Chapter 13: So Near Yet So Far The Peach Wood Hairpin.

Chapter 13: So Near Yet So Far The Peach Wood Hairpin.

"Creeeak—"

This bone killing apparition in the dream is known by the dharma name: Shitoulin Ghost (Grave Grove Ghost).

Legend has it that Shitoulin Ghosts are born amidst chaotic graves and clustered tombs. They reign over Yin evil and delight in devouring the living. Those swallowed by them are assimilated into part of the bone forest, becoming eternal spectral slaves, never to find release.

Even if Li Xueke gritted his teeth and said nothing, once the Shitoulin Ghost chewed him to pieces, it could still extract the answers from his terror-fractured soul.

Just as the Shitoulin Ghost opened its massive maw to crush Li Xueke, the descent of a god suddenly occurred.

Blazing, overwhelming radiance descended. Within the divine light, the face of the Imperial Shaman was ice-cold and sinister.

"Boom!"

The enormous bone eye convulsed violently within its pitch-black socket.

One towering bone knee after another gave way with a thunderous crash. The previously arrogant and overbearing evil ghost now staggered backward chaotically, out of control, gouging deep pits into the rotten earth.

A god... a god!

Ancient, grim, ferocious, majestic... the oppressive aura of an ancient deity was like heavenly might—unstoppable, undeniable.

The deity had not yet truly acted, yet this field of skeletal bones was already on the verge of collapse.

The white bone eyeball trembled even more violently, on the verge of popping out of its socket.

These so-called demons and evil spirits? They're only fierce when picking on the weak. But meet someone truly powerful, and they can be cut down. Let alone when a god descends! And to have run into a true god of slaughter and war!

Beneath the Imperial Shaman Mask, the deity's emotionless eyes coolly watched its despair.

Like it was prey.

No, not prey. Just a bug.

It could not even withstand the sheer power in the deity's gaze. He just hadn't bothered to crush it yet.

No one can contend with a god.

Let alone a puny ghost.

For a god to kill a ghost is a fundamental, absolute counter.

"God... Shaman!"

The Shitoulin Ghost was scared out of its wits, its soul nearly fleeing its body.

Seizing the chance, Li Xueke crawled out of the bone maw. Clutching his stomach wound, he hopped on one foot to escape onto the ground.

He sprawled in a heap among the scattered graves. Tilting his head far back, he saw only the deity's radiant light sheltering him like a blazing sun. For a moment, he felt a tidal wave of emotion in his chest. Soul-crushing gratitude flooded his mind, transforming into streams of hot tears pouring down his face.

"Wah..."

In his excitement, Li Xueke grabbed the first thing he could and hugged it to his chest, looking up together with it at the deity who delivered him from suffering.

—He had grabbed a tombstone.

Fu Yu could not remember how long it had been since she last looked down on others from such a height.

She usually didn't get angry.

After all, anything that angered her would soon be eradicated.

Once they were gone, there was nothing left to be angry about.

Later, after following Jun Bu Du, she began focusing on her health, and her temper naturally improved even more.

When killing, she was always all smiles, which felt off—sinister and evil, like a psychopath. So she had to wear a mask to hide it somewhat.

Now, looking through the grim and ferocious Imperial Shaman Mask, the fear emanating from the Shitoulin Ghost was so thick she could almost see it, churning madly before her eyes.

She slowly raised her hand, reaching for its head.

At this moment, her form loomed, connecting heaven and earth. Her fingers traced through the air, layer upon layer of golden karmic threads quivered and intertwined. Even she herself could feel the crushing, majestic power.

Li Xueke's piety and the Shitoulin Ghost's fear together forged her divine power within this dream.

Her fingers touched it.

The Shitoulin Ghost's eyeball shook violently within its socket, like a ball bearing rattling in a cup, almost leaping onto her hand.

Above the graveyard, the towering white bones reaching into the ghostly mist snapped and collapsed one after another. Shattered bones rained down with a clatter, piling up knee-high in an instant.

Fu Yu leaned down. The ferocious Imperial Shaman mask drew closer to it, slow and deliberate.

"Crack, crack, crack, crack..."

The massive bone entity could no longer sustain itself, crumbling inch by inch before her eyes.

Fu Yu smiled faintly.

That's right.

Once she reclaimed her own power, it would be like this—crushing the bones of these usurpers, one by one.

"Snap!"

The white bone eye socket disintegrated before her, revealing a pale, broken edge like fish bones.

As this skeletal dharma form continuously crumbled, Fu Yu found, deep within the Shitoulin Ghost's remains, the person who had cast the Dream Kill Art.

Got you.

At this moment, his soul was curled up, limbs drawn in. His face was deathly pale, eyes tightly shut, eyelids trembling violently as he struggled desperately to escape this completely out-of-control nightmare.

Like a pale, drowning fish.

Fu Yu quietly observed this person.

Now, his soul was utterly bewildered, completely defenseless.

Within the dream, what she could crush were only dream constructs. To injure the caster himself...

The corner of Fu Yu's lips curved slightly.

Inside the dream and out, her fingers abruptly clenched tight.

A crisp, clear sound of jade shattering echoed from her hand, as the sharp Sword Intent fell into her palm.

Fu Yu acted with extreme decisiveness and swiftness.

Her right hand still pressed against the shattered head of the Śītavana Ghost, while her left hand flickered, divine light surging in her palm.

She twisted her hand and pulled back.

In the void, golden weapons hummed, the Sword Intent taking form, yet its strike was not meant for Jun Bu Du.

Retreating, she swung and slashed!

"——Clang!"

For a moment, time and space seemed to freeze.

The Sword Intent soared into the sky, accompanied by a piercing, bone-chilling scream that stabbed at the eardrums.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

The spellcaster's soul was severely wounded by the Sword Intent. His eyes snapped open, his eyesockets splitting open, blood and tears gushing forth.

The dream he had created rapidly collapsed.

It wasn't the scenery within the dream that disintegrated, but space itself.

Fragments of the shattered world crumbled before her eyes, like shattered stained glass, both real and illusory, utterly mesmerizing.

Fu Yu's gaze suddenly paused.

At the moment the dreamlike bubble burst, she saw it.

In the other's hand, there was something that belonged to her. It was precisely because of this item that the other party had first detected and locked onto her aura, infiltrating Li Xueke's dream to kill him.

It was her magical artifact.

A Peach Wood Hairpin.

It was a very ordinary peach wood hairpin.

So ordinary that Fu Yu found it difficult to explain why she carried such a common thing with her.

Although it was the first thing Jun Bu Du had ever given her, and although he had made it with his own hands, the reason she liked using it was truly, merely, simply, out of HABIT!

It felt heavy in the hand.

Using it to tie up her hair neither pulled at her scalp nor easily came loose.

Others didn't understand and often snickered, but Jun Bu Du understood her perfectly.

Only he knew that this peach wood hairpin was genuinely, truly very practical. Even he himself couldn't make a second one like it.

He didn't care about others' ridicule, but Fu Yu couldn't bear it.

She agonized for three days and three nights, ultimately unable to bring herself to discard it. So, she simply refined it into a magical artifact.

Finally seizing an opportunity, she revealed its sacred power before everyone in a great battle, using it to wreak havoc and slaughter all around.

From then on, peace and quiet returned; no one dared to speculate about those mushy, sentimental things anymore.

Everyone knew she carried it because it was powerful.

In a daze, the scene before her gradually cleared.

Her consciousness returned to the thatched hut.

"Ouch—ahhhhh!"

Li Xueke writhed about excitedly, knocking over several Seven-Star Lamps.

Wu He's lips twitched as he cautiously approached. "Hey, hey."

Li Xueke suddenly looked up, tears welling in his eyes as he grabbed Wu He's hand, crying out in pain yet excitedly exclaiming, "A god! A god! It's a god! I... I saw a god! A True God! So amazing, so powerful, He is so powerful! Gods exist in this world, they truly do!"

Wu He: "..."

Xie Fuyu truly had the makings of a divinely chosen charlatan, hoodwinking a perfectly fine fool into a madman.

Seeing Li Xueke utterly lost in his own world, Wu He turned his head, casting a deep, meaningful look toward Fu Yu. "What about the Sword Intent in your hand?"

Fu Yu slightly furrowed her brow and replied casually, "Used it in the dream."

Wu He understood, nodded, and went to pat Li Xueke. "A Celestial Sword Intent, used on you. Charge it to your account or settle now?"

Li Xueke, still entranced, stammered, "Give, give, give! I'll offer tenfold incense offerings! Tenfold!"

Wu He: "..."

Fu Yu stood up and walked to the window.

She wasn't sure if that person was dead, but she was certain that even if he survived, he would never dare to use the Dream Kill Technique again in this lifetime.

The crisis on Li Xueke was temporarily resolved, but she felt no joy at all.

Her peach wood hairpin.

Such a practical hairpin for putting up hair—not a single strand would come loose.

How could it have fallen into the hands of those people?

"That's my hairpin."

Lost in thought, Fu Yu left the thatched hut dejectedly.

A tall shadow fell before her.

She lazily lifted her eyelids with disinterest.

Lu Xingchen's eyes were bloodshot, his teeth clenched as he blocked her path, asking word by word, "You gave the Sword Intent to him?"

The Foxtail Grass Spirit jumped down from a tree branch and quickly ran in front of Fu Yu, shielding her behind it.

It fiercely puffed itself up. "What's it to you?!"

Lu Xingchen tilted his face in disbelief. "Xie Fuyu, why would you do this?"

Fu Yu, already in a bad mood, retorted, "My things are none of your business."

Lu Xingchen took half a step back, as if struck by lightning. "I know there are many misunderstandings between us, but how can you be so willful about something this important? How could you give it away so casually?"

The Foxtail Grass Spirit let out a cold sneer, "Lu Xingchen, who are you to say that?"

It took a step forward, its eyes blazing as it stared him down.

It hissed with venom, "Wasn't the Heart Elixir that my master poured her cultivation and life's essence into precious? Did you just grab it and hand it off on a whim?"

Lu Xingchen instinctively repeated his same old excuse, "My cousin was on death's door at the time..."

The Foxtail Grass Spirit took another menacing step forward, "And then? After saving her life, why did you keep the Heart Elixir and refuse to give it back?"

Lu Xingchen opened his mouth but said nothing.

Too many things had happened recently, one after another, leaving him swamped and miserable. For a moment, he had actually forgotten about that matter.

As for the beginning...

He hung his head, "It was my fault. I only thought my cousin was too weak and wanted to keep the Heart Elixir to help build up her strength."

The Foxtail Grass Spirit sneered, "Oh—so it turns out that slapping you down the mountain was all thanks to my master's Heart Elixir!"

Mentioning this, Lu Xingchen couldn't help but feel a vein throb fiercely at his temple.

How could his cousin be weak?

With her brute strength, even a tiger would be afraid.

But Fu Yu... he could see that after her injury, her body had remained quite frail.

Bitterness welled up inside him, "I'll have her return the Heart Elixir right away to heal your injury. Please don't be angry anymore."

Fu Yu tilted her head, pensively.

So that's how it was.

No wonder the Mountain Lift Incantation was so powerful—Su Yiner had Xie Fuyu's Heart Elixir within her.

This was karma.

Just as she was mulling this over, she suddenly saw an inner sect disciple rushing out.

"Sister Xie! Senior Brother Lu!"

This disciple was on the payroll and came to deliver the news as soon as he had it.

"Something just happened! The Patriarch was in seclusion and met with an accident, injuring his soul. The true culprit is still unknown for now!"

"The disciple recruitment will likely be postponed. I'll go back and investigate further!"

The inner sect disciple made a turn on his sword and flew away.

Lu Xingchen's pupils trembled violently, "Who could it be, able to harm the Patriarch without anyone noticing?"

Fu Yu: "..."

It couldn't be such a coincidence, could it?