Chapter 61

The old cultivator moved with startling speed, his blade cleaving straight toward Lin Yu. Lin Hui, caught completely off guard, instinctively shoved his two daughters aside, shouting hoarsely, "Run! Head down the mountain!"

At that moment, Lin Yu's reactions were still sluggish. The sky was pitch black, and she couldn't make out the road, let alone knew the way. Lin Zhao grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the main path.

The old cultivator moved to give chase, but Lin Hui and Ji Yun blocked his way. He glanced past them—the two sisters had already vanished into the darkness without a trace.

A vicious look twisted the old cultivator's face. He produced a flute-like object from somewhere, and it suddenly let out a piercing shriek, startling the birds roosting in the forest into a frantic flutter toward the sky.

Lin Hui knew nothing of cultivation and had no idea what the old cultivator was doing. All he knew was that this old bastard wanted to kill his daughters, so his own face was even darker than the cultivator's. He threatened, "May I ask why you're so determined to wipe out my two girls? I'd advise you to leave now. I'm a crude man—I can't say what I might do if you push me."

The old cultivator laughed for no reason, no longer in a hurry to chase after Lin Yu and Lin Zhao. "Your two daughters are incarnations of calamity. I've been ordered by the gods to slay them."

"Haven't you heard of the immortal's dream two months ago? In the dream, a woman committed the ultimate treason—she tried to slay a god and usurp his throne. If that isn't a calamity star, what is?"

Ji Yun snapped, "Nonsense! What are you really after?! What do the gods' dreams have to do with our two innocent children? You lot have already slaughtered so many innocent children these past days—have you ever stopped to think that you yourselves are the real calamity?"

The old cultivator chuckled. "The immortal dreamed of what would happen ten years from now. He saw himself cut down by a woman of roughly twenty, and afterwards, her head hung from the gates of a mortal city. Such an act of treason—how could it have nothing to do with your daughters?"

"A twenty-year-old woman, ten years ago—wouldn't she have been around ten? The immortal had that dream, so every ten-year-old girl in the world is guilty!" The old cultivator fixed his gaze on Lin Hui. "Little friend, surely you understand that reasoning?"

Lin Hui was silent for a moment. Then he kicked the old cultivator square in the chest with all his strength, sending him sprawling to the ground!

"Ouch!" The old cultivator had never expected such a brutish move from Lin Hui. He lay on the ground, howling in pain. "You—you just wait!"

Lin Hui gave him another kick. "I'll wait, alright—but I don't think you'll live to see it!"

This kick was just as forceful. The mountainside was full of slopes, and the old cultivator tumbled down the cliff, rolling into a patch of bamboo shoots poking their tips out of the soil, and soon fell silent.

Without a backward glance, Lin Hui grabbed Ji Yun and started down the mountain. Ji Yun was flustered, glancing back every few steps at the spot where the old cultivator had disappeared.

Lin Hui assumed she was scared because someone had died, so he patted her back gently to soothe her. "Don't be afraid, my dear. An old man like that dying in the wilderness—people will just think he took a bad step on the mountain path and fell. It won't come back to us."

Ji Yun said quietly, "Aren't you going to check if he's really dead? What if his corpse comes back to life?"

Lin Hui slapped his forehead. "Right!"

Just as they turned to go back and look for the body, a hair-raising sight stopped them both dead in their tracks.

A group of cultivators had appeared out of nowhere, and standing before them were Lin Yu and Lin Zhao, who had run off only moments ago.

Lin Hui's eyes widened uncontrollably—they'd been captured!

"Speak! Where's Elder Zhao? Hand him over!"

Elder Zhao—that must have been the old cultivator from before. With skills that pathetic, Lin Hui had finished him in two kicks. How someone like that had climbed to the rank of elder was anyone's guess.

Several swords were pressed against the necks of Lin Yu and Lin Zhao. Lin Zhao was trembling, tears streaming down her face, on the verge of sobbing. Lin Yu, by contrast, remained calm and collected, showing no particular sign of fear.

Lin Hui and Ji Yun dared not act rashly, nor did they answer.

The two sides were locked in a standoff. If it had been that old cultivator, they might have had a chance of rescuing the girls—but now, with these younger cultivators, Lin Hui and Ji Yun were no match for them.

"Not talking, are you? Then these two disasters can't be allowed to live!"

Lin Hui swallowed hard, not daring to blink. Ji Yun stepped forward to negotiate with them. "Are you talking about an old white-bearded Taoist? Put the swords down and let's talk it over slowly. Why so hostile? All this killing and fighting day after day."

"Come now, put the swords down. You're scaring my two girls—they're timid..."

Ji Yun was just reaching out to push the sword away from Lin Yu's neck when, without warning, the cultivator whipped his blade around and thrust it at Ji Yun!

A bloody gash split from her palm up to her wrist, and she couldn't hold back a shriek.

The instant the cultivator turned his blade, Lin Yu grabbed his arm and yanked the sword away, slipping out from under his elbow. The scene suddenly spiraled out of control!

Lin Hui seized the moment and charged at the cultivators, acting as if their swords meant nothing. He barreled into them recklessly, sending them stumbling back, and in that window, he snatched the swords from their hands and hurled them to the ground, freeing the captive Lin Zhao.

Meanwhile, the moment Lin Yu slipped out from under the cultivator's arm, she twisted it behind his back and wrenched the sword away. A crisp crack—the sound of bone popping—and the cultivator's arm was dislocated.

The cultivator cried out in pain. Lin Yu didn't spare him a glance as she swept her leg at his ankle. Still reeling from his arm, he couldn't possibly have expected a ten-year-old brat to have such strength, and she knocked him flat on his back!

The cultivator couldn't get up, so he crawled on his knees a few paces and hid behind the other cultivators. One of them, a few years older and more composed, saw his junior being beaten like this and flew into a rage.

They had only intended to kill those two brats and bring the elder back—they hadn't planned on laying a hand on these two parents. But now these people were going too far, kicking and hitting the cultivators, shouting about fighting to the death.

A cruel glint flashed in the cultivator's eyes. Fine, then. Kill them all and be done with it, to avoid any more trouble or complications.

In the blink of an eye, the cultivator raised his sword and slashed at Lin Hui's neck as they grappled. But before the blade could land—faster than lightning—Lin Yu appeared behind him and drove a knife into his thigh!

The knife was one she'd just picked up, heavy—so heavy. She raised the sword with both hands, wobbling as she thrust it at him. But the cultivator was tall and burly, and she only came up to his waist, so all she could reach was his thigh. Fortunately, her strike landed true, and blood gushed out in a torrent.

At the stab, the cultivator froze. Seizing that instant of shock, Lin Hui kicked him hard in the stomach, and the big, burly man crashed to the ground in a heap, blood still pouring from the wound.

Glancing at the spurting blood, Lin Hui knew this was bad. He'd picked up a bit of medicine in his youth and understood how the body's muscles and tendons were arranged. Lin Yu hadn't held back, and a wound that deep meant the meridians were surely severed.

If the blood kept flowing like this, not even the gods could save him. Seeing one of their own so badly wounded, the other cultivators abandoned their fight and swarmed around him.

In these times, cultivators held a very high status. For common folk to lay hands on these noble cultivators was no different from courting death. The outcome was either being hauled off by the authorities or silenced by other cultivators—either way, survival was impossible.

Killing one old cultivator in the mountain woods could be covered up. But killing this many people would never stay hidden, and even if Lin Hui wanted to kill them all, he couldn't beat the rest of them.

Still, to keep word from spreading, whether or not he could win, everyone present would have to die. At this point, all he could do was fight for his life.

Lin Hui panted heavily, his murderous intent rising as he stared down the remaining three cultivators.

In a flash, their eyes met—pure hatred in every gaze. One look was enough to know that neither side could be left alive. The fight to the death was about to explode.

"Kill the two little ones!" someone suddenly shouted.

Ji Yun's back went rigid, goosebumps prickling across her skin. She instinctively reached to pull Lin Zhao close, but Lin Hui was faster, shielding the younger girl behind him.

Ji Yun caught on quickly and shifted sideways to stand in front of Lin Yu. The couple formed a wall around the two young sisters, but those cultivators had no intention of letting them go.

The cultivators' white robes were immaculate, as cold and pure as moonlight. At first glance, they looked like banished immortals descending to earth, untouched by the mortal world—but right now, they were closing in on Lin Yu with murderous intent.

Lin Zhao stood behind Ji Yun, tugging at her mother's clothes. Her voice was thick with tears, barely a whisper. "Mom... stop fighting... let's go..."

Ji Yun didn't answer. She pulled Lin Yu closer too, tucking both sisters behind her, and laid one hand gently on Lin Yu's head. "Don't move."

Those were the last words Lin Yu ever heard her mother speak.

Her gaze went dark, and then she saw nothing at all.

When she opened her eyes again, all she felt was pain—pain everywhere. She and Lin Zhao had tumbled down the mountainside together, and Lin Zhao was clutching her arm, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.

The sky had long since brightened. The two of them held each other up as they climbed back, and finally, on the familiar mountain path, they found the bodies of Lin Hui and Ji Yun. They had died horribly, their blood long since drained dry.

Lin Yu searched the desolate woods for a long, long time, until at last she found a run-down graveyard. A dozen or so burial mounds were piled together—more like patches of flat ground than graves. The burials had been done carelessly; each was just a small bump of earth with a wooden marker stuck in it.

Row after row of graves sat there, like a festering sore on the mountain's flesh.

She dug out two tattered straw mats from beside the graves and brought them back to wrap Lin Hui's and Ji Yun's bodies. Together with Lin Zhao, she dragged the corpses to that graveyard.

It took them an entire day—from morning to night—to dig a shallow pit for their parents' burial. Once the pit was ready, the first one to lie down in it was Lin Yu. She crumpled into it of her own accord and lay there, staring up at the stars twinkling in the sky.

She didn't understand her own emotions. She didn't know what had happened afterward, and in time, even this memory faded from her mind.

But after that, Lin Yu found herself unable to die. She was chased and thrown from a height—she didn't die. She fell into a pond with no one to save her—she didn't die. And now, beaten by Bai Ze until her meridians were shattered and she vomited blood—still, she didn't die.

It turned out she had already died long ago.

Lin Yu closed the Book of Life and Death and put it back. She shut her eyes for a moment, looking rather tired.

Di Ting quickly sidled up to her. "You're done crossing out names, right? Then let's go, quick! The underground palace is a heavily guarded place in the Ghost Realm. You're a deity—you can't stay here too long. If the Ghost King notices, it'll implicate me."

Lin Yu gave him a look of confusion. "You think if I leave right away, nothing will happen to you?"

Di Ting fell silent. Bai Ze was dead, along with so many underworld messengers. The Yellow Spring Road had been nearly baptized in blood. There was no way this could be covered up. When the Ghost King returned, what would happen to him? How would he be punished?

Would he be ordered to die as atonement?

At Lin Yu's words, Di Ting started to panic again. She glanced at him. "If you want to avoid punishment, I can help you."

Di Ting's eyes lit up, then dimmed just as quickly. "Tch, I don't believe you. You gods are all birds of a feather—none of you are any good."

Lin Yu raised an eyebrow. "I'm not a god."

Di Ting froze mid-step, stunned. "Impossible. Are you really willing to give up your divine identity just to get on my good side? That's a bit much. Sure, I look down on those gods, but by the facts, gods really are far superior to us."

Lin Yu repeated herself. "I'm not one. But I can help you."

"No way." Di Ting inexplicably leaned close and sniffed her. "You have a very pure immortal aura on you. Someone with that much power is rare in this world."

Immortal aura... Lin Yu suddenly remembered the golden light that had drifted out of The God of Glory's body when he died. Her gaze shifted imperceptibly, and she had a rough idea of what had happened.

Lin Yu asked, "Is it only you who can sense it?"

Di Ting was baffled. "Can't every ghost sense it? Are you serious?"

"Not just ghosts—gods, spirits, demons, all of them can sense it. You didn't know?"

Lin Yu answered honestly, "No."

Now she finally understood why the fake Earth Immortal had come up to her so eagerly at the Earth Immortal Temple. He must have sensed the divine aura on her.

Lin Yu casually spun a lie. "I'm not a god, but do you want to know how I got my divine identity?"

Di Ting asked curiously, "How?"

Lin Yu curled her lips into a smile. "Because I killed a very powerful god and stole his identity. Of course, if you want, I can help you kill the Ghost King and put you on the throne instead."

In truth, Lin Yu had no idea where her divine identity came from. But since they all insisted on it, putting on a show to fool them seemed fun.

At her words, Di Ting's jaw dropped in shock, and he couldn't speak for a long moment. But Lin Yu kept coaxing him. "You're an ancient divine beast, a being of supreme status in this world. Are you willing to stay beneath others forever, to be a dog at someone's mercy?"

"Don't forget—you're an ancient ferocious beast. Di Ting, are you truly content with this?"