Chapter 5: Ghosts and Demons, Dispersed with a Wave
A chilling wind swept through the forest, carrying with it the mournful cries of unseen spirits.
Hua Shuya shivered, her teeth chattering uncontrollably. The eerie woman stood silent, her expression unreadable, yet the tension crackling between her and Lin Tianlu was almost suffocating.
“You… scholar…” the woman finally spoke, her voice a raspy whisper. “How dare you lay your hands on me?!”
“I am well aware of the impropriety of touching a maiden without her consent,” Lin Tianlu replied, his tone light despite the gravity of the situation. “But perhaps you could enlighten us about the fate of those unfortunate men?”
“Die!” The woman’s eyes widened, as if blood were about to seep from their corners. A wave of icy energy erupted from her, sharp and cold as a thousand blades.
“…”
But nothing happened.
Lin Tianlu glanced down at himself, his expression a mixture of confusion and amusement. “Cursing at me won’t solve anything, you know.”
The woman blinked, momentarily stunned by his nonchalant response.
And in that instant of distraction, Lin Tianlu felt the icy grip on his wrist vanish. The woman was gone.
“M-Master… what… what was that?!”
Hua Shuya stammered, her face pale, her sword hand trembling.
Lin Tianlu narrowed his eyes, taking a step back. “It appears we’ve stumbled upon a restless spirit.”
“Hsssssss!”
A chilling hiss echoed from behind them.
Lin Tianlu whirled around just in time to see a pale figure materialize before him. A ghostly hand shot out, aiming a vicious blow at his chest.
—THUD!
The impact resonated through the air like a thunderclap.
The force of the blow sent Hua Shuya stumbling backward, her eyes wide with alarm. “Master!”
“…Huh?”
Lin Tianlu glanced down at the hand imprinted on his chest, his expression a mixture of surprise and… something else.
He felt no pain. In fact…
It felt cool to the touch.
Pleasant, even?
—Wait a minute.
Something wasn’t right.
His body… it was reacting strangely.
“Impossible… how is this possible?!”
The ghostly woman stared at him, her pale face contorted in a mixture of shock and disbelief.
Before she could withdraw her hand, Lin Tianlu reacted. His eyes flashed, and with lightning speed, he seized her wrist in a vice-like grip.
He didn’t waste time with words. Taking a deep breath, he channeled his energy and struck her squarely in the chest.
CRACK!
A look of utter astonishment filled the woman’s eyes as her form flickered, her body dissolving into a wisp of black smoke under the force of his blow.
“AAAAAAAARGH!”
An ear-splitting shriek echoed through the forest, sending birds scattering into the sky.
The ghostly figure transformed into a swirling mass of shadows, fleeing into the depths of the woods.
…
“Impossible! This is impossible!”
The spirit, now a formless wisp of darkness, darted through the trees, her form growing fainter with every passing moment. Panic and terror warred within her.
“That scholar… he looked so weak, so harmless… where did he get that kind of power?!”
“Pure Yang realm? Azure(Green) Spirit realm? Or could he be a Five Meridian Grandmaster?!”
“No! None of those feel right! That man…”
A terrifying thought occurred to her, sending a fresh wave of fear through her incorporeal form.
“I have to get away from here! Away from that monster!”
But as she fled, she realized something was wrong.
Thin, silvery threads, almost invisible to the naked eye, had wrapped themselves around her essence, slowing her escape.
She struggled, but it was no use. The threads tightened their grip, holding her fast.
…
Lin Tianlu lowered his hand, watching the fading trail of smoke, his expression unreadable.
As he did, he felt a strange shift in his perception.
The sunlight filtering through the trees seemed to dim, the air around him shimmering with faint, ethereal threads that stretched out in all directions, disappearing into the depths of the forest.
He could hear things he hadn’t noticed before: the rustling of leaves, the swaying of grass, the chirping of insects. And something else… tiny points of light, swirling and dancing in the air around him.
They intertwined and flowed, forming intricate patterns, a mesmerizing display of ethereal beauty.
The world seemed both vibrant and still.
As if guided by instinct, Lin Tianlu raised his hand, his index finger extended.
“There is nowhere to run,” he whispered, his voice barely audible above the rustling leaves.
A gust of wind swept through the forest, warm and invigorating.
The oppressive chill that had gripped Hua Shuya vanished as quickly as it had come. She gasped, drawing in a deep breath of fresh air. To her astonishment, the remaining reanimated corpses froze in their tracks, their movements faltering. One by one, they collapsed to the ground, their lifeless eyes staring up at the sky.
A woman’s voice, filled with anguish and despair, echoed through the trees.
“I… I am not ready to die!”
“Not ready?”
Lin Tianlu chuckled humorlessly, his eyes flashing with a cold light.
He could see the spirit’s true form now, a swirling mass of shadows and despair. Tendrils of crimson energy, representing countless acts of cruelty and bloodshed, pulsed within her, a testament to the lives she had taken, the suffering she had inflicted.
“You have no right to cling to this world.”
He sighed, his voice filled with a profound sadness.
The trapped spirit thrashed against her ethereal bonds, her form flickering erratically.
Before her eyes, the very mountain itself seemed to shudder, its peak piercing the heavens as if trying to break free from the earth’s embrace. A surge of raw energy erupted from the ground, a tidal wave of pure force that dwarfed anything she had ever encountered.
The air crackled with power, the very sunlight seeming to bend and distort around Lin Tianlu.
And then, with a final, heart-wrenching wail, the spirit was gone, obliterated by a force beyond her comprehension.
“…”
Silence descended upon the forest once more.
The wind died down, the air returning to its normal temperature. The oppressive chill, the sense of dread that had permeated the woods, vanished entirely.
Sunlight filtered through the trees, painting the forest floor in dappled patterns of light and shadow.
The reanimated corpses, freed from the spirit’s control, slumped to the ground, their mangled faces softening as if in relief. One by one, they turned towards Lin Tianlu, their expressions filled with a strange serenity.
“Thank you… for releasing us…”
“We are forever in your debt…”
Their bodies dissolved into motes of light, fading away until nothing remained but the clothes they had worn in life.
Hua Shuya watched the spectacle unfold before her, her mind struggling to grasp what she had just witnessed. “Master… what happened to them?”
“They have found peace,” Lin Tianlu replied softly, his gaze fixed on the spot where the spirit had vanished. “May they rest in peace.”
Hua Shuya stared at him, her eyes wide with awe and a hint of something else… something akin to reverence.
He stood there, bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun, his slender frame radiating an otherworldly aura. For a moment, he seemed to embody the very image of the immortals she had sought for so long.
Unbeknownst to her, Lin Tianlu was experiencing his own internal turmoil.
As the spirit had been destroyed, he had felt something strange, something “unknown”, enter his body. A wisp of dark energy, cold and insubstantial, had flowed into him, drawn to something he carried.
He reached into his robes, his fingers closing around a small object.
The broken jade pendant.
“This… this is what drew that energy?”
He stared at the pendant, his mind racing.
He had assumed it was nothing more than a worthless trinket, a relic of a bygone era. But could it be that it still held some residual power?
But that wasn’t the most shocking revelation of the day.
Lin Tianlu unclenched his hand, staring at it as if it were a foreign object.
He had acted purely on instinct, never truly believing he possessed such power.
But it was real. He had destroyed a malevolent spirit with a single blow.
Hua Shuya had struggled against those reanimated corpses, yet he had dispatched their master with ease.
He didn’t understand it.
But he couldn’t deny it.
He glanced at the spot where the spirit had vanished, a shiver running down his spine.
This world… it was far more dangerous than he had imagined.
If he hadn’t undergone this strange transformation…
He shuddered, pushing the thought aside.
“Master?”
Hua Shuya approached, her expression somber. She sheathed her sword, her movements fluid and precise. “Is the spirit… gone?”
“Yes,” Lin Tianlu replied, turning to face her. “It’s over.”
“Those men… they died because of me,” she said, her voice filled with regret. “I’ll see to it that their families are compensated for their loss.” She sighed. “It’s just… I wish I could have given them a proper burial.”
Her compassion touched Lin Tianlu’s heart.
Before he could respond, Hua Shuya bowed deeply. “Thank you, Master, for saving my life. I would be dead if not for you.”
“It was nothing,” Lin Tianlu replied, waving his hand dismissively. He cleared his throat, trying to sound nonchalant. “Now, come along. We should get out of these woods. Lingering in such a place is bad for the health.”
“Yes, Master.”
Hua Shuya nodded, falling into step beside him.
Lin Tianlu followed, wiping his brow discreetly.
Maintaining this facade of otherworldly detachment was more difficult than he had anticipated. Thankfully, his weeks of solitude had instilled in him a sense of calm, allowing him to project an air of composure he didn’t quite feel.
Once they reached the nearest town, he would have a lot of thinking to do.
He needed to unravel the mysteries of his transmigration, to understand the changes that were happening to him.
And Mount Taiyi… he would have to return there, to uncover its secrets.
He paused, a strange premonition washing over him.
He turned, his gaze drawn back to the mountain.
It stood tall and imposing, its slopes cloaked in emerald green, its peak shrouded in mist.
But something was different.
The summit… it was gone.
“Where… where did it go?” he whispered, his voice barely audible above the rustling leaves.
Mount Taiyi… it had vanished.
