Chapter Forty-Six: The Disciple of Mount Mao

Fellow cultivators who have not yet added this to their favorites, please kindly click to do so. Those with recommendation votes, please gently use your delicate fingers to cast a vote. This is a watermark advertisement test—thank you all for your support. The editor only gave a tiny push, which hardly lifts one’s spirits. I can only humbly ask all fellow cultivators to kindly recommend this to your friends. I bow deeply in gratitude to each of you.

Just as Yunhua was about to leave, she suddenly noticed two little ghosts setting up a stall in a corner. Curious, she walked over. The two little ghosts were clearly siblings, sitting on the ground in tattered clothes. Their small stall displayed only a few items, none of which seemed useful in the netherworld. The little girl looked quite dejected, evidently not having attracted any customers. The little boy, however, held his head high stubbornly, hoping someone would appreciate the treasures he had painstakingly gathered.

Yunhua’s eyes lit up because she spotted a yellow stone on the stall. It emitted a faint metallic sheen—neither fully gold nor merely metal. Holding it, she felt its surprising weight; a mineral roughly the size of a small fist weighed dozens of pounds. This was truly astonishing. Yunhua was overjoyed; she had found a treasure. If she remembered her master’s lectures correctly, this was a piece of Gengjin ore. Moreover, her master had said this mineral had long disappeared from the mortal realm. How did these two little ghosts come to possess it?

Feigning a discreet gesture of covering her mouth, Yunhua secretly slipped a talisman of ghost speech into her mouth, then, cradling her white fox, began haggling with the two little ghosts.

Finally, the siblings brightened at the sight of a customer. Their eyes eagerly watched Yunhua. She picked up the ore and asked, “How much for this?”

The little girl was the most anxious. She quickly raised her left hand, showing five fingers, then hesitated and bent one down. Yunhua noticed how adorable the little ghost girl was—plump and fair-skinned, with expressive eyes that seemed to speak. Her earnest demeanor was quite amusing. Although her clothes were ragged, she was tidy and clean, with two small horn-like braids framing her pale face, which hardly looked ghostly. Yet the two carried a dim, faint aura of yin energy, evidently long-lost wandering spirits. Their parents had probably forgotten them long ago, leaving them without proper clothing. Despite this, there was no resentment in them. They should have long since moved on to the netherworld’s afterlife, so why were they still lingering in the mortal plane?

Yunhua’s heart swelled with sympathy but remained silent. The little girl, seeing Yunhua’s silence, feared the price was too high and timidly bent down another finger. Still silent, Yunhua watched as the girl’s eyes welled with tears. Reluctantly, she bent down yet another finger. Only then did Yunhua come to herself. Looking at the pitiful little girl, waves of emotion surged within her. Had she not met her master, she might have been no better off than this child. Lost in thought, she almost missed the boy’s tug on his sister’s hand, shaking his head, then turning to Yunhua and asking, “Are you going to buy it or not?”

Startled back to reality by the boy’s voice, Yunhua thought, “What’s gotten into me?” Hastily, she replied, “Yes, yes,” and produced a large stack of spirit money—paper currency stamped with her master’s spell seals, far more potent than ordinary ghost money. Yet, inexperienced as she was, Yunhua had no idea how large a sum she was offering, nor did she care. After all, spirit money had no use in the mortal world; she could always ask her master for more. She placed all the bills before the two little ghosts and gestured that she wanted to take everything on the stall. The siblings’ eyes gleamed—this was a big sale. They eagerly nodded and stuffed the bills into their ragged clothes. Yunhua, besides the ore, didn’t recognize the other items, so she bundled them all together and tucked them into her arms, planning to show them to her master once she returned to the mountain.

What Yunhua did not know was that her actions would not only endanger herself but also these two innocent siblings. The ghost market had its own rules, and no ghost dared to break them openly. Yet, some spirits followed silently, waiting for the right moment after the market closed to strike.

Having secured the treasure, Yunhua no longer wished to linger in this eerie, ghostly place. Lantern in hand, she began to leave the ghost market and head toward the ruined temple. But soon, she sensed something amiss. It seemed she had caught the attention of some ghosts—several lanterns floated behind her, mirroring her every pace. When she sped up, they did too; when she slowed, so did they. To confirm her suspicion, Yunhua slipped off the path and drifted into the forest. Sure enough, five or six lanterns followed suit. Now beyond the ghost market’s bounds and in a remote area, they intended to make their move.

The pursuing spirits trailed Yunhua boldly and without concealment, clearly feeling invincible. She floated onward and stopped in a valley several mountain ridges away. It seemed that robbery and ambush occurred not only in the mortal world but also in these desolate borderlands between yin and yang. No wonder her master said, “Bad men remain bad, even in the netherworld.” Indeed, this was true.

The spirits, surprised to find Yunhua halting, wondered why she wasn’t fleeing. But such an opportunity was too good to pass up—just a little girl ghost, and yet here stood a group of ancient spirits confident they could easily capture her. An icy wind swept through as they entered the valley. However, what they encountered was far beyond their expectations.

There was no little ghost girl here. Instead, it was a young Taoist maiden. In one hand she wielded a golden sword of spirit money, in the other a talisman. On her shoulder perched a pure white fox, its eyes gleaming with excitement as it watched the spirits.

“What’s going on?” Before the ancient ghosts could figure it out, a beam of white light shot forth. The foremost spirit screamed in agony and dissolved into blue smoke, vanishing from the world as its soul was utterly destroyed. The light struck true and recoiled. Yunhua landed on a large boulder, her gaze sharp as a hunter’s as she eyed the remaining spirits below, brandishing her talisman with a triumphant smile.

These old spirits usually preyed upon lost souls and were among the lowest in the yin-yang realms. Seeing Yunhua dressed in Taoist robes, wielding the golden sword and spirit talisman, they realized they were outmatched. They immediately turned into gusts of shadowy wind and fled. If they couldn’t outrun the sword, how could they outrun their companions?

“By the authority of the Nine Heavens’ Primordial Thunder, the All-Encompassing Heavenly Venerable, I command you!” Just as the spirits fled a short distance, several bolts of thunder descended from the sky, scattering them like smoke. Yunhua was stunned, still holding her talisman, which she had yet to throw, only to have her victory stolen.

“By the grace of the Supreme Lord of Salvation,” emerged two Taoist figures from the forest—one old, one young. The elder had snowy hair and a youthful face but was thin and frail, as if a breeze might blow him away. He carried a peachwood sword and wore worn cloth shoes. The younger wore fine Suzhou silk Taoist robes, a jade pendant at his waist, a golden crown on his head, and a treasured sword on his back—more a young noble or martial hero than a mere Taoist.

“I am Yuanningzi of the Wan’ning Palace, Master of Maoshan Primordial Talismans, accompanied by my disciple Qingchenzi. Greetings, young cultivator.”