Chapter 76

Immortal Lord He's mouth gaped wide, but no sound came out. Every one of the dozens of celestial attendants inside and outside his cave dwelling had died without a sound. Even if he called for help, no one would come. His instinct screamed at him to run.

He'd barely taken two steps when searing pain slammed into his back. He lurched forward and crashed hard onto the ground!

The moment he hit the dirt, a powerful beam of light struck at him from another direction. He'd just started to rise when the blow crushed him down again—this one nearly cracked his ribs. Immortal Lord He's heart sank. He realized someone else was lurking in the shadows, someone with far deeper cultivation and far more dangerous.

He didn't dare look back at Lin Yu, and he didn't dare glance toward the direction of the hidden attack. All he knew was that he had to get out. His cave dwelling sat on a mountainside, and just beyond it lay the residence of his most devoted follower—and farther still, his temple of fated love.

Only by escaping could he find hope. Ignoring the pain, he shoved himself up on his hands and scrambled forward, stumbling desperately toward the exit. But he hadn't made it more than a few steps before another wave of agony crashed into him—a vivid crimson curse seal slammed into his body and sent him flying!

The sheer force hurled him through the air. His face nearly scraped along the ground as he slid, gravel cutting into his skin. The dull pain numbed half his face until he could barely feel it. When he lifted his head, he saw the plants outside his cave dwelling. Lin Yu had thrown him clean out.

He raised his head to run again—and there she was, staring straight at him.

Lin Yu fixed her gaze on the hand bracing him against the ground, then ground her foot down onto it. The smile on her pale mask was like a demon come to claim a life. "Immortal Lord He, why run? I traveled a thousand miles just to see you, and this is how you treat me?"

Immortal Lord He cried out in pain, trying to pull his hand back, but he couldn't break free. He nearly screamed the words: "I'm just a minor god who handles marriage! Do you really have to take my life? We have no grudge between us—why do this?"

"No grudge?" Lin Yu sneered, repeating his words. "You're begging for death."

"Stop! Don't move!" Seeing that she wouldn't listen and was about to strike again, Immortal Lord He nearly broke down. "If you want to kill someone, go kill the gods who've done terrible things—they deserve to die! But my life shouldn't end like this... spare me..."

Lin Yu's interest was piqued. "Gods who've done terrible things? Who?"

"The Moon God, the Crimson God, and that God of War! They're all true villains!" Immortal Lord He spoke at a breakneck pace, spilling out a torrent of words. "I don't know what you're after, but your goal must be to establish your authority. Since you want to kill gods, go after the truly vicious ones! Coming after me in the dead of night—what's that supposed to prove?! If I die tonight, every mortal's marriage bond will fall into chaos by tomorrow. That would be an irreparable loss!"

Lin Yu gave a soft "Oh." She crouched down, but even sprawled helpless on the ground, he was still shorter than her. So she seized him by the throat and roughly hauled him upright, dragging him back by his neck. "What kind of loss? Tell me."

Choked and struggling for air, Immortal Lord He could barely force out the words. "Think about it—every mortal's red thread of fate is tied by me. If I die, the threads snap. Marriages fail. All love between husband and wife turns to nothing but loathing. How many couples are there in the mortal world? If every single one divorces, that would be a catastrophe! Surely you understand the stakes?"

"Honestly, I'd look forward to that." Lin Yu suddenly laughed. She dragged him back into the courtyard of the cave dwelling, where the piled corpses of the attendants formed a small hill behind him. She clapped the dirt from her hands. "People who already detest each other don't need to be forced together."

A bone whip suffused with a soft, pearly glow materialized in her hand, looking strangely gentle in the night. Lin Yu raised it and aimed it at Immortal Lord He. "Don't you think?"

As the words left her mouth, a sharp whistling split the air. The pale bone whip lashed into the sky, infused with spiritual power, and came cracking down on him wreathed in a faint crimson radiance!

The whip hurtled closer. Immortal Lord He forced a roar through his clenched teeth: "Are you insane?! You'd actually dare strike me!"

But he caved almost immediately. "Wait! Wait! I'm the God of Fated Love. Even if you don't care about the karma of the mortal world, I can arrange a match for you! Whoever you want your red thread tied to, I can do it—"

The whip didn't pause for even a heartbeat at his offer. By the third strike, Immortal Lord He spewed a mouthful of blood and collapsed, barely able to resist.

He stared fixedly at where Lin Yu stood, his fingernails digging deep into the soil as he struggled to crawl forward. Facing death, he found a strange well of courage from somewhere.

Still unwilling to give up, he tried to negotiate with his pathetic terms. "You want to kill a god to establish your authority—killing me won't do it. I'm a nobody, not even ranked in the Nine Heavens, not worthy of the title of Upper God."

His voice grew weaker, but he mustered the last of his strength to shout hoarsely: "Killing me is useless! Useless! You'll gain nothing but a heap of trouble. If I die here tonight, the entire Nine Heavens will learn that Lin Jiyue isn't dead. Then the real trouble begins—countless people will come hunting for you, and you won't escape the Nine Heavens' pursuit..."

"Killing me will only drag you through the mud. But think—if you spare me now, I'll pretend none of this ever happened. I swear it... I can even promise you a marriage. For a woman, what could matter more than a good match? You can have anyone you want—a general, a scholar, a prince... anyone. I swear it... I can tie your red thread. Anyone you desire."

Lin Yu's face twisted with contempt. She ignored him and raised the whip again. "You talk well, but I'd rather you shut up forever."

This time, the smooth bone whip suddenly sprouted barbs. With another sharp whistle, it lashed into the air!

Immortal Lord He's eyes bulged. Ignoring the blood choking his throat, he screamed with everything he had left: "You don't fancy those? What about the emperor—the emperor, surely?!"

Immortal Lord He was spent. All he had to bargain with was marriage—he was a minor god, with nothing else to guarantee. Even if he'd promised more, Lin Yu wouldn't have believed him. "Just spare me—I'll write whatever fortune you want..."

"Really! Spare me—I'll help you with anything! You—"

Lin Yu didn't hesitate for even a second as she lashed down the final strike. The barbs sank into flesh and bone, piercing straight through his heart. Immortal Lord He's eyes widened, his pupils dilating as a pale golden glow radiated from his body.

She withdrew her whip and delivered her final words with composure: "What I need is supreme power, unmatched cultivation, and authority that commands thousands. Not your pathetic matchmaking."

...

Di Ting leaped down from the corner of the wall, peering curiously at the blood-soaked, grotesque figure lying on the ground with eyes wide open in death. He hesitated, then asked, "This guy was really a god?"

Lin Yu looked at him like he was an idiot. "What else would he be?"

"Huh. So gods aren't as impressive as people make them out to be. Barely put up a fight—killed in a few hits. Boring."

Lin Yu rolled the body over so it lay face-up, then produced a thin chain and severed the head cleanly from the neck. The body hadn't stiffened yet, so the motion went smoothly.

Di Ting recoiled to dodge the blood spurting from the neck. "What... what are you doing? He's a god, at least—you won't even leave him in one piece?"

"God or mortal, if they've done evil that cries out to heaven, they don't deserve dignity in life or death." Lin Yu tossed Immortal Lord He's head to Di Ting. "Hold this. Let's go."

She'd thrown it without warning, startling Di Ting so badly he nearly dropped the head. He asked, confused, "Where?"

Di Ting was genuinely exhausted. Dawn was almost breaking. He'd spent the whole night running around with Lin Yu, killing people without rest. Even back in the underworld, where he was used to taking orders, he'd never been this tired or this rushed. And from the look of things, they were heading to a third stop?

"Mucheng," Lin Yu said. "We need to get there before dawn and hang this head on the city wall."

Di Ting: ??

Di Ting: "Wait, you're desecrating his corpse? That ruthless? And putting it on public display? What did he even do to you..."

Truth be told, this wasn't Lin Yu's own idea. It came from an old rumor: the Immortal Lord He had dreamt of being killed by someone, then beheaded and hung from the city gates.

Mortals didn't know the cause and effect, but most gods were aware of the story.

Though Lin Yu suspected the rumor had been embellished, the gods had spread it far and wide—so she had to play the part and make it come true.

Immortal Lord He had been right about one thing: with his death, someone would inevitably guess that Lin Jiyue was still alive. And by reenacting the dream's ending, Lin Yu was telling them all, in no uncertain terms, that the one who killed him was Lin Jiyue.

It was a risky move, but it would certainly bait a big fish. Come daylight, whoever wanted to find her—or find Lin Jiyue—would take the hook.

"Alright, let's move." Lin Yu gave Di Ting a gentle shove, urging him onward. "If we wait any longer, it'll be light out."

"Once this job's done, you can go back and officially take your place as the new Ghost King. And when you do, I'll help you squeeze Heaven's Mandate Tower for a hefty price. That'll earn you the respect of everyone—nobody will dare defy you."

Di Ting listened in a daze, but his feet followed Lin Yu outside on their own. His focus had drifted elsewhere. "Extort them? Aren't you the Divine Maiden of Heaven's Mandate Tower? You're extorting your own people?"

Lin Yu looked up at the sky and sighed. Communicating with beasts was absolutely exhausting. She suddenly found herself missing Zhang Yulin and Xiao Ta—perhaps because Xiao Ta couldn't talk, so at least it never seemed stupid.

"Yes, I'm extorting my own people. I've gone through all this trouble just to help you become Ghost King. You owe me."

"Of course!" Di Ting grinned. "So what are you going to squeeze out of them?"

"Think about it—the Xianzun just lost so many disciples in one go. I left with them to kill the Ghost King. It wouldn't make sense for me to be the only one to come back safe and sound while everyone else is dead, right?" Lin Yu closed the gate of Changguang Mountain cave dwelling and stepped out. Di Ting trailed behind her, and the two soon set off toward Mucheng.

"The Xianzun sent his disciples to kill the Ghost King. In his moment of crisis, the divine beast Di Ting came to his aid—but alas, too late, the Ghost King was already dead. Enraged and frenzied, Di Ting slaughtered every disciple of Heaven's Mandate Tower and carried off their frail, helpless Divine Maiden. How does that story sound?"

"Oh~" Understanding dawned on Di Ting. He deliberately ignored the part about the "frail, helpless Divine Maiden." He'd only met Lin Yu three times, and twice she'd been mid-massacre. She wasn't friendly, and she couldn't even fake kindness. He couldn't imagine her frail or helpless to save his life. Those disciples of Heaven's Mandate Tower must have been fools to swallow her nonsense.

Di Ting: "So you want that Xianzun of yours to offer something in exchange for getting you back, huh?"

"Glad you figured it out. You'll need to put on a convincing show—the Xianzun won't be easy to fool." Lin Yu kept walking, then noticed her companion had stopped. She turned back to see Di Ting standing by the roadside, gazing at a brightly lit temple of fated love.

From a distance, the temple gleamed with gold and silver. Two skinny little celestial attendants knelt on the prayer mats—likely the ones who'd escaped from the cave dwelling. They'd dodged death by luck.

Seeing Lin Yu turn back, Di Ting quickly asked, "Want me to silence them? Should we burn the temple down too?"

Lin Yu: ...

She really wasn't that bloodthirsty...