“Hahahaha!’
A sinister and bitter laugh resounded through the hall, suffused with a terrifying energy.
The ghosts were alarmed by the sudden laughter.
The Heartless Ghost King growled, “Who’s there? Come out!”
A female voice drifted out of the void. “I was wondering who came over to cause such a ruckus, even shattering the Dragon Wood coffin, and it turned out to be a pack of ghosts. Of average strength, but quite a lot of you. No wonder Fan Yunhai couldn’t hold you off. Where is that stubborn ghost, Fan Yunhai? Did you kill him?”
The ghosts looked at each other, not knowing how to respond.
Tang Jie turned to face the wall on the other side and said, “My lady, why do you ask when you know the answer? If he weren’t dead, how could you come out?”
The female voice froze.
As she froze, so did the entire hall, as if the air itself had solidified.
First was her eyes, trembling open, and then her lips began to twitch, her wrists began to move, her sleeves began to float, and finally, she raised her feet and walked out of the wall, leaving behind an empty spot where she once stood.
A living fairy appeared before them, and if these had been humans, they would have all been enchanted. Alas, these were ghosts, and they were like Buddhas when it came to mortals, regarding them as ephemeral existences. As for the only human here, Tang Jie had enough focus to be immune to this woman’s appearance.
The first thing this woman did was cover her red lips with her hand and laugh, bashfully gazing at Tang Jie with watery eyes, as if she was gazing at a lover. “Little Brother, you seem to have some understanding of this servant.”
Tang Jie smiled. “Isn’t it all there on the wall?”
The ghosts were prompted by his words to look around, upon which they realized that the walls were covered in murals. The walls were protected by a formation which had ensured they were not damaged despite the fight that had taken place.
The woman depicted on the murals shared some similarities with the woman before them, but the murals were much cruder compared to reality.
The first mural depicted a woman looking out the door, waiting for her husband to return. Far in the distance, a man was walking by himself.
The second mural depicted a man riding on a horse carrying a yellow scroll on which the word “Order” had been written. Normal recruitment orders weren’t depicted like this, so there were probably some liberties being taken here.
The third mural depicted a massive battlefield where soldiers were fighting all around. The man from the first mural was here, wielding a halberd and fearlessly swinging it around, cutting down even some powerful fiends. But not even this performance could alter the defeat depicted here.
In the fourth mural, the enemy country had invaded—a clear indicator that the war had been lost.
The fifth mural showed a woman walking through some fields. This was the wife, perhaps reaching the limits of her patience and leaving home to find her husband.
In the sixth mural, the woman arrived at a large city to find to her astonishment that her husband was a general, admired by his men. It turned out that they had ultimately won the war, and the one who had led them to victory was this general. But to her dismay, next to her husband, next to this general, was a noble woman in luxurious clothes—he had another woman, one from a much more prestigious background.
In the seventh mural, the woman refused to give up, seeking out an opportunity to meet her husband again. Finally, in a small alley, she met her husband. As their eyes met, tears welled up in her eyes.
In the eighth mural, a woman lay on a bed in a crude house while a man fed her medicine. There was happiness in her eyes. They were living together, cultivating together. The man was teaching her how to cultivate.
But the ninth mural showed that the happiness was short-lived. Somehow, the news got out. Perhaps it was her husband’s new wife, or perhaps it was the leaders of her clan, but in any case, numerous soldiers were sent after them, and a battle took place.
The tenth to thirteenth murals depicted their flight and the battles that took place. They slew evil fiends, corrupt officials, and pursuing soldiers, and even had the time to rob the rich and help the poor.
The fourteenth mural showed their enemies dispatching a powerful fiend in order to catch the woman. The husband and wife fought together, with the man being heavily injured and falling from a cliff.
In the fifteenth mural, the woman stood on a mountain, dancing in homage to her husband, her body radiating immense power.
In the sixteenth mural, she walked alone through a wasteland, ultimately collapsing. At this moment, an Immortal appeared before her, sensing her aptitude and taking her away.
In the seventeenth mural, a new couple was being married in a hall. The groom was clearly the woman’s husband, but the woman he gazed lovingly at was not the woman in the sixteenth mural. Clearly, he hadn’t fallen to his death, but he had fallen for another.
In the eighteenth mural, a woman strode through a field of corpses, gazing up at the sky, the very picture of an avenging goddess.
Anyone with a brain would understand what this scene meant.
The ghosts turned to the woman, viewing her in a different light. All of them felt some sympathy for her situation.
The Heartless Ghost King said, “It seems that you are Fan Yunhai’s former wife. Not only did he abandon you, he even sealed you here after his death. This evildoer deserved to be destroyed.”
It seemed like one’s face also grew thicker with one’s cultivation, and even a ghost didn’t mind turning themselves into saints.
Only Tang Jie frowned and remained silent.
He knew that if this woman was looking for a fight, it didn’t matter what the Heartless Ghost King said.
But surprisingly, the woman’s body swayed and she said, “Yes, yes, if you hadn’t saved this servant, this servant would have still been suppressed by that thankless ingrate. Now that this servant is free, I must thank you all. Why not come to my residence?”
She turned and shot a beam of light at an empty spot on the wall.
As the light grew brighter and brighter, a landscape of mountains and rivers appeared on the wall.
The woman said, “This is the Red Cloud Paradise, this servant’s home. Everyone, please, come inside.”
She lightly walked over to the wall.
Strangely, none of the ghosts objected and just followed her in.
Just as the ghosts were about to enter, Tang Jie said, “If we go in, will you use the same method as that Sovereign Yunhai and seal the entrance, making us unable to come out?”
The ghosts froze.
The Heartless Ghost King was the first to come to his senses, shouting, “This wicked woman somehow managed to entrance us and pull us into her trap.”
As ghosts, they were normally resistant to spell arts that influenced the soul.
But this woman had somehow gotten them to obediently follow her. Whatever sort of enchanting words she had used, it had even managed to affect the ghosts. If Tang Jie hadn’t broken the spell, they would have all walked into that “paradise”.
The woman wasn’t perturbed by Tang Jie breaking her spell. Covering her mouth, she said, “This servant was sincere in her thanks. Young Master, how could you say such a thing?”
“But I’m right, no?” Tang Jie chuckled. “Weren’t you imprisoned here, unable to see the light of day?”
The woman softly sighed. “If that’s what you think, then there’s no need to go. This servant will hold a banquet for you right here.”
She waved her sleeve, conjuring up two rows of tables and chairs, lined up against the walls.
The woman picked a seat to sit down and then pointed at the rest of the seats, gracefully saying, “Please, sit.”
This woman’s words carried some mysterious power that could control the ghosts, who all sat themselves down.
“Please, eat.” The woman raised her hands again.
Tang Jie shook his head. “There might be poison, so I must excuse myself.”
The ghosts once more came to their senses, some of the Ghost Kings even gasping in surprise that they were about to eat. How was it that they were doing whatever this woman said? Ghosts didn’t even need to eat, but this woman’s words compelled them into doing so.
The woman chuckled again. “Undead existences of the Nether Domain also fear poison?”
As spirits of the dead, ghosts were immune to poisons, which only harmed living creatures.
Tang Jie smiled. “In normal circumstances, we naturally wouldn’t mind, but since there’s a method that can command ghosts around, it wouldn’t be strange for there to be a poison that could harm ghosts.”
The ghosts immediately turned serious. If this woman had the means of countering ghosts, then they couldn’t afford to underestimate her.
A Ghost King impatiently said, “What’s this woman trying to do? If you want to fight, fight. Why waste all this time chatting?”
The woman replied, “Great King, show mercy on this poor woman. I was a pitiful girl sealed by Sovereign Yunhai for several thousand years. Now that I am finally free, I am anxious to show my gratitude. How could I possibly harm all of you?”
Her soft and gentle voice, tinged with indignation, was so pitiful that even Tang Jie was slightly moved.
But he quickly returned to normal and said, “How could a woman who needed to be suppressed by Sovereign Yunhai be an ordinary woman?”
The spell was broken once more.
Right! Sovereign Yunhai was a Nether Emperor, so someone that needed all his power to seal couldn’t be ordinary.
The woman continued in the same pitiful tone, “It seems that Your Majesties are unwilling to believe this servant. This servant was abandoned by this heartless man, and later on, I was sealed here. Now that I’m finally free, I am once more being viewed as an enemy. Yes, this servant cultivated Dao Arts and Immortal spells with an Immortal, but those were all meant to safeguard my life, not hurt others! This servant is in such a sorry state, yet no one believes me.”
There was a sob to her voice that made everyone’s hearts break.