The deceased were a scholar from Yuhang Town and his mother.
The scholar's surname was Huang. His family had once been wealthy, but after falling into decline years ago, they came here. He and his mother had depended on each other since he was young.
The mother and son had died horribly. Their bellies had been slit open, and their hearts, livers, organs, and lungs had all been scooped out clean. The method was cruel, and the Yin Qi was heavy, so it was believed that a Vengeful Spirit had committed the crime.
But could a family like this have anything to do with Mei Xiang?
After making inquiries, Zhou Dafu learned that Huang Sheng had always been an extremely filial son, obeying his mother in everything. But two days ago, he had had a fierce quarrel with her.
Some gossip-loving neighbors had deliberately or inadvertently eavesdropped a little. It seemed Huang Sheng wanted to marry a girl, but she was a courtesan. His mother adamantly refused, even threatening death to force him to give up.
He went to Spring Full Pavilion again and summoned the trembling little maid, Hong Zhi.
Hong Zhi thought carefully and said Mei Xiang seemed to know a scholar. However, Mei Xiang had always met him in secret and never contacted him through the maid, so the little maid did not know much.
Mei Xiang had only mentioned him to her once or twice, saying that the scholar was handsome, kind-hearted, and someone worth entrusting herself to. At first, she had associated with him as a girl from an ordinary family. Later, she confessed that she was a good girl from a brothel, yet the scholar had not shown the slightest disgust.
After the little maid went to the Wang Family and Zhao Family to deliver invitations two days ago and was rejected by both, Mei Xiang went out personally once more. When she returned, her expression was terrible.
Thinking about it now, it really might have had something to do with Huang Sheng.
It was only because Mei Xiang had never spoken ill of Huang Sheng before that the little maid had not connected it to him.
Zhou Dafu stroked his sparse beard, a thread of reasoning forming in his mind.
"This Mei Xiang is quite a character. On the surface, she was involved with the Wang Family's young master, while secretly she was also hooking up with the Zhao Family's young master. Having the young masters of Yuhang Town's two greatest families wasn't enough for her—she even had another honest man on the side. A cunning rabbit has three burrows, doesn't she?" Zhou Dafu said.
"What does 'a cunning rabbit has three burrows' mean?" Zhao Liangcai suddenly asked.
"You idiot, it means exactly what it says," Wang Longqi replied impatiently.
"Oh—" Zhao Liangcai nodded in understanding.
Indeed.
"In other words, Mei Xiang first went to the Wang Family that day and was rejected. Then she went to the Zhao Family and was rejected again. Finally, she went to talk to that scholar. Unexpectedly, Huang Sheng's mother firmly opposed their marriage, so things likely ended badly there too." Li Xinyi sorted through the events. "Thus resentment arose in her heart. At that point, the ghostly creature behind it appeared and bewitched her into selling her life, transforming her into a Vengeful Spirit to take revenge. But... why was her Resentful Qi directed at Huang Sheng?"
She scrutinized Wang Longqi and Zhao Liangcai with an unfriendly gaze, her eyes full of the meaning: Why weren't you two worthless idiots the ones who died?
Of the three men, Huang Sheng was clearly the most innocent.
Yet Mei Xiang hated him the most.
Wang Longqi and Zhao Liangcai both gave awkward laughs and hurriedly took their leave.
Thanks to an honest man, they had escaped disaster this time as well.
Time to run.
"Perhaps she always believed she had many paths of retreat. She never expected all these men to turn their backs on her, leaving her abruptly with nowhere to go. Huang Sheng's rejection was the final straw that broke her back."
As he spoke, Zhou Dafu sighed again. "Sigh, who did us Honest men ever provoke?"
Pah.
Li Xinyi and Li Chu silently spat in their hearts at the same time.
After arriving at the Huang Family's home, Li Chu suddenly felt somewhat angry.
This was the second time he had felt such an emotion since coming to this world.
The Huang Family was very poor. The mother and son lived in a small corner of Yuhang Town, where the poor gathered. The mother had painstakingly raised Huang Sheng.
Huang Sheng had also lived up to expectations. He was no slouch in either study or conduct.
He had only needed to wait until next year to go to the capital for the imperial examination, and he might have fulfilled the long-cherished wish of his life.
Unfortunately, he encountered the beautiful Mei Xiang, and no one had expected him to meet such an end.
With Mei Xiang's talent, beauty, and standing, even if she did not marry Huang Sheng, she would still have had plenty of other choices. If she had waited until she calmed down, she never would have caused such a tragedy.
But just as her Resentful Qi was at its peak, she was targeted by the ghostly creature lurking in the dark. After being bewitched, she completely lost her chance to turn back.
It seemed like a muddled account, but at the root of it all, every debt ought to be laid at the feet of those ghostly creatures.
Who would not be assailed by negative emotions such as resentment and anger a few times in their life? If every thread of Resentful Qi could lead to a transaction like this, how terrifying would the world be?
Li Chu asked, "Is there any way for people to sense Resentful Qi as well?"
His thought was that, as long as they could sense Resentful Qi, they would know where those ghostly creatures might appear and could wait by the tree stump for a hare.
Li Xinyi thought for a moment and said, "Among Daoist sects, there is a profound Aura Observation Method that can see all the Qi between Heaven and Earth. But those are secret teachings never passed on by great Daoist sects like White Jade Capital and Green Goat Palace. Our Facing Heaven Pavilion does not possess such a divine ability."
After a moment of silence, she continued, "However, once one reaches the Spirit Fusion Realm, a cultivator can release their Spiritual Sense, greatly enhancing their perception. A cultivator with powerful Spiritual Sense could cover all of Yuhang Town with it without issue. Then, the moment a ghostly creature appeared, it would be discovered. After today's matter is settled, I will report to the sect and invite an expert to come guard this place. We must eradicate these ghostly creatures!"
Despite her strict vigilance, another murder case had still occurred. She was quite furious as well.
"Mm." Li Chu nodded gently, deep in thought.
Li Xinyi's words gave him a slight sense of crisis.
A rather substantial slight sense.
I need to find a way to improve my perception!
His eyesight and hearing were both good, but he did not possess the "Spiritual Sense" that orthodox Cultivators spoke of.
Compared with those Cultivators whose Spiritual Sense covered the whole town, was he not practically blind and deaf right now?
Likewise, Demons and Monsters with profound cultivation must certainly possess their own unique sensory divine abilities in order to survive in such struggles.
He imagined himself walking blankly down the road, only for a Flying Sword from hundreds of li away to pierce his body, with him not even knowing what had happened before he died...
He could not help feeling a wave of fear.
At dusk, Li Xinyi began setting up the magic array.
This time, her little brows were tightly furrowed as she arranged it with exceptional precision, complexity, and tediousness.
Yellow Talismans, Magic Swords, Copper Beads, Silver Bullets, Jade Slips, Golden Ropes, Red Ropes... There were dozens of materials for Magical Artifacts that Li Chu had never even seen before. Layer upon layer, not a single patch of clean ground remained underground within tens of zhang.
When Li Chu asked somewhat doubtfully what she intended to do, two flames burned in her eyes as she said, "Restore the prestige of my Facing Heaven Pavilion!"
It was not until Mei Xiang's Vengeful Spirit appeared that he understood what Li Xinyi meant.
That night, a graceful, swaying figure appeared outside the Huang Family's door.
Although the Huang Family mother and son had already been killed by her, she, surviving on a single breath of Resentful Qi, still only remembered coming here to seek her enemy.
She saw Li Chu waiting there.
"Are you willing to marry me?" she asked.
Her voice was ethereal and clear, and quite pleasant to hear.
"Enrage her," Li Xinyi commanded calmly.
So Li Chu answered, "No."
"Why!" The Vengeful Spirit's long hair shot upright with a bang, and her clothes began to whip wildly in the wind as Resentful Qi filled her body. "Do you think I'm dirty?"
"Of course," Li Chu answered.
The Vengeful Spirit's garments billowed around her, and her eyes turned a terrifying scarlet.
Li Chu added, "Look, she's getting worked up."
The Vengeful Spirit could endure no longer.
Boom—
She went berserk on the spot!
However... it seemed that the one going berserk was not the Vengeful Spirit, but Li Xinyi.
Her Finger Seals flew through the air before abruptly stopping.
Beneath the Vengeful Spirit, an intricately tangled golden magic array woven with sword qi suddenly lit up.
Gorgeous, luxurious, grand.
"Nine Palaces Great Plum Blossom Sword Formation!" Li Xinyi shouted, her Finger Seals flashing.
Whoosh—boom!
Dozens, hundreds, thousands... Countless sharp sword qis suddenly converged on one point, actually erupting with a thunderous blast.
Mei Xiang was instantly enveloped by a mass of golden light shaped like a plum blossom. Whether she lived or died was unknown.
In truth, given the formation's power, there was a ninety-nine percent chance that she was already dead.
But Li Xinyi did not care. Her Finger Seals turned again, and she shouted, "Copper Thunder Silver Lightning Formation!"
Boom—
The copper pellets and Silver Bullets she had buried underground were all costly thunder pellets and Lightning Beads, possessing extremely strong restraint and destructive power against ghostly creatures.
The sight was indescribably dazzling, like an enormous firework rising into the sky.
Li Chu felt that if she had been willing to arrange things like this last night, that Infant Spirit doll might not have escaped either.
But it was not over yet.
Mei Xiang's figure had already completely disappeared amid the heavenly thunder and earthly fire, yet Li Xinyi activated another formation to whip the corpse.
"Golden Gate Divine Chain Formation!"
Immediately afterward, a Phantom of a golden gate appeared out of thin air and crashed down in the center of the open ground. Dozens of thick Red Chain phantoms coiled around it, lashing wildly in all directions as they searched for the ghostly creature's shadow, seeking to drag it into the golden gate.
But they caught nothing...
The poor Vengeful Spirit Mei Xiang had long since turned to ash. Even her ashes had been scattered off to who knew where.
Bang—
Only after a long while did the dazzling lights and shadows in this area finally fade away.
By then, many nearby residents had come out of their homes. They saw the shocking display of light in midair, and some even began kneeling in worship, believing it to be a divine miracle.
Li Chu was similarly somewhat awestruck.
It truly was quite the "prestige."
Miss Li clapped her hands in satisfaction and happily glanced into the distance.
Although setting up such a grand spectacle today hurt her so much that tears nearly flowed from her eyes, it was worth it as long as enough people saw it.
She absolutely could not accept having botched exorcisms again and again before. Especially last night, when she had asked Li Chu for help in front of so many people at Spring Full Pavilion.
If word of that got out, how could she possibly continue to get by in the future?
She needed a grand display to let everyone see her strength.
At that thought, she looked at Li Chu and found that Li Chu was looking at her too. She could not help secretly laughing to herself. Little Daoist Priest Li must have a new understanding of me now.
Li Chu, meanwhile, secretly thought, Facing Heaven Pavilion truly deserves to be an immortal sect of the Human Realm. Even a rookie disciple can unleash such an intimidating divine ability.
Li Xinyi shyly turned her head away, her gaze becoming resolute once more.
Although Little Daoist Priest Li was indeed very handsome, from the standpoint of an immortal sect's disciple—
She absolutely had to let the people of Yuhang Town know.
Virtuous Cloud Temple was only good for a laugh. When it came to truly exorcising evil, they still had to look to my Facing Heaven Pavilion!
Before you continue