Chapter 78

Chapter 78

Du Yueming had a talent for making friends, and since he spent practically every day lingering in Fu Tower, there was no private chamber in the place where he could not exchange at least a few words.

Ren Fengjue had already made up his mind. Using introductions as an excuse, he followed Du Yueming around the building, and the four “Xuanyuan Pearl” artifacts he carried were placed in position one after another.

Soon after, the four glazed lamps responsible for lighting the hall began to flicker with a strange glow. Their clear radiance darkened, turning murky and dim.

A moment later, the brightly lit main hall was plunged into darkness.

The strings and flutes stopped abruptly. The dancer who had been standing atop the glazed sculpture also transformed into a ghastly white skeleton and collapsed to the floor.

“A ghost-ah!”

Someone screamed.

Fu Tower instantly descended into chaos.

It was Du Yueming’s first time encountering such a thing. Startled badly, he blurted, “What is going on?”

Ren Fengjue knew the matter had succeeded, so he urged him on.

“Something must have happened inside the tower. I’ll take you out first.”

The Young Duke had always valued his life. Suspecting that some villain had broken into the building, he threw down his wine cup and hurriedly braced himself against the nearby wall.

“It’s too dark…”

Amid the confusion, the two of them walked a few steps before their eyes finally adjusted to the darkness. But at the corner, they discovered a figure standing in the middle of the path.

Du Yueming, muddle-headed with panic, accidentally shoved the person. As a result, that “person” toppled straight to the ground with a strange clatter.

He lowered his head and saw bones scattered all over the floor.

How could anyone not be unnerved by such a sight?

“Mother of-!”

The Young Duke cried out and fell sitting on the ground, his legs turning to jelly. He could no longer move a step.

Ren Fengjue gave him a hand, but when he thought of the situation inside Tongtian Pavilion, impatience flickered faintly within him.

Just then, someone called from the darkness, “Lord Ren.”

From the voice alone, he knew it was Yaoguang of the Shadow Guard.

Ren Fengjue answered, “Here.”

Hearing him, Yaoguang immediately came closer to receive orders. “Please give your instructions, my lord.”

Ren Fengjue ordered, “Come with me to the third floor.”

“The rest of you, keep watch on the movements downstairs.”

Yaoguang acknowledged the order.

The moment Du Yueming heard that, he knew something was wrong. Even the Shadow Bureau had been mobilized?

He was both anxious and furious. “Ren Fengjue, are you serious? You’re actually investigating a case in Fu Tower? How am I supposed to come here for fun in the future?”

Ren Fengjue replied with a perfectly serious expression, “This place is dangerous. Young Duke, you should leave at once.”

Du Yueming shouted again, “Then do something about me! You’re not just going to abandon me, are you?”

“There are ghosts in this building.”

“If you’re not afraid, you may stay.”

Leaving that threat behind, Ren Fengjue did not look back. He took Yaoguang with him and headed straight for the third floor.

Young Duke Du heard their footsteps fade into the distance. Then he instinctively glanced at the white bones beside him. In the end, he could not withstand the fright and scrambled, half crawling and half running, down the stairs.

Yet just as the crowd fled Fu Tower in panic one after another, a jade imperial carriage came rolling through the night toward Fu Tower.

Dozens of Golden Feather Guards escorted it, and the Chief of the Eastern Palace Guards rode ahead on a tall horse to clear the way. Anyone with eyes could tell this was the Crown Prince’s procession.

“His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!”

At the cry, the crowd immediately moved aside and knelt down one after another.

“Greetings, His Highness the Crown Prince.”

The carriage stopped before the tower, and the surroundings instantly fell silent.

Strangely enough, Fu Tower, which had just been pitch-black, lit up again in an instant.

“What are you all doing?”

Crown Prince Zhao Li’s languid voice drifted out from within the jade carriage.

No one around dared to answer.

After all, rumors had spread throughout the streets that the Crown Prince was the owner of Fu Tower.

In front of the owner, who would dare say a single unfavorable word?

When he heard no reply, Zhao Li lifted a corner of the carriage curtain, revealing half of his shadowed, unreadable face.
He spotted Du Yueming at once, just as the latter came running out of Fu Tower.

“Young Duke Du is here as well?”

Du Yueming was still badly shaken. Hearing the Crown Prince’s voice startled him all over again. “Your Highness? What brings you here?”

Zhao Li smiled. “I had nothing to do and found myself in the mood for a drink. I didn’t expect to stumble upon such a scene. I thought assassins had broken into the tower.”

“Not assassins. It was…”

Du Yueming nearly blurted out the word “ghost,” but fortunately caught himself in time and changed his words. “Just now, for some reason, all the lights inside went out…”

When he turned back to look, he was startled yet again. “How is it fine now?”

Not only had the lights returned.

The attendants, maids, guards, and everyone else inside the tower were all standing properly before the entrance.

A moment ago, the place had clearly been in utter chaos.

Yet in the blink of an eye, it had returned to its usual resplendent, brightly lit splendor.

A beautiful maid stepped forward with a graceful curtsy and a smile. “A strange gust of wind blew into the tower earlier and put out all the lamps. We frightened our guests.”

Only after hearing her say this did Du Yueming dare to take a few more looks inside.

The music and dancers were still there. Everything truly seemed as usual.

He patted his chest. “So it was only the wind. Looks like it was a false alarm.”

With that, Du Yueming bowed again toward the Crown Prince inside the carriage. “This way, His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Zhao Li smiled faintly once more, stepped down from the carriage in full view of everyone, and strode into the tower.

–

Inside Tongtian Pavilion.

After Yan Zhengchu announced the name of Mount Yunhe, he was immediately entangled by Bai Qingshuang, who had transformed into wisps of pale smoke.

Strange to say, the smoke appeared to have no offensive power at all, but once it wrapped around him, it became like an airtight net, smothering him until he could barely breathe.

Yan Zhengchu felt as if his entire body had been bound by strands of “Gentle Silk.” The more he struggled, the tighter they became.

He immediately recited an incantation under his breath, activating the Jade Sword at his waist. In an instant, a beam of light pierced through the smoke.

At the sight of it, even Bai Qingshuang had to avoid its edge.

“What exactly are you, Evil Entity?”

Though Yan Zhengchu had temporarily broken free, he did not dare underestimate her. He demanded, “Was it you who stole Mount Yunhe’s Soul-Nurturing Pearl?”

Bai Qingshuang stood within the smoke, soft and boneless. She provoked him lazily. “What if it was? What if it wasn’t?”

“Very well. You dare look down on this Daoist Master? Watch me subdue you first!”

As Yan Zhengchu spoke, he gripped the Jade Sword in his hand and continued forming seals and chanting spells, engaging her in battle.

Standing nearby, Xia Ximo paid no attention to the fight. After using her soul power to break free from the restraints on her body, she began observing the whole of Tongtian Pavilion.

With smoke curling throughout the pavilion, it was impossible to see the end of it at a glance.

But faintly, she heard the sound of flowing water.

From inside the Soul-Ferrying Lantern, Wuyou suddenly spoke. “I think I smell the aura of a soul that died unjustly…”

Xia Ximo asked, “Which direction?”

“Southeast.”

After determining the direction, she slowly drew closer. The sound of water gradually became clearer, and then what came into view was a hot spring pool.

Amid the rising steam, a thin, frail figure could be seen faintly standing in the water.

Xia Ximo took a few more steps forward and stopped at the edge of the pool.

Within the smoke, the figure grew even harder to distinguish as real or illusion.

All of a sudden, ghostly hands shot out of the pool one after another, scrambling over each other as they grabbed the legs and feet of the person on the shore and dragged her into the water.

Caught off guard, Xia Ximo fell into the pool. Before she could struggle, the dense mass of ghostly hands instantly submerged her.

A figure stood on the shore, staring coldly at the woman in the pool, a sneer curling at the corner of their mouth.

“Overestimating yourself.”

However, in the next second, a fiery-red figure like a blazing flame slowly emerged from the pool water.