Chapter 123

Chapter 123

That very night, Yan Zhengchu began using the “Soul-Seeking Spell” to search for traces of Bai Qingshuang.

Only, compared to the other Vengeful Ghost, she was clearly far more cunning.

Judging from the trail on the compass, she had already circled all of Shangjing once. Her location kept shifting, as if she were deliberately leading them around by the nose.

“This Vengeful Ghost… She is clearly toying with me.”

Yan Zhengchu stared at the constantly shifting needle until his eyes blurred and his head began to ache.

Yu Lang, meanwhile, was watching intently from the side. He could not help asking, “Daoist Master, what exactly are you using to track that Vengeful Ghost?”

“Well…”

Yan Zhengchu pondered for a moment, then tried to explain it in the simplest way possible. “I take the ghostly aura from its body, then combine it with the art of the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams.”

Last night, when he had fought Bai Qingshuang, he had kept a little trick up his sleeve and taken a strand of her hair, storing it inside the compass.

Once the hair entered the compass, it turned into ghostly aura. By activating the “Soul-Seeking Spell,” he could distinguish on the compass the traces of where the ghost had appeared.

Yu Lang looked eager to try it himself. “Is there ‘ghostly aura’ on this compass? How can I see it?”

Yan Zhengchu smiled, traced a few gestures in the air, then tapped Yu Lang directly on the left eye.

“Cover your right eye and look.”

Yu Lang did as he was told, pressing his right eye shut. When he looked with his left eye, he indeed saw a mass of white mist swirling above the compass.

He clicked his tongue in amazement. Just then, he heard footsteps outside and immediately turned his head to look.

With just one glance, his heart nearly leaped out of his chest.

Xia Ximo was walking through the courtyard, and above her head floated a white shadow.

He shouted, “Daoist Master, there’s a ghost!”

Yan Zhengchu turned back to look. Seeing that it was Xia Ximo, he immediately understood.

Of course he knew that, from time to time, an incorporeal wisp of a Yin Soul would follow beside Xia Ximo.

But that wisp of soul was exceptionally pure-purer than any Yin Soul he had ever seen.

Since it showed no intention of harming anyone, he had simply let it be.

“What ghost? That’s Miss Xia…”

Yan Zhengchu said it deliberately.

Yu Lang widened his eyes and looked around again. By then, Xia Ximo had already entered the room with a cold expression and gave him a faint glance.

That look was far more terrifying than any ghost.

He shuddered. He had meant to say that he had just seen a white shadow, but after thinking it over, he swallowed the words back down.

Xia Ximo ignored him as well and went straight to Yan Zhengchu. “Daoist, any results?”

Yan Zhengchu narrowed his eyes with an inscrutable air before saying, “This Vengeful Ghost is now trying to confuse us by deliberately running all over the city. But as long as she is still within this city, I will definitely find her.”

“So in other words, you still have no results?”

“…Yes.”

Xia Ximo glanced at him again, her eyes seeming to say: I knew this Daoist was useless.

Under that look, Yan Zhengchu instantly felt his ears clear and his vision sharpen.

“I’ve got it, I’ve got it. But it shows that she just left Shangjing City and headed north.”

“There’s no time to lose. We have to follow as soon as possible. We can’t let her slip out of our control.”

Yu Lang immediately said, “I’ll go inform Lord Ren…”

He was just about to head out when Ren Fengjue’s figure appeared, reflected in the lattice window of the main hall.

Beneath his thin dark-blue cloak, he wore a fitted black martial outfit. A treasured sword hung at his waist, and his hair was combed neatly and cleanly into place.

At first glance, he looked even more chivalrous than usual.

Yu Lang was somewhat surprised. “My lord, your information is that quick?”

Ren Fengjue had clearly come prepared as well. “Daoist Yan already agreed with us earlier that the moment he discovered traces of the ghost, we would set out at once.”

–
Night lay deep, clouds veiling the moon.

A four-horse carriage passed through the northern city gate and headed for the broad official road.

All along the way, Yan Zhengchu kept his eyes fixed on the “ghostly aura” indicated by the compass. But just as they were about to reach a town, that aura suddenly dissolved into smoke and vanished.

At that exact moment, thunder rolled across the sky, and a torrential downpour came crashing down.

Under the circumstances, Ren Fengjue had no choice but to order Axia to find the nearest inn where they could take shelter.

But this small town, called Ge Town, was nothing like the Imperial City at night, despite being not far from it.

There was hardly a soul to be seen on the streets. Now and then, one or two shops still had lights on, but before they could even approach, the lamps were snuffed out.

After searching back and forth through several streets, they finally found an inn called “Qiongying.”

However, though lanterns hung before the inn, its doors were tightly shut.

Axia went up and knocked for a long while, but no one answered. Just as he began to think there was no one inside, the door suddenly creaked open a crack.

A figure appeared behind it, the face almost impossible to make out.

Axia asked, “Do you have any rooms?”

The person inside stared at him motionlessly for a while before saying in a faint, eerie voice, “Someone just died in this inn. Are you sure you still want to stay?”

Axia was momentarily stunned.

The words were so blunt that he did not quite know how to react.

The person inside gave a contemptuous laugh, as if mocking him for being timid, and was about to shut the door.

Axia pressed a hand against it and said sternly, “Wait while I ask my master first.”

With that, he held up his umbrella and hurried back to the carriage, then relayed the matter to everyone inside.

Ren Fengjue lifted the carriage curtain and glanced toward the inn.

In the darkness, only a single lantern glowed, so dim it was almost insignificant.

There was even something faintly sinister about it.

He looked at the curtain of rain that showed no sign of letting up, and a strange glint flashed through his eyes. “Let’s go in and take a look first. Since they’re open for business, even if someone died there, it doesn’t matter.”

Axia returned and informed the innkeeper.

Only then did the inn doors slowly open, but the person inside made no move to come out and receive them.

Seeing this, Axia could only have everyone get out of the carriage first while he found a leaky thatched shed beside the inn and parked the carriage there.

The moment Ren Fengjue and the others stepped through the door, a chill, gloomy air rushed straight at them.

Yan Zhengchu frowned and said in a low voice, “The yin energy here is terribly heavy…”

Beside him, Yu Lang swept his gaze around the room and likewise felt a cold prickle along his spine.

Inside the main hall, only one person stood behind the counter. Though there was some distance between them, the person somehow heard Yan Zhengchu’s words with remarkable sharpness.

“I already said someone died here. Of course the yin energy is heavy.”

The voice was cold and sinister, and the person’s face remained hidden. From the sound alone, it was impossible to tell whether they were male or female.

Ren Fengjue immediately stepped forward and asked, “Are you the only one in this inn?”

“Yes.”

“This inn isn’t small. Can you manage it alone?”

The person inside gave a dark, chilling laugh, their tone enough to make one’s hair stand on end. “Because people keep dying here, the attendants, servers, bookkeeper, and cooks all ran off. Let alone any guests willing to stay.”

“If you have the courage, spend one night here and you’ll understand.”

Yu Lang could not stand that attitude and could not help speaking up. “Stop trying to scare people. Even if there are ghosts, can’t you see we have a Daoist Master here?”

“Ghosts?” The person let out another contemptuous sneer. “Wicked people are far more terrifying than a Vengeful Ghost.”

Yu Lang was about to argue further, but Ren Fengjue simply took two silver ingots from his robes. “Enough nonsense. Prepare five upper rooms.”