Xu Xingze’s long hair was like satin, reflecting the shimmering starlight behind him. It flowed down like water or mist, extending infinitely as if graceful vines were sprouting in mid-air. He was no longer the hideous, gnarled ghost who had fled the stage; he had regained his original beauty. In fact, because of his ghostly form, his lips seemed redder and his skin fairer, his features becoming increasingly exquisite. His black pupils had turned gold, resembling two golden cicadas vibrating their wings within jade cups, their gaze brimming with unspoken emotion. It felt as though nothing remained in the world but those two soul-snatching eyes, capable of embracing, satisfying, and devouring all human desire.
Wei Qingming, however, utterly ruined the atmosphere. She sneered, "Why put on such an act? You clearly loathe the pampered scions of the nobility who use their wealth and power to oppress others."
"Hehe." Xu Xingze caressed his face and laughed softly. "To say I find them tedious... well, perhaps a little. But why should I hate them? If not for that sudden upheaval, I too would be the descendant of nobility, the son of a general's house! Master Wei, I truly do lose my heart to you. Why don't you stay and accompany me? I shall let those two go—"
"I have always detested debating with others." Wei Qingming leveled her blade and smiled coldly, cutting him off. "I think I'll just kill this 'son of a general' and see what happens!"
"Fine! Even you seek to humiliate me!" Xu Xingze snarled. "You too mock me for falling into the low-born registers, for disgracing my family name! Haha, very well! Then I shall use the methods of the low-born to avenge my family!"
The two instantly clashed. Though Xu Xingze appeared fragile and beautiful, his ghostly form was dozens of zhang tall; a casual fist could shatter mountains and rend the earth. Wei Qingming was dressed in black, making her nearly indistinguishable against the crimson-black sky. She fought him with the speed of a rushing flame. If not for the occasional golden flash of the Still Water Blade, my eyes would have been unable to track her. I was frantic with worry. Whether it was Wei Qingming or Lu Lingfeng, both of them were constantly challenging opponents far above their level. What on earth gave Wei Qingming the confidence to repeatedly and maliciously provoke a vengeful ghost whose cultivation clearly far exceeded her own?
Lu Lingfeng suddenly grabbed my sleeve, nearly pulling me off balance. She held the broken bucket to her ear as if listening to the ghost inside, while pointing at a talisman array on the ground for me to see. "The array your paramour drew is about to activate. Guard it well." With that, she slung the broken bucket onto her back and flew forward. Shaking her bone bell, she joined the assault on Xu Xingze.
I crouched down to examine the array Wei Qingming had left behind. It turned out that back when we were still stumbling in the dark, she hadn't just been throwing explosive talismans; she had also found the time to set up this formation. With my limited knowledge of talismans, I could just barely tell it was a First-Grade Array, combining both offense and defense. It had been pre-carved onto an array plate, requiring only proper placement and minor adjustments to activate. Only then did I feel a bit more supportive of Wei Qingming’s reckless behavior.
Once the spiritual script was saturated with golden light, I tapped the center of the array to activate it. Instantly, a brilliant golden flower exploded upon Xu Xingze’s body, knocking his giant frame askew. Enraged, he swung a massive palm toward Wei Qingming; the force of the wind even buffeted Lu Lingfeng dozens of paces away. The two figures, one black and one white, darted away and then swarmed back like flies.
I didn't rush to attack with the array again. Instead, I calmed myself and carefully observed Wei Qingming and Lu Lingfeng’s movements. I suddenly realized that Wei Qingming was actually acting as support for Lu Lingfeng. Lu Lingfeng was using the bone bell to constantly draw out the ghostly qi from Xu Xingze’s body, as if performing a dissection or study, while Wei Qingming guarded her side, parrying Xu Xingze’s frenzied attacks. They had to be looking for a vital point or a weakness! Having made up my mind, I took control of the array and fired first at Xu Xingze’s head. Then his neck, his arms, his chest, and waist, working my way down.
Sure enough, as soon as the artillery struck, the two of them used the bone bell and blade qi to peel back the patterns on the ghost’s body. The bone bell absorbed the baleful energy while the Still Water Blade pierced his ghostly meridians. The pain was so excruciating that Xu Xingze began rolling on the ground in a rage, trying to crush them beneath his weight. It was difficult to aim while he was moving, so I had to pause my attacks. Finally, seeing that the two had darted out of the danger zone, I seized the moment and fired a shot, hitting Xu Xingze squarely in the sole of his foot as he lay prone.
I covered my eyes with a sense of self-styled grace, not wanting to watch a beautiful man get shot in the foot.
I thought this move would, at best, cripple one of his feet to hinder his movement, or at worst, merely be an itch—at least it would help the other two test another spot. To my surprise, a strange green light flashed from the sole of Xu Xingze’s left foot. Gnashing his teeth, he flipped upright and covered the spot with his hand, staring at the two "insects" before him with a gaze full of resentment and wariness.
Lu Lingfeng cried out, "Found it!" The wooden bucket on her back vibrated violently, and the faint screeches of a ghost drifted out. I listened closely and discerned the words: "The Ghost Tablet! The Ghost Tablet! My Ghost Tablet!"
So that was the Netherworld treasure Xu Xingze carried. Lu Lingfeng struck her white bone staff, making the bells jingle loudly, and began chanting an incantation. Wei Qingming, while protecting her, began drawing and sacrificing talismans again, quickly forming another array.
I didn't dare to breathe, my hand hovering over the array's core as I watched them intently. Xu Xingze threw his head back and laughed wildly, two streaks of bloody tears flowing down his face. He actually began to sing *The Dream of Linchuan*, specifically the song where Scholar Liu and his ghostly wife pledge their love:
*"I loathe these lonely, drifting years; who would share such common beauty? Is there a Xiangru among the guests, willing to drive a fragrant carriage? Xiao Shi has no home, so let us treat this as the Jade Palace..."*
He sang with such tearful sorrow, his voice a thousand times more passionate than usual. In an instant, the world around us transformed into scenes from his memories:
The sound of an out-of-tune erhu—it was the family servant, Xu Fuhei, leading him and Tong Jinhu. All three were in rags, one adult and two children treading through dirty snow, singing and begging along the streets.
"Boss Jiang, look at this form, feel this tender skin..." It was the moment he was separated from the servant and Huzi, tricked into the hands of human traffickers and sold into the Yushan Troupe. That very night, he was defiled by Jiang Dongxing.
"You've grown bold, your wings have hardened, but don't think you can ever fly from my grasp! I'll make it so you can never leave me for the rest of your life!" It was Meng Tingyun, one moment shouting and kicking him, the next tenderly weeping as he held him in his arms.
"Brother Xingze, so the two of you... heehee, I caught you!" It was his reunion with Tong Jinhu, being followed by Hua Moli as the three of them played on a boat traveling south.
"It was there we once met, looking at each other so solemnly; who would have thought that at such a fine meeting, not a word would be said..." A dream of Linchuan, fame that shook the capital, and a sky full of the filthy hands of nobles reaching for him from every direction...
Even though I knew it was an illusion, I couldn't help but be moved. My heart ached, and tears streamed down my face. But Lu Lingfeng wouldn't let him finish. Her bell rang out point by point, striking exactly where it shouldn't, disrupting his rhythm. Wei Qingming finished her array and looked back at me from a distance, signaling for me to fire another shot into the core of her formation.
I swallowed my tears, cleared my vision, and steadily struck the core she indicated.
The light, as brilliant as fireworks, was filtered by the talisman array into a thin line of golden mist. It rapidly poured into the long blade in Wei Qingming’s hand, carving out profound and complex golden patterns that resembled intertwining branches. She held the blade upright before her brow and then, swift as lightning, transformed into a falling star.
At the same time, an object shimmering with a ghostly green light wobbled out from beneath Xu Xingze’s foot and landed in Lu Lingfeng’s hand.
Xu Xingze’s singing stopped abruptly. His golden eyes widened as if they would burst. With great difficulty, he turned his head to stare at Wei Qingming in disbelief. Her long blade had been thrust diagonally into his neck, emerging from his throat. The wound shimmered with faint golden light that looked like scratch marks, with talismans faintly engraved upon it. Even if the Ghost Tablet hadn't been removed, his ghostly body already had a flaw right there.
It turned out that the ointment she had given him at the very beginning to heal his wounds without scars had contained immortal magic. Everything had been a calculation. Just like him, everything she had shown was false affection...
Wei Qingming met his gaze, looking back with indifference for a moment. She pulled her blade out with a powerful jerk, retreating swiftly before Xu Xingze’s thick, dark blood could touch her.
I hurried forward to stand by her side.
Lu Lingfeng took the wooden bucket off her back and held it in her hand again. She used the Ghost Tablet to tease the ghost inside; the withered claws of the ghost reached out from the small hole again and again, fruitlessly trying to grasp its treasure.
The battle was over. Wei Qingming’s face remained wooden, her eyes sharp with a murderous aura, yet she didn't look at anyone or anything present. She seemed immersed in some violent memory of her own. I thought I would be afraid of her like this, but seeing her, my heart only filled with pain. I quietly slipped my hand into hers.
Only then did she stir slightly. She turned to look at me, the coldness in her eyes melting away.
Xu Xingze collapsed to the ground, his ghostly form gradually dissipating. Finally, he returned to the familiar shape we knew, though blood poured from his eyes; the stars would never shine within them again.
Wei Qingming landed on the ground and strode to his side. Showing a rare flash of anger, she grabbed Xu Xingze by the collar and said in a low voice, "I respected your spirit for seeking vengeance for your grievances. You could have taken those filthy noble sons who humiliated you and used them for your array, but you didn't have the courage. You only dared to harm the innocent... people who were suffering just as you once did! Furthermore, three of them were women of the demon race. After they died, the two of you skinned them and harvested their tendons, selling off every part of their bodies so that no trace could be found. You are nothing but a selfish coward. What you hate is the loss of your own power and status. If you had power, you would have oppressed the weak just the same!"
I shuddered at her words. So the reason only three of the six lives needed for the Six Jia Array were uncovered was because... because the other three were demons. Demons whose body parts could be used for medicine or crafting spiritual tools. And the public attack on Meng Tingyun was merely a distraction; a demon woman had already taken her place, using her resentment to sacrifice to the Netherworld and open that gate.
Xu Xingze spat out a mouthful of blood. Wei Qingming had also been injured significantly by fighting above her rank; from a distance, they looked like one blood-soaked person clutching the collar of another. He chuckled, "And you said... you don't like to debate... you're so long-winded... You are stronger than me, so you can kill me. If I were stronger—"
Before he could finish, Wei Qingming thrust her blade through his mouth and tongue, the tip emerging from the back of his head. She withdrew the blade and said coldly, "You have no idea what your father and grandfather fought for, nor why they died."
Xu Xingze was still smiling. A line from a play hummed in his chest as he fell back completely onto the ground, his lifeless eyes staring at the infinite darkness of the sky. I recognized the line he hummed; it was from *The Tale of the Red Leaf*. He was likely saying goodbye to Huzi:
*"This life is already spent; let us forge our bond in the next..."*
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