Purple Lightning Thunder Seal

Three days later, the disheveled Taoist returned, covered in blood, one arm nearly severed. Wang Shouyi continued, explaining that the three were remnants of the Youming Sect, specializing in finding children with special physiques to refine into ghost slaves. Yun'er, due to her unique birthday and innate Yin pupils, was exactly what they dreamed of...

"Unique birthday?" Ye Yun keenly grasped the key.

"Born in a Yin year, Yin month, Yin day, and Yin hour." Wang Shouyi chuckled bitterly. "It's strange, but the night Yun'er was born, the cats and dogs in the mansion cried all night, and the well water inexplicably boiled... The midwife who delivered her said it was an ominous sign and advised her father to drown the infant. But her father, considering her his own flesh and blood, merely settled Yun'er and her mother in the most remote West Wing room..."

Ye Yun understood. A Four Yin physique combined with innate Yin pupils was indeed excellent material for cultivating evil arts. The Youming Sect cultivators must have used some method to prematurely stimulate the Yin energy within Wang Yun, causing her to lose her sanity and personally kill her birth mother—this was a crucial step in their ghost arts: the blood of a loved one.

"What happened to that Taoist later?"

"He set up a formation in the West Wing room and left behind a cultivation technique, saying it could suppress Yun'er after she transformed into a vengeful spirit." Wang Shouyi gestured for Wang Fu to retrieve a purple sandalwood box. After doing so, he... passed away. On his deathbed, he said that unless someone mastered the Purple Lightning Thunder Seal he left behind, the descendants of the Wang family must never approach that well...

Wang Fu nervously brought over the wooden box. When it was opened, a thin booklet lay inside. The cover was inscribed with the four characters "Purple Lightning Thunder Seal" in Vermilion, the strokes vigorous, exuding a hidden aura of thunder.

Just as Ye Yun reached out to take it, he felt his waist saber tremble violently! A white light shot out from the scabbard, coalescing into a vague human shape in the air—it was the white-clothed female ghost!

Wang Shouyi and Wang Fu cried out in unison, scrambling backward.

The female ghost attacked no one. She simply floated above the Purple Lightning Thunder Seal, emitting a mournful cry. Her form flickered, sometimes clear, sometimes blurry, as if resisting some invisible force.

"Yun... Yun'er?" Wang Shouyi called out, mustering his courage.

The female ghost's cries abruptly stopped. She slowly turned her head, her pale face revealing eyes with no whites, staring directly at Wang Shouyi: "Big brother... why... why didn't you save me..."

Wang Shouyi felt struck by lightning, collapsing onto the chair, tears streaming down his face: "Yun'er... it really is you... Big brother is sorry..."

The female ghost's form wavered in the air, her voice shifting from mournful to weak: "They... put something... inside me... It hurts... It hurts every day..."

Ye Yun subtly circulated his True Martial Gangqi, ready to act at any moment. But unexpectedly, the female ghost showed no signs of going berserk. Instead, she seemed to have regained some sanity, capable of simple communication.

"Miss Wang," Ye Yun said softly, "can you tell me what those people did to you?"

The female ghost turned to Ye Yun, a flicker of faint blue in her dark pupils: "They... made me eat... a black bead... Then I couldn't... control myself..." Her voice suddenly turned sharp, "Mother! Mother! I didn't mean to!"

As her emotions surged, the Yin energy around the female ghost churned violently, the room temperature plummeted, and the water in the teacups instantly froze. Wang Shouyi and Wang Fu shivered, their lips turning purple.

Ye Yun quickly formed a hand seal and chanted, a golden light shooting from his fingertips into the female ghost's forehead. This was the Soul Soothing Incantation recorded in the True Martial Secret Manual, capable of temporarily stabilizing a Yin soul's emotions.

The female ghost's agitation gradually subsided. She looked down at her hands—they could no longer be called hands, but ten bone claws as sharp as knives.

"I... I've become a monster..." Her voice was filled with despair. "The well... it's so cold... so dark... I want to get out... but I can't..."

Ye Yun's heart stirred: "Was it the Taoist's formation that trapped you?"

The female ghost nodded, then shook her head: "At first... it was... Later... I absorbed something from the bottom of the well... I could... go out occasionally..."

"What's at the bottom of the well?" Ye Yun keenly seized the key point.

The female ghost's expression suddenly contorted in pain. She clutched her head, letting out a piercing shriek: "Black... moving... It's eating me... and helping me..."

Before she finished speaking, her form suddenly distorted, as if being pulled by some invisible force. Ye Yun inwardly cursed, this was clearly another consciousness within the female ghost fighting for control!

"Miss Wang! Hold on!" Ye Yun grabbed the Purple Lightning Thunder Seal, quickly flipping to the last page. "Tell me, what else did that Taoist say?"

The female ghost struggled and pointed to a line of small text in the corner of the page. Ye Yun looked closely. It read: "Youming Ghost Planting requires the blood of a loved one as a guide, using Yin Sha Land as a furnace. It will mature in thirty years. If not fully accomplished, the Thunder Seal can break it."

"Thirty years..." Ye Yun's heart jolted. It had been exactly thirty years since Wang Yun fell into the well! The Youming Sect had calculated the timing perfectly and sent Magistrate Zhou to collect!

At this moment, the female ghost suddenly let out a non-human howl, her entire form twisting and deforming. Her limbs stretched out bizarrely, and another ferocious face appeared on her face—a face with no features, only a gaping maw!

"Careful!" Ye Yun shoved the stunned Wang Shouyi aside, drawing his saber as golden light erupted.

The female ghost—or rather, what occupied her body—let out a piercing laugh: "Clever boy... too bad it's too late! Thirty years of gestation, finally mature today! Once I swallow this girl's soul, I can... Ah!"

A purple lightning bolt suddenly shot out from the Purple Lightning Thunder Seal, striking the female ghost's forehead! She let out a piercing scream as the black energy on her body sizzled and burned under the purple lightning.

Ye Yun's mind raced. He infused his True Martial Gangqi into his long saber.

"Miss Wang! Now!" Ye Yun roared, his saber light descending like thunder, cleaving towards the female ghost's crown!

At the critical moment, the ferocious face on the female ghost's visage suddenly contorted, revealing Wang Yun's original features. With tears in her eyes, she gave Ye Yun a beautiful, sorrowful smile: "Thank you..."

The lightning passed through her body. The female ghost's form gradually dissipated amidst the dazzling purple and gold light. In her final moments, she turned to look at Wang Shouyi, who was weeping uncontrollably, and said softly: "Big brother... I don't blame you anymore..."

When the light faded, the room returned to peace. Only the Purple Lightning Thunder Seal on the ground and the saber in Ye Yun's hand proved that everything that had just happened was not an illusion.

Wang Shouyi knelt on the ground, kowtowing three times towards where the female ghost had vanished. When he looked up again, the old man, over sixty years old, seemed ten years older, but a hint of relief had appeared in his eyes.

"Lord Ye..." He stood up, trembling, and took out a jade pendant from his bosom: "This was Yun'er's favorite item when she was alive. I kept it safe. Since she has found peace today, I present this to you, perhaps... it will be of some help in your investigation of the Youming Sect."

Ye Yun accepted the jade pendant. It was a piece of fine Mutton Fat Jade, carved with a lotus on the front, and a strange symbol on the back—identical to the eye pattern on the Bronze Token he found on Sun Yu's body!

"This is..."

"Left by those three Taoists," Wang Shouyi explained. "They said it was a protective charm for Yun'er, but actually... alas..."

Ye Yun put away the jade pendant, his mind already working. The Youming Sect, the Sun Family, the mysterious powerful figures... these clues were gradually forming a vast net.

As he left the Wang Mansion, the sun had already set. Ye Yun stood at the entrance, looking back at the courtyard shrouded in twilight. Above the ruins of the West Wing room, a white silhouette seemed to bow to him from afar before dissipating into the wind.

"Rest in peace, Miss Wang," Ye Yun murmured. "Your vengeance, I will settle it all."

At the end of the long street, Yan Xiao Liu hurried over, an unprecedented solemnity on his face: "Brother Ye! Something big has happened! The Sun Family has sent a large contingent, and they're already at the city gates!"

Ye Yun narrowed his eyes, his hand instinctively resting on his saber hilt. The storm was finally about to break.