The Mastermind

"Are you all right?" Fang Lanyue's voice came from outside the bathroom. She'd heard the commotion inside and had come to check on him.

"I'm fine!" Lu Siye called back, looking up. He crouched in front of the bathtub, reached in, and pulled out the plug, letting the water drain away.

A Water Ghost reeking of fish had been in that water. He couldn't bring himself to use it.

Though the Water Ghost had attacked him just now, Lu Siye had gotten the information he wanted from it.

The Netherworld had started targeting him, and the one behind it had to be Black Abyss, the Star Lord who had a grudge against him.

After all, the only people who knew he was a Night Patrol Envoy and believed he was still badly wounded were Meng Jianmin, a fellow member of the Town Demon Suppression Division, and Black Abyss.

"Who's there?"

Suddenly, Lu Siye shouted. He yanked open the bathroom door and shot away like a streak of light, disappearing below the balcony.

Under the pitch-black night sky, the buildings around him flashed past. Lu Siye raced across one rooftop after another, his eyes fixed on a single direction.

While he'd been in the bathroom, the presence of a ghost had suddenly entered the range of his senses. Its aura seemed a little like that of the ghost that had cast Ghost Wall earlier.

Whoosh!

After crossing a street, Lu Siye finally spotted a large-headed, blue-black baby sprinting through a dark alley, glancing back every so often.

"Got you," Lu Siye murmured, using Lingbo Microstep to accelerate even further.

The large-headed baby raced through the darkness, heading away from Tongjiang Residential Complex. It kept looking over its shoulder to make sure the man who had nearly killed its master wasn't following.

Earlier, it had needed to maintain Ghost Wall to conceal its master's presence, leaving it unable to help its master fight the man.

Though its master had been injured, the man had also been at the end of his rope. If they'd kept fighting, the man would certainly have died.

Unfortunately, the man's reinforcements had arrived. To save their own lives, they'd had no choice but to retreat.

After its master had been badly wounded and forced to flee, it had been deliberately left behind in the sewers. It followed the man back to his home, hoping for a chance to kill him.

But after seeing its master gravely injured, the large-headed baby was terrified of Lu Siye. It didn't dare attack him itself, so it could only trick wandering ghosts into doing the job for it.

It had fooled a female ghost into going to kill the man, but, as expected, she'd failed.

Then it had tricked a Drowned Ghost into attacking him. To find out how badly the man was hurt, it had quietly tried to approach his home.

But before it could even enter the building, it heard a loud shout.

It immediately realized it had been discovered. As a rare ghost with the special ability to create Ghost Wall, it absolutely couldn't die here.

It didn't hesitate. It turned and ran, not daring to stop for a moment, afraid the man might suddenly appear behind it and bring his blade down.

Even its master, whose body rivaled that of a Vengeful Ghost, couldn't withstand that strike. It was only a lowly Evil Ghost. It wasn't about to risk its life finding out how tough it was.

After fleeing more than twenty kilometers without incident, the large-headed baby finally slowed down.

Once it was sure no one was following, it hid in a patch of darkness at a street corner and raised its little hand to wipe away nonexistent cold sweat.

That had been a close call. Its heart, which hadn't beat in years, had nearly started pounding again from fright.

The man had recovered from his injuries, and he was even stronger than before. It had to hurry back and report to its master.

Suddenly, the large-headed baby shuddered. For some reason, even though it was a ghost, it felt cold.

The large-headed baby instinctively backed away a few steps, only to realize it had bumped into something.

It turned around. A familiar, terrifying face was right in front of it.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lu Siye crouched behind the large-headed baby, his right hand resting on its shoulder as he gave it a kindly smile.

Terror gripped the Ghost Head Infant, and its scalp prickled. Holy shit! Holy shit! Fear Points +99!

Ding! Fear Points +99!

Ding! Fear Points +99!

That one scare gave Lu Siye a triple critical hit.

"Aah!" A shrill scream rang out, making Lu Siye reflexively turn his head away.

Boom!

An explosion sounded. A tremendous force knocked Lu Siye's hand aside, and a thick black fog instantly enveloped him.

"Ghost Wall again!" Lu Siye frowned. He released his vital energy, condensing it into a blade, and struck. Ghost Wall shattered at once.

When Ghost Wall disappeared, the Ghost Head Infant was gone. Only a broken hand, with part of the forearm still attached, remained on the ground.

"That Ghost Head Infant is ruthless. It blew off one of its own arms just to get away from me."

Lu Siye shook his head and picked up the severed hand. A powerful suction force surged from his palm, draining the Yin energy from it.

Then Lu Siye leaped onto a rooftop and narrowed his eyes at a distant point.

Within his senses, a black-and-white ball of light glowed there.

It was the Life and Death Talisman from the Northern Darkness Divine Art that he'd secretly planted on the Ghost Head Infant when it wasn't paying attention.

As mentioned before, Northern Darkness True Qi contained both yin and yang. The yang aspect was as scorching as molten rock, while the yin aspect was many times colder than ice.

A true Life and Death Talisman was formed by condensing the two kinds of pure Northern Darkness True Qi. Once planted in someone's body, it could absorb their energy and make them feel as though they were burning alive or plunged into an icy abyss at any moment.

Of course, Lu Siye's internal energy wasn't yet strong enough to compress it into True Qi.

But once his Cultivation Power exceeded half a jiazi—thirty years—he could use his internal energy to form a low-grade Life and Death Talisman. It couldn't torture people, but it was extremely difficult to remove and could also be used to track them.

After absorbing the Yin energy from the Water Ghost in the bathroom, Lu Siye's internal energy had broken through the half-jiazi mark, reaching more than thirty-two years—enough to form a low-grade Life and Death Talisman.

Watching the conspicuous ball of light in the distance, Lu Siye followed at a leisurely pace.

So you're the Netherworld Star Lord, huh?

Just you wait!

Meanwhile, the Ghost Head Infant clutched its injured shoulder and fled into the distance, its face filled with terror.

It didn't know how the man had caught up without it noticing, or whether he was still following it.

It staggered to a manhole cover and instinctively glanced around. Then it opened the cover and climbed down.

It refused to believe the man could still track it once it was in the sewers.

Though the Ghost Head Infant thought that way, it didn't head straight for its master's hideout, just to be safe.

Standing on a rooftop, Lu Siye watched the conspicuous ball of light below suddenly turn, darting this way and that, though its overall direction was toward South District.

After thinking it over, he decided to keep following it.

More than an hour later, just as it was about to enter South District, the ball of light turned again and sped toward North District.

"Heh! You're pretty cautious."