Chapter 533: The Cherry Blossom Red-Clad Fierce Ghost

Hearing Lu Yibei say she had a way to summon the deceased Hu Chuan, the headless senior sister instantly became flustered.

Perhaps because her emotions were too intense, her severed neck rose and fell with her heaving chest, blood sizzling out.

“Huh? R-right now?”

If someone else had told her that the dead could have their souls summoned back, she might have doubted it, but since it was Lu Yibei who said it, she believed it almost without hesitation.

Lu Yibei looked at the headless senior sister, rolled her eyes, silently reached out, grabbed her head, lifted it up, set it steadily on her neck, then pressed down firmly on the top.

“Of course not now…” she said, glancing at the unconscious Jin Yecheng. “Do you think Senior Brother Jin hasn’t had enough shocks for one day?”

“When he wakes up and sees the two of us, each holding a human head, squatting on the ground, ghostly chanting Hu Chuan’s name, performing a spell formation, and if we’re lucky enough to actually see the summoned Hu Chuan, I’m afraid that’ll be enough to send him off for good.”

Besides, it’s not even certain if the Ancestors will teach me!

Even if he’s willing, I probably won’t be able to learn it in a short time.

To be safe, at least… it’ll take a night or two to study, right? Lu Yibei thought.

She had been learning from Qing Ji for so long, and as her understanding of spell formations and Alchemy deepened, she gradually realized why there were many spell formations Qing Ji hadn’t wanted to teach her before.

Because some spell formations are truly dangerous!

Take the directional soul-summoning spell formation, for example. Using someone’s personal belongings to summon their soul is, in a way, equivalent to creating a low-level haunting.

These ritual-type spell formations are very particular about the process–relics, incantations, ritual materials… if any step goes wrong, it could all fail.

And failure is already the best outcome.

Ritual-type spell formations are usually used to communicate with or summon distant hauntings. If there’s a mistake in the process but the ritual still succeeds, that’s when things get truly terrifying!

That would mean some unknown haunting sensed the ritual and came knocking on your door.

Although there’s a tiny chance that a haunting who comes knocking is benevolent, if you’re counting on luck, the result will definitely be tragic.

Lu Yibei felt that when it came to things like this, her “luck” was always absurdly good. If she’d learned the directional soul-summoning spell formation early on, she might have already summoned some unknown powerful being and been tormented into an unrecognizable shape.

But now, she herself was that unknown and powerful being (within the bounds of Hua City).

While Lu Yibei was secretly pondering, the headless senior sister glanced at Jin Yecheng, held her own head with both hands, nodded, and said, “Oh, that makes sense! So, what should I do next?”

Lu Yibei thought for a moment and said, “Let’s split up–uh, I mean in the sense of going separate ways, not literally splitting our heads.”

The headless senior sister glared at her, grumbling, “I know!”

“Just emphasizing, in case there’s any misunderstanding,” Lu Yibei said. “You go see if you can find any of Hu Chuan’s belongings. I’ll take Senior Brother Jin to the security room and call for emergency help.”

“His belongings?”

The headless senior sister lowered her brows, as if recalling some sad memory, then pondered for a long, long time. Her gaze gradually grew determined, as if she’d made an important decision.

“I think I know where to look.”

For some reason, as she said this, a trace of hesitation and difficulty flashed in her eyes.

Lu Yibei frowned, sizing up the pensive headless senior sister. “Tsk, don’t tell me you still kept that scumbag’s stuff?”

How big-hearted do you have to be to keep your enemy’s things!

Why is this girl so silly–maybe it’s because her head isn’t connected right? Lu Yibei thought to herself.

The headless senior sister shook her head, then straightened her tilted head. “No, it’s just that when we were in love, we buried a time capsule at school. Besides a letter to each other for the future, we each put in our favorite little item as a gift for the other, so…”

“Alright, I get it, that should work,” Lu Yibei interrupted, curling her lip.

How romantic. I should get Meow Meow-chan to do one with me!

Just as this thought popped up, Lu Yibei shook her head.

She already had one that looked like a graveyard, was actually a graveyard, basically an underworld version of a time capsule.

Inside were a Bai Xiaohua-printed T-shirt, a Bai Xiaohua bedding set, and some keepsake from Jiang Li that she hadn’t had time to see clearly.

Based on what Lu Yibei knew of Jiang Li, Jiang Li would definitely refuse her invitation, then coldly tell her, “It’s buried for you at Lion Rock Public Cemetery. In fifty years, when the grave’s lease is up, you can dig it up.”

—-

After discussing with the headless senior sister, they agreed to meet at the small warehouse on the main path of Gate No. 4 in twenty minutes. Watching the headless senior sister float toward Cherry Blossom Avenue, Lu Yibei hoisted the unconscious Jin Yecheng with one hand and quickly walked toward the nearest security room.

Tiptoeing into the security room, she found the on-duty old man drunk and sleeping soundly.

Lu Yibei carried Jin Yecheng to the small bed inside, gently pulled back the covers, laid him down steadily, and tucked them in carefully.

The old security guard and Senior Brother Jin were both pretty thin–shouldn’t be a problem squeezing together.

As for how he’d explain to the old guard why he woke up in his bed, that was his own problem.

Thinking this, Lu Yibei left the security room, closed the door, and immediately took out her phone to call emergency services.

“Hello, someone here’s in shock. Yes, at the security room of the College of Liberal Arts experimental building, Hua City University of Technology. Mm-hmm, okay…”

After hanging up, Lu Yibei let out a small sigh of relief, turned, and headed toward the main path of Gate No. 4.

She wasn’t too worried that calling emergency services would attract any hauntings. First, there were no ambulance-related hauntings in Hua City.

Second, although going out at night had become very dangerous since the nights grew longer, this didn’t really affect emergency and fire personnel.

Hospitals and fire stations always had special task force members stationed there. When they went out on calls, the operators would go with them, and if they detected any psychic energy fluctuation at the scene, they’d immediately notify the night-duty operators.

As for other professions that needed to work at night, they weren’t so lucky. Most of the time, there was no safety guarantee at all–if you ran into a haunting incident, you could scream to the heavens and the earth, but no one would answer.

But that’s not absolute. In Country Z, the takeaway delivery guys and security guards are two mysterious groups whose combat power fluctuates wildly. If they really run into a haunting incident, who ends up unlucky is anyone’s guess.

Oh, right, and taxi drivers! Lu Yibei thought of Uncle Zhang Shan and added silently in her heart.

——–

Hua City University of Technology, Cherry Blossom Avenue. In a corner far from the main road, near the old building, a lush cherry blossom tree stood tall.

The trees planted along Cherry Blossom Avenue were early cherry blossoms from Country Z. As late spring turned to early summer, the blooming season was coming to an end. The pink petals in full bloom were fading, and the fragrance of flowers drifting in the air was mixed with a sense of decay.

A gentle breeze rustled the branches and leaves. A few petals floated down, lingering in the air as if reluctant to leave, but in the end, they could not escape their fate of falling and turning to mud.

The girl in the thin white dress stood dazed under the cherry blossom tree, gripping a rusty shovel in her hand. She raised the shovel and fiercely dug into the slightly damp earth beneath the tree.

The shovel sank into the soil with a soft “puff!”–a sound like flesh being torn, as if something had been killed.

Then, she stopped, and memories flooded her mind.

She remembered, “Now let’s bury our memories together, and dig them up again in thirty years.”

She remembered, for the first time in her life, leaving home to enroll in university, and the reluctant look in her mother’s eyes.

She remembered, the last time her father came to the school, holding her favorite rose-red umbrella, wandering alone for a long time on the main path of Gate No. 4 shrouded in heavy rain. In the end, he dropped the umbrella, wailed, and fled as if escaping.

……

Lost in memories for a long time, the girl silently leaned the shovel against the tree trunk, took off her own head with both hands, placed it on the stone steps beside her, then picked up the shovel again and dug with all her might.

Then came the second shovelful, the third.

Her movements were swift, without any more hesitation.

Damp earth and wild grass were continuously dug up.

Gradually, the psychic energy fluctuation around her began to intensify. Several crimson chains appeared out of thin air, piercing her chest and winding around her body.

Those chains stretched taut in midair, shrouded in an ominous black mist, writhing as if alive, constantly dragging her, as if to pull her back to where she belonged.

She struggled desperately against the chains’ pull. The brows on the head placed on the stone steps knitted tightly, fresh blood gushed from her severed neck, gradually staining the thin white dress red. Her fair skin began to rot and fester, and a chilling scent of blood spread through the air.

In the distance, sensing the psychic energy fluctuation, Lu Yibei hurried over, hiding behind a cherry blossom tree to secretly observe the headless senior sister. Seeing this, she quietly clenched her pink fists.

When she saw the headless senior sister swaying from the pull of the crimson chains, nearly being dragged back to the main path of Gate No. 4, she almost rushed out to help, but in the end restrained her impulse and stayed hidden, silently cheering her on.

Lu Yibei had known for a long time that something in this school was binding the headless senior sister. When she first discovered it, she was startled.

It wasn’t until later, from the memories of the Great Serpent God, that she learned about the detailed classifications of evil spirit type hauntings, including earthbound spirits. Only then did she understand that what bound the headless senior sister was a trait born with the power of an earthbound spirit.

The reason for this trait could be artificial, such as a sealing spell formation, or it could simply be an object of great significance, or a memory.

“……”

No wonder she reacted strangely when the time capsule was mentioned before. It was probably the desire to escape the past that became her shackle, and the time capsule was the key object linking her to the past.

So, what’s binding her now is this thing, right? But is it an object of great significance, or a memory?

I really can’t help her with this! Lu Yibei thought.

According to the knowledge from the Great Serpent God’s memories, for an earthbound spirit to sever its shackles is akin to an advancement–it’s very hard for others to help, and meddling might even cause trouble.

“Bang!”

Suddenly, the shovel seemed to hit something. A crisp metallic clang echoed out.

After digging a half-meter-deep pit under the tree, two egg-shaped stone spheres appeared in the headless senior sister’s view. They were the time capsules she and Hu Chuan had buried together.

She gazed at the two time capsules for a moment, just about to bend down and pick them up when the crimson chains behind her suddenly tightened with a sharp “zheng!”

Feeling the irresistible force from the chains, the brows on the head placed on the stone steps furrowed. She stepped forward with all her strength, grabbing the two time capsules with both hands.

“Clang—-!” The sound of metal shattering rang out. The crimson chains snapped inch by inch, turning to dust and dissipating.

In an instant, a sinister wind swept through the cherry blossom grove. Clusters of petals swirled with the wildly shaking branches, as if a rain of flowers was falling.

Amid the fluttering petals, the girl in the blood-stained dress floated in midair, her limbs gracefully outstretched. With the petals, she slowly descended to the ground. The head on the stone steps flew up, landed steadily on her neck, and fused back together.

She had successfully killed her past, and the intensity of her psychic energy fluctuation rose sharply.

Seeing this, Lu Yibei extended her psychic sense to probe, tilting her head.

Psychic energy fluctuation level: at least… 0.8992 old rabbits! In layman’s terms, senior sister should now count as a fierce ghost, right?

But after the advancement, did her head grow back?

So what should I call her from now on? Red-dressed senior sister? Jiang Yuzhen?

“Ah—-! G-ghost, ghost—-!”

Suddenly, a piercing scream came from Cherry Blossom Avenue.

A night patrol security uncle, hearing the commotion in the grove, swept his flashlight over and saw the scene. He was so terrified he nearly lost his soul, turned, and ran for his life.

Watching the security uncle stumble and dash away desperately, Lu Yibei’s eye twitched and she facepalmed with one hand.

This…

Do you have to be so dedicated? Can’t you be like the security grandpa at the College of Liberal Arts experimental building, have a little drink and go to bed early?

If you did, who knows, maybe you’d wake up to find a hunk in your bed! Lu Yibei thought.

She could almost foresee that within a week, the “Cherry Blossom Red-Dressed Fierce Ghost” haunting legend would be spreading throughout Hua City University of Technology.

Hearing the security uncle’s scream, the headless senior sister suddenly turned her head, spinning it 183°.

Then…

“Crack!” With a sound, it fell off, tracing a beautiful arc as it rolled into the grass nearby.

Lu Yibei, “……” Well, we can still call her the headless senior sister.