Chapter 312: Ritual Money, Old Capital (39)
In the depths of the abyss, the colossal beast had fallen apart, its flesh torn and scattered, putrid blood splashing everywhere. The moment life force came into contact with the ghostly aura, it ignited into a roaring blaze.
When Yan Shixun leapt into the abyss, he had already picked out a landing spot mid-air—one that wasn’t stained by blood or meat. He lightly avoided the flames and landed steadily.
After slightly bending his long legs to cushion the impact, he straightened up slowly and walked toward the spot where the beast had fallen.
The Fengdu ghost soldiers who had been gathered nearby immediately moved aside, clearing a path for him.
The soldiers were draped in a dim, shimmering green light. In the black mist, they stood silent and tall, their real faces obscured, which made them appear even more terrifying.
But contrary to their fearsome appearance—enough to stop children from crying at night—their hidden, quietly curious glances as Yan Shixun passed by told a different story.
Yan Shixun’s fingers, hanging at his side, curled slightly. After thinking for a couple of seconds, he followed their gazes and looked back.
“I can feel it,”
Yan Shixun said with a helpless smile. “Is there something you all want to ask me?”
The ghost soldier closest to him visibly froze.
The others also quietly stepped back, casting sympathetic glances at the poor soul caught by Yan Shixun.
Though these ghost soldiers were tall and imposing on the battlefield, under Yan Shixun’s gaze, they somehow looked a little pitiful.
So Yan Shixun, understanding the situation, took the initiative to help him ask, “You want to know how I met Ye Li, right?”
The ghost soldier looked at him in horror and shook his head desperately, signaling that he didn’t want to know… didn’t dare to know!
The others all took a synchronized large step back, terrified that they might be next.
Yan Shixun raised his eyebrows but didn’t drop the topic. Instead, he took a cheerful step forward and continued, “Or… do you want to ask why Ye Li and I are together?”
Ghost Soldier: !!! Help me!
Other Ghost Soldiers: Hiss — our comrade is doomed.
Yan Shixun rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, “But if that’s the question, I’m afraid I can’t answer it.”
He seriously tried to recall, but in his usually organized and detailed memory, there was no complete timeline that could help him piece together how he and Ye Li got together.
When it came to emotions, his memories always felt fuzzy and unclear.
He clearly remembered Ye Li had come in as a stranger applying for a job as a director’s assistant. There had been something off about his speech and mannerisms, which had made Yan Shixun wary. But afterward… at some point, he seemed to have simply gotten used to Ye Li being around.
No matter when he turned his head, Ye Li always seemed to be there, smiling at him.
It was a warm and reassuring feeling.
Somehow, Yan Shixun had accepted that kind of companionship, even letting Ye Li live in his home, and then giving him another room later on.
Taken individually, each step felt strange to him. But when pieced together, the gradual progression felt so natural—as if that was just how it was meant to be.
He stood there in silence for a long time, finally pulling a thread from the tangled mess of his thoughts and memories.
Yan Shixun: Could it be… I was the frog boiled in warm water?
He had originally been in a good mood, wanting to tease the particularly nervous ghost soldier, but unexpectedly ended up uncovering things he had previously overlooked.
So Yan Shixun nodded and said, “Actually, I don’t really know how I ended up with Ye Li either. Maybe I should go ask him.”
The ghost soldier’s eyes widened in terror as he stared at Yan Shixun. One thought flashed through his mind:
I’m doomed.
Ghost Soldier: I think I’ve messed up!!!
Yan Shixun soon let the poor soldier off the hook, not saying anything more. He simply tucked the matter into his memory, intending to ask Ye Li about it after they left Old Fengdu.
He waved his hand with a smile and casually turned away. “Alright, what’s with that expression? Like I bullied you or something. It was just a chat—don’t take it so seriously.”
The ghost soldier stood stiffly in place, not daring to move. His gaze followed Yan Shixun’s back until he saw him step into the flaming remnants of the beast, and only then did the suffocating pressure slowly begin to ease.
Almost all the ghost soldiers experienced, for once, the feeling of surviving a great disaster.
They let out a collective sigh of relief, feeling as if they had just clawed their way back from death’s doorstep.
But when the Fengdu ghost soldiers looked at Yan Shixun again, their eyes were filled with awe.
This future master of Fengdu… was no ordinary man.
With just a few words, he had dragged them through a near-death experience.
In all their thousand years of guarding the boundary between life and death, this was an unprecedented thrill.
And in such a short time, he had left a deep psychological shadow on all of them.
In that moment, Yan Shixun became not just the blurry figure known as Madam of Fengdu, but someone who had etched his own intimidating authority into the soldiers’ hearts.
Commanders: Not messing with him, absolutely not.
If the General and the Madam ever got into a fight someday… they should probably go hide first.
The ghost soldiers exchanged glances, all silently in agreement.
Yan Shixun, however, didn’t dwell on the matter.
His combat boots stepped over the blood-soaked flesh, crushing broken stones beneath his soles with soft cracking sounds.
The beast seemed to sense someone approaching. Its already dying, shattered head struggled to lift itself from the heap of gore, turning toward the sound.
Having lost its control over death, even the beast seemed to have turned pure-hearted. Its remaining massive eye, half-buried in meat, was weak but clear and transparent—
Like a newborn child.
No one would have the heart to strike at such an innocent gaze. It would feel like committing a crime against a baby.
But Yan Shixun remained unmoved. He merely raised an eyebrow and stood at ease with one hand in his pocket, not far from the beast.
“If you’re thinking about begging for mercy, don’t waste your strength.”
Yan Shixun looked directly at the eye that symbolized life and said casually, “Others might not know, but as the vessel of Ghost Dao, you should be very aware—just this one night, how many lives were lost because of Ghost Dao. If it were someone kind, maybe they’d listen to your explanations. But.”
He gave a soft laugh. “You ran into me. I’m not good at kindness. I only understand karma and retribution. Looks like you’re going to be disappointed.”
The beast quietly stared at Yan Shixun.
It had become so weak it couldn’t even move. With the ghost soldiers surrounding it, it was clear it couldn’t stir up any more trouble.
Yet when it looked at Yan Shixun, there was still confidence in its eyes.
As if it still had one last trump card left unplayed.
After a long silence, the giant beast finally spoke.
“You…”
Its voice was hoarse and grating, echoing low and deep throughout the underworld: “Are you planning to kill your master with your own hands?”
Yan Shixun froze at those words, and then immediately furrowed his brows, asking sharply, “What do you mean?”
Had it been any other topic, Yan Shixun would’ve dismissed it with indifference—a defeated foe wasn’t worth wasting energy on.
But once it involved Li Chengyun, even if he had doubts, he had to tread far more carefully.
When it came to Li Chengyun… even the slightest chance of harm was something Yan Shixun refused to allow.
The giant beast was a manifestation of ghost deity power. After losing the energy it had stolen from vengeful spirits, it reverted from ghost to something closer to a divine entity—and in doing so, it saw through Yan Shixun’s greatest weakness.
Not Ye Li or Zhang Wubing.
But Li Chengyun.
The beast looked at Yan Shixun. There was still a soft, pure light in its eyes, yet when it laughed, the sound rasped out of its bloody throat like a torn bellows—harsh and unbearable.
“If you kill me,”
It said, turning its gaze from Yan Shixun toward the distant figure behind him—as if looking straight at Li Chengyun, “then Li Chengyun will die with me.”
In that moment, it felt as though all the blood in Yan Shixun’s body froze. The chill rushed from the top of his head down to his chest, gripping his heart tightly.
Although Li Chengyun had died due to glimpsing the Great Dao, the most critical factor in his death had been the Old Fengdu.
The Great Dao, unwilling to see Li Chengyun perish, had allowed him a thread of life through the continued existence of the Old Fengdu.
His fragmented soul had lingered there for many years, becoming entwined with the Old Fengdu—bound to that crumbling, sinking ship of a place.
If the Old Fengdu were to completely vanish, then Li Chengyun… would truly, utterly die.
Not even a trace of his soul would remain.
Yan Shixun stood frozen, his temples pounding with unbearable pain. He instinctively raised a hand to clutch his forehead, his tightly knitted brows full of internal struggle.
Should he… save his master? Or should he completely erase the Old Fengdu?
Back when Li Chengyun died, Yan Shixun hadn’t been there by his side. The guilt haunted him to this day—so much so that even Binhai University had become a painful memory he had avoided for years, never visiting or speaking of it.
Now, a chance to recover Li Chengyun’s soul was right in front of him.
He wanted to seize it.
But on the other side of the scale… was the Great Dao and all beings under it.
The beast noticed his hesitation and immediately softened its posture, trying to appear harmless as it added in a pleading tone, “You don’t need to worry about me. Look at my condition—how could I ever gather strength again? Just let me go this once. I promise—I’ll stay far away where you’ll never see me again. I won’t hurt anyone.”
“I don’t want the Ghost City anymore, nor the name Fengdu. I just want to live.”
Through the beast’s mouth, the Old Fengdu—barely sentient—begged pitifully for Yan Shixun’s mercy. It said it only wished for a small place to survive, and would never dare ask for more.
Yan Shixun lowered his hand, gazing at the beast with a dazed expression.
Though his brows remained deeply furrowed, it was hard to tell what he was truly thinking.
As time passed without a response, the beast—once certain of its victory—began to grow anxious. Had its offer not been tempting enough? Had it misjudged Yan Shixun’s weakness?
Under the creature’s uneasy watch, Yan Shixun slowly raised his strong arm and reached toward it.
His eyes shifted from confusion and struggle to firm resolve, as if he had made up his mind.
The beast, ignoring its broken body, quickly lifted its head in panic and cried, “If you kill me, you’re killing your master with your own hands!”
Yan Shixun slowly blinked, his tone distant and floating as though disconnected from reality: “I can’t allow you to remain…”
A thousand years ago, the Old Fengdu had fled the battlefield.
Ye Li had believed that the Great Dao would completely erase it, and so left the southwest, never turning back.
Everything had seemed perfectly settled, without any gaps or flaws.
But that single oversight allowed the Old Fengdu to hide like a rat, casting aside its former dignity as lord of death, and slipping into the shadows in desperation, doing everything it could to avoid the Dao’s pursuit.
It had escaped for a full thousand years.
And in that time, Ghost Dao had risen—nearly replacing the Great Dao itself.
Yan Shixun understood very well that if he let the Old Fengdu go now, with Li Chengyun’s strength, it might take decades or even a century, but he would eventually restore enough power to sustain his soul and return to the mortal world—to be reborn and enter the next life.
And in the hundreds or even thousands of years that followed the Old Fengdu’s release, all might remain calm. In its current state of weakness, even if it wanted to act, it would need a long time.
By then, even if another Ghost Dao emerged, Yan Shixun might no longer be around to see it.
Who could say if Haiyun Temple would still exist by then? What direction the world might take?
No one would know. No one would be there to witness it.
So trading the Old Fengdu for Li Chengyun looked, on the surface, like a worthwhile bargain.
But what Yan Shixun thought of—were the countless lives lost to the Ghost Dao.
If he followed the Old Fengdu’s suggestion, it would be no different from letting a tiger return to the mountains. The disasters that followed would eventually return, possibly even stronger.
He should have hardened his heart and eliminated the Old Fengdu immediately.
But…
Yan Shixun’s hand was trembling.
Ghostly energy condensed in his palm. A long sword manifested from thin air, its blade sharp and glinting. But when he grasped it, it didn’t feel as firm as it usually did.
Under the beast’s increasingly frightened gaze, Yan Shixun took several deep breaths, struggling to calm himself.
“To pull out the weeds, you must remove the roots.”
Yan Shixun’s voice was soft, and it was unclear whether he was speaking to the Old Fengdu—or trying to convince himself. “If I let you go today, maybe a thousand years from now, future disciples will curse my name. Maybe you’ll bring harm to the living again… There are too many uncertainties. I can’t—I can’t let you leave this place.”
If a caught rat wasn’t killed immediately, it would soon scurry back into the shadows—becoming nearly impossible to catch again.
The right decision, for him, was to kill the Old Fengdu. But…
His trembling hand could barely hold the sword.
Just then, a warm aura approached him.
A gentle, delicate hand wrapped around his, helping him hold the sword.
Just like years ago, when he was a young boy and his master had first taught him swordsmanship—guiding his hand with a smile.
Startled, Yan Shixun turned to the side.
Li Chengyun smiled tenderly at him, his eyes sparkling like spring water stirred by a breeze. “Xiao Xun, you’re right.”
“Do you still remember what I told you when I taught you to use a sword?”
He smiled and nodded. “When using a sword, you must never hesitate. In hesitation, the entire situation can be lost. Be steady—and be decisive.”
“Xiao Xun, what are you hesitating for?”
Li Chengyun let out a gentle sigh and said, “Since you can’t bring yourself to do it, let me do it instead.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Shixun felt Li Chengyun clasp his hand, guiding the long sword to swing toward the giant beast.
The blade was razor-sharp, slicing through the air with a resonating hum.
The flash of snowy light from the sword dazzled Yan Shixun’s eyes, making him squint slightly. A wetness welled up at the corners of his eyes.
“No—!!!!”
The beast let out a terrified roar with all its remaining strength, trying to fight back in one final desperate attempt.
But Li Chengyun’s sword moved as fluidly as flowing clouds and water, without the slightest hesitation. In the blink of an eye, it reached its target. Holding Yan Shixun’s hand, he drove the long sword into the beast’s last remaining eye.
“Splurt!”
Pus and blood burst out.
The giant beast still wore an expression of disbelief as it collapsed backward in death, its eyes refusing to close.
*Bang!*
Dust rose into the air as its body shattered into pieces.
It had never imagined that even knowing the consequences, Li Chengyun would show no hesitation at all—personally ending its final hope with his own hands.
The last trace of power left behind by the Northern Yin Fengdu Emperor completely dissipated into the heavens and earth.
What followed was a tremor that shook the entire ancient city of Fengdu.
Everyone in the underworld could feel the trembling beneath their feet. The remaining evil spirits, still lingering, scattered in panic and horror.
People looked around blankly, not knowing what had happened.
Meanwhile, the ghost soldiers of Fengdu had already received their orders. They immediately sprang into action, processing all the spirits who had been stranded in the old city of Fengdu for a thousand years—sorting them according to the records kept by the Fengdu ghost officials and handling them accordingly.
Those who were deemed irredeemably sinful were obliterated in an instant beneath the iron hooves and blades of the one hundred thousand ghost soldiers of Fengdu.
As for the souls preliminarily judged by the Fengdu ghost officials to be harboring grievances, they were shielded from the cataclysmic destruction. These ghosts were bound with soul-locking chains in the hands of the ghost officials and slowly led away from the crumbling city, back to Fengdu, where they would await trial and embrace a new future and a new life.
Some malevolent spirits howled in agony, begging for mercy, while others wept with joy, bowing repeatedly in gratitude to the ghost officials of Fengdu.
Countless spirits bowed deeply in the direction of Ye Li.
Ye Li’s towering figure stood like a mountain, holding up the sky and the human realm, never wavering.
But his gaze remained fixed on Yan Shixun, who stood not far away.
Yan Shixun was still holding the sword, staring at the giant beast as it was swiftly consumed by flames and reduced to ashes, but he stood frozen, unable to come back to his senses.
He seemed to want to say something, but when he opened his mouth, not a single sound came out.
Only after a long moment did he finally recover his voice.
“Master…”
The moment the word left his lips, tears were already streaming down his cheeks.
Li Chengyun, however, remained calm. He even smiled softly. “Cutting the grass means removing the roots. Xiao Xun, isn’t that how you’ve always done things?”
He slowly let go of Yan Shixun’s hand. In his lowered eyes, there was reluctance and concern, but it was hidden beneath his thick lashes, concealing it from Yan Shixun.
The strong wind blew his white robe, making it flutter wildly like a white crane about to take flight.
Li Chengyun smiled as he gathered his sleeves, and said gently to Yan Shixun, “Xiao Xun, being able to see you one more time, to know that you’re doing well, that someone loves you and accompanies you—I’m already very happy.”
“Even if my soul scatters, I can leave in peace.”
Li Chengyun lowered his gaze and gave Yan Shixun a small nod. “Thank you, Xiao Xun… You saved the Great Dao of heaven and earth, and you let me…”
…have someone to miss, and a home to long for.
I don’t think I’ve ever told you—
In this lifetime, I saved more lives than I could count. I accomplished countless important tasks, all of them seemingly worthy of worldly praise.
But what I’ve always been most proud of… was you, Xiao Xun.
—You were the treasure that heaven and earth gifted to me. Because of you, I truly had a home. And it was because of you that I fell in love with these vast lands, the smoke rising from the mountains, and the human world in all its warmth. For that, I was willing to give everything to protect the peace and happiness of all life.
Even if it meant death, I did so willingly.
The entire city crumbled with a thunderous crash. Countless chunks of earth fell away, and the world seemed to collapse.
Li Chengyun smiled as he tilted his head back and fell into the abyss behind him.
“Master! Master, don’t go!”
Yan Shixun immediately lunged forward, reaching out with all his strength, trying to grab a corner of Li Chengyun’s robe. But he missed, clutching only a handful of air.
His eyes were bloodshot, tears flowing uncontrollably, trailing down his jaw and dripping slowly.
They soaked into his black shirt, blooming into a spreading wet stain.
But Li Chengyun, even as he fell, only looked up at his beloved disciple with a smile.
Then, peacefully, he closed his eyes and let himself fall into the deepest darkness.
At that moment, Yan Shixun felt as though a piece of his heart had gone completely hollow.
“Master——!!!”
Standing behind him, Ye Li sighed and wrapped his arms around Yan Shixun’s waist, closing his eyes, unable to bear watching any longer.
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