Chapter 582: Granddaughter-in-law, You’ve Come to See Me Again?

Although the two spicy strips were absolutely no help in easing the grief of losing a loved one, Lin Nian still accepted them and very naturally stuffed them into her mouth.

After all, if something is free, why not take it?

Successfully freeloading from Gu Qianqian was, if told to others, something worth bragging about.

Seeing that Lin Nian had stopped crying for the moment, Lu Yibei quietly breathed a sigh of relief and said softly, “That is more like it! Speaking from my own experience, when something like this happens to someone you care about, crying is useless.”

“Tears are only a way to vent. They do not solve any problems.”

Lin Nian looked at “Gu Qianqian” and asked, “Then you… what did you do?”

Lie low, of course! That thought instantly popped into Lu Yibei’s mind, but then she shook her head slightly and tossed the thought out of her mind.

“My situation does not have much reference value for you! After all, you will soon know who the killer is, and there is a chance you will be able to take revenge very soon.”

If it becomes necessary to fight the culprit who killed that old man, and if I have absolute confidence I can win… Lu Yibei added silently in her heart.

Lin Nian froze for a moment, frowned, and said, “W-what do you mean?”

Lu Yibei shrugged. “I am preparing to summon souls later. If you are interested, you can come watch.”

“…”

Lin Nian stared at “Gu Qianqian” in silence for a few seconds, then suddenly came back to herself, her eyes widening as she asked in disbelief, “You… you are willing to help me find the killer who murdered Third Grandpa? And even help me take revenge?”

Since when did Gu Qianqian suddenly become so kind? Is this really the legendary Witch who devours hauntings? Could it be that she wants to…

After thinking briefly, Lin Nian roughly guessed “Gu Qianqian’s” intentions. She gritted her teeth and said, “If that is really the case, I am willing to risk my life for you!”

“During your time in Shizhou City, whatever information you want to know, I will investigate it for you even if I have to risk my life!”

She had originally wanted to say she would offer herself to her. After all, “Gu Qianqian” was also a witch-type haunting, so even if she really offered herself, “Gu Qianqian” would not be able to do anything to her, and she would not suffer any real loss.

But when the words reached her lips, she could not say them no matter what. It was as if some eerie force was stopping her from saying that sentence, and in the end, she could only change her wording.

“There is no need to risk your life…” Lu Yibei curled her lip. “I was just saying it. Whether I will help you is not even certain!”

What if I cannot beat the mastermind behind this?

“But before that, I think you had better deal with that old man’s body first. Otherwise, this theater probably will not be able to keep operating, unless it changes business and starts doing underworld-themed work as a theater that receives hauntings.”

“Uh…” Lin Nian opened her mouth, then nodded. “True. Then let us take Third Grandpa away first.”

“What do you mean, us? What does that have to do with me?” Lu Yibei frowned. “I still have to go to Moyue Pifeng to get some materials for the soul-summoning! Handle this yourself.”

Lin Nian: “…”

Gu Qianqian really is scummy as ever!

————

Chenyi Inn.

This was a small homestay located about five kilometers north of Sleepless Street. Because it was remote, and still some distance from Sleepless Street, it could not borrow any foot traffic, so business had always been slow.

12:17 a.m.

A youth who looked seventeen or eighteen, with his hair tied in a topknot and wearing a short-sleeved Chinese-style linen shirt, sat behind the reception counter of Chenyi Inn, idly fiddling with his phone and growing drowsy.

The air inside the inn seemed to become tepid and lazy because of his continuous yawning.

“Ding-ling!” The wind chime by the front door suddenly rang as someone pushed the door open and entered.

The youth kept his eyes fixed on his phone without even raising his head, and said perfunctorily, “Single room, 198. Triple room, 108…”

“From the Great Pure Palace. Not staying.”

Hearing this, the youth’s sleepiness vanished. He put down his phone and looked out, where he saw a girl standing by the door.

She wore a souvenir T-shirt from the Zhenwu Mountain Scenic Area, with the four large characters “The Dao follows nature” written on it. Her thick black hair fell loosely over her shoulders, and a few strands dampened slightly by sweat stuck to her fair cheeks.

The person who had come was Huá Sāng.

After leaving that dark, damp alley on Sleepless Street, she had rushed here without stopping.

This was one of the contact points of the Great Pure Palace, or rather, of The Midnight Watchers Society in Shizhou City.

Although there were many related matters to handle after bringing her eldest senior brother’s remains back to the Great Pure Palace, it was too late tonight, and from Shizhou City to the Zhenwu Mountain Scenic Area, there was still a long stretch of mountain road rarely traveled at night.

Huá Sāng considered that whoever had murdered her eldest senior brother would definitely not want his corpse and belongings to return to the Great Pure Palace and leave clues for investigation. There was a high chance of an ambush on the way, so she chose to come to the contact point.

Contact points usually had three to five disciples and one elder stationed there, along with defensive solidified spell formations. Presumably, those petty villains would not dare cause trouble.

The youth stood behind the reception counter and sized up Huá Sāng, sensing the grief and faint anger in her eyes.

Immediately after, his gaze moved downward. When he noticed what Huá Sāng was holding, he frowned.

In Huá Sāng’s hand was a square cardboard box tightly wrapped in a black plastic bag. A faint smell of blood drifted from it, making it look extremely suspicious.

“…”

In silence, the youth stood up, left the reception counter, walked over and closed the front door. Only then did he turn and ask, “From the Great Pure Palace? How can you prove that? And…”

Halfway through, the youth pointed at the package in Huá Sāng’s hand and asked warily, “What is that?”

“Proof?” Huá Sāng thought for a moment, looked at the youth, and said calmly, “When I left, I had not planned to come here. If I must prove it…”

After a pause, she reached into her clothes and took out the black-iron ferule, continuing, “You should recognize this, right?”

Seeing the ferule, the youth froze for a moment and said in surprise, “Y-you are Senior Sister Huá Sāng?!”

The girl before him was completely different from the Huá Sāng in his memory.

As for that ferule, which the Great Pure Palace had long used to temper disciples’ minds, he naturally recognized it. He had once spent a day or two beside the ferule himself, hoping to try his luck. In the end, let alone tempering his mind, he had not even seen the legendary remnant souls of the senior sages inside it.

Later, when he heard that Huá Sāng had obtained the ferule, he was gloomy for a long time, unable to understand why a senior sister as outrageously lazy as Huá Sāng had received the ferule’s recognition.

“Mm.” Huá Sāng responded and nodded slightly.

“Then in that package of yours…”

“A human head,” Huá Sāng said calmly. “The head of my eldest senior brother, Wu Yutang.”

As she spoke, her eyes clearly deepened.

“???” The youth’s eyes widened in shock. He took a step back, wanting to speak but stopping himself.

For a disciple like him, who was qualified to train at a contact point down the mountain, he should not have been afraid of something like a severed human head. But when he heard that it was Wu Yutang’s head, his heart still tightened.

As an A- class psychic, Wu Yutang was not as dazzling as a disciple like Fu Xinyi, who carried the title of “genius,” but he was likewise an outstanding talent among the younger generation of disciples.

If even he could not handle it and lost his life because of it, that showed just how dangerous the matter was.

Chenyi Inn was nothing more than a small contact point. Usually, it was only responsible for handling disputes between psychics within Shizhou City, to prevent malignant incidents from occurring.

Could this place really hold off villains capable of killing an A- class psychic?

Nothing big is going to happen tonight, right? the youth thought uneasily.

Seeing that the youth had not spoken for a long time, Huá Sāng explained, “There was a small accident. Rushing back to the Great Pure Palace overnight may cause trouble, so I plan to tell Shifu about the situation first and rest for one night.”

She was truly exhausted today. Leaving aside those days in Hua City, the physical strength she had consumed today alone was more than the past three months combined.

She even faintly felt as if she was about to be unable to hold on.

At a time like this, if she encountered an ambush on the road, it was very possible that before the other side even broke through her defenses, the Spirit Pattern in her body would lose control and go berserk first.

“Junior brother?”

Huá Sāng called softly, and only then did the youth come back to himself. He swallowed and said, “Oh, oh! Staying for one night, right? No problem! Then, th-then room 306? That room is near the formation node of the solidified spell formation, so its safety level is relatively high.”

As he spoke, the youth hurried toward the counter, rummaged out the room card labeled 306, came back, and handed the card to Huá Sāng with trembling hands.

“Thank you. Sorry for the trouble.”

Huá Sāng thanked him, took the room card, and walked upstairs alone.

The youth watched her leave until her back disappeared from sight, then let out a long breath. Just then, a medium-built old Daoist with a goatee walked out from the backyard.

“He Zhe, I thought I heard someone come in just now?”

Hearing this, the youth cupped his hands to the old Daoist. “Yes, Elder. It was Senior Sister Huá Sāng just now.”

“Huá Sāng?” The old Daoist addressed as Elder Wang frowned, his face full of disgust. “What is she doing here?”

Not everyone who knew of Huá Sāng’s past chose, like her shifu Qingxiazi, to give her more care and help drive away the shadows shrouding her heart.

In fact, in the Great Pure Palace, more than half the people held attitudes of disgust or distance toward Huá Sāng, and this Elder Wang was one of them.

“Here is what happened…”

The youth spent two minutes recounting the whole matter in detail.

After Elder Wang listened, he pondered thoughtfully for a while, then waved his hand. “All right, I understand. Keep doing what you were doing.”

With that, he quickly walked toward the backyard.

————

A moment later.

Inside the small room beside the backyard of Chenyi Inn.

Only one bedside lamp was on in the room, and the light was dim.

Elder Wang silently recited an incantation, raised his hand, and cast a spell that blocked psychic sense detection. He came to the bedside and looked at the fly whisk on the nightstand, his gaze infatuated as he stared at it, as if he were not looking at an object, but at his lover.

After a long while, he withdrew his gaze and muttered to himself, “It would be better if someone like Huá Sāng were gone! A person who could transform into a haunting at any moment, kept inside my Great Pure Palace? What kind of propriety is that?”

As he spoke, he took out a metal badge engraved with complex geometric patterns from within his clothes and infused it with psychic energy.

Soon, the badge began to tremble.

A clearly disguised, featureless voice sounded beside his ear.

“Elder Wang? Long time no see. I wonder if you and your fly whisk are getting along pleasantly?”

“Hmph!” Elder Wang snorted coldly, seemingly displeased by the other party’s words, and did not answer the voice for a moment.

He had stayed in the Great Pure Palace for more than fifty years without accomplishing much, and only in recent years had he barely obtained an elder position.

Although he considered his elder position to have been earned through his seniority, as recognition for his efforts over the past fifty-plus years, he was also very clear that it had something to do with that fly whisk.

He simply did not want to admit it, and even less wanted to be reminded of that point.

“Angry? Hehe, actually, you have no need to get so worked up. There is nothing shameful about this. In my view, for an older person to bravely accept new ideas is actually something worthy of admiration.”

“…” Elder Wang opened his mouth and pulled the topic back on track. “Huá Sāng came to the contact point, carrying Wu Yutang’s head. What exactly is going on? Did you not say that Wu Yutang would be dealt with without leaving a trace?”

There was no meaning in entangling himself with that fellow over this kind of matter.

“Haha! To tell you the truth, there really was a small accident,” the voice from the badge said with a laugh. “But rest assured, Huá Sāng will not bring Wu Yutang’s head back to the Great Pure Palace.”

“What are you planning to do?” Elder Wang pressed.

“Hehe, this will require a little help from you.”

“Me?” Elder Wang frowned, then his gaze gradually chilled. “Killing her is not impossible, but…”

“No, no, no!” The voice from the badge interrupted Elder Wang, speaking without the slightest avoidance of Elder Wang’s sore spot. “You misunderstand. I do not mean to ask you to kill her. You are no match for her at all. Even if you sneak attacked, poisoned her, or used underhanded tricks, you would be easily killed by her in return.”

“You!” Elder Wang’s face flushed red, his chest rose and fell, and his goatee trembled along with his twitching face.

Saying that he was inferior to a disciple one generation below him, and a disciple like Huá Sāng, who never knew what effort was, was naked humiliation to him.

“Angry again? See, there is really no need! What I am saying is the truth. In the entire Great Pure Palace, aside from the Dark Emperor, the people who can break through Huá Sāng’s defenses can be counted on one hand, let alone kill her.”

“Besides, if you kill her and the Spirit Pattern in her body loses its suppression and goes berserk, that is no joke.”

Hearing this, Elder Wang’s expression eased slightly. Faintly, he felt as if he could be compared to powerful figures other than the headmaster, which pleased him greatly.

Huá Sāng? Hmph! She is only lucky.

An over-spec Spirit Pattern, a Spirit Seal visualization diagram personally taught by the headmaster, and weapons left behind by the senior sages…

If it were someone else, with opportunities like hers, they could obtain the same strength, or even greater strength!

Thinking this, Elder Wang asked in a heavy tone, “Then what do you want me to do?”

“Mm… You should know about the ferule she carries with her, yes? Since she is staying at Chenyi Inn, I will have to trouble you to replace it for her, and let her experience that lord’s grace as well!”

“But…” Elder Wang hesitated.

Although pulling Huá Sāng into the Esoteric Society could indeed keep her from speaking about what she had seen tonight, and was a good method.

But could a weapon left behind by the senior sages really be replaced so easily?

“Do not worry!” As if guessing Elder Wang’s thoughts, the voice from the badge said, “That lord can even copy and modify the Death-Omen Barn Owl Emblem, let alone one little ferule.”

“Rest assured! Later, someone will deliver the new ferule to you.”

————

At the same time.

Elsewhere, inside room 308 of Chenyi Inn.

After telling her shifu about her eldest senior brother’s situation, Huá Sāng lay flat on the bed, gripping the ferule in both hands and placing it over her chest.

Her eyes were tightly closed, and her breathing was steady and even, as if she had fallen asleep.

In the darkness, her body kept sinking, as if falling into a pool of dead water, so quiet that it was suffocating.

Then…

A dry, scorching wind, unlike any before, blew across her face. A warm, rough sensation came from beneath her feet. She froze for a moment, opened her eyes, and her pupils immediately shrank.

She found herself on a dilapidated and collapsing rooftop. A rusted water tank had toppled to the ground, the breeze stirred the debris on the floor, and under the pitch-black night sky, dark red mist drifted through the city. As far as the eye could see, it was an apocalyptic scene.

Huá Sāng: “…” What is this place? Where is the town? Where is Senior Qing Ji?

As Huá Sāng was thinking, a sinister cackle suddenly sounded behind her.

“Granddaughter-in-law, you came to see me again? Hehe, take my sword!”

The next moment, Huá Sāng felt a sharp pain in her back. Looking down, she saw a longsword piercing through her chest.

Huá Sāng: “???”