Ghost Village: Sunset Glow (1)

True Person Yu Qing stared fixedly at Wen Jian, his gaze like two sharp hooks, as though he wished to dig a truer resolve out from the depths of Wen Jian's seemingly steadfast eyes.

Although Wen Jian had sworn a solemn promise, the tightly drawn string in True Person Yu Qing's heart showed no sign of slackening.

At once, True Person Yu Qing discreetly circulated his spiritual power. A cryptic incantation silently took shape, like a spirit snake concealed in darkness, gliding soundlessly toward Wen Jian before merging into his body.

This spell was called the Silencing Spell. Once successfully cast, it ensured that no matter what means Wen Jian used—spoken words, letters, or magical transmissions—he would never be able to reveal this matter to a third person.

Fine pale-golden lines wound down along Wen Jian's meridians like spirit snakes, finally lying dormant deep within his dantian and vanishing from sight.

Wen Jian merely felt as though a gentle breeze had swept quietly across his spiritual platform. His thoughts, which had been somewhat muddled by doubt and shock, instantly became exceptionally clear.

Completely unaware that True Person Yu Qing had already cast a spell on him.

Having finished all this, True Person Yu Qing's nerves, taut with tension, finally relaxed somewhat. He let out a soft breath and patted Wen Jian on the shoulder. "Go. Remember what I told you."

Wen Jian nodded firmly again, his eyes holding a measure of unease and deep reverence.

He turned around and was just about to leave when he seemed to recall something extremely important. He swiftly turned back, his face full of urgency. "Sect Master Martial Uncle, this disciple truly never went to Sunset Glow Village to train with Third Senior Brother, much less disguised himself as a woman! Even if it was only a thought, Second Senior Brother should not have slandered my innocence out of thin air."

His face was full of grievance, as though Shen Yuxi's inner voice had already saddled him with an immense injustice.

True Person Yu Qing likewise found the matter indescribably strange. These past few days, he had spent day and night with Shen Yuxi. Though Shen Yuxi occasionally had lively inner thoughts that made people laugh despite themselves, he was certainly not someone who fabricated stories and maliciously spread rumors.

But why had Shen Yuxi "said" something so utterly baseless? True Person Yu Qing could not puzzle it out no matter how he thought.

Just as both of them were filled with suspicion, the jade token at Wen Jian's waist abruptly shone. Then, a somewhat low voice rang clearly in his ear. "Junior Brother, I have a training mission here that requires a healer to accompany us. Can you spare the time?"

The one transmitting his voice was Feng Yue, third among this generation of direct disciples and a cultivator of considerable strength.

"What mission?" Wen Jian vaguely had a guess, yet he found such a coincidence simply too unbelievable.

"Ghosts have recently been causing trouble in Sunset Glow Village, and several people have already died. Ghost Cultivators are growing increasingly rampant. If they are not stopped, there will be more victims. We cannot simply stand by."

After hearing the transmission, Wen Jian's expression changed drastically. He abruptly raised his head, his gaze colliding directly with True Person Yu Qing's equally grave eyes. At the instant their eyes met, a flash of surprise passed undisguised through both their gazes.

This was far too coincidental, wasn't it?

Wen Jian was filled with helplessness. Recalling Shen Yuxi's earlier inner voice, his face immediately darkened, his eyes full of resistance. Without even thinking, he refused, "I'm not going. I'm a healer, and my cultivation isn't even high. I'm not going to throw myself into something this dangerous."

However, Feng Yue seemed to have anticipated his refusal long ago and stubbornly continued through the transmission, "You have to go even if you don't want to. This mission is unlike the previous ones. It's highly dangerous, and there may be casualties. A healer must come along to tend to everyone. I specifically reported it to Master already, and he agreed."

Elder Yuxuan was the sixth elder of the Profound Heaven Sect, True Person Yu Qing's junior brother, and also Feng Yue and Wen Jian's mentor. Though Wen Jian was reluctant in every possible way after hearing this, a master's command could not be defied. With no other choice, he gritted his teeth and agreed.

After ending the transmission, Wen Jian looked at True Person Yu Qing with a bitter smile and said half-jokingly, "Sect Master Martial Uncle, at this rate, this disciple may really have to dress as a woman."

Though those words were a joke, the fact that Shen Yuxi's seemingly absurd inner voice had actually come true was beyond dispute.

True Person Yu Qing's expression was solemn as he said in a deep voice, "Once the training ends, come see me immediately and give me a detailed report on what happened during this mission."

Wen Jian naturally understood what True Person Yu Qing wished to confirm and nodded at once without hesitation. The strangeness of this could likely only be brought to light after the training mission ended.

Then Wen Jian turned and left. As True Person Yu Qing watched his receding figure, his heart was like a deep pool struck by a massive boulder, setting off towering waves.

Was this truly coincidence? Or had Qingming somehow deduced it? Or perhaps... was it foresight?

His disciple had been at his side these past days, every movement clearly within his sight. By all reason, Shen Yuxi had no way of knowing that Qingzhen would undertake a mission with Qingyu. Even Qingyu himself had known nothing before receiving the transmission, so how had Qingming known beforehand? Could this also be the effect of the Heaven-Peeking Treasure?

But Qingming's attitude did not resemble someone foreseeing the future. Rather, it seemed more like this had already truly happened, so Qingming believed he ought to know about it. Strange. It was truly too strange.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuxi was idly basking in the warm sunlight, his thoughts drifting. As he recalled the events of Sunset Glow Village, he could not help sighing to himself, "Sigh, I really want to see Ninth Junior Brother in women's clothing.

After all, getting married is a once-in-a-lifetime event. As his senior brother, the eldest is like a father. For something as important as Junior Brother 'getting married,' it would be terribly inappropriate if I did not attend."

At that moment, True Person Yu Qing had just finished dealing with Wen Jian's matter and was preparing to return to the main hall to continue handling sect affairs.

The moment he crossed the threshold, he heard his own disciple vividly acting out a one-man play in his room. Shen Yuxi was so focused and immersed that it was as though someone were truly conversing with him.

Caught off guard by those words, True Person Yu Qing's heart jolted. He stumbled, nearly stepping into empty air, and only barely managed to steady himself.

Shen Yuxi's thoughts did not stop as he pondered to himself, "Forget it. Thinking it through carefully, I'd better not go. This is Third Junior Brother's famous scene of saving the beauty, after all. Maybe it'll be the first step in the further development of the Third-Ninth CP's relationship. If I rashly stick my foot in, what would that make me? I'm not going, not going. I'll just stay here quietly and wait for good news."

By this point, the confusion on True Person Yu Qing's face was nearly overflowing. He could not help muttering inwardly, "What exactly does this 'CP' mean? What is my disciple talking about? Why can I not understand a single word?"

Yet Shen Yuxi's inner voice had already become a wild horse breaking free of its reins, pouring forth without end. He continued, "Mm, I knew those two were real. When they return from training, it'll practically be time to prepare wedding candies."

This time, True Person Yu Qing was completely dumbfounded. His eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. "Th-this... what is all this supposed to mean? What wedding candies? Whose wedding candies are they? Could this child have gone astray in cultivation and become muddle-headed? Yet looking at him, though his words are strange, his reasoning is quite clear... It is utterly bizarre."

Shen Yuxi seemed to have become addicted to his "performance" and immediately switched into commentary mode. "Speaking of that Sunset Glow Village training mission—"

The Profound Heaven Sect disciples accepted the assignment and made their way to Sunset Glow Village.

At first glance, the village was no different from any ordinary settlement. Wisps of cooking smoke curled up from the neatly scattered rooftops, while villagers worked diligently in the fields. Everywhere was suffused with an air of peace.

Yet the group keenly sensed a faintly strange presence in the air, like an undercurrent hidden beneath the surface of a tranquil lake, ready at any moment to surge up and stir towering waves.

They went directly to the village chief's home. The instant the chief saw them arrive, hope flared in his eyes, and his excitement was plain to see.

The village chief was a thin old man with a somewhat stooped back, his face deeply marked by the years. At present, that face was consumed by worry and fear.

Even so, upon seeing the group arrive, he forced himself to gather his spirits and warmly welcomed them inside. The moment they entered, he hurried busily about, fetching stools and pouring tea as he attentively received them.

Feng Yue quickly raised a hand to decline. "Elder, there is no need. Tell us first about the ghost causing trouble in the village."

After some pleasantries, the atmosphere in the room eased somewhat. Everyone sat around together and listened as the village chief described everything that had happened in the village recently.

The village chief sighed, his voice trembling faintly. "Our Sunset Glow Village may not be much, but the villagers support one another. Life is plain, yet we've always managed to get by.

"But I don't know when it started, but a Ghost Bridegroom appeared out of nowhere in the village. That bridegroom behaves in the strangest ways, specifically abducting girls about to marry.

"My poor daughter... she was just about to marry into a good family and live a good life, but she became the first pitiful soul to suffer at its hands..."

At this point, the village chief's voice suddenly stopped, as though something had caught in his throat. His eyes instantly reddened, and tears spilled uncontrollably from them, slowly trailing down his wrinkled cheeks.

He kept murmuring his daughter's name, his voice filled with grief and helplessness.

Everyone listened quietly, unable to help being moved.

For a time, silence fell over the room. Only the old man's suppressed sobs echoed through the air.

After a long while, when the village chief had gradually calmed down and his sobbing had begun to subside, Feng Yue finally asked, "Do you know of any other clues? Where is that Ghost Bridegroom?"

The village chief shook his head. "Every time that ghost appears, a gust of cold wind sweeps through, and the bride is taken away. We don't know where they're all being taken.

"When the evil ghost first appeared, it did not abduct living people. It only made strange noises in the village every night, sometimes like crying and sometimes like sinister laughter. It was truly terrifying.

"A month ago, we asked a passing cultivator to set up an array to ward off evil spirits. We thought we would finally be safe, but we never expected the array to last so little time. Instead, that evil ghost became even worse and began openly abducting young women."

Night quietly descended, and the village atmosphere became increasingly oppressive and heavy.

The senior and junior brothers knew that time was pressing. Seeing that they could uncover no more clues from the village chief, they exchanged glances and nodded in tacit understanding. Then they dispersed, each using every skill at his disposal to search for clues in every corner of the village.

As a healer, Wen Jian's medical skills were superb. He was peerless in pharmacology and treatment, but his cultivation focused on healing the world and saving lives, leaving his ability to protect himself relatively weak compared to other cultivators.

After weighing matters, he chose to remain alone at the village chief's residence, lest he fail to help and instead become a burden, causing trouble for the others.

He had been casually pacing through the residence, not expecting to find any useful clues. As he pondered the strange occurrences in the village and Second Senior Brother's seemingly casual "prophecy" before leaving, he unknowingly made his way to the rear courtyard.

The rear courtyard was rather quiet. Moonlight spilled down, casting a cold gleam over the stone slabs. The surrounding flowers and grasses swayed gently in the breeze, yet somehow gave off an eerie feeling.

Wen Jian was absentminded. As he reached a corner, a maid covered in bloody wounds suddenly rushed out from around it. Her eyes were full of terror and panic, and she babbled words no one else could understand as she charged straight at Wen Jian.

Wen Jian could not dodge in time. He only felt a powerful force strike him as the maid threw herself into his arms.

"You..."

Before he could figure out what was happening, the steward hurried over behind her, his forehead covered in beads of sweat and his face full of panic and apology.

The steward loudly ordered the servants to drag the maid away and lock her up, while repeatedly bowing to Wen Jian in apology. "Esteemed cultivator, I'm terribly sorry! For some reason, this maid suddenly went mad and offended you. I beg you, sir, be magnanimous and do not take it to heart."

Though Wen Jian was filled with doubts, seeing the steward so flustered and the maid still struggling desperately and shouting as the servants forcibly dragged her away, he could not shake the feeling that something was strange.

But he did not press the matter. He merely waved his hand to show it was nothing. "Forget it. She must not be in her right mind. She did not do it intentionally."

After everyone had left, Wen Jian saw that there was no one around. Using the night as cover, he quietly headed toward the back mountain.

When the maid had thrown herself into Wen Jian's arms, she had taken advantage of the chaos to whisper a warning into his ear: "Something is wrong in the back mountain."

Wen Jian did not know why the maid had done such a thing, but since he had obtained a clue, he naturally had to investigate it. Unfortunately, none of his senior or junior brothers were around, so he could only go alone.

Sunset Glow Village was surrounded by mountains, and the so-called back mountain lay outside the village. Wen Jian had originally hoped that he might run into one of his brothers along the way and travel together, but after walking all this way, he had not encountered a single one. He could not help sighing at his own bad luck.

The moment he stepped into the back mountain, gusts of cold wind swept past him. The wind cut across his face like ice blades, carrying a bone-piercing chill. Wen Jian had not dealt with ghosts often, but he knew that if there were merely lingering ghostly energy, it would not be this severe. Clearly, the ghost had been here recently—or perhaps was still here now!

Wen Jian halted. If the ghost was here at this very moment, then going in alone to search for clues was practically courting death.

Just as Wen Jian hesitated over whether to turn back and find his brothers, a black shadow flashed past his eyes. It moved with extreme speed; had Wen Jian not possessed sharp eyes, he would have scarcely noticed it.

Wen Jian's heart abruptly jolted, and he immediately gave chase.

After pursuing it for some distance, the black shadow seemed to notice Wen Jian's persistence and finally stopped.

The black shadow slowly turned around. By the faint moonlight, Wen Jian saw its appearance—it was a woman wearing a red wedding gown. The gown was red as blood, yet beneath the moonlight, it carried an eerie, dark dullness.

The woman's face was pale as paper, utterly devoid of color, as though her soul had been drawn out. Her eyes were hollow and lifeless, like two deep black holes that exuded a hair-raising aura, as though they would suck in a person's soul.

"Who are you? Why are you causing trouble here?" Wen Jian suppressed the fear in his heart and demanded loudly.

However, the woman did not respond to him at all. She only let out a burst of sinister sobbing.

The sobbing echoed through the silent night, sending chills down one's spine and making every hair stand on end. Before Wen Jian could react in any way, the female ghost vanished without a trace, leaving only that chilling cry lingering in the air.

Wen Jian was filled with helplessness. He had wanted to continue following his clues, but circumstances left him no choice but to temporarily give up. He turned and returned to the village chief's residence to await the others.

Nine Domains Encyclopedia:

○ Forms of Address

The elders did not address their direct disciples consistently. True Person Yu Qing and the Seventh Elder liked to call them by their courtesy names. (Eleven had not yet received a courtesy name, so he was called Little Eleven instead.)

The Second Elder liked to call them "boy" or "girl."

The Sixth Elder liked to call them "Little + direct disciple ranking."

The Fourth Elder simply could not remember who was who, only the direction of their cultivation arts.

The Ninth Elder remembered only his own direct disciples. He considered everyone else a group of flashy, impractical sword cultivators. He followed the Sixth Elder's form of address, but always got the direct disciple rankings wrong.