Chapter 46 Part 2

Overgrown Mountain was genuinely vast, and few people ever entered, so usable paths were few and far between.

The Jiangshi barreled straight ahead. How could living people dare to follow through the same way? Before they could be substituted for by a Plague Ghost, they’d be half-dead from the brambles and ravines.

They trudged through the mountains for nearly an hour, winding and looping around until they lost all sense of direction.

Wu Yinyu took out her phone, only to find something interesting about this place. Not only was there no signal, but the compass was spinning wildly. She was utterly exhausted, her body growing heavier by the second, as if the Jiangshi’s true intent had simply been to wear them down and kill them here.

Leaning against a tree, she choked back a breath, not daring to stop. If she stopped, she truly wouldn’t be able to lift her feet again.

Suddenly, Yu Zezhi spoke. “Look.”

Wu Yinyu hurriedly raised her head to see, amidst the deep, dark woods, a vast open space. Green grass grew lushly, in patches half as tall as a person.

Something seemed hidden in the grass; only a corner of gray-white cement was exposed.

The nearby trees were crawling with Plague Ghosts. At first glance, they looked like fruit hanging from the branches. Beneath the trees, several Jiangshi shuffled slowly, their limbs making heavy, dull sounds as they moved.

Wu Yinyu had never seen so many Jiangshi and Plague Ghosts. Even a whole cluster of morning glories wouldn’t bloom so densely. No wonder the Yin Energy in Overgrown Mountain was so rich.

Amidst the pervasive Death Qi, she spotted some faint, bluish-white smoke. That was the energy of living people.

“Living people?” Wu Yinyu exclaimed in surprise.

Yu Zezhi’s gaze shifted. Following the source of the smoke, she raised a hand and pointed. “There.”

Several living people were trapped there. Without exception, they were all entangled by Plague Ghosts, their Life Energy nearly depleted.

These were likely hikers who had accidentally wandered in. Some of them looked quite young, clearly fated for lifespans that shouldn’t end here.

Wu Yinyu loosened the drawstring of her brocade pouch, took out a copper coin, and hurled it towards the cluster of Plague Ghosts.

As the copper coin neared, the Plague Ghosts retreated from the living people in unison, scrambling up the trees and glaring furiously at Wu Yinyu.

Wu Yinyu’s wrist ached terribly; simply throwing the coin accurately was already a feat. Turning her head, she asked, “Boss Yu, aren’t you going to act?”

Yu Zezhi simply raised a hand and pointed into the distance. Where she pointed, golden lotus flowers blossomed.

No, not flowers! It was clearly countless arcs of Lotus Pattern Arc Light!

Wu Yinyu had seen that light before, the last time she was almost dragged into the Two-World Sea by a ghostly evil.

She stared, stunned, her heart nearly leaping out of her chest. She chuckled angrily. “Last time, you said you’d never seen any Lotus Pattern Arc Light. Boss Yu, you’re quite the liar.”

The golden lotus flowers shimmered brilliantly, their intricate patterns identical to the one on the jade pendant. It was a lotus with sharp, downturned petals.

Everywhere the radiance touched, the Plague Ghosts tumbled from the trees like falling leaves, all howling in agony, unable to bear it.

Wu Yinyu had assumed Yu Zezhi possessed considerable ability, but she never expected it to be this formidable. Her tone was light and airy. “Say something, Boss Yu.”

Yu Zezhi unfastened the Lotus Pattern Red Jade from her waist and extended her hand to Wu Yinyu, not to give her the pendant, but to let her see clearly the cracks slowly spreading across it.

As the cracks extended, the pendant’s crimson color grew increasingly dull, until finally, with a pop, it shattered into pieces of cracked gray stone.

The stone fragments fell rustling to the ground, leaving only the red string, which had originally secured the jade, dangling from Yu Zezhi’s fingers.

Wu Yinyu froze again. She had never imagined the reason the two pendants were so similar wasn’t because of any extraordinary origin, but because this one had been a fake all along.

Yu Zezhi’s five fingers clenched, gripping the remaining red string. She said coolly, “Both pendants were indeed my doing. I deliberately let them out into the world.”

Wu Yinyu had guessed as much. “To test me, right?” she said slowly.

In the distance, the Plague Ghosts wailed. The Jiangshi fared no better—gnawed away by the Lotus Pattern Arc Light, they transformed into standing skeletons.

Yu Zezhi nodded, a fleeting struggle passing through her eyes, like a flying bird skimming a mirrored lake, stirring ripples.

Her visible emotion was like a secluded cultivator suddenly touched by worldly joys and sorrows.

“I originally thought your memory had returned, so I used the jade pendants to test you,” she said.

“And I thought you were so honest. Appearances are deceiving, Boss Yu,” Wu Yinyu drawled, her tone listless and cold. “And what else?”

A ripple passed through Yu Zezhi’s eyes. “The iron bed you saw in the Wu family basement, and the scriptures on it—I placed those there specifically to test you.”

“You’ve put a lot of thought into this, Boss Yu,” Wu Yinyu said. But what could she do about this person? She couldn’t beat her in a fight, and she was deeply in the wrong—after all, her rampage at the Little Enlightenment Ruins was no false accusation.

Yu Zezhi glanced sideways at the cloth bag on Wu Yinyu’s back. After a long pause, she said, her voice thin and cold, “What’s trapped inside that prayer wheel is your True Body. It devours people, and it drains your spiritual energy.”

This was truly shocking. Wu Yinyu had been human for over twenty years; only now was she learning she was actually a painting.

She felt dazed, forcing a smile. “So the Ink Qi was also because of me? I was the one who consumed those people? Unbelievable.”

“The Ink Qi carries the Will from before your Transmigration. It does what you intend it to do.” At this, Yu Zezhi’s lips curved slightly, a hint of faint self-mockery at the corner, as if admitting defeat.

Wu Yinyu swayed, still finding it far-fetched. She walked slowly towards the area of dense wild grass in the distance, saying, “The reason I asked you to bring me here is because of Wuxian, right?”

The Lotus Pattern Arc Light was still shining. In its blinding divine light, she had to squint slightly.

Yu Zezhi followed. “Looking at it now, that does seem to be the case.”

Wu Yinyu stepped on something uneven and hard underfoot, nothing like the soft grass.

She bent down, parted the knee-high grass, and reached down to feel around. Sure enough, her fingers touched cold stone. Frowning, she said, “I knew all along Wuxian wanted to do these things. So I came to stop her?”

“You’ll have to ask yourself,” Yu Zezhi replied. Half her face was illuminated by the golden light, yet it didn’t make her seem warmer. If anything, the radiance made her seem even more unreachable.

Brushing aside clumps of grass, Wu Yinyu suddenly stopped. “Boss Yu, what do you think this is?”

Her tone shifted quickly—sharp and cold moments before, now slow, soft, and drawling.

So Yu Zezhi bent down to feel, her fingers tracing the carved marks on the stone inch by inch. Her brow furrowed deeper and deeper. “This might be a ritual platform.”

“A ritual platform?” Wu Yinyu asked again. “For whom?”

“For Wuxian’s own name.” Yu Zezhi crooked a finger.

The field of grass was too obstructive. They watched as the Lotus Pattern Arc Light swirled over and ruthlessly sheared it down to the roots.

A fierce gust of wind swept through, shoving all the cut grass on the ritual platform to the side.

The massive stone platform was exposed under the moonlight. It bore the sharp, decisive marks of blades and axes, and indeed, the characters “Wuxian” were there among the carvings.

Wuxian’s ritual offering was not to Heaven or Earth, but to herself.

Wu Yinyu’s strength gave out entirely, and as if performing a deep kowtow, she collapsed downwards with a thump, landing in a grand ceremonial prostration.

Yu Zezhi was just about to help her up when she saw the other woman lift her chin, her eyes utterly innocent.

Wu Yinyu didn’t take the hand Yu Zezhi offered. Instead, from her fallen position, she traced the blade and axe marks on the stone platform, saying, “I’m not trying to bow to her. I genuinely can’t stand anymore.”

“You bowing to her isn’t proper protocol,” Yu Zezhi said, seemingly out of nowhere.

Wu Yinyu hummed in confusion, her palm slowly following the path of the carved words. “Don’t tell me my seniority is higher than hers. Here, she’s older than me by several generations.”

“You’re the one who disrupted the generational order,” Yu Zezhi said evenly.

Wu Yinyu laughed, but within three seconds, the laughter died.

It was like Retrocognition to days past. Images slowly appeared before her eyes, yet it was somewhat different from previous retrocognitive episodes.

The world she saw was saturated with color. This time, she was a bystander, witnessing the events that had happened here long ago.

At the same time, the pain in her hands and feet grew even more intense. Inside the bag on her back, it felt like a rabbit was trapped, frantically thrashing around.

But there was no rabbit in her bag, only that ancient and weathered prayer wheel.

The sky was clear and the day was bright. A massive stone platform stood on the ground, still devoid of carved inscriptions. Many people rested nearby, sitting on the ground, wiping sweat and holding their foreheads, as if they’d just finished a bout of labor.

What she saw must have been before the ritual platform was completed. One person among them looked familiar, and Wu Yinyu recognized them—wasn’t that the Plague Ghost that had been driven away from the inn earlier?

The people resting in a circle around the stone platform were clearly villagers from Ivory Mast Village. Every single one had followed Wuxian here.

No wonder they called Wuxian “Boss.” It was because Wuxian had paid them; they were working for her.

Wuxian herself sat on a rock off to the side, still wearing that earth-colored Buddhist nun’s robe. Her figure was lonely and desolate, but not pitiful. Her expression was sharp, her face radiating an undisguised resentment that carried a whiff of cynical misanthropy.

The villagers were still resting when they heard Wuxian say, “You can all head back now. Come again tomorrow. I’ve given the rest of the money to the village chief. You can go back and divide it among yourselves.”

Hearing this, the villagers erupted in cheers and poured out their thanks, treating Wuxian like a living Bodhisattva.

Wuxian didn’t smile. She waved them off and sat on that rock for a long time without moving.

She sat until the sky darkened. The starry night suddenly seemed to plummet, the celestial canopy appearing torn as a bolt of lightning ripped downwards with a violent crack.

The lightning was summoned by Wuxian. Holding a paper talisman, she drew the thunder down to strike the stone platform, leaving behind clean, sharp grooves that formed strange, cryptic characters.

Somehow, Wu Yinyu could understand the script on the ritual platform. It was unmistakably a curse technique for raising Plague Ghosts.

The final bolt of lightning struck, and the curse was complete. Finally leaving Overgrown Mountain, Wuxian had a cart driver take her back to her lodging.

Travel was inconvenient in those days. She didn’t return to the Wu family estate, but to an inn.

As it happened, the moment Wuxian arrived, the attending server told her a phone call had come in earlier. The caller’s surname was Wu, and they were waiting for a return call.

Wuxian picked up the receiver and unhurriedly dialed the rotary phone. Once the operator connected the line, she spoke. “You were looking for me?”

“The Wu family has treated you well. Why must you torment the daughter we searched so hard to find? You deliberately taught her those deviant, wicked methods to enter the Underworld, causing her to be possessed by a Yin Spirit, driving her insane!”

“But if she hadn’t returned, everything I had would still be mine,” Wuxian said.

“We were the ones who brought the wrong child home back then. Even after we learned the truth, we never treated you unfairly! Wuxian, do you truly intend to be an ungrateful wretch?”