“…Gold… Gold… Golden Phoenix Bell…”
The umbrella girl stammered, head bowed so low she hardly seemed alive. She didn’t dare meet Lu Sheng’s eyes.
“What’s it good for?”
“For summoning… summoning ghost subordinates…”
“Alright. And how about this?” Lu Sheng lifted the second item—the rectangular wooden box.
“Ancient… Phantom Grass…”
“What’s it for?”
“Sis’… formation… core…”
Another worthless item. Lu Sheng frowned, set it aside, and picked up the third.
Before he could speak, the umbrella girl hurried to answer.
“This… is the treasure map… left behind… by… Headless Ghost King…”
“Headless Ghost King?” Lu Sheng frowned. He had never heard the name. Likely famous among ghosts, insignificant to mortals.
He questioned her further until the fragmented story slowly pieced itself together.
Long ago, the Northern Lands were a barren expanse of snow where only a few fishermen and hunters scratched out a living. During their travels, they encountered a strange primitive tribe that survived by hunting and fishing.
To their surprise, the tribe worshipped a bizarre multicolored statue with no head. They called it Dong Lian, offering incense and reverence.
Over time, migrants who settled among them also adopted the worship of Dong Lian.
When a nobleman later arrived and discovered that the entire Northern Lands revered this headless deity, he launched a secret investigation. A massive conflict broke out soon after.
When the chaos finally subsided, everything had fallen silent. Every worshipper of Dong Lian had been slaughtered—leaving behind only a single treasure map that circulated through the years.
No one knew the full truth.
“Sounds like an evil god to me.” Lu Sheng set the map down. He disliked items that seemed valuable but offered no immediate benefit. He would hold onto it for now, then trade it away when the opportunity arose.
None of the three artifacts were useful to him, but it didn’t matter. The Yin Qi he absorbed during this trip alone was more than enough to offset any losses.
He had slaughtered more than a hundred ghosts in Scarlet District. The Yin Qi he absorbed from them rivaled the strange piece of metal he’d once acquired—easily worth fifty units. That alone made the trip worthwhile.
Then there was the umbrella girl—his convenient lab rat. He had begun developing a keen interest in ghosts, and it was rare to encounter one intelligent enough to speak and understand threats. With her, he could finally inquire into their nature.
Under Lu Sheng’s intimidation and empty promises, the umbrella girl stammered and sobbed her way through every question he posed.
After nearly four hours, Lu Sheng had pieced together a basic understanding of how ghosts came into existence.
Bitterness.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5m1ezBId8
The bitterness of the world was the seed from which ghosts were born.
A person who died with deep resentment might become a weak Yin soul. These Yin souls fed on human fear—fear strengthened them, shaping their form. Once their power reached a threshold, they transformed into ghosts.
As ghosts, they gained tangible bodies capable of touching objects. From there, they could devour one another, consume mortal essence blood, or continue absorbing fear to grow stronger. With age and accumulation, a ghost might eventually evolve into an Anomaly.
But this was only the progression the umbrella girl had personally witnessed. In reality, countless other factors could alter souls and ghosts alike—that was how the different types of Anomalies emerged.
Even the umbrella girl herself could not explain the true cause behind such transformations. She was an Anomaly, yet she had no memory of how she became one.
However, when Lu Sheng asked about her sister, the Scarlet District Mistress, she clamped her mouth shut. This time, no threat or coaxing could force a word from her. Her resolve became uncharacteristically firm.
Lu Sheng didn’t push further. He had obtained what he needed. Reaching out, he placed his palm on her forehead.
“Whatever you feel, tell me truthfully,” he instructed.
Then, slowly and deliberately, he channeled a strand of Yin Yang Jade Crane Aquarius Qi into her mind.
The umbrella girl seemed unaware of anything unusual. She only stared at him with wide, frightened eyes, completely clueless about what was happening.
Lu Sheng’s will slipped into her body along with the strand of Aquarius Qi, naturally forming a small core within her chest.
“It… feels really comfortable…” the umbrella girl whispered shakily.
“Comfortable?” Lu Sheng could clearly sense the Yin-attribute inner Qi spreading rapidly through her form, assimilating the Yin elements within her and pulling them together—like a seed planted deep in soil, stretching out its first roots.
Boom!!
Without warning, the seed detonated. Pure Aquarius Qi erupted violently from the center of her chest.
The umbrella girl looked down in a daze at the blood-slicked, fist-sized hole torn straight through her torso.
“AHHHHH!!”
She screamed and lurched upright, bolting toward the cave entrance.
Lu Sheng reacted too late. His Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill activated instinctively as he reached for her.
She had barely managed to shoot several meters before slamming into the blood web and freezing mid-air. His massive hand clenched around her immediately after, her body twisting and contorting violently within his grip.
She was in unbearable agony. Her soul body flickered, nearly unraveling, her eyes rolling back. Trembling convulsively, she clawed toward the outside as if escape were the only thing keeping her conscious—even as the blood web etched burning, lattice-like scars across her form.
‘Shouldn’t Yin-attribute inner Qi strengthen a Yin soul?’ Lu Sheng frowned, trying to pinpoint what had gone wrong.
At first, the infusion of Aquarius Qi seemed perfectly compatible. Unlike Yang-attribute inner Qi, which was inherently hostile to Yin souls, Yin-attribute Qi should have coexisted peacefully.
But everything changed the moment it took root inside her.
Lu Sheng yanked her closer and shook her sharply.
She was barely clinging to what little life—or soul—she had left. Her form had turned nearly transparent, fading at the edges like mist about to disperse.
‘Could this be some sort of rejection?’ The thought struck him—like the rejection seen in mortal organ transplants.
‘If Yin souls are truly formed from pure bitterness and fear, then my inner Qi—shaped through meditation and sustenance—must naturally carry my own will. Perhaps the two wills clashed…’
Lu Sheng pondered this as he lightly slapped the umbrella girl’s cheeks.
Pah, pah.
“You still alive?”
Her head lolled left and right under the slaps. When her eyes finally fluttered open and she saw him, she burst into terrified wails. Scrambling to a corner, she curled up tightly, clutching her umbrella as she trembled uncontrollably.
Lu Sheng reached over, grabbed her by the collar, and dragged her back to the center of the cave.
“Come, come, come. Let’s try this again.”
“NO!… I don’t want!!!”
“Don’t move!!”
“Don’t come near!!!”
BAM!
Lu Sheng struck her lightly on the head. Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed, unconscious.
“Oh? Anomalies can faint too?”
He stared at her in mild surprise before dismissing the thought. Anomalies were difficult to kill anyway—he still needed more experiments to confirm his theory.
He pressed his palm to her forehead again. A second strand of Aquarius Qi entered her body, this time twice as dense as before.
Instantly, he sensed it: the Aquarius Qi was devouring and assimilating a strange cold Yin power hidden inside her.
With the increased volume, a far more solid spherical core formed within her chest. From this orb, countless Qi tendrils spread outward, filling every inch of her body. The resisting Yin force grew weaker with every touch, diminishing rapidly until it vanished completely.
“This feeling… it’s like… Yin Crane Web!?” A spark ignited in Lu Sheng’s mind—everything fell neatly into place.
He quickly compared the Aquarius Qi network forming within the umbrella girl to the Yin Crane Web in his own body.
The structure was identical.
Exactly the same.
And then—
He willed the Yin Crane Web in her arm to move.
The umbrella girl’s arm twitched obediently, despite her being unconscious.
‘So that’s the true function of Yin Crane Web!’ It was a method for creating real, living puppets.
Lu Sheng’s chest swelled with delight.
The earlier explosion must have been the umbrella girl’s instinctive rejection of his inner Qi. But with her soul body severely damaged, she no longer had the strength to resist a second attempt. Her body was forced to accept his Qi completely.
Lu Sheng released her. Even from several meters away, he could feel the Yin Crane Web pulsing inside her body—its structure perfectly clear to his senses. He could control her remotely with ease.
Soon after, the umbrella girl regained consciousness. When she saw him, terror flooded her eyes.
“Come,” Lu Sheng commanded.
She shook her head violently, scrambling backward on all fours, tears and mucus smeared across her face.
But before she could get far, a crushing swell of pain surged through her body. Horror filled her expression as her limbs stiffened—then moved on their own. She rose shakily to her feet and walked back toward Lu Sheng, helpless against the invisible force guiding her.
“How obedient.” Lu Sheng patted her lightly on the head.
The umbrella girl broke down sobbing once more.
“Let’s go test this out on other ghosts.”
Feeling invigorated, Lu Sheng grabbed her by the collar and strode toward the cave entrance.
With the umbrella girl serving as an unwilling ghost detector, it didn’t take long before he dragged an icy, seaweed-cloaked water ghost from a nearby lake.
The creature resembled a writhing mound of wet seaweed, slithering and flopping across the cave floor.
Repeating the process, Lu Sheng pressed his palm onto the water ghost and injected a strand of Aquarius Qi.
A miniature Yin Crane Web formed instantly within its body.
“Go. Run if you wish to.” Lu Sheng grinned broadly at the trembling mass.
The greenish-black ghost twisted frantically, then made a desperate lunge for the cave’s exit.
It didn’t get far.
Lu Sheng willed the Yin Crane Web.
Boom!!
A muffled explosion echoed through the cave as the water ghost burst apart like an overfilled bladder. A cloud of dark green ink sprayed outward, then evaporated swiftly under the sunlight. Nothing remained—not even a stain.
It was dead. Completely and effortlessly.
The umbrella girl stood frozen in terror beside Lu Sheng. Her eyes trembled as she stared at him—not as a man, but as a calamity, a Great Devil King descending to end the world.
‘Yin Crane Web can end a ghost’s life with a single thought… but would it work on Anomalies as well? They can’t be killed through normal means.’ Lu Sheng’s gaze drifted toward her.
‘Forget it. I’ll keep her for now. If she dies and doesn’t revive, I’ll lose a lab rat. And obedient Anomalies aren’t easy to come by.’
He set aside further experimentation with Yin Crane Web. With full control over her body and the cave entrance sealed under his blood web, she had nowhere to run and no means to resist.
He knocked the umbrella girl unconscious once more and began gathering his belongings, preparing to return to the sect. His gains from this trip were abundant—it was time to consolidate them and refine his strength.
At his current level, he could clearly feel the Yin and Yang within his inner Qi beginning to fuse. His body was entering a state of metamorphosis, an incubation of power. Once completed, his strength would rise to an entirely new realm.
But the transformation was slow. Painfully slow. Until it finished, he would see little change aside from a sturdier body—one capable of enduring greater force thanks to the upgrades in his Yang Extreme Dao.
He had no idea how long this evolution would take. Still, with the ample Yin Qi he had harvested, he planned to accelerate the process as much as possible.
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