Consort Ding

Without a doubt, the building before them was the Hualin Office where Prince of Yuzhang lived.

But at that moment, the ruined, dilapidated office looked grim and sinister in the dead of night.

Like a haunted realm.

"Master, if you're not sure we can handle this, I can gather a few retainers and servants..."

"No need!"

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand.

His gaze was fierce as he declared righteously, "How can we shrink back out of fear when evil spirits are throwing the court into chaos and harming the imperial family?"

"Come with me!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression was resolute.

Ever since he had mastered the second level of Mountain-Shrinking Fist, even he didn't know how strong he was.

Today was the perfect chance to find out.

The worst that could happen was that he'd have to start over.

Fu Qi, standing beside him, had no idea what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking.

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang make such a swift, decisive choice without regard for the danger, Fu Qi couldn't help but show a trace of admiration.

"A true patriot."

Fu Qi praised him.

"?"

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Fu Qi.

What the hell are you talking about?

"Commander Fu, when I assume my Dharma form in a moment, I may look rather frightening. Please don't take offense."

To avoid startling Fu Qi and causing unnecessary panic when he was at his most vulnerable and fully transformed into a Deep One, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to warn him in advance.

"Of course not."

Fu Qi was taken aback, then quickly replied, "I know a little about the ways of the martial world and understand their dangers. Master, you needn't worry."

"Good."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

Then the force of Mountain-Shrinking Fist gathered around him.

For a moment, Fu Qi thought he heard the sound of waves.

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced around.

His hands abruptly turned black, darker than the surrounding night.

Under the slick coating of slime, his hard claws could cut through metal and shatter jade.

The road before them still stretched toward the office at the end of the darkness.

It seemed as if the two of them had been walking in place all along.

Yet the scenery on either side of the road was utterly different from before.

At some point, countless magnificent buildings had appeared alongside the road.

Carved beams and painted rafters; every glazed tile and stone pillar was worth a fortune.

And yet, every brick and tile lay buried beneath layers of withered vines.

The sight was all the more eerie and terrifying.

"Do you recognize these buildings—"

The sinister, hollow houses on either side of the road suddenly lit up.

It was as if their owners had all lit candles by their windows at the same time.

Countless shadows appeared on the windows, some willowy, others unnaturally slender.

Zhu Yuanzhang noticed that the instant the lights came on in the houses on either side, Fu Qi's pupils contracted sharply.

Not from fear!

But from surprise—and disbelief!

What was he surprised about?

Fu Qi looked up and met Zhu Yuanzhang's scrutinizing gaze.

"You recognize these houses."

Seeing the change in Fu Qi's expression, Zhu Yuanzhang sounded certain this time.

"..."

A heavy silence fell between them.

Fu Qi clenched his teeth and looked around at the ruined palaces, as if he had made up his mind.

He spoke.

"This was Consort Ding's residence before her death. She was the birth mother of Crown Prince Zhaoming, Xiao Tong... You may not know this, Master, but the Crown Prince was exceptionally filial to Consort Ding. He even spent a fortune building a garden on the old Hualin Garden grounds so she could study the Dao, explore the mysteries of the occult, and enjoy her twilight years."

"But..."

A graceful white figure appeared amid the distant lights, in a place that seemed forever out of reach.

Fu Qi's voice shifted from surprise and confusion to something tinged with fear.

"After Consort Ding died, this garden should have been destroyed in a fire caused by an accident... How could it..."

Watching the white figure drift toward them, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.

"Study the Dao? Enjoy her twilight years?"

"Does the Xiao Liang court have some kind of misunderstanding about retirement?"

Zhu Yuanzhang pulled Commander Fu in front of him.

The trees rustled all around them.

The wind swept past bare trunks, making them creak in the darkness and sending chills down their spines.

Then, as the woman's white silk garments and embroidered robes fluttered in midair, a sorrowful yet stirring song rang out.

"In February and March, spring blooms with ravishing grace; the wind tosses me down before my western neighbor's gate.

"The wife in the western house sees my sorrow and grieves; tears fall on her clothes as she clutches her heart and sighs.

"When I first saw my lord out the door, who could have known he'd linger till the seasons changed?

"Dust gathers on the bed, grime clouds the mirror; my slender waist grows thin, my hair falls in disarray.

"One cannot always grieve in this life; in sorrow, I pace until the middle of the night."

The woman wore a plain white gown speckled with mud, and beneath it lay a female corpse that had badly decomposed.

Thanks to his innate Spirit Pupil, Fu Qi could see the white-clad woman who had suddenly appeared in the haunted realm of Hualin Garden at night far more clearly than Zhu Yuanzhang could.

He recognized her almost at first glance.

"That's Consort Ding—the birth mother of Crown Prince Xiao Tong!"

Fu Qi felt his scalp go numb.

Then, acting on pure instinct, he turned and grabbed Zhu Yuanzhang's sleeve just as Zhu Yuanzhang was about to inspect the methods of the Southern Dynasties' ruling class.

"Master, save me!"

"?"

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Fu Qi, baffled by his complete lack of any desire to fight back.

"Seriously?"

"That's it?"

You're the Commander of the Central Army. Are you even real?

But now wasn't the time to dwell on it.

As "Consort Ding" lunged toward them from midair, a white lantern blazing with intense light beside her, Zhu Yuanzhang's body jolted. His lifespan poured away as the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Fire surged from every part of him.

It formed a barrier of true fire that covered the entire road.

In theory, the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Fire was the Buddha Dipamkara's flame, the most yang and powerful force in the world.

It should have been a powerful counter to all ghosts and evil spirits.

Yet against the ghost of Consort Ding—or rather, the dried corpse that had suddenly appeared before them—it seemed to have no effect at all.

A pair of bony claws draped with rotting flesh shot straight for Fu Qi's head.

In the blink of an eye!

"Ah!!!"

With a shriek that rang throughout Hualin Garden, Fu Qi withered the instant the claws touched him.

All the moisture vanished from his skin, which fused with the silk of his official robes.

He fell to the ground as a dried corpse.

The claws did not slow.

They tore through Fu Qi's torso and robes and kept coming, reaching for Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Xiao Yan's lackey..."

Consort Ding's badly decomposed corpse looked at Fu Qi's fallen body, hatred glinting in her eyes.

"That dog emperor... that sorcerer..."

"They've already harmed my son..."

Faced with the claws, still dripping with corpse fluid and hung with rotting flesh, Zhu Yuanzhang's pupils contracted sharply.

Waves and reefs flashed in his eyes.

The roar of crashing waves rang out.

His hands, limbs, and head were instantly covered in black scales.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Zhu Yuanzhang threw a counterpunch.

It was like waves crashing against a mountain range, the impact echoing like a deep drumbeat.

Consort Ding's body was sent flying.

But there was no joy on Zhu Yuanzhang's face.

He looked at his right arm, which was rapidly festering and withering.

His expression grew uncertain.

He wasn't afraid of death.

He was just furious that he'd been killed by some low-level mob.