Chapter 58 Part 2

“Before us, the only guests in this inn were you and your sister, correct?” Yinyu laid the single chopstick across the top of the bowl.

“That’s right.” Xie Ling also checked the Innkeeper’s breath, then touched the side of his neck, puzzled. “A Living Soul…”

“Pushed out. But we found that soul.” Yinyu didn’t hide it. She pushed the bowl aside. “I intended to summon some dead souls to occupy this body, to lure out the ghost that originally possessed the Innkeeper. I didn’t expect the wild ghosts around here to be so well-behaved.”

She looked at Xie Ling, intending to lean closer to examine the moisture at his temples. She hadn’t expected that the draft downstairs would have already dried him completely; his temples and face were now perfectly dry.

“They might have targeted you, but knowing you’re familiar with these arts, they didn’t dare make a move. But Zhong Yutian knows nothing.” Yinyu said.

Xie Ling whipped his head towards the upper floor. “I checked. There are no Ghostly Evils in that room.”

“They likely fled and are hiding,” Yinyu said, putting away the bowl and chopsticks. She made a contemptuous little sound, then in a perfectly polite tone added, “I’ll trouble you to watch the door for me.”

Xie Ling was momentarily stunned. A flush of warmth spread across his sickly pale face, and his gaze involuntarily held a hint of inquiry. “You… are you also a Cultivator?”

Yinyu turned back with a smile, wagging her index finger. “Do I look like one?”

She didn’t. A Cultivator who didn’t carry several magical treasures on their person didn’t fit the image. At the very least, they should have a treasured sword at their hip and carry copper coins and Talisman Papers. She certainly shouldn’t look so empty-handed, with such a lazy and languid air.

Yinyu only headed upstairs after seeing the male Cultivator, sword in arms, sit down on the wooden stool downstairs.

Zhong Yutian’s door was wide open. Terrified, he was huddled at the head of the bed, clutching his collar tightly. If he weren’t shouting “A ghost!”, his posture would seem quite suggestive.

But no Ghostly Evil remained in the room. The ghost that had entered had likely already fled.

When Yinyu entered, Lian Sheng was staring down at the brazier beside the bed. The charcoal fire within had gone out; it seemed completely cold, not even a wisp of smoke rising from it. She closed the door behind her. “Xie Ling came by just now?”

“He did,” Lian Sheng said.

Zhong Yutian had clearly been crying. Seeing Yinyu now, tears gushed forth again. Sighing miserably, he wailed, “You two Fairy Maidens, it’s a good thing you arrived in time! Otherwise, I’d probably be nothing but a pile of white bones right now!”

His voice was hoarse, even his speech weak and feeble, a stark contrast to his earlier cursing of the Kang Family.

Lian Sheng averted her gaze. Her index finger touched Zhong Yutian’s brow as she said coolly, “Much of your Life Energy has been drained.”

“L-Life Energy?” Zhong Yutian’s eyes darted around wildly. “I don’t dare have energy to live! I’m scared, Fairy Maiden, I’m terrified!”

Yinyu walked over and whispered in Lian Sheng’s ear, “Most likely it was the Innkeeper and the Waiter. When I went downstairs, both those bodies were empty. Tapping the bowl didn’t summon any ghosts either. Those two must have long been in cahoots with the Kang Family. Though, considering how much the Kang Family dislikes those two siblings, the Innkeeper knew but didn’t report them. I wonder what he’s scheming.”

“That’s what I think too,” Lian Sheng said flatly. “They were probably hoping to devour that brother and sister secretly.”

Zhong Yutian had no idea what private words the two were exchanging. Weakly, he gasped, “Those two Fairy Maidens, can that ghost be caught? It came once—it will definitely come a second time!”

“It’s likely fled far away,” Yinyu said deliberately.

Zhong Yutian’s face instantly crumpled in misery. “I can’t stay in this Dark Snow Heaven another day! When are you two Fairy Maidens leaving? Take me with you!”

Lian Sheng didn’t answer, instead casting another glance at the brazier by her foot.

Yinyu noticed her gaze and only then realized that something seemed hidden inside the brazier.

“Fairy Maiden, please, I beg you, take me away!” Zhong Yutian continued pleading.

Suddenly, Lian Sheng bent down. Her unadorned hand reached into the brazier, scattering the black charcoal.

With a crackle and a flash, a spark nearly leaped out of the brazier. The firelight… was a bluish-green!

Lian Sheng’s five fingers closed, catching the spark perfectly. With just a slight tightening of her grip, a dark shadow squeezed out from between her fingers, morphing into a twisted Ghostly Shadow.

Zhong Yutian stared, dumbfounded. He stammered incoherently, unable to form a single complete sentence.

The ghost Lian Sheng had captured was hideous in appearance. Clearly, it had died a horrific death. Its body was a bloody mess, its eyes bulging wider than bronze bells, not to mention how every one of its ribs was broken, a truly ghastly sight.

This ghost’s Yin Energy was extremely dense. Having died in such a miserable state, it would have been strange if it hadn’t become a Fierce Ghost.

After being captured, the Ghostly Evil struggled ceaselessly. The broken bones in its body actually acted like rattan vines, suddenly piercing out from its flesh and skin, binding itself into a thin, elongated strip, much like a human-headed snake.

It transformed rapidly, attempting to slip out from Lian Sheng’s palm, but a blast of Golden Light descended upon it, rendering it immobile.

Lotus Pattern Arc Light crashed down over its head, bathing the Ghost in a cleansing, radiant gold.

As Lian Sheng released her grip, the ghost collapsed to the ground. No matter what ferocious aspect it revealed now, it could no longer harm anyone.

Yinyu lifted her skirt and crouched down. She caught the ghost’s scent and, with a quick sniff, identified it as the “Waiter.”

There was really no need to beat around the bush with a ghost. She got straight to the point: “You hid quite well. Are you ghosts raised by the Kang Family?”

“Th-this thing was hiding in the brazier all along?” Zhong Yutian, already drained of energy, rolled his eyes back and collapsed.

Suppressed by the Lotus Pattern Arc Light, the ghost dared not defy these two, no matter how capable it might be. Trembling, it said, “It was the Kang Family who told me to do this. That’s charcoal retrieved from the Altar of the Abandoned. It doesn’t ward off evil; it hides you. That’s why I—I could stay hidden!”

“Where is your Innkeeper?” Yinyu stared directly at it, not seeming to find the ghost before her the least bit frightening.

“At night, he has to hunt souls. A living body without a living soul will exhaust its vitality sooner or later, so he had to think of other methods.” The Ghostly Evil knelt on the floor, its bones creaking. It could no longer maintain the snake form it had struggled to adopt.

“Was it you who knocked on our window?” Yinyu stood up wearily, stifling a light yawn.

“I beg my Lady to spare my life,” the ghost implored, its voice as piercing and desperate as Zhong Yutian’s earlier scream.

“Yes or no?” Yinyu asked again.

“Y-yes! It was the Innkeeper!”

Lian Sheng seemed lost in thought. Suddenly she asked, “The Innkeeper goes out every night. Where to?”

The ghostly creature shook its head so hard it seemed about to fall off. “He won’t tell me!”

“They’re all ghosts raised by the Kang Family, yet there’s still a hierarchy?” Yinyu’s eyes held a trace of a smile.

The ghost fell silent, clearly uncomfortable being pinned by the Lotus Pattern Arc Light.

“I’ll let you go back,” Lian Sheng said, casting a cool glance its way. Her magnanimity seemed almost like mercy.

The ghost on the floor looked up in disbelief, its eyes nearly popping out. It quickly raised a hand to cover them.

Yinyu turned her head suspiciously. “Let him go back?”

Lian Sheng actually withdrew the Lotus Pattern Arc Light. The room was plunged into pitch darkness. In the dim light, no one could see the slight upward curve of her lips. “You will keep a close watch on your Innkeeper for me. He’s close to the Kang Family. He will know when the one who set up the altar arrives next month.”

The Ghostly Evil was shocked. “You—you want me to try and gather information?”

Lian Sheng was slightly displeased by this phrasing. Her brow furrowed slightly, but she merely said, “More or less. But don’t alert them.”

This merciful soul hadn’t spoken harshly. Yinyu, standing beside her, added, “Or else you’ll be in for a world of hurt.” She played the part of the fox exploiting the tiger’s might to absolute perfection.

The ghost scrambled away frantically. Just as it was about to transform into grey smoke and slip out the door, it was called back.

Yinyu’s gaze swept sideways. She pressed her finger to her lips and whispered, “Don’t disturb the male Cultivator downstairs. Leave by the window.”

Not a single ghostly shadow remained in the room. Zhong Yutian groaned as he opened his eyes and abruptly sat upright. Paranoid and seeing danger everywhere, he looked around frantically, repeatedly checking the window, which was now shut tight, seams perfectly aligned.

Even though no ghosts could be seen inside or outside the window, he was still terrified. He even begged Yinyu and Lian Sheng to allow him to roll up his bedding and sleep outside their door.

Yinyu would have none of it. “Do you think we’re easy to negotiate with?” she said softly.

Zhong Yutian shivered under that gaze and dared not move his bedding.

Yinyu yawned and sauntered lazily back to her room.

Inside the room, the oil lamp was burning low. The window seams weren’t perfectly tight; the wind crept in along the lattice, making the flame flicker wildly.

Yinyu pulled the edge of the blanket tightly around herself. She just sat there, not lying down. Her thin back was taut from the cold, yet her eyes kept drifting towards Lian Sheng.

Lian Sheng, having just grabbed the charcoal from the brazier with her bare hand, was now unhurriedly wiping them clean. The cloth she used was surprisingly the torn corner of silk she had earlier pulled from the Wooden Puppet’s mouth.

Yinyu only recognized it because she saw the lotus painted on it.

“Can’t sleep?” Lian Sheng finished wiping her hands. Having a slight obsessive-compulsive habit, she then emitted a wisp of Golden Light and washed them meticulously once more before feeling at ease.

“I was dreaming just now,” Yinyu said, her words slightly garbled, though her expression was clear-headed.

“What did you dream of?” Lian Sheng tucked the silk cloth into her sleeve. “Back at Little Desolate Islet, nothing seemed to frighten you.”

Yinyu propped her chin on her knee and glanced askance at her, a half-smile on her face. “How can those things compare? I’ve seen plenty of Ghostly Evils. They neither chill my heart nor frighten me. But things in dreams—passion, desire—those stir me up and leave my heart flustered.”

In the darkness, Lian Sheng walked closer and sat down on the edge of the bed. Neither cold nor warm, she said, “I thought someone with your breadth of experience and countless battles wouldn’t be so easily stirred.”

“You think of me like that?” Yinyu always wore that lazy, laid-back demeanor. To others, she truly seemed dissolute and uninhibited. She was long accustomed to others’ gossip, but hearing such words from Lian Sheng’s mouth, she found the taste increasingly bitter.

She threw aside the blanket, piled it to the side, and pressed down on Lian Sheng’s shoulder. “Well then, if I don’t do something, I’d be failing to live up to your image of me.”

“I’m going to sleep.” Lian Sheng looked sideways at the beautiful hand on her shoulder and gently brushed it off.

Yinyu feigned deafness and dumbness, putting her ear right to the other’s lips. “What was that?”

Lian Sheng stared straight ahead at the single flicker of bright, dying firelight in the pitch-black room. “I’m going to sleep,” she said flatly.

The latter half of the night passed peacefully. The ghost that possessed the Innkeeper returned at some unknown time. It was now controlling that body, dozing lightly in the hall.

More people were out and about during the day. While eating breakfast in the hall, they occasionally saw tightly bundled city residents trudging by with difficulty.

The Waiter worked swiftly, tidying the guest rooms and then wiping down the tables and chairs downstairs, bustling about diligently.

Beyond the wide-open door, people passed by in groups. One of them voiced their puzzlement: “How could a perfectly healthy person just die? Freezing or starving to death I can understand, but drowning?”