The Ghost King's Origin

Kaidō looked at me and said, "Kid, don't be scared. This is a good thing. Something like this only happens once in a few hundred years."

Before I could reply, Martial Uncle continued with a tone of jealousy, "You brat are really lucky. This kind of thing actually happens to you. Your ancestral grave must be emitting smoke.

Oh, wait, your ancestral grave exploded, and there's a hole in it."

I thought to myself, What a jinx. If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

Although, it seemed like my ancestral grave really did explode, and there was indeed a hole in it.

I saw it the night I went home, and I still can't forget it.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I feel like that female ghost's gaze towards me is different.

In her red eyes, there was a feeling I couldn't describe.

It was like a child looking at a favorite toy, and there was something else, I just couldn't put it into words.

I smiled and didn't respond to Martial Uncle's words, then asked him what we should do next.

Martial Uncle looked at the female ghost and said, "Ask her origin, and what exactly happened here.

This place has a palace and the Four Symbols Sealing Array. To put it bluntly, a Ghost King is indeed powerful.

But it's not to the point where the 'Four Symbols Sealing Array' is needed to suppress it.

Isn't that like using a cannon to kill a mosquito? It would be more appropriate to say it's for suppressing a Ghost Emperor."

Martial Uncle cleared a spot and sat down. I followed suit and found a place to sit.

We looked at the female ghost, and she also found a place to sit down.

And so, the three of us, no, 'two people and one ghost', sat in a circle.

I took out the rations and water, just a few flatbreads, and handed one to Martial Uncle.

Martial Uncle took it and started eating. I ate mine too, watching the female ghost as I ate, preparing to hear her story.

Who knew the female ghost suddenly said, "Give one to this King too."

My mouth fell open, and the flatbread dropped to the ground. Snapping back to reality, I asked, "Aren't you a ghost? Do ghosts eat?"

Martial Uncle said I was making a fuss. Strictly speaking, she wasn't a ghost anymore.

Or rather, she had transcended being a ghost. She could have a physical form and wasn't afraid of the sun.

I was shocked! Then I took out a flatbread and handed it to her. She took it and said, "Thank you!"

Then she started eating it in small bites, enjoying it immensely. She even said she hadn't tasted food in thousands of years.

She ate a flatbread as if it were lobster and abalone.

I figured even the emperors of old wouldn't have had that expression eating a Manchu Han Imperial Feast. I was impressed.

Looking at her now, her face was half white, half black, wearing an ancient version of a t-shirt.

Her two arms, blackened by fire, were exposed, and she had lost one shoe.

Coupled with her disheveled hair, sitting there gnawing on a flatbread with an expression of enjoyment.

She looked incredibly pathetic. How could she look more and more like a beggar!

A dignified Ghost King! A ruler of a region, I wanted to laugh but didn't dare. I knew this woman was not to be trifled with.

Who would have known how terrifyingly powerful she was, hidden beneath that pitiful appearance?

Perhaps someone else, without having fought her, wouldn't have guessed.

I picked up the flatbread that had fallen on the ground, blew off the dust, and continued eating.

The female ghost saw me do this and actually gave me a look of approval.

I was a little scared of her, so I moved closer to Martial Uncle, calling me a coward if you will, but I was genuinely afraid of her.

I still harbored fear from the aftermath of that palm strike.

Seeing me avoiding her like this, a flicker of sadness seemed to pass through her eyes.

Then, with sorrowful eyes, she said, "Over a thousand years ago, I was the legitimate daughter of an official family.

My surname was 'Nangong', my given name was 'Yiyi', and my courtesy name was 'Zezhi'.

From childhood, I studied the Four Books and Five Classics, and I could effortlessly master qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

My father held a high official position, serving as the Prime Minister of the court, dedicating his life to the country.

Later, due to his advanced age, he submitted a memorial requesting to resign his position as Prime Minister and return home to enjoy his twilight years.

His Majesty repeatedly tried to dissuade him, but my father's mind was made up. His Majesty's repeated persuasion was in vain, and he reluctantly approved it.

Upon his departure, His Majesty bestowed upon him countless gold and silver treasures.

My father repeatedly refused, but imperial orders could not be defied, and he had to accept.

However, my father had always been indifferent to fame and fortune, taking only a small amount of wealth.

He distributed most of his wealth in batches to the common people and the impoverished refugees, then left the capital with his family and servants."

Passing by Lin'an Village and seeing that it was getting late, I thought I'd find a household to stay with for the night.

I planned to leave when morning came, but I never expected this place to be such a dragon's den.

My father and my entire party of over eighty people all met a tragic end that very night, their corpses littering the village.

Just before dying, I was also violated by these scoundrels, my purity stolen.

Finally, my corpse was discarded in this cave in the back mountains. Perhaps by some heavenly mercy, there was a yin well in this cave.

I used this well to cultivate into a "Ghost King," thinking that one day I would get out and leave none of the descendants of these scoundrels alive."

As she spoke, the female ghost's eyes turned blood red, and her aura surged relentlessly.

I quickly said, "Don't get agitated, don't get agitated," and the female ghost slowly calmed down.

I pondered it myself, and the general meaning was that thousands of years ago, she was the daughter of a Prime Minister.

She was the daughter of his Prime Minister father's legitimate wife, named Nangong Yiyi, with the nickname Zezhi.

This Zezhi was an elegant name for "Lotus Flower." From childhood, she was literate and learned, and she was exceptionally skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

One day, her father decided he no longer wanted to be Prime Minister, no longer wanted to work for the Emperor.

So he went to the Emperor to resign, saying, "I quit. I've worked my whole life, and I can't do it anymore.

I want to go home and live out my retirement." But the Emperor didn't want him to go home.

He tried to persuade him a few times, but couldn't move him. Finally, unable to resist the old man, he approved his retirement.

When he left, the Emperor also bestowed upon him a lot of gold and jewels.

However, her father gave most of the gold and jewels bestowed by the Emperor to the poor and suffering.

He only kept a small portion for himself to take home as retirement savings.

Passing by Lin'an Village, it got dark, so he thought he'd stay in the village for one night.

That night, the villagers, or perhaps bandits.

Killed her and her father's entire party, and stole the gold and treasures the Emperor had bestowed upon her father.

Then, they also did that to her, you know what I mean. Finally, her corpse was thrown into this cave in the back mountains.

She discovered a yin well here and used the yin energy from this well to cultivate.

She cultivated until she became a Ghost King, and then planned to go out and kill all the descendants of these villagers to exact her revenge.

I thought to myself, this is probably similar to what my Martial Uncle's "Master" said before, except this time she's telling it herself.

Then, my Martial Uncle asked the female ghost, "What happened next? What happened after that?

How did you end up trapped here, unable to leave?"

Hearing this, the female ghost replied, "There is an even more powerful being here than me.

I didn't notice him when I was cultivating here before. One day, he woke up.

Then we had a great battle here, fighting until the heavens and earth were in chaos.

In the end, he was superior to me. After that, he cultivated here and controlled the corpses above, eating them.

Of course, he ate the 'meat' from the corpses that still had elasticity and moisture.

Just a while ago, he seemed to have broken through. Since then, he has been trying to find a way out.

Because there is a very powerful array above. This array has been here for many years, and no one knows who set it up.

It is because of this array that I have been trapped here for so many years, unable to leave.

He tried, but he still couldn't get out. But one day, this array seemed to have loosened somewhat."