Lu Zheng sprang up, dashing to the door and flinging it open.
The night was calm, with only a faint trace of yin energy lingering, confirming that a ghost had indeed appeared and left.
“Where did this ghost come from?”
Lu Zheng frowned, deep in thought, “A stray spirit targeting me, or one of Night King’s minions?”
Recalling the old priest’s words from earlier, Lu Zheng began to wonder if the priest had staged the whole thing.
But the priest’s presence had been so commanding…
A faint yin energy lingered in the backyard. Lu Zheng’s eyes flickered as he pulled out a qi-tracking talisman.
With a flick of his hand seals, the talisman quivered, quickly capturing the ghost child’s chilling aura.
Donning his night-travel garb, Lu Zheng grabbed his embroidered spring saber and various talismans, leapt over the courtyard wall, and followed the talisman’s guidance, which pointed straight toward the north of the city.
“The priest is in the west, but the north is where the City God’s Yin Division resides…”
Master Mingzhang had told him that the City God Temple in Tonglin County, located in the north, was also the site of the yin-yang path to the Netherworld.
Lu Zheng’s unease grew, but as he reached the city center, the talisman suddenly shuddered and lost its effect.
“Hm? The source of the aura vanished?”
Lu Zheng paused, “Did it return to the Netherworld? Could it really be one of Night King’s minions? How did he connect me to the deaths of the corpse ghost Su Yi or the green-robed ghost Yan Jie? Could it be…”
Feeling uneasy, Lu Zheng changed course, left the county, and headed straight for Peach Blossom Plain.
At Peach Blossom Village, he found Shen Ying hovering atop the old peach tree, absorbing the essence of moonlight to refine her soul.
“Young master!”
Seeing Lu Zheng, Shen Ying joyfully paused her cultivation and floated down.
“Why are you here again?” Shen Ying’s voice was soft and alluring, her eyes full of affection.
It must be said, after tasting the forbidden fruit, women often become more forward and passionate than men, after all, there’s no field worn out by plowing, only exhausted oxen.
“You’re safe, that’s a relief. I thought you might be in danger,” Lu Zheng sighed, stepping back to signal Shen Ying to keep her distance.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Ying asked, startled.
Lu Zheng told her about the old priest and the ghost child.
“I don’t know if the ghost child is one of Night King’s minions, but be cautious.
Also, that priest seems formidable, he even sensed your ghostly aura on me, so let’s keep our distance for now, lest he notices anything more.”
The ghost child was one thing, Shen Ying wasn’t worried about herself. In Tonglin County’s Netherworld, except for Night King, she feared no one one-on-one, and the City God kept Night King in check.
But an unpredictable, ghost-slaying priest? That made Shen Ying wary.
Who knew how powerful he was?
What if he was a great master who could destroy her with a flick of his wrist?
Before, she wouldn’t have cared, unwilling to let Yan Jie benefit from the old peach tree, indifferent to her own life or death. But now, with a beloved and a cultivation method that could free her from her shackles, Shen Ying had no desire to die.
“Alright, alright!”
Shen Ying dimmed the passion in her eyes and asked with concern, “That priest, he won’t trouble you, will he?”
Lu Zheng shook his head, “Why would he? This afternoon, I said I didn’t believe him and left, he didn’t stop me.”
“Good,” Shen Ying nodded, “Then you should head back, young master. I’ll stay in the village for now, keep a low profile.”
“Alright, I’ll go. If anyone from Night King shows up, call me. I’ve prepared plenty of exorcism talismans.”
Exorcism talismans could harm Shen Ying, so Lu Zheng didn’t leave any with her, but he had given her all fourteen of his frost-condensing talismans, highly effective against demons, when he stayed at Peach Blossom Village.
“Don’t worry, I’ve been cultivating the *Taiyin Supreme Soul-Cleansing Scripture* and have made progress. Unless Night King himself comes, no other ghost is my match. With the frost-condensing talismans, I’m not afraid of demons either.”
Lu Zheng nodded, not lingering, and returned to the county.
Back home, with dawn still hours away, Lu Zheng caught a brief nap.
The next morning, he brushed off the previous night’s events and went with Liu Qingyan to Benevolence Hall to continue studying medicine.
“Lu Lang, you don’t look well, didn’t sleep properly last night?”
Liu Qingyan looked at Lu Zheng with concern, “Did something happen?”
Lu Zheng shook his head, “No, nothing happened.”
“Really?”
“Really!” Lu Zheng nodded, “Just that priest’s words brought back memories of facing that corpse ghost. You know, I told you, it was disgusting!”
“So you didn’t sleep well?”
“Didn’t sleep well!” Lu Zheng said with a grimace, “That priest, stirring up bad memories, really no decency!”
Liu Qingyan smiled softly, “As long as you’re fine. If anything happens, tell me, I can help.”
“Of course, definitely!” Lu Zheng said earnestly, though inwardly dismissive.
Help with what, a honey trap?
But with that ghost child’s big white eyes, who knows if it could even see.
Liu Qingyan sensed his perfunctory tone, opened her mouth to say something, but held back.
Another busy day at Benevolence Hall, and at mid-afternoon, Hu Zhou arrived on time to help, leaving at early evening.
To everyone’s relief, the old priest didn’t show up all day.
…
After seeing Liu Qingyan home, Lu Zheng made his usual double traversal and lay back in bed.
“That ghost child, why did it appear, what’s its deal?”
“What’s the City God’s Yin Division doing, letting ghosts roam the mortal world at night?”
“Damn it, if it weren’t me, an ordinary person would’ve been scared to death! Isn’t that negligence by the Yin Division?”
“And the priest didn’t show up, does he just not care?”
As Lu Zheng pondered, the room’s air suddenly chilled.
“What the—?”
Lu Zheng spun around, seeing the ghost child from last night pass through the wall, reappearing in his bedroom.
Lu Zheng stood tall, staring at the white-eyed ghost child, “Who are you?”
“Jie jie!”
The ghost child grinned, its mouth stretching to its ears, revealing a row of unnaturally white, sharp teeth.
“Ugh! That’s bloody disgusting!”
Lu Zheng grimaced, though only to a normal extent.
“Who are you, and why have you come uninvited two nights in a row?” Lu Zheng asked again.
Having met two ghosts—a corpse ghost and a ghost general—both capable of thought, speech, and interaction, Lu Zheng assumed this ghost child was the same, so he spoke up.
But he got no response.
“Jie jie!”
Instead of retreating, the grinning ghost child slowly approached.
Lu Zheng’s eyes narrowed, gripping an exorcism talisman.
He was determined to capture this ghost tonight and uncover its origins.
But as the ghost child floated within two meters of the bed, it made another ghastly face, then retreated, passing through the wall and vanishing.
“What’s going on? Gone again? Is it just trying to scare me?”
Lu Zheng stood dumbfounded, then quickly reacted, pulling out a qi-tracking talisman, capturing the ghost’s aura, leaping out the window, and giving chase.
