Volume One: The Thousand-Year Stream - Chapter 48: The Demonic Being

Within half the time it takes to brew half a cup of tea, Sun Zikai was met by a disciple. After exchanging a couple of polite pleasantries, the disciple said, "Gate Master Fu Zhe has permitted you to go out once."

Sun Zikai immediately made his way to Cui Qingrui's residence. There were only three people inside: Cui Qingrui, Ma Dairan, and Fu Zhe. Even the courtyards outside had been completely cleared of people.

The expressions of the three men were all different. Taking a deep breath, Sun Zikai observed their emotions and roughly guessed the situation. Cui Qingrui was puzzled as to why Ghost Nether had appeared here; Fu Zhe was worried about Sun Zikai's safety; while Ma Dairan wore no gloating expression at all, but rather a look of contempt as if he saw right through everything. Once again, he was suspicious of the formidable powerhouse hidden behind Sun Zikai.

Sun Zikai recounted his conversation with that mysterious person word for word, and also clearly explained the corpses in the blood pool.

Cui Qingrui spoke up: "You did the right thing. There are spies from other sects within our sect. If they had laid eyes on it, the crime of the Yanhming Sect assassinating elite disciples of other sects would be firmly established. That was likely Ghost Nether's objective."

"This disciple believes that the most urgent task is to transfer those corpses and the bloody water to an appropriate place, and pin everything that happened in Mount Xiake onto Ghost Nether."

Cui Qingrui had been thinking along the same lines, but at this moment, Ma Dairan interjected, "It is better to stay put than to act. To move is to walk right into a trap. Currently, the only person who saw that fiend is this brat. In other words, whether Ghost Nether was ever here remains an uncertain matter. What the people outside want to know is not what we plan to do, but why Ghost Nether would come here."

Fu Zhe nodded, endorsing Ma Dairan's perspective, and said, "Paper cannot wrap up a fire. That pool of bloody corpses cannot be easily spirited away. It doesn't matter what Ghost Nether did; as long as the news of its appearance within the Yanhming Sect is verified, the Yanhming Sect will be thrown into a passive position, and the major sects will not listen to our explanations."

Half an hour later, looking disheveled and dirt-faced, Sun Zikai was hauled out the door by the back of his neck by Ma Dairan.

A crowd of elders and disciples had gathered in front of the main gate, alongside other gate masters such as Ma Guanzheng and Wu Lanmu. Ma Dairan tossed a manual of cultivation techniques onto the ground.

As the crowd took a look, someone muttered in a low voice, "Isn't this the forbidden technique discarded by the Manqian Pavilion?"

Pointing at Sun Zikai's head, Ma Dairan mocked derisively, "Fu Zhe's fine disciple here sneaked into the back room of the Manqian Pavilion and stole an evil technique. He slipped up while practicing his Qi cultivation, hehehe, and after taking a beating, he spilled the truth. Some damned Ghost Nether nonsense! You and your unreliable master both have the word 'fool' painted across your faces from front to back. The Sect Master has ordered that Sun Zikai be punished by copying the eulogies in the Hall of Loyal Martyrs a hundred times, followed by confinement in his own room to reflect on his mistakes, with no stepping outside for two months. Hmph... simply laughable."

With a flick of his sleeves, Ma Dairan strode away. Fu Zhe walked out shortly after, wearing an expression of utter disappointment, and glared angrily at his disciple.

Wu Lanmu called out to Fu Zhe, asking whether it was true. Burning with rage, Fu Zhe nodded, kicked the manual on the ground away with a single sweep of his foot, and walked off.

Only then did the crowd realize belatedly that it had all been a false alarm. Come to think of it, it made sense—the Yanhming Sect was not anyone's backyard garden; how could people from Ghost Nether just waltz in whenever they pleased? Sun Zikai truly had made a fool of himself and brought utter shame upon everyone.

Relieved, the crowd dispersed in all directions. Sun Zikai quietly walked back to Ansheng Residence. Along the way, Ru Nan specifically stopped him to double-check the details. Sun Zikai's acting was superb; he portrayed the frustration and humiliation of a schemer whose plot had backfired and who had been kicked out with chilling realism. Reassured, Ru Nan took her leave.

Copying the eulogies a hundred times stretched from daylight into dusk. At night, holding a single lamp, Sun Zikai walked out of the Hall of Martyrs and wearily arrived in front of Ansheng Residence. Suddenly, he froze. His heart was gripped with a jolt of panic. Without a moment's hesitation, he shoved the door open and rushed inside. A small table had been set up in the courtyard; Feng Yueyi and Jiang Yujin lay motionless beside it, while the ghost-nether fiend who had knocked on his door during the day sat calmly at the table.

The man emitted a sinister, eerie chuckle and remarked, "What took you so long to get here?"

Sensing the vital life force remaining within Jiang Yujin and Feng Yueyi, Sun Zikai realized they were still alive.

Walking up to the table, Sun Zikai sat down face-to-face with the man, then asked coldly, "You've sought me out twice now. What is your purpose?"

Beaming with a smiling expression, the man countered with a question of his own, "Where did the things in the pool go?"

"What things in the pool? I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Hahaha, you little imp."

Judging from his spiritual energy fluctuations, this man's cultivation realm had undoubtedly surpassed Foundation Establishment. The fiend continued, "Do not linger here any longer. Come away with me. I know how many people you have killed, Hee-hee-hee, but unfortunately, you haven't killed as many as I have. Neither you nor I belong to a place like this. Come with me and become a ghost."

Sun Zikai turned his gaze toward Jiang Yujin, noticing that the spiritual energy within her body was somewhat erratic. Seeing this, the man said, "She's dying right now. It's blood poison—my exclusive secret formula, and no one can save her. Don't worry, if you follow me, you can have any woman you desire in the future. That girl right there will serve as proof proclaiming to the riff-raff that you have truly become a ghost, hee-hee."

Turning his head back, Sun Zikai's gaze grew exceptionally serene and detached as he asked calmly, "Where is Ghost Nether?"

"Everywhere." Completely oblivious to the fact that his own energy and life force were being continuously drained away, the man's voice gradually faded from resonant and clear to pale and powerless.

Sensing this strange transformation, the man touched his throat, only to suddenly discover that his hands were covered in wrinkles.

Believing he had fallen victim to an illusion, he even praised approvingly, "You really are full of surprises; you're prime material for becoming a ghost. I still have matters to attend to. Take this; follow the direction it points, and you will reach the Ghost Gate."

He produced a compass, the needle of which pointed not south, but evidently toward the headquarters of Ghost Nether.

Sun Zikai understood that this was not a favor, but an order—anyone who refused would not live past the next breath.

Accepting the compass, Sun Zikai replied indifferently, "Many thanks." Then, with a swift sweep of his hand, he stood up and strode toward Jiang Yujin.

Gasping in astonishment, the man clutched at his throat as fresh blood continuously spurted out. He should not have been struck down by such crude methods; he ought to have been able to dissolve into a mist of blood. Yet, with a body that had aged by nearly fifty years, he was no longer even capable of gathering spiritual energy.

His raspy voice was swallowed entirely by the dark night. Never in his wildest dreams could this fiend have imagined that he would perish in a place like this. Dozens of breaths later, the white-haired old man collapsed into a pool of blood.

Meanwhile, Sun Zikai helped Jiang Yujin up, unbuttoned the front of her robe, pressed his hand against her chest, and poured a massive surge of energy into her body, yet found himself unable to purge the poison from her bloodstream.

An idea quickly came to Sun Zikai. He circulated the *Five-Flavors Jia-Wu At-Ease Fire-Control Art*, driving the Qi of the Five-Flavors True Fire to drill into Jiang Yujin's body to fight poison with poison. The searing heat indeed burned the poison clean away; however, since Jiang Yujin possessed a water-aligned constitution, this move was tantamount to suicide. Without hesitation, Sun Zikai channeled a vast portion of his own vital life force to preserve her life, and subsequently used the exact same method to save Feng Yueyi.

Before the two of them regained consciousness, he thoroughly stripped the dead fiend of all his belongings, and then used ordinary mortal fire to burn him down to absolute ashes, as if nothing that had just transpired had ever happened at all.