Chapter 110: Xiyue Appears

"Huh?"

I was stunned on the spot—not out of surprise or fear, but sheer bewilderment. I simply couldn't process what was happening. In my view, the world I currently inhabited was in a state of drifting uncertainty, where no one could predict what the next moment would bring.

"Me?" I looked at the innkeeper, who stood beside me, constantly nudging me forward, and asked, speechless.

The innkeeper looked at me, nodded, and then said softly, "Do you really not even recognize your own wife?"

Xiyue is my wife?

I shook my head frantically. My mind raced back to my time on the Ghost Path, where I had entered into a "yin marriage" with Su Ying. How could Xiyue be my wife now? And as for Su Ying, her fate remained a complete mystery to me.

I looked around at the eyes fixed upon me, and my heart gave a violent jolt. Why were these gazes filled with such dense, deathly aura? Just as I felt a hollow sensation in my body, as if I were about to be drained dry, the figure who had been standing with her back to me—Xiyue—suddenly turned around.

The moment she turned, I saw those beautiful eyes. Within them, I saw the deep affection of someone I had spent every waking moment with—a sentiment that allowed me to understand exactly what she wanted to tell me in an instant.

As I looked at her face, which seemed almost twisted, I didn't hesitate. I lunged, dashing straight out of the cave. The moment she struggled to speak, I understood her message: *Xiao Dong, run!*

I didn't look back. Even though I could hear many voices behind me, I knew Xiyue wouldn't harm me. In truth, I had been terrified for a long time, but only then did I begin to run for my life, crazily and desperately. To be honest, I had no objective in Thrush Village; I was just running back with everything I had.

Wait, Xiyue said she would wait for me at the inn. Maybe at the inn...

But then, I thought of the innkeeper.

Countless voices erupted behind me again. I heard voices identical to Xiyue’s, and the voices of my parents, all calling out to me. I stared straight ahead. Because I had my Yin-Yang eyes open, I could see countless other entities. For instance, the countless wandering spirits gathered on the street. Strangely, when these spirits saw me, they all scrambled to move aside. This felt incredibly bizarre; logically, these spirits should have been able to ignore me, as I was still in a human body—they could have passed through me as if I weren't there. Yet, they all parted to clear a path for me.

"Yang Dong, stop! Don't run..."

Just as I slowed my pace, that voice appeared behind me again—the innkeeper’s voice. I dared not linger. It was clear now that the cave was a place of extreme danger. Were they trying to imprison me there?

I thought back to my interactions with this innkeeper and recalled our previous conversations. Strangely, I found myself feeling unnaturally calm. I remembered the innkeeper telling me that I had released them from a mirror and created this Thrush Village for them to live in. They had acted terrified when they first saw me, but the moment they realized I couldn't remember anything, their expressions had shifted. Were they trying to kill me? Would that grant them total freedom?

As this thought took hold, I shuddered violently. If the innkeeper intended to kill me by bringing me to that cave, did it mean all the ghosts within it wanted me dead? With that realization, I quickened my pace.

Within three minutes, I saw the inn in the distance. Just like the first time I saw it, it had no name and gave off a profoundly eerie vibe from the outside. Yet, my heart felt a strange sense of stability.

Because I saw someone.

Xiyue!

"Xiao Dong!" Xiyue stood outside the inn, waving at me.

A warmth flooded my heart, and for some reason, tears began to stream down my face. I walked to her in a few strides and grabbed her hand—cool and smooth as jade. And those eyes—it was definitely her. But there was a streak of blood on her cheek.

"Xiyue, what happened to you..."

Xiyue shook her head and whispered, "I used the Tears of the Vast Sea just now; it caused some strain on my eyes. It will be better in a few days."

My heart pounded. No wonder I had felt that sense of familiarity in the white-clad woman's eyes earlier—it was Xiyue, casting a spell from so far away to help me escape!

"Let's go, let's head inside."

I shivered. "Huh? Xiyue, we're staying here tonight?" I gestured toward the nameless inn. I had experienced too much in this place over the last day or two; I didn't want to go through it again.

"If we don't stay here, where else would we stay?" she replied. "Don't worry. In Thrush Village, no one can hurt you, unless you hurt yourself!"

Huh?

Hearing Xiyue’s words, my heart skipped a beat. The innkeeper had told me the exact same thing earlier. If that were true, wouldn't I have been in no danger in that cave? Then why would Xiyue risk exhausting her own cultivation to save me? Using the Tears of the Vast Sea exacts a heavy toll on her.

Just as I hesitated, a voice drifted into my ears.

"Are you two looking for a room?"

It was the waiter! Oh god, these ghosts just wouldn't let go. I became even more reluctant to enter the nameless inn.

"Xiao Dong, what's wrong? In Thrush Village, this is the only place we can live. It's the only place capable of housing people like us—Yin-Yang practitioners!"

I... I... I couldn't get the words out. Feng Yang and his junior brother had seemingly said the same thing!

"I..."

Before I could finish, Xiyue pulled me directly into the inn. As soon as I entered, I was greeted by the familiar layout. The guest rooms on the second floor were all open, looking empty, but I knew they were occupied by other guests—though I had no idea what kind.

"Are you two staying the night?"

A hoarse, aged voice made my hair stand on end. I shuddered violently, and cold sweat instantly drenched my forehead. The person standing behind the counter, flipping through a ledger and looking at us, was the very same innkeeper who had been chasing me just moments ago.

He looked exactly like me, as if I were staring into a mirror across the counter.