Alone, Beautifully – Chapter 113
by Little PandaMy Wife (25)
“It’s time to close the net.”
Xu Jiao couldn’t care less about how outrageous Zheng Zhiyu’s request was.
She gently flipped her phone screen, letting Zheng Zhiyu see the photo on it. Zheng Zhiyu didn’t yet know her purpose in showing this ugly bald man to her. She slightly frowned and said to Xu Jiao with some reproach:
“At such a good moment, why are you showing me this mood-killer?”
Xu Jiao’s throat moved.
She zoomed out the photo, then pushed her phone towards Zheng Zhiyu’s direction, letting her look at the chat history on it. Zheng Zhiyu extended a finger, pushing the phone aside, unwilling to look. But while her face showed this, her peripheral vision honestly followed Xu Jiao’s intention, taking in all the content at a glance.
Just this one glance—
All her romantic thoughts were put away. She took the phone from Xu Jiao’s hand, carefully read through all the previous records, and then felt an indescribable sense of absurdity.
She originally thought that monk’s scheme against Xu Jiao was set up many years ago in that mountain village, and later achieved his purpose by controlling Xu Jiao’s foolish parents.
The lesson given to that bald master last time was also sufficiently severe.
However.
It turned out that what the other party planned to do was much more than she had imagined, and their desire to obtain the Ghost King’s will was also stronger than hers.
It made sense…
How could someone who patiently schemed for over twenty years be the type to make only one move and then wait to close the net? To ensure absolute success, this fellow would make many plans and many preparations. This was the correct approach for a person with deep cunning.
She had thought too simply.
Now the enemy was hidden in the shadows, while she and Xu Jiao were in plain sight. Xu Jiao had been kept in the dark for these twenty-some years, and what they had uncovered now might only be the tip of the iceberg of that fake master’s numerous facades. They knew very little about what plans the other party would use or what information they possessed.
The situation was very passive.
After realizing the Damocles’ sword of the Five Elements hanging over Xu Jiao’s head, Zheng Zhiyu’s last ambiguous thoughts were dispelled. She let the items she had bought earlier out of mischief be swept into the corner to gather dust. She sat upright at the edge of Xu Jiao’s bed, and although this posture was too strange, fortunately, both of them were already used to it.
“This formation presumably cannot be completed in just a day or two. Last time, that old fellow was insufficiently prepared and misjudged my strength, which is why he carelessly allowed me to suppress part of his cultivation. If we were to encounter him again in his formation now…” The consequences would be unthinkable.
She withheld those unpleasant words, but Xu Jiao already understood her meaning.
However, with insufficient information and knowing nothing about the Ghost King, how could the two of them break the master’s scheme?
Xu Jiao climbed down from the upper bunk and quietly left the room. She went outside to wash her face with cold water. In this midsummer season, perhaps because some pipes were exposed to sunlight, the water that first came out was still warm. Fortunately, after leaving the tap on for a while longer, the water inside would become refreshingly cool again.
Zheng Zhiyu followed her silhouette and saw her wash her face several times. With her back to Zheng Zhiyu and slightly hunched over, after a while, she spoke:
“How’s your investigation going on this matter?”
“Regarding the Ghost King…”
Xu Jiao didn’t say the rest too loudly because this washbasin was next to the bathroom, and the space was in a semi-enclosed state, so there was an echo. If someone were to walk by from the corridor, they could easily hear the commotion.
Zheng Zhiyu saw that she was deep in thought and, remembering Xu Jiao’s inexplicable low fever for many days before, couldn’t help but feel some fear in hindsight. She immediately shared all her recent findings:
“Earlier, I went to ask those wild ghosts in the mountains, heading in the direction of Mount Tai, after all, the Eastern Peak Underworld is below it, which is where the netherworld is located. The ghosts that can wander around there without being captured mostly have some ability.”
“Indeed, those mountain ghosts I met on the way before knew nothing when asked. Along the way, I even encountered a newly formed vengeful ghost, with such heavy resentment that it almost implicated me… But in the end, I still managed to inquire about news of that Ghost King.”
“I heard that the Ghost King’s soul is special, neither human nor demon nor spirit, but in life, she received guidance from a great master. The first half of her life was barely smooth, but later she got involved in matters of the mystic realm and died unexpectedly. Afterwards, she became a vengeful ghost with heavy resentment.”
“The netherworld originally wouldn’t accept her, but because an official had been bribed beforehand, he came specially to send her soul across the Bridge of Helplessness. They planned to detain her in the netherworld after her resentment dissipated. Initially, everything went smoothly, but later, who knows what she experienced in the netherworld, she actually led evil ghosts up from the eighteen levels of hell, threw the netherworld into chaos, and went to the human world.”
“Some say she wanted to find her lover to cross the Bridge of Helplessness together after she awakened, others say it’s because she had enemies in the mortal world and wanted revenge… Combining this with the bald man’s mention of the Ghost King’s wife, I guess she might be trying to find her lover’s reincarnation.”
“And the fact that she could break out so persistently might be because she left some kind of mark in your body. You’ve been having low fevers lately and dreaming of past events, probably on the verge of soul separation… I guess it’s because she wants to find you.”
Towards the end, Zheng Zhiyu’s words carried a hint of awkwardness.
Listening carefully, her words even had a tinge of sourness.
Xu Jiao, however, shook her head: “That’s not right.”
She thought of last night’s dream, where she was human but oddly had a fox’s tail. Combining this with what that “Zheng Zhiyu” said in the dream, she now realized her initial guess was wrong.
The Ghost King wasn’t Zheng Zhiyu.
It was her.
It was Xu Jiao’s past life.
How did she transform from such a legendary existence into the ordinary human she is now? And Zheng Zhiyu, who originally walked the path of immortal cultivation and should have headed towards a bright future, why did she become this highly confusing red-clothed vengeful ghost?
Droplets of water still hung on Xu Jiao’s face, with transparent beads clinging to her eyelashes and falling into her eyes. Her inadvertent blinking caused them to overflow, dropping down like tears.
Her appearance was originally somewhat otherworldly. Whether due to spending too much time with Zheng Zhiyu lately or because her body wasn’t well and she often had a low fever, her complexion was somewhat pale. Now, with these water droplets falling one by one, it gave an illusory sense of fragility.
It reminded Zheng Zhiyu of when she was in bed.
Changing from her usual cold demeanor, when pushed to the brink, she would pant softly, uttering those pleading words in a soft, husky voice, as if all reason had been lost.
After a while, Zheng Zhiyu finally reacted to what Xu Jiao had just said: “Hm? What’s wrong?”
Xu Jiao opened her mouth, wanting to tell about her dream, but as the words reached her lips, she thought about her recent condition and the monk’s scheme. She couldn’t be certain whether this dream was true or false, or if it was influenced by some external factors.
Even her intuition was hard to trust.
Finally, Xu Jiao pursed her lips and, looking at Zheng Zhiyu, changed her words: “Nothing… I was just thinking, since we can’t figure out this Ghost King business, why don’t we take the initiative?”
“That person has laid down such a harmful formation in our school, doing something unethical. Whether for my own safety or the safety of the school’s teachers and students, eliminating him would be beneficial for everyone.”
“We can deal with this abnormal situation after resolving his issue. It’s not too late. If we can solve all problems at once, it’s to our advantage. If we deal with him and I still have this persistent low fever, we can figure out a way then. There’s still time.”
“Taking action now, we won’t lose either way. Sitting and waiting for death is disadvantageous.”
Zheng Zhiyu thought for a moment and found Xu Jiao’s words quite reasonable. So she said to her, “I saw you learned those talismans quickly last time. You must have a talent in this area. On my way back, I picked out a few more powerful talismans from some shops selling netherworld items and brought them back. You might want to take a look and prepare early.”
Xu Jiao nodded, shook off the water droplets from her hand, and went with her towards the window at the end of the corridor. This way, their voices would spread outward and not echo in the corridor.
As the two moved, Zheng Zhiyu pulled out those talismans from her sleeve. The talisman paper used was ordinary yellow paper, with bright red cinnabar writing on it. They looked ordinary, but as Zheng Zhiyu moved, the yellow paper made a strange sizzling sound where it came into contact with her.
At the same time, layers of black qi emerged from Zheng Zhiyu’s fingertips where she touched the paper.
It was as if she was silently using yin energy to counter the power on the paper.
This was even when Zheng Zhiyu wasn’t approaching with malicious intent.
She quickly handed the items to Xu Jiao. When Xu Jiao clearly saw the characters on them, she noticed that the cinnabar color had faded significantly, and the edges of the yellow paper showed signs of being burned. She couldn’t imagine how uncomfortable it must have been for Zheng Zhiyu to carry these things all the way back.
It was like…
A person struggling to carry four or five large durians home with bare hands.
This required a kind of pain-enduring determination.
Xu Jiao suddenly felt a softness in her heart. Though her face didn’t show it, she knew she had softened a bit more towards this person in front of her. She took the talismans and asked Zheng Zhiyu:
“You’re a ghost, why are you so professional about these ghost-catching things?”
Zheng Zhiyu made a dry joke: “Maybe because I encountered them often when I first became a ghost. After getting beaten up many times, my ability to appreciate the quality of sticks and clubs has made a qualitative leap?”
Xu Jiao: “…”
Zheng Zhiyu noticed her speechlessness and raised her hand to pat Xu Jiao’s head, casually saying, “I’m just teasing you. I’ve already said I don’t remember.”
Xu Jiao lowered her head again to look at those talismans.
She thought.
Zheng Zhiyu knows, perhaps because she was skilled at these things when she was alive…
The reason she learned quickly was also because, in her previous life, her original self had been taught by Zheng Zhiyu.
Thinking about it this way, that dream still had some credibility.
Seeing her thoughtful expression, Zheng Zhiyu couldn’t help but ask with concern, “What’s wrong? Did you think of something again?”
Xu Jiao shook her head. Without concrete evidence, she didn’t dare to voice this speculation carelessly for fear of misleading—
But this moment of silence.
Unexpectedly became her last chance to speak.
That night.
Xu Jiao’s soul was pulled out of her body.
Zheng Zhiyu was originally guarding by her side and should have reacted immediately, but that invisible force moved so quickly that even she couldn’t keep up with its speed!
On the other side.
In the moonlight, a shiny bald head moved slightly. The person who had been meditating opened his eyes, touched the string of beads emitting a red glow around his neck, and revealed a cold smile. He spoke to the disciple who was looking over:
“After waiting for so long, it’s time to close the second net.”
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