author: Yi Shi Si Zhou (一十四洲）

  translator: Lanlan

  editor: sleepingjay

  proofreader: Elestrea

  Fortunately, Lin Shu did not really need to scour the desolate, wild mountains for water. Ling Baochen smiled and formed a hand seal. The next second, a ball of white light smashed down over Lin Shu’s head—a common washing up spell.

  The skin all over Lin Shu’s body felt scorched and tingled painfully for a while. By the time the spell concluded fifteen minutes later, Lin Shu had been completely scrubbed clean by spiritual energy. He felt that even his breathing was easier and lighter than before.

  “Oh my,” Ling Baochen smiled, “Little beggar, you’re actually quite handsome.”

  Ling Baoqing and a few others all craned their necks to see what kind of handsome countenance had been produced after the scrubbing. After looking, they all started to giggle. “This guy is really strange. He’s neither dumb nor ugly, but he made himself look like a dog who rolled in a mud hole.”

  Lin Shu had trouble breathing under all of their gazes and thought that he’d rather be dirty still.

  The Young Miss coldly looked askance in their direction and then finally grunted through her nose. It seemed that she would not be flaying Lin Shu after all.

  Ling Baochen asked, “What are you three called?”

  Li Jimao answered, “I’m called Li Jimao and my little brother is Li Yamao.”

  They all laughed out loud. Even the Young Miss’s eyes seemed to smile as she asked, “There’s no Li E’mao?”

  Li Yamao was awed. “Young Miss is a mind reader! My little sister’s name is Li E’mao!”

  Ling Baochen looked over at Lin Shu again. He said, “Lin Shu.”

  “Your name is pretty interesting. Is there some kind of deeper meaning to it?” Ling Baochen asked.

  Lin Shu said, “No.”

  Annoyed, Ling Baochen said, “You’re seriously too boring.”

  Lin Shu didn’t reply.

  His name did have a deeper meaning to it, but he didn’t want to open his mouth as he really was a boring person.

  The Young Miss turned and walked forward. “Let’s go.”

  The girls ran to catch up. They chattered, asking Young Miss how she had found them.

  “You’re so noisy that someone could hear you from more than ten miles away,” the Young Miss said.

  The young women weren’t willing to let her off that easily.

  The Young Miss lightly laughed. She raised her hand and a butterfly appeared from the inky darkness and landed on Ling Baoqing’s shoulder.

  Ling Baoqing said, “It’s a phoenix butterfly! We also thought of using a phoenix butterfly to find you, but this place is seriously way too dark. Even if the butterfly could find you, we wouldn’t be able to find the butterfly.”

  “Listen,” Young Miss said, “If you can’t even hear the flap of a butterfly’s wings, when you encounter the Hall of Dreams’s hidden weapon ‘Leisurely Floating Blossoms,’ wouldn’t you just be resigning yourself to death?”

  \r \r \r

  Ling Baoqing sensibly replied, “Yes, we must still practice more.”

  Lin Shu heard Li Yamao gasp sharply with a hiss next to him. He probably could not imagine that anyone could hear the sound produced by the beating of a butterfly’s wings.

  If one desired to be able to hear the flapping of a butterfly’s wings, they must first undergo an extremely long and extraordinary practice. The patience and determination this required already far surpassed that of an ordinary human.

  With that kind of patience and drive, their study of martial arts and cultivation base must be outstanding.

  This wanting-to-flay-someone-at-first-meeting Young Miss was indeed a complicated Young Miss.

  Just as Lin Shu was thinking this, he suddenly heard Ling Baochen say, “Why did Young Miss take so long to come back? Was the corpse king really so fierce?”

  The Young Miss replied, “Killing is easy, but capturing alive is hard. The corpse king was still in control of his mental faculties. After I had captured him, I asked him to tell me about the situation in the city. If he didn’t cooperate, I would count his bones, shattering each one as I counted, starting from his scapula.”

  Lin Shu: “.……”

  What a ruthless person.

  He heard the girls continue to ask, “Did he tell you?”

  “He told me.” Young Miss caressed her saber’s scabbard, saying, “In the fourteenth year of Yongguang, General Dugu Cheng of Minzhou City established himself as king and began an uprising. However, the uprising was not successful. The dynasty dispatched troops to quell the rebellion. Dugu Cheng’s troops, the officials and citizens of Minzhou, the scholars, the warriors…… all were buried alive!”

  The girls all responded with, “Ahh.”

  The Young Miss continued, “The resentful spirits of the dead became fierce ghosts and guarded the city. Minzhou City is indeed a ghost city.”

  Ling Baochen’s voice trembled. “Then…… should we report this to our Master?”

  The Young Miss said, “Even the dynastic forces could not settle this, naturally our manor can’t settle it either.”

  “That’s true……” Ling Baoqing stood to one side. “Are we still going then?”

  “I’d like to pay a visit to General Dugu, he who had mustered the forces to rebel, and ask him about some things,” the Young Miss said.

  All the people from Phoenix Heights naturally followed Young Miss blindly. Lin Shu didn’t care, but Li Jimao and Li Yamao were terrified. One lowered his voice and asked Lin Shu, “What should we do?”

  Lin Shu walked to the side and drew farther away. Face expressionless, he said, “Follow.”

  Li Jimao said, “But that’s a ghost city.”

  Lin Shu: “Then go back.”

  Li Jimao: “.……”

  Naturally, there was no going back. Even if they didn’t know this young miss’s intention in going, they could only follow along.

  They battled the animated corpses and pressed forward. After about two shichen, they finally reached the front gate of Minzhou City.

  This weak body of Lin Shu’s had already endured almost all it could bear and was on the verge of collapse. He had to take a breather every two steps and relied entirely on his willpower to remain upright. This made the Young Miss take a few more glances at him.

  She raised her hand to knock on the city gate. It was clear she put spiritual energy behind her knock as the extremely high, thick city gate let out a muffled thud.

  Next, Young Miss said in a clear voice, “Ling Fengxiao of Liangzhou wishes to see General Dugu.”

  —So this person’s name was Ling Fengxiao, an unexpectedly beautiful name.

  A short time later, a hoarse voice issued from the inside. “Minzhou City has already shunned the world for a long time and will not accept outsiders. What does the young maiden want?”

  Ling Fengxiao said, “Looking for someone.”

  “Who?”

  “As the saying goes, if you marry a chicken, follow the chicken and if you marry a dog, follow the dog. Naturally, if you marry a ghost, you must follow the ghost,” Ling Fengxiao said indifferently. “My noble fiancé is from Minzhou City and our wedding is drawing near, but I have heard no news from him lately. My only choice was to come to your honored city to search.”

  “Maiden, please wait a moment.”

  After around fifteen minutes had passed, that voice again sounded out. “The General says, if this city has such a ghost, there is no reason why the young maiden should not be able to marry into Minzhou City. May I ask the name and birth date of the maiden’s husband?”

  Ling Fengxiao: “Don’t know them.”

  Lin Shu could feel the ghost guardsman’s speechlessness from the other side of the gate.

  After a while, the ghost guardsman finally continued, “What does the maiden know? Do not hesitate to speak.”

  Ling Fengxiao: “.……”

  After another long pause, she finally said, “Should be under sixteen years of age, might be male or female.”

  The ghost guardsman asked in astonishment, “Maiden does not even know whether it is a man or a woman?”

  Ling Fengxiao serenely replied, “Sometimes one cannot tell the difference between male and female resentful spirits. I am only concerned that you would search for the wrong person.”

  The guardsman said, “I will not deceive this young maiden. If your husband is under sixteen, then he would only be a child ten years ago, his spirit weak. He would have no way to become a ghost and is already no longer in the mortal realm.”

  Ling Fengxiao said, “Then search for his master, an immortal who calls himself Taoyuan-jun.”

  The watchman replied, “Those who have practiced the immortal way are often cold and indifferent. They do not have enough resentful energy and also have no way to become ghosts. Maiden, please accept this fate.”

  Li Yamao sighed and whispered to Li Jimao, “Ai, even if this young miss is the most beautiful young girl under the heavens, after today she’ll become the most beautiful widow under the heavens. Sure, she will still be number one under the heavens, but in the end, ‘number one widow’ is not very pleasant to the ear.”

  Ling Fengxiao turned her head to look at him. Her eyes were cold and frightened him into recoiling in fear like a quail.

  He heard Ling Fengxiao continue speaking to the ghost guardsman, “In that case, I will take my leave, but I have a message for you to pass to General Dugu.”

  The ghost guardsman said, “Please speak.”

  “Our state is currently engaged in a fierce war with the state of Northern Xia. If the General renounces the darkness and again seeks the light, he may be able to dispel the enmity with our state.”

  The ghost guardsman let out a regretful laugh. “The dynasty had a considerably negative effect on our Minzhou City. We will certainly not offer a single soldier to aid the Southern Xia unless there is a dynastic change. Maiden, it’s best if you just return.”

  Ling Fengxiao didn’t insist on that topic and asked again, “Those two people really aren’t in the city?”

  “Definitely not.” The ghost guardsman’s tone was sincere.

  Anyone could see that the Young Miss was very irritated.

  In the midst of the Phoenix Heights members, the youngest, Ling Baojing, started crying in the back.

  It was undeniable. Young Miss would have to observe widowhood!

  Seeing them go back, Li Jimao trembled and said, “Our village……”

  The kindest of the group, Ling Baochen, said to Ling Fengxiao, “Young Miss, how about we lead them out of the city?”

  When Ling Fengxiao was in a bad mood, her temper was atrocious. She looked at Lin Shu and the other two up and down and then moodily retorted, “They can go to hell for all I care.”

  After a moment, she said, “Send the villagers to Ning’an and find a place for them.”

  The young women responded in the affirmative and set out to return. As they walked, they cursed in low voices, “That goddamned man was actually dead!”