Chapter 392: The Genius of the Great Pure Palace

“Gou… Gou Meng?”

Through the soul-calling spell formation, Fu Xinyi received a response from the unformed haunting condensed from Li Ziqi’s resentment. She was stunned for a moment, about to channel psychic energy to activate the spell formation and ask in detail about the circumstances of his death.

Just then, a sudden change occurred. The four whale oil candles mixed with dragon incense, which had been burning steadily, suddenly went out.

“Crack-crack-craack-!”

In the darkness, a series of crisp cracking sounds echoed.

Fu Xinyi whipped her head around and saw that the porcelain bowl had shattered into several pieces, clear water spilling all over the floor.

There’s a psychic energy fluctuation interfering with my soul-calling spell formation! Fu Xinyi was shocked. The thought had just flashed through her mind when, in the next instant, she felt a terrifying surge of psychic energy rushing in like a tidal wave.

Chilling psychic energy fluctuations gathered in the laboratory, like a river of ice from the underworld surging through the void. In her ears, she seemed to hear a piercing shriek, while suffocating negative emotions and a soul-deep shudder intertwined into a vortex of pain.

Caught in this terrifying maelstrom, Fu Xinyi’s face turned pale, her eyes filled with inescapable fear.

The shadows in the corners danced wildly, closing in on her, like a giant hand reaching out to crush her into a pool of blood.

“Chirp-!”

Almost like an illusion, she seemed to hear the cry of a bird.

Proud and mournful, it stirred a sense of loneliness and fear from the depths of the listener’s heart.

With that cry, Fu Xinyi felt her consciousness drifting away, as if flung into the empty depths of space, growing ever more silent.

“Jingle-jingle-!”

The bronze bell on the table shook violently, sending out ripples tinged with a faint golden glow.

The bell’s sound entered Fu Xinyi’s ears, and her eyes, which had been growing hollow, instantly regained clarity. Catching a glimpse of the shadow already closing in at her feet, her heart jolted, and she instinctively leapt backward.

In the next moment, a fierce wind and black shadow descended from above, slashing down like flowing water and light, surging and blooming in her vision.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she brushed her hand over her satchel, and a dozen talisman papers appeared between her fingers. With a graceful lift of her hand, the talisman papers burst into dazzling light.

Thunder Talisman, Spirit Sword Seal, True Fire Manifestation Spell, Hundredfold Vow Thunder Chapter…

Fu Xinyi channeled her psychic energy, unleashing all kinds of talismans that ordinary psychics could only dream of obtaining, firing them at the shadow like a torrential storm, as if they cost nothing at all.

“Boom-!”

A thunderous roar erupted. Where the talismans collided with the shadow, several bursts of fire flared up at once. Yet, as a few wisps of black feathers drifted down and vanished, the shadow only slowed its advance, seemingly unscathed.

These talismans from Fu Xinyi’s sect, though not as powerful as the forbidden spell formations of The Midnight Watchers Society, were at least on par with most precision spell formations. Against those small-fry hauntings, they would be enough to kill them several times over.

However, when the fire faded, she saw that the explosions caused by the talismans had failed to inflict any real harm on the shadow, leaving her alarmed.

This is bad, I can’t win, time to run!

Making a quick decision, Fu Xinyi grabbed a handful of talismans from her satchel and threw them forward without hesitation. Using the firelight from the explosions as cover, she retreated to the window in a few swift steps, vaulted out, and glided away on the wind, vanishing into the night in no time.

Half an hour later.

Tang City University, rooftop of the library.

After lying low for a long while, Fu Xinyi finally emerged from her hiding place. That shadow, which had appeared with a terrifying psychic energy fluctuation, had truly frightened her.

In her panic, she had thrown out nearly half of the talismans her Shifu and senior sister had given her for protection before leaving home. Thinking back, her heart ached, but fortunately, the shadow didn’t seem intent on chasing her down and soon faded away.

Coming to the edge of the rooftop, Fu Xinyi gazed in the direction of the literature building, her brows furrowed in thought.

Didn’t Shifu say that Gou Meng, the King of Hauntings in Taoyuan, was considered a benevolent being among all hauntings and wouldn’t harm people easily?

Why did she suddenly attack Li Ziqi?

Moreover, how did Li Ziqi know the name Gou Meng? Fu Xinyi wondered.

For a soul-calling spell formation like this, the more detailed and specific the information about the target, the higher the chance of success.

So, to ensure the success of the soul-calling spell formation, Fu Xinyi had already investigated Li Ziqi’s background through special means before sneaking into the lab, down to the exact hour of his birth.

From his background information, there were no psychics in his family, nor any residents of Taoyuan. By all rights, he shouldn’t have known the name “Gou Meng.”

Yet that unformed haunting summoned by the soul-calling spell formation had spoken Gou Meng’s name, which was very strange.

An unformed haunting summoned by a soul-calling spell formation, under the control of the spell formation’s power, cannot lie.

That is to say, Li Ziqi’s death was indeed related to Gou Meng. Even if it wasn’t a direct connection, there was some kind of indirect link.

Moreover…

Fu Xinyi recalled the terrifying shadow that suddenly appeared when she was about to continue questioning the cause of Li Ziqi’s death, and let out a slow, heavy breath.

Black feathers, the cries of birds, horrifying psychic energy fluctuations… these traits also matched the description of Gou Meng on the Wanted List.

The only thing Fu Xinyi couldn’t figure out was why Gou Meng would target an ordinary person. Logically, if she wanted to replenish her psychic energy, hunting hauntings or psychics would be much more efficient.

There must be something fishy about this…

As she pondered, Fu Xinyi took out her phone from her satchel and tried to send a few messages for help.

As she expected, every message was followed by a bright red prompt-[Failed to send].

“If only I were as powerful as Senior Sister, I could have an out-of-body experience and go back to report in a situation like this.”

Thinking of her distant cousin and Senior Sister, her “good sister,” Fu Xinyi couldn’t help but sigh in frustration.

“Aiya, this is so annoying. Didn’t Senior Sister say this was just a simple errand, nothing dangerous? How did it end up involving a catastrophe-class haunting? Is she setting me up again?”

In a sense, Fu Xinyi had been taken advantage of by her Senior Sister Huá Sāng since childhood.

But, from another perspective, Huá Sāng wasn’t really setting her up.

All she did was shove all the fame, honor, and benefits that should have belonged to herself onto Fu Xinyi. To put it nicely, it was being indifferent to fame and fortune, unconcerned with the world; to put it bluntly, it was being unambitious and downright lazy.

During Fu Xinyi’s twelve years on the mountain, Huá Sāng had openly and secretly “shoved” so much onto her that someone whose talent was only barely considered excellent was made into the once-in-a-century genius of the Great Pure Palace, showered with the love of all the elders.

However, those who wear the crown must bear its weight.

Twelve years! A full twelve years! Do you know how Fu Xinyi got through it?

Before she went down the mountain to join The Midnight Watchers Society as a reserve operator, she spent almost ten years sleeping less than three hours a day.

During those ten years, she survived on the mountain only thanks to her strong luck and the peerless health-preserving secrets of the Great Pure Palace.

Sometimes, when she couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to confess to the elders, she was just laughed off.

Her genius persona had long been deeply rooted in everyone’s hearts. Any explanation would be taken as modesty, followed by, “Keep it up! I believe in you!”

After all, everyone in the Great Pure Palace had seen Fu Xinyi’s hard work. No one believed that Huá Sāng, who spent all her time fishing for turtles in the back mountain pond, could have accomplished so many earth-shattering feats.

…

“Fishing for turtles can break the record for the fastest awakening of Taihe Gentleman Sword energy in a hundred years? Are you stupid or what?”

“Fishing for turtles can single-handedly kill a haunting that infiltrated the Great Pure Palace? Then why don’t you come fishing with me tomorrow?”

“No way, going to The Midnight Watchers Society headquarters for special training and lectures isn’t nearly as fun as fishing for turtles!”

“Don’t ask. If you ask, it was Fu Xinyi who did it. It has nothing to do with me, Huá Sāng!”

…

In a daze, Fu Xinyi recalled those words Huá Sāng had once said, and couldn’t help but shed aggrieved tears.

Back when she first started her training, she shouldn’t have let vanity get the better of her and swapped the psychic energy potential test results with Senior Sister. That one exchange changed her whole life… Fu Xinyi thought.

8:47 p.m.

The snow outside the window was still falling. This light snow had been coming down off and on for almost a month, lingering with the city since the start of winter, as if spring would never come.

The rain was still falling. This mysterious storm had covered the small city for almost a week, and even the meteorological bureau couldn’t explain it.

Ever since the nights grew longer, most customers at the Haidi Lao hotpot restaurant on Wanshou Road in Tang City would settle their bills and leave before eight in the evening, and the restaurant would close early. But tonight, the lights were still on.

Inside, there was only a cashier, a dozing waiter, and the only two customers: a teenage boy and a little girl who looked six or seven, maybe even younger.

The two of them had ordered an extra spicy beef tallow pot, and from six in the evening, when it had just gotten completely dark, they had been eating slowly until now, adding more dishes several times in between.

The dozing waiter was actually just pretending to sleep. She had been secretly watching the boy and the little girl, grumbling to herself about how they could eat so much, and even suspected she had run into a haunting.

But she’d heard hauntings ate people, and had never heard of one that couldn’t get along with hotpot.

Legendary hauntings were supposed to be terrifying, but these two looked so good that there was no way they could be hauntings.

Besides, from their conversation, it was clear they were a pair of poor siblings who depended on each other. The little sister seemed to have never had hotpot before, and the brother had gone all out to treat her to a big meal.

The waiter imagined all this to herself, sighed silently, and began to pray that they would leave soon.

….

Gou Meng dipped a piece of tripe into the hotpot and stuffed it into her small mouth. As she chewed, she glared angrily at Lu Yibei and muttered, “You should go try! How would you know it won’t work if you don’t try?”

Four days was too short a time. She wanted Lu Yibei to split up with her and try to persuade the three members of Tang City’s The Midnight Watchers Society, to see if they could delay activating the city barrier.

“Just tell them it was all Fuyang’s doing, it has nothing to do with me. As long as I’m alive, he can’t stir up much trouble.”

“I don’t need to go to know what the result will be!” Lu Yibei held his cola, glancing sideways at Gou Meng. “They’re all main operators. Why would they listen to a reserve operator like me?”

“How about you go talk to them yourself?”

“Mm… I’m not going!” Gou Meng shook her little head like a rattle drum. “What if they take the chance to catch me?”

“Then I’m not going either.” Lu Yibei pouted. “What if they mistake me for a traitor of The Midnight Watchers Society?”

Gou Meng put down her chopsticks, wiped her oily little mouth, and muttered, “Aren’t you a traitor? Don’t forget, you’re my ally!”

Lu Yibei leaned in close, grabbed her little hand, and wiped the red oil off it with a napkin. “I’m a traitor, but I don’t want to get found out! I still want to coast on my salary for a few more years.”

“So what do we do!”

“Didn’t you say The Midnight Watchers Society underestimated your strength? Even if the city barrier is activated and they blast Taoyuan, it still won’t kill you, right?” Lu Yibei said impatiently.

“If it comes to it, just let them fire a shot. I think you make a pretty good gun mount.”

Maybe it was because acting in the afternoon had been too enjoyable, but he felt Gou Meng was getting more and more into the role of a child-always muttering and pouting, so annoying!

“Not dying is one thing, but getting hurt is another. Could you really bear to see me half-dead, like a wildflower by the roadside, trampled, insulted, and ravaged?”

“I could, and I even want to join in!” Lu Yibei said with a straight face.

“If you keep this up, I’m going to cry!”

“….”

Thinking of the scene in front of the clothing wholesale market that afternoon, Lu Yibei was silent for a few seconds, then steered the conversation back on track.

“First, we collect artifacts step by step to help you recover your strength. Then, as you said, try to contact your people to help you fight back, and then…”

And then figure out their real purpose in spreading those artifacts containing hauntings. Lu Yibei silently added in his heart.

Before this, he had already reminded Gou Meng several times to be wary of those people’s ulterior motives, but Gou Meng insisted that at most, they just wanted to frame her and put her at odds with The Midnight Watchers Society. As long as the members of Tang City’s The Midnight Watchers Society realized this, it would be fine.

For this, she even made a series of plans to “do good deeds and leave a name,” the core being to loudly announce her title when saving victims from the pickles, so they’d remember her.

When the operators of The Midnight Watchers Society investigated the haunting incidents and heard the victims’ statements, they’d naturally start to waver and delay activating the city barrier.

But…

Lu Yibei still felt that all this was just their one-sided speculation. There must be something they hadn’t considered. To be cautious, after bold guessing, they should also carefully verify.

The only conclusion they could draw now was that they probably wanted to hit Gou Meng’s entity with a blast, but the real purpose was still unclear.

Thinking this, Lu Yibei pulled his thoughts back and looked at Gou Meng, only to find her staring at him with wide eyes, as if expecting something.

“What is it?”

“And then? What next? Say it!”

“…” Lu Yibei pondered for a few seconds, then shook his head. “That’s all.”

That’s all? Then why did you say ‘and then’? And even paused for so long… Gou Meng fell silent.

Seeing the silence across from him, Lu Yibei instantly felt delighted.

It’s fun to leave people hanging once, and even more fun to do it all the time!