Preparations (First Update!)

For a while, Zheng Que sat in the Grandmaster Chair.

The [Life and Death Book] before him was very quiet. No new names had appeared.

Zheng Que wasn't surprised. Qing Li was probably outside protecting him and hadn't gone to slay any ghosts...

Before long, the last wisp of black qi between Zheng Que's brows was absorbed by the [Life and Death Book] as well.

The scene before his eyes shifted. The empty, broken specks of light disappeared, and the cramped room slowly came into view. He had returned to the ruined temple.

At that moment, the sky outside was bright and clear. The Golden Crow hung high overhead, and the shadows were very short.

When he had taken the second Medicine Whisker, it had been dusk, with nightfall approaching. Now, it was already noon.

This breakthrough had taken him an entire night and the whole morning.

Zheng Que immediately rose and headed outside.

Creak.

The temple doors swung open, and dust billowed through the air. Nothing in the courtyard had changed. Qing Li hung from the tree, swaying in the wind.

After glancing around, Zheng Que found a large bluestone in a corner and punched it.

Bang!

The bluestone was about the size of a table. It had never been carved and was heavy and sturdy, yet now it shattered like a brittle pastry. Stone chips fluttered down like snowflakes, scattering across half the courtyard.

Zheng Que felt no pain in his fist. It was as if he hadn't just struck a rock, but merely an egg that was a little harder than usual.

Next, he tested his speed and explosive power in the courtyard. It didn't take long to confirm that without using spells, his physical abilities had improved by about a factor of two compared to when he was at the First Layer of Qi Refining.

After getting a rough idea of his current strength, Zheng Que turned to Qing Li. "Qing Li, come back with me. I need to fetch a few things."

Qing Li snorted and said nothing.

So Zheng Que set off home with Qing Li.

The roads were unusually quiet. Perhaps because Qing Li had been hunting ghosts lately, Zheng Que hadn't seen a single one in the streets and alleys on his outings over the past two days.

More people had also begun venturing out these past two days.

However, all the neighbors Zheng Que passed along the way were shadowless.

A short while later, he returned home and soon dug a bundle of dried rations out from the back of a cupboard. He ate a few bites, then wrapped the rest back up and took it with him.

Now that he had become a cultivator, he could go many days without food or water, and his strength wouldn't be affected.

But his calamity was drawing near. He had to prepare for every eventuality!

After filling his stomach, Zheng Que went over to the bed, flipped the entire thing over, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and headed outside.

He wasn't hauling the bed to the ruined temple for a comfortable night's sleep. It was an extra precaution. Although the town's wards had been damaged, some of their protective power remained.

When the time came, if he placed his shoes by the bed facing opposite directions, he could delay the ghosts from finding him.

Lost in thought, Zheng Que carried the bed out of the house and headed straight for the ruined temple.

The trip back went smoothly. Along the way, he encountered many more townspeople, and they were all shadowless too.

Unlike yesterday, when only some of the townspeople he'd seen on the road had no shadows, today he hadn't seen a single person with one.

It was as if every townsman's shadow had been stolen overnight!

Zheng Que felt more and more that something was wrong. Judging by what Xu Houde had told him yesterday, it was most likely because of the problem with the ward at the town entrance.

And to repair that ward, he had to go to Taiping County Town and find the cultivator surnamed Lu...

As his thoughts raced, Zheng Que carried the bed into the temple and set it down in the open space beneath the shrine.

Meanwhile, Qing Li had already climbed back up the old tree in the courtyard with practiced ease.

The Female Hanging Ghost's figure was half-hidden among the branches, her gaze fixed on Zheng Que.

The calamity facing this Human Race child would come today.

She needed to remain in peak condition, so she couldn't go out to hunt ghosts today...

And so, the Ghost Servant hung high in the branches while Zheng Que stayed inside the temple. He looked around, tore off a piece of bedsheet to cover the window with its broken paper, and latched the door. Then he set his shoes on the floor facing opposite directions and sat cross-legged at the head of the bed.

It wasn't dark yet, but the temple was already pitch-black with its doors and windows shut.

In the gloom, Zheng Que's expression gradually grew grave.

His calamity was due at Xu Hour tonight.

There was still enough time for him to cultivate once more.

He had broken through to the Second Layer of Qi Refining last night, but hadn't had a chance to improve Qing Li's cultivation. Now was the perfect time to make up for it!

With that thought, Zheng Que immediately began cultivating.

But perhaps because his calamity was near, his mind remained unsettled. He circulated the technique several times without entering a state of cultivation.

After struggling for a while, Zheng Que took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and cleared his mind. He stopped thinking about everything, forgetting all the distracting thoughts in his heart—including the calamity he was about to face.

A moment later, he successfully steadied himself and began circulating the [Life Planting Technique] again.

Spirit Power flowed deftly through his body. In a trance, he entered that void once more, constantly catching wisps of an unseen aura.

Time passed. Zheng Que opened his eyes again to find himself in the deep, dilapidated Wide Hall, with the [Life and Death Book] spread open before him.

Seeing that he had entered the Underworld Space, he didn't hesitate and immediately spoke to the [Life and Death Book]. "Qing Li."

Before his voice had even faded, a thick fog rose from the hall below. Within it, a slender figure emerged, dressed in white with black hair and a Command Character token hanging from her waist. It was Qing Li.

Realizing that she had arrived in the Underworld, Qing Li hurriedly dropped to her knees and said with great respect, "Your subordinate pays her respects, my lord!"

"My lord sees through all things and is a paragon of virtue and integrity..."

Before she could finish this familiar string of flattery, Zheng Que wasted no time. While Qing Li knelt with her head bowed, he raised his hand and pointed the "Order" in his palm at her.

In the next instant, dark winds roared around Qing Li. Yin energy surged toward her, forming an inverted black ocean that poured into her body.

Qing Li was overcome with excitement and hurriedly said, "Your subordinate thanks my lord!"

"Your kindness is as weighty as a mountain. Your subordinate will remember it until her dying day..."

After a while, the yin energy surrounding Qing Li had increased considerably. Then, little by little, it stopped growing.

The higher a ghost's cultivation, the more yin energy it needed. Qing Li's yin energy had increased significantly this time, but she still seemed some distance away from the sixth stage of [Tongue-Pulling Hell].

Seeing that Qing Li hadn't broken through to the sixth stage of [Tongue-Pulling Hell], Zheng Que wasn't surprised. He simply instructed, "Withdraw."

Fog rose again below the hall, churning like a tide. In an instant, it swallowed Qing Li's figure, then faded without a trace.

Zheng Que turned his gaze back to the [Life and Death Book], waiting for the black qi between his brows to dissipate.

Just then, a new name suddenly appeared on the [Life and Death Book]...

"...Xu Houde. Place of origin: Changfu Town, Taiping County, Tu Prefecture, Great Li Dynasty. Lifespan: fifty-four years, three months, and seven days. Sudden death at the exact hour of Xu."