Chapter 60

Yellow Spring Road.

Seeing Bai Ze collapse with a sword through its heart and its eyes shut tight, Di Ting was seized by panic. The ghost attendants under Fu Ming's control didn't stop their movements just because Fu Ming had fallen. They still mindlessly manipulated the massive net hanging from the sky canopy, which closed over Bai Ze's corpse and rapidly tightened, trapping Bai Ze completely inside.

Bai Ze's fur was soaked in its own blood, its scarlet tongue lolling out, its body already still.

Di Ting didn't bother with the controlled ghost attendants anymore. It hurried to check on Lin Yu and Fu Ming, but before it could even get close to the two, its heart began to pound violently.

It had spent ten thousand years in the underworld and was exceptionally sensitive to the passing of life, but at this moment, it couldn't sense the breath of any living person nearby.

They were dead as doornails.

Di Ting shed its beast form and took human shape, walking forward slowly, step by step. Its mind was a mess, and it didn't even dare approach Lin Yu and Fu Ming, who were only a few paces away.

Bai Ze was dead. The deity was dead. Even that mortal who'd been wrongly seized was dead. The Ghost King had ordered them to be released, but in the end, they'd all died here.

How had things come to this? Di Ting thought in a daze. It started with Fu Zheng's death.

Di Ting didn't dare go any further. It had caused such a huge disaster. If the divine race used this as an excuse to strike at the Ghost Realm, and the Human Tribe harbored a grudge against it, Zhu You would kill it.

A chaotic noise came from behind—the newly deployed ghost attendants had finished off those controlled by Fu Ming. Di Ting turned back in a daze, saw the bodies strewn across the ground, and suddenly a flash of inspiration struck its mind.

It stopped in its tracks, thinking of the Book of Life and Death.

Right. The Book of Life and Death. As long as names were struck out, the dead could be brought back to life.

Without thinking too hard, Di Ting barked orders at the ghost attendants around it, telling them to withdraw and await orders.

Taking advantage of the fact that Lin Yu and Fu Ming's souls hadn't yet left their bodies, it hastily ran toward the Ghost King's Palace. It had to find their names in the Book of Life and Death before their souls were collected by the ghost attendants, and strike them out.

Di Ting left in too much of a hurry. After it had run a certain distance, Lin Yu opened her eyes without any warning.

...

Di Ting staggered into the underground palace of the Ghost King's Palace. It didn't care about the dim surroundings—it didn't even have time to light a lamp. Relying on its familiarity with the underground palace, it ran deeper inside and finally found the place where the Ghost King kept the Book of Life and Death.

Di Ting waved its hand to break the barrier and barged in. Gasping for breath, it flipped open the Book of Life and Death. But the moment it opened the book, it snapped back to its senses.

It knew Fu Ming's name, and it was easy to find—the names of nobles and royals were all on the first few pages, let alone an emperor's. But who was that woman?

She was of the divine race. How could the name of a deity possibly appear in the Ghost Realm's Book of Life and Death?

This woman was completely dead, with no chance of being saved. So should it still strike out Fu Ming's name?

Di Ting's page-turning motion stopped. If Fu Ming came back to life, and his guardian deity had died so carelessly in the Ghost Realm, Fu Ming was bound to seek revenge against it. Its days would be hard afterward.

But if Fu Ming stayed dead, it was different.

Fu Ming's cultivation of the demonic path had been exposed in front of all those ghost attendants. The corpses of the attendants he'd controlled were all evidence. When the mortal realm's cultivators came to make trouble, all Di Ting had to do was present the evidence and point out Fu Ming's identity.

It had irrefutable proof. No one would hold it accountable. The world couldn't tolerate a demon-cultivating emperor, and no one would avenge him. He'd be a stain on the dynasty, and even his name would be erased by the historians.

Di Ting took a deep breath and shut the Book of Life and Death.

It wasn't going to save Fu Ming. Why would it go out of its way to bring such a huge problem on itself? Bai Ze was dead, over a thousand ghost attendants were dead—all these crimes could be pinned on Fu Ming. With someone taking the blame, the Ghost King would be less likely to punish it harshly. It might even keep its own life.

As for Lin Yu, the divine race had barged into the Ghost Realm uninvited. That was already her fault. Fu Ming was dead, and so was she. The Ghost Realm could twist the facts and pin crimes on her too.

That way, Di Ting only needed to bear the guilt of failing to complete the Ghost King's mission. The Ghost King had told it to see Lin Yu and Fu Ming out; it just hadn't completed that task. The deaths of everyone else had nothing to do with it.

Bai Ze let out a breath, its heart sinking. It carefully placed the Book of Life and Death back in its original position, making sure the Ghost King wouldn't notice anyone had touched it.

"Move!"

But just as Di Ting was about to turn and leave, it found itself facing the tip of a blood-stained sword. Lin Yu's gaze was icy, the blade pressed against its neck.

The moment he saw Lin Yu clearly, Di Ting's fur stood on end. For a moment, he forgot to breathe and stammered, "Y-you... weren't you dead?"

Lin Yu ignored him and twisted the blade. The sharp edge touched Di Ting's neck, instantly drawing a line of blood. Di Ting swallowed nervously. "What are you doing?"

Lin Yu: "Move."

Di Ting was about to step aside, but Lin Yu didn't lower her sword, so Di Ting could only back away.

It took a step back; Lin Yu stepped forward. The two remained locked in that standoff until they returned to the side of the Book of Life and Death.

Lin Yu glanced warily at Di Ting, then flipped open the cover of the Book of Life and Death with one hand.

Di Ting's voice trembled: "Hey now, let's talk this out. Put the sword down. Who do you want to strike out? I can help you find them."

Lin Yu shot it a look, confirming that Di Ting posed no threat to her. "You..."

Di Ting looked at Lin Yu with eager expectation, only for Lin Yu to say, "Get out."

Di Ting: ?

"No way. You're from the divine race. The Book of Life and Death is the most important thing in my Ghost Realm. How could I leave you alone with it?!"

Lin Yu applied more force. The blade cut deeper into Di Ting's neck, and Di Ting felt a chill at its throat. "Y-you... kill me, and our Ghost King will make you pay!"

Lin Yu raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Lin Yu's expression was somewhat similar to Fu Ming's from not long ago—equally cruel and reckless. Di Ting remembered how Bai Ze had died, and its legs suddenly gave way as it dropped to its knees.

The two of them had beaten her to that state, and yet she stood here without a scratch. This person's strength was utterly terrifying. Bai Ze didn't dare defy her. No matter what, kneeling first was the right call.

Lin Yu's sword followed Di Ting down as it suddenly knelt. Lin Yu tilted her head slightly, looking a bit confused. "What are you doing?"

Di Ting forced a smile. "You won't kill me, right?"

Lin Yu pressed her lips together. "Get out."

Di Ting slid back in a dramatic kneel until it was pressed against the wall. Lin Yu's eyes darkened and she moved to follow, but Di Ting shouted, "Don't come near!"

It gasped for breath. "You do your striking out in the book. As long as you don't take it or strike out every name in it, that's fine. I'll just wait here. We'll keep to ourselves. But I'd rather die than leave you alone with the Book of Life and Death. Otherwise, how would I answer to the Ghost King?"

Lin Yu: "There are plenty of things you can't answer to the Ghost King for. What's one more?"

Di Ting was on the verge of a breakdown. It seemed there was no escaping death—either Lin Yu would kill it, or the Ghost King would deal with it. Di Ting racked its brains for a long time, then finally craned its neck and yelled, "I'm staying right here to watch! I'm not leaving! Kill me or cut me up, whatever you want. I'm doomed anyway, so you might as well give me a quick death!"

Lin Yu lowered her gaze and said nothing. Di Ting watched from the side. As long as it didn't come close, it wouldn't actually hinder her. She sheathed her sword and walked back to the platform where the Book of Life and Death rested. Di Ting let out a sigh of relief.

Lin Yu didn't need to search hard for Fu Ming's name. The moment the first page was opened, his name was prominently there, written in dark, heavy strokes, stating he had nine more years of life remaining.

Lin Yu stared at his name for a long moment, nearly boring a hole through the thin page.

Fu Ming wasn't a long-lived man. If things had gone their natural course, he would still die seven years from now.

Lin Yu swept her gaze around the area. It was clean and empty, without even a brush in sight. Lin Yu thought for a moment, then cut her own finger against the blade of her sword. Bright red beads of blood seeped out.

Her fingertip hovered above Fu Ming's name. A drop of blood fell onto the paper, covering a corner of his name. Still bleeding, she pressed her fingertip onto that drop and dragged it backward, leaving a trail of blood.

So what if he wasn't meant to live long? She had erased his fate. From now on, he would live to a hundred without worry.

Lin Yu drew over Fu Ming's name and his remaining lifespan again and again. The ink was soaked through with blood, saturated with it, until the words beneath could no longer be seen at all.

Di Ting watched Lin Yu strike out the name on the first page of the Book of Life and Death. Without thinking, he knew it was Fu Ming. But seeing her go back and forth for so long without stopping, Di Ting suddenly asked, "Uh, can we leave once you're done?"

Di Ting mentally wondered whether she was planning to strike out the entire book. He couldn't bear that responsibility. Besides, being stuck in a pitch-black underground palace with Lin Yu, with no candlelight, was creepy as hell.

Lin Yu looked up coolly. "You can leave whenever you want."

Di Ting immediately shut his mouth, leaned back against the wall, and didn't move. Silence fell around them.

Lin Yu picked up the Book of Life and Death and flipped further in. The only sound in the chamber was the rustling of pages. With Fu Ming's name struck out, now she needed to find her own name in it.

The Book of Life and Death was arranged by region and birth date. She had lived in the Imperial City since childhood, so her name would naturally be near the front. Lin Yu's fingers traveled through the dense text, scanning the crowded names as she searched downward. After flipping through over a hundred pages, she finally reached the year and month of her birth.

Many people were still born on the same day, month, and year. Lin Yu flipped forward a few more pages and finally stopped. Her gaze landed on a familiar name.

Zhou Calendar twentieth year, first month, thirtieth day, born at midnight—Lin Jiyue.

Yu Calendar ninth year, twelfth month, eleventh day, midnight, age ten, dead.

This line was crossed out with a harsh black stroke. When she saw the character "dead" at the very end, Lin Yu's heartbeat quickened a beat. Just as she had expected, she had already died ten years ago.

She had been killed in that great massacre. Except it wasn't her who had died—someone had died in her place.

Lin Yu still remembered Yu Calendar ninth year. To her, it had been a catastrophic disaster, and to this day she still didn't understand why that sudden calamity had befallen her.

It was only because, that year, an immortal had dreamed a dream. Waking in fright, the immortal painted a portrait and ordered that all women matching the painting be executed throughout the entire territory of the Yu Kingdom. Anyone who bore the slightest resemblance to the woman in the painting was to be killed without exception.

No one had ever seen that so-called painting, and no one knew what the person in it looked like. But the cultivators killed girls around ten years old—they killed almost any young girl they saw, and families with daughters lived in constant fear.

Unable to find the person in the painting, the cultivators grew bolder and bolder. They went from killing only girls around ten to killing those aged five, then fifteen. They killed any woman who had not yet come of age, their eyes bloodshot from the slaughter.

The Lin family had two daughters, both around ten years old. There was no way to hide them. So Lin Yu and Lin Zhao fled with their parents for more than two months, but in the end, they couldn't escape.

On the eleventh day of the twelfth month of the ninth year of the Yu calendar, a heavy snow fell. Snow had never come this early before, but that day, it snowed all night, blanketing everything. People said the immortal had already slain the woman in the painting, and so heaven sent auspicious snow.

Just as Lin Yu's family was breathing a sigh of relief and preparing to return home, they encountered a white-haired cultivator.

The white-haired cultivator looked kind and gentle. He had lost his way in the mountains, and when he saw Lin Yu's family, he came up to ask for directions. The cultivator seemed harmless, and with the news that the woman in the painting had been slain, Lin Hui and Ji Yun didn't let their guard up.

Ji Yun pointed the cultivator toward the way down the mountain, and the cultivator repeatedly thanked her. When he saw the two young girls following behind them, he casually remarked, "You've raised these two children well, they're sure to be accomplished in the future."

The old cultivator spoke with a genial laugh. Since they were all heading down the mountain together, Lin Hui also struck up a conversation with him along the way. When they reached the foot of the mountain, just as they were about to part ways, the old cultivator suddenly called out to Lin Hui.

"Hey, young friend, hold on!"

The old cultivator stroked his white beard, his voice exceptionally kind. "We had such a pleasant talk today. Thanks to you, this old bones didn't end up as wolf bait in the mountains. Might I ask your surname, young friend? I serve at the Cultivation Academy. I could visit you another day."

The conversation along the way had long since put Lin Hui at ease. The old cultivator had already introduced himself, so Lin Hui saw no reason to hide anything. He smiled and waved goodbye. "My surname is Lin. I live on Luotong Lane. If you have the time, feel free to drop by."

Hearing Lin Hui's reply, the old cultivator's kindly expression suddenly froze. His face stiffened. "Your surname is Lin? Then these two daughters of yours must be surnamed Lin as well?"

Lin Hui was taken aback, a bit puzzled. "Naturally. My two daughters—if they don't take my surname, what would they take? Oh, right. I'd actually thought about having my eldest daughter take her mother's surname Ji, but my wife's family is all gone, and no one knows how the clan records should be arranged. It's been dragging on for a long time..."

Lin Hui rambled on without a clue. By now, the sky was quite dark, so he didn't notice at all how the old cultivator's expression had turned wrong.

When Lin Hui finished, the old cultivator was silent for a moment before finally speaking. A cold, ambiguous smile crept onto his face. "These two daughters of yours—they can't be allowed to live past today."

"Don't blame me. I'm acting on the orders of an immortal, carrying out heavenly justice, ridding the world of these two calamities of your household."

With that, the old cultivator drew a sharp sword from behind his back and bellowed, "Give me your lives!"