Chapter Thirty-Nine: Yun Lingzi's Prowess

Yunhua could not use her Daoist arts to kill, let alone against her own flesh and blood, even if not a shred of familial affection remained between them. As she sat alone atop a mountain peak, gazing at the bright moon in deep thought, a gust of chilly wind swept to her side. Turning her head, she saw Yunlingzi appearing before her with a beaming smile.

"Master knew you were in a bind, so he sent me to help." Yunlingzi sat down beside Yunhua of her own accord, then shamelessly snatched Yunfuzi up, shaking the creature violently out of its slumber. Yunfuzi was furious, and soon, the ghost and the fox were scuffling under the moonlight once again.

Yunhua, however, had no heart to join in their play. Her chest felt heavy. Gazing at the moonlight, she tried to recall her mother's face, thinking of every little moment they had shared, and the look her mother had cast toward her when she was seized and sunk to the bottom of the river. Tears began to stream down Yunhua's face once more.

"Senior Sister, if it's so difficult, I'll go slaughter them for you." Seeing Yunhua's grief, Yunlingzi lost interest in playing with the fox. Yunhua at least had memories of her mother; Yunlingzi had none at all. She had died while still an infant in her mother's arms, drifting alone across the grasslands for decades until she met Liaochen and Yunhua, which finally gave her a home. Now that her family was being bullied, Yunlingzi had no qualms about starting a slaughter. Yunhua still worried about the karmic debt of murder and the laws of cause and effect, but Yunlingzi had no such constraints. She was a ghost, after all. Was it not only natural for ghosts to harm people? It must be said that Liaochen's teachings were a spectacular failure. Yunhua was soft-hearted, while Yunlingzi was ruthless and cruel. Add to that Yunfuzi, who did nothing but eat, sleep, act spoiled, and play, and Liaochen had truly set a terrible example for teachers everywhere.

"So, what do you think that old wretch of a patriarch values most? And what does your ancestral family love above all else?" Yunlingzi asked, remembering her master's advice.

"The patriarch cares most about reputation, I suppose. After all, it affects the future of his children and grandchildren. As for the ancestral family, it is money," Yunhua said after a moment's thought.

"Then that makes things easy. I have a plan. Leave this to me, and just wait for the news!" Yunlingzi patted her chest confidently. No sooner had she spoken than she vanished, leaving Yunhua with a torrent of unsaid words that she had to swallow back down, feeling thoroughly stifled.

Coincidentally, just as Yunhua and Yunlingzi were discussing how to deal with Li Family Village, inside the village's newly built ancestral hall, the patriarch and the clan elders were plotting how to coerce Yunhua's grandparents into filing a lawsuit at the magistrate's office. They wanted to accuse Yunhua of filial impiety, violating rites and morals, and committing an offense intolerable to heaven. Combined with the clamor that the patriarch's son's censor peers could raise in the imperial court, they would surely make Yunhua suffer the consequences. No matter how powerful Yunhua and her master were, they could not possibly overthrow the imperial court! It had to be said that this scheme was exceptionally vicious and effective. Even if the imperial family wished to shelter Yunhua, they could not withstand the public outrage of the realm. Once Yunhua and her master's reputations were ruined, the Li Family Village's innocence would be vindicated, and the future of their descendants would be secured. If they could also seize custody of Yunhua, they would no longer have to fear her master stirring up trouble.

Meanwhile, Yunlingzi rode a gust of ghostly wind, sending nocturnal creatures fleeing in terror along the way. She soon arrived at the prefectural capital a hundred miles away. Relying on Liaochen's "illustrious reputation" in the Underworld, she questioned the local ghost messengers and quickly located a dilapidated house.

The owner of the house was a scholar named Tang Li. Having repeatedly failed the civil examinations, his family had fallen into ruin; his son had died of illness, and his wife had run off with a neighbor named Wang. Shattered by these misfortunes, Tang Li fell gravely ill. To pay for his treatment, he sold his ancestral home and now lived in this ramshackle hut, scraping by with his elderly mother. Though Tang Li lacked academic fortune, he possessed a fine literary talent. To put food on the table, he wrote scripts for theatrical troupes to earn a modest income. This was precisely why Yunlingzi had sought him out.

The night was deep, and Tang Li was still writing his play by the dim glow of an oil lamp. Outside, the moonlight fell like silver. A sudden gust of wind blew, easily pushing the window open.

"Ah, why has it suddenly grown so cold?" Shivering from the draft, Tang Li rubbed his shoulders and got up to close the window. Just as he stood, a faint, phantom-like weeping drifted in from outside. In the dead of night, such a sound naturally evoked ominous thoughts.

"Who goes there?" Tang Li demanded, summoning his courage as he grabbed a wooden stool.

"Young master, there is no need to fear. I have no intention of harming you, Master Scholar. It is only that I have grievances with nowhere to voice them, and suffering with no one to tell. I could only weep here, and I beg your forgiveness." The study door swung open on its own. A woman dressed in white glided in. Her features were as delicate as a painting, her form as slender as a willow, inspiring instant pity in anyone who beheld her. Yet, her face was of a deathly, unnatural pallor.

"You... what do you want?" Tang Li's legs trembled violently. A female ghost appearing in the dead of night was enough to strike terror into anyone. Fortunately, he had always been relatively brave, and the spirit did not seem intent on harming him; otherwise, he would have screamed for help. As it was, he was barely keeping himself from collapsing to the floor.

"Alas, my fate is wretched. I only hope that you, young master, might write a play for me, so that my grievances may be known to the world. Though I am no longer among the living, I have heard of your great reputation. You are a man of immense talent, merely down on your luck. One day, your literary fame will spread across the land. When that day comes and you are surrounded by the purple aura of fortune, a lowly ghost like me will no longer be able to approach you." The female ghost was clearly silver-tongued. Her mix of pleading and flattery dispelled most of Tang Li's terror. Of course, even among ghosts, looks mattered. Had it not been a beautiful specter standing before him, Tang Li would not have fallen into her snare so easily.

The night grew deep and damp as the lonely ghost recounted her tragic grievance by the single lamp. The moonlight flowed like water as the scholar listened to the spectral whispers in the cold night. It was only after the ghost had drifted away that Tang Li snapped out of his daze. Letting out a long, heavy sigh, his eyes red, he stared blankly at the gold ingot gleaming under the lamplight. After a long silence, he suddenly stood up, tore the script he had spent half the night writing to shreds, and spread out a fresh sheet of paper. Calming his mind, he pondered for a long time before writing two characters neatly on the pristine white page: *The Lake of Grievances*.

Early the next morning, a large crowd consisting of Yunhua's grandparents, uncles, and other relatives, led by the patriarch, arrived at the county yamen. The thunderous beating of the drum of grievances immediately woke countless citizens from their slumber. The county magistrate was forced to crawl out of his wife's bed, fuming with rage, until his legal advisor rushed in and whispered in his ear. The magistrate's expression changed instantly, his anger vanishing without a trace. He paced back and forth in the back hall in distress, wishing he could beat the drum-beaters outside to death.

"Your Honor, you must accept this complaint. Although the Li patriarch's son has been dismissed from office, he still has many influential peers from his exam year, and I hear he has quite a few allies in the Censorate. This matter concerns the sacred boundaries of rites and morals; you must not let those righteous censors find any leverage against you, Master!" The advisor watched his master pace anxiously and stepped forward to whisper his warning.

"I know that!" the magistrate grumbled in distress. "But I also know what the Li Family Village has been doing all these years. If I anger the censors, I might lose my official post. But if I offend that person, they can go straight to the capital to appeal directly to the Emperor. And I might not even keep my head!"