Chapter 75: Four Ghost (Part 4)

As Shen Suwei passed by the hedge in the courtyard, he sensed that Xu Qianyu’s aura beside him had shifted from warm to cold.
He turned his head suddenly and caught her by the waist.
“Zhao Mingtang” turned her face and said cheerfully with a smile, “Brother, what’s wrong?”
As she spoke, a purple forked tongue resembling a snake was unexpectedly revealed in her mouth.

Shen Suwei’s expression turned serious as he thrust his sword towards her heart. The female specter instantly transformed into smoke, darting a few feet away. A chilling wind circled around his face several times, accompanied by laughter that ebbed and flowed, before it adopted a softer, more alluring tone and said, “A ruthless Taoist cultivator is just so dull. I called you brother; is there really a need to get so angry?”

After a moment of contemplation, Shen Suwei thought that Xu Qianyu’s constant calling of “brother” was indulgent and bright, devoid of personal emotions. Although it was awkward, after hearing it for a long time, it also had a certain charm.
If it had been someone else, they would have recognized the ambiguous and murky feelings, and it would have been utterly inappropriate, drawing annoyance.

He released a burning talisman from his hand, which carried strength as it glided past a row of swaying lanterns hanging under the eaves, igniting each one that had been dim.

As the last light flickered, the final corner of the talisman paper curled, just as it was reduced to ashes and fell to the ground.
The female ghost circled in the courtyard twice. Seeing that he was offering talismans but not coming to kill the ghost, she laughed softly, “Hehe.”

A cold wind swept through the corridor, and she intentionally extinguished all the lit lanterns with a “puff, puff.”
The clouds above gathered and dispersed, shifting between dark and light. Shen Suwei’s face showed no vitality, and he seemed to have a faint smile that was extremely cold.
The wooden sword was summoned, and the female ghost let out a sharp laugh and fled. The sword pierced through the trees, causing large chunks of untrimmed branches and leaves to fall to the ground.

The sword returned to Shen Suwei’s hand, entwined with several strands of thread, and a paper figure hung from the sword.
Shen Suwei removed it, and as soon as the paper figure moved, it suddenly rubbed against his fingers. The paper figure had a pair of alluring, curved eyes with a strange smile: “Are you angry? If you’re angry, just kill me; it’d be best to burn me!”
But he simply tossed the paper figure away, and in an instant, his figure vanished.
The paper figure lay flat on the ground, watching as he flew into the sky, and it lamented, “Oh no, it turns out he was coming for the master.”

The clouds in the sky swirled into a vortex, revealing a point of light in the center. Shen Suwei, fully in sync with his spirit, followed the thread to chase after it, leaping onto the clouds before the vortex closed, his robe billowing.
As soon as he stepped out, he felt that the spiritual energy in the Guo family’s courtyard had diminished greatly, and he saw that the ghost had stealthily switched the people around him. He suspected there was a formation at play.

Before him, the spiritual energy was abundant, transforming into countless fireflies that floated upwards; indeed, it was a five-colored gathering spirit formation.
On the darkened five-colored clouds, he saw a girl sitting cross-legged at the heart of the formation, pulling threads.
“You fool!” The girl, with lead-gray eyes, looked down at the clouds, her fists tightly clenched and her chest rising and falling.
She was scolding that female ghost.

There was a formation here, and its hexagram had been meticulously arranged by her. Shen Suwei lighting the lantern was precisely to break the formation. The female ghost extinguishing the lights only aided him, throwing the entire formation into chaos.
She had originally hoped that the ghost would hold the cultivator back for a moment; if it didn’t work, so be it, but instead, it allowed him to chase after her to the upper level!
The gathering spirit formation resembled a spindle, narrow at the top and bottom, wide in the middle. The spiritual energy from below would be absorbed and continuously fed to the upper level.
Shen Suwei thought to himself, If this is the upper level and the Guo family is the middle level, then where is the lower level?
Xu Qianyu was neither in the middle level nor in the upper level; surely he wouldn’t be sent to the lower level.

That place was devoid of spiritual energy; over time, it would be difficult to sustain, so he needed to resolve things quickly.
Shen Suwei pointed his sword at the girl and said, “I haven’t interfered with your quest for revenge; why did you harm my Penglai disciple?”
The girl raised her face. Her hair was intricately styled, her face pale, and the swirling black mist formed ribbons, resembling a pair of massive butterfly wings on her back. If not for her eyes, which had no whites and were somewhat eerie, her face would be considered cute.
“I’m not targeting the Penglai disciple; she’s just foolish and fell into the trap herself.” The girl said maliciously, “I’m targeting you.”
After saying this, the black mist coiling around her suddenly slithered like a giant python, transforming into a dart-like sword that charged toward him.
Shen Suwei remained motionless. The wooden sword split into three, joining at the ends to form a radiant shield that illuminated the hair at his temples.

The giant python penetrated halfway before suddenly shaking violently. It tried to pull out with force but only managed to withdraw half, while the other half was swallowed whole. The girl was taken aback, pulling it back with one hand, but the demonic snake had already died, drooping weakly.
Seemingly surprised by the cruelty of the opponent’s methods, she said, “You actually! Strange, why are you different from what I see?”
The three swords adjusted their blades and attacked her face: “Where is the Penglai disciple?”
An invisible force blocked the girl’s way. The female ghost let out a cry, nearly obliterated, transforming back into a paper figure covered in bloodstains, which fell to the girl’s waist, swaying in a flattering manner.
Through this display, Shen Suwei finally noticed that there were two more threads at the girl’s waist, which should have hung similar paper figures, but at this moment, there were only threads. That paper figure was likely sent out to deal with Xu Qianyu, so he divided his consciousness into two strands to follow the threads.
He had shown mercy earlier, not killing the female ghost, so the girl did not obstruct his consciousness; she merely stared ahead, murmuring, “Interesting, you two, one a man punished by heaven, the other a person lacking in heaven.”
Shen Suwei suddenly pressed closer with his sword: “What does it mean to lack heaven?”
“Why do you only ask about lacking heaven?”The girl replied, puzzled. “Do you know you are a man punished by heaven?”

Shen Suwei felt a stab in his heart, realizing that someone had seen through his past, bringing up old matters. The surroundings seemed to darken, like a nightmare lingering; his expression remained impassive as he raised the sword tip a few inches, moving it to her eyes: “These eyes of yours are shrouded in demonic energy. As a cultivator, I ought to eliminate demons. Since I am already a man punished by heaven, even if I gouged them out, I would not bear more sin.”
The girl panicked and suddenly threw her head back, screeching like a piercing arrow through the clouds, causing even the female ghost to cover her ears: “If you dare harm me, my father won’t spare you; he will exterminate your Penglai to avenge me!”
Shen Suwei pondered for a moment and said, “I’ve heard that a hundred years ago, a cultivator entered the path through demons, capturing countless demons and ghosts, marking the western region as a demon domain, and calling himself the ‘Lord of the Demon Domain.’ Is that your father?”
The Lord of the Demon Domain was named Fu Shao, initially a talisman practitioner who mastered the craft to the extent that he could seal demons in paper figures, using the ghosts under him to control them.
He had never married and recognized the demons he raised as sons and daughters. It was said that he had over a hundred children. The demon domain was remote and had not made a significant impact until recent years when Fu Shao gained a “daughter,” named Fu Lingsha, who possessed eyes that could foresee the future.

According to Fu Lingsha, Fu Shao had killed many cultivators who were said to attack the demon domain in the future to eliminate obstacles, thus incurring widespread wrath.
Her saying she was targeting him might be because he would also be involved in attacking the demon domain in the future, which was quite likely. In recent years, the demons from the demon domain had caused turmoil, and the four great sects had discussed sending disciples to attack the demon domain.

However, Fu Lingsha likely seldom left the demon domain and was quite naïve, bringing only four ghosts with her; how could she handle Golden Core cultivators?
The girl fell silent, and Shen Suwei did not move his sword away.

Her talent consumed spiritual energy greatly; today, she had foreseen the demon king a hundred years from now and had also seen what Shen Suwei would do in several years. Her spiritual energy had already been exhausted, hence the need for the gathering spirit formation to support her. However, the gathering spirit formation had just been disrupted by Shen Suwei and was leaking energy, making it impossible for her to strike.

The golden light on the sword blade pierced her, causing blood tears to flow from her eyes. The little girl blinked uncomfortably and said, “Heavenly Deficiency means an incomplete soul. Ordinary people only lose their spirits; it doesn’t affect their seven emotions and six desires. This person has lost a soul, making them incomplete, hence the name Heavenly Deficiency. Your junior sister has a Heavenly Deficiency, which is related to you, related to the sword, and related to everyone.”

Shen Suwei felt a slight shock in his heart: “Related to me?”

He suddenly thought of the illusions he had seen earlier with Xu Qianyu, believing them to be the work of a heart demon. But Xu Qianyu indeed lacked a soul; could that be something that happened in the past?
He and Xu Qianyu had once called each other senior brother and sister; he had also entered the path of indifference before breaking through it again.
“I can’t see any more than that,” the little girl said. “Don’t you want to hear about your heavenly punishment?”
“No need,” Shen Suwei had just sheathed his sword when a shriek came from the sky. A red light filled the sky as a huge fire heron flew down, its pressure drawing near, staining the clouds red. The little girl breathed a sigh of relief and said, “You’re finally here!”
It turned out that she had been screeching earlier to seek help from the demon clan.
Seeing that this demon had very high cultivation, Shen Suwei thought it was bad and focused, drawing his sword. He then saw the fire heron land, and in an instant, it transformed into a splendidly robed Liu Yian, the master of the Fanghua Building (Mansion). He yawned and said, “Who disturbs my rest?”

The little girl pointed at Shen Suwei and said, “Uncle, he wants to kill me; please help me kill him.”
The two exchanged a silent glance. Liu Yian tilted his head, recognizing Shen Suwei as resembling Xu Binglai’s third disciple: “…”

Liu Yian’s eyes shifted, and he transformed back into the fire heron, pouncing at Shen Suwei.
As the two fought, Fu Lingsha weaved hand seals, trying to repair the Spirit Gathering Array. But within a moment, Liu Yian returned, gracefully landing and saying, “He ran away; I couldn’t catch up.”
Fu Lingsha was furious: “He’s only in the late Golden Core stage; you’re already half a step into Divine Transformation. How could you not catch him? You let him go on purpose!”
“Not catching him is just not catching him; why so many words?” Liu Yian replied, displeased. “Little girl, I’ve lived for a thousand years, and there’s a hierarchy of ages. You labor at night and don’t even say thank you; it’s fine, but to reproach me so harshly? Fu Shao really hasn’t taught you any manners. Well, since you’ve troubled me this much, you owe me something nice as compensation.”

“This paper shadow person is a bit interesting.” Liu Yian’s gaze fell on the paper figure at her waist. With a flick of his finger, the paper figure flew into his hands. “I’ll take this; I’ll modify it when I go back, and it will surely sell for a good price.”
The female ghost was tucked into his bag, half of her body peeking out and crying, “Master, save me!”
“Shut up.” Liu Yian pressed her back down, disregarding the female ghost’s cries for help, and soon disappeared.

Fu Lingsha trembled with anger, thinking, “He and Penglai are in cahoots; those two are bullying me together. It’s truly hateful.”
She then thought that Shen Suwei had run away, surely to rescue that junior sister. If he sabotaged the foundation of the Spirit Gathering Array, the demon king would benefit as well. She needed to capture him first and then inform her father.
So she closed her eyes, channeling all the spiritual energy from the upper layer of the Spirit Gathering Array into the only remaining ghost infant. After severing the connection, she tapped her toes and fled back to the demon realm.

Shixiong (Senior Brother) said he would arrive in a quarter of an hour, and fearing to waste the fire crow, Xu Qianyu put away the Crowing Jar, sitting in the dark on the steps, waiting for Shen Suwei.

Originally, she and Guo Yi were peacefully coexisting when suddenly, from a distance, a cat’s cry turned hoarse and grew closer. Something lunged at her, and Xie Yuzhen suddenly moved, pulling her aside as it brushed past her.
Xu Qianyu threw a talisman, and the moment it exploded, she saw a shadow crawling on the ground projected against the stone wall. The shadow was enormous; it resembled a baby but was on all fours, emitting a piercing scream.

It was unclear why this ghost infant suddenly went berserk. It was extraordinarily fierce, showing no fear of the Demon-Exorcising Talisman. This only triggered its killing intent, and with a shrill scream, it flew at her again.
Xie Yuzhen moved swiftly, pulling Xu Qianyu against another stone wall. The ghost infant’s claws tore through his clothing, seemingly scratching his back, causing Guo Yi to curse inwardly. Then, Xu Qianyu, nestled in his arms, caught a familiar scent of peach blossoms.