Chapter 21: The Man-Eating Specter

Huh?

The force that had been dragging her along just moments ago had vanished.

Cheng Yingxue stared blankly, then instinctively lowered her head to glance at her shoes. The candlelight cast a dim patch of brightness around her, and indeed, her feet were no longer under anyone’s control.

So Sister Su’s little wooden sword really was useful after all?

The young girl reached absently into her pocket and soon found the small sword carved from peach wood.

At some point, a hairline crack had quietly appeared along its blade. When she ran her fingers over it, the splintered edge pricked her slightly.

Now, should she simply go upstairs and return to her room—

Or perhaps… since she was already here?

Cheng Yingxue scratched her head in deep indecision. When she looked up, however, her gaze inadvertently fell upon the window she had forgotten to shut tightly that night.

The pitch-black window seemed to exude an inexplicable hint of ghostly menace. Recalling the wooden door that had locked itself without any wind, she decided that perhaps it would be best to remain where she was for the time being.

In any case, she had brought down both her cloak and a candle. The night frost in September was not yet terribly cold. Surely… she would not freeze to death, would she?

That was what the young girl told herself—until a gust of wind made her shiver uncontrollably where she stood.

The footsteps that had vanished earlier suddenly rang out again at the far end of the covered walkway. She watched helplessly as a shadow flickered past. Her heart, which had only just settled, began pounding once more.

What was this… a haunting—or a thief?

Or could this be the demon Sister Su had been investigating for several days?

Cheng Yingxue’s heart climbed into her throat, and her recently recovered legs began to weaken.

After much hesitation, she ultimately chose to follow the shadow from a distance. After all, something strange had already appeared at the end of the walkway. Could the place where she was standing really remain safe?

Besides…

Perhaps it was merely an illusion born of her nervousness.

But her intuition truly would not stop urging her on—urging her to hurry after the shadow ahead.

“Who’s there?”

Otherwise, she would surely regret it.

“Who?”

…

Otherwise, she would surely regret it!

“Who’s there?”

The thought exploded in her mind like a clap of thunder, and her steps quickened despite herself.

Within the courtyard, the once-new corridor had somehow become rotten and ancient.

Broken roof tiles rolled from the eaves and fell into the lake. With a plunk, they shattered the reflection of the clear moon above. Cheng Yingxue abruptly came to herself, only then realizing that she had already left the little courtyard and was standing squarely beside that familiar yet unfamiliar body of water.

Where… where was this?

Hadn’t she been walking along the corridor in the courtyard the entire time?

When had she walked out of it?

The young girl opened her eyes wide in panic, her face turning as pale as the wall.

Yet now that matters had come this far, she could only raise her candle and force herself to continue along the corridor. From the small side room at its end came intermittent, spine-chilling sounds of teeth grinding. With infinite caution, she finally gathered enough courage to lift her arm and touch the window, which was thickly covered in dust.

“If you don’t come out… I’ll send someone to report this to the authorities!”

Cheng Yingxue raised her voice in a show of bravado. Counting silently beneath her breath, she suddenly shoved open the decrepit barrier.

A gust of icy wind shot from the corner of the wall and extinguished the candle in her hand in an instant.

Pale smoke from the dying flame drifted upward, obscuring her vision. Beneath the ghastly moonlight, a hideous ghostly face lay crouched inside the room, with only half a skull remaining—

“Ah!”

Nearly stunned witless by the apparition, the young girl screamed. The extinguished candleholder fell from her hand and broke into two pieces upon the ground.

The shadow crouching on the floor seemed startled by the commotion. With the swift movements of a beast, it twisted around and raised its head stiffly.

The miserable moonlight outside poured unhindered across its face, revealing its terrifying features in perfect clarity. Only then did Cheng Yingxue notice that the creature was clenching a ghastly white bone more than a foot long between its teeth.

The bone-grinding sound that had chilled her to the marrow was the sound of it gnawing on human remains!

This was a vicious ghost that ate people!

“Help… help me!”

Realizing this, Cheng Yingxue let out a hoarse, desperate cry. In her panic, she nearly caught her foot on the step of the corridor.

The little peach-wood sword in her arms shattered with a thunderous crack, as though struck by a boulder. Sharp splinters pierced through her outer garment and lightly stabbed her arm. The pain brought her back to her senses, and almost instinctively she cried out the name that had brought her the most comfort of late:

“Sister Su…”

“Sister Su!”

“Clang!”

A sword appeared from thin air and severed the ghost’s path. Its swaying tassel conveniently blocked the view between her and the creature.

Su Changling descended from midair on a flying sword. Her expression held what seemed to be the faintest trace of displeasure, and for a moment Cheng Yingxue could not tell whether it was directed at her or at the seemingly man-eating ghost before them.

“Why have you come out again tonight, Miss Cheng?” Su Changling glanced back at the young girl, then casually drew a dark-blue compass from her sleeve. “I recall giving you a peach-wood sword. Once night falls, so long as you keep your doors and windows firmly shut, that little thing will protect your room from evil spirits.”

Cheng Yingxue froze at her words, then lowered her head somewhat sheepishly.

“I became absorbed in reading the account books today and lost track of time. Before I knew it, I hadn’t closed the window.”

“And then… then…”

“Oh, I see. You forgot to close the window and were accidentally bewitched by this ghost. It is not a serious problem.” Understanding what she meant, Su Changling nodded. At the same time, she placed the compass into the girl’s arms. “Hold on to this, Miss Cheng.”

“This ghost is not the same one I have been pursuing these past few days. It should not be difficult to deal with.”

“Stand a little farther away. Be careful not to be injured by the sword aura.”

“Oh, all right.”

Cheng Yingxue nodded repeatedly. Once Su Changling finished speaking, she obediently retreated another three feet while clutching the compass, her eyes fixed on the dilapidated side room.

Seeing that she had moved well beyond three feet from the room, Su Changling no longer hesitated. She decisively raised her sword and confronted the man-eating ghost that had just crawled over the threshold—

“Clang!”

The frosty blade struck the bone with a clear metallic ring. With a turn of her sword, the young woman effortlessly sent the ghastly human bone the ghost had been using as a weapon flying through the air.

The heavy object crashed to the ground, scattering a thin cloud of dust. Just as Su Changling had anticipated, this ghost was incomparably easier to deal with than the one that had led her on a chase for three days.

“With such shallow cultivation, why did you come out to frighten people?”

After subduing the ghost in only two strikes, Su Changling lowered her lashes. Her empty hand silently formed a spell capable of ferrying souls across. For a ghost this weak, a single hand seal would be enough to send it to the underworld. As a cultivator, she hardly needed to render every spirit utterly destroyed.

“In your next life, do not carry such a bellyful of hatred with you.”

Su Changling murmured softly. A gentle spiritual radiance burst from her fingertips as the soul-guiding seal took shape.

Under the light, the ghost’s baleful aura faded away, revealing the slender, beautiful face of a woman.

The young girl standing three feet away stared at her features. Then her entire body began trembling in disbelief.

“S-Sister…”