He trembled as he rose from the recliner, staggering to open the door.
Outside stood two young men. One of them was the very same youth his daughter had once knelt to beg him to spare.
A sigh of emotion flickered in his aged eyes:
"I see you, I actually see you. Have you come to take me away?"
"Come in..."
The old man turned and returned to his recliner.
The young man said, "Fu Niang's deepest regrets stem from me, and secondly from Mr. Fu."
Chen Jiuyang asked, "Is he Fu Niang's father?"
"You intend to kill him for revenge, to resolve your and Fu Niang's lingering obsessions?"
The old man chuckled. He no longer cared; he was alone and had nothing.
The young man shook his head, "Things are not as you imagine."
"Mr. Fu, Fu Niang is still alive. I wish for you to accompany me."
The old man collapsed from the recliner, struggled to his feet, and walked to the young man. Trembling, he grabbed his collar, his voice quivering,
"What did you just say—"
"Mr. Fu, Fu Niang is alive. Please accompany me to see her."
"We can discuss the details on the way."
The old man raised his tattered sleeve, wiped the tears from his eyes, and said, "I wronged you both back then."
His body trembled, as if every step he took threatened to send him to the ground. He had once been a burning, passionate torch, but now, he was merely a flicker of flame, ready to be extinguished at any moment.
"Let me help you. Be careful," Chen Jiuyang said, helping the old man into the carriage.
The carriage began to move slowly.
Chen Jiuyang voiced the question that had been troubling him: "Fu Niang is alive? What exactly is going on? If she's alive, why did she appear as a vengeful spirit in my dreams, demanding my life?"
The young man sighed, "Fu Niang lives as a human by day and a ghost by night."
The old man's body began to tremble uncontrollably.
The young man continued:
"After I died, Fu Niang, holding me, jumped into the river. She intended to end her own life but was saved by a demon from the Eastern Isles."
"Fu Niang's obsession was me. With me gone, she didn't wish to live on."
"That demon from the Eastern Isles taught Fu Niang the method of bridging realms. Fu Niang absorbed my ghost energy and transferred her own yang energy to me. She buried me in a jade coffin in a place of extreme yin, to nurture my physical body, keeping it incorporeal and preserving my consciousness within."
"She wanted to revive me."
"She cultivated that ghost method, suffering torment every morning, all to capture the first ray of yang energy of the day and give it back to me."
"For sixty years, she did this every single day. She persisted for sixty years, preferring to be neither human nor ghost herself, just to revive me."
"I didn't want her to do this. I was within the jade coffin, conscious but unable to move. I couldn't tell her. If someone hadn't opened the jade coffin today, I wouldn't have been able to come out."
Chen Jiuyang's expression softened with emotion, "Now that you are out, go find her yourself and tell her. Give her that letter. Don't leave any regrets."
The young man shook his head and gave a wry smile, "Mr. Chen, I cannot."
"Heaven and earth have yin and yang. You are within me, and I am within you. She transferred her yang energy to me. If we meet, yin and yang will collapse, and she will die."
We loved each other for a lifetime, unable to spend spring, summer, autumn, and winter together in life, and now unable to even see each other in death.
How agonizing. Some may understand, some may not.
"Mr. Chen, tell me, can I ever see her again?"
Chen Jiuyang closed his eyes and shook his head.
Hearing this, the old man's voice choked with emotion:
"It is I who failed you both."
"If only I hadn't defied the officials back then and married Fu Niang off, none of this would have happened."
"But if I hadn't married her off, hundreds of my family members would have died unjustly..."
Chen Jiuyang fell silent.
People's joys and sorrows are not the same.
People's pains, perhaps, can sometimes meet.
...
...
"Xu Qingji, why did your talismans have no effect on her!"
Lu Qingrao's voice was sharp with anger.
At this moment, her face was pale, and there were several bloodstains on her body.
Xu Qingji's Taoist robe was in tatters, his flesh exposed, his breathing weak, his body trembling, "We were wrong."
"She is not a ghost! She is a living person!"
Lu Qingrao, while resisting the ghost energy's attack, asked, "How can a living person possess ghost energy? How can they use Yin arts?"
Xu Qingji's face was etched with bitterness, "Heaven and earth have their creations. Humans can absorb ghost energy to cultivate ghost arts, becoming neither human nor ghost. They must receive the sun's purification every morning to preserve their yang energy and cling to life."
"Though she is human, she possesses ghost energy. She has been cultivating ghost arts for at least sixty years. How could an ordinary person withstand this?"
"After the morning purification, she must use a ghost formation to suppress the ghost energy she absorbs, containing both yin and yang energies within her body."
"That daily torment... I cannot comprehend it!"
They had calculated everything, but they never expected their opponent to be a living person cultivating ghost arts. As a result, Xu Qingji's preparations were in vain. The two were severely injured by their opponent and trapped within her ghost formation.
"We are trapped in this ghost formation now. If we cannot find a way to break it, we will both perish here today. Xu Qingji, after so many years in Longhu Mountain Taoism, do you have no trump card?" Lu Qingrao shouted.
Xu Qingji gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, gathered the last of his spiritual power, and took out a clay statue. He bit his finger, letting blood drip onto the statue, and shouted, "Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable above, disciple of the Taoist sect Xu Qingji, facing a great crisis, unable to distinguish yin from yang, I implore the Heavenly Venerable to manifest and aid your disciple on a clear path!"
As the words fell,
The clay statue emitted golden light, suppressing and clearing the dense, sinister ghost energy from the area, revealing a wooden door through which they could escape.
Xu Qingji and Lu Qingrao's faces lit up with joy. They used the last of their strength to rush towards the wooden door.
This person cultivated the ghost path and possessed formidable strength. Both of them, being eighth-rank cultivators, were utterly helpless against her. As long as they could escape and return to Longhu Mountain Taoism to call for reinforcements, they could eliminate this enemy.
Just as they reached the door, their faces froze, their eyes filled with despair, and immense fear surged within them.
A figure had appeared before the door at some unknown time. She was wearing a red wedding dress, her hair disheveled and her face obscured, enveloped in a swirling aura of ghost energy.
Within a ghost formation, the formation master could move at will, traversing vast distances in a single step.
She raised her hand, transforming into a ferocious ghost, and roared as she charged at them.
Xu Qingji and Lu Qingrao's faces turned ashen. They closed their eyes, calmly awaiting the arrival of death.
At this moment, anger was useless. What was useful was strength, and their strength was insufficient.
...
...
At this moment, they arrived outside a small dwelling.
Mud walls, an old wooden door. Inside and out, there was no sign of life or hope.
Though Fu Niang was alive, living here, how must her days have been?
It was self-evident.
The young man's body was nearly transparent. He bowed deeply to Chen Jiuyang, "Mr. Chen, I have a favor to ask."
Chen Jiuyang, though unable to comprehend emotions, felt a deep respect for these two. He raised his hand in a gesture of respect and bowed slightly, "What can I do for you?"