It was a Half-MaQuillage Woman!
The Half-Maquillage Woman was a low-level ghost formed by the jealousy of older women toward young girls.
Unable to accept the inevitability of aging, they were convinced that consuming the blood and flesh of young girls could restore their youth. They liked to squeak in high-pitched tones to fake maidenly voices, but as the saying goes, eyes are the windows to the soul. They couldn't hide their old age, no matter how hard they tried. The bottom half of their face would appear younger the more blood and flesh they consumed, but the upper half that held the eyes would age faster. The stark contrast was far more horrifying than normal aging, but they would still stubbornly refuse to see the error of their ways.
Xie Lian emerged dripping from the bath and set a foot on the edge of the water tub, poised to take her down with a leaping attack. But at that very moment Quan Yizhen seemed to return from the brink of death—he shot to his feet and let loose a mighty slap. The Half-Maquillage Woman was just too weak, and she was knocked to the ground with a wailing cry.
"Have mercy!"
Xie Lian unhurriedly grabbed his cultivation robes and casually draped them over himself. "So you're the one who stole the Brocade Immortal?"
"It wasn't me, it wasn't me!" the Half-Maquillage Woman quickly pleaded. "I wouldn't dare break into the T emple of Divine Might!"
That was almost certainly true, if Xie Lian thought about it. A low-level ghost like this really wouldn't have the guts to break into a T emple of Divine Might so rashly, lest she be blown to smithereens. Besides, this Half-Maquillage Woman probably had no connection to the Brocade Immortal—by a rough estimate, her ghost age was eighty-something, while the Brocade Immortal was centuries old.
"Then where did you get your hands on this brocade robe?" Xie Lian questioned.
The Half-Maquillage Woman picked up her headscarf and covered the top half of her face anew. "T o…to answer Daozhang!" her voice shrieked high again. "I…I found it while browsing the shops in Ghost City…" "..."
You could do that? Find something like that while browsing the shops in Ghost City?!
Xie Lian was speechless for a moment. Then he asked, "Who sold it to you?"
"Daozhang! I beg you, please let me off the hook!" the Half-Maquillage Woman anxiously begged. "I don't know! It's not like businesses in Ghost City need to have eighteen generations of ancestry checked!"
That was true too. If starting a business there required such a thorough background check, Ghost City wouldn't be nearly as bustling. Commerce could only come alive if there was room for loopholes.
Xie Lian interrogated her for a while, but it was fruitless.
After determining that this Half-Maquillage Woman was no more than a clueless little minion, he called to Quan Yizhen.
"Qi Ying, have one of your heavenly officials come to collect this female ghost."
But Quan Yizhen replied, "No. I don't have any heavenly officials in my palace."
"Not a single one?" Xie Lian asked. "You've never appointed any deputy generals?"
"Nope," Quan Yizhen answered unapologetically.
"..."
As it turned out, the Martial God of the West always operated alone. He'd never appointed anyone to any position, not even a helper to manage the day-to-day essentials. At least for Xie Lian, it was because he couldn't afford it. Quan Yizhen's situation could probably only be explained by his eccentric character. With no other choice, Xie Lian fumbled for a clay jar and used it to seal the Half-Maquillage Woman away. Then he took the brocade robe from Lang Ying's hands and shook it open to inspect it. His brows knitted slightly.
It certainly was wicked, but...what was the best way to describe it? In Xie Lian's opinion, its evil qi was oddly superficial—like it was nothing more than a heavy layer of powder and rouge rather than emitted from deep within. Xie Lian's gut told him that this thing wasn't as dangerous as the rumors said, but he was still on guard.
Quan Yizhen glanced at the robe. "It's fake."
Xie Lian was taken aback. "How do you know?"
"It's fake," Quan Yizhen repeated. "I've seen the real Brocade Immortal before. It's way more powerful than that thing."
"When did you see it?" Xie Lian asked, curious. "There are actually quite a few people who've seen the Brocade Immortal before, but they still couldn't identify it. So how are you so certain?"
Quan Yizhen fell silent. At that very moment, Ling Wen reached out to him via the spiritual communication array.
"Your Highness, we've just received information that there is a little ghost with the Brocade Immortal in hand, spotted about ten kilometers from your Puqi Shrine," her voice rang in his ear. "We'll need to trouble you to go take a look."
"Another one? All right," Xie Lian replied. Then he glanced at Quan Yizhen, and without making a sound, he asked within the array, "Oh, by the way, one more thing. Ling Wen, has Qi Ying seen the Brocade Immortal before?"
"Qi Ying?" Ling Wen said. "He didn't just see it. It was much more than that."
"What do you mean?" Xie Lian asked.
"It's complicated," Ling Wen replied. "Is Your Highness aware that His Highness Qi Ying wasn't always the martial god who ruled the west? That role was once held by His Highness Yin Yu."
Xie Lian recalled the Wind Master telling him this while he stripped during their adventure at Paradise Manor, and he couldn't help but feel his heart squeeze.
"I've heard that before. Weren't the two Highnesses shixiong and shidi—a pair of martial brothers-in-arms?"
Back before Yin Yu ascended, he was their sect's head disciple. One day, he saw a brash little street urchin, and in a moment of softheartedness, he asked his shifu to take the boy in. That child was Quan Yizhen.
They were peers for many years, and Yin Yu always took very good care of Quan Yizhen. He ascended first and even appointed Quan Yizhen as a deputy general.
"You've met Qi Ying a few times, so you should know," Ling Wen said. "He's a little bit…" "Socially unaware? That's a good thing," Xie Lian said.
Ling Wen chuckled. "Good or not depends on the person and the situation. Some people think he's a selfish loose cannon, ignorant of manners, who doesn't give people the respect they deserve. If it wasn't for His Highness Yin Yu taking the heat on his behalf and smoothing things over when he first set foot in the Heavenly Court, who knows how many people would've tried to pulverize him."
"Those two Highnesses must share a very good relationship then," Xie Lian mused.
"It was good at first," Ling Wen said. "But unfortunately, later on, Qi Ying also ascended."
Both ascended from western lands, so how should it be handled? Thus, the two agreed to rule the West together.
Shixiong and shidi, presiding over their domain together —it sounded like a beautiful tale. But at the end of the day, one mountain could not support two tigers.
If Yin Yu's abilities could be called one in a million, worthy of a Heavenly Tribulation sent forth from the heavens, then Quan Yizhen's abilities could carry him through three Heavenly Tribulations. In fact, maybe not even one in a million possessed such potential. It was fine at the beginning, as the gap between them wasn't so obvious. But the more time passed, the larger the rift grew.
Quan Yizhen was clearly antisocial; not only did he not attempt to build relationships with his fellow heavenly colleagues, he also never tried to ingratiate himself with his devotees. He actually did the opposite. He didn't bother to remember the names of any heavenly officials aside from Yin Yu, and he was audacious enough to regularly tell off and even beat up his followers. He was as out of line as they came, but his domain grew bigger and bigger, and the number of his followers only increased. In comparison, the Palace of Yin Yu began to lose its shine. Finally, the Palace of Yin Yu grew restless.
This shixiong and shidi always gave each other presents on their birthdays, and one year, Yin Yu gifted Quan Yizhen a mighty suit of armor.
"...The Brocade Immortal?" Xie Lian asked.
"That's right," Ling Wen said.
Not only could the Brocade Immortal drain blood from and kill its wearer, but it also had an even more unusual ability. If a person was given the robe as a gift, they would be forced to obey every command of the one who gave it to them.
Since both shixiong and shidi had always been friendly with each other, Quan Yizhen put the armor on without a second thought. Soon after, Yin Yu played a seemingly unintentional joke while Quan Yizhen was under the control of the Brocade Immortal. And Quan Yizhen, with his mind possessed, did exactly as he was told. If not for Jun Wu, who noticed something amiss and stopped him in time, Quan Yizhen would've cut off his own head and dribbled it like a ball.
"That incident was a huge deal at the time—it caused quite the uproar," Ling Wen said. "Naturally, Yin Yu was banished from his esteemed heavenly position then and there after harming one of his heavenly colleagues."
Logically, the two of them should've fallen out afterward…but Xie Lian recalled that silly play the worshippers of the Palace of Qi Ying put on during the Mid-Autumn Festival Banquet. The clown jumping up and down behind Quan Yizhen's back was most likely Yin Yu, and yet Quan Yizhen's reaction was outrage, followed by his leaping down to the Mortal Realm to knock some heads.
"I believe Qi Ying still thinks very highly of His Highness Yin Yu. Might there have been a misunderstanding?"
"Who knows," Ling Wen said. "Whether or not there was a misunderstanding, the person in question has been banished for so many years now. So who cares?"
Xie Lian nodded and was about to bid her farewell when Ling Wen added, "Wait. Your Highness, there's more. I wasn't done earlier. Thirty kilometers out from your Puqi Shrine, there is another unknown creature with the Brocade Immortal in hand."
"Isn't that a little too far? And why are there two?" Xie Lian asked.
"I'm not done," Ling Wen said. "Listen well: twenty-two kilometers to the northwest, seven-and-a-half kilometers southeast, eleven kilometers north…" After reporting twenty-seven or twenty-eight locations in one breath, Ling Wen finally finished. "Yeah. That's about it for now."
By the time she was done reporting, Xie Lian had forgotten everything and felt rather woeful. "Your palace is quite efficient this time, isn't it? But 'for now'? Are you saying there might be more…? Could Ghost City be distributing Brocade Immortals?"
"Pretty much," Ling Wen replied. "In Ghost City, there are many peddlers of unknown origins who sell counterfeits while wearing fake skins. They change skins once they're done, so those in the know usually don't randomly buy things off the street. Still, there are ghosts who think of it like hunting for antiques and like the thrill of hoping they hit the jackpot. Many small-time vendors in the Ghost Realm heard through the grapevine that the Brocade Immortal has been stolen and are using this chance to scam buyers, saying any random robe they dug up is the real deal. Unbelievably enough, there are still quite a few ghosts who fall for it and try the robes out on people. It's really giving us intel gatherers a headache."
This would thoroughly interfere with their search for the real Brocade Immortal; with so many "Brocade Immortals" popping up everywhere, it would be impossible to find the real one. However, since they were assigned the mission, they had to come up with a way to complete it.
"I guess we should start with the closest one and search from there," Xie Lian said.
Xie Lian didn't have any spiritual powers, Quan Yizhen didn't know how to draw the teleportation array, and neither of them had any deputy officials. But of the locations Ling Wen had given, thankfully the closest to them was an abandoned dyehouse only two-and-a half kilometers out.
Without further ado, even though it was the middle of the night, they hastily departed.
At first, Xie Lian was going to make Lang Ying stay behind at Puqi Shrine, but he tagged along and refused to be ushered back. Xie Lian figured this trip shouldn't be too dangerous and could help give Lang Ying some experience— he was planning to train the boy in cultivation anyway. So he was allowed to stick around.
The three hurried on their way under the cover of night.
As they ran along, they heard creepy voices chanting a work song on the road ahead.
"Hey-hey-ho!
"Hey-hey-ho!"
Hearing that familiar work song, Xie Lian stopped his steps. A giant shadow gradually emerged from the mist ahead, along with four ghost fires floating around it. Quan Yizhen was poised to make a move, ready to beat it down without asking a single question, but Xie Lian pulled him back.
"Don't worry. I know them."
Sure enough, four golden skeletons carrying a step-litter appeared before them. Quan Yizhen had never seen anything so magical before, and his eyes went wide and shimmering.
"Is this Your Highness the Crown Prince of Xianle?" the head skeleton sang.
"It is. May I help you?" Xie Lian answered.
"No troubles here, no troubles here," the golden skeleton sang. "We brothers have time on our hands and wanted to inquire if His Highness the Crown Prince is in a hurry. Perhaps we can give you a ride?"
The journey wasn't long, so Xie Lian wanted to decline, but Quan Yizhen cut in and exclaimed "Yes!" He was already eagerly climbing aboard and looked like he really wanted to give this strange-but-majestic step-litter a try. Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He'd just climbed up to grab Quan Yizhen when the step-litter tipped and chucked the intruder out. Xie Lian swayed as well, but someone steadied him.
"San…" he blurted, but when he looked back, it was Lang Ying. He'd climbed on without anyone noticing and was holding tightly onto Xie Lian's arm. A pair of inky black eyes watched him silently.
The skeletons hastily picked up the step-litter, and their eight legs spun like four fiery wheels. They dashed steadily away while shouting into the night.
"Move, move! Don't block the way, don't block the way!"
Quan Yizhen was heartlessly thrown onto the ground, but he jumped to his feet, clearly not giving up. He was determined to leap on, but the skeletons were too fast and he was always a step behind. He remained in hot pursuit, looking like he really, really wanted to ride in the step-litter, just to feel the thrill, just once. Xie Lian watched Quan Yizhen give chase so vigorously as he rode along, and he couldn't help but feel that this was a little mean. Wasn't this like they were bullying a child?
Even though he knew this step-litter belonged to Hua Cheng and he might not welcome other heavenly officials riding it, he couldn't help but ask, "Um…can't this litter carry three people?"
"It can't, it can't! It can only seat two!" the skeletons sang.
They ran at top speed the entire way, and Quan Yizhen chased them the whole time. Once they arrived at their destination, the golden skeletons allowed Xie Lian and Lang Ying to disembark, then picked up the step-litter and ran off, speedily disappearing from sight. In the end, Quan Yizhen never managed to board it, and he watched the step-litter disappear with extreme disappointment and visible longing.
Xie Lian stepped off the litter holding Lang Ying's hand.
Ahead of them, he could hear loud cries and wails coming from that abandoned dyehouse. Xie Lian was puzzled. Didn't Ling Wen say this dyehouse was abandoned?
As they walked closer, the wailing voices grew clearer.
"This lowly one won't ever dare to sell counterfeits in ol' lord Hua-chengzhu's territory again!"
"We'll really never do it again! But please tell the good ol' Chengzhu that I got those fake Brocade Immortals from other ghosts! I'm a victim too!"
The three arrived at the dyehouse and bumped into a black-clad, ghost-masked man who had only just emerged from within. It seemed he'd been waiting for a long time, and he bent slightly to greet them.
"Your Highness."
The voice belonged to the officer who had once helped Xie Lian by catching Lang Ying on the streets of Ghost City. At the time, Xie Lian had seen a cursed shackle on his wrist.
The Wind Master had once told him that this person might be Yin Yu, as there were only so many heavenly officials who had been banished in recent years.
Xie Lian asked, "How do I address you, sir?"
"Please, Your Highness. I am but a nobody," the masked man replied.
As they entered the abandoned dyehouse, Xie Lian was blown away. There were all kinds of clothes hung on countless wooden racks: wedding robes, government attire, ladies' satin, uniforms, children's clothes… There were also crude hemp shirts stained with copious amounts of blood, so much it was like they were afraid people couldn't tell that there was something off about them. Piles upon piles, layers upon layers, and they were all sinister and heavy with evil qi, like each and every one was a living corpse standing before them. Even if they weren't the Brocade Immortal, they certainly couldn't be anything good.
Long strips of fabric dyed in many colors were hung high from the wooden stacks, some ghastly white, some filthy. It had been a long time since anyone last touched them. Quan Yizhen crouched next to a large black vat of dye and became singularly fixated on the contents—the fluid had a funny color and emitted a strange smell. Xie Lian was afraid that he was going to dip his finger in and lick it at any second, so he hastily dragged him away.
Outside in the yard, a band of ghosts were bound by a single iron chain, and they crouched low, hugging their heads.
"This is…?" Xie Lian wondered.
"All the nefarious creatures guilty of selling the Brocade Immortal in Ghost City are here, as are those who attempted to use it anywhere nearby," the ghost-masked man answered. "A total of ninety-eight pieces of clothing have been collected."
Ninety-eight pieces, and they must have all been caught extremely quickly. Xie Lian was slightly touched.
"If there is any new movement, we will proceed with the utmost haste on Your Highness's behalf," the ghost-masked man continued.
Hearing this, Xie Lian couldn't help but say, "There's no need. Please tell San…Hua-chengzhu that he really doesn't need to trouble himself like this. I can take care of it myself too."
The results would've been the same, it just would've taken a little more time and energy. He was a titled heavenly official working for the heavens, after all; even if he didn't have many worshippers, this was still his job.
"Naturally, Chengzhu understands that Your Highness is capable of doing this effortlessly," the masked man replied.
"But this is also precisely why he hopes My Lord won't waste energy on small errands that anyone could accomplish. Your Highness's time and effort should be spent on more important matters."
"..." Xie Lian deliberated for a moment, but in the end, he still asked, "May I ask how your Chengzhu is doing right now…?"
Lang Ying nonchalantly swayed back and forth next to Xie Lian.
"Chengzhu is very busy at the moment," the ghost-masked man replied.
"Oh. That's good," Xie Lian said quickly. "Hopefully everything goes well for him. I wish him success."
They questioned every single ghost that had been arrested, and each and every one was adamant that their product had been distributed to them by a mysterious masked individual. They didn't seem to be lying. But in a place like Ghost City, how many hundreds of masked individuals roamed the streets every day?
The interrogation was fruitless. And so, the ghost-masked man yanked on the chain and bid them farewell as he led those yowling ghosts away. The ninety-eight pieces of ghost clothing were left behind. Xie Lian felt that in all the years he had spent collecting old clothes, he had never seen so many in one place. As he rummaged through them, he suspected that not a single one was the real thing.
"Qi Ying, why don't you come and take a look?" he said to Quan Yizhen.
However, Quan Yizhen only scratched beneath his loose, curly hair and shook his head. "T oo many."
T oo many ghost robes. Every single piece of cloth emitted evil qi, now all intermingled. It made it impossible to tell what each one was. If someone possessed a sharp sense of taste, they would be able to differentiate between the flavors of candied pear and apple stuffing, but they could hardly do the same if ninety-eight different kinds of fruit stuffing were mixed together and presented to them to try.
Xie Lian tried to think of another method, but when he turned his head to look, he saw that Quan Yizhen had picked up a robe and was about to try it on then and there. Xie Lian hastily stopped him and hung the robe back onto the rack.
"Stop, stop, stop. Qi Ying, let's agree on two things: first, don't put random things in your mouth, and second, don't put on random clothes. Those are both very dangerous things to do."
Quan Yizhen pointed behind Xie Lian. "Then what about him?"
Xie Lian suddenly smelled something burning, and he followed the direction of Quan Yizhen's pointing finger. Lang Ying had lit a match he had found in some corner and was calmly setting the bottom hem of a ghost robe ablaze with practiced ease.
"...Don't…play with fire either?!" Xie Lian exclaimed.
The ghost robe seemed to feel pain from being burned;
its hem rolled upward, and it was twisting like mad, trying to get away. It looked more like a live eel than a piece of clothing. The image, surprisingly, looked rather cruel. And although Xie Lian could smell burning, there was no evidence of it on the fabric. It appeared these ghost robes had soaked in enough yin energy that they resisted destruction by fire.
Upon hearing Xie Lian telling him not to play with fire, Lang Ying casually tossed the match and stepped on it to put out the flames, looking entirely obedient once more. Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and he walked over.
"What's with you today…?"
He trailed off, and his face stiffened. This was because he saw, not too far away, a long white piece of fabric hanging high up on a rack and gently fluttering in the night breeze.
The silhouette of a human was slowly creeping across the cloth's surface.
This shadow had no head.
Xie Lian pulled Lang Ying behind him. With one swift movement, he drew his sword and slashed. "Everyone, watch out!"
His swing cut the fabric and the shadow in half.
However, when the cloth landed on the ground, there was nothing behind it; the headless silhouette had disappeared.
Xie Lian had no chance to rush over to check before he felt a chill on his neck. He snapped his head back, and his pupils shrank. A beautifully dressed woman had appeared silently behind him.
No! It wasn't a woman but a robe!
What he had just slashed in half was also a robe, and once it fell to the ground, it was covered by other textiles.
From all around, countless humanoid figures emerged, swaying and rocking slowly, gathering around the three of them. They had hung those ninety-eight ghost robes in the yard, on the verandas, and inside the dyehouse—and somehow, without them realizing it, all the robes had struggled free of the racks!
Xie Lian was dumbfounded. "They were all fine before!
What's going on?"
Beside him came a quiet voice, "The agitation of ghosts."
Xie Lian turned his head to look, and the one who spoke was Lang Ying. Although his expression showed no unease, veins were bulging on the back of his pale hands. He was very obviously being affected by something as well.
Another wave of ghost agitation! As the day when Mount T onglu would open its gates approached, its tremors grew more and more deafening in the ears of ghosts to remind them.
The first thing Xie Lian thought was: How is San Lang doing?
However, the current situation didn't give him much time to think. While his mind was rapidly spinning, over twenty ghost robes had already flung themselves over. Quan Yizhen swung his fist without a second thought. If that punch landed on the wall or the ground, it would surely rock the earth—but this thousand-pound fist collided with nothing but clothes. Even children know that in "Rock, Scissors, Cloth," cloth traps rock, and that light, malleable cloth was perfect for subduing fists! No matter how hard he launched his punches, the fabric could simply wrapped around them and incurred no damage. Only Xie Lian's sword was effective. But those ghost robes were extremely light and agile as they evaded; a simple spring backward could put over a dozen meters between them. Since they barely weighed anything, there was practically no sound or breath of air that gave away their movement. Avoiding their ambushes was much more difficult than avoiding a human opponent.
Usually, it was people who picked clothes, but now it was clothes picking people. The ninety-eight ghost robes each eagerly searched for a body that fit them, a person they fancied. Among humans, it was women who loved picking out clothes; among ghost robes, it was the female styles that loved picking out humans. Dozens of long ladies' skirts, all in different colors and styles, urgently pressed themselves against Xie Lian—even the threat of his sword couldn't force them away. It was a battle more heated than a group of women fighting over a pretty robe they fancied. Xie Lian was surrounded by blooming flowers and silk, squeezed between those female robes and pulled from all directions.
Quan Yizhen yanked off several pieces of children's clothing that were stubbornly trying to lower themselves over his head and tossed them aside. He was puzzled as he looked at Xie Lian.
"How come all the women's clothes like you so much?"
he wondered.
"Maybe because they think I look friendlier?" Xie Lian answered.
However, not a single ghost robe went to harass Lang Ying. Perhaps they knew he was also a ghost and that there would be no point in siphoning from him, so they didn't approach. Xie Lian swung his sword and sliced a number of ladies' dresses, but the robes that were cut in half still moved as they wished, their dodges even more agile. From the corner of his eye, Xie Lian saw several ghost robes sneaking toward the window.
"Close the door, cast an array! Don't let them out!" he shouted.
With two gods and one ghost on hand, they could deal with this situation, but it would be a bit more difficult if the ghost robes snuck outside to seek trouble. His shout came too late, though—the dyehouse's yard was open air, and a long robe was already outside fluttering its expansive sleeves. It soared into the air like a giant bat and shot away into the night sky.
Xie Lian groaned mentally, then shouted, "Qi Ying! I'll leave the dyehouse to you!"
Then he pushed off with the soles of his feet and flew outside the walls, catching the bottom hem of that long ghost robe.
The long robe tried in vain to flutter its sleeves as hard as it could, but with the added weight of an entire person, it couldn't help but plummet to the ground. Xie Lian still held its hem in a death grip. However, it was exceedingly cunning, and with a loud rrrrrrip! it tore off its own corner like a warrior chopping off his own arm. It hastily slipped away from Xie Lian's hands.
A random passerby happened to be on his way home after a night of drinking, and he screamed in fright at the sight of a headless creature flying at him.
"Aaaaaaaaaaah! A headless ghost! It's headless!"
Xie Lian charged over and seized the robe again, then showed it to that passerby to comfort him. "Don't be scared, don't be scared! See? It's not headless! There's no body in there at all!"
The passerby looked, and sure enough, it was completely empty inside the folds of that robe! This was definitely more horrifying than a headless ghost, and his eyes rolled back as he fainted on the spot. Xie Lian quickly caught him and gently laid him on the ground.
"So sorry! I'll take care of this right away."
After that chaos was over, Xie Lian could finally get to work seizing all the ghost robes that had flown out of the dyehouse. He counted them, making sure not a single piece was missing, before letting out a sigh of relief.
With things settled, Xie Lian said, "I suppose our only option is to use Qi Ying's simple, crude method. Let's try each of these robes on and see."
He wouldn't have minded putting them on himself, but that could go badly for his two partners. If he did actually put on the Brocade Immortal, who knew if they would be able to deal with any accidents that might happen? In the end, they decided that he would stand watch while the other two dressed.
Both Lang Ying and Quan Yizhen peeled off their outer robes and started trying on one robe after the other. With every new robe, Xie Lian would give simple commands to see if they would obey, like "jump" or "spin around."
They tried on every single one of the ninety-eight robes, both testing forty to fifty apiece, but they didn't seem to have any strange reactions. Not a single piece in this pile of ghost robes was the Brocade Immortal, and they had worked all night for nothing.
Both still dressed in only a single layer, Lang Ying and Quan Yizhen squatted on the ground while Xie Lian sat atop a mountain of clothes of all sorts.
Supporting his forehead with his hand, Xie Lian mumbled, "There really is no value in buying fakes…" He sat there like that for a while before seeking out Ling Wen in the communication array.
"Ling Wen, I've collected some ghost robes. Even though the real Brocade Immortal is probably not in the pile, they're still rather wicked and troublesome to deal with. Can you send someone down to take them away?"
"Acknowledged. I'll coordinate it promptly. How many pieces have you gathered?" Ling Wen answered.
"Ninety-eight," Xie Lian replied.
"...Your Highness truly is a capable man, collecting more than what I reported to you," Ling Wen remarked.
Xie Lian softly cleared his throat. "It actually wasn't me…" But before he finished his sentence, a familiar chill ran down his spine. Xie Lian paused, then looked up.
Upon the rows of light, flowy white fabrics in front of him, there was the dark, shadowed silhouette of a human.
This time, it wasn't headless, nor was it fluttering. The one standing behind those long curtained fabrics was very much a man, and the edges of his features could be easily distinguished—such as his remarkably tall height and the disheveled state of his hair.