Where to Go From Here

Then Martial Uncle took out the small porcelain bottle and smashed it on the ground. With a soft poof, a cloud of white smoke rose...

A female ghost appeared before us, dressed in tattered rags, her face blotched black and white.

She was even missing one of her shoes.

Then she looked around, her little head swiveling as fast as a high-speed camera.

She kept scanning her surroundings, as though everything fascinated her.

But the night was pitch-black, and she could not see anything. Seeing her like that,

my heart ached a little. I thought about how miserable her life had been.

Fine. As long as she doesn't want my life, she can stay with me. I'll just treat her like a friend.

Watching her, I walked up and asked, "Um... do you have any other clothes?"

The words had barely left my mouth before I realized it was a stupid question. She had just come out of there—how could she possibly have clothes?

I looked at her awkwardly. She stood there too, looking herself over from head to toe.

When she saw what she looked like, her cheeks flushed red as well.

Then she raised a hand and swept it through the air from top to bottom.

A long white gown streaked with gold appeared on her body, along with white-and-gold boots and a red cape draped behind her.

I was dumbstruck. Hurriedly, I asked, "How did you do that? Did you bring clothes with you?"

Martial Uncle said I was making a mountain out of a molehill. Not to mention a Ghost King—even ordinary little ghosts with some cultivation could change their appearance at will.

Then he asked me with a wicked grin, "Did you take a fancy to her?"

I immediately said, "Nonsense. You're the one who took a fancy to her."

Martial Uncle said, "Then why were you looking at her like that just now?" I said I had only been surprised.

While I was bickering with Martial Uncle, the female ghost came over and slightly crouched, bowing to us.

Then she said sincerely, "Thank you both for saving me."

Martial Uncle waved a hand. "It's nothing, it's nothing. But you can't go back on what you promised us."

"You swore a Ghost Oath. If you break it, you know the consequences yourself."

The female ghost said she would certainly not forget and would definitely keep her promise, and so on.

Then we left the back mountain and headed into the village...

When we reached the village, my heart sank. It was still just as ruined and dilapidated as before we had gone in.

The only difference was that the white fog and those ghostly things were gone.

The village was utterly silent. As we walked and looked around, we saw vines crawling over the walls and rooftops.

Several rats scurried past in panic not far away, making squeaking noises.

The sight made my heart turn ice-cold. This was the place where I had grown up.

Now it had become like this. Anyone else in my place would probably have felt the same way.

Seeing my gloomy expression, the female ghost asked what I was thinking about.

With a dark face, I said it was nothing. She found no amusement in that and continued looking around.

Then it suddenly occurred to me that if she was going to travel with me from now on, I could not keep calling her "female ghost."

So I asked her, "By the way, what should I call you from now on?"

The female ghost looked at me slyly and said, "Then you can call me 'Big Sister' from now on."

I said that was impossible. Going by age, she was older than my ancestors.

The female ghost said we simply did not have to go by age.

Then she spoke in a somewhat forlorn tone. "Honestly, I was only around twenty when I died.

Compared to you now, I'm only a few years older."

Then she put on a mischievous expression and said to me:

"Down underground just now, you kept calling me Big Sister so happily.

Why are you making that face now that I'm asking you to call me that?"

I said I had not, that she had heard wrong.

She said that was impossible. I had even asked Big Sister to spare Little Brother's life. She had heard it loud and clear.

Then she added, "It's settled, then. From now on, I'll call you Little Brother, and you'll call me Big Sister.

Don't worry. Calling me Big Sister won't put you at a disadvantage."

After thinking it over, I decided to let it go. It was only a form of address; it did not matter.

Still, when I had sold Martial Uncle out below, I really had called her Big Sister.

Then she asked if I wanted to go home and take a look.

I said there was nothing left at home anymore, so what was the point of going back?

She said that might not necessarily be true. There might still be something there.

I did not understand, so I asked what could possibly still be in my home.

She said there was a little mouse there, and she had already immobilized it. I was completely baffled.

Then Martial Uncle said we should go take a look. He had sensed it too.

So we headed toward my home—or rather, my former home.

When we got there, I saw someone standing in the distance. It looked like a girl.

She had her back to us, so I could not see who it was, but her silhouette looked familiar.

I immediately ran around in front of her. When I saw her face, I was slightly startled.

It was Qianqian.

I hurriedly said, "Qianqian, why are you here?" Qianqian stood completely motionless, her eyes filled with terror.

I looked at the female ghost. She snapped her fingers, and Qianqian was immediately able to move.

Her body kept shrinking backward as she cried out in horror, "G-Ghost King..."

I hurriedly explained to Qianqian that there was nothing to fear; she was one of us.

Qianqian came back to herself and looked at me. "Brother A Tong... is that you?"

Hearing that, I nodded at Qianqian.

At that moment, the female ghost looked at Qianqian suspiciously and spoke in an unfriendly tone:

"I can sense the aura of those people who died in the village on you. Are you their descendant?"

Qianqian timidly nodded at the female ghost.

Oh no! The female ghost had already been unhappy that she had not taken revenge with her own hands.

Now that she had encountered one, would she not vent all her anger on Qianqian?

Sure enough, Qianqian had not even finished nodding.

The female ghost let out an angry snort and suddenly raised her hand.

At once, Qianqian's body was sucked into the female ghost's hand by a powerful force.

The female ghost seized Qianqian by the throat and lifted her high into the air.

The female ghost's eyes were crimson, and her aura was terrifying. Looking at Qianqian's soul, I felt as if it was about to be crushed apart.

Unable to care about anything else, I rushed over and said urgently to the female ghost:

"Big Sister, please spare her. She's the last one from our village besides me.

Everyone else is gone without even bones left behind, and Qianqian is already dead too.

This is only her soul. Please spare her. I'm begging you."

The female ghost stared at me with crimson eyes. That aura, coupled with that gaze—

made my scalp tingle. After a while, her aura gradually weakened.

Then she flung Qianqian into a wall beside us.

I heard a BOOM, and the wall instantly shattered into pieces, dirt and debris raining down with a clatter.

I hurried over to check on Qianqian, wondering if the female ghost had beaten her into soul-dispersing ashes.

Halfway there, I saw Martial Uncle putting the little wooden box he had been about to use back into his robe. So Martial Uncle had been preparing to intervene just now.

Qianqian stood up from the pile of dirt and staggered out.

Only after seeing that she was fine did I feel much more relieved. Then I glared at the female ghost.

With a gloomy expression, the female ghost said, "Don't worry. She's a Malevolent Ghost, after all. She can withstand an attack like that."

I looked at the female ghost indignantly.

Then I asked Qianqian what exactly had happened and why she was here.

Qianqian said that after someone had murdered her, she had been trapped in a well and could not get out.

She remained there for some time. As her resentment grew greater and greater, she eventually became a Malevolent Ghost.

Afterward, she broke through the well that had trapped her and escaped. Then she went home, intending to find me and have me retrieve her corpse.

Her corpse had been soaking in a well, and she had no way to get it out herself.

On the second night after Qianqian returned, something happened in the village.

Then many ghosts appeared in the village, and they would attack her whenever she entered.

Unable to do anything, Qianqian had wandered around near the village until a few days ago, when she discovered that the white fog was gone.

Then she cautiously went in to take a look. After entering, she found that there was nothing left in the village.

It was empty everywhere, and she had nowhere else to go, so she kept wandering through the village.

She knew I was not dead, but she did not know where to find me.

So she kept wandering near my house, hoping that one day I would return.

Tonight, she suddenly felt an incomparably powerful aura lock onto her.

Then she tried to run, but was immobilized. Finally, our group arrived here.

Everyone already knew what happened after we arrived, so there was no need to go into it again.

Now it seemed that the incomparably powerful aura Qianqian had mentioned was Ghost King Nangong Yiyi.

The female ghost must have sensed Qianqian the moment she came out, which led to everything that happened afterward.