Ghost in the Wood

The afternoon sunlight spilled across the courtyard, warm and pleasant.

Su Yi sat in a bamboo chair, binding together a bundle of verdant willow branches.

The courtyard had been thoroughly cleaned, spacious and spotless.

Hu Quan had also thoughtfully added bedding, washing supplies, and other necessities, and had repaired the vegetable patch and vine trellis.

Wu Guangbin and the other two physicians had already returned to Apricot Yellow Medical Hall to see patients.

Instead, Su Yi, the proprietor, had become idle.

"Su, what is this rooster for?"

Not far away, Huang Qianjun was boredly teasing a rooster he had just bought.

The bird was exceptionally fierce, with sharp claws and a pointed beak. It walked like the wind and crowed loudly.

Huang Qianjun had brought more than ten servants with him and practically turned the city marketplace upside down before finding such a proud and majestic rooster.

"Kill it and drain its blood."

Su Yi gave the order casually.

After everything that had happened today, he suddenly realized that having someone around to handle odd jobs was not bad at all. It could save him a great deal of time and effort.

"Right away."

Huang Qianjun pulled a dagger from his waist and got to work.

Before long, he brought a bowl of fresh scarlet chicken blood to Su Yi.

"That will do. You can go home now."

Su Yi picked up the tied bundle of willow branches and slowly dipped their tips into the bowl of chicken blood. The emerald leaves mingled with the crimson blood, strikingly vivid.

Huang Qianjun hesitated. "Su, in my opinion, you drove away all those people at Apricot Yellow Medical Hall who served Wen Changqing. If Wen Changqing learns of this, he definitely will not let it rest. Should I ask my father to warn Wen Changqing?"

Su Yi glanced at him. "If you truly wish to help, find out for me which family in Guangling City is most skilled at forging weapons."

Huang Qianjun's spirits lifted. "Su, that could not be easier. My Huang Family monopolizes the weapon forging business in the city. We have more than thirty Weapon Forging Masters alone! Just tell me what weapon you wish to forge, and I guarantee the best weapon forger will serve you!"

Only then did Su Yi remember that among Guangling City's Three Great Clans, the Wen Family monopolized the medicinal herb business, the Li Family monopolized grain, and the Huang Family monopolized the weapon forging business.

"I intend to forge a sword," Su Yi said.

Huang Qianjun immediately laughed. "Forge a sword? Then you should seek Wang Tianyang. Old Wang's Sword Forging Art is unmatched in Guangling City. Many outsiders come from afar solely to beg Old Wang for a fine sword."

Su Yi nodded. "Come here early tomorrow morning and take me to see him."

Huang Qianjun readily agreed. "Su, is there anything else?"

When it came to doing things for Su Yi, he was enthusiastic to the extreme.

"Go home quickly."

Su Yi waved his hand.

"Su, then I'll come again tomorrow."

Only then did Huang Qianjun bow and leave.

He was tactful enough to know that if he clung to Su Yi's side all the time, he would only provoke Su Yi's annoyance.

Just like when he used to visit brothels, what annoyed him most were the attendants his father sent to follow him...

After soaking the bound willow branches in rooster blood, Su Yi picked up a knife and began carving a three-foot piece of green peach wood.

As fine wood chips fell away, a Peach Wood Sword soon took shape.

Then Su Yi rose from the bamboo chair and held the Peach Wood Sword before his eyes to inspect it. Only then did he nod in satisfaction.

"Now I only need to wait for tonight."

Su Yi casually swung the Peach Wood Sword, then glanced at the emerald willow branches soaking in rooster blood.

His gaze then shifted to the old locust tree not far away in the courtyard.

A locust was a ghost in the wood!

Such trees belonged to yin and most readily attracted ghosts and evil spirits to dwell within them.

The flaw in this courtyard's layout lay in the well dug beside the locust tree. Yin Sha Qi surged upward from underground, turning the courtyard into a Haunted House in ordinary people's eyes.

"This well was clearly sealed by someone. It seems someone had already noticed that there was a problem within it."

"Yet no one told me any of this..."

Su Yi fell into thought.

Wen Family.

Wen Changqing's residence.

"Father, we just received word that on the very first day Su Yi took over Apricot Yellow Medical Hall's business, that bastard drove out all our household servants. Isn't that a slap in our family's face?"

Wen Jieyuan said furiously.

He was Wen Changqing's son, nineteen years old and full of vigor. His cultivation had reached the perfected Flesh Refining stage of the Blood Moving Realm, and in another half year, he would enter Green River Sword Mansion to cultivate.

"I did not expect that trash to be so ruthless."

Wen Changqing frowned. "Where is he now?"

Wen Jieyuan said, "Apparently, he has settled in the Haunted House behind Apricot Yellow Medical Hall."

"Hmm?"

A strange glint appeared in Wen Changqing's eyes, and his furrowed brows relaxed. "If that is the case, we need not act at all. That trash likely will not even survive the night!"

"Why is that?" Wen Jieyuan was startled.

Wen Changqing recalled, "Nine years ago, a tragedy occurred in that Haunted House. A physician and two medicine apprentices living there all died mysteriously overnight."

"This matter stirred up a tremendous uproar throughout the city and severely affected the business of our Apricot Yellow Medical Hall."

"I spent a great sum of money to invite a rather renowned Wandering Daoist."

"His name was Wu Ruoqiu. The moment he entered the Haunted House, he said that a vicious ghost was attached to the well beside the old locust tree!"

"According to Daoist Wu, unless one possessed Grandmaster-level cultivation, no one could subdue that ghost!"

Wen Jieyuan shuddered in alarm. "What happened afterward?"

Wen Changqing said, "Daoist Wu had me forge a batch of chains and used Qi Men Secret Arts to seal the well. He said that so long as no living person resided in that courtyard, the ghost would not appear again."

Upon hearing that, Wen Jieyuan suddenly understood. "So long as Su Yi stays in that Haunted House tonight, he will certainly die?"

Wen Changqing smiled. "That should be so. All this year, I have never understood why Old Madam insisted that Ling Zhao marry Su Yi. But no matter what, if Su Yi dies like this, it will count as a good thing for our Wen Family."

Wen Jieyuan nodded repeatedly. "Exactly. Ling Zhao is about to become a Grandmaster Disciple. With such status, how could she possibly be matched with trash like Su Yi? Once he dies, it will also be a good thing for Ling Zhao."

Wen Changqing's expression suddenly turned solemn. "This matter must not be leaked to anyone else. Otherwise, if people learn that we knew there was something wrong with that Haunted House yet did not warn Su Yi, we will inevitably be implicated."

Wen Jieyuan smiled and agreed. "I understand. This is called courting his own death. Did he really think Apricot Yellow Medical Hall would be so easy to obtain? Speaking of which, the one who will have killed Su Yi should be his mother-in-law, Qin Qing."

Wen Changqing rebuked him, "Do not be so presumptuous. She is your third aunt and Ling Zhao's mother. Remember to show her more respect in the future!"

Wen Jieyuan nodded indifferently.

Night gradually fell.

After a busy day, Apricot Yellow Medical Hall had closed for the night.

In the courtyard, Su Yi sat alone in his room, breathing and meditating. His blood and qi circulated throughout his body, continuously tempering the tendons and membranes all over him.

This was the Breathing Technique of the third level of the Blood Moving Realm, Flesh Tendons.

Flesh Tendons meant using blood and qi to temper the tendons and membranes throughout the body, making them tough as bowstrings and soft as cotton wadding, thereby rendering one's body as agile as a civet cat.

Rise like an arrow, fall like the wind, move like a civet cat—able to perform movements ordinary people could not.

The core of it all lay in Flesh Tendons.

Once the tendons and membranes were tempered, one's strength would also surge by a great margin.

Since ancient times, it had been universally acknowledged in Blood Moving Realm cultivation that flesh and skin were easy to temper, while tendons and bones were difficult. Once one began Flesh Tendons, one had entered the later stages of the Blood Moving Realm.

After a long while, Su Yi rose from meditation and drained a cup of prepared ginseng tea in one swallow. Feeling the boiling warmth spreading through his body, he could not help anticipating tonight's action.

Since his reincarnation, he had yet to engage in a true battle of life and death.

Who would have thought that his first opponent might be a ghost?

Next, Su Yi picked up the bundled willow branches and the Peach Wood Sword, walked out of the room, moved a bamboo chair over, and casually sat before the stone steps.

The bundle of willow branches had soaked in rooster blood for several hours. The emerald leaves and branches now faintly carried a pale blood-red hue. Held in his hand, they resembled a soft whip.

Su Yi leaned the Peach Wood Sword against one side of the bamboo chair.

If he truly needed to draw his sword, it would mean he had to get serious.

"If it were another Blood Moving Realm cultivator, even an ordinary ghost would likely be beyond their ability to handle. But in my previous life, I fought the Western Underworld Ghost Emperor. He lost the wager and obediently gave me a Ten Directions Asura Sutra, said to be the supreme Dao scripture in the eyes of ghost cultivators..."

Sitting there, Su Yi's thoughts raced.

The night wind whispered through the air as the sky grew ever darker.

It was nearing dawn. The lights along Guangling City's streets had gone out one after another, and darkness, like a tide, submerged the earth.

The entire city seemed to settle from its bustle into sleep, with only the occasional barking of dogs drifting from afar.

Tonight, thick clouds covered the heavens, obscuring the starlight.

In Su Yi's courtyard, only a single candlelight flickered in the room. Through the window paper, it appeared dim and yellow.

He gripped the willow branches and sat alone in the darkness of the night, neither hurried nor impatient, calm and tranquil.

Only in his eyes did a faint trace of anticipation spread.

Suddenly, the branches of the old locust tree in the courtyard swayed, its leaves rustling in the night like murmured whispers that drifted near and far.

On the ancient well nearby, the rust-speckled chains binding the cover writhed and scraped against one another like a waking nest of snakes, producing shrieks like a night owl's cry that set one's teeth on edge.

The air abruptly turned cold, as though a midwinter chill had invaded, piercing to the bone marrow.

Whoosh~

The moment a cluster of fallen locust leaves landed on the ground, a Ghost Wind swept them up. They flew through the ink-black night like countless shadows dancing wildly.

Su Yi's blue robes snapped loudly in the wind.

His eyes narrowed slightly as well.

When a Ghost Wind swept over with fallen leaves, he finally moved.

He raised his right arm and flicked his wrist.

The bundle of soft willow branches, gleaming faintly with a blood-red luster, suddenly straightened and lashed down through the air.

Crack!

The sharp report exploded through the night like thunder.