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Earth Master Girl 23: Shanxi Buddha Caves
Bootleg Black Wukong was all the rage among my classmates.
One of its scenic areas was called the Land of Mahayana.
Everyone who played it became obsessed and went there to check in.
But not a single one of them came back.
I received that pirated disc too.
What they didn’t know was that I was the only Earth Master successor.
Earth Master Girl 24: The Yin Guest Beneath the Lake
My dad was a “Yin Guest”-or, in plain terms, a grave tester.
When rich people picked out a burial plot, they would hire someone to spend a night there and see whether the gravesite was clean.
My dad had been in that line of work for years.
Until his last job. When he came home, his body was covered in livor mortis.
Earth Master Girl: Battle Against the Onmyoji
While we were out at sea on a cruise ship, a tourist from Sakura Country put on a Night Parade of One Hundred Demons for us.
Everyone praised his superb magic tricks, never realizing that every last one of those “demons” was a real ghost.
He used those ghosts to blackmail the other tourists, so I gave him one hell of a slap.
“Within the borders of Huaxia, foreign entities are forbidden to pass!”
What he didn’t know was that I was the one and only Earth Master successor.
Earth Master Girl: Bone-Picking Burial
My friend was a “bone collector.” After opening a coffin, he actually desecrated a female corpse right in front of her family.
He did it several times in a row, and the local villagers flew into a rage and locked him up.
I rushed over to save him, but the villagers shouted for me to get lost.
What they didn’t know was that I was the sole Earth Master successor.
Earth Master Girl: Exodus from Egypt
A friend of mine worked at the Egyptian Mummy Museum.
She said something had happened there and asked me to come take a look.
Out of curiosity, I unwrapped the mummy’s bandages.
Beneath layer after layer of linen was my friend’s face. “Lu Lingzhu-“
Earth Master Girl: Ghost Marriage on Mount Tai
I was climbing Mount Tai at night when I saw people holding a traditional Chinese wedding on the mountain.
The passersby started clamoring for wedding candy, but I spoke up to stop them.
A procession of ghosts carried the bridal sedan, with suona horns clearing the way.
The Ghost King was taking a bride; the living were to keep their distance.
They all cursed me for spouting nonsense.
But what they didn’t know was that I was the only Earth Master successor.
Earth Master Girl: Guizhou Water Village
When the village held funerals, it had a custom called “Ox-Cutting.”
Each member of the bereaved family would take a blade in the mourning hall and hack a live ox to death as an offering to the departed.
A friend brought me along to watch the ritual.
I never imagined that when I woke up, I would have become that “ox.”
The villagers closed in around me with knives in hand.
But what they didn’t know was that I was the sole Earth Master successor.
Guan Yin Face
When I returned from recuperating at the country estate, there was already a new young lady in the household.
My elder brother protected her like she was a precious pearl.
My little sister had been bullied by her until she fell gravely ill.
With a bleak, bitter smile, she said, “Sister, let’s just accept our fate. Either way, we can’t fight her.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than a pretty, charming girl came out on my brother’s arm, the pearl-studded uppers of her shoes gleaming brightly.
“So you’re Second Sister?”
How beautiful. If only the fabric weren’t from the love-token handkerchief I had embroidered for my fiancé.
Seeing this, my brother immediately took her side. He said to me, “Yaoyao is spoiled, but she means no harm. Rongshu, let her have her way.”
Then he turned back and chided her in feigned anger, “Don’t make trouble.”
The girl didn’t take it seriously at all. Instead, she stuck out her tongue.
“It’s just a handkerchief. Brother Jingwen said it only looks beautiful when worn on my feet. Sister wouldn’t be angry over this, would she? How petty.”
I was indeed petty. So I raised the knife and brought it down.
The tip of her tongue landed on her shoe.
Her Majesty and the Demon Lord
Five hundred years after my death.
The people who had once benefited from my kindness had long since forgotten me.
Only my sworn enemy crouched at my grave, huffing and puffing as he dug for three whole days.
And dug me out.
As twelve bolts of tribulation lightning crashed down,
I saw Ye Yu’s face-unchanged from five hundred years ago.
The moment he saw me, his face lit up with excitement. “Shen Xi, come fight me!”
My gaze drifted past his shoulder
to the nervous members of the Righteous Path hurrying over behind him.
Those people had once been my master and fellow disciples.
They were also the ones who had killed me back then.
At the sight of them, I suddenly clutched my chest and collapsed into Ye Yu’s arms while he was watching the show.
In a soft, delicate voice, I said, “Big brother, this freshly reconstructed body is still so weak. Be a dear and take care of those small fry for me, will you?”
In an instant, I felt the body I was leaning against go completely rigid.
When I lifted my head again, the arrogant, untouchable Demon Lord was blushing so hard he looked ready to burst into flames.
Hibiscus
I disguised myself as a man and spent twelve years in the barracks as a no-good soldier-only to suddenly learn that I was the Prefect’s true daughter.
The impostor daughter clutched my sleeve, sobbing as she shook it.
“Sister, I know I stole the place that should have been yours. I only beg you not to take away the love Father, Mother, and our brothers have for me.”
What she didn’t know was that I had no interest in stealing her love.
All I wanted was to get my brothers-in-arms some military pay.