Mr. Bai, as if finally noticing their arrival, turned his head and looked towards Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang standing not far away.
The two of them clearly had ill intentions, yet Mr. Bai remained composed and unhurried. He smiled at them and said, “Courtesy must not be neglected. Since you are here as guests, you should have knocked before entering.”
Yan Wei stood slightly behind Yan Mingguang and calmly replied, “Given the current situation, it seems that your emphasis on courtesy is of little use.”
Mr. Bai laughed heartily, “Well said, well said. Why should one study poetry and music, and learn etiquette? In the end, these teachings only bind oneself, while benefiting others.”
Yan Mingguang frowned—these words were clearly contrary to his beliefs.
Yan Wei’s brow twitched slightly, his fingers silently touching the Black Ring on his hand. His body tensed, but his tone remained casual as he said, “When you asked us to help suppress the evil spirits in the town, I was here too. I asked you whether the ancients and their books ever addressed the question of whether the individual is superior to the collective.”
“Have you found the answer, young friend?”
“Didn’t you say there’s no definitive conclusion? But I thought about it today, and while there may be no conclusion for the ages, it seems that for you, you’ve already made your choice.”
Mr. Bai gave him a deep look. The sound of the opera accompanied by music and drums filled the small courtyard, leaving no room for silence.
He spoke in a non-sequitur, “I used to believe that humans are born good, nurtured by poetry and music, and perfected by etiquette. Later, I discovered that these things are merely fragile shells, easily shattered with a touch.”
“It seems you know why we are here.”
“A-Yu is dead, so you must have figured it out by now.”
On the stage, the opera had reached the part where Liang Shanbo escorted Zhu Yingtai out of the academy. The lingering melody pierced through the cold, softening the snowy atmosphere. Mr. Bai turned his head and glanced towards the Shen Estate, where a faint aura of death was rising. His eyes were filled with delight.
Yan Wei said, “I have some guesses, but I’m not certain. Would you be willing to enlighten me?”
Mr. Bai raised his hand and pointed inside the house, “Please, come in and sit.” As he spoke, he waved to stop the opera troupe, signaling them to leave. He then led the way into the bamboo house.
Yan Mingguang glanced at Yan Wei, who nodded silently.
If Mr. Bai was indeed the mastermind behind all this, with the Guanyin Temple’s array still intact and the deathly aura lingering around the Shen Estate, it was best for them to understand everything and adapt accordingly.
They followed Mr. Bai into the bamboo house. Unlike the last time they visited, the room was no longer filled with the scent of wine. Instead, Yan Wei noticed a faint aroma of ink and a subtle floral fragrance as soon as he entered. The floral scent was faint, almost dissipated, as if someone had recently visited and left it behind.
This scent was familiar to both Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang.
It was the floral fragrance that A-Yu had carried when she acted.
“So, the wine you brewed that day was to mask this floral scent. She often came here to sing ‘The Butterfly Lovers’ for you, didn’t she? It’s a pity that she only realized before her death that the so-called evil technique to change a woman’s appearance was actually meant to catalyze Jiang Jingyun’s resurrection as a vengeful ghost.”
“It is indeed a pity,” Mr. Bai said, as he began brewing wine just as he had during their last visit. “I had hoped she would pass away without knowing the truth. Unfortunately, she had to die with even more sorrow.”
He warmed the wine over the charcoal fire in the room and poured a cup for both Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang.
This time, Yan Wei dared not drink it.
Mr. Bai did not insist and said, “When she disguised herself as a man to study at the academy, I was the only one who recognized her. After she realized I knew, she no longer hid in front of me. During class, she addressed me as her teacher and earnestly studied the teachings of the sages. After class, however, she loved to come to my humble bamboo house and have me tell her stories from the operas—because these folk tales, being common among the people, were something she, as a young lady, could not normally access.”
At this point, everything seemed clear.
Jiang Jingyun’s family had suddenly fallen into ruin, and she was sold to the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel. Mr. Bai had exhausted all his efforts but could not compete with the wealthy Shen Estate. He had lived a life of integrity and self-discipline, but in the end, he had failed here.
Mr. Bai said no more, but Yan Wei had already pieced most of it together: “Jiang Jingyun was tortured to death by the Shen Estate. You couldn’t save her, so you chose this method. Leveraging your good relationship with the Guanyin Temple, you secretly inscribed a reversal array on the golden statue, turning the array meant to suppress evil spirits into one that nurtured them. You then made A-Yu, who had seen you at the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel and had fallen deeply in love with you, believe that she had obtained an evil technique to change her appearance. Over the years, she killed so many people, and the deathly aura continuously fed into Jiang Jingyun’s corpse, gradually tainting the sea with resentment…”
Even the arrival of the players, each with their own identities, to Guanyin Town was likely part of Mr. Bai’s meticulous plan.
Why was the array to suppress evil spirits in Shen’s hands identical to the one Mr. Bai had?
Because Mr. Bai had deliberately allowed Shen to obtain it. Jiang Jingyun had never become a vengeful ghost, so what was there to suppress? Since Jiang Jingyun’s ghostly form did not exist, how likely was it that the water from Guanyin’s Pure Vase, which was essential to her ghostly form, was actually a good thing? If this “suppression” array were truly activated, would it suppress evil or…
Yan Wei instinctively glanced towards the faint deathly aura rising from the direction of the Shen Estate.
Zhong Bufan and Yu Zhengqing, who had gone to the Shen Estate, had also sent a message to the others, saying that they had handed over the Pure Vase water to the Shen Estate faction, who had promised not to release any more deathly aura.
He withdrew his gaze and heard Mr. Bai say to them, “Since someone has foolishly assisted me, you can now pretend that none of this ever happened. Leave Guanyin Town, and from now on, these matters will have nothing to do with you.”
Yan Wei’s fingers lightly traced the Black Ring.
Their mission was to suppress the resentment.
Jiang Jingyun herself was not the source of the resentment. The root of all this evil was the scholarly man before him, who appeared to be as pure as the moon and as clear as the wind. Zhuo Xidong could not end this instance; only by uprooting the source could this instance be resolved.
It would be best to wait for Lin Zhen to wake up, for Song Cheng’an and Zhong Bufan to resolve their respective tasks, and for them to regroup before dealing with this NPC, who was likely the instance’s boss.
He lowered his gaze, about to say something to feign their departure, when Mr. Bai’s hand holding the wine pot suddenly paused. The smile on his face instantly turned cold.
His gentle voice now carried a sharp edge: “Your eyes tell me you do not wish to leave Guanyin Town.”
In the Tower World
Within the instance, all life and death were merely scenes that the observers could not participate in. They could only watch the progress of the Guanyin Academy faction and the Shen Estate faction, witnessing this top-tier instance that had captured the attention of the entire Tower World finally reach its conclusion.
At this moment, no one doubted that Yan Wei was V.
Although his identity had not been revealed within the instance, the attitudes of the high-level players who knew his name were evident. Even the opposing Shen Estate faction, upon seeing Yan Wei, had completely abandoned any thought of direct confrontation—who else could Yan Wei be?
The players who had been arguing fiercely over bold conjectures now fell silent in this moment of certainty.
Not even those discussing the instance’s resolution methods spoke anymore.
Because their concerns were no longer about this. Perhaps initially, they had only thought that if someone succeeded in this top-tier instance, it might mean that other players also had hope—even if it was just a glimmer, it was still hope.
But V was different.
What V pursued was not personal gain but the ultimate goal for all.
If he succeeded, the countless players in the Tower World would no longer have to live in fear of life and death within the instances.
They believed in V’s ability to resolve the situation, almost blindly trusting and hoping for the moment when V would break through. From the moment Yan Wei’s identity was recognized by everyone, they had already subconsciously aligned their goals with his.
There were many ways to survive, but the one Yan Wei showed them was the best.
Yan Mingguang reacted swiftly. In an instant, a dagger shot out like an arrow, clashing with Mr. Bai’s suddenly grasping hand!
The hand, though seemingly made of flesh and blood, appeared as strong as copper and iron. In the blink of an eye, as Mr. Bai lunged forward, his hand was about to reach Yan Wei’s face, but it was momentarily blocked by the dagger Yan Mingguang had thrown. With a clanging sound, the shockwave from the impact scattered the tea table and wooden furniture, sending fragments everywhere.
The entire bamboo house was now in shambles.
A cold wind brushed Yan Wei’s cheek. By the time he steadied himself, Yan Mingguang had already pulled him back a step and turned to engage Mr. Bai.
Mr. Bai had lost his earlier composure and elegance. A faint aura of death began to emanate from his body. He had no weapon, relying solely on his copper-like hands, yet he managed to block several of Yan Mingguang’s attacks.
Yan Wei focused and saw that Mr. Bai was surrounded by a faint black aura, similar to the one around Jiang Jingyun’s corpse. Contact with it would cause instant death, just like those who had died at A-Yu’s hands. Mr. Bai looked at them emotionlessly, his eyes filled with killing intent. Wrapped in this deathly aura, he resembled a demon from the underworld.
Yan Wei held up the Moon Wheel, standing behind Yan Mingguang, using it to protect him from the deathly aura.
After a few exchanges, Mr. Bai was suddenly flung away by Yan Mingguang’s whip, landing in the snow with a thud.
His neatly tied hair had come undone during the fight, now hanging loosely and fluttering wildly in the cold wind, making him look like a ghost or a demon.
Yan Mingguang moved forward to press his advantage, but Mr. Bai suddenly laughed.
In the next moment, the deathly aura around him intensified tenfold! Yan Mingguang’s whip had just reached him when the aura dispersed, instantly corroding the whip.
Yan Wei glanced at Mr. Bai’s blade-like hands, his perception sensing the flow of power within the man. He activated the Moon Wheel and shouted, “Yan Mingguang, retreat! He has connected himself to the entire evil array. The Shen Estate, the Guanyin Temple, and himself are three complementary arrays. He can draw power from them all!”
The deathly aura circulated endlessly.
The more Yan Mingguang attacked, the more Mr. Bai was injured, and the more he merged with the overwhelming deathly aura.
As long as this immense evil aura remained, with the three arrays cycling, this living ghost could not be killed!
Yan Wei’s warning came too late. Yan Mingguang’s reflexes, honed through countless life-and-death situations, had already kicked in. As the whip was corroded, Yan Mingguang flipped over and threw another dagger straight at Mr. Bai’s forehead.
The blade struck its mark.
The dagger sank into Mr. Bai’s forehead, but he remained wide-eyed, giving Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang a twisted smile.
The deathly aura multiplied tenfold, then a hundredfold. Mr. Bai raised his hand, effortlessly pulled the dagger from his forehead, and lunged at Yan Mingguang!
This attack was ten times more powerful than before. Yan Mingguang dodged, but the deathly aura still grazed his arm. The black aura immediately corroded his skin, and in moments, one of Yan Mingguang’s arms was drenched in blood, the flesh mangled.
Mr. Bai had actually managed to injure Yan Mingguang. And this monster was growing stronger with each fight.
“It seems, young friend, you wish to—eliminate evil for the people?” Mr. Bai chuckled, his expression still that of a scholar’s pride, but the blood trickling from his forehead and the deathly aura surrounding him made him look utterly sinister, like a true ghost.
He did not continue the attack, instead glancing towards the Shen Estate and smiling, “The arrays I gave you and Shen are not meant to dispel evil but to nurture ghosts. It seems the other group has acted? What a coincidence. They help fuel the fire, and I’ll kill you to feed your deathly aura to Jingyun… She will return.”
Yan Mingguang glanced at the wound on his arm, his expression unchanged, as if he felt no pain. He calmly retreated a few steps, putting some distance between himself and Mr. Bai.
Yan Wei stepped forward to support him, “How are you?”
Yan Mingguang shook his head, “We’re not fighting him; we’re fighting the entire evil array.”
Meanwhile, at the Guanyin Temple
Song Cheng’an stood before the golden statue, holding an array disk. His perception was intertwined with the flow of the array, meticulously dismantling it line by line. Geng Liang stood beside him, helping to sense the flow of evil energy within the temple.
The array had been reversed into an evil array for too long, and any misstep could result in a backlash of evil energy. Song Cheng’an worked carefully, and despite his swift movements, there had been little progress.
Suddenly—
He opened his eyes wide, staggering back a step. A metallic taste rose in his throat.
“Ugh—”
Blood spurted from his mouth, splattering onto the incense burner before him. The scent of blood mingled with the smoke. Geng Liang, standing nearby, sniffed the air and his expression changed. He quickly stepped forward to support Song Cheng’an, who was on the verge of collapsing.
Geng Liang exclaimed, “What happened?”
“Someone…” Song Cheng’an took a moment to catch his breath, then wiped the blood from his mouth with his sleeve. “Or perhaps a ghost—the one behind all this just activated the array. I was carefully dismantling it, but he used it like a dam breaking. I was injured by the array.”
Geng Liang’s ears twitched, “I think I heard a commotion from the academy across the temple.”
As he spoke, Yan Wei sent them a message, briefly and urgently explaining the situation with Mr. Bai. They were on a communication link, and Song Cheng’an heard the sound of intense fighting on the other end.
He turned to Geng Liang and said, “Yan Wei said Mr. Bai has connected himself to the arrays at the Shen Estate and the temple, sharing the deathly and evil energy. The more they attack him, the more he loses his vitality, but he becomes stronger. We must stabilize the array here to weaken its support for that monster. Can you enhance my perception without interfering?”
Geng Liang nodded, “I haven’t done it before, but it should be possible.”
“Then enhance my perception,” Song Cheng’an said, looking up at the golden statue of Guanyin, which now resembled a demon king. He spoke gravely, “I’m afraid we don’t have much time to dismantle the array carefully.”
Back at the Guanyin Academy
Yan Mingguang and Yan Wei had fought Mr. Bai from the shattered bamboo house to the front hall. Some students, unaware of what was happening, came to see the commotion. Before they could get close, Mr. Bai reached out, grabbed one of them, and snapped their neck. The deathly aura of resentment flowed into Mr. Bai, and the student instantly turned into a puddle of corpse water.
The other students had no time to figure out what was happening. They screamed and scattered, fleeing the academy.
The academy, which had been as serene as the moon and clear as the wind the day before, was now in chaos. All the students had fled like frightened birds.
Yan Wei stood behind Yan Mingguang, his brow furrowed. He continuously activated the Moon Wheel, protecting Yan Mingguang from the deathly aura.
But Yan Mingguang was still a player. Though he could occasionally pause time and space within the instance, the method was draining and could only be used sparingly. As he fought Mr. Bai, the latter grew increasingly frenzied, while Yan Mingguang, being human, was only wearing himself down with his injuries.
In another exchange, Yan Mingguang kicked the monster away, but the contact allowed the deathly aura to corrode his skin, leaving a bloody wound on his leg.
Mr. Bai, however, felt no pain and did not pause. He rolled on the ground and lunged at Yan Wei.
Yan Wei quickly raised the Moon Wheel to protect himself, but the clawing “ghost” slammed into the barrier, sending both the Moon Wheel and Yan Wei tumbling backward.
Yan Mingguang’s longsword followed, intercepting Mr. Bai.
The two became entangled once more. As the increasingly dense deathly aura inflicted new wounds on Yan Mingguang, Yan Wei shouted, “Yan Mingguang!!!”
In the next moment, the wounds healed instantly, leaving only the tattered, blood-stained clothes.
Yu Feizhou, holding his blue pearl, had wounds appear on his body in the same places as Yan Mingguang’s. He gritted his teeth, enduring the pain, and began using the pearl to heal his injuries.
Yan Wei ran to his side, “Your wounds…”
“My skill is in this area. Transferring the wounds to me, they heal quickly. It’s not worth leaving them on Yan Mingguang.”
Yan Wei saw that the rotting wounds on Yu Feizhou’s body were indeed healing rapidly and sighed in relief. Yu Feizhou continued, “Lin Zhen hasn’t woken up yet. I heard the commotion here and thought you’d been fighting for a while, so you might need help. I left a protective item next to Lin Zhen and came to check.”
Yan Wei, still deeply worried, glanced at Yan Mingguang, who was holding off Mr. Bai, and quickly said, “Yan Mingguang isn’t weaker than him. In fact, at the beginning, Mr. Bai couldn’t last more than a few exchanges. But he’s connected to the deathly aura. He’s essentially turned himself into a ghost, and the deathly aura is his lifeline. The more he’s injured, the more he can absorb the deathly aura. We’re constrained—we can’t kill him, but we can’t leave him alive either.”
Yu Feizhou frowned, “Then we must strike decisively in one move.”
“But he’s surrounded by deathly aura now. Any weapon that gets close will be corroded.”
Yan Mingguang had already abandoned his weapons and was fighting Mr. Bai bare-handed, which made it even easier for the deathly aura to injure him.
Weapons would be corroded. To strike decisively, someone would have to get close and kill him instantly without allowing him to activate the resentment-filled deathly aura circulating through the Guanyin Town array.
Yan Wei clenched his fists, his breathing slightly heavier.
He glanced at Yu Feizhou, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
Yu Feizhou: “?”
“If Yan Mingguang charges into the deathly aura to kill him, can you endure the corrosive wounds for those few seconds?”
Yu Feizhou paused, “I can, but just transferring the wounds isn’t enough.”
Yan Wei said, “Leave the rest to me.”
He turned his gaze back to Mr. Bai, who was intent on killing them, and suddenly called out, “You wanted to silence us earlier, but now the entire academy knows. Soon, your appearance will be known far and wide.”
Mr. Bai sneered, “Then let them all die—after all, there are no good people in this world.”
Yan Wei raised an eyebrow, “Are there not?”
He spoke deliberately, his tone calm, each word laced with a hint of mockery. He said, “Was Jiang Jingyun not a good person?”
Mr. Bai’s movements noticeably faltered.
However, Yan Mingguang did not press his advantage—he caught Yan Wei’s gaze and slightly withdrew, standing in front of Mr. Bai, ready to strike at any moment.
Yan Wei, seemingly nonchalant, spoke in a tone as if they were having a casual conversation: “I never knew her, but I imagine a girl who was well-read and born into a prominent family, suddenly tortured to death in an instant… In such a dire situation, she never harbored any vengeful resentment after her death…”
As he spoke, his eyes appeared to wander aimlessly, but in reality, they were closely observing every move Mr. Bai made.
Mr. Bai’s eyes widened, his disheveled black hair covering most of his face, the exposed skin lifeless, resembling a malevolent ghost appearing in broad daylight. He stood there, tense, as if Yan Wei’s words had captivated his entire being.
Yan Wei chuckled lightly: “Sir, have you never thought about it, or are you afraid to think about it?”
“…Think about what?”
“You’ve orchestrated such a grand scheme, reversing the protective array of Guanyin Town, using the girl who liked you as a weapon, gathering countless deathly auras to nourish Jiang Jingyun’s corpse, and even fabricating a righteous reason, making us believe we were bringing artifacts to suppress evil spirits, when in reality, you used others to place a new malevolent spell beside Jiang Jingyun’s coffin to foster vengeful spirits… All of this, isn’t it to bring her back to life in another form, as a ghost doomed to eternal unrest?”
Mr. Bai suddenly flared up: “Who are you saying is doomed to eternal unrest!?”
“Even after enduring such torment in life, she refused to become a vengeful ghost after death, isn’t it because she wanted a peaceful journey to the underworld and a serene afterlife? What you’re doing is exactly the opposite of her wishes, turning her into a filthy monster that the world cannot tolerate.”
“The world cannot tolerate her…” Mr. Bai’s gaze became momentarily vacant, not noticing that Yan Mingguang’s injuries were slowly transferring to Yu Feizhou beside Yan Wei. “I can tolerate her, and that’s enough.”
Yan Wei sneered: “In your ghostly state, the world cannot tolerate you anymore. What right do you have to tolerate others?”
“Shut up, brat!”
“Sir, I only ask you this: a corpse that died with immense resentment, after five years of being soaked in deathly aura, has not yet turned into a vengeful ghost. Is it because the deathly aura is insufficient, or is it because the deceased… does not wish to awaken in such a manner?”
Mr. Bai trembled all over.
His face, revealed through his disheveled hair, grew even more lifeless at this moment, his pitch-black pupils like unfathomable depths of muddy sludge, swirling with filth that seemed to have been washed through multiple layers of the underworld, horrifying to the extreme. Yet, his expression was one of unprecedented confusion, the face of a demon revealing a childlike bewilderment that starkly contrasted with its appearance.
In a moment, his eyes turned fierce, and his voice tore from his throat: “—I’ll kill you!”
Yan Wei’s gaze sharpened, and he shouted: “Now!!”
In the next instant, the Moon Wheel in Yan Wei’s hand floated and spun, and Yan Mingguang instantly teleported in front of Mr. Bai, raising his hand and carelessly reaching into the dense deathly aura surrounding Mr. Bai, abruptly grabbing his neck!
The deathly aura quickly corroded Yan Mingguang’s hands, and Yu Feizhou activated his skill, causing the corrosion to instantly appear on his own hands, gripping the blue bead as blood dripped.
The Moon Wheel severed the space around Yan Mingguang and Mr. Bai, isolating them from the outside world as much as possible.
Mr. Bai’s eyes widened, and deathly aura fluttered within his sleeves.
At the Guanyin Temple, the entire array trembled. Song Cheng’an and Geng Liang spread their perception, doing their utmost to hinder the array’s operation at this moment.
In the schoolhouse, the deathly aura did not arrive in time, and Yan Mingguang did not hesitate to snap Mr. Bai’s neck at this moment.
Finally, they had succeeded in one strike.
He stepped back, leaving the deathly aura, and joined Yan Wei and Yu Feizhou.
Mr. Bai’s wide eyes stared forward, seemingly looking in the direction of Yan Wei and the others, but his pupils gradually lost focus. The black deathly aura, now without a vessel, slowly dissipated into the cold air, leaving the surroundings desolate and icy.
The thick snow seemed to absorb the filth. His eyes were vacant, his gaze falling on the chaotic snow, his half-human, half-ghost body suddenly collapsing as if its spine had been ripped out in an instant.
At the moment of his death, it seemed he saw a woman in a man’s plain robe standing on the snow, her hair adorned with a jade crown, turning her head to glance at him with a graceful demeanor.
The surroundings were silent, but a faint opera tune seemed to drift into his mind like rolling pearls.
“…The bridal sedan carries you to the Ma family, while the autumn wind sends me to the Yellow Springs… On one side, the mournful funeral music shatters the heart, on the other, the wedding trumpets blare towards the sky…”[1]
“…Yingtai remains in the mortal world, Shanbo has become a ghost, yet their hearts remain together, unseparated by life and death…”[2]
The heart of the one who died five years ago remains in the world, while the myriad resentments cannot pull back the ghost walking the path to the Yellow Springs.
The one still alive is neither living nor dead, more like a ghost wandering through time than an actual ghost.
