Ghost
The priest in front, with braided hair and silver jewellery, dressed in a white robe with golden thread, showed a slight surprise. Luda asked, “Do you know me?”
Duan Xu smiled, “We’ve only met recently, but perhaps I understand him better than you. He told me to stop you from returning home on the surface, but ever since I left Youzhou, there have been people, possessed individuals, and evil spirits trying to kill me one after another. It wasn’t easy for me to finally meet you.”
If assassination hadn’t been his former profession, he wouldn’t have survived most of the attempts on his life based on various clues, so whether he could make it to Luda was uncertain.
“My brother just sent a letter saying he’s fallen seriously ill, and I was about to return to the capital.” Luda furrowed his brow, saying, “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“If I’m not mistaken, your brother isn’t actually sick at all. He’s just going along with you, not wanting you to return home. Besides, he, along with you, wants to kill me and my friends.”
Luda’s confusion deepened, and Duan Xu smiled faintly. “It’s normal not to understand. Once we go to Fujian City in Youzhou, everything will become clear to you. You can trust me, I won’t harm you.”
After observing him for a while, Luda put the bone flute back into his sleeve and nodded.
Things went unexpectedly smoothly. The priest’s reaction surprised Duan Xu a bit. He thought he would have to use coercion or kidnapping to persuade Luda to come with him, especially given his current identity, which wasn’t particularly likable.
“Do you trust me?”
Luda nodded again. “By the grace of the Azure God, your eyes show no malice.”
Hearing the mention of the Azure God, Duan Xu smiled gently, but then Luda continued, “Will your friend be alright?”
Duan Xu fell silent for a moment. He picked up the pitifully split veil hat from the ground and dusted it off in his hand.
“She’ll be fine.”
She’s very clever, she won’t fall for the same trick twice. And when she handed him the ghost king lamp, it wasn’t for him to protect her, but for him to conceal and protect the lamp.
The proud and strong Ghost King wouldn’t rely on others for protection, let alone let a mere mortal or her bound person serve as bait for her. Even if this mortal were willing, she wouldn’t stoop to that level.
So the bait wasn’t him, it was herself.
He Simu sat on the uneven cobblestone path in the garden, looking calmly at Yilier amidst the surging golden light of the formation.
“Such loyal servants. Song Xingyu can evade my summoning decree because you gave him the sacred item. He promised you that by killing me, he could become the Ghost King and give you all the glory and wealth in this world, didn’t he?”
Yilier stood cautiously at the edge of the glass tower, watching He Simu without saying a word.
From the surging ghost energy within the glass tower came the faint voice of a child, seemingly around ten years old. The voice was childish but devoid of innocence. He said, “He Simu, you’ve ended up in this situation today, and you’re still being stubborn?”
In a dark corner, a half-finger-long insect crawled out of the white peony named “Ling Xie Lu Xue” in the garden, faintly shimmering with runes on its body.
The insect quietly made its way along the ground, crawling to the edge of the glass tower, and then slowly ascended the outer wall until it stopped within the mass of ghost energy, silently merging into it.
Amidst this tense scene, nobody noticed except the insect’s owner.
He Simu watched calmly as the insect disappeared, then coldly smiled. “Bullying the weak, greedy, short-sighted, reckless, foolish, no progress in a hundred years.”
“What are you talking about?” a voice of rage emanated from the ghost energy.
“I’m talking about you,” He Simu replied.
Moonlight reflected in He Simu’s eyes as crows cawed and landed on the roof, coming in groups of three or four. They walked on the ground corridor, folding their wings, and played an ominous tune, filling the garden with their calls.
Yilier looked somewhat panicked at the courtyard filled with crows.
These little creatures were very clever; they liked death and knew who the true master of death was.
He Simu calmly adjusted her skirt within the formation, seeming unhurried to break free from it.
The idea of using a memory illusion to find her weakness could barely make it into the top fifty of the assassination attempts she had encountered. Unfortunately, she hadn’t recalled the part the Ghost Palace Lord wanted to see before waking up.
Seeing an opportunity to assert dominance over her, the Ghost Palace Lord eagerly rushed over, eagerly seizing the chance to set up a trap for her.
“Lord of the Ghost Palace, even if I’m gone, the Ghost King Lamp won’t be in your hands. What good is it for you, with your ugly and useless mind?” He Simu taunted.
The voice from the mass of ghost energy sounded furious. “Shut up! You have no power now; I can throw you into the South Sea Ice Coffin for a lifetime! I advise you to hand over the Ghost King Lamp and let it acknowledge me as its master!”
He Simu almost burst into laughter at the Ghost Palace Lord’s stupidity.
The Ghost King Lamp and the Ghost Registry are intertwined. The Ghost Registry records the life lines of all evil spirits except the Ghost King, so possessing the Ghost King Lamp is akin to holding the lives of all evil spirits in one’s hands.
However, knowing their life lines doesn’t guarantee one can take action.
“Your power increases tenfold with the Ghost King Lamp, so you think you’re invincible? Apart from me, there are many among the twenty-four ghost ministers who are stronger than you. And there’s also the Vice Lords; they can kill you and take back the Ghost King Lamp. You’re just a pawn pushed out. If you succeed, there will naturally be ambushes waiting for you. If you fail, the other palace lords won’t suffer any loss. I told you to spend more time with Guan Huai to learn from his crafty and prudent ways, but you haven’t learned anything?”
Before the Lord of the Ghost Palace could react with anger, He Simu suddenly stopped being sarcastic and slowly said, “But I have a question. If you can answer it to my satisfaction, I might consider giving you the Ghost King Lamp along with the position of Ghost King.”
The mass of ghost energy fell silent for a moment, half doubtful, half curious. “What question?”
Leaning against a cluster of roses, surrounded by flowers, He Simu remained silent for a moment. She asked calmly, even indifferently, “Why do you want to be the Ghost King?”
The mass of ghost energy seemed to find the question amusing and sneered, “What are you talking about? Which evil spirit doesn’t want to be king? After becoming the Ghost King, I can wield absolute power over life and death, do whatever I want, and all the ghost ministers and even mortal emperors will bow down to me!”
Familiar reasons, unsurprising to the point of boredom. The desires of evil spirits vary, yet they always seem to converge here, which is quite ironic.
“They may bow down to you, but then what? The so-called luxuries of life, fame, wealth, and power are all beyond the reach of evil spirits. What meaning does ruling this world hold for you?”
The mass of ghost energy did not answer. For the ghost lords who constantly chase after different desires, what happens after their desires are fulfilled is not within their consideration.
After a pause, He Simu said lightly, “You all want to be the Ghost King, as if it’s such a precious position.”
Disdainful laughter echoed from the mass of ghost energy, as Song Xingyu said, “Since it’s not such a precious position, why are you clinging to it so desperately?”
He Simu shook her head. The formation firmly trapped her in place. She dusted off her clothes and stood up from the ground. The rusty red hem of her skirt spread out on the ground, and at that moment, the crows in the courtyard suddenly fell silent.
The moon was obscured by dark clouds, and darkness enveloped everything.
In the midst of darkness, she said, “Your answer doesn’t satisfy me. I won’t hand over this world to someone I despise.”
The ghost energy surged, indicating that the Ghost Palace Lord was on the brink of rage. He shouted, “Yilier, I’m going to take her and throw her into the ice coffin! You, bring her—”
Before he could finish his sentence, a sword with blue flames pierced through the air and plunged into the crystal tower, splitting the mass of black energy in half.
The blue flames burned through the night like a fuse, as the black-clad youth with blue ghost fire burning in his palm strode into the garden. Flames spread with each step he took, turning the garden into a sea of fire, burning all the way up to the crystal tower.
The entire garden was as bright as day, casting Yilier’s face pale. He trembled and said, “Luda?”
The white-clad young priest behind Duan Xu fell silent for a moment, and then said slowly, “Aye, what are you doing?”
Without waiting for his father’s answer, he took out a bone flute from his sleeve and blew on it sharply. The piercing sound shot towards the ghost energy. The ghost energy surged towards Luda, while Yilier screamed, “No, no!” but Luda remained indifferent.
The mass of ghost energy collided with the flute sound and eventually dissipated in front of Luda.
The flute continued to play, and Yilier rushed to Luda, grabbing his wrist. As soon as he grabbed it, the crystal tower collapsed with a loud crash, leaving behind a pile of sparkling shards.
The formation around He Simu dissipated.
Luda finally put down the flute, turned to Duan Xu, and said, “Seventeen, stop the fire.”
Duan Xu snapped his fingers, and the flames in the garden disappeared instantly, leaving behind a white ash covering the ground, resembling a snowfall. Dust floated in the air, illuminated by the moonlight once again.
He Simu stood amidst the swirling white ashes, covering her mouth and nose with her hand, smiling faintly.
Duan Xu suddenly thought of a phrase.
Even white jade, if burned, remains cold.
Her smile was neither warm nor joyful, not even one-thousandth as heart-warming as the touch of a spring afternoon.
He paused for a moment, then walked over to He Simu, brushing off the ashes from her body, carefully examining her from head to toe.
“You’re alright.”
“What could happen?” He Simu turned her head slightly and said, “Ghost Lamp, you’re handling things quite well now. Why were you so obedient this time?”
“This world is unfamiliar to me, but familiar to you. I thought it would be better not to cause trouble for you.”
A breeze stirred, carrying a fresh and rich aroma from Duan Xu, mixed with the scent of burnt trees, as if wafting from the illusion.
For a moment, He Simu thought of various experiences in the illusion, bizarre and surreal.
This was the first scent she had ever smelled in the mortal world, which woke her up from the illusion. Perhaps every time she thought of the mortal world in the future, she would remember this scent.
“Your sister’s scent is really pleasant.” He Simu casually praised, then walked towards Yilier.
Duan Xu suddenly grabbed her wrist from behind, wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and hugged her tightly but briefly from behind. He held her tightly but briefly, and released her between her breaths. He Simu’s steps paused, frowning as she turned to look at Duan Xu. Duan Xu innocently smiled, “In that case, you might as well smell it a bit more. And since you’ve been keeping quiet these days, I’ve always suspected you’d settle scores after regaining your power, so I might as well be more brazen.”
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