He Liansheng was still a man after all. Xing Shuishui pointed at his ears, signaling him to cover them, but he just stared at her, not moving. She froze, while creaking sounds continued from the bed above. She gritted her teeth, barely resisting the urge to set the two people up there on fire.
The bed curtains were torn apart, revealing how intense their passion was. The ankle bells rang and jade ornaments shattered as their lovemaking echoed throughout the room.
If only they’d hidden in a different room…
Xing Shuishui covered her ears in frustration, and her sleeve-hidden dagger fell out.
The room went silent instantly.
The couple on the bed stopped moving. The woman asked curiously, “My lord, what’s wrong?”
He Liansheng held Xing Shuishui from behind, restraining her hands. She didn’t dare move. Her hair tangled around his wrists, her back pressed against his chest, feeling his breathing. This was the first time she’d been so close to him – it felt strange. What was He Liansheng thinking now? The lovers’ incense probably barely affected him.
“Don’t move,” he transmitted mentally. His warm breath traveled from her ear to her neck. Xing Shuishui glanced sideways – He Liansheng was coldly watching outside, murderous intent hidden in his eyes. Yes, someone was going to have bad luck tonight.
The Ghost King spoke coldly: “There seems to be a sound under the bed.”
The ghost woman laughed: “My lord~ That must be my hairpin that fell! I’ve heard of your bedroom prowess, and experiencing your passion today truly leaves me breathless.”
The Ghost King laughed heartily: “You flatter me! Tonight let’s drink and enjoy ourselves, not waste this perfect moment!”
The two started their shameless activities again.
Xing Shuishui bit her lip – what vulgar talk, how shameless! Pressed in He Liansheng’s embrace, she could hear her own breathing. Who knew how long these two dead people would take to leave.
The lovers’ incense burned hotter – clearly nothing good. She transmitted: “Are you okay?”
He Liansheng: “Fine.”
But hearing his breathing grow heavier, she instinctively bit his palm, transmitting: “Stay alert.”
She bit hard without thinking. The youth’s palm quickly showed teeth marks, like red earrings fallen on snow. His eyes darkened further.
Xing Shuishui clearly hadn’t noticed his strange state, just wondering when she could retrieve her dagger.
The activity above quieted. The ghost woman panted heavily, saying softly: “My lord, that’s enough. Don’t you have to feast with the other Ghost Kings tonight?”
The Ghost King laughed: “You’re right. We’ll go discuss important matters with them soon! If they agree, all of Fengdu City will eventually be ours!”
The ghost woman complained: “What grand scheme are you planning now, my lord? Why haven’t you told me?”
In his good mood, the Ghost King spoke freely: “Haven’t I told you? I finally obtained some blood parasites, and they need many living humans to feed. Fengdu watches me closely, like lingering spirits, making it inconvenient for me to move around. I can only ask for their help. When we take Fengdu City, the first thing we’ll do is strip that dead city lord and hang him naked on the city wall!”
Blood parasites! Xing Shuishui’s eyes widened.
Where did this Ghost King get blood parasites? She couldn’t help gripping He Liansheng’s arm tighter, unsure if it was related to Guan Wushan, but there must be a source.
He Liansheng’s eyes narrowed.
The ghost woman suddenly understood: “I was wondering why the dungeon had so many living people lately, crying all day, giving me headaches. So my lord needs them to feed the parasites. I’ll endure it for a few more days then.”
The Ghost King sneered: “If anyone bothers you, just rip out their tongues!”
The time was almost up.
The two dressed and quickly left the room.
He Liansheng finally released Xing Shuishui. She emerged from under the bed, gasping for air – it had been suffocating down there!
While fanning herself, she spoke: “He Liansheng… later… you go with Sister Guanyu and the others to deal with those Ghost Kings, I’ll go rescue the people in the dungeon.”
The lovers’ incense affected her significantly. Though she held her breath, she still inhaled some. Despite using her inner force to suppress it, her cheeks were still flushed red.
Xing Shuishui glared at him: “What are you looking at!”
He Liansheng stared at her disheveled appearance and smirked: “Want me to help suppress it with my inner force?”
Xing Shuishui refused: “No need…”
“You clearly need it.”
He Liansheng didn’t let her refuse, lifting her straight up from the ground. Xing Shuishui’s braid flipped up as she struggled hard, but he bound her hands with spirit-binding rope.
“Pervert!”
He growled: “Shut up.”
“Pervert!”
He remained unfazed: “Oh.”
Xing Shuishui struggled to point a finger at his nose, her round cheeks playful as she said: “He Liansheng, I get it! You must be inadequate in certain areas, trying to cover it up by tying me up!”
Her logic was completely confused.
He Liansheng moved close to her face, eyes lowered. The girl froze, her facial fuzz visible. Sensing he wasn’t to be trifled with, Xing Shuishui backed away.
He smirked as he looked her up and down, his expression wicked: “Xing Shuishui, if you want to question me, then try me. I guarantee I’ll make you cry. Understand?”
He Liansheng crushed the lovers’ incense to dust with one gesture.
The youth’s robes swirled, his tone fierce.
She finally came to her senses, ears burning red as she cursed: “Get lost!”
He Liansheng looked down at her: “Get lost what? It’s not like I haven’t seen you cry before. Just say if you’re scared.”
Xing Shuishui: “Dead bastard!”
“This bastard is your man.”
Xing Shuishui’s arms dropped, behaving now.
He Liansheng placed his hand on her neck, his inner force invading dominantly to suppress the lovers’ incense within her. The heat left Xing Shuishui’s body, her eyes becoming much clearer. Thinking of what He Liansheng had just said, she just wanted to forget about it.
She didn’t dare look at him, playing with her loose hair: “Sorry, I inhaled too much lovers’ incense earlier, wasn’t thinking clearly.”
He Liansheng glanced at her, his eyelashes casting shadows below, a smile at his lips: “Oh, wasn’t thinking clearly.”
He definitely had hidden meaning in those words. Xing Shuishui didn’t want to remember and didn’t want to stay in the same room with him anymore. Changing the subject: “He Liansheng, you heard earlier, this Ghost King plans to feed living people to blood parasites. I suspect… Guan Wushan gave them to him. There’s been no news of him since the mountain ceremony, he definitely isn’t behaving. When you catch him, don’t kill him right away, question him first then send him to King Yama’s palace.”
He Liansheng lifted her sleeve to check the Xian Cloud on her wrist before looking away: “The underworld dungeons aren’t like mortal ones. The resentful energy is extremely heavy and tricky. You’ll also need to watch out for others. If it gets too difficult, we can switch.”
Xing Shuishui smiled: “I can handle it. You know I’ve never lost a fight!”
Resentful energy was nothing – she could disperse it with separation fire.
After their discussion, they went separate ways.
He Liansheng went to attend the ghost feast with his sword, while Xing Shuishui snuck to the deepest part of the stronghold, using separation fire to disperse the approaching resentful energy. It was very damp underground, cold air scattered about. The captured people should all be locked down here. Mortals shouldn’t recognize her, but she wasn’t sure about cultivators. Xing Shuishui thought to herself, after being cursed for so many years, she was actually helping people for once!
Going down, the ghostly blue fires on the walls grew more eerie, seeming to sense an intruder and attacking Xing Shuishui, but quickly retreating in fear of her separation fire.
Reaching the dungeon, Xing Shuishui surveyed the scene. There were quite a few captives, both men and women, mostly young girls and youths huddled in groups of three to five, all looking terrified.
Hearing footsteps, they thought it was the Ghost King’s lackeys and grabbed the iron bars, ready to curse in anger.
Xing Shuishui threw in some baked flatbreads, her separation fire flying inside. Now everyone could see clearly – this was a young girl, not very old, in a peach dress with pink cheeks, her face peaceful in the firelight: “I’m here to rescue you.”
“Who are you?” Most people remained cautious, not moving. Just as Xing Shuishui was about to mentally ask He Liansheng how things were going on his end, she heard someone curse: “Xing Shuishui! Who knows what evil you’re planning! Colluding with evil ghosts, serving ghosts – you’ll face retribution!”
Xing Shuishui glanced over, thinking this person looked familiar. She used the spirit-binding rope to drag him to the bars, grabbing his neck to look closer. Oh, now she remembered – a Lingshan cultivator she’d seen in Cangchuan. So they’d been captured by the Ghost King and brought to Fengdu City too.
She lifted her face, grinning: “Let me see, who is this? Which mountain are you from? Could your surname be Ling? I feel like we’ve met somewhere. Haven’t seen you in days, feels like years – I’ve missed you all so much.”
The youth was infuriated by her shameless attitude: “Where did you get that spirit-binding rope? That belongs to our Lingshan!”
Xing Shuishui smiled sweetly: “Where? Why, your Senior Brother He Liansheng gave it to me, of course.”
He nearly coughed blood: “Demon woman! It’s bad enough you seduced Senior Brother He Liansheng! Now you’re here helping the Ghost King do evil, deceiving everyone – you’ll face retribution someday!”
Hearing this, Xing Shuishui’s smile grew even more shameless: “Yes, yes, yes, I did seduce He Liansheng. He said he’d make me cry and asked if I understood. Is this what your sect master usually teaches him?”
The youth’s face immediately turned red, gnashing his teeth: “Stop talking nonsense! Have you no shame! Senior Brother He Liansheng would never say such things!”
He Liansheng had said plenty worse.
Xing Shuishui couldn’t be bothered arguing anymore – it was pointless. She tossed him aside and addressed everyone: “I am Xue Jiuling, Master of Separation Fire, now named Xing Shuishui, sister of Xue Zhuangxin, adopted sister of the current sect master. I’m here in Fengdu on business, but seeing this injustice, I must help. Things will get chaotic outside soon – don’t run around. Just wait quietly for King Yama to send soul officials to take you back to the mortal realm.”
“A demon like you wants to help others?”
Xing Shuishui glanced at the speaker, separation fire flying over: “Between helping you and cutting off your head right now, which would you choose?”
After a long moment, that person said with a pale face: “S-sorry!”
Qitong flew out to break the formation trapping them, and the iron bars were shredded like cabbage by the separation fire. Orange flames filled the dungeon, no one daring to approach.
Only now did the Lingshan cultivators realize how good-tempered Xing Shuishui had been that day, only teaching them a lesson without fighting seriously. This person who had killed Guan Yinzi and become famous at such a young age – if she truly wanted to kill them, they wouldn’t have survived a moment.
Xing Shuishui turned around, seeing the Lingshan people hadn’t moved, and asked: “The way is clear, why aren’t you leaving?”
While others joyfully left the dungeon, only the Lingshan group looked worried.
A pale-faced female cultivator gathered her courage: “There’s a strange old man under the Ghost King. He usually watches us. They say he’s lived many years, with unfathomable cultivation and extremely sinister, strange magic. He’s also very lecherous… Junior Sister Li was… was taken by him.”
The female cultivators close to Li Yiqiu exchanged glances, all holding back their grief.
Xing Shuishui pointed at the tunnel leading deeper into the dungeon: “That way?”
The female cultivator nodded. Xing Shuishui gripped her sword, eyes narrowing: “Wait for me.”
The Lingshan cultivators were stunned, never expecting Xing Shuishui would help them. She seemed… she seemed not nearly as evil as the legends said.
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