside the bucket, but Lu Lingfeng ignored it. She spun and descended slowly before us, nodding expressionlessly to Wei Qingming. "You did well."
Wei Qingming sat cross-legged in the carriage, smiling as she gracefully pinched her sleeve and gave a slight bow.
I hopped down from the carriage and asked without much hope, "Why didn't you reply when I sent you a message?"
Lu Lingfeng tilted her head, thinking for a moment. "My situation was very dangerous. I couldn't spare a hand."
What do you mean "couldn't spare a hand"? You were only carrying one shabby bucket the whole time! And what "dangerous situation"? She was the one who wouldn't let the ghost go, hounding the poor thing relentlessly. The ghost was the one in a dangerous situation!
Even the ghost in the bucket couldn't stand to listen anymore, letting out a *thump* that knocked the bucket over as it rolled helplessly on the ground.
The flying carriage was delicate to begin with, and three people made it too crowded. Wei Qingming politely invited the two of us to sit while she stepped down to fly via sword-kinesis. In the era of ancient methods, sword-riding was standard for cultivators, but nowadays, good swords were precious, and the inlaid Flight-Feather Stones had become controlled substances. Riding a sword was too much trouble and useless for anything other than looking cool. Moreover, the hedonistic children of the nobility didn't even know how to ride a sword; they found it most comfortable to sit in carriages or boats. Thus, one almost never saw anyone flying on a sword anymore. And so, Lu Lingfeng clutched her filthy, broken bucket and sat regally upon Wei Qingming’s fragrant flying carriage.
Through a curtain of light gauze, Wei Qingming’s silhouette was a blur beside us. I could only see her waist; I couldn't see her face. Bored out of my mind, I asked Lu Lingfeng, "Second Senior Sister, why do you have so many items from the Yin Realm?"
"Master was cleaning the storehouse. He saw these things were ugly and wanted to throw them away, so I picked them up."
I gave a couple of dry, mocking laughs. Only a fool would believe that. Master was so lazy; there was no way he would set foot in a troublesome place like the storehouse... She had likely stolen them.
Lu Lingfeng wasn't bored at all. She kept squinting one eye, peering through a hole in the bucket at the ghost as if it were a precious treasure. I really couldn't figure it out; she had the same level of cultivation as I did, so how did she dare catch a Cloud-Eating Realm Ghost Manifestation, and so easily at that? Perhaps that bucket truly possessed great divine power!
Once she had seen enough, she fished out a small bag, took out a piece of dried rat carcass, tore it into small bits, and dropped them through the hole one by one. A look of maternal tenderness actually flickered across her usually cold face, as if she were raising a pet... I truly couldn't watch any longer. I abruptly yanked open the gauze curtain and said to Wei Qingming, "Let her enjoy this 'blessing' alone! I can't take it anymore!"
Hearing my voice, Wei Qingming glanced at me. Suddenly, she reached out an arm and scooped me into her embrace like a little chick. Standing on that thin strip of a flying sword, she remained perfectly steady, without even a wobble. My face flushed red as my chin tucked against her thin, distinct collarbone. Wei Qingming considerately lifted her wide sleeve to shield my head, preventing the high-speed wind from chafing my exposed skin.
I actually felt very comfortable and happy, but I still had to offer a polite refusal. "My senior sister is right there..."
She looked down and smiled. "What does it matter? She already considers me your paramour."
I stared at her in disbelief. To hear such a vulgar word come from her mouth—it was like seeing a ghost... though I had indeed seen too many ghosts today, probably enough to last me sixteen years.
I lay obediently in her arms. For a while, neither of us spoke. Only the occasional *thump-thump* came from the flying carriage, along with the silhouette of Lu Lingfeng constantly slapping down the ghostly hands reaching out from the bucket... Excellent. They were making rapid progress; they were already holding hands.
Time was pressing, and Wei Qingming flew faster and faster. Nestled in her arms with my back to our path, I was still so buffeted by the wind that I could hardly keep my eyes open and could barely breathe. The scent of blood in the air grew thicker. The originally vast Ghost Realm began to contract, eventually leaving only a narrow, pitch-black path. Even with my eyesight, I could see nothing. Wei Qingming and Lu Lingfeng both cast several illumination spells, but they were useless.
Wei Qingming drew her blade with one hand, her body already radiating a will to fight. With her other hand—as if afraid I might fall, even though I was clinging tightly to her waist—she reached up to touch my cheek, seemingly confirming I was unharmed. I stood on my tiptoes and rubbed my nose against her chin. Only then did she ask in a low voice, "Are you afraid?"
"I'm not," I said. "You don't need to worry too much about me. Master gave me a whole pile of life-saving trinkets."
She nodded and signaled to Lu Lingfeng. The sword and the carriage both slowed and landed on the ground.
Lu Lingfeng quietly surveyed the surroundings. "Do not be submissive. This is its domain." Her words were cryptic, but Wei Qingming understood immediately. She raised a sleeve and summoned three Explosive Talismans, stacking them together before striking out with a sudden palm. The talismans flew out; though there was no fire, the sound of the impact and explosion was deafening. If Xu Xingze wouldn't come out, she would blast him out! At the very least, we couldn't follow his design and walk to the end of this black path, leaving ourselves at his mercy.
At the same time, Lu Lingfeng pulled out a strange-looking bone bell and hung it on a tattered bone staff. Her entire outfit was bone-white and eerie, emitting wisps of ghostly energy. She began to leap and shake the staff in circles, chanting a bizarre tune—the exact image of someone summoning souls or driving corpses...
I had to do something too, so I summoned Huanzhen, spreading its grains of sand everywhere to check for illusions. To my surprise, Huanzhen was exceptionally jubilant; every grain of sand was joyfully sucking up the blood-qi within the ghost cave. I couldn't say for sure if this was good or bad, but Master once said that Huanzhen was the ultimate bane of evil because it was the most demonic of demons and the most wicked of evils. It probably wasn't afraid of these things! If I had known, I would have released it sooner.
I didn't know which method worked, but a light finally appeared in the darkness ahead. I squinted my eyes, trying to adjust. After a few breaths, the deep darkness transformed into a vast landscape of white mountains and black waters, with snow falling across a boundless white expanse. Although I knew exactly what kind of hellhole I was in, I still gasped at the sight. It was too realistic. While it wasn't the exact mountain of my original home, it was clearly the same region—Yanzhou, the Heluo Mountain Range that straddled the border.
I urged Huanzhen forward, wanting to test what kind of illusion this scene was made of. But Huanzhen lazily spat out a line of sand to probe and quickly retracted it, indicating this wasn't an illusion, but a form of pure ghost sorcery.
The main sect gate of the Wujing Sect was located at the border of Yan and Qing Prefectures, so Wei Qingming naturally recognized it as well. She stopped her movements and watched for changes. Only Lu Lingfeng acted as if she saw nothing, continuing to hop about and sing her soul-summoning tune.
Amidst this tranquil snowscape, several riders suddenly burst forth. Men shouted and horses neighed; the white breath huffed from the horses' nostrils quickly froze into crystalline frost. One could tell at a glance that this group had galloped for a thousand miles and was fleeing in panic. Like a black flag pulled by a string, as these riders crossed the mountain ridge before us, a massive, dark swarm of pursuers followed close behind, shouting and yelling as they poured down the slope like a waterfall.
Horses galloping at high speeds are most prone to falling on a downhill slope, especially when both man and beast are exhausted. The lead rider lost his footing and tumbled through the snow. The surrounding guards panicked, and they too began to fall one after another. There was no need to watch the rest; the black flag of cavalry soon covered those few insignificant grey specks. Suddenly, a foul wind erupted, and the goose-feather snow turned into chunks of flesh and gore that rained down in a sickening mess.
The scene was first aesthetic and tragic, then cruel and horrifying. I didn't even know what expression to make. Even Lu Lingfeng stopped her ritual to watch intently. Wei Qingming, however, gave a contemptuous sneer. "He has never even seen the real thing," she said in a raspy voice. She leaped forward with her blade, stabbing it fiercely into the empty air in the middle of the scene. Golden light flared as a pattern of lines revealed its true form under her forced injection of spiritual power, spreading rapidly in all directions before vanishing in a flash.
Wei Qingming struck again with her blade, looking as though she intended to punch through this ghostly array with sheer brute force. She called out coldly, "Xu Ziji, come out!"
Presumably, this was Xu Xingze’s true name, and this reenacted scene was surely the death of his grandfather, Xu Yingda. I clutched my sleeves, nervously watching Wei Qingming wreck the place. Finally, the array screen shattered. Wei Qingming swung her blade like a falling star, the strike forcing back the dozens of soldiers besieging the rebel general. Just as I thought she was going to save General Xu and his party, Wei Qingming hooked her hand and violently dragged the blood-stained, dying old general from the ground. Without a moment's hesitation, she swung her blade again and took his head.
I couldn't help but cry out, forcing myself not to close my eyes. I saw Wei Qingming grab the matted hair of the bloody head in one hand. Holding it aloft, she looked up at the void with a cold sneer. "Still not coming out?"
She turned, blade in hand, and walked step by step toward three shivering figures nearby: a young couple huddled together, holding an infant. She deliberately slowed her pace, yet her killing intent was razor-sharp. The white snow crunched beneath her feet like a groan. Her movements were perfectly composed and calm, but the more solemn and slow the approaching death was, the more the terror ravaged the mind. I had never seen her in such a cruel, asura-like state; for a moment, my heart was a mess of conflicting emotions.
The tip of Wei Qingming’s blade reached the bosom of the fainted lady. With a gentle flick, the swaddling cloth tore, revealing the infant’s pale, tender chest. Just one more inch, and the child would die. Finally, at that moment, the world turned dark. The soldiers, the dead, the couple, and the infant all vanished. A dark shadow rose from the horizon, slowly revealing its form and face.
"Young Master Wei..." a lingering, mournful wail rang out. "You truly are a hound of the court. To think I loved you so, and dreamed of you until my soul was haunted..."
***
