Chapter 33

Lin Yu's breath quickened. Her gaze was fixed on the inn's entrance—flat and unobstructed, not even a threshold. It would be all too easy for her to be dragged inside.

"Lu Yao..." Lin Yu called out. "Lu Yao, your father is dead."

But the words didn't interest her. She didn't pause in her efforts, her tone bitter: "He deserved it! Though he died too easily!"

"Don't you want to know what he said before he died?" Lin Yu seized her chance, wedging her fingers into the gap of the door hinge. She had no strength left to grab anything else. "He left you a message—he said he was sorry."

Lin Yu's voice was weak. She'd made it up on the spot. Judging by the wounds on Lu Yao's father, Lu Yao must have hated him deeply; Lin Yu had no idea what he'd done to inspire such hatred.

Lu Yao's expression flickered slightly. But then the ethereal voice sounded again, more urgent: "Hurry! There's no time! Get her inside!"

Lin Yu lay on the ground, unable to see who was inside. Another jolt of pain shot through her. Half her body was already inside the inn now. The floor was icy cold, and there were nails scattered about—a sharp one stabbed into her flesh!

Lu Yao gave Lin Yu another tug but found her stuck. She took a deep breath, smoothed her hair, and walked to the door to inspect. When she saw Lin Yu's hand gripping the crack, she glanced at the stiff form on the ground.

Lu Yao laughed wildly. Grabbing the doorknob, she suddenly slammed the door shut!

The hinge turned, the gap closed, and Lin Yu's hand was crushed, blood spurting from the pressure!

A series of cracking sounds followed—her finger bones nearly snapped under the force!

Lin Yu winced, intense pain flooding her eyes with blood. Sweat beaded on her forehead. The agony of ten fingers connected to her heart spread through her body, making her tremble uncontrollably, but her stiff limbs wouldn't budge.

She tried to summon strength, the door slamming again and again, her fingers twitching slightly.

"You've got the same temperament as that Rain Goddess, dead to ashes and still struggling," Lu Yao said, stepping to Lin Yu's head and stomping her foot onto Lin Yu's wrist. Bright red blood stained Lu Yao's delicate embroidered shoes.

Lu Yao stared at the blood pooling on the ground, her voice eerie: "Don't worry, I won't let you die too painfully. Your blood still has its uses—don't waste it here."

She looked down at Lin Yu, waiting until she seemed about to pass out, then prepared to push the door open and pull Lin Yu's trapped right hand free.

By then, Lin Yu had closed her eyes, appearing to have no fight left. But just as Lu Yao crouched to grab her wrist and withdraw it from the crack—

In a flash, Lin Yu's eyes snapped open. She wrenched free of Lu Yao's grip and drove a palm strike into the back of Lu Yao's neck!

The pain had restored some strength to Lin Yu. She put all she had into that blow. Lu Yao was, after all, a delicate young woman. The strike landed on her carotid artery, and she collapsed instantly!

Lin Yu shoved her aside, used Lu Yao's body as support to crawl up, and sat by the door. She pulled the awl-shaped divine artifact from Lu Yao's bosom, gripping it tightly as she looked inside the inn. Oddly, it was empty.

Before Lin Yu could puzzle over it, Lu Yao woke. She scrambled up, trying to snatch the artifact from Lin Yu. "Give me back my Soul-Settling Awl!"

Startled, Lin Yu fumbled in her sleeve and pulled out a red bead, shoving it into Lu Yao's mouth.

It was the bead that had fallen when Lu Yao's father truly died—the Soul-Renewing Pill of a first-generation revenant.

Before coming, Lin Yu had taken the bead to the Cultivation Academy. After several senior cultivators examined it, they confirmed it was a Soul-Renewing Pill. It was then Lin Yu learned the pill could also be used as a controlling parasite.

That meant whoever revived a revenant—whoever injected them with the pill—could control that revenant indefinitely.

The difference was that this particular pill had been granted by the Rain Goddess, making it the most powerful. It could control even a person's mind and will.

"You!" Lu Yao naturally recognized the bead. Panic set in, and she cursed wildly: "You can't touch me! If I die, the God of Glory will kill you!"

Lin Yu knelt on the ground, pressing the awl to Lu Yao's throat, a vicious smile on her own lips. "Rong Shen? You've already died in that fire. Why would he come save a corpse like you?"

A crazed glint flickered in Lin Yu's eyes, and for the first time, Lu Yao was truly afraid. "I just wanted a little of your blood—why be so cruel? You venomous woman!"

Lin Yu tucked a stray strand of Lu Yao's hair behind her ear, her voice almost tender: "You burned down the Rain Goddess Temple just to fake your death and escape."

Lu Yao: "The Rain Goddess is dead. Why keep a shrine for a dead god? I burned it, so what? Can she send a heavenly punishment to strike me down?"

"Ha! If she had the power, she could come back as a vengeful ghost and find me! I told you long ago—she's nothing but ashes now!"

Lin Yu watched her quietly. After Lu Yao's eruptive cursing, she cooled down and began to regret it. She knew Lin Yu wasn't someone to be trifled with—she'd surely retaliate, maybe even kill her. So she fell silent, then started crying.

"Divine Maiden, save me. I had no choice. Rong Shen—the god of wealth, you know him? He's insane. He kept me prisoner for a whole year." Lu Yao wept profusely. "People only know I'm wealthy beyond measure, but no one knows what I've been through!"

Lin Yu looked patient, smiling warmly. "And what did you go through?"

Lu Yao sobbed louder: "He forced me to kill the Rain Goddess!"

Lin Yu raised an eyebrow. She'd regained enough strength to stand slowly, and she activated the Soul-Renewing Pill inside Lu Yao: "Tell the truth, Lu Yao."

The pill took effect, and Lu Yao began to speak, uncontrollably: "A year ago, my father was drowning in debt and was going to sell me to a wealthy merchant as a sacrificial offering. I killed him.

"But patricide is a grave sin. I didn't want to go to prison, so I dragged my father to some random temple and wept, hoping someone would see me and testify to my filial piety, clearing me of the crime. I never expected the Rain Goddess to actually appear."

Lin Yu's heart raced—she was closing in on the truth. "And then?"

"The Rain Goddess said she was trapped in the statue, sleeping for over a decade. Her life was nearly spent. I was the first person she saw when she woke, so with her last breath, she revived my father and taught me the resurrection spell. And also..."

Lu Yao realized she couldn't say more, but her body wouldn't obey her. Desperate to stop the words, she lunged her head toward the ground to smash it!

Lin Yu, quick as a flash, grabbed her hair and yanked her back. The pill continued its hold.

"The God-Slaying Spike!" Lu Yao gasped. "The Rain Goddess said Rong Shen was about to arrive, and she told me to take her heart's blood and use the spike to kill him.

"I... when I heard it was Rong Shen, I was momentarily tempted and went against her words. I stabbed the spike into her heart... By the time Rong Shen arrived, I'd already killed her..."

Disbelief flooded Lin Yu's eyes, as if she were submerged in a void. It took her a long moment to find her voice: "So after that, you got together with Rong Shen, amassed wealth a hundred times a normal person's, and began trading in resurrection spells, forcing every revenant to pay you, building a fortune within a year—right?"

Lu Yao nodded through tears. "But I know I was wrong. Divine Maiden, spare me. The prayer wheel I sent you—it was because I wanted your blood to kill Rong Shen. I've truly repented..."

Lin Yu tilted Lu Yao's chin up to meet her gaze. After a long pause, she asked, "Then why did you impersonate the Rain Goddess to extort gold and silver from believers? And you wiped out the entire Xie family—didn't you?"

Lu Yao: "No! It wasn't me!" She paused, then, unable to resist the pill, continued: "I had my reasons! When you first took office, the Yu Kingdom had been without a Divine Maiden for twenty years. Without a Divine Maiden's bloodline, the God-Slaying Spike couldn't be activated. I had to find another way—I planned to spend money to forge a new divine weapon capable of killing a god.

"I needed funds, so I did that. The Xies only had themselves to blame for digging into the counterfeiting case. They even tried to take the fake treasure to the emperor. I was cornered, so I had Rong Shen kill them."

Lu Yao broke down sobbing: "But then you appeared. News of a new Divine Maiden spread in the Imperial City. I no longer needed to spend money forging a new artifact. With you here, the spike could be used."

Lin Yu said calmly: "You wanted to drag me into the inn to drain my blood and store it, so that if you ever needed it again, you wouldn't have to search for a new Divine Maiden or risk amassing wealth to forge a new weapon—right?"

"Yes..."

Lin Yu: "Where's the God-Slaying Spike?"

Lu Yao: "On the rooftop of the inn."

Lin Yu: "I can't go in, can I? In other words, the moment I step inside, I'd die—right?"

Lu Yao nodded. "A Divine Maiden is a half-immortal. The Ruyue Inn only allows mortals and ghosts. If you go in, my people will carry you off and bleed you dry."

Lin Yu pondered. "You've said everything you needed to say. Then there's no use keeping you."

Terror surged across Lu Yao's face. "You! You bitch! You squeeze me dry and then kill me?! You don't deserve the title of Divine Maiden! When I die, I'll come back as a ghost and haunt you!" Lu Yao cursed without restraint. Lin Yu watched her twisted expression and felt a strange sense of waste.

To die for someone like this—to be repaid with such ingratitude, to ultimately be killed by this kind of person—Lin Yu felt it wasn't worth it for the Rain Goddess.

"Shut up, you long-tongued harpy!" A cold, glinting sword flew from afar and pressed against Lu Yao's throat, cutting her curses short in fright.

Fu Ming strode over from behind, his expression displeased: "She curses at you like that and you don't even fight back?"

Qingxuan hovered in the air. Lin Yu called softly, "Qingxuan."

The hilt turned toward Lin Yu. She took it, her hand now dry with dried blood, but the pain hadn't lessened.

Fu Ming noticed her injury and frowned instinctively.

Lu Yao forced out tears, pleading, "Don't... don't kill me..."

Lin Yu gave her a cold glance: "I could have spared you, but unfortunately, I despise nothing more than the ungrateful. So what do we do?"

Lin Yu: "Naturally, I kill you."

With one thrust, Lin Yu drove the sword into Lu Yao's chest, piercing her heart! Blood poured from the wound!

Lu Yao stared hard at something behind Lin Yu, then collapsed into the pool of blood. Even in death, her eyes remained open.

Puzzled, Lin Yu turned to look behind her. A large crowd was charging toward her. She recognized familiar faces—among them Nunu's parents. These were the sentient revenants!

In their eyes, Lu Yao was their savior; their lives depended on her. And since ordinary Soul-Renewing Pills could also manipulate minds, Lu Yao had kept one last trick up her sleeve!

They shouted: "She killed Miss Lu! We're all doomed! Let's kill her and avenge Miss Lu!"

With that, a horde of revenants rushed at Lin Yu!