"Mr. Shao, you haven't mentioned that Faceless Ghost in quite some time, have you?"
Yi Shuyuan set down his teacup and suddenly asked the question. Shao Zhen sighed softly.
"Perhaps I fell prey to obsession before. Perhaps, like a sorcerer or Daoist seeking enlightenment, I still lack that final spark of understanding. To grasp blindly for it is to fall into a demonic snare."
"You have something of a cultivator's disposition yourself, Mr. Shao."
Yi Shuyuan blew gently over the page, drying ink that was already no longer damp.
A breeze gradually rose beside the river. In a season that should still have been rather chilly, it brought no cold, only a refreshing sense of freshness.
"Mr. Yi, have you already understood how to transform?"
The events of his dream on the night of the Shangyuan Festival remained vivid in Shao Zhen's mind. Naturally, he could not forget what Yi Shuyuan had said in that dream.
Yi Shuyuan smiled, picked up the Folding Fan from the table, and spread it slightly to conceal his entire face. As Shao Zhen watched in mild puzzlement, a strange laugh suddenly sounded from behind it.
"Heh heh heh, woo-heh heh heh! So this is what the mortal world is like~~~"
The voice was shrill and strange, grotesquely chilling yet somewhat comical. The fingers of his free left hand undulated like waves, then clenched excitedly into a fist with a faint series of cracking joints.
"Mr. Yi!"
Shao Zhen's heart lurched. Startled, he even stood up instinctively.
Yi Shuyuan slowly moved the Folding Fan aside. Shao Zhen stared wide-eyed at what was still Yi Shuyuan's face, yet he was unsure whether a ghost had possessed him and instinctively glanced toward the Demon-Subduing Hall.
At that moment, Yi Shuyuan smiled and covered his face with the