Not Human at All!

Though Old Man Li's house stood on the outskirts, it was still quite respectable. After all, he was a late Qi Condensation cultivator and had the Liu family's support.

Red walls, golden tiles, and two majestic stone lions crouched at the entrance—an imposing sight indeed.

"Junior Brother, Old Man Li probably hasn't returned yet. Let's set up a Bewildering Footprints Formation around the area first, so we don't alert anyone else."

After the masked Zhang Qing used the Heavenly Eye Technique and failed to detect Old Man Li's aura, five small flags shrouded in thin white mist appeared in his hand. Lin Chang'an cautiously watched their surroundings. Once the formation had been laid around the house, Lin Chang'an nodded to himself.

When everything had been arranged, Zhang Qing smiled and nodded. "Junior Brother, let's go inside and take a look at Old Man Li's daughter."

Creak~

Still masked, the two pushed the door open and entered openly. It looked reckless, but both of them carefully used the Heavenly Eye Technique to secretly check for traps.

Creak~

The moment they stepped into the courtyard, they saw that one of the rooms was already open. Standing in the doorway was a woman dressed in vivid red, delicate and pitiable in appearance, with some measure of beauty.

No! Something was wrong!

The instant he saw the woman, Lin Chang'an came to a sudden realization. "Senior Brother, no wonder you said Old Man Li's daughter wasn't human."

Under the moonlight, the hazy woman cast no shadow. Yet beneath the Heavenly Eye Technique, they could see her clearly. She was a female ghost—truly not human.

"Two Immortal Masters."

Upon seeing them, mist welled up in the female ghost's eyes. She looked pitiful and aggrieved.

"You're Old Man Li's daughter?"

Lin Chang'an asked curiously, while the female ghost looked as though she had wept tears of joy, gazing at them excitedly.

"Two Immortal Masters, please save me! I truly never meant to harm anyone, but I really had no choice..."

Her very first words landed like a critical blow, yet neither Lin Chang'an nor Zhang Qing was moved. The female ghost said mournfully, "Ever since my father went mad, he imprisoned me here and controlled me, making me absorb yang energy every so often."

"To keep him company, I caused the deaths of so many people. No matter what I said, Father wouldn't listen... sob... I want to enter reincarnation too..."

The female ghost had been imprisoned here by her own father for so many years. Lin Chang'an and Zhang Qing both secretly shook their heads and sighed.

"Miss, don't worry. We'll help you."

Lin Chang'an sighed with a sorrowful expression. Seeing that someone was willing to help her, the female ghost immediately wept tears of joy and walked excitedly toward them. Beneath the moonlight, her figure seemed even hazier.

"All these years, I saw it with my eyes and felt it in my heart. My father wasn't like this before... Aahhh!!!"

Just as the female ghost stepped forward, a piercing scream suddenly rang out!

As the female ghost, looking frail and on the verge of liberation, walked toward them, a flash of cold light and a burst of fire suddenly flared.

Lin Chang'an's long blade flashed with cold light, while a fireball from Zhang Qing's palm shot directly forward. In an instant, the female ghost screamed as raging flames engulfed her entire body.

"Why?! Why are you killing me?!"

The female ghost was no longer weak and helpless. Her ghostly face twisted with ferocity as she stared fixedly at them, her soul flickering in and out of sight.

Yet Lin Chang'an remained on guard with his saber in hand. Watching the ferocious female ghost scream, he did not relax in the slightest. Instead, he teased, "We said we'd help you enter reincarnation."

"No! I'm unwilling! I don't want to die!"

Amid her shrill screams, the flames slowly dispersed, as though everything that had just happened had been an illusion. One had to know that even cultivators' souls were exceedingly fragile once they lost their physical bodies.

Looking at the female ghost whose soul had scattered, Zhang Qing gazed at Lin Chang'an admiringly. "Junior Brother, how did you discover that there was something wrong with this female ghost?"

Zhang Qing was full of curiosity. He had only known there was something wrong with the female ghost because he had learned certain things before. When this woman had been alive, she had been a vicious person. How could she possibly have been pitiful?

"Seeing that Senior Brother stood firm as a mountain, I naturally became more wary."

Lin Chang'an said with a smile, but inwardly he thought, I don't even believe what living people say. How could I believe a ghost's lies?

Besides, Old Man Li bought who knew how many human tickets every year for his daughter to absorb yang energy from. You say she was forced? Was she forced to absorb yang energy?

In this world where the strong devoured the weak, he would not pity those whose yang energy had been absorbed and blame it all on a female ghost. Nor would he casually bestow his kindness.

Especially since the two of them had come masked tonight. They had obviously come to deal with her father. How could they possibly believe her?

"Because we came masked tonight, that poisonous scorpion didn't recognize me. Otherwise, she wouldn't have let her guard down."

Zhang Qing clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Junior Brother, don't be fooled by how delicate and pitiful that female ghost looked. Back then, she harmed who knew how many people. She was truly vicious."

"Junior Brother Lin, let's get ready. We'll catch Old Man Li off guard when he comes back."

Just as Zhang Qing was preparing an ambush, Lin Chang'an seemed to spot something. His pupils contracted, then he shook his head and sighed. "No need to prepare."

"What is it?"

"See for yourself!" Following Lin Chang'an's gaze, Zhang Qing looked into the room and immediately widened his eyes.

"She really was a damned poisonous woman. She even harmed her own father."

When the two entered the room, they found a dried-up old man sitting beside the bed, his hands clutching the corners of his clothes tightly. Clearly, Old Man Li had been capable of resisting, but he had forcibly endured it.

Even in his final moments, Old Man Li had clutched his clothes tightly, afraid that he might lose control and hurt his own daughter.

"Damn it. There was something wrong with this old man's head too. Back then, he had been such a figure, stirring the winds and clouds, yet he died in such a pathetic way."

Zhang Qing could not help cursing under his breath as he carefully began searching the place, while Lin Chang'an sighed softly at the sight.

"Perhaps this was liberation. For the two of them, it had been nothing more than tormenting each other."

He had never expected to see such a scene here. Even the worst and cruelest people had a trace of tenderness in their hearts; it was simply that, for most people, that trace had long since vanished.

"This old man's injuries were severe, but in the end, he did not resist at all."

There was not the slightest trace of a struggle in the room. No matter how badly Old Man Li was injured, he could not possibly have lacked even the slightest ability to fight back. The truth spoke for itself.

"Damn it! There's nothing here!"

After searching everything, Zhang Qing found nothing at all and grew somewhat irritated. Old Man Li was already dead; otherwise, they could have searched his soul for answers.

"It's not completely empty."

Lin Chang'an smiled as he looked at the three Spirit Stones, but Zhang Qing ignored them outright. He searched the courtyard inside and out, and only after confirming there truly was nothing else did he finally accept it.

Under the cover of night, two masked shadows vanished into the moonlight. No one knew what had happened here until the next day, when the wide-open door was discovered.

By noon the next day, quite a few people were curiously looking into the courtyard.

"Though Old Man Li had trained himself stupid, he was still a late Qi Condensation cultivator. How did he just die?"

"Hush, stop talking nonsense. These aren't matters we can meddle in."

As the crowd buzzed with discussion, Old Man Li's death drew people from both the Great Sword Sect and the Liu family. After all, a late Qi Condensation cultivator had met with misfortune.

Within the crowd, Lin Chang'an looked toward the courtyard and could not help sighing. "Arrange for someone to bury Old Man Li and his daughter later. Remember, don't erect a gravestone."

He directly tossed the three Spirit Stones to Qi Feng and Li Han.