Chapter 98

“Shit—”

“Don’t shout randomly!!” Ye Qiao’s expression was slightly distorted, especially when she saw a child clinging to her arm, causing her goosebumps to drop all over.

Where did this child come from?

“Mommy.” The child, looking aggrieved, clung to Ye Qiao’s arm, “Don’t you want little Qi anymore?”

Ye Qiao was a bit confused.

She couldn’t figure out what was happening, only feeling that the place she was standing had changed, as if something was extending beneath her feet, forcibly pulling her into a pitch-black space. What made Ye Qiao feel even worse was that she had no recollection of when this child appeared.

Not knowing what to make of the situation, Ye Qiao could only speak dismissively, “Fine, fine.”

The boy was about five or six years old, with a pale complexion, and he looked quite frightening up close.

His eyes suddenly brightened: “Then can you give me something to eat? I’m so hungry, Mommy.”

Ye Qiao thought, this kid has quite the appetite; while others are eating, you want to eat your own mother.

“Then I declare, you are now an orphan.” Ye Qiao realized that this ghostly child did not come with good intentions, and after blurting out this sentence, she turned and ran, saying, “Goodbye.”

This place was extremely strange, pitch black. The fire talisman Ye Qiao ignited was of no use, and the entire space was dead silent, like a beast waiting to devour people.

“Mommy.”

“What’s your mommy’s name?” Ye Qiao asked while running, “I’ll go tell her right now that her son is missing.”

The ghost child relentlessly pursued her, with countless hands reaching out from all around, seemingly trying to drag her down.

“Ahhh, I thought of you as my child, and now you want to eat me.” Ye Qiao quickly dodged, shouting while running, “My heart hurts so much; I feel like I’ll never love again.”

As she shouted, her actions were swift and decisive, and she turned around to swiftly and precisely strike the little ghost with a sword.

Evil spirits are formed from lingering resentment, and such things are very difficult to deal with. Even after striking them with a sword, they will regroup again.

Chased and almost throwing up, Ye Qiao remembered Elder Zhao mentioning during the lessons that within a domain, the opponent is the one who sets the rules. And this ghost child, who was chasing her and calling her mommy, was precisely the one setting the rules.

It proved that listening to more classes was useful—

Ye Qiao promised herself that she would never slack off again when she returned to the sect.

She stopped abruptly, turned around sharply, and displayed her signature smile: “Little Qi, Mommy is here.”

Indeed, the child stopped.

What does a five or six-year-old child represent? It means they are easy to deceive.

Even if he was a ghost.

“Little Qi, Mommy was just joking. I know you’re hungry. How about this? Let’s play a game first, okay? After playing, we can eat,” Ye Qiao offered with her signature smile. “It’s not too late to eat after we finish playing.”

“Okay.” The ghost child thought for a moment and agreed. In his understanding, other children have their mothers with them growing up and playing games, so he happily accepted Ye Qiao’s suggestion.

“Let’s play hide and seek.”

Ye Qiao briefly explained the rules of the game to the ghost child and specifically reminded him: “You must close your eyes and not sense where Mommy is. Little Qi doesn’t want to be a rule-breaking bad child, right?”

He was indeed deceived and closed his eyes seriously.

At the moment the ghost child closed his senses, Ye Qiao did not hesitate to strike at a point in the domain with her sword, infusing it with spiritual power. Instantly, a slight fluctuation was created in the external space. Zhou Xingyun noticed the disturbance, and his expression changed slightly as he and Mu Chongxi simultaneously struck at the place where Ye Qiao had slashed.

Under the collision of the powerful sword qi, a small hole was torn in the domain. Ye Qiao seized the opportunity and ran away without looking back.

She feared that if she stayed any longer, she would become a mother without pain and, by the way, the ghost child’s dinner.

“Did you see that ghost cultivator?” Song Hansheng, seeing Ye Qiao disappear from under his eyes, furrowed his brows. But given the ghost cultivator’s caution, such a mistake should not have occurred.

“I didn’t see the ghost cultivator,” Ye Qiao said, still shaken. “But I did see her son. He was quite frightening.”

“Was the place you were pulled into a domain?”

Ye Qiao: “It must have been a domain. Only those above the Nascent Soul stage can comprehend a domain. Being pulled into a domain is like being a lamb to the slaughter.”

Song Hansheng’s expression was complicated. It was the first time he had seen someone survive after being dragged into a domain.

“So what exactly was that thing?” Mu Chongxi asked, having only caught a vague shadow when Ye Qiao emerged.

Ye Qiao: “It was a child, but it looked like a legendary little ghost. As soon as I went in, it grabbed me and called me mommy, scaring me half to death.”

“That’s troublesome,” Zhou Xingyun said with no expression. “A ghost child with its own domain; its master must be at least at the Nascent Soul stage.”

Song Hansheng frowned, “Why would it target you? Do you seem like the kind of person with maternal instincts?”

Ye Qiao, with her lack of virtue, was indeed quite incredible that a ghost child would want to find her.

Ye Qiao leisurely looked at him and said, “Instead of wasting your time here, why not investigate if there’s a child named Xiao Qi and follow the trail to see if you can find the mastermind behind it?”

The Song family had been dragging their feet for so long without any clues, mostly because anyone pulled into a domain ended up dead.

The only person who survived was the one who might provide a clue.

Ming Xuan, who had been scared out of his wits, perked up at the mention of this topic.

He looked up and said earnestly to Song Hansheng, “So, in your family, surviving is quite difficult too. I used to think that our Ming family members were all fools, but now I see that we’re actually quite decent people.”

Song Hansheng replied, “Who is the one who always gets scolded in the family letters for failing to break through to the Golden Core stage?”

The Song family was a mess, and the Ming family wasn’t any better.

The two direct lines of the talismanic cultivation families began their usual mutual bickering.

“Stop the noise, stop the noise.” Xue Yu came out to mediate.

He looked at Song Hansheng with a gentle tone and skillfully began to play the moral high ground, “Song Hansheng, we’re all friends, right?”

“Friends should help each other, don’t you think? So, for the next few days while we stay at the Song residence, you’ll be in charge of our arrangements.”

Ye Qiao added, “Remember to include plenty of meat.”

Mu Chongxi said, “I want roast chicken.”

Zhou Xingyun politely added, “Less salt, please. Thank you.”

Song Hansheng’s eyes widened, and he let out a huff of anger, “Hah.”

They’re ordering food now?

These people couldn’t be driven away, but Song Hansheng was worried that with the Longming Sect’s ability to cause trouble, they might end up blowing up his house.

He ultimately gritted his teeth and chose to submit to the evil forces, angrily going to find someone to arrange their accommodation.

“By the way.” After arranging their stay, Song Hansheng suddenly thought of something and called the housekeeper back, saying fiercely, “Ignore any requests they make. For the next few days, just give them pickles and steamed buns.”

He hoped that these people would starve to death.

“……” The housekeeper nodded, “Understood.”

*

The only known clue was the ghost child named Xiao Qi. It sounded simple to start with this child, but putting it into practice was a long shot. Ye Qiao asked Song Hansheng for a list of the Song family’s guards and servants.

Song Hansheng wanted to resolve this troublesome matter as soon as possible. He had some trust in Ye Qiao since he had witnessed much during the competition. Thus, he provided her with the list without hesitation.

Ye Qiao then took advantage of the situation and unceremoniously asked him for several sets of guard uniforms.

Song Hansheng found her request to change clothes very familiar. He couldn’t help but ask with a twitch of his mouth, “What are you up to this time?”

“Helping you catch the mastermind behind this,” Ye Qiao said, meeting Song Hansheng’s indifferent gaze. She shook the jade slip in her hand, “If you’re really worried, you can wear this. We can contact each other through the jade slip, and you can just listen for the commotion.”

In the past few days, many cultivators had arrived at the Song residence, claiming to come for missions or to help with charity and eliminate evil.

With so many people, things were bound to get chaotic, and chaos made it easier to extract information.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” Ye Qiao first donned her usual attire and, facing the guards’ queries, answered candidly, “I’m a cultivator here for a mission.”

“Can you tell us more about this mission?” She asked in a low voice, somewhat shyly, “To be honest, I’m a bit afraid of ghosts.”

The guard stared at her for a few seconds and sighed, “Alright. I don’t know much about the Song family’s situation. I’ve heard that the little ghost only targets female cultivators, and after an incident, there were no remains.”

“Is there no way to deal with it?”

The guard pondered for a moment, “I’ve heard that the stronger the spiritual fire used against the ghost, the less likely it is to approach.”

Ye Qiao immediately understood why the little ghost targeted her first. It was not just because she was a woman but also because several of her senior brothers had top-grade fire spiritual roots and one was at the half-step Nascent Soul stage.

Even though she didn’t have fire, she did have KFC.

After gathering the information, Ye Qiao calmly turned and walked away.

Song Hansheng was speechless, “Are you all crazy? Didn’t you listen to what the elders taught in class?”

He thought these were basic common knowledge that Longming Sect should know.

Ye Qiao: “Sorry, I was too busy hurting Ming Xuan and sweeping the floor to pay attention in class.”

She had not absorbed any of the lessons.

After changing into a guard’s uniform, Ye Qiao stood at the door with great confidence. At noon, many cultivators arrived at the Song residence, each claiming to be here for missions. Ye Qiao was skeptical.

Previously, even though tasks had been posted for a year, no cultivators had come. How come so many arrived at the Song family all of a sudden?

Ye Qiao stood at the door in her new outfit for a full half-hour and finally spotted several high-level cultivators passing by. She raised her voice suddenly, “Hey, hey, hey, what are you all doing?”

Her uniform was very noticeable. When the cultivators saw she was a Song family guard, they exchanged glances and became friendlier, chatting, “We’re external cultivators.”

Knowing that Song family guards were usually hard to get information from, the cultivators, seizing the opportunity, leaned closer to Ye Qiao in a lowered voice, “We want to ask you something, friend.”

Ye Qiao: “Ask away.”

Seeing how easily she was deceived, their eyes brightened: “Have you heard of Ye Qiao?”

“……” Oh no.

Ye Qiao maintained a composed expression and calmly looked at her guard uniform, “No.”

“Is she very famous?”

“Quite famous. Recently, there’s been a lot of discussion in the cultivation world about her. She’s a new genius of the Longming Sect who, with just Foundation Establishment cultivation, has been outsmarting Golden Core experts in three major competitions. You don’t know her?”

Ye Qiao, being flattered by their praise, remained unfazed, “I haven’t heard of her.”

The man seemed disappointed upon hearing this, “In that case, we’re staying in the courtyard here. If you hear any news about Ye Qiao, please let us know.”

Ye Qiao smiled slightly, “Alright, no problem.”

She briefly estimated the number of enemies and allies, clicked her tongue lightly, and vaguely guessed that these cultivators were all coming for her.

To be precise, they were coming for the bounty.

Moreover, the price on her head was not low; it must have cost a fortune to attract so many cultivators eager to catch her.

Seeing Ye Qiao switch identities twice within a few minutes, Song Hansheng felt a bit suffocated.

She told the guards she was a cultivator and told the cultivators she was a guard. Ye Qiao didn’t utter a single truth, did she?

…

Back at their place, several senior brothers were lying around like corpses. They barely perked up when they saw Ye Qiao return.

“About the Song family,” Ming Xuan said seriously as he sat up from his chair, “I have summarized two points.”

“First, why don’t they give us any meat to eat?”

“Second, it’s definitely that bastard Song Hansheng targeting us.”

Xue Yu said, “This is too much. How can they treat us like this?”

“Yeah,” Mu Chongxi exaggeratedly agreed, “We are personal disciples!”

These guys were really getting into it, one more than the other.

Ye Qiao sat down and got back to the main topic, “I went out to gather some information just now. Basically, I can confirm that the reason that ghost cultivator could fool so many of us so discreetly is all because of her trained little ghost.”

A little ghost with its own domain is essentially a perfect assassination weapon.

You know, domains are rare. Only when you reach the Nascent Soul stage can you have a domain, and whether you can comprehend your own domain depends entirely on personal talent. In terms of rarity, that ghost baby is practically a treasure.

“If that child hadn’t died, they would be a rare genius today,” Ming Xuan said regretfully.

Ye Qiao said, “Let me ask you all, who paid attention in class? What’s the relationship between the ghost baby and that ghost cultivator?”

After a few seconds of silence, Xue Yu spoke up, “It’s a relationship of control and being controlled. The stronger one takes the dominant position, meaning between the two, the ghost baby is the master.”

After he finished, Ye Qiao couldn’t help but touch her arm, goosebumps rising.

“Let me ask, then…” Ye Qiao thought for a moment, “What if I seriously offended it?”

Ming Xuan was stunned, “What did you do?”

He was also puzzled as to how Ye Qiao got out of the domain.

Generally speaking, the ghost baby randomly selects people to pull into its domain, and such unintelligent malevolent beings usually don’t hold grudges, right?

Ye Qiao looked at her senior brothers’ confused faces, pondered for a moment, and then honestly recounted her experience of being pulled into the domain, “I gave it two sword strikes, and then it chased me, saying it wanted to eat me.”

She shrugged innocently, “Then I started tricking it, saying we were playing a game of hide and seek. While it had its eyes closed, I broke its domain and ran away right in front of it.”

The four of them were speechless: “…”

Ming Xuan said, “When I have money in the future, I’ll definitely buy you the best burial plot.”