“The Hidden City exists in the mortal realm, eternally shrouded in mist and fog—truly a city of mist. Few know of it. It belongs to no country or immortal clan, governed by a single city lord who rarely interferes. Here, humans, ghosts, cultivators, and spirits coexist peacefully. Compared to your violent cultivation world, it’s a paradise. I only learned of it by chance and have never visited. If you want to find him, go search yourself!”
The Ghost King of Dark Candles, after enduring for so long, spoke with forced authority: “Today at the Ghost Banquet, you disturbed the guests and killed my subordinates! How dare you be so arrogant! How shall we settle this account?”
Xing Shuishui smiled: “Don’t rush. Someone will settle accounts with you slowly. Why did you kill Ku? Don’t you know in your heart? Did you think I would let you off?”
The Ghost King broke into a cold sweat: “Weren’t you also after the blood curse?”
Xing Shuishui replied coldly: “Only trash like you need such harmful things. If you weren’t guilty, why are you hiding?”
Seeing the Ghost King about to transform into black smoke, Xing Shuishui threw out a spirit-binding rope, saying: “Go.” The Dark Candle Ghost King was quickly caught, falling face-first into the dirt.
While their attention was diverted, the lesser ghosts tried to slip away. Suddenly, the broken door was kicked open again as a flood of netherworld officers rushed in. The ghost kings, who had barely risen, tensed their foreheads and clenched their fists before meekly sitting back down.
Who had arrived?
Xing Shuishui looked carefully, her eyebrows rising. It was Li Guanyu and Li Guanxing leading King Yama’s forces, surrounding the stronghold completely. The lesser ghosts were already terrified, and their timing couldn’t have been better.
Li Guanxing pointed at the Dark Candle Ghost King on the ground, telling the city lord: “It’s this one! Couldn’t be content being a ghost, went to harm the mortal world! Even claimed he would take over the entire City of Fengdu!”
The Ghost King raged: “When did I ever claim that? Stop slandering me!”
Li Guanxing laughed heartily: “Whether I’m slandering you or not doesn’t matter now, does it? You knew you were on the wanted list but couldn’t behave! Running into us Lingshan people today—that’s your bad luck!”
The Dark Candle Ghost King turned back, looking coldly at Xing Shuishui and her companion, speaking meaningfully: “Oh, so that little peach spirit is also from Lingshan? I didn’t know Lingshan had changed so much, allowing humans and spirits to be together. Just now, this shameless couple was embracing in front of everyone, all lovey-dovey, whispering sweet nothings—truly shameless! Aren’t you afraid of ruining Lingshan’s reputation?”
Since he couldn’t escape anyway, the Ghost King decided to go all out. He thought he’d set them against each other, but unexpectedly, Li Guanxing’s expression became quite peculiar.
Xing Shuishui threw him a look reserved for idiots. This person had probably been in Fengdu City too long, unaware of the outside world’s changes.
He Liansheng stepped forward, crouched down to grab him from the ground, retrieved the spirit-binding rope, and before the Ghost King could react, threw him against the wall. The impact left him bruised and swollen—if he hadn’t dodged in time, his eyes might have been pierced by the nails in the wood.
The Ghost King gritted his teeth, hissing through them: “He’s trying to silence me, and none of you are stopping him!”
Everyone else remained silent. Who would dare stop him?
The young man curved his lips, laughing softly: “Yes, I am from Lingshan.”
Blood flowed along the wood grain, forming a black line near Xing Shuishui’s feet. She barely glanced at it, not moving away, as He Liansheng finished his statement with a laugh—
“I’m He Liansheng, traitor to Lingshan. Remember that?”
There were quite a few Lingshan people here, and he said this right to their faces, brazenly arrogant, without a hint of shame.
Li Guanyu: “…” Li Guanxing: “…” The recently arrived Lingshan people: “…”
The Ghost King’s eyes immediately bulged like balls, but before he could recover from his shock, the netherworld officers wordlessly dragged him away, one on each side. The other ghost kings naturally couldn’t escape either—even with wings, they couldn’t fly away.
Xing Shuishui snatched the spirit-binding rope from He Liansheng’s hand, walking to Li Guanyu and saying: “Thanks to Sister Guanyu’s timely arrival, we didn’t have to waste time with these people.”
Li Guanyu sheathed her sword, smiling: “I just went to notify some people, didn’t help much. I should thank Shuishui instead. Without you all, this wouldn’t have been resolved so smoothly.”
Xing Shuishui always brightened at praise. She had only come to resolve the matter of the Forgotten River water, but unexpectedly, this trip to Fengdu not only led to meeting the Li siblings but also helped her learn about Guan Wushan’s whereabouts.
Li Guanxing looked at her with a strange expression: “Xing Shuishui, I’ve always wanted to ask… uh… in your previous life, did you have a grudge against my father?”
Xing Shuishui’s smile froze.
Li Guanxing continued: “After the Heaven’s Altar incident, he kept saying how dangerous you were, how unapproachable—basically telling us to stay away from you, especially not to mention—”
Xing Shuishui guessed it. It was about Elder Sister.
If Elder Sister regained her memories, she would surely remember Mu Ziyu, not knowing he was actually Li Yu, and that it had all been an act—he now had children of his own.
Though her heart ached, she didn’t know what to say. After all, it was between Elder Sister and Li Yu.
Xing Shuishui asked: “What if I say there is a grudge?”
Li Guanxing stammered: “For my sake, please go easy on my father…”
Xing Shuishui found it amusing: “You’re here to plead for your father?”
Li Guanxing said: “I’ve been telling my father that you’re actually quite righteous, that the Mountain Sacrifice Ceremony must have had its reasons. Even though I wasn’t nice to you at first, you never held it against me! I feel like my father has wanted to say something several times but couldn’t, almost fainting from frustration.”
Xing Shuishui asked seemingly casually: “Is your father in poor health? The type who coughs blood after walking a few steps?”
Li Guanxing put his hands on his hips: “Who said that? He’s in excellent health!”
Although this was a private matter between him and Elder Sister, Xing Shuishui still wanted to beat up that sickly man—she had disliked him from the beginning.
With all the troublemakers taken away, only they remained in the room, which was now a mess of spilled wine and blood stains.
The King of Yama hadn’t come personally, represented instead by the City Lord of Fengdu. He was handsome and dignified, briefly glancing at the departed ghost kings before walking toward Xing Shuishui and pausing: “Why have you come down to Fengdu again? What brings you here this time?”
She replied: “Still for my Elder Sister.”
The City Lord wasn’t surprised.
Five years ago, when the Book of Life and Death showed anomalies and Xue Zhuangxin returned to the Path of Reincarnation, they thought Xing Shuishui would come down for this matter, but she had only arrived now.
Xing Shuishui continued: “You owe me a favor for catching so many wanted criminals. You don’t know how they were wreaking havoc before, kidnapping living people to raise parasites, plotting to take over all of Fengdu City. They even said they’d strip you naked and hang you on the city wall.”
The City Lord massaged his temples, his emotions stable: “Fine, speak your piece.”
Xing Shuishui: “My brother’s technique located my Elder Sister’s reincarnation, but she has already crossed the Bridge of Helplessness and drunk from the Forgotten River. She has forgotten her past life.”
The City Lord of Fengdu: “You mean Meng Po’s soup… drinking from the Forgotten River doesn’t make one forget past lives, and it shouldn’t be drunk anyway. You want your Elder Sister to remember her past? The Mirror of Floating Souls can do that.”
Xing Shuishui: “But the mirror can only be used a limited number of times.”
The City Lord of Fengdu fell silent for a moment, then tossed Xing Shuishui a jade token, speaking softly: “I can’t interfere with Meng Po’s affairs, but take this City Lord’s token when you go. The rest depends on fate. That’s all I can do to help.”
He bowed with clasped hands. Xing Shuishui mimicked the gesture. The netherworld officers exchanged glances as the City Lord of Fengdu swept his sleeve, his dark Taoist robe rustling as he cast a cold eye at the remaining lesser ghosts, who fell to their knees in terror.
“My Lord, spare us! We were forced into it! We won’t dare do it again!”
The City Lord’s expression remained blank: “Take them all away.”
The officers acknowledged the command.
His sleeves brushed through the air as they headed toward the Forgotten River. The City of Fengdu was eternally dark, lit only by floating ghost fires, the green light intertwining with bright red lanterns. Spirit money fluttered through the air, creating an eerie atmosphere. Their footsteps echoed on the bluestone slabs as the netherworld officers led the way.
Xing Shuishui looked left and right at the stone lions, accidentally bumping into a banana leaf ahead, getting rootless water on her eyelashes and arms.
She patted herself off.
The officer warned: “Living people shouldn’t touch things in Fengdu carelessly.”
Xing Shuishui asked: “What happens if you do?”
The officer fell silent, turning back to continue leading with his lantern. Xing Shuishui rubbed her chin, feeling he was like an NPC.
This excited her, and she circled to face him, teasing: “The road ahead is long and boring. Since your City Lord asked you to guide us, why not tell us about Fengdu’s customs and culture? To pass the time.”
The officer stared at her in confusion.
Li Guanyu kindly stepped in front of Xing Shuishui: “Alright, Shuishui, don’t trouble him anymore.”
Finding it boring, Xing Shuishui obediently agreed and ran to He Liansheng’s side. They had reached a ghost market, crowded with vendors and peddlers, at the busiest time for gambling houses.
She pointed at a candy-coated haw seller, wanting He Liansheng to buy some for her, but he didn’t even look, just saying: “We’ll buy some when we return to the mortal realm.”
Only then did Xing Shuishui look carefully—the candied haws were made from human eyeballs on strings, making her stomach churn. Do people eat these things after death? How terrible.
The officer suddenly spoke: “I can’t tell you all of Fengdu City’s customs, but there is one strange tale I can share.”
Xing Shuishui turned back in the bright lamplight, asking: “What strange tale?”
The officer shook his paper lantern, replying: “In the north of the city, there was a sage who was a teacher in life, educating many. Unexpectedly, he was killed by his own student and remained in Fengdu City, reportedly not reincarnating for over ten thousand years. On his first day in the city, he established a rule: all passing souls could ask him one question. If anyone could stump him, he would go to reincarnate.”
Xing Shuishui laughed: “Did someone actually stump him?”
The officer nodded, saying: “I remember before, a ghost asked him if someone struck by heavenly lightning would truly have their soul scattered. He answered everything fluently. But a few years ago, a cultivator came and asked him a question he couldn’t answer.”
Xing Shuishui couldn’t help being curious: “What did the cultivator ask?”
He answered: “The cultivator asked, ‘Where is Jiangsu?’”
“…”
“The sage thought he was making trouble and became angry for a moment.
But the cultivator said he had a young lady dear to his heart, named Xing Shuishui, from Jiangsu, who loved the Legend of the White Snake. During those years they spent together, she was a bit homesick.
So, the sage who had lived for ten thousand years couldn’t find the answer to this question. He packed up his things and went to reincarnate.”
Yes, during those days and nights they spent together.
Others thought her smile was lively and animated, but only he saw that she was homesick.
Even though at that time, He Liansheng wanted to kill her.
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