Qianyu: A Novel
Qianyu Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Four Ghosts (1)

In the shallow water of the basin, a whirlpool formed, and above it, there was nothing, yet a gray shadow was reflected on the wall. The shadow grew from small to large, as if a curled-up person was slowly stretching, standing upright, and transforming into the figure of a woman in wide sleeves and a flowing robe.

Li Xuexiang dared not look at the shadow: “I apologize for disturbing you and for any offense. It was truly unexpected that my Gu mother died, leaving me with no way out. I humbly request… another Gu mother from you.”

The gray shadow slowly beckoned to her, inviting her to come closer.
Li Xuexiang took a step forward and let out a gasp as her fingertip was unexpectedly pierced by something, blood splattering in droplets that fell straight into the basin, producing a crisp sound.
This thing in the basin was called a “Gu Po.” According to folklore, a Gu Po is actually a ghost, one that should not exist in the mortal realm, hence it has no physical form. The technique to summon the Gu Po was something she overheard from a limping Taoist sitting at a tea stall through a window.

It was originally an intriguing tale, but in her eagerness to keep her guests, she decided to give it a try. To her surprise, she successfully summoned a Gu Po, and the rouge Gu it gifted her worked wonders.
The water in the basin turned a coral red, the ripples coalescing into a red pill with a few dark specks inside. Li Xuexiang reached out to take it.

The last time, she had consumed a worm egg, which had birthed a Gu mother in her body after seven days. The Gu mother commanded the worms, and her benefactors became utterly submissive before her; even a few days without seeing her made them long for her to the bone, fighting amongst themselves over her.
Originally, she intended to find a suitable man whose family lacked a primary wife, hoping to take the opportunity to sever her ties. However, Guo Yi got married and took a fierce woman like Zhao Mingtang, leaving her no choice but to seek someone else.

Currently, she was under house arrest and, in her fear, resorted to this desperate measure, hoping to summon other benefactors to rescue her.

However, before Li Xuexiang could touch the worm egg, a golden light burst forth from her dressing table, knocking the basin to the ground. Startled, she then heard a hoarse scream piercing her eardrums, followed immediately by a heavy object leaping down, knocking her to the floor.

Before her was only air, yet she felt a cold, ice-like weight pressing down on her chest and limbs, pinning her to the ground. A chilling hand gripped her neck tightly, causing her frail neck to crack ominously: “You dare… to plot against me?”

The voice was sinister.

“I wouldn’t dare!” Li Xuexiang gasped and struggled, managing to squeeze out some words: “A while ago, there indeed was… a Taoist.”
Li Xuexiang’s neck was nearly broken, her eyes bulging, and her ruby lips parted as she let out a low groan, but that terrifying force suddenly loosened.
A flash of fire appeared, followed by another chilling scream in her ear. The entity seemed to flee.

A girl in a red dress burst through the window, pulling Li Xuexiang up. Her hair was disheveled, water droplets splashing onto Li Xuexiang’s face, bringing with it a warm, fragrant scent from the mortal world that left one in a daze.
Xu Qianyu was originally washing her hair at the Guo residence.

Though she had learned the art of cleanliness, she hadn’t used osmanthus and honey to care for her hair in a long time. Today, on a whim, with nothing to do, she gathered the materials and was carefully applying them to her long hair.
As she was washing, Guo Yi stood behind a screen, watching her for a while, insisting on coming to help her.

He had previously sworn not to marry anyone but Zhao Qinghe, but now he had switched to her, sweet-talking and flirting with Li Xuexiang outside while also having a Qing Yan at home. Such a libertine, Xu Qianyu originally despised. However, Guo Yi was someone she had saved with her own hands; he had been on the verge of death in the sedan chair, but now he was lively and well. Every time Xu Qianyu saw him, she felt a sense of satisfaction, like a doctor looking at a recovering patient, which made her more tolerant of him.

After all, she had no one to attend to her, and being somewhat clumsy, her back had become damp. She braced herself on both hands, bent over, and called Guo Yi in to help her scoop some flower petal water to wash her hair. If he dared to get too hands-on, she had her ways of teaching him a lesson.
Guo Yi, on the other hand, was clever and quick and did not overstep his bounds, only chattering a lot. As the water flowed gently, she couldn’t hear him clearly, only managing to respond with vague sounds. Finally, she snapped, “Shut up!”

Little did she know, the sweet fragrance on Xu Qianyu intensified as the hot water soaked her, becoming even more enticing. Xie Yuzhen was genuinely helping her wash her hair, his fingers brushing through her strands. He had to engage her in idle chatter to refrain from glancing at her exposed neck, but she told him to be quiet.
Before Xu Qianyu had finished rinsing her hair, her expression changed when the double-sunflower mirror in her sleeve suddenly shattered into pieces. The other side of the mirror had been placed on Li Xuexiang’s dressing table to sense spiritual energy, but she didn’t expect such a powerful force to shatter the mirror. It seemed that a demon or an evil spirit had come.
She picked up the shattered mirror, now in eight pieces, and saw a rigid white shadow with long, disheveled hair sitting on the struggling Li Xuexiang. That thing seemed to sense her and suddenly turned its head, revealing a hideous face covered in wrinkles, baring its teeth, and glaring at her fiercely. The double-sunflower mirror then shattered into powder.
This magical weapon had only been used once before being destroyed, and Xu Qianyu gritted her teeth in anger. She turned around and slapped a binding talisman on Guo Yi’s forehead, not even bothering to dry her hair as she hurried to the Lingxiang Studio to save the nearly dead Li Xuexiang.

Li Xuexiang screamed beside her, but Xu Qianyu found herself unafraid, raising the crow Pot and spraying it at the witch, causing her to scream in agony.
She couldn’t see the witch, only catching sight of a shadow retreating in a panic against the wall, watching as it came closer and closer. The witch rolled and jumped; a foul wind filled with a bloody scent swept through the room, making the curtains rattle violently.

After several rounds, the sounds weakened, and Li Xuexiang fell silent, crawling over quietly. Xu Qianyu noticed her reaching for the insect eggs that had fallen under the table and stepped in, crushing them into pieces.
Seeing Li Xuexiang let out a desperate scream, Xu Qianyu said, “How can you still trust her? Aren’t you afraid she’ll harm you?”
Li Xuexiang shook her hands. “This witch is born of my blood; she’s harmless.”
Xu Qianyu pondered for a moment upon hearing this: “Could it be that this ghost wants nothing from you? Is there really such a selflessly devoted evil spirit in this world?”

After saying this, she dragged Li Xuexiang by the collar and ordered, “You stay put.”
The fire crows inside the crow Pot understood Xu Qianyu’s intentions, not forming a fire dragon but instead scattering in the air, surrounding the witch and delineating the unseen human figure. The witch, having been burned a few times, melted like wax, shrinking down to the size of a child.
Originally lying on the ground, gasping, she suddenly realized her presence had been exposed and let out a cry as she lunged at Xu Qianyu.

A bloody cold air rushed toward her, and at the sound, Xu Qianyu dodged, drew her spirit sword, and stabbed without knowing where she had hit, feeling as if she had deeply pierced its body, causing something to fall out.
Li Xuexiang was stunned, incredulously biting her finger. The thing that fell was also an insect, the size of a scorpion, blackened and red, with its shadow appearing translucent red.
It lay on its back, nearly a hundred legs struggling helplessly; it had absorbed so much blood that its body was too heavy to flip over.
Though the witch inside Li Xuexiang was large, it was small compared to this creature.
Xu Qianyu poked it with her spirit sword, took a closer look, and concluded, “The witch you desire is nothing more than its insect. You manipulated others, yet you’ll end up being manipulated by this evil spirit.”

After saying this, without waiting for Li Xuexiang’s reaction, she lifted the pot’s lid and set this large witch on fire.
Not knowing if this was the witch’s true form, it writhed slightly when burned and disappeared into the flames, but the witch let out a heart-wrenching scream that was chilling to the bone.
As the blood of countless people was scattered in one night, the flames rose five feet high, nearly turning blue. Spiritual energy immediately dissipated in the dim room, and Xu Qianyu’s spirit sword and crow Pot, which had been somewhat dim, slowly regained their glow.
Xu Qianyu glanced at the magical weapons in her hand and felt that despite the loss of the double-sunflower mirror, it wasn’t a total loss, and she had gained an unexpected reward.
By killing this witch, she was close to four hundred points.
As the witch insects turned to ashes, the invisible witch let out a hiss and floated to the ground, transforming into a paper cut figure dressed in wide sleeves and a long robe.

“Eh?”

Originally, this paper figure hadn’t caught Xu Qianyu’s attention, but it had holes in it, as if being pulled by threads like a shadow puppet. The moment the paper figure moved, Xu Qianyu noticed it and, upon turning around, saw it being rapidly pulled back out the window, where there seemed to be a fleeting shadow.
Xu Qianyu knew it was too late to chase after that person and saw the paper figure darting quickly. She immediately drew her spirit sword and severed the thread, preventing it from being reeled back.
The thread was as thin as silkworm silk, nearly invisible. However, this cut was as loud as severing a string on a zither, and an indescribable chill flowed down the sword and froze her for an instant. The paper figure then fluttered to the ground, and that sensation disappeared.
The paper figure lay on the ground like a child’s scribbled doll, oddly pale. Xu Qianyu glanced at it twice and then burned the paper figure in a flash.

Strangely, just burning this paper figure earned her another hundred points.
Despite the flames before her, Li Xuexiang curled up her arms and shivered, saying, “So cold, so cold.”
A strand of her once-cloudlike hair turned white, and wrinkles appeared on her face; this was the price she had paid for offering her blood to the witch.

Xu Qianyu tightened her grip on the spirit sword, scanning her surroundings. The chill indeed lingered, but unlike the previous stillness, the gauze curtains on the bed and papers on the table fluttered on their own as if something was moving back and forth in the air.
Suddenly, Li Xuexiang pointed ahead, screaming, “Madam, there’s a ghost, there’s a ghost!”

Xu Qianyu was startled. Following her gaze, she saw a shadow on the wall—a figure in a wide-sleeved long robe drifting down from the air, landing behind her. Xu Qianyu turned abruptly, but there was no one behind her.
She felt a chill at her neck and a heaviness in her limbs. This sensation was fleeting, and when she turned back, the wall only displayed her own shadow. Today, her hair was not styled; she didn’t have her usual coil, making her appear weak and unfamiliar.

Suddenly, she felt a bit dazed, unable to remember why she was there. After a while, her senses returned.
A voice like a startled bird came through the system: “I hear someone laughing… and I feel so cold around me.”

“Xiao Qian, can you hear me?”
“Xiao Qian, Xiao Qian?”
Xu Qianyu replied, “I can hear you.”

It seemed she would be dazed for a while before regaining her usual self.
Although it felt somewhat eerie, she couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong, which made her feel a bit irritated.
At that moment, another person broke in through the window.
The newcomer was the sullen Guo Yi, but under the moonlight, he had an unusually cold and fierce demeanor. Li Xuexiang stood there in a daze, saying, “Guo Lang?” Before she could finish, Xie Yuzhen grasped her neck. Xu Qianyu struggled to push him away, causing him to crash into the window: “What are you doing?”
Xie Yuzhen looked at her with restrained emotions.

From a distance, he could smell a trace of blood mixed with the sweet fragrance that Xu Qianyu exuded.
They had been washing their hair indoors when, if it weren’t for this person, the young lady wouldn’t have run out with her hair down, letting something unwelcome cling to her.
Thus, seeing Li Xuexiang’s intense disgust made him want to kill.

“Mingtang, it’s late. I’m here to take you back,” Xie Yuzhen grabbed Xu Qianyu’s hand.
Xu Qianyu didn’t refuse; she lowered her eyelashes and fell back into confusion, momentarily forgetting where she was. She asked Guo Yi to lead her downstairs. In her dazed state, she felt as if she were back in her past life, being led by Xie Yuzhen to worship the heavens and the earth.
When they reached the entrance of Lianxiangfang, Guo Yi raised her hand slightly: “Be careful of the threshold.”
Just like the day when Xie Yuzhen raised her hand slightly: “Be careful of the threshold.”
Then he absentmindedly stroked her hand and said, “Your hand is so cold. Are you very nervous?”

At this moment, Xie Yuzhen had no idea what Xu Qianyu was thinking. He held her hand and, using his inner strength, tried to shake whatever was inside her, but it stubbornly remained, making him anxious.
Under the soul-locking chain, the demon king’s power was also restricted. If he recklessly used his power, he would expose himself, so he hesitated.
Before getting in the car, Xie Yuzhen stopped: “Mingtang, put on your cloak properly.”

To his surprise, the young lady complied, even allowing him to wrap the cloak around her without pushing him away, making his heart race. He lightly grabbed the nape of Xu Qianyu’s neck with his fingers but still couldn’t pull that thing out.
Forget it. Xie Yuzhen looked around; the street was bustling with traffic, and the lights sparkled like stars. With so many people around, it was better to take Xu Qianyu back first.
Just as he was about to pull her along, he remembered how his fingertips had brushed against her still-damp hair earlier, and his heart stirred. He turned back and gently helped her put on the hood of her cloak.

The hood was large, covering half of Zhao Mingtang’s face, leaving only her pointed chin exposed.
Xie Yuzhen paused, his pupils contracting suddenly as a particular image flashed through his mind.
He conjured a bright red bridal veil that fell down, obscuring the girl’s face that was pretending to be calm.
“It’s fine.” He took her icy hand and turned around with a smile. “I’m very satisfied with this bride.”


On the treetops stood a pale girl, about seven or eight years old, in a scarlet ruffled skirt, adorned with bronze bells on her wrists. Dark mist swirled around her, forming ribbons in the air. Three paper figures were suspended by silk threads at her waist. The three paper figures, as if manipulated by someone, swayed back and forth, appearing to whisper to each other.
A tall, hunchbacked man said, “Did she set the Gu Mother free?”
A slender woman replied, “So envious! Why not burn me instead? And it’s just a soul without a complete body, just right for the Gu Mother to find a good vessel.”

The paper figures were hastily drawn, flat and pale, their eyes unmoving, yet they made sounds, which was quite eerie.
“She’s a cultivator.”
“How could a cultivator have a shadow body?”
The girl’s eyes had no whites; they were pure black, like lead, devoid of ripples. Upon closer inspection, one could see small black mist swirling inside.
She slowly turned her head to look at Xie Yuzhen, who was helping Xu Qianyu get into the car, and through Guo Yi’s disguise, she saw the boy’s true form. Her short, thick fingers suddenly pressed on the paper figures at her waist, and the paper figures stopped making sounds, falling silent.

“He will be the one to pacify the demon domain in a hundred or two hundred years.” She trembled as she plucked the three paper figures off and tossed them; they landed and became three shadows, bending and disappearing into the vast night.
“Kill him.”

*
“Young Master.” A servant hurried over, whispering to Shen Suwei, “The Second Young Master and the madam have returned.”
Shen Suwei was organizing the Gu family’s accounts. The Gu family’s hospitality had no way to repay; aside from exterminating demons, this would suffice as gratitude.
He closed the account book and acknowledged the servant.

Ever since this servant had been frightened into submission by his sword, he had completely switched sides, reporting every detail of Guo Yi and Zhao Mingtang’s movements.
Shen Suwei wasn’t interested in Guo Yi, but Xu Qianyu’s actions hearing about them wouldn’t hurt, so he didn’t stop him. Now hearing that Xu Qianyu returned late at night, he knew she had gone out for “snacks” again, but he didn’t know why she was with Guo Yi. Did she want him to act as cover?
“Did they go out together?”

“The madam went out by herself,” the servant said, “but it was the Second Young Master who took her and brought her back.”
Shen Suwei paused, his finger resting on the account book.
He took her hand.
Xu Qianyu would allow Guo Yi to hold her hand?
He turned his head: “Brother and sister are unwell?”
“I can’t tell,” the servant replied. “She’s wearing a cloak with a hood, covering most of her face.”

Shen Suwei said, “Did they go back?”
“They went back.”
Shen Suwei thought for a moment, then resolutely stood up with his sword: “If anyone asks, don’t say that I went out.”

Leave A Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

@

error: Content is protected !!