A ghostly carriage descended from the sky. The carriage had a red wooden canopy that frightened all the ghosts. As it swayed to a stop on the street, Xing Shuishui saw the ghost horses’ eyes flickering with netherworld fire.
A man stepped down from the carriage. He wore a brown robe and had a full beard and stern, arched eyebrows.
He shouted angrily: “Who dares cause trouble here? Don’t you know the rules of Feng Du City? Fighting is forbidden!”
“The City Lord!”
“The City Lord is here!”
The crowd of ghosts knelt down, heads bowed. Xing Shuishui stood out like a sore thumb, which caught He Liansheng’s attention.
The young girl stood among hundreds of ghosts, her dress and face dirty. Sand had gotten in her eyes. She rubbed them, hiding her sleeve.
The young man narrowed his eyes: “Come here.”
Xing Shuishui froze. Of all times… She forced herself to squeeze out a few tears: “He Liansheng, I finally found you! There are ghosts everywhere here. I’m so scared.”
Then she walked over slowly.
The City Lord looked them both over: “Are you the two living people who entered the city?”
Xing Shuishui nodded. The City Lord of Feng Du was a Ghost King, not a divine official. He probably couldn’t see through her concealment talisman.
The City Lord sneered: “How ignorant. Did no one tell you the rules of Feng Du City? You dare cause trouble here.”
Xing Shuishui glanced at the evil ghost on the ground, about to explain for He Liansheng.
But the young man said: “Did no one teach you to watch where you’re going?”
They’re ghosts, not people!
Xing Shuishui tugged at his sleeve, trying to get him to be quiet. He Liansheng gave her a cold look: “Stop interfering or get lost.”
Xing Shuishui bit her lip.
The City Lord was furious: “Seize them!”
Hundreds of ghosts rose up. The Peach Spring Sword emerged with a ring. The young man’s eyes were full of killing intent. To He Liansheng, killing one or killing hundreds made no difference.
Just as tensions peaked…
Someone barked: “Enough!”
The City Lord’s face changed dramatically. He put away his weapon and knelt respectfully: “King, why have you come?”
The King of Hell glanced at Xing Shuishui hiding behind He Liansheng. He wanted to gouge out his own eyes. He turned to the City Lord: “I heard about what happened in the mortal realm. So many souls taken without reason – what kind of City Lord are you? The Heavenly Lord is already questioning this. Why wasn’t the reappearance of Yin Mountain sorcery reported?”
The City Lord broke into a cold sweat: “I only just learned of it myself. The soul-collecting officials who travel to the mortal realm have incomplete senses. They couldn’t detect the soul-trapping formation. It was my oversight. I accept whatever punishment you deem fit, Great King.”
The King of Hell said: “Let them finish their investigation and leave quickly!”
The City Lord said: “Yes, yes, yes, yes!”
He Liansheng put his Peach Spring Sword back against the one-armed evil ghost’s throat: “I gave you a chance and you didn’t talk. Maybe you’d prefer to cease existing.”
When people die they become ghosts, but when ghosts die, they truly die.
The evil ghost gritted his teeth: “I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”
He trembled: “Take the sword away first! How can I talk with a sword at my throat?”
He Liansheng: “You’re in no position to bargain.”
The sword blade moved back half an inch. The evil ghost stood up.
Before Xing Shuishui could figure out what had happened between them earlier, she was suddenly shoved hard by the ghost – right toward He Liansheng’s Peach Spring Sword!
In that critical moment, the Peach Spring Sword turned flat.
Xing Shuishui only hit the flat of the blade. Her hair pressed against the cold steel. The young woman looked up, her hand instinctively grabbing the blade. Though the Peach Spring Sword was sharp, her fingers weren’t cut.
“What’s wrong with you?” she turned back angrily. “Why did you push me?”
But there was nothing behind her. The evil ghost had vanished.
He Liansheng’s expression darkened.
Xing Shuishui knew she’d ruined his plans again. Her survival instinct kicked in: “He pushed me first.”
He Liansheng stepped forward, looming over her shoulder. Xing Shuishui unconsciously stepped back. The words from the Book of Life and Death floated through her mind – would she die alone and betrayed?
Seeing He Liansheng’s expression, she hesitated. Always so fierce. If she died, she died.
He Liansheng said coldly: “Behave yourself.”
“I am behaving! He’s the one who wasn’t,” Xing Shuishui said pointedly. “Who was that anyway?”
She kept looking in the direction the evil ghost had fled, clearly hoping for more drama. He Liansheng couldn’t tell how much of her earlier fear had been real or fake. That push hadn’t been a joke.
He Liansheng’s face was unreadable: “Just someone following us. A worthless nobody who doesn’t know better.”
Xing Shuishui: “Then whoever sent him must be who we’re looking for. Why did they only follow you and not me?” Did she really seem that harmless?
He Liansheng suddenly gave a cool smile: “Maybe they think you’re not very bright.”
What did he mean by that!
Xing Shuishui ground her teeth silently. Sure, in her past life she started out as a medicine sheep for that old bastard Guan Yinzi in Yin Mountain, but at least she lived long enough to kill him in the end. What about He Liansheng? For all his great start, he died from a backstab. Who’s really not bright?
She crossed her arms: “What now? Aren’t we going after him?”
He Liansheng calmly sheathed his sword: “Stay put. I sprinkled tracking powder on him. He won’t get far. Let’s see which worthless person has been hiding here playing games all this time.”
Xing Shuishui thought something was off: “You let him escape on purpose, didn’t you?”
He Liansheng didn’t answer. He walked toward a nearby inn. Even an idiot could tell he was baiting a trap. Xing Shuishui felt played. Dead man. Dead man.
She followed behind him, getting more annoyed with his back view. She wished she could stab him a few times right now.
The young man seemed to sense something and looked back.
Xing Shuishui was quite a bit shorter than him, especially when she lowered her head. He could see her crown and worried expression. She seemed afraid to look around – this was Feng Du City after all, surrounded by ghosts. Living people were rare, and she had no cultivation powers to protect herself.
He Liansheng appeared thoughtful: “Are you scared?”
Xing Shuishui quickly got into character: “You know I’ve been afraid of ghosts since I was little. Tell me, how much of the candle has burned? Will we be too late if we waste a day here?”
He Liansheng sneered: “Then why don’t you go back alone?”
Xing Shuishui: “I can’t. I’m afraid I’ll get eaten on the way.”
He Liansheng: “You’re that afraid of ghosts?”
Xing Shuishui nodded frantically.
“But your family might be here in Feng Du City right now.” He Liansheng curved his lips.
Xing Shuishui paused: “Will you help me look for them?”
He Liansheng: “No. Look wherever you want, just don’t cry for help.”
Xing Shuishui: “Isn’t there anyone you want to find?”
He Liansheng: “No.”
She was about to mention finding parents, but remembering how He Liansheng’s parents died, she shut up. Never mind. He was just naturally cold-hearted. She couldn’t expect any warmth from him.
The inn attendant looked at them and said expressionlessly: “This place is for the dead. The living may not enter.”
He Liansheng pointed his sword at the attendant’s throat: “Can we enter now?”
Xing Shuishui feared he’d cause trouble again and kept urging him to stay calm.
The attendant was silent for a moment: “Follow me.”
There was only one guest room available, which Xing Shuishui could accept. Given He Liansheng’s personality, he’d surely keep his distance. But when they opened the door, there were two coffins lying across the room.
On the wall hung white paper with black characters: “Share a bed in life, share a grave in death.”
Her mood became interesting.
The attendant showed an eerie smile: “This is our best room, the Heaven Room. Welcome to our humble inn. First, I wish you smooth sailing. Second, I wish you a pleasant stay. Third, I wish you a speedy reincarnation, not as a beast.”
Xing Shuishui: “…”
After the door closed, she leaned against it and asked: “He Liansheng, though this isn’t quite what we imagined… we need good rest to search effectively, right? Do you want the left coffin or the right one?”
He Liansheng: “Both are for you.”
“Then what about you?”
“Keep talking and I’ll throw you out.”
He Liansheng ignored her and began meditating. Xing Shuishui moved closer, curious. This He Liansheng meditating looked no different from other cultivators she’d seen. How was he a Celestial Master? Did he have some secret technique?
She leaned in closer. A faint peach blossom scent drifted through the air. He suddenly opened his eyes, meeting Xing Shuishui’s clear black and white ones. He froze for a moment. He Liansheng couldn’t take it anymore: “Xing Shuishui.”
Xing Shuishui backed away three steps: “I wasn’t disturbing you.”
If only she hadn’t been so curious…
The young man stood up, his tone icy: “Weren’t you afraid of me before?”
As the distance between them shortened, the soap fragrance from his clothes became more noticeable – ordinary but pleasant.
Xing Shuishui froze.
He Liansheng looked down, sneering: “Not afraid anymore?”
Xing Shuishui evaded: “I’m going to sleep now. I need to rest well. Is that tracking powder of yours reliable?”
He Liansheng spoke fiercely: “Xing Shuishui, don’t change the subject.”
There was a moment of silence in the room.
Then Xing Shuishui said: “I’ll sleep outside.”
She quickly went out. Always so fierce – who’d want to stay with him…
He Liansheng thought she’d slink back after a while. He continued meditating, but for the first time ever, he couldn’t gather his energy no matter how long he tried.
He picked up the Peach Spring Sword at his side and walked out.
Xing Shuishui really was sleeping outside. She’d pushed several long benches together to make a bed. He Liansheng sneered: “You can sleep like this?”
Xing Shuishui had noticed him already: “I’ve slept in much worse places when I was younger.”
He Liansheng: “How much worse?”
“Many people crammed in one room. It was stuffy, very hot in summer, smelling of sweat everywhere.”
He Liansheng: “Is this the hometown you mentioned? Doesn’t sound great.”
Xing Shuishui wanted to hit him: “No. Don’t make assumptions. That’s not my hometown. It’s another place, very far from my hometown.”
She made up a story: “Later there was a famine, we moved to another place, lived in a broken house for a long time.”
Actually, it was her first year after transmigrating to this world. The Peach Blossom Spirit clan was kept captive in Yin Mountain as medicine sheep for Guan Yinzi. She still remembered the tall white walls of the mountain manor that trapped her for a hundred years, until she finally killed that old bastard Guan Yinzi and his entire clan.
She came back to herself and asked: “He Liansheng, what about you? Have you had any difficult times?”
He Liansheng held his sword: “Why would I…”
Xing Shuishui thought for a moment: “That’s good. Everything’s gone smoothly in this life. You must have accumulated a lot of merit in your past life.”
But He Liansheng said: “Not necessarily. My master is a witch doctor. He said it’s because my past few lives were too bitter.”
He quickly realized what he’d said. Why was he telling her these things? He Liansheng impatiently threw out a harsh comment: “Since you like sleeping here so much, sleep all you want. If you come crying and knocking at night, you’ll regret it.”
Witch doctor? Xing Shuishui remembered that undead bastard who made her kneel for three days before going back on his word a hundred years ago was also a witch doctor. Her mood soured immediately. These master and disciple were cut from the same cloth.
Some witch doctor… Wait until his master divines that his dear good disciple won’t meet a good end, then he’ll behave.
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