Chapter 97: Truth and Falsehood, Scheming and Intrigue, All Too Easy.

Chapter 97: Truth and Falsehood, Scheming and Intrigue, All Too Easy.

Their eyes met.

The expression on the aloof cultivator’s face vanished, her pupils slowly contracting.

Fu Yu tilted her head, signaling to the people behind her: “Keep an eye on her.”

Li Xueke exchanged a glance with Yu Xiao, rolled up his sleeves, and approached the aloof cultivator from both sides, swiftly grabbing her arms.

Yu Xiao: “Alas, Fellow Daoist, my apologies.”

Li Xueke shoved the cultivator forward: “Off you go!”

The aloof cultivator was escorted into the woodshed behind the shrine. Li Xueke and Yu Xiao dragged chairs over, sat down in front of her, and stared at her like a pair of gatekeepers.

The bright moon rose above the branches.

Li Xueke suddenly jumped up, realizing: “Holy crap! That was close! Holy crap! If that Divine Court lackey had straight-up exposed the identities of those two ghosts, we’d be screwed!”

Yu Xiao: “Alas, but she’d die too then!”

Li Xueke went “oh,” sat back down, and muttered, “…Yeah, I guess.”

The aloof cultivator lifted her eyes to glance at the two, a faint smile on her lips: “What if I’m just a clone? A clone dying’s no big deal.”

The two exchanged a look, scooted their chairs closer, and stared harder.

“No need to be so wound up,” the aloof cultivator said lazily. “Obviously, I’m just here for the show. The one stirring the pot might be someone else, right?”

Li Xueke: “Pfft.”

The aloof cultivator said, smiling, “Just a friendly reminder—if you both stay here, what if something goes wrong up front? Send one of you to go help her.”

Li Xueke laughed: “Heh, you think we’re idiots? Trying to pull a bait-and-switch?”

The two exchanged another glance and cracked their knuckles.

“Play nice, or you’ll get it rough!”

The wrongfully killed ghosts were trapped in this city, reliving their deaths over and over.

The male and female ghosts left the Dao Ancestor temple and ran into the little girl again on the street.

The girl’s eyes were eerie: “Sister, come back home with me!”

The female ghost looked at the male ghost, and he nodded helplessly.

“Alright.” The female ghost bent down and took the little girl’s hand. “Sister will go to Xiao You’s home. Sister knows Xiao You’s family is innocent and did nothing wrong.”

The sinister smile forming on Xiao You’s lips froze.

The female ghost bent down to meet her eyes, staring hard, and said seriously, “Sister knows you wanted to trick us into going to your home. But Sister also knows you’re just scared and didn’t mean to harm anyone.”

Xiao You’s pupils shrank and dilated: “I…”

The female ghost’s eyes curved: “Don’t worry, we two will definitely protect you! We’re really tough in a fight!”

Xiao You trembled slightly: “Is that true?”

“Of course!” The female ghost said firmly. “I promise, nothing’s gonna happen to you!”

The male ghost slapped his forehead: “Tch!”

No! That’s a taboo! His idiot junior sister broke the rule!

He reached out, pulled her close, and hissed in her ear: “Where’s your head?!”

The female ghost slowly turned her head, showing half a skull: “Ah…”

The male ghost took a deep breath, stepped in front, and shielded her.

Waiting in suspense always felt unbearably long.

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out…

Xiao You looked up, tilting her head, confused: “Sister, what’re you waiting for?”

The two ghosts exchanged a look: “?!”

Nothing happened? Seriously nothing?!

How could nothing happen?!

Dazed, the two ghosts followed Xiao You as she walked. Halfway there, the female ghost suddenly understood and quietly grabbed the male ghost to whisper: “Xiao You didn’t report me! She’s a kind, good girl!”

The male ghost nodded slowly, then made a disgusted face at her: “You’re lucky you’re dumb.”

He immediately regretted it.

In his heart, he meant “good deeds bring good rewards,” but the words came out harsh again.

The male ghost clicked his tongue in annoyance: “Tch!”

Xiao You was naturally a lively girl, and soon she started chattering away.

She told the two ghosts that her father and mother were private tutors in the city. They believed that what was happening now was wrong—that the charge of “disrespecting the Dao Ancestor” went against the Dao Ancestor’s own will.

“A lot of people think my parents are right,” Xiao You said, wiping away tears secretly. “But that Lai San and his gang insisted that my parents were the ringleaders who destroyed the Dao Ancestor temple, and they took them away… I’m so scared! Lai San and his bunch are just thugs who used to steal and bully people on the streets!”

The two ghosts exchanged a look, understanding.

There were indeed wise people in the city trying to stop this disaster.

The female ghost said, “Don’t be afraid! We’ll go rescue your parents right now!”

Xiao You’s eyes widened, tears welling up: “Mm!”

Crossing streets that were gradually descending into chaos, the two ghosts followed Xiao You to a large compound in the southern part of the city.

From afar, they could hear people in the yard playing drinking games. As they neared the gate, the stench of alcohol hit them.

Peeking through the crack in the door, they saw a group of disheveled people drinking and reveling, with piles of boxes of various markings at their feet—clearly looted from homes during the chaos.

“Burp!” A small leader with a scabby head raised his cup and laughed. “Down this bowl, then we’ll go kill those damned teachers in the east part of town! Let them meddle! Those with wives and daughters at home…”

The female ghost shuddered in alarm and quickly covered Xiao You’s ears.

A burst of greasy laughter erupted from the yard.

The two ghosts exchanged a glance, their ghostly fury blazing.

"Don't act rashly," the male ghost warned cautiously. "Here, we're just mortals—we're outnumbered."

The female ghost nodded reluctantly.

From the courtyard came another sleazy burst of laughter, followed by a lecherous voice: "If you ask me, none of the chicks in this town are as hot as that Sword Immortal Yun Yi! Too bad we can't get a piece of that!"

Someone jeered back: "You piece of trash! A toad dreaming of eating swan meat!"

"So we're doing their dirty work, they gotta give us something, right?"

The courtyard went dead silent.

"Clang!"

The leader, Lai San, smashed a bowl and said in a sinister tone, "Say one more word out of line, and I'll be the first to off you!"

The lecherous voice quickly slapped himself in the mouth, groveling: "I was wrong! I was wrong! It ain't the immortals who told us to deal with the troublemakers—it's all on us... No, no, it's all because those people disrespected the Dao Ancestor!"

Outside the gate, the two ghosts were tight-lipped and exchanged a look.

When the group, drunk and unsteady, finally got up, the ghosts hurriedly hid with Xiao You behind a woodpile outside the yard.

After they left, the male ghost silently climbed over the wall into the yard.

At his feet, copper coins and cloth were scattered in a mess, many items stained with blood.

His gaze turned icy, and a cold aura kept seeping out of him in waves.

He kicked open the main room's door, then squeezed his eyes shut, unable to bear the sight.

Everyone brought here was dead.

Corpses lay with faces purple and black, eyes wide open in death.

The male ghost had no idea which two were Xiao You's parents. He slowly pulled his foot back from the threshold, closed the door, and leaned against it, too furious to speak.

"Divine Court! Hahaha!" he laughed in pain. "Di—vine—Court! Huh!"

After a moment, he pulled himself together, vaulted over the wall, and silently shook his head at the female ghost.

He said hoarsely, "No one inside. Let's check somewhere else."

The female ghost understood, swallowed her sigh, and picked up the little girl: "Maybe they already made it home!"

"Yeah."

The two ghosts, with the little girl, darted through the streets.

The male ghost signaled with his eyes: 'Are we really dragging her along?'

The female ghost sighed helplessly: 'It's too dangerous, we can't just leave her alone!'

The male ghost turned his face away.

That's just how his junior sister was—it's not like he didn't know the kid was already dead, but she had to save her anyway.

The female ghost changed the subject, getting down to business: "I wonder what kind of person counts as 'dying in a weird way'?"

Along the way, they'd seen plenty of horrors.

Killers getting killed themselves.

It was hard to tell who died unnaturally.

"Don't worry," the female ghost said. "She said there is one, so there is."

The male ghost snorted: "Tch, you just trust her."

The female ghost blushed: "Don't you think she's got the makings of a leader?"

The male ghost: "Hmph."

The little girl, Xiao You, lay quietly on the female ghost's shoulder the whole way, all quiet, like she was asleep.

On that stormy night, she had found her only safe harbor.

The two ghosts arrived at a chaotic market square.

They exchanged a glance, gently set Xiao You down, hid her in a haystack outside the market, then slipped in from opposite sides to investigate.

What a bloody brawl!

Beneath the earthen platform, blood flowed like a river.

Both factions had bloodshot eyes and fanatical expressions, each cursing the other to hell and the frying pan.

The ghosts carefully wove through the flashing blades and clashing swords.

Whenever they saw someone gravely wounded, they took a shot, crouching down to ask, as Fu Yu had instructed: "Who killed you?"

The dying man cursed and spat, continuing to damn his enemies to be flayed and have their tendons pulled in the underworld.

The two ghosts: "..."

Guess that's not it either.

Disappointed, they left the market square. The female ghost reached into the haystack—

Her body jolted violently.

"She's gone!"

The male ghost pushed forward and felt inside: "Damn."

The haystack was cold and empty—the little girl had been pretending to sleep all along and had already run off.

The female ghost panicked: "Where would she go?"

The male ghost pressed his lips into a thin line: "She's clever."

The female ghost felt dizzy: "She... figured it out? She went back to that compound to find her parents?"

The two ghosts sprinted off.

"She won't get hurt, will she?"

"Who knows."

From a distance, they could already make out the door of Lai San’s compound slightly ajar.

The two ghosts stopped dead, exchanged a look, their faces dark.

They crept closer, but heard nothing from inside.

Bracing themselves, they kicked open the creaky wooden door, stepped over the threshold, and looked up!

“...”

The yard was littered with bodies.

A quick look showed Lai San and his guys on the ground, necks twisted, tongues hanging out, faces twisted, dead as hell.

“Xiao You!”

The female ghost dashed into the yard, kicking junk out of the way, and headed for the main hall.

The male ghost caught up, grabbed her arm, and stepped half a step ahead of her through the doorway.

The main hall was piled with bodies.

“Gah... gah...”

From the shadows came a faint, creepy sound.

Following the weird noise, they found Xiao You next to a couple of bodies that looked like a husband and wife.

She was hanging in midair at head level, her feet flailing, her little hands weakly clawing at the air in front of her—an invisible hand had her by the throat, lifting her up high.

Xiao You let out painful, choking gasps.

“Xiao You!”

The female ghost lunged forward, swinging her hand at the empty air in front of Xiao You.

Her hand hit nothing.

“It’s those invisible cultivators,” the male ghost said coldly. “No use. Can’t save her. She was already dead.”

Lai San and his guys finished the job and got silenced.

Xiao You came looking for her parents and got silenced too.

Blood tears poured from the female ghost’s eyes. She uselessly wrapped her arms around Xiao You, trying to lift her up, but it was no use.

Xiao You slowly moved her eyes, her bluish-purple lips parting slightly: “Sis...”

She was a smart kid.

While pretending to sleep on the road, she’d secretly overheard the ghost siblings talking and knew what they were looking for.

“Zhuo...” Xiao You stared hard at the empty air in front of her. “He said... his name’s Zhuo.”

Her sister and brother couldn’t see him.

The one choking her was a really young, really handsome guy.

He smiled while killing her, telling her his name.

The male ghost carried the crying female ghost as they fled toward the Dao Ancestor Temple.

The city had gone crazy; the two ghosts ran ahead, with a huge, dark mass of things chasing after them.

The female ghost sobbed: “Brother, wait, wait—don’t forget, she told us we have to finish the job even if we die.”

The male ghost sighed: “Don’t worry, we’re not gonna die.”

The female ghost: “Slow down, we can’t skip the right steps!”

The male ghost: “We’re running for our lives... so dumb.”

He moved fast, leaping neatly onto a low wall, running across rooftops, leaving the crowd way behind.

“Whoosh—”

The two ghosts made it back safely to the Dao Ancestor Temple.

“Bang!”

With a loud bang, the two beat-up wooden doors slammed shut behind them.

The male ghost shot the female ghost a smug look: See how easy that was!

The female ghost ignored him, looked up and saw Fu Yu sitting on a rock, felt a pang of sadness, and got ready to speak.

“Boom!”

A violent shudder shook the wooden door.

The mob of ghosts and monsters that had been chasing them slammed into the temple’s main gate, pounding and clawing like crazy.

“Bang bang bang! Boom boom boom! Creak—creak!”

“Did you find out the name?”

In the middle of the crisis, the gathered cultivators, despite the two ghosts’ scary looks, crowded around to ask.

The old cultivator, with his white hair and beard, got pushed to the front.

He accidentally ran into the male ghost.

The old cultivator yelped and blurted out: “I’ve run into a ghost!”

In an instant, everyone’s face changed.

“You...”

Terrified gazes fell on the two ghosts.

It must not be spoken... speaking it breaks the taboo...

Word spirit, word spirit—speak and it manifests.

The moment it was spoken, the two ghosts stiffened, their lively expressions fading away.

“Oh dear, oh dear,” the old cultivator stumbled back. “I-I didn’t mean to!”

It was too late for words now.

The two ghosts slowly turned their bloodshot eyes, fixing their gaze on their own mangled bodies.

"Ahhh—"

They let out heart-wrenching screams.

The terror and agony of death, like a dark abyss, easily swallowed their human will.

Their nails rapidly lengthened, and a thick, bloody stench poured off them.

"It's over, it's over..." the crowd freaked out. "Quick, run!"

The two doors were on the verge of collapse, and outside was already packed with ghosts—no escape.

"Isn't there one more name?" someone shouted in desperation. "Let's try that name!"

"Hurry, hurry!"

Fu Yu finally moved.

Her eyes cut through the crowd, landing on the Elder Cultivator.

Their eyes met.

At this point, there was no need to keep up the pretense, no matter how deep his schemes. The Elder Cultivator smiled faintly, a cold glint flashing in the corner of his eye. He retreated to the back of the crowd, quietly waiting for the slaughter to begin.

"No... hope... left!"

He mouthed the words.

All hell broke loose in the Ancestral Dao Shrine.

Facing life or death, the cultivators revealed their true natures—some refused to die, frantically tugging their hair, trying to remember if they'd ever heard that name; others wept in despair, muttering a name under their breath; some ran around like headless chickens; a few kept their cool, looking for cover or weapons.

Fu Yu raised an eyebrow.

While everyone else frantically retreated, she alone swam against the current, striding over to her fellow disciples as they turned into vengeful ghosts.

She gave them a quick look up and down.

"Whoosh!"

She raised both hands and yanked off their robes.

The nearby cultivators stood frozen.

'Is she crazy? She's stripping ghosts?'

The next moment, their eyes went wide, and they gasped.

There, on the inner garments of the two ghosts, were two identical blood-written characters.

"Zhuo"

"Zhuo"

The crowd yelled in unison: "That's the name!"

Before the Elder Cultivator, now far back, could react, Fu Yu smiled calmly and looked up. "The last name—Zhuo."

Golden light poured down—

Correct!

All five names were confirmed.

The truth of that year was exposed!

Ignoring the ghosts' increasingly vicious glare, Fu Yu raised a hand and patted their bloody shoulders.

"Good job."

Then, with a lazy glance, she shot a glance at the ashen-faced Elder Cultivator, curling her lips into a taunting smirk. Mimicking him, she mouthed.

"Didn't... see... that... coming... did ya!"

She hadn't forgotten what Jun Bu Du had said before she left for Tiannan City.

Kill a Demi-god as a gift for her?

From the very start, she knew a Demi-god was hiding among this group.

She cleared the trial and fished him out at the same time.

Easy as pie.