There Are No Ghosts in This World

Downstairs in the dining hall.

With the thunderous crack of the table shattering, the entire restaurant fell deathly silent.

The waiter who had been so aggressive moments ago had wet himself in fright. A pungent stink spread through the room.

"Oh my! What happened? What happened?"

A chubby middle-aged man stumbled out of the kitchen. He was the restaurant's owner. He had been tallying the accounts in back, and the commotion out front had scared him half to death.

The moment he emerged, he saw wood splinters scattered across the floor and a child glowing faintly gold, like a young tyrannosaur.

The owner knew what he was looking at. He might have been a businessman, but he had seen plenty of the world.

That terrifying Martial Soul Possession, that suffocating pressure, and such presence at such a young age...

How could this be some penniless brat? He had to be a Xiao Zu Zong from a top Hidden Sect or a great Soul Master family, out gaining experience!

Only a behemoth like that could raise a monster so terrifying before he had even obtained a Soul Ring!

Offend a promising youngster with that kind of backing, and you might never know what killed you.

"A misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding!" The owner kicked the waiter aside where he lay sprawled on the floor, then bowed repeatedly to Xuan Hao, his face plastered with a fawning smile. "Young master, I failed to discipline my staff! This snob offended you! The meal is on me, by way of apology!"

At those words, the red light in Xuan Hao's eyes dimmed a little. He turned to the diners at the next table, who had long since frozen in terror. "Are prices in this town usually like this?"

Those diners trembled under the sweep of his silver eyes. "Y-yes! It's a little expensive, but that really is... the normal price."

Hearing that, some of the chill left Xuan Hao's eyes.

If the place wasn't a crooked restaurant singling him out, there was nothing he could do.

The golden light around him gradually faded. From the roots outward, his hair slowly returned to silver-white; his slit pupils turned their original sky blue, and the dragon scales beneath his skin vanished.

As his Martial Soul Possession ended, the suffocating pressure finally disappeared. Everyone in the dining hall let out a long breath.

Xuan Hao reached into his clothes and drew out the three heavy Gold Soul Coins. His heart was bleeding, but he gritted his teeth and tossed the coins to the owner.

"I'll pay for my meal!"

"Oh, young master, I... I couldn't possibly take this..." The owner held the Gold Soul Coins like hot potatoes, unable to decide whether to keep them or hand them back.

"I ate the food, so I pay for it. That's only right!"

Xuan Hao snorted, then pointed at the pile of broken wood. "But your man insulted me first. That's why I broke this table. I'm not paying for it!"

"Any objections?"

The owner hurriedly shook his head like a rattle-drum. "None! Absolutely none! That table needed replacing anyway! Well smashed! Well smashed!"

"Hmph."

With a final snort and one last glance at the waiter, Xuan Hao turned, thrust his hands into his trouser pockets, and marched out of the restaurant in a huff, strutting as though he owned the place.

Behind him, he left a roomful of dumbstruck diners and an owner clutching Gold Soul Coins with the look of a man who had narrowly escaped disaster.

At the second-floor railing, Bibi Dong watched the silver-haired boy leave, a flicker of appreciation in her eyes.

"Nana, it seems this little trip to clear our heads may bring an unexpected reward."

"A reward?" Hu Liena blinked.

"Gui Mei." Bibi Dong's red lips parted. Wrapped in Soul Power, her voice narrowed into a thread and reached a hidden corner with perfect precision.

"Follow that child. Don't let him notice you. I want to see what he's capable of."

In the darkness, a ghostlike shadow stirred slightly, then dissolved without a trace, as though it had never existed.

Meanwhile, Xuan Hao walked along a dirt road at the edge of town, one hand pressed to his chest and the other clamped over his trouser pocket. His heart was bleeding.

All he had to his name was thirteen Gold Soul Coins, and he hadn't even entered the forest yet. Four were already gone!

He looked up at the sky, then felt his nearly empty money pouch.

Entering the Star Dou Great Forest was no joke. He needed weapons, armor, dried rations, water, and one of those outrageously expensive detailed maps... He would have to stretch every last bit of those remaining nine Gold Soul Coins.

As for getting a room?

Who knew if that lousy inn would charge him another two Gold Soul Coins?

"Sleep is sleep, wherever you do it." Xuan Hao eyed a dense little grove nearby, snorted, and resolutely turned toward its darkness.

As a wild kid raised in the countryside, he considered climbing a tree to sleep a basic skill.

By moonlight, Xuan Hao picked a tree with thick foliage and a fork wide enough to lie in.

Using both hands and feet, he scrambled up in a few quick motions, found a comfortable fork, leaned against the trunk, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes.

The night breeze was cool, and the leaves rustled softly.

Yet just as Xuan Hao was drifting off, an inexplicable chill shot up his spine to the crown of his head.

It wasn't a drop in temperature, but a shudder rising from the depths of his soul.

His eyes flew open. In the mottled moonlight filtering through the leaves, he saw a blurry black figure standing at the very tip of an impossibly thin branch of his tree!

The shadow stood there without breath or heartbeat. Even gravity seemed to have lost its hold on him. He simply "hung" there among the treetops, a pair of barely visible eyes fixed on Xuan Hao!

"..."

"A ghost!!!"

A shrill scream tore through the quiet grove.

Scared out of his wits, Xuan Hao didn't dare take a second look. He sprang straight down from the fork and, after a scrambling landing, ran for all he was worth toward the only street in town that was still lit.

Up in the treetops.

Gui Mei froze. Beneath the black mist, his face was a picture of disbelief.

He... had been spotted?

He was a level ninety-five Titled Douluo! An Agility Attack System Titled Douluo whose Ghostly Shadow Movement was unrivaled under heaven!

He had only meant to wait until the boy fell asleep, then quietly bring him back to His Holiness the Pope. To avoid disturbing the child, he had even withdrawn his aura completely and melted into the night.

The boy didn't even have a Soul Ring. How on earth had he spotted him?!

Xuan Hao had no idea he had left a Titled Douluo utterly baffled. Only one thought filled his mind: Run! Run where there are people!

That shadow definitely wasn't human!

What kind of person could stand on the tips of leaves without casting a shadow?!

He sprinted on, gasping for breath. When the town's bright lights came into view ahead, his heart finally steadied a little.

Just as he rounded a street corner, a figure in purple robes stepped out of the shadows.

Xuan Hao was a little cannonball with no brakes, and he was still too shaken to react in time.

Thump!

He plunged headfirst into a soft, warm embrace.

It was astonishingly soft. A faint fragrance, like noble violets, immediately curled around his nose.

Bibi Dong hadn't expected the child to come charging so fast either.

For all her immense power, the sudden collision made her take half a step back.

What surprised her more was the strength in the child's body. He was supposed to be six years old, yet it felt as though a headstrong little Soul Beast had slammed into her.

"Ow..."

The impact bounced Xuan Hao backward, and he landed on his rear, his head spinning.

But he quickly came to his senses. Remembering the "unclean thing" behind him, he went pale, scrambled to his feet, and bowed again and again to the person before him.

"I-I'm sorry! Did I hurt you? I'm sorry!"

"I didn't mean to!"

Only when he looked up did he see that the person before him was a breathtakingly beautiful woman.

But he was in no mood to admire a beauty. Panting hard, he pointed toward the dark street behind him and shouted incoherently, "Miss! Run! There's a ghost! A ghost back there!"

With his terrified little face, tousled silver hair, and clothes covered in grass, he looked just like a frightened rabbit. Not a trace remained of the commanding air he had shown when he smashed the table in the restaurant.

"A ghost?"

Bibi Dong looked at the little fellow clutching her skirt and trembling. A hint of amusement flashed deep in her eyes.

Of course she knew who that "ghost" was.

She simply hadn't expected Gui Mei to frighten the child so badly, much less that the child would manage to spot him.

Behind Bibi Dong, Hu Liena wore a strange expression, wanting to laugh but not daring to.

If Elder Gui Mei knew he'd been taken for a wandering ghost, what sort of face would he make?

Bibi Dong slowly crouched down and reached out with a slender, jade-like hand to pat Xuan Hao gently on the shoulder. Her voice was warm, with none of the Pope's authority.

"Don't be afraid, little one."

She pointed to the empty street behind Xuan Hao and said soothingly, "Look. There's nothing there."

"There are no ghosts in this world. It must have been too dark, and you mistook what you saw."