"Miss Shen, I have urgent matters to attend to, so I'm returning to the mortal realm first."
"Take care of yourself on the way back."
Shen Qiushui stared at the message on the transmission talisman, momentarily stunned.
Then she bit down hard on her red lips, her limpid autumn eyes brimming with resentment and disappointment.
"He left without saying anything, without even a farewell."
"I... I... I, Shen Qiushui, am not throwing myself at you."
Shen Qiushui grumbled resentfully in her heart.
Her long, beautiful legs carrying her forward, she left directly through the city gate.
In the distance, a gaunt man wearing a Horse-Face mask had ghostly light flickering in his eyes.
"She left alone?"
"Black Impermanence isn't with her!"
"It seems he has already left."
"Hehe, Heaven truly is helping me."
"White Impermanence, I originally had no intention of making a move against you."
"But you turned out to possess the legendary Nine Yin Absolute Meridian. You are destined to become my Cultivation Cauldron."
The Horse-Face man's tone was thick with greed.
As soon as Shen Qiushui left, he followed after her without pause.
"So it was him!"
After Fang Heng saw Shen Qiushui leave and the Horse-Face man follow closely behind,
he knew that the one who had used the Dark God Incense was the "friend" Shen Qiushui had mentioned—the one he had seen outside the bank.
After pondering for a moment, Fang Heng had already made his decision.
With a pat of his Ghost Control Bag, Fire Barbarian crawled out.
"Set up these five Lightning-Attracting Banners. Don't let anyone notice."
"Rest assured, Master. I survived at Evil Dog Ridge for over a hundred years. I'll handle such a small matter flawlessly."
Fire Barbarian spoke with utter confidence. Carrying the five Lightning-Attracting Banners, he transformed into a streak of escaping light and vanished among the ghosts on Yellow Springs Road.
Fire Barbarian was originally a ghost. Once he concealed the flames around his body,
he could blend into the wandering souls and ghosts, and ordinary people would not be able to tell him apart.
That was why Fang Heng had chosen to send Fire Barbarian to set up the Lightning-Attracting Banners.
The key word was "concealment."
Since he had decided to act, Fang Heng naturally had no intention of letting Horse-Face, his prey, escape.
Meanwhile,
Shen Qiushui traveled alone. After walking for a while, she vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
"Who's there?"
"Show yourself!"
Shen Qiushui abruptly turned around, the softness in her gaze turning sharp and vigilant.
At a glance, there was clearly only the deathly still Yellow Springs Road and ghosts with vacant eyes.
Yet this utterly ordinary scene gave Shen Qiushui the feeling of thorns pricking her back.
"Jie jie jie!"
"White Impermanence, is this how you welcome a friend?"
The Horse-Face man revealed himself amid a crowd of wandering souls and ghosts.
"Horse-Face?"
"You followed me!"
Shen Qiushui gave a light shout, her pretty face beneath the White Impermanence mask solemn.
"Followed you?"
"I don't like those words."
"White Impermanence, I merely wish to invite you to my cave abode for a visit."
A visit?
Pah!
Who invited someone like that?
Shen Qiushui took out a storybook and circulated the mana within her body.
A wisp of white spiritual light emerged from the storybook, The Legend of Heroine Shen.
That white spiritual light shot into the sky, transforming into a valiant and dashing figure.
"Hmph—"
"You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!"
"You think you can resist me with a Book Spirit?"
"Come back obediently and be my Cultivation Cauldron!"
The Horse-Face man's low voice was grim and terrifying, like an evil ghost from the Ninth Netherworld.
Then he slapped the Ghost Control Bag at his waist.
Five streams of black qi shot into the sky.
Ghostly howls rang out in endless succession.
When the black qi dispersed, five vicious ghosts were revealed.
For a time, yin winds swept through the air, and wolves cried while ghosts howled.
The wandering souls and ghosts on Yellow Springs Road seemed to sense how formidable those five vicious ghosts were.
They actually showed fear, fleeing far away from Shen Qiushui and the Horse-Face man.
The Horse-Face man bit his fingertip and squeezed out essence blood, feeding it to the five vicious ghosts.
Only after feeding the five vicious ghosts their fill with essence blood did the Horse-Face man issue his command.
"Capture her alive."
"I want her alive!"
Woooo—
Woooo—
Woooo—
The yin wind whistled.
The vicious ghosts attacked.
Shen Qiushui took a deep breath, her eyes grave.
Under her command, the Heroine Shen Book Spirit behind her took the initiative to meet the five ghosts in battle.
After only one exchange,
the Heroine Shen Book Spirit fell into a disadvantage.
She looked as though she might collapse at any moment.
In the distance,
Fang Heng watched the battle between Shen Qiushui and the Horse-Face man, ghostly light flickering in his eyes.
"A Book Spirit?"
"Shen Qiushui cultivates the Fiction School's inheritance?"
Fang Heng was first stunned, then immediately understood, a look of realization appearing on his face.
No wonder!
Shen Qiushui had written The Legend of Heroine Shen.
So she actually cultivated the Fiction School's inheritance.
The Fiction School's inheritance could summon Book Spirits from novels to fight for its cultivators.
It was somewhat similar to summoners in games.
Book Spirits were somewhat like wandering souls and ghosts; both were spirit bodies.
However, compared to Ghost Controllers, the Fiction School's inheritance was much safer, without the danger of backlash.
Moreover, the Book Spirits summoned by Fiction School cultivators could surpass the cultivator's own realm.
Shen Qiushui's aura was unquestionably at the Third Realm.
Yet the Heroine Shen Book Spirit she had summoned was at the Fourth Realm.
But...
one against five, she was ultimately at a disadvantage.
The five vicious ghosts fed by the Horse-Face man were all Fourth Realm ghost creatures.
The five ghosts joined forces, beating the Heroine Shen Book Spirit back step by step.
In less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense, Shen Qiushui was already in grave danger.
Fang Heng broke out in a cold sweat for Shen Qiushui.
The reason he had not acted was not that he did not want to, but that the timing was wrong.
He was waiting for Fire Barbarian to finish setting everything up.
To catch the Horse-Face man and five Fourth Realm vicious ghosts in one net would be no easy matter.
Even though he was proficient in lightning arts and naturally restrained wandering souls and ghosts,
it would not be easy to kill enemies two realms above him.
The Heavenly Thunder Token was already clenched in his right hand.
Faintly, he could hear the rumble of thunder.
If Fire Barbarian could not finish in time, he could only act helplessly.
Even if Horse-Face escaped, he could not allow anything to happen to Shen Qiushui.
Just then,
Fire Barbarian's voice sounded in his mind.
"Master, the Lightning-Attracting Banners have been set up."
Hearing this, Fang Heng finally relaxed. Raising an eyebrow, he said indifferently,
"Now it's my turn to make an entrance."
On Yellow Springs Road,
there was a booming blast!
The Heroine Shen Book Spirit's chest was pierced through by a ghostly hand.
She turned into countless specks of spiritual light and scattered through the air.
With the Book Spirit destroyed, Shen Qiushui suffered backlash as well.
Her pretty face went deathly pale, and scarlet blood trickled from the corner of her lips.
Her legs weakened, and she could only hold herself up through sheer force of will.
As the five ghosts came rushing toward her, stirring up gusts of foul wind,
despair overflowed from Shen Qiushui's clear eyes, like a trickling stream flowing out without end.
"Father, Mother, Eldest Brother, Second Brother..."
"And... Your Highness..."
Facing death, Shen Qiushui gave a bitter smile as figure after figure surfaced in her mind.
Just as she fell into despair,
rumble, rumble!
Thunder exploded.
It was deafening.
As though mountains were collapsing and the earth was splitting apart.
As though Heaven and Earth were overturning.
The instant the terrifying lightning appeared,
the wandering souls and ghosts on Yellow Springs Road seemed to have witnessed the most horrifying sight in the world.
They scattered in every direction, wishing they could grow wings.
Five Thunder Dragons revealed their true forms high in the vault of heaven.
They looked capable of destroying Heaven and Earth.
As if lightning arts would descend the very next moment.
Shen Qiushui raised her head and looked into the distance.
Above the five Thunder Dragons, she saw a figure she knew better than anyone.
Her great hero had arrived, treading upon thunder.
Thick mist welled up in her clear eyes, blurring everything before her.
Before you continue