Chapter 49

“Monkey?”

Song Qian was somewhat surprised. The environment on this mountain was so good, yet there were still wild monkeys around.

Liu Changsheng looked at the small path ahead and said faintly, “It left.”

“Be careful.”

The path behind grew even narrower. Lin Qing walked at the end, holding the lantern to illuminate the way for the people ahead.

After passing the small path, they saw a small house standing midway up the hillside. The small house was crooked and looked very dilapidated.

The moment Song Qian saw the small house, she recalled Yun Chu kneeling in the rainy night in front of the Mountain God Temple.

“That’s the place. That’s the Mountain God Temple.”

“Alright, let’s go take a look.”

The group headed toward the Mountain God Temple. The cliff was steep, so they had to stick close to the stone wall and inch forward slowly. Ji Wuxin kept reminding Song Qian to watch her step, her hand staying on Song Qian’s waist the whole time.

Fortunately, this stretch of road wasn’t long. When Song Qian reached a wider spot and glanced downward, the tall trees at the base of the mountain had shrunk to mere tips. Her arm was suddenly yanked back.

“Still looking? You trying to fall or what?” Liu Changsheng pulled her farther away. Her eyesight was already poor, and yet she was doing something this dangerous.

Once Lin Qing had shuffled over as well, Liu Changsheng handed a talisman to each of them. “This Mountain God Temple might have something in it. At least this will help protect you.”

Qi Buyu pinched the thin talisman paper and wrinkled her nose. “Didn’t you say there’s nothing during the daytime?”

“What if Yun Chu is here too?”

The air fell silent at once. That Yun Chu had such extreme and terrifying ideas—no one knew what she might do.

The Mountain God Temple stood midway up the hillside. The sun hung high now, its golden rays casting over the temple roof and lending it a touch of divinity. The two stone lions before the door gaped eerily, their mouths stuffed with paper money and rotting food.

“This temple looks like no one’s been here in ages.” Lin Qing eyed the spiderwebs blanketing the gate and drew his conclusion.

It certainly seemed that way. The gate, once coated in red paint, was now a peeling mess, unsightly to behold, with fallen leaves and dry grass piled at the entrance.

Liu Changsheng’s gaze landed on the left corner, where the dry leaves were far sparser than elsewhere.

“Not necessarily.”

“Huh?” Qi Buyu stared blankly as Liu Changsheng strode straight toward the side of the temple.

Liu Changsheng reached the wall and brushed her foot over the fallen leaves on the ground. Sure enough, a shallow footprint lay beneath.

She curled her lips and looked up at the wall towering slightly above her. Climbing over instead of using the gate—was she afraid someone would notice something?

“Ji Wuxin.”

Ji Wuxin reluctantly answered when Liu Changsheng called her. “What?”

She knew this wouldn’t be good.

“Float up higher and check what’s inside.”

They couldn’t rashly climb the wall, but they had Ji Wuxin—what couldn’t a spirit do?

Ji Wuxin was still in her red skirt. She floated lightly and shot Lin Qing a glance. Lin Qing wisely stepped farther away and turned his back.

Fortunately, the skirt was long enough; floating up wouldn’t reveal anything.

Ji Wuxin’s head slowly rose above the wall. She peered inside casually, but the next second, her gaze froze, shock impossible to hide.

“Inside…”

“Bang!”

The Mountain God Temple’s gate burst open with force. Liu Changsheng motioned for Ji Wuxin to come down.

Evidently, the person inside had spotted them and kindly opened the door.

“Let’s go. Stay safe.”

When the group reached the gate and laid eyes on the temple interior, they finally grasped just how shocking Ji Wuxin’s glimpse had been.

The courtyard brimmed with Liuli Lanterns—all identical, each one crystal clear and gleaming. Only a narrow path remained for passage, the lanterns piled clear to the inner room’s door, which stood ajar to a pitch-black interior.

“So many Liuli Lanterns…” Lin Qing marveled. They were stacked nearly as high as the courtyard walls, not a single one broken or flawed, every last one exquisitely perfect.

A woman’s soft laugh drifted from the inner room. “Aren’t they beautiful?”

Liu Changsheng eyed the shadowy figure in the gloom. “Yun Chu?”

Yun Chu emerged from the darkness. Her cheeks were sunken, her frame gaunt and barely human. She clutched a mended Liuli Lantern in her right hand.

“Did Wu Yizhi tell you everything? Are you here to draw out my soul?” As she spoke, Yun Chu doubled over in a coughing fit, a gentle smile on her face—no one seeing her like this would guess the vile acts she was committing.

“Haven’t you drained enough souls from the villagers? Your Liuli still lacks emotion, doesn’t it?”

After Song Qian spoke, the air around them grew chillingly cold. She heard Yun Chu’s light, airy laugh. “That’s right, Liuli has no emotions, but the spirit at your side does. I was thinking…”

“If I use your spirit to supplement Liuli’s spirit one more time, maybe she’ll talk and smile just like yours.”

Ji Wuxin couldn’t stomach the provocation. She lifted her chin defiantly. “By all means, try it!”

Song Qian grabbed her arm. “Don’t be reckless. What if you can’t beat her?”

Ji Wuxin: “…”

She hadn’t even fought yet, and already she was deemed the loser.

Gritting her teeth, Ji Wuxin leaned to Song Qian’s ear and growled fiercely, “I’m really strong. Don’t underestimate me.”

“Mm-hmm.” The reply was utterly dismissive.

Song Qian hadn’t forgotten how that someone had ended up a battered mess after the Ghost Mother punched her translucent—and she’d been the one to suffer in the end.

“If you want Liuli to have emotions so badly, why make thousands of identical Liuli Lanterns and pile them here?” There had to be several thousand if they counted them all.

Yun Chu lowered her eyes sorrowfully to the Liuli Lantern in her right hand, her thumb tracing the cracks. “You wouldn’t understand. She shattered because of me. I owe her that much. Once she recognizes me and sees all these Liuli Lanterns, she’ll be thrilled.”

The group in the courtyard fell silent together. They truly didn’t get it.

Would anyone tolerate their beloved surrounded by that many identical lookalikes?

“Yun Chu, your Liuli hasn’t come back. The one in your hand is a fake Liuli Lantern.” Song Qian pressed her lips and voiced the truth.

Yun Chu’s stroking fingers halted. She raised her head with a chilling glare at Song Qian. “Lies.”

“The Liuli Lantern’s been in my hands all along. How could it be fake?”

“Are you buying time?” Yun Chu tilted her head, gazing at the courtyard’s Liuli Lanterns with lover-like tenderness.

“You’re not leaving today. Liuli won’t allow it.”

The group still didn’t catch her meaning when the ground beneath them shuddered. The courtyard’s Liuli Lanterns sank eerily into the earth layer by layer, revealing a formation as vast as the yard under their feet.

Liu Changsheng narrowed her eyes and glanced overhead. A massive net shrouded the Mountain God Temple—they’d been lured right into the trap. Yun Chu had known they’d come.

“What’s your connection to Wu Yizhi?”

Yun Chu seemed surprised by the question. She covered her mouth, laughing gleefully. “Wu Yizhi? He’s my ace at soul extraction.”

“Without him dosing the villagers with that talisman water, I never could’ve drawn so many souls.”

Liu Changsheng nearly crushed her prayer beads. She’d suspected Wu Yizhi of aiding Yun Chu, but not that he’d be this deluded!

An entire village—the souls of a whole village, drained.

“My Liuli—tonight’s the night we reunite.” Yun Chu stared at the lantern in her hand, utterly entranced.

As she spoke, a woman stepped out from behind her. Her features were refined, her expression blank, her vacant eyes like those of the blind.

Yun Chu lit up at her appearance, convinced Liuli was finally responding. She reached eagerly for her hand. “Liuli! Liuli! You hear me, don’t you? You want to talk, to hold me, right?”

Liuli simply stood there, slowly tilting her head toward the courtyard wall. Her body felt as cold as her gaze, utterly lifeless, like a mannequin.

Seeing Liuli this way only confirmed it for Song Qian—this wasn’t Liuli’s spirit. Yun Chu held nothing but a fake Liuli Lantern; the spirit supplementing had failed.

Yun Chu’s obsession ran too deep; she refused to face it. She believed fusing others’ souls into Liuli’s form would make her respond with human feelings.

Pitiful.

Yun Chu staggered into the courtyard. She halted before the formation, eyeing Ji Wuxin with raw greed. Ji Wuxin met her stare coldly, but the woman before her only grew more thrilled and ecstatic.

“Liuli and jade make the finest trophies. You couldn’t be better for supplementing her spirit.”

Yun Chu’s heart soared at the jade spirit’s vivid movements, expressions, and emotions—this was precisely what she craved.

Even blindfolded, Song Qian sensed Yun Chu’s ill intent toward Ji Wuxin. She pulled Ji Wuxin behind her, shielding her.

Yun Chu appraised Song Qian’s fiercely protective stance. Wu Yizhi had mentioned her—a spirit nurturer, sustaining that jade spirit with her vital essence.

But this looked like far more than mere nurturing.

“That person brought you into the Mountain God Temple back then to teach you spirit supplementing. Was the Liuli Lantern repaired right under your nose?” Song Qian was convinced that this fake Liuli Lantern was something that woman had done to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes, without letting Yun Chu witness the repair process.

Yun Chu was somewhat surprised by her question. After all, only she and the Benefactor had been there at the time.

“How did you know?”

“Yun Chu.”

A voice called from outside the Mountain God Temple. Everyone turned to look. A woman in a long black windbreaker stood rigidly at the door, her wide hat shadowing most of her face.

The outfit bore a striking resemblance to Liu Changsheng’s back on the train—except Liu Changsheng had been upfront and un secretive, not cloaked in mystery like someone with something to hide.

Yun Chu’s eyes lit up. “Benefactor!”

Benefactor?

Song Qian stared at the shadowy figure. Could it be the owner of the Bell? She was still here!?

While Yun Chu hurried to the temple door to greet her so-called Benefactor, Song Qian sidled up to Ji Wuxin and whispered urgently, “Get into the Jade. Now.”

Ji Wuxin blinked. “Why?”

Song Qian grew anxious and grabbed Ji Wuxin’s hand, pulling her close. “Hurry!”

She remembered that the Bell’s owner had designs on the Jade Spirit too. Having already taken the spirit from the Liuli Lantern and not satisfied with that, now she was here to claim the Jade Spirit as well.

“Listen to your little disciple and go in first,” Liu Changsheng chimed in from nearby, her voice pitched a little lower than usual. “I’ll make sure to keep her safe.”

Only Qi Buyu turned toward the figure at the door, her smile not quite reaching her eyes.

Ming Wenjun. Long time no see.