A Transmigrator's Forbidden Art Was Hidden Inside the Red-Haired Monster

But thanks to that little beggar, Li Shiyi had a decent excuse to bring her back to Luoyang in disgrace.

The young man's bold venture ended at an old temple outside Luoyang City. His only spoils were a travel-worn little girl he brought back with him.

But Li Shiyi never gave up on his dream of traveling far and wide.

Every summer, the young master of the Li family would find some way to sneak out of Luoyang and embark on his annual "grand escape."

And every time, he would bring a little girl with him, escaping together.

Li Shiyi thought that little beggar was a senior worthy of his respect. The two of them would sling bulging packs over their backs and leave Luoyang full of high hopes, with all the passion and sense of duty of men who would never turn back until they hit a wall.

But usually, it took no more than five days for two dejected, dusty little figures to appear at the gates of Luoyang City.

The people of Luoyang City had grown used to it, and would laugh endlessly at the listless boy trudging along the street. The little girl didn't mind at all. She obediently followed behind Li Shiyi and never complained.

But in the days that followed, Li Shiyi, the boy who kept eloping with the Ye Clan Young Miss, had to be especially careful. Otherwise, whenever he ran into that Old Scholar who doted on his daughter, the man would chase him for more than a dozen streets, club in hand.

The Old Scholar ground his teeth in fury, but around this time every year, he would also feel a little perplexed. He clearly kept a close watch, and the high walls of the Ye Residence and its servants guarded the place meticulously.

How did that boy from the Li family manage to elope with his daughter every single time?

But the Old Scholar didn't know that Li Shiyi had never once gone to the Ye Residence to abduct the little girl.

He would simply send word and wait on the Big Stone outside Luoyang City. The little girl would slip out of the heavily guarded courtyard by herself and escape with him.

It was just that Li Shiyi had been a little slow-witted back then. It had never once occurred to him that the little girl who had traveled a thousand miles to Luoyang to find her family didn't seem to have any reason to run away from home with him.

Later, a long time seemed to pass.

That spring rain took a young man away, and the stories in Luoyang City changed, too.

The little beggar's instincts were always sharp. She sensed that "Li Shiyi" was strange and unfamiliar.

So she began to fear him, avoid him, and do everything she could to hide from him.

It was as though an invisible hand were controlling everything in Luoyang City.

The romance story began to fall apart. Like some clichéd tale, the little beggar was accused of being a spoiled young miss who had broken her engagement.

Arrogant and condescending.

And the man of royal birth became the frustrated young man who was humiliated in that clichéd story.

In the end, the young man transformed into a dazzling genius.

The Ye Residence became a villainous household, cursed by everyone, and began to decline.

The poor Old Scholar resigned from every official post, shut his gates, and never again stepped out of that desolate courtyard.

The story seemed to be waiting for some little beggar to regret everything and come begging to the protagonist named "Li Shiyi."

But she wouldn't.

Like A-Xu, sometimes she stubbornly set out on a journey with no visible end, travel-worn but never stopping. Yet she could also take a young man's hand without hesitation and obediently follow behind him, never asking where the road led.

The young man was dead. He would never come back.

One day, the little beggar realized this. Once again, she shouldered her pack and left Luoyang with the Old Scholar, no one knew where.

The Old Residence, once bustling with life and on guard against anyone abducting the young miss, gradually fell into ruin.

There would never again be a little girl in Luoyang City climbing over her own courtyard wall, sliding down a tall willow tree, then running joyfully toward the distance with a pack on her back.

Nor would there ever again be a lazy young man lying on the Big Stone outside Luoyang City, basking in the sun and waiting for her to run away from home with him.

--

The story ended there, and the letter had reached its last page.

Beneath the candlelight, the Green-Robed Youth lowered his eyes and said nothing more.

Suddenly, he understood many things.

The little beggar knew she was about to die, so she wanted to return to Luoyang alone and stop by the Abandoned Temple where she had met Li Shiyi, to take another look.

But on that rainy night, the little beggar met a Green-Robed Youth in the Abandoned Temple who resembled the person in her memories.

At first, she froze for a long while, then laughed at herself.

That young man really did look a lot like Li Shiyi. He talked nonsense constantly, yet was unusually sincere.

The little beggar thought that walking the last stretch of the road alone felt a little lonely, and it wasn't quite like the feeling she remembered.

So she set off for Luoyang City with that muddleheaded young man, and told him a story from long ago.

The journey wasn't as long as she had imagined. Now and then, the summer breeze swept through the treetops, and the old cicadas in the canopy barely called out.

Two wavering figures walked along the muddy road, just as they had long ago.

That last stretch of road had been peaceful and good. It brought back so many memories of the past.

Only, she also knew that the young man beside her truly wasn't the person in her memories anymore.

Gu Baishui was silent for a long while. He put the letter back in its box, then carefully locked it.

This was their story. Too many unrelated outsiders shouldn't know about it.

The rain outside the window grew heavier, and its patter against the eaves drowned out everything in the courtyard.

But the young man in the room didn't notice that a furry shadow was slowly appearing on the window behind him.

A furry paw silently tore through the window paper and landed on the wooden chair.

There lay a very clean Bronze Dagger, the last thing the master of this residence had left to Gu Baishui.

Gu Baishui still reacted in time. He raised the box in his hands and hurled it hard at the monster by the window.

But the monster didn't so much as flinch. Even when the box's sharp corner pierced its face, it still clung tightly to the dagger.

Bright red blood ran down from its forehead and trickled into its mouth.

The monster looked at the Green-Robed Youth in the room, then suddenly grinned at him without a sound.

Gu Baishui's expression turned grave, his gaze locked firmly on the monster's face.

Matted red hair. A savage glare.

It wasn't the old monster that had escaped from the Great Emperor's Forbidden Zone, but another monster that had followed behind Lu Ziyou.

Mingque.

"It seems the demons and monsters in this Old Courtyard still don't know enough about us Transmigrators."

The red-haired monster's face was veiled by its hair. It suddenly gave a feral grin and spoke, its voice strangely familiar to Gu Baishui.

"If you killed my Original Body, why didn't you kill Mingque as well?"

"They know that every Transmigrator has a Red-Haired Monster, but they don't know that a Red-Haired Monster's heart gives birth to an Innate Natal Forbidden Art. My soul is parasitic inside Mingque's body. As long as Mingque and I don't perish at the same time, we can take each other's place and live forever."

A flicker of surprise crossed Gu Baishui's eyes. He truly hadn't expected there to be such a strange and terrifying forbidden art in the world.

Even in the tombs of the Great Emperor's Forbidden Zone, he had never heard of anything similar.

According to the monster before him, as long as there was no way to kill Lu Ziyou and his Red-Haired Monster at the same time, they could never be killed for good.

But the next moment, Gu Baishui sensed something was wrong.

He stared at the Red-Haired Monster by the window and saw that its body was covered in vicious wounds and terrifying bloodstains. It looked as if some savage beast had mauled it, and it had only barely escaped by fighting with all its strength.

"Why are you telling me your secret?"

The Red-Haired Monster's body stiffened slightly. It gripped the Bronze Dagger in its hand and said nothing.

But that was enough for Gu Baishui to raise an eyebrow and guess at some of the secrets it hadn't revealed.

"Maybe everything you said is true, but after you revived inside Mingque's body, did you find that you... couldn't find its soul?"

The Red-Haired Monster shuddered violently, its gaze fixed on the young man in the room, dark and icy.

"Your Mingque died at the hands of another old monster. Its soul was shattered. So all you've taken over is the corpse of a monster."

Gu Baishui narrowed his eyes. His peripheral vision swept over the Bronze Dagger clutched tightly in the monster's hand, and he continued.

"Mingque is dead, so now you really have only one life. That's why you laid your secret bare, hoping to scare me into not attacking you."

"But even so, you still dared to come back to the Mansion and steal this dagger. I don't know whether I should praise your courage or say you're asking for death..."

The Red-Haired Monster lowered its head. After a long silence, it suddenly bared its teeth in a chilling grin.

"You're clever, but it doesn't really matter."

"Luoyang City isn't ours to call the shots in anymore."

Almost at the same moment, the tightly shut gate of the Old Courtyard swung open from the outside.

Two people walked in. One was middle-aged, and the other was the Old Beggar.

Behind them, many more unseen figures lurked in the shadows, silently watching the Old Courtyard.

The Old Saints of Luoyang City had all descended outside the Old Ye Residence.

They had formed a circle. No one could escape.

"I want to make a deal with you, as one Transmigrator to another..."

The Red-Haired Monster suddenly raised its head, its expression cold as it said this to the Green-Robed Youth.