Living, breathing people disappearing into thin air – who wouldn’t panic at the sight?
Not to mention, the Five Gates’ whole business was exorcising ghosts and banishing evil. It had always been their place to make ghostly evils vanish, not to have their own people disappear alongside them.
Lu Dongqing and Feng Pengqi stared intently at the surveillance footage. Even after the video finished playing, they didn’t blink, until a voice broke the silence.
“But I can’t sense anything sinister in this video. Has this footage definitely not been tampered with?” someone asked.
The speaker was Feng Qingshuang’s uncle. This man was fairly well-known within the Five Gates, albeit for the wrong reasons. Several times, when exorcising evil, he hadn’t banished it completely but insisted he’d finished the job. Later, others would have to clean up his mess.
Wu Yinyu had no regard for his opinion and let out a very soft scoff.
If Lu Dongqing and Feng Pengqi were still staring because they hadn’t found a single clue, then she was staring because she had genuinely seen something in the footage.
There really was something.
After Lu Yiqi and Feng Qingshuang got out of the car, a dense black shadow had coiled around Lu Yiqi’s leg. Feng Qingshuang hadn’t been spared either.
The ink-qi had gradually spread, becoming more and more concentrated, until it enveloped them both completely. Skin and flesh alike, they were consumed, bit by bit, until nothing remained.
That thing was the same as the “Yin Energy” she had seen before. But compared to ordinary ghostly qi, its blackness was far too absolute.
“What are you laughing at?” Feng Qingshuang’s uncle frowned.
“Nothing, just a habit, I meant nothing by it.” Wu Yinyu turned her head and found that Lu Dongqing and Feng Pengqi were still just as clueless. The two men were still puzzling over how the figures in the footage had vanished.
Ever since she began learning the arts of warding off evil and dispelling inauspiciousness, she had seen countless monsters and demons, but she had never encountered anything like this. Especially something that only she could see.
Lu Dongqing signaled his assistant to turn off the screen. He planted his elbows on the table, his interlocked fingers pressed against his lips, silent for a long time.
As things stood, everyone present knew this wasn’t a matter that could be resolved by calling the police.
The Five Gates had plied this trade for hundreds of years and had indeed encountered times when trouble “ignited and burned them.” But they had never imagined that two juniors, who rarely got involved in such matters, would suffer such a devouring.
“I… can’t see anything,” Feng Pengqi admitted coldly.
Lu Dongqing’s eyes were deeply grave. He shook his head, “Since I received this footage last night, I’ve watched it no less than a hundred times. I can’t see anything either. I don’t understand how they just vanished. And why did it have to be Yiqi and Qingshuang?”
Wu Yinyu crossed her arms over her chest, her smoking pipe still in hand. She covertly assessed Lu Dongqing, but by now, she could no longer see that wisp of qi beside him.
That thing always appeared very suddenly and vanished just as quickly.
Logically, if only one person could see a strange phenomenon, that person must have a deep connection to it. Until she figured it out, Wu Yinyu had no intention of mentioning it, to avoid adding unnecessary trouble.
Feng Pengqi’s expression hardened. He hesitated before asking, “Your grandson, Lu Sansheng, has he still not woken up?”
“That’s right.” Lu Dongqing felt an even greater headache. His grandson Lu San’s soul still hadn’t been summoned back, and now two more juniors were missing. “We haven’t yet had the chance to recall it.”
“Soon. If the soul leaves the body for too long, the shell will…” Feng Pengqi stopped himself abruptly, not finishing the ominous words.
Lu Dongqing’s lips were cracked, his eyes bloodshot. In a deep voice, he said, “I know. It’s just that this happened so suddenly, and right now, we have no leads. For the moment, I can’t handle both matters at once.”
“Elder Lu,” Wu Yinyu put her pipe away and asked, “May I take a copy of these surveillance clips home to review?”
Among this generation of the Five Gates’ descendants, Wu Yinyu possessed the best innate talent. Even very few of their predecessors could surpass her. The reason Lu Dongqing had asked Wu Wanying to call her here was precisely to get her opinion.
“Of course. Make a copy for Miss Wu,” Lu Dongqing said.
His assistant quickly duplicated the files and handed them over to Wu Yinyu.
Wu Yinyu took the USB flash drive, holding it in her hand as she thought for a moment. She proposed, “As Elder Feng said, it’s best to summon back Lu San’s soul as soon as possible. There must be no delay. As for Lu Yi… I do have some leads. Let me go back and think them over.”
Lu Dongqing immediately asked, “Where did you find a lead?”
“Naturally, by using the Wu family’s methods.” Wu Yinyu stood, bracing her arms on the table. She offered a very faint smile. “Elder Lu, please don’t ask further.”
When it involved the secret traditions within a gate, it was improper for outsiders to pry. Lu Dongqing simply relaxed his furrowed brow. Affecting nonchalance, he said, “I was out of line. Since Yinyu has ideas, please inform us once you have results.”
Wu Yinyu nodded but didn’t leave the table immediately. Her gaze lingered on Lu Dongqing for another moment.
It was broad daylight, the sun hanging high. The Lu family meeting room had its doors and windows wide open. Even a fierce ghost wouldn’t dare show itself now.
Yet that wisp of faint ink-qi had appeared again, crawling onto Lu Dongqing’s shoulder.
Everyone else was utterly oblivious. Only Wu Yinyu watched, helpless, as the ink-qi vanished once more.
She drawled, “But there’s one thing I’d like to ask Elder Lu.”
Lu Dongqing raised his hand in a gesture of invitation.
“Elder Lu, have you been… ‘down below’ recently?” Wu Yinyu asked.
“Down below” naturally didn’t mean working in the fields or raiding tombs for treasure. For the Five Gates, it meant inheriting the Ghost Charter to conduct Yin affairs, walking through the void as an impermanence envoy.
Lu Dongqing shook his head. “I very rarely go down below these days. Even the tasks of subduing ghosts are all done by subordinates. I am no longer young; my lifespan has already been shortened considerably. I’m not suited for such things anymore.”
“Then logically, you shouldn’t have picked up anything?” Wu Yinyu asked again.
As her words faded, the vanished ink-qi appeared without warning, coalescing into a mass in mid-air.
“Correct,” Lu Dongqing said.
Wu Yinyu’s expression changed drastically as she saw that mass of qi dart forward like a startled fish, lunging straight for her face.
It was too fast. She could only raise a hand to shield her face. In an instant, the hairs on her entire body stood on end, a chilling cold piercing through bone and heart.
Unexpectedly, upon colliding with her, the ink-smoke disappeared without a trace again.
Just as she was about to lower her hand, she noticed something seemed to have stained the back of it. Looking closely, it was a smudge of ink.
“What’s wrong?” Lu Dongqing started, looking over in surprise.
“Nothing, just didn’t sleep well last night.” Wu Yinyu used her thumb to smear the ink stain on the back of her hand. She lowered her head to sniff it and, remarkably, detected a… fragrance of ink.
Though accompanied by a damp, moldy odor, the ink fragrance was distinct.
Ordinary ghostly qi would never be like this.
She pulled out a tissue and forcefully wiped the stain from her hand. Her peripheral vision swept over the people seated in the hall. Everyone else was still pondering the disappearance of Lu Yiqi and Feng Qingshuang. No one had noticed that she had just been struck by evil qi.
“You should rest well. Young people need to take care of their health too,” Lu Dongqing said with a helpless shake of his head.
“May I ask, who handles the matter of walking as impermanence for the Lu family?” Wu Yinyu wiped very hard.
As she tossed the tissue into the wastebasket, she deliberately slowed her movements. “I don’t know when I got some ink on my hand.”
“This table has been wiped down three times. The tissue in Miss Wu’s hand is spotless. Surely you aren’t just finding some excuse to nitpick,” the man sitting beside Lu Dongqing said.
“How could I?” Wu Yinyu relaxed two fingers, dropping the tissue—which appeared utterly clean to anyone else—into the basket.
Her heart plummeted along with it. She now understood this mass of ink-qi truly had deep connections to her.
The man who had just spoken added, “In the Lu family now, I am the one who inherits the Ghost Charter. What guidance does Miss Wu have to offer?”
Wu Yinyu cast a sidelong glance at him, discerning nothing suspicious. She simply said, “Just wanted to make your acquaintance. There will be plenty of opportunities for mutual discussion in the future.”
She didn’t linger. The red tassel on her smoking pipe swung gently. “I have some other business. I’ll take my leave first.”
Her driver had been waiting outside the Lu residence for a while. Hearing the car door open, he turned and asked, “Miss, where to?”
Leaning back in her seat, Wu Yinyu closed her eyes. Her complexion was a bit too pale. She was still rubbing the back of her hand, utterly unable to make sense of the situation.
To speak of anomalies, one had to go back to a month ago, when she first started having those dreams. There was nothing else in them, only constant lightning and raging fire, and… the interrogations of an unknown entity.
Those pavilions and towers carved of white jade were extraordinarily vivid. The pain of the torture in the dream was also real pain, affecting skin and hair alike.
“Miss?”
Brought back to reality, Wu Yinyu took a tissue and pressed it to her forehead, wiping away a thin layer of cold sweat. “To Shengxian Treasure Shop,” she said.
Shengxian Treasure Shop was built mid-way up a mountain slope. The building was elegantly constructed, the location serene. It was a rather fine destination.
After getting out of the car, Wu Yinyu sent the driver away. She confirmed she had the red jade with her, then turned and walked inside.
The shop featured its own landscaped scenery, the small bamboo and flowing water arrangement quite beautiful. Adorning it were numerous flowers and birds crafted using imitation kingfisher feather art, exquisite and lovely in appearance.
She stated her private room number, and naturally, someone guided her there.
The server, dressed in a long robe with wide sleeves, led the way along a winding covered corridor. They stopped before a door in the inner courtyard.
Wu Yinyu pushed the door open. Through the gauze-covered camphor wood screen, she saw a figure lounging on the low platform by the window.
