Great Green Mountain, Tang Yu!

The night wind howled. Fei Luo listened silently to Green Bird's story, falling into silence.

"Green Bird, what happened after that?"

Fei Luo's heart was in turmoil.

What a tangled, ill-fated love.

"Young master, after that..."

Green Bird flew through the air, her silver-bell voice ringing out once more.

It could be said that when Azure Sky Ghost Venerable died, the resentment in her heart had become tangible, reaching an utterly inconceivable degree.

She should not have died, but she had brought ruin upon herself and walked straight into the abyss.

With a shrill howl, Azure Sky Ghost Venerable's resentment turned into a ghost—and she was born a vicious ghost at the peak of Foundation Establishment.

A vicious ghost could deal with mortals far too easily.

On a stormy night, the fury in her heart reached its limit.

When an emperor flies into a rage, a million corpses fall; when a common man flies into a rage, blood splashes five paces.

Butcher Zhang was already dead. She knew he was the one worth loving, the one worth entrusting her life to—but she knew it was all too late.

That night, not a single chicken or dog survived on Great Green Mountain.

Azure Sky Ghost Venerable killed every bandit, leaving the poor women they had abducted so terrified they were stunned.

But that wasn't all. Azure Sky Ghost Venerable left every bandit's corpse exposed for forty-nine days. A thick, bloody stench hung over Great Green Mountain, making people shudder and even ghosts recoil.

She devoured the souls of every bandit, leaving none alive.

Then Azure Sky Ghost Venerable began her revenge.

Azure Heaven Town was plunged into a state of panic.

Because Azure Sky Ghost Venerable had been captured by bandits, she had become a laughingstock. Everyone knew what being taken by bandits meant.

If you were lucky, you might become the chieftain's wife.

But bandits were bandits. Just thinking about it made one shudder.

On top of that, Butcher Zhang had gone up Great Green Mountain in a fit of rage, butcher's knife in hand. Everyone mocked Azure Sky Ghost Venerable all the more, calling her a bane of beauty who had married into the Zhang family only to laze about all year, bear no children, and get Butcher Zhang killed.

Azure Sky Ghost Venerable spared not a single person who spread those rumors.

She began her slaughter.

Every day, she roamed Azure Heaven Town, taking note of anyone who gossiped. At night, she would come to claim their lives.

Gradually, more than half the people in Azure Heaven Town died.

The matter alarmed the imperial court.

But the court of that era was rotten to the core, beset by troubles at home and abroad. The several groups sent to investigate were all killed, in a most bizarre fashion.

From then on, Azure Heaven Town became a place of great ill omen.

Whispers of hauntings gradually began to spread.

People also realized that the story of Butcher Zhang and Azure Sky Ghost Venerable was taboo.

They must not speak of it!

And all of this had been witnessed by Scholar Li.

At first, he paid it no mind, but as events unfolded, he grew terribly frightened.

He discovered that his friends had dropped dead after discussing Azure Sky Ghost Venerable with him, and the realization struck a deep nerve.

When everyone clammed up, seemingly forcing themselves to forget Azure Sky Ghost Venerable, the deaths stopped.

Scholar Li was greatly relieved.

But would Azure Sky Ghost Venerable spare him?

No.

That night, Azure Sky Ghost Venerable began appearing in Li Mansion.

One by one, the servants in Li Mansion began dropping dead.

Scholar Li was left living in constant terror.

He summoned exorcists, Taoist priests, and monks.

But every exorcist who came died without exception.

At last, after slaughtering ninety percent of Li Mansion's residents, Azure Sky Ghost Venerable appeared before him.

Scholar Li was stunned. He put on a dazzling performance, dropping to his knees and kowtowing like a pestle pounding garlic. Weeping bitterly, he called himself a bastard and said that back then, he'd been blinded by greed.

Scholar Li's wife was stunned, too.

She had never imagined her husband could be such a person.

Would Azure Sky Ghost Venerable believe his lies?

No.

The next day, the corpses of Scholar Li's entire family were found hanging high above the gates of Azure Heaven Town.

Even the infant in its swaddling clothes was among them.

The cruel Azure Sky Ghost Venerable then vanished without a trace.

Her talent was terrifying. In just a hundred years, she reached the Golden Core Realm and became a Ghost Venerable.

She also kept her husband's remaining soul safe. She ruled over five counties and all the ghosts and demonic beasts within a radius of five hundred li. She worked tirelessly to cultivate, all for the sake of bringing her husband back to life.

Yet Azure Sky Ghost Venerable had her principles. From time to time, she would rein in her subordinates and tell them not to go too far.

She usually kept to herself, and even the several great ghost generals under her command rarely saw her true face.

"Alas..." A faint sigh drifted through the night sky.

Fei Luo was silent, his heart full of conflicting emotions.

This righteous-yet-evil Azure Sky Ghost Venerable really had been dealt a cruel hand.

But she had brought it all upon herself. If she had only taken revenge on the bandits and Scholar Li, and hadn't committed more atrocities, Fei Luo might have considered sparing her.

But she had relied on her powerful ghostly abilities to slaughter living beings at will and gather countless ghosts. She deserved to die!

"Green Bird, speed up."

"Yes, young master."

In an instant, Fei Luo saw Azure Heaven Town close at hand. He looked toward Great Green Mountain.

That was where Azure Sky Ghost Venerable's stronghold was.

Since a hundred years ago, Great Green Mountain had been nearly deserted.

There was no other reason: it had been branded a place of great ill omen.

Deep in Great Green Mountain stood a sprawling palace complex. This was Azure Sky Ghost Mansion.

Azure Sky Ghost Venerable's stronghold was located here.

In the central hall of the Ghost Mansion, a peerlessly beautiful woman dressed in red gently stroked the crystal ball in her arms. Endless tenderness shone in her limpid eyes.

"Darling, just wait a little longer. I've already reached the Golden Core stage. When I refine the void and unite with the Dao, I'll become a Ghost Immortal. I'll find a way to bring you back to life!"

Her soft, melancholy voice echoed through the hall. Her slender fingers were painted with red nail polish, an utterly eerie sight.

Suddenly, the crystal ball in her arms seemed to tremble faintly, as if it had sensed something.

"Yu'er, why put yourself through this? We were fated to meet, but not to be together. You've done so much over the years. Is it really worth it? Just knowing you feel this way would let me rest content, even in the underworld."

A faint will seeped from the crystal ball. A voice as tiny as a mosquito's buzz echoed in Azure Sky Ghost Venerable's ears.

Tang Yu'er—the name Azure Sky Ghost Venerable had borne in life.

Only the remnant soul inside the crystal ball knew that name.

Even the people of Azure Heaven Town knew only the legend of the vicious ghost from back then, not the person called Tang Yu'er.