Ah Yu seemed completely taken aback by the sudden appearance of Yan Wei and his companions. She stared at them, and they stared back, both parties momentarily frozen in place.
The thick, intoxicating floral scent in the air seemed to solidify around them, mingling with the incense smoke that curled upwards, intertwining with the gauzy curtains. In the deep of the night, only a few flickering candles illuminated the room, casting eerie, intertwined shadows of everyone present. The atmosphere was both bizarre and sinister.
The silence didn’t last long.
Ah Yu’s plain, unremarkable face suddenly darkened with malice. Although her shadow was cast by the candlelight and her breathing remained steady, she exuded an aura of ghostly malevolence. In an instant, she swung her arm, and a long red silk ribbon, sharp as a blood-stained blade, shot towards them.
A slender, flexible whip sliced through the air with a sharp whistle, colliding with the red ribbon.
Yan Mingguang stood in front of Yan Wei, his expression unmoved. His pitch-black eyes remained calm, as if the red-clad “ghost” before him was of no consequence.
Lin Zhen flipped onto the roof beam behind them, drawing his bowstring and releasing several arrows that were nearly impossible to track.
Ah Yu, holding the ribbon, dodged the arrows with ease, her body now surrounded by a deep, ghostly aura. She had no intention of prolonging the fight. As the ribbon and whip were pulled forward by Yan Mingguang, she simply let go and floated back a step.
Yan Wei reacted swiftly, pulling out the Moon Wheel. A faint white light emanated from it, overpowering the dim candlelight and instantly creating a sealed space within the room.
In that moment, Zhong Bufan was certain—he hadn’t mistaken Yan Wei’s identity!
The same Legendary Item, the same method of use, a similar style and skills—he had studied that person’s instances over a hundred times. How could he not recognize him?
At that moment, Ah Yu slammed into the barrier, turning her head to glare at Yan Wei with a sinister look.
Her demeanor was nothing like the gentle one she had shown Yan Wei earlier in the day. Her eyes now seemed filled with endless black aura, resentful and venomous like a poisonous snake. Her ghostly figure flickered, and she reached out to grab Yan Wei.
Yan Mingguang, who had remained calm until now, suddenly frowned. In the blink of an eye, he pulled Yan Wei back a step and, with his other hand, grabbed Ah Yu’s arm, slamming her to the ground with immense force.
“You go first,” the man said calmly as he continued to fend off Ah Yu. “The space here is too small. If I unleash my full power, I might hurt you.”
Yan Wei frowned.
The teleportation array from the morgue had been reversed, and they were supposed to have been transported to the side of Jiang Jingyun’s ghost, the source of Guanyin Town’s curse. Yet, the half-human, half-ghost figure before them was clearly Ah Yu. They had all seen Jiang Jingyun’s portrait—a woman of stunning beauty and heroic demeanor in life, nothing like Ah Yu’s plain appearance.
If the thick resentment surrounding Jiang Jingyun’s coffin, the countless lives taken, the fierce corpse risings, and the increasingly dark seawater over the years were all Ah Yu’s doing, then where was Jiang Jingyun…?
Could it be that Jiang Jingyun had never become a vengeful ghost, and all the rumors were just a facade? Was the real culprit this person before them, who seemed more ghostly than any ghost?
There was undoubtedly more to this, but now was not the time to delve into it.
Yan Mingguang continued his assault, and Yan Wei stopped Lin Zhen from drawing his bow again. “Leave this to Yan Mingguang. We need to go. We can’t delay Lin Qing’s situation any longer.”
Lin Zhen paused.
Zhong Bufan suddenly spoke up, “I’ll stay. Since you’re here, it’s redundant for me to go back. We still don’t know the reason behind Ah Yu’s actions. I’ll stay and help Yan Mingguang—it’ll be more useful.”
He was, after all, a smart man. Having fully accepted Yan Wei’s identity, he now positioned himself firmly as a loyal follower.
What nonsense about competing with V?
What nonsense about young people not understanding V’s prowess?
All of that was just nonsense.
Zhong Bufan didn’t feel the slightest bit of shame for his sudden change in attitude. “That person doesn’t talk much, and I’m here to stay in touch with you. Isn’t that useful?”
Yan Wei: “…”
He said, “Fine. Without me maintaining it, the barrier created by the Moon Wheel will only last a few minutes, but that’s more than enough for Yan Mingguang. He’s only holding back because we’re here. You and I will leave the room first to let him unleash his full power. Once he captures Ah Yu, we’ll be done.”
Zhong Bufan naturally agreed.
Yan Wei immediately held up the Moon Wheel and, with Zhong Bufan and Lin Zhen, burst through the room’s door, entering a familiar hallway.
—It was indeed the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel.
So, the eerie, ghostly aura they had felt that day in the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel had come from Ah Yu.
“We’ll meet at the Guanyin Temple. Lin Zhen, let’s go.”
With that, Yan Wei, Lin Zhen, and Geng Liang entered another room, jumped out the window, and left.
Zhong Bufan glanced wistfully at the broken window, lamenting the nonsense he had previously spouted to Yan Wei. He wondered if his performance just now had managed to salvage any of his standing.
Only when he heard a loud crash from inside the room did Zhong Bufan snap out of his thoughts.
He had been wondering how to help, but the sound of the crash was so deafening that the shockwave forced him to take a step back. The nearby townsfolk and the people in the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel immediately erupted into chaos.
The brothel’s long hallway remained eerily quiet, with the girls in the surrounding rooms yet to react.
Zhong Bufan peeked into the room and saw that everything within the small space created by the Moon Wheel had been reduced to dust. Shattered porcelain and broken wood fragments were scattered everywhere, mixed with the intoxicating floral scent in the air.
Ah Yu lay amidst the wreckage, her lips stained with blood. She seemed to have sustained severe injuries, her once bright red dress now darkened. A long gash ran from the corner of her mouth to her ear, bleeding profusely.
Yan Mingguang, however, remained standing in the same spot, as if he hadn’t moved at all.
Zhong Bufan finally understood what Yan Wei had meant when he said they would hinder Yan Mingguang’s full power.
With the force of that attack, if he had been inside the room, he would have fared worse than this half-human, half-ghost woman. The sealed space created by the Moon Wheel wasn’t to prevent Ah Yu from escaping—it was to ensure that Yan Mingguang, in such a confined space, wouldn’t damage the surrounding rooms or harm others.
This completely shattered Zhong Bufan’s understanding of the upper limits of the Body Index.
But then again, he thought, nothing about V and his companions should be surprising.
People in the hallway were already opening their doors to investigate, and the area around the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel was bustling with noise. Zhong Bufan wasted no time, quickly stepping back into the room and closing the door. He used an Item to block out all sound, ensuring that no one outside could hear what was happening inside.
With the Moon Wheel’s barrier in place, the outside world remained normal. As soon as he closed the door, there was no indication from the outside that a fierce battle had just taken place inside. Those who came to investigate the noise walked past the room, completely unaware.
Yan Mingguang exchanged a talisman to seal evil spirits from the system shop and placed it on Ah Yu. Covered in blood, Ah Yu struggled amidst the wreckage but couldn’t get up.
“Should we take her back to Yan Wei now?” Zhong Bufan instinctively deferred to the man before him. “She’s not a ghost but a living person. If we’re taking her back, we’ll need to cover our tracks.”
Yan Mingguang looked down at Ah Yu.
She was covered in injuries and suppressed by the talisman, her once menacing and ghostly aura now completely gone. Her ghostly black eyes were empty. She struggled several times before slowly raising her hand, her trembling fingers touching the gash on her cheek.
Ah Yu’s fingers were already covered in blood from the debris, but as they touched the blood on her cheek, she suddenly paused and let out a sharp, piercing scream.
It sounded like the mournful wail of a ghost in the deep of the night.
Yan Mingguang shook his head. “No need to take her. She’s not Jiang Jingyun. She’s meaningless.”
Zhong Bufan naturally understood the reasoning. He crouched down and looked at Ah Yu, who for some reason had appeared here, and demanded sharply, “Why are you here?”
The last time they had seen Ah Yu, she had been an ordinary servant in the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel, helping them coordinate with the brothel’s manager to gain access to the Shen Estate.
But after using the array to leave the Shen Estate, their destination should have been the location of Jiang Jingyun’s ghost. Yet, at this point, it was clear that Jiang Jingyun’s ghost was nowhere to be found. Although Ah Yu exuded a sinister, ghostly aura, her blood, her shadow under the candlelight, and her steady breathing all indicated that she was not one of the undead.
She was a living person.
A living person filled with malevolence.
The implications of this, if delved into deeply, could completely overturn their previous assumptions. Using the Pure Vase water to dispel the evil aura, the Coffin Town talisman to suppress the ghost, and other evil-warding artifacts placed in the four corners to completely seal Jiang Jingyun’s coffin—this was the method both sides had agreed upon to resolve the curse that had plagued Guanyin Town for the past four or five years. This was why Jiang Jingyun’s ghost and the Pure Vase water had become the Items they were competing for.
They had obtained the Pure Vase water, but now a living person in a red dress stood before them.
Zhong Bufan didn’t dare to think too deeply about it.
Seeing that Ah Yu was still dazed, her fingers lingering near her wound, her expression growing increasingly twisted, he couldn’t help but feel a chill.
He said sternly, “If you don’t want to talk, I have ways to make you—”
“There’s nothing I don’t want to say,” Ah Yu suddenly spoke, letting out a laugh. “You’re looking for Jiang Jingyun’s ghost? Ha, Jiang Jingyun has long rotted away in that coffin. She doesn’t have the ability to do anything.”
Yan Mingguang’s eyes narrowed, and Zhong Bufan’s expression changed drastically.
Not far from the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel.
Zhuo Xidong hid in the shadows, his teeth clenched as he listened to the commotion.
Lin Qiao, who had been following him, couldn’t hide her frustration. “Old Zhuo, we followed you because of your experience and strength. Why are you running away every time we encounter them? That noise from the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel clearly means something’s happened. We’ve worked so hard and paid a high price to track the source of the evil aura to the brothel, and now you won’t even let us go?”
Zhuo Xidong shot her a dark look.
“What do you know? If we confront him head-on, there’ll be no good outcome! That commotion in the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel means they’ve already succeeded. We can’t take what they’ve obtained. In this entire Tower World, among the countless Players, no one can take what he wants!”
The old man who had used the spatial Item earlier frowned. “Those people earlier, aside from Geng Liang and Zhong Bufan, were all unfamiliar faces. Could they be some old Players we don’t know about? Regardless, it seems they now have both Jiang Jingyun’s ghost and the Pure Vase water. If they return to the Shen Estate, all our efforts will have been for nothing!”
The group fell silent.
The current situation clearly called for a direct confrontation, but Zhuo Xidong seemed to have been spooked by something. Even when the loud noise came from the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel, he had held everyone back from acting.
After a long pause, Zhuo Xidong gritted his teeth. “Since they’ve already obtained it, we can’t just rely on brute force to take the Pure Vase water and the ghost. A direct confrontation won’t work, so we might as well take a desperate gamble. That person… he has no weaknesses, but there’s one fatal flaw.”
“Let’s return to the Shen Estate and unseal Jiang Jingyun’s coffin. Let the overwhelming resentment run rampant!”
V feared nothing, not even death. He appeared rational and calm, but deep down, he was more ruthless and insane than anyone. He was the kind of person who would dare to challenge the Tower itself, seemingly invincible.
But there was one thing—he was too kind-hearted.
Meanwhile, Yan Wei, Lin Zhen, and Geng Liang left the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel and headed straight for the Guanyin Temple.
When they arrived, Song Cheng’an was supporting the unsteady Yu Feizhou, while Lin Qing sat on the steps, leaning against the door, covered in blood. The blood that had flowed earlier had mixed with the snow, freezing into red, icy chunks.
Yu Feizhou’s lips were pale. “Let me try again.”
Song Cheng’an couldn’t hold back. “You can’t keep trying! His injuries are caused by resentment that has damaged his internal organs. His life force is deteriorating. Transferring these superficial wounds is just a temporary fix—it’s like drinking poison to quench thirst!”
“Song Cheng’an is right,” Lin Qing said, his tone still devoid of emotion. He was like a dying man calmly watching his life slip away. “You need to conserve your strength. Yan Wei and Lin Zhen still need you. If you keep going like this…”
A cold wind blew into Lin Qing’s throat, and he coughed weakly. “The two of us will just die together—and take Lin Zhen with us.”
After all, he and Lin Zhen were one person. Lin Zhen was a soul split from him, his life dependent on Lin Qing. If Lin Qing died, Lin Zhen would inevitably follow.
For a moment, Lin Qing felt a twinge of something he hadn’t felt in a long time.
It was an emotion he hadn’t experienced in so long that he couldn’t even name it.
I still couldn’t make it to the end. I couldn’t bring Lin Zhen with me to the end.
He thought to himself.
In the Tower World, he was at least a somewhat notable figure. Alongside Yan Wei, he had co-founded the mysterious and powerful Blackbird. Aside from the instance where he had met Yan Wei, he had never been second to anyone. Though he was still one of the countless ants struggling against life and death, he was at least not the smallest of them.
In the instances, people died every moment. Some died meaningful deaths, while others died in laughable ways. His death wasn’t exactly heroic, but it didn’t seem to serve any purpose either.
It was like a grand symphony that started with a majestic prelude, only for the piano keys to suddenly crack.
An abrupt end.
It should have been a pity.
But he had been too harsh on himself, so harsh that he had cut out these emotions, creating the reckless and carefree Lin Zhen. He wasn’t afraid of dying, nor did he feel any regret. His heart was a barren wasteland, empty of everything except the thought that Yan Wei and the others might face obstacles after his death.
And Lin Zhen, carefree and thoughtless, probably wouldn’t even know how to blame him.
As Lin Qing pondered this, his unfocused gaze fell on the distant snow-covered ground. The moonlight cast a pale glow, and for a moment, he was nearly blinded by the brightness. He was lost in thought when Yan Wei suddenly crouched beside him.
“What happened?” Yan Wei had guessed part of the situation from their earlier communication, but he hadn’t expected Lin Qing’s injuries to be this severe. “These are…”
He glanced at Lin Qing’s exposed hand—it was turning black.
Song Cheng’an said, “It’s corpse rot. I was studying the array on the Guanyin statue when Lin Qing heard Lin Zhen’s cry for help and came over. At that moment, the array activated, and the evil aura directly attacked his internal organs. I think… there’s no saving him.”
As he spoke, he glanced at Lin Zhen.
Lin Zhen, however, stood leisurely to the side, his wounds untreated. The madman looked at Lin Qing, then at Yu Feizhou, and scoffed. “What’s with this chain reaction? Yu Feizhou, is your skill just itching to be used? Like this, one after another, we’re going to lose three people. Tsk, pretty impressive.”
Yan Wei ignored the fool’s nonsense.
Geng Liang said, “I can’t see, but I can feel the overwhelming aura of death. This is…” a person on the brink of death.
Yan Wei carefully examined Lin Qing’s injuries and came to the same conclusion as Song Cheng’an.
“Is there no hope?” Lin Qing asked him.
Yan Wei’s hands clenched involuntarily.
Snow began to fall from the sky, and a cold wind blew into Yan Wei’s collar, chilling him to the bone.
He wasn’t willing to accept this.
Lin Qing had clearly been tricked by the malevolent spirit. That thing couldn’t harm Yan Wei directly, but it wanted him to feel regret. All of this had happened because of him. It was he who had brought Lin Qing and Lin Zhen to the top floor, and it was he who had challenged the impossible, drawing the malevolent spirit’s attention to Lin Qing, who shouldn’t have been involved.
Too many people had already died because of him.
Lin Qing was different from the others. This person had been his friend from the very beginning, a teammate he could trust even without his memories during his second life.
But Song Cheng’an was right—Lin Qing’s body was beyond saving.
Yu Feizhou steadied himself and stepped forward, brushing off Song Cheng’an’s supporting hand. He took a deep breath and said, “Let me try one more time.”
Lin Zhen frowned at him. “You’re covered in injuries… How many times have you tried already? If you keep going, it’ll be three for the price of one. That bastard Zhuo would be laughing all the way to the bank. That’s just too unfair.”
He even chuckled. “Why are you more nervous than I am? People die, but… hey, bro, how much longer can you hold on? Is it enough time for me to go fight Yan Mingguang? I still haven’t had a chance to spar with him.”
Lin Qing was at his limit. He lifted his eyelids, his bloodless face unmoving. “Are you that much of a nuisance?”
Lin Zhen pouted.
Lin Qing looked at Yan Wei and said calmly, “Yan Wei, don’t worry about me. Do what you need to do. I’m not afraid of death, and Lin Zhen doesn’t even know what death is. Emotions are the most useless things—that’s what you taught me.”
Yan Wei’s hands clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, drawing blood.
“You’re afraid,” he said. “Lin Qing, you’re afraid.”
Yu Feizhou had transferred Lin Qing’s external wounds countless times, but the corpse rot, like sludge, kept spreading across Lin Qing’s body. Lin Zhen, who should have been the intermediary for the wound transfers, remained unscathed aside from the initial injuries.
Even though Lin Qing knew that Lin Zhen’s life depended on his own, and that Lin Zhen would inevitably die when he closed his eyes for the last time, he hadn’t done anything extra.
Lin Zhen was a completely different version of Lin Qing.
Was Lin Qing reluctant to let him go? Or, while he was still alive, did he not want to see another version of himself in such a sorry state, not wanting to witness “his own” death before his own?
Or… was it both?
Back then, he had been full of ambition, daring to do anything. With the Moon Wheel in hand, he had even dared to split his own soul.
If it weren’t for him? That casual act back then, this discarded half of the soul wouldn’t have transformed into Lin Zhen over the years, and at this moment, it wouldn’t have made Lin Qing take a step into the netherworld for the sake of this other half of the soul, nor would it have eventually led both halves of the soul to the same end.
He knelt motionless beside Lin Qing, the pool of blood on the ground soaking his trousers and knees, the cold wetness seeping through his clothes and clinging to his skin. Snow fell on his slightly chilled shoulders and hair, unmelted, piling up in a layer.
Yan Wei was nearly blinded by the snow.
So every time a person defies the heavens, they must pay a price.
