Only after Mo Qing left did the kneeling subordinate climb to his feet, shivering all the while.
Little flat-nose bewilderedly stared at me, then bewilderedly stared at Liu Cang Ling lying at a side. "Then do I kill or not…"
I looked at him. "You must be a door guard, right?"
He nodded.
"Then be a door guard forever, don't bother climbing up the ranks," I advised him. "The higher you climb, the faster you die."
The one calling the shots had left, and the little flat-nose left behind was a stupid one. I glanced at Zhi Yan, and seeing her gaze full of expectation, I said, "Sect Leader has already acknowledged me as a disciple; he has shown mercy today. For this corpse like-fellow, just take it that he is lucky today – throw him out of Chen Ji Shan."
"How can that be done! A person who intrudes upon the forbidden grounds, how can he be let off lightly?" Regarding this point, he actually seems very stubborn.
I curled my lip. "Then just drag him to any dungeon and shut him in."
He thought for a while, finding my words reasonable, and immediately ordered the people behind to pull Liu Cang Ling up. Zhi Yan wanted to stop them, but in the end she could only watch as Liu Cang Ling was dragged away.
Little flat-nose presently tried to pull me away with the help of another subordinate and I evaded his hands. "I'm heavily injured, go and call a few more people to bring over a sedan to carry me." I reasoned, "I am now the Sect Leader's direct disciple, if you don't serve me well, I might just go and lodge a complaint with him."
Another person hmmphed disdainfully. "Sect Leader only spared your life, and you have the cheek to flaunt yourself as his direct disciple, how thick-skinned."
I hmmphed even more disdainfully. "You poor-sighted door servants, what did your Sect Leader say earlier: 'Kill all intruders', but has he killed me? Other people would be killed, yet why did he not kill me? Use your brains and think, am I really just being thick-skinned?"
The two of them looked at each other in dismay and said nothing.
I waved my hand. "Go, call a palanquin for me."
They went obediently.
Zhi Yan sighed regretfully from the side. "Tyrannically abusing people…you sure are skillful in that."
Now that everyone is gone, I spoke openly to Zhi Yan. "Your 'saying one thing but meaning another' is pretty good as well." I was already dirtied all over, there was no point in hesitating, and so I simply slumped onto the rock. The danger was over and my injuries was painful to the point of becoming numb. I was starting to feel rather lazy. I languidly squinted at Zhi Yan, "Roaring that you don't want to go with Liu Cang Ling, shouting that you want to take revenge – but when it actually comes to killing Liu Cang Ling, you are the first one to oppose. Isn't that your enemy's son, yet you are still so concerned about him?"
Zhi Yan was rendered speechless by my words; she stammered for a long time before finally saying "The one I hate is his father, it has nothing to do with him…" She spoke haltingly, "Let's not talk about this. The 'sending me straight to the top' you said earlier, was it to send me to become Mo Qing's disciple?"
"Ah, something like that." Even though I originally planned to let her directly snatch away Mo Qing's position, but now, considering the current situation, the plan to use this body to kill Mo Qing can be said to be a huge goal with a long path ah.
"You are actually quite formidable." She praised, and then walked in front of me. "Then now you can return the body to me, right?"
"Yi?" My gaze turned. "Return it to you? Why?"
Her expression blanked, looking a little confused. "You sent all those people away earlier, was it not so you could return the body to me?"
I smilingly looked at her. "Little Lady, how did you come up with such a delusion? That was not me sending them away, that was purely me wanting them to carry a palanquin to receive me."
"You! Didn't you say you would return the body to me!"
I yawned widely. "I did say I would return the body to you, but I didn't say when I would return it to you."
"Lu Zhao Yao!" She was frazzled with anger. "You! You are shameless!"
I haven't heard that phrase for a long time as well, how especially nostalgic. I calmly waved my hands to placate her fury. "Let's discuss a deal." I gazed at her soul, and said, "This body, I will eventually return it to you, after all it's not like I particularly want to live again. I only have a wish, and once I fulfill that wish, I will return your body to you. In the meantime, just take it that you are lending this body to me; while I can't give you a body in exchange, I can use your body to help you take revenge. What do you think?"
She fell silent.
"I'll be straightforward with you, this Jian Xin Sect Leader, to me, he is probably just a small fry. But with your own abilities, if you want to take revenge, who knows which monkey year or horse month you have to wait until." I quirked the corner of my lips into a smile. "When I was alive, the number of people who wanted to beg me, Lu Zhao Yao, for help, amounted to even more than all the grass on Chen Ji Shan. I usually never even gave them any attention; now this opportunity is offered to you, this is simply something that can only occur in your wildest dreams ah."
Zhi Yan's expression was grave.
Before she had time to reply, the sound of distant footsteps reached our ears. I turned my gaze to the distance, "Ah, the palanquin is here." Glancing at Zhi Yan, I smiled, "Didn't you want to enter the Demon Path? Today, out of the goodness of my heart, let me teach you your first lesson – in the Demon Path, my actions are not called tyrannical abuse, its called strategy. Remember that; when you step onto the stage you have to oppress everyone else, that way, your days ahead will be smoother and easier."
These few subordinates worked quickly, within a blink of an eye, they had arrived in front of my eyes, and they very carefully helped the heavily injured me up the palanquin.
However, at this moment, Zhi Yan finally opened her mouth to speak. "No, I must carry out this revenge by myself," she said. "This is my own family's enmity."
I raised an eyebrow. Mn, indeed a girl with a strong spine. What a pity-
I climbed up the palanquin. The four demonic cultivators actually have some skill; they steadily moved forward, and I glanced at Zhi Yan, with a smirk on my lips and a wave of my hand.
What a pity – you took too long to say it, I can't come down the palanquin now ah.
A wind swept beneath the demonic cultivators' feet, and the sedan was lifted, bringing me forward. I saw that Zhi Yan, after snapping out of her flabbergasted daze, 'rapidly' gave chase behind the palanquin, but as a 'new ghost', her floating speed was so slow that one could only feel sorry for her.
In just a short period of time, a huge distance had opened up between her and the palanquin.
This is the second lesson I am teaching her out of the goodness of my heart. I laid on the sedan comfortably, letting her chase and curse at me from behind, thinking: to cultivate the Demon Path, you can't trust anyone. These little ladies, coming from those prestigious and righteous sects, are simply too delicate and inexperienced.
The four palanquin bearers were steady, and I began to feel a little sleepy as I laid about. The time when we left the forbidden grounds was just as the thunder and rain had come to an abrupt stop, the moon beginning to peek out of the fog of clouds in the sky – it was the darkest hour of the night. Who would have thought that in this life, after becoming a ghost, I would still have the chance to wreck havoc.
I thought, my new life was just about to begin…
However…it was actually not the case.
Because the next morning, the moment I woke up, I realised…
I.Am. A. Ghost. Again!
Completely without warning!
Completely without warning!
The important things must be emphasized twice!
Floating beside Zhi Yan's unconscious body, I was completely shocked into a daze.
After recovering slightly from my shock, I tried forcefully entering Zhi Yan's body again, but ended up only going through it. The transparent lower half of my body sank through the bed and failed to possess her body.
Why?
Perplexed, I stared at the half-dead, half-alive body and pondered deeply.
Yesterday, when I was being carried back, while I still had some awareness as to what was going on, I had been half-conscious – the body had been severely injured and I lacked the energy to control it properly. I simply allowed the palanquin bearers to carry me to Xi Yue Peak, and waited for the people of Xi Yue Peak to finish treating my injuries and cleaning me up before putting me to bed.
Up until I closed my eyes, everything seemed normal, and there had been nothing out of the ordinary. The soul of that little lady from the celestial sect had been left at the valley where the gravestone was. In the short span of one night, with her speed, it was impossible for her to have reached this place to snatch back her body… …
"Nn… …"
Zhi Yan's body let out a soft noise, slowly beginning to wake.
She actually woke!
I was utterly shocked. Her soul! It actually floated back on its own! Had she pushed me out of her body!
"I..." She moved her arms, and immediately let out a soft hiss. "Si...it hurts."
Duh. Such severe injuries, only I, a tenacious demon who have experienced all sorts of hardships, could bear them without a sound.
"Lu Zhi Yan." I called her.
"I am not surnamed Lu!" She immediately retorted, then turned her head to stare at me, as if she had seen a ghost… Mn, exactly as she had seen a ghost, her entire face looked startled as she stared at me. "You!" She gasped twice consecutively, and this gasping motion was enough to provoke such a sharp pain in her chest that she was unable to form any words, only pointing a trembling finger at me, her face white.
When the moment of pain had gone, she finally seemed to realise: "My body…is back."
Hn. I scoffed coldly. "Indeed it is back."
"How can it be… I was obviously unable to give much chase yesterday…why?" Her face was full of puzzlement and desire for answers as she stared at me.
How would I know!
I was furious, how can people nowadays all still pretend to be pure and good even after gaining an advantage! Mo Qing was one example, merely a pigeon who took over a magpie's nest, yet still coming to my gravestone to flaunt his insignificant achievement; now here is this person, after besting me, she still has the gall to ask me why she won.
I ignored her. I floated slowly to the window and glanced outside.
How depressing.
Without a body, I was unable to seek revenge on Mo Qing. The fact that my perfect plan had once again flopped was secondary, what troubled me the most now was: to cover twenty li on ground, I had to float for three days. Then now, from Xi Yue Peak to my gravestone, how many days would I need to float?
I glanced at the sky. It was about 7.45am now. If I want to return to the gravestone, I have to start moving now, otherwise once noon comes, with the strong sunlight, it would be impossible to travel.
Just as I was about to quickly pass through the walls of the room to leave, Zhi Yan struggled to sit up from the bed, and she called out to me, "Are you leaving?"
"Or else what? Stay around and admire the happy lives of the living?" I turned my head to look at her, and saw her delicate and frail appearance, with "doomed to be bullied by low-ranked demonic cultivators to the point of being ignored even by a dog" written all over her face. I fell silent for an instant, and eventually decided to give her some advice.
"A word of advice, at the first opportunity, go and hug Mo Qing… no, go hug that Li Chen Lan's thick thigh, and think of ideas to get close to him. Letting him take revenge for you, compared to you blindly stumbling about in Wan Lu Sect, is much more convenient and safe. Don't keep inflexibly thinking of taking revenge by yourself – whoever kills him, doesn't he die either way? Resources must be reasonably used. The identity of Li Chen Lan's disciple that I have gifted to you, just take it as a gift of fate from you knocking your head on my gravestone. I'm going."
I no longer gave her any more attention, wobbly floating away.
(Translated by jillaimee at Silent Moon Translations)
I travelled over land and water, taking almost ten days to float back to my gravestone. I resumed my days of sitting in front of a nameless gravestone, sighing over my tragic ghostly life after death.
But!
Indeed Heaven never leaves no paths for ghosts!
It was half a month later, in the setting sun of the evening, that I felt a celestial aura floating over to my gravestone. At that moment I had been hiding behind the gravestone to hide from the sunlight, and when I saw the visitor, my brows rose. "Lu Zhi Yan, you are here to mourn and cry for me?"
I…am not surnamed Lu." She replied me in between sniffles, and sat in front of my gravestone. "I… I better give this body to you, you can help me take revenge. Your Demon Path, it is too difficult to cultivate…"
When I heard this, I lazily rested my head on the gravestone, raising my crossed legs as I sized her up from top to bottom. "Oh, begging me to help ah."
Now this, is the attitude and stance I'm familiar with.
"You…you are willing to help me?"
I smiled at her with my eyes crinkled, revealing a little tiger tooth. "That will depend, on what benefits you can give me."
"Benefits?" Zhi Yan stared at me through her haze of tears. "I've already given my body to you, what other benefits can I give you?"
"That is true," I nodded. "Then let's put that on credit. When I return your body to you, you can give me the benefits then."
Zhi Yan had obviously been bullied badly by those demonic cultivators on Xi Yue Peak, towards my "extorting the investment and also cheating away the profits" behaviour, she had no objections and nodded her head in agreement.
I was very satisfied. "The sun is still up now, the yang is too strong. Last time, I failed to squeeze into your body in the daytime, let's try again when it's night. As for the free time we have till then..." I crinkled my eyes in a smile. "Tell me about how those ** little evil spirits on Xi Yue Peak bullied you."
In a deal, the most important thing is to be fair. I said I would help, so I would definitely help her. No watering down the goods, no mixing in fake goods, guaranteed sincere treatment and fair trade to old and young alike. If I say I'll hit you, then I'll definitely hit you until you cry and scream for your daddy.
Translated by jillaimee