It was deep into the night, and the area outside the neighborhood was exceptionally quiet.
After the Autumn Equinox, there was already a faint chill in the night air.
Lin Tianlu put away the book in his hands, stood up to stretch his limbs, and turned his head toward the young woman beside him.
"How can this girl sleep so soundly?"
Hua Shuya's beautiful eyes remained tightly shut, and she showed no sign of waking.
"If no one wakes her, she could probably sleep leaning against that pillar all night." Lin Tianlu muttered to himself before stepping forward and carefully lifting her into his arms.
Her body felt extremely light in his arms, while her arms and legs were soft and slender to the touch.
His actions not only failed to wake the girl, but instead drew out an unconscious, adorable smile. She gently twisted her delicate body, adjusted herself into a comfortable position in his embrace, and curled up against him like a docile, clingy fox.
"Hm?"
Lin Tianlu took a closer look and only then noticed that there was a small tear in the clothing over the girl's chest. Through the gap in the fabric, he could faintly see her tender, fair skin.
His expression turned somewhat strange.
Who designed these clothes?
What an awful sense of humor. They were indecent and truly deserved a thorough condemnation!
When this girl wakes up, I'll have to ask her where she bought these clothes.
The tailor who made them was probably an exceedingly rare old lecher from ancient times, deeply versed in the art of revealing just enough to tantalize.
Lin Tianlu gently placed the girl in his arms onto the soft bed in her boudoir and pulled the thin quilt over her. Seeing that she was still sleeping sweetly and remained completely unaware, he finally wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Fortunately, the walls around the residence were tall, so he did not have to worry about passing idlers seeing her. If he had sullied the girl's reputation, he would probably have been unable to rest easy.
He turned and walked over to the table, then blew toward the candle.
"Uh?"
He had not expected that with a single breath, the candle would directly turn into a pile of ashes, scattering all over the table.
"This candle... What kind of terrible quality is this?"
Lin Tianlu touched the fragments on the table, his face blank with bewilderment.
He simply turned around and jogged back to his own home, took out two new candles he had just bought at the market that day, and replaced them.
After confirming that the girl was safe and sound, he finally tiptoed out of the boudoir.
Returning to the covered walkway, he was stretching his back and preparing to continue reading some poetry and travel records when the door beside him suddenly opened on its own and slammed against both sides with a bang.
"?"
The strange sight left Lin Tianlu momentarily stunned.
He glanced into the room twice, then closed the door again with an utterly speechless expression.
"The wind is pretty strong tonight."
He turned his head and saw the door to another room opening on its own again.
"Whoa—this really never ends."
Lin Tianlu clicked his tongue and stepped forward to close the door properly.
Looking at yet another guest room whose door had opened by itself, Lin Tianlu fell silent for a moment.
Then he simply ran to the flower bed in the courtyard, grabbed several stones, and blocked all those guest-room doors from both inside and out. Only then did he clap his hands in satisfaction. "Done!"
Boom!
The sudden thunderous noise caused Lin Tianlu, who had just been preparing to sit down and read, to change expression. He rose abruptly to his feet.
A tongue of fire had already risen in the distance, faintly illuminating the pitch-black night. It seemed that somewhere in the county, a fire had broken out.
"Did something happen in the kitchen of one of the restaurants?"
Lin Tianlu was exceedingly surprised.
But if it was an ordinary fire, the county authorities should be able to quickly take measures to extinguish it and rescue the people inside. There was no need for an ordinary person like him to get involved—
"Hm?"
Suddenly, a gloomy and eerie chill brushed across his face, as though it had mingled with the late-night breeze.
This feeling was somewhat familiar.
Lin Tianlu's eyes flickered, and he already understood.
This fire... was very likely not man-made, but the handiwork of that wandering ghost or vengeful spirit?
This yin energy was far denser than that of the female ghost he had encountered at the foot of Taiyi Mountain. It might also be more dangerous.
If ordinary people encountered such demonic evil, they would probably have no power to resist at all. After all, even Hua Shuya's martial prowess had completely abandoned her fighting spirit when she faced that female ghost in the mountains, let alone the ordinary townsfolk.
Should he go and lend a hand?
Lin Tianlu clenched his hands, hesitating for a moment.
He was not sure whether the Spiritual Energy in his body would still work. If that vengeful ghost was stronger than him, he might suffer terribly.
But—
"Cultivating and seeking immortality is all about keeping one's thoughts clear and unblocked. If I shrink back at the first sign of danger, if I coldly ignore innocent people I could save and stand aloof, then what am I cultivating immortality for? What am I cultivating the Dao for?"
Lin Tianlu's expression turned solemn. He immediately vaulted out the window and rushed from the residence.
But just as he pushed open the main gate, he happened to see a familiar figure not far away across the street.
Mao Ruoyu stood alone outside her home, draped in a gauzy outer garment. Fear showed on her face as she stared toward the distant flames.
"How could this fire..."
"Madam, hurry home. Don't wander around outside!"
Lin Tianlu shouted.
Mao Ruoyu drew back in fright, but upon seeing him, she hurriedly said, "W-wait! You shameless book... Mister Lin, what are you planning to do?"
"Go put out the fire."
"Don't be reckless!"
But just as Lin Tianlu was about to leave, Mao Ruoyu hurried forward and tightly seized his sleeve.
"The fire is huge and fierce. Approaching it rashly could cost you your life!"
"It's fine. I'm only going to help sprinkle water around the perimeter and put out the fire."
"D-don't go!"
Mao Ruoyu's face was filled with anxiety as she urgently tried to stop him. "That place... is dangerous! It's truly extremely dangerous. If you approach rashly, Mister, your life will certainly be at risk!"
Lin Tianlu smiled gently and cupped his hands. "Thank you for your concern, Madam. But as a neighbor, I should help if I can. If it truly becomes dangerous, I'll immediately return.
"And you should hurry back inside as well. The night wind is bitterly cold, and if the fire disturbs the children in your home, that would be bad."
"You—"
Before she could finish speaking, Lin Tianlu gently pushed her slender wrist aside and departed.
Mao Ruoyu's eyes widened. Then she stomped her feet and gritted her teeth, angrily scolding, "That stubborn, shameless scholar! With his feeble strength, he still wants to go rescue people? Is he going there to throw his life away?"
The surrounding residents gradually came out of their homes, all staring at the distant fire with astonishment.
Idle chatter continued without end, and some impatient people even ran toward the scene.
Mao Ruoyu stood alone on the roadside, silent for a long while. Then she clutched her thin clothing tightly and followed in the shadows beneath the night sky.
All along the way, she muttered under her breath without stopping.
"That half-pound of Heart-Enchanting Pastry I gave you wasn't for you to eat for free! If you die, you'd better spit every bit of it back out to me!"
It was impossible to tell whether she was complaining or secretly working up her courage.
"H-how could this happen?"
"The fire is spreading so fiercely. I'm afraid none of the cloth shop's goods will survive!"
"Shopkeeper Zhang is usually so cautious. How could he have been so careless this time?"
When Lin Tianlu arrived near the fire, he saw a crowd gathered around the outer edge of the sea of flames, whispering among themselves. At the same time, many sturdy young men had spontaneously assembled and were working together to throw water onto the fire.
Looking closely at the direction of the flames, he saw that the cloth shop where he had bought clothing two days earlier had gone up in flames. The fire was so ferocious that it even showed signs of spreading.
"Something's wrong!"
But at that moment, the young men in the distance began shouting in alarm.
"What happened?!"
"We can't put it out!" A bare-chested man, drenched in sweat, shouted in terror. "We've thrown dozens of buckets of well water onto it, but not only has the fire failed to weaken, we can't even extinguish the remaining flames around the edges!"
The old man leading them stared at the sea of fire in astonishment and murmured as though he had realized something. "Could it be... a demonic evil?"
"Elder Li! It really is! The buildings on both sides of the cloth shop are only smoked, not burned at all. They haven't been affected by the fire in the slightest. It's extremely strange!"
"Everyone, retreat quickly! There's something strange about this fire!"
The yin energy drifting through the surroundings grew increasingly dense. Even though they were not far from the fire, the chill sweeping over everyone's bodies became clearer and sharper.
At the same time, another group of people came running over in a hurry. "We searched all around the area. There's no one at home, but Shopkeeper Zhang and the assistants in his shop are still inside!"
An uproar rose through the crowd, and the scene descended into chaos. Faced with the strange fire that could not be extinguished, everyone present was helpless.
"As expected, a ghost is causing trouble in secret."
But in an unobserved corner, Lin Tianlu was quietly approaching.
He glanced around a few times, swiftly bypassed the crowd, and charged straight into the cloth shop, which had become a sea of flames, from the rear of the street.
"The outside of this fire is cold while the inside is hot. It doesn't scorch or burn anything outside, yet the cloth shop is charred black throughout. How strange." Lin Tianlu casually swept aside the billowing waves of heat rushing into his face and took two deep breaths.
The Spiritual Energy filling his entire body was difficult to mobilize, but it at least offered him some protection. The strange fire did not make him uncomfortable.
It was just a little warm.
He was about to move deeper into the cloth shop to rescue the people inside, but his footsteps soon stopped.
At that very moment, a figure wrapped in raging flames slowly emerged, stepping across the charred ruins.
His robes were black as ink, and a sinister, bizarre aura of ghostly energy surrounded him.
The green-faced man, with his hair hanging loose over his shoulders, spat out a breath of scorching flame like an evil ghost. His deep, ghostly eyes swept across the scene, and then he saw, within the sea of fire...
Lin Tianlu, who was fanning the flames with his sleeve.
The green-faced man suddenly froze.
"...???"
How had this man barged in?!
Before you continue