Chapter 9

Lin Yu remained unruffled, but Fu Ming's expression drastically changed at the words.

"What did you say?"

Lin Yu pulled Fu Ming behind her and asked calmly, "What happened in the celestial realm?"

"The Xianzun is dead." The words fell lightly, like a pebble dropped into water, stirring ripples.

The only reason Lin Yu survived her failed Ascension was a favor the Xianzun had secured for her. Now that he was dead, no one remained to vouch for her.

Lin Yu was stunned for a moment. When the Divine Attendant finished speaking, she nodded almost instinctively.

It seemed everyone was pushing her deeper into this game. She was being dragged in against her will, sinking further and further until she was mired in the mud.

Lin Yu's thoughts churned. She vaguely sensed an invisible hand controlling everything, as if someone wanted to cut off every path to her survival.

The day her Ascension failed should have been the day she died.

Her gaze finally settled on the horsetail whisk in the Divine Attendant's hand.

She couldn't guess who the mastermind was, nor who the Mountain God's accomplice might be, but they shared a common purpose: to kill.

To kill Lin Yu, to kill the people, to kill all living beings.

"Honored Immortal, I have an impertinent request," Lin Yu said earnestly, looking at the Divine Attendant.

The Divine Attendant paused, then nodded for her to continue.

"Could you help me find the Danxin Bone?"

Perhaps out of sympathy for one who was about to die, the Divine Attendant said nothing, only formed a hand seal. In an instant, the surrounding wasteland was enveloped by the spell. The yellow earth around the marriage sedan burst open, and a white bone broke through the soil.

"There," the Divine Attendant said, handing the Danxin Bone to Lin Yu. "But it's been buried too long—it may no longer be of any use."

"Divine Maiden, take care." With these final words, he turned to mist and flew into the sky.

Fu Ming stared blankly at the Danxin Bone in Lin Yu's hand, then finally spoke.

"So you..." He abruptly changed the subject. "You suspect the Mountain God has an accomplice in the celestial realm, don't you?"

"Yes," Lin Yu said, looking into the distance. "If I'm not mistaken, the Xianzun's death may also be connected to this accomplice. They want to kill everyone."

By now, the sky had darkened completely. With the Danxin Bone in hand, the two wasted no time and headed back toward Liangcheng.

...

The outskirts should have been deserted, eerily quiet with not even a bird's call. Suddenly, a jarring voice cut through the silence.

"Kind sir, kind miss, have mercy, please save me and my child..."

A woman crawled out from the weeds on her hands and knees. Seeing people, she clung to Lin Yu's skirt like a lifeline.

The woman was wrapped head to toe in coarse gray-black cloth, exposing only her eyes, with no skin visible. She lay prone like a starving wolf, and behind her trailed a terribly thin boy, trembling all over.

The woman instinctively grabbed Lin Yu's clothes, trying to pull herself up!

Fu Ming started, shielding Lin Yu behind him and brushing the dirt from her hem. He tossed a silver ingot to the woman and pulled Lin Yu away.

"Wait!" Lin Yu cried out. "You..."

Fu Ming turned and saw the woman had flopped onto her back, the boy clutching her neck and sobbing.

The cloth wrapping the woman had come loose, revealing her face. Lin Yu's pupils contracted the moment she saw it.

Her face was covered in dense, writhing worms devouring her flesh!

The woman was gaunt, and the fleshless hollows of her eye sockets and jaw were already stripped to white bone, where slender maggots squirmed.

She had died with her eyes open—dried, sunken eyeballs exposed, and the worms were about to crawl over them to feast.

The boy didn't dare knock the worms off, yet couldn't bear to see his mother's corpse consumed. His hand hung in the air, trembling, caught between two agonies. Finally he gave in and wailed, clutching the cloth that had fallen from her body.

The boy's own arm, barely visible, was also covered in worms, with bloody pits gouged into his tender skin—a horrifying sight.

Fu Ming turned back. "Where are you two from?"

"We're from Lincheng... lots of people died in Lincheng, and Papa is about to die too. Mama said... find a doctor to go back and save Papa." The boy feared they might leave him alone in the wilds to be eaten by worms, so he spoke between sobs, his words slurred.

Lin Yu and Fu Ming exchanged glances, realizing something was very wrong.

Lin Yu studied the woman's corpse for a while, then followed the trail left by her crawling through the weeds. Seeming to notice something unusual, she snapped a few blades of grass without looking up and told Fu Ming to take the boy back to Liangcheng.

She dispatched him in a few brief sentences, saying she'd return by morning and to wait for her at the sedan. Fu Ming, though puzzled, took the boy and set off down the road, looking back several times. Lin Yu smiled and waved goodbye.

After they left, Lin Yu followed the direction of the flattened weeds—the path the woman had crawled with her child.

She traced the marks and eventually stopped before a courier station. No one was inside, but the stable was packed with horses.

Lin Yu sat down by the side gate, propped her chin on her hand, and counted the horses passing by, as if waiting for someone.

"Miss, won't you come inside and sit?" A kindly old woman emerged from the door behind Lin Yu and beckoned her.

"No, I'll just wait here," Lin Yu replied with a smile, her gaze sweeping lightly over the old woman. The woman had graying temples, wore coarse homespun that barely reached her knees, and beneath it revealed a pair of pure black boots splattered with mud.

Lin Yu nodded to her in thanks and went back to watching the stream of changing horses, seemingly unconcerned with the old woman.

After a while, something was draped over Lin Yu's shoulders. She looked up to see the old woman's crinkled, smiling eyes.

The old woman sat beside her on the steps, and they leaned together, watching the horses come and go. Neither spoke. After a long silence, the old woman broke it by introducing the horses to Lin Yu.

Her voice was deep and slow: "That one with the fiery red coat is called a Sun-Chaser. Stubborn and untamable, with a fierce temper—just like people."

Lin Yu smiled. "Why?"

"Many people are like that horse—hard to tame, resistant to discipline, and far from gentle. So they constantly stir up trouble."

"Then how does the groom train a Sun-Chaser?"

The old woman's expression shifted. "The lowest method is to whip it with an iron lash. Once its hide is bloody, they switch to a spiked whip. For the truly fierce ones, they use an iron mallet—first break its legs, then beat its belly. Eventually it submits. And if it can't be tamed even then and it interferes with the groom's livelihood, the only option is to stab it to death with a dagger."

Lin Yu remained all smiles. "Then... which kind am I?"

The old woman's face changed, realizing she'd been exposed, and turned ferocious in an instant. Lin Yu flung off the piece of clothing the old woman had draped over her—revealing a sharp short blade hidden beneath!

The old woman lunged to snatch the dagger, but Lin Yu struck her on the shoulder with a palm, sending her crashing into the narrow doorframe with a muffled grunt.

Quick as a flash, Lin Yu snatched the dagger from the ground and backed away, putting distance between them, still smiling with her eyes. "Have I gotten in the groom's way?"

The old woman, furious, scrambled up from the threshold and rushed at her, reaching for the dagger!

A gleam of ruthlessness flashed in Lin Yu's eyes. Holding the dagger with both hands to keep it from being wrenched away, she met the old woman's outstretched hand and sliced across her wrist, then twisted the blade and drove it into the tendons!

With a heavy thrust, the blade tip burst through the other side of her flesh—the dagger had pierced clean through the old woman's wrist. If Lin Yu had used more force, she could have severed the hand entirely!

The old woman paled in shock, hissing in pain. Her other hand clamped over Lin Yu's, trying to drag both hands away to pull the dagger free.

The old woman had trained in martial arts for years, her hands thick with calluses. But with one hand pinned by the blade, she could only fight with the other to wrest it away—ultimately no match for Lin Yu.

Lin Yu raised her hand, and the dagger slid free. The old woman surged forward without a pause, but Lin Yu kicked her in the leg!

The old woman fell to the ground, face twisted, and grabbed a wooden stool from beside the steps, swinging it at Lin Yu's head!

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

Heavy solid wood flew at Lin Yu!

As the stool sailed toward her, the old woman charged like a madwoman!

Just as the stool's corner was about to smash into Lin Yu's head, she spun aside and dodged, using the doorframe behind her to slip into the station. The old woman, unable to stop, found the knee-high threshold looming before her!

The wooden stool crashed into the stone wall with a deafening crack, and the old woman hit the ground with it.

Lin Yu walked slowly over to her, twirling the bloodied dagger in her hand. She crouched beside the old woman's head. The old woman tried to rise, lifting her head—but Lin Yu, her expression unchanged, pressed her neck down, sending her sprawling again with a thud!

Holding the old woman down with one hand, Lin Yu examined the mark on the dagger. The old woman, frantic and trembling, struggled to get up but was pinned by the head and couldn't move.

Lin Yu flipped the blade over. The handle bore the engraving of a black bird with wings spread wide—the royal insignia. Just as she'd suspected. "You were sent by Zhang Dian?"

The old woman froze, stopped struggling, but didn't answer.

Lin Yu scoffed. "He underestimates me. He sent only you?" Her tone was laced with contempt. "Utterly useless."

At those four words, the old woman tried to retort, but Lin Yu pressed her rising neck down again and stabbed the dagger into the ground right in front of her face—the blade passing mere inches from her eye. The old woman's pupils dilated, and she fell silent.

If it had been a fraction closer, it would have pierced her eye. The hole in her wrist still bled freely.

She was seething, glaring at Lin Yu with venom. Lin Yu twisted the dagger still embedded in the earth, its point now resting between the old woman's brows. Remembering her ruined hand, the old woman shut her eyes in terror.

Lin Yu glanced around casually and took an interest in the solid wooden stool. She picked it up and slammed it hard into the old woman's neck!

With a dull thud, the old woman went completely limp, unconscious. Lin Yu walked around the station, then dragged her to the stable and set her down.

Then she returned to the side door, lay down on the old woman's bloodstain, and feigned a severe injury, unconscious from blood loss.

Before long, she heard footsteps. A rough rope was looped around her, binding her hand and foot, and then she was hoisted into a crate and loaded onto a cart.

The crate was transferred several times—loaded and unloaded—bouncing along the road until it finally came to a halt at a hidden courtyard.

Lin Yu felt a jolt as the crate was carried into the mansion and set down in a corner.

A porcelain shatter rang out, followed by a sharp, shrill outburst.

"That blasted Mountain God—he's tricking us, isn't he! Isn't he a celestial? Setting up a formation but hesitating this and that, dragging his feet! I've said every good word to Fu Qing and he still won't hand over military command! Do you have any idea how much I've poured into our grand plan?!"

It was Zhang Dian's voice. Lin Yu, bound hand and foot in the crate, couldn't move for a moment, so she listened to Zhang Dian's raging while she worked at the knots.

Then Xiao Wen spoke, his tone utterly assured: "Your Highness, calm yourself. By tomorrow, every soldier in Liangcheng will have been withdrawn."