Chapter 74

Yu Jia stared blankly at the pitch-black ground. The blood that had pooled there moments ago had vanished without a trace, and his mind seemed mired in a sluggish haze.

A flicker of impatience crossed Lin Yu's eyes. She grabbed him by the collar with ease, dragged him upright, and propped him against the wall. Raising her voice, she repeated, "Now, I ask, and you answer. Do you hear me?"

Yu Jia still showed no reaction, like a lifeless corpse that only moved when touched. Finally, Lin Yu's patience ran out entirely.

Seeing that Lin Yu was about to make a move on him again, Yu Jia struggled hard against the bone whip coiled around him like a python. He spat out a mouthful of bloody foam, the crimson threads staining his face through his teeth—a truly gruesome sight at first glance.

"Divine Maiden of the Yu Kingdom," Yu Jia said through a laugh. The laughter nearly choked him on the blood in his throat, and he coughed violently. "We're the same kind of people. You shouldn't kill me."

Lin Yu sneered. She pressed the handle of the bone whip against Yu Jia's chin, forcing his drooping head up. "Who's the same kind of person as you? I won't wallow in self-righteousness like you, accomplishing nothing."

"No, of course not. You're the Divine Maiden, I'm the Imperial Preceptor. Apart from the Xianzun, we're the closest to the gods in this world. But you don't believe in gods, and I don't either. Doesn't that make us the same kind of people?"

"Is that why you betrayed the Heaven's Mandate Tower and turned against the Xianzun?"

"Of course not." Yu Jia turned his head away, the hard handle slipping from his jaw. "I just slipped up and got exposed. You'll have your day too."

Lin Yu understood his meaning in an instant. He had revealed to the Xianzun that he didn't believe in the gods, or perhaps had shown disrespect toward them, and so he'd been forced to leave.

Lin Yu nodded, as if she approved of his words. "That day will come. But before it does, maybe the old Xianzun will be dead already. Don't you think?"

Yu Jia wasn't particularly shocked. He knew what Fu Ming had wanted to do all along, and he'd witnessed the day the God of Glory died with his own eyes. Nothing Lin Yu did would surprise him anymore.

Yu Jia asked, "Why do you hate them so much? Is it just because of A-Zhao's death?"

The sharp crack of a whip splitting the air rang out, startling Yu Jia to the bone. Lin Yu yanked the bone whip back and lashed it across him with all her strength. A crisp snap of bones followed; it felt like his ribs were about to shatter.

"Did I say it was your turn to ask?" Lin Yu's voice carried undisguised fury. "Now, answer me. What deal did you make with Immortal Lord He?"

"It was obviously..." Yu Jia's gaze wavered as he began to fabricate a lie.

A sharp whistle cut through the air, and another lash landed on him. Yu Jia spat out another mouthful of blood, staring at Lin Yu in disbelief.

Lin Yu glanced down and flicked a bead of blood off the whip's handle. "Think carefully before you speak. This is made from Bai Ze's spine. You'd better think about how many of these you can take."

In an instant, despair washed over Yu Jia, along with shock. He'd only left the Imperial City a little over ten days ago—and Lin Yu had already killed Bai Ze?! And she'd openly taken his spine? What in the world had happened out there?!

But no matter what had happened, Yu Jia knew that if he didn't comply with her, he was as good as dead.

Seeing Yu Jia still dazed, Lin Yu raised her hand as if to strike again. On reflex, Yu Jia scrambled backward, hitting the wall. "Don't! I'll talk! I'll talk!"

...

When Lin Yu walked out of the Imperial Preceptor's manor, the sky was pitch-black. Not a single maid or guard could be seen in the courtyard—so quiet that a pin dropping would be audible. She headed straight for the Earth Immortal Temple.

Outside the Earth Immortal Temple, nothing had gone wrong. Everything had proceeded smoothly; although most people were injured, no one had died.

When Lin Yu arrived, Yan Yi had already collected all of Zhu You's cultivation into a spirit-gathering bottle and handed it to her. Lin Yu took the bottle and uncorked it without a moment's hesitation. In an instant, a crimson stream of energy surged out from the bottle and poured into her body. Zhu You's cultivation was different from what the Xianzun had given her before. The cultivation of cultivators was golden, transmitting a subtle warmth into the sea of consciousness, whereas Zhu You's was icy to the touch.

After absorbing all the cultivation gathered in the bottle, Lin Yu put it away. She turned and swept her gaze across the people around her, then asked Yan Yi, "What about the Ghost King's body?"

"Destroyed. Reduced to ashes."

"And his soul? You need to be careful with it—don't let the ghost messengers find it and bring it back to the underworld."

"Sealed inside the statue."

"Sealed tight?" Lin Yu asked again.

"Yes. Please rest assured—it's been handled cleanly."

Lin Yu nodded at Yan Yi to show she understood. "Wait outside for a while. The Xianzun still has something he ordered me to do." With that, she raised her hand and wavered it between a few people outside the temple, finally pointing at a young man with slightly darker skin. "You, come with me. The rest of you, fall back and await orders."

The crowd obeyed and withdrew. Lin Yu led Di Ting into the Earth Immortal Temple, stopping before the massive statue. She then produced a pale-golden brocade pouch. Di Ting couldn't fathom what Lin Yu intended to do and stood quietly nearby, watching her.

"Come out," Lin Yu said in a low voice. In an instant, the mouth of the pouch opened, and a dozen child souls—pale gold, moon-white, and water-blue—leapt out from within and surged into the towering statue.

These were the souls of unborn children that the Ghost King had brutally carved out of their mothers' bodies, long ago stripped of their flesh, leaving only vengeful spirits behind. Lin Yu had brought them out of the netherworld, and now they had nowhere to go.

She hadn't been able to let them witness Zhu You's death, but letting them dissolve into the statue, receiving the offerings and incense of the faithful, seemed like a fine choice. Moreover, Zhu You's corpse was sealed inside the statue, serving as nourishment for them.

As Di Ting watched, spellbound, Lin Yu's voice suddenly reached his ears: "Kill them all. Not one left."

Di Ting hadn't yet processed the words. On reflex, he glanced at the disciples of the Heaven's Mandate Tower scattered and wounded outside. Slightly taken aback, he asked, "Kill all of them? Isn't that a bit harsh?"

Lin Yu didn't hesitate. Her gaze was cold as ice. "Kill them all."

These disciples had committed countless atrocities in the name of the Xianzun and the Heaven's Mandate Tower, for all sorts of rituals and sacrifices. Now they were injured, their vitality greatly depleted—the perfect time to strike. If she missed this opportunity, Lin Yu would never again find a moment when so many of them were wounded at once.

If she didn't kill them now, the Xianzun would always have his backing. People would forever be dispatched to kill believers as sacrifices for the tower's various rituals, and killing the Xianzun later would become even harder. Lin Yu couldn't afford to miss any chance to clip the Xianzun's wings.

"Fine." Di Ting hesitated for a moment, but he was accustomed to following orders and didn't ask why. He strode out with big steps.

Lin Yu followed him out of the Earth Immortal Temple. Seeing her emerge, the disciples who had been sitting on the ground resting all stood up. Lin Yu's gaze swept over the tops of their heads, a faint, barely perceptible smile curling at the corner of her mouth.

"Move."

At Lin Yu's command, Di Ting transformed into his beast form with incredible speed. A massive creature barreled straight into the crowd!

The sudden commotion put the more skilled disciples on high alert in an instant, but they were no match for the divine beast Di Ting. In a flash, one swipe of his claw brought down several people. He planted his feet on their chests and pressed down with a slight force—those beneath him went silent forever.

Seeing that some were trying to flee, Lin Yu stepped on a stone by the temple entrance and vaulted lightly over everyone's heads. In midair, she traced a massive barrier that sealed the crowd within, then easily landed in front of those attempting to run.

Lin Yu smiled, the bone-white whip appearing in her hand. The disciples she'd cut off could hardly believe what they were seeing, stumbling backward in shock.

"Divine Maiden... you... you're a traitor! You and Yu Jia, you're both traitors! You..."

Before he could finish, Lin Yu's whip wound around his neck in a single strike, ending his life. She walked forward slowly, driving the fleeing few back to the front of the Earth Immortal Temple.

Suddenly, someone burst out from the crowd. A blood-red sword appeared in Lin Yu's line of sight, thrusting toward her at speed.

But Lin Yu didn't take it seriously. She easily dodged the strike, and the bone whip coiled around the blade. With barely any effort, she wrenched the sword away horizontally. Bai Yue clung to the hilt without letting go and was dragged along with it.

She tumbled to the ground in a sorry state and looked up at Lin Yu. "Junior Sister, you..." Before Lin Yu could approach, she scrambled to her feet, a murderous glint in her eyes. "Don't you have no cultivation at all? You don't know any techniques?"

She hadn't expected Lin Yu to answer her back, but to her surprise, Lin Yu looked up at the sky, pondered for a moment, then broke into a gentle smile and said to Bai Yue, "Well... I just learned it, didn't I?"

As the words fell, Bai Yue's pupils dilated sharply. The last thing she saw was Lin Yu taking her sword and walking toward her, then smiling as she slit her throat.

Before long, bodies lay strewn all across the ground before the Earth Immortal Temple. Di Ting's method of killing was somewhat brutal—he'd nearly crushed everyone to pieces, and a great pool of blood seeped into the damp soil, dyeing the earth in front of the temple a deep red.

Di Ting shifted back to human form and walked over to Lin Yu. "They're all dead. What now?"

Killing people was easy; disposing of the bodies was hard, especially with so many corpses. Lin Yu swept her gaze across the scene. Those killed by Di Ting had died in a fairly gruesome manner, and shredded corpses were even harder to clean up.

What's more, in a few hours, once dawn broke, the faithful would pack the temple entrance to the point of being jammed solid. They had to get rid of the bodies as soon as possible.

Lin Yu suddenly thought of Fu Ming. If Fu Ming were here, he could help her dispose of the bodies. But he wasn't.

Finally, Lin Yu said, "Burn them."

"I can't breathe fire—that's Zhu Long's job. I don't do that." Di Ting spread his hands in resignation.

Lin Yu: ? ...

Lin Yu pursed her lips, and a wisp of flame flickered to life in her palm. She casually tossed it at the bodies on the ground.

Di Ting watched with curiosity. "You can do that too? That must be hard to learn, right?"

Most fire-based techniques were hard to master, but Lin Yu wasn't aware of that and thought Di Ting was just exaggerating. "Get chased by the Crimson God for a while and you'll learn it too."

Back when she'd first gone to seek the Feixian Ling and mistakenly entered that illusion, encountering the Crimson God and the Moon God, she'd actually memorized the Crimson God's technique at the time. Unfortunately, with so little cultivation back then, she'd tried several times and couldn't pull it off. It wasn't until tonight, with enough power at her disposal, that she'd casually tried it and finally succeeded.

"Alright," Lin Yu said, picking up a sword at her feet and tossing it to Di Ting. "See those corpses that are still relatively intact?"

"I see them."

"Give each one a stab through the heart." Lin Yu was terse. She always killed this way—to avoid any trouble, she made sure the person was truly dead before leaving.

Di Ting: "? So cautious? Kill them twice?"

In the distance, the sound of a bell rang out. Lin Yu suddenly thought of something, and she pulled back her hand, extinguishing the fire that had just started. "Wait—keep these bodies; they're still useful. There's no need to destroy the evidence. Call a few ghost messengers to collect the corpses."

"Ghost messengers probably wouldn't do that... They gather souls, not bodies..." Di Ting was always stunned by the things Lin Yu said, stumbling over his reply.

"Then teach them. Otherwise, with a Ghost Realm as big as yours, if you can't even find someone to collect corpses, how will you ever grow and develop?"

"... Fine."

"Hurry up. We still need to get to the next one."

Di Ting's voice stammered. "Wha—what next one?" He widened his eyes and asked, "You still have someone else to kill?"

Lin Yu said airily, "Yes, so we need to move fast. It's already the Chou hour."

"Who this time?"

"Immortal Lord He, at Changguang Mountain."