The Young Priest before him, with braided hair adorned with silver ornaments and wearing white clothes with gold thread patterns, revealed a hint of surprise. Lu Da asked, “You know my father?”
Duan Xu smiled, “I’ve only known him for a short while, but perhaps I understand him better than you do. On the surface, he said he sent me to stop you from returning home, but since I left Youzhou, people—those possessed by ghosts and evil spirits—have tried to kill me in turns. I barely managed to meet you.”
If assassination hadn’t once been his main occupation, and if he hadn’t used various traces to anticipate and avoid most of the attempts, it would have been questionable whether he could have reached Lu Da at all.
“My brother just sent a letter saying he fell seriously ill, so I was about to return to the capital,” Lu Da frowned and said, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“If I’m not mistaken, nothing is wrong with your brother at all. He’s just cooperating with your father, who doesn’t want you to come home. Besides that, your father also wants to kill me and my friend.”
Lu Da’s gaze grew more confused. Duan Xu smiled slightly and said, “It’s normal not to understand. Come with me to Fujian City in Youzhou, and you’ll understand everything. Don’t worry, I won’t harm you.”
Lu Da looked at him for a while, then put the bone flute back into his sleeve and nodded.
Things went unexpectedly smoothly. The Young Priest’s reaction surprised Duan Xu somewhat—he had thought he would need to threaten, entice, or even kidnap Lu Da to make him come along, especially given his current identity wasn’t exactly likable.
“You believe me?”
Lu Da nodded again and said, “By the Azure God above, there is no malice in your eyes.”
Hearing the words “Azure God,” Duan Xu smiled slightly, but then Lu Da continued to ask, “Your friend won’t be in danger, will she?”
Duan Xu was silent for a moment. He picked up the poor veiled hat that had been cut in two from the ground and dusted it off in his hands.
“She won’t be.”
She was clever and wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. When she gave him the Ghost King’s lamp, it wasn’t so he could protect her, but so he could hide and protect the lamp itself.
The proud and formidable Lady of the Ghost King Palace would never rely on another’s protection, much less use a mortal—especially one who was her curse-binder—as bait. Even if this mortal was willing, she would disdain such tactics.
So the bait wasn’t him, but herself.
He Simu sat on the uneven stone path in the garden, calmly looking at YI Lier from within the magical formation pulsing with golden light.
“What a loyal servant. Song Xingyu could avoid my summoning command because you gave him the holy relic of the Dan branch, right? Did he promise you that after killing me and becoming the Ghost King, he would give you all the glory and wealth in this world?”
YI Lier cautiously stood beside the crystal pagoda, watching He Simu without speaking.
From the swirling ghostly energy in the crystal pagoda came a child’s voice. It seemed to be a boy about ten years old, his voice young but devoid of innocence. He said, “He Simu, even in your current predicament, you’re still being stubborn?”
From a dark corner, a half-inch-long insect crawled out from the “Ling Xie Lu Xue” white peony in the garden, faint runes flickering on its body.
The insect quietly moved along the ground cracks all the way to the crystal pagoda, slowly climbing up the outer wall until it stopped within that mass of ghostly energy, silently merging into it.
In this tense scene, no one noticed—except the insect’s master.
He Simu watched impassively, and after seeing the insect disappear, she coldly smiled and said, “Bullying the weak and fearing the strong, insatiably greedy, shortsighted, reckless, foolish—you haven’t improved at all in a hundred years.”
“What are you talking about?” came an angry shout from within the ghostly energy.
“Talking about you.”
Moonlight reflected in He Simu’s eyes. Crows cawed as they landed on the rooftop. They flew in twos and threes, folded their wings on the corridor floor, and performed an ominous melody in succession, filling the garden in the blink of an eye.
YI Lier looked anxiously at the garden full of crows.
These little creatures were quite clever. They loved death and knew who the true master of death was.
He Simu sat composedly in the formation, adjusting her skirt, seemingly in no hurry to escape.
Using memory illusions to find her vital point—this idea could barely rank in the top fifty among all the assassination attempts she had encountered. Unfortunately, she woke up before the Yao Ghost Palace Lord could see the part he wanted to see.
Seeing an opportunity to rise above her, the Yao Ghost Palace Lord had eagerly rushed over, truly making a wedding dress for someone else.
“Lord of the Yao Ghost Palace, the Ghost King’s lamp is not in your hands. Even if I perish, its next master won’t be you. Your brain is neither beautiful nor useful—what do you need it for?”
From the mass of ghostly energy came an exasperated voice, shouting angrily, “Shut up! You have no magical power now. I can throw you into the South Sea Ice Coffin to sleep for a lifetime! I advise you to hand over the Ghost King’s lamp and let it recognize me as its master!”
He Simu almost laughed at the Yao Ghost Palace Lord’s stupidity.
The Ghost King’s lamp and the Ghost Register existed together—the register recorded the vital points of all evil ghosts except the Ghost King. Possessing the Ghost King’s lamp was equivalent to holding the lives of all evil ghosts in one’s hands.
But knowing the vital points was one thing; having the ability to take them was another.
“With your magical power increased tenfold by the Ghost King’s lamp, you think you’d be invincible? Never mind me—among the twenty-four Ghost Ministers, many are stronger than you, not to mention the Left and Right Chancellors. They would kill you and take back the Ghost King’s lamp. You’re just a pawn being pushed forward. If you succeed, naturally there will be others waiting to ambush you. If you fail, the other Palace Lords lose nothing. I told you to spend more time with Guan Huai to learn his cunning and self-preservation, but you haven’t learned anything at all?”
Before the Yao Ghost Palace Lord could get angry, He Simu suddenly dropped her mockery and slowly said, “But I have a question. If you answer to my satisfaction, I might give you the Ghost King’s lamp along with the position of Ghost King.”
That mass of ghostly energy was silent for a moment, then said half-believingly, half-doubtingly, “What question?”
He Simu leaned against a cluster of rose bushes, surrounded by flowers. After a moment of silence, she asked calmly, even coldly, “Why do you want to be the Ghost King?”
The mass of ghostly energy seemed to have heard something amusing and scoffed, “What are you talking about? Which evil ghost doesn’t want to be king? After becoming the Ghost King, I can control life and death, do whatever I want, and have whatever I want. All Ghost Ministers and even mortal emperors would bow to me!”
Familiar reasons, unsurprisingly boring. Evil ghosts had all sorts of desires, yet they could always reach a consensus on this point—quite remarkable indeed.
“They bow to you, and then what? The so-called sensual pleasures and glory—evil ghosts cannot sense or enjoy them. This world you control, what meaning does it truly hold for you?”
The mass of ghostly energy did not answer. For the Yao ghosts who forever chased different desires, what happened after desires were fulfilled was not within their consideration.
After a pause, He Simu said indifferently, “You all want to be the Ghost King as if it’s such a precious position.”
A dismissive laugh came from the mass of ghostly energy. Song Xingyu said, “If it’s not a precious position, why do you cling to it so desperately?”
He Simu shook her head. The formation trapped her firmly within its boundaries. She patted her clothes and stood up from the ground, her rust-red skirt spreading on the floor. At that moment, all the crows in the courtyard suddenly fell silent.
Clouds obscured the moon, and darkness fell all around.
In the darkness, she said, “I’m not satisfied with your answer. I will not hand this world over to someone I dislike.”