Chapter Fourteen: Mount Fenghua

By the time Zhao Fifteen and I arrived at the foot of Fenghua Mountain, it was already deep into the night. The moon hung bright and clear in the sky, its silvery glow scattered across the world, so that I could even see countless shadows flitting about beneath its radiance.

Ever since our return from Ghost City, my Yin Eyes had been opened. So, the moment Zhao Fifteen and I stepped out of the car, I could see innumerable wandering spirits rushing before my eyes.

Rushing was the only word for it. These spirits seemed to have seen something that terrified them to their cores. One after another, they drifted out from the slopes of Fenghua Mountain, fleeing desperately into the distance.

“Grandpa Zhao, what’s happening here?”

Zhao Fifteen gazed at the scene with astonishment on his face. Yet, even in his shock, he swiftly drew a Soul-Locking Talisman in midair. With a flick, the charm shot out and slapped onto the forehead of a middle-aged male ghost running toward us.

This ghost must have died in a car accident; his head was flattened, his eyeballs crushed as if burst, his features grotesquely distorted, and his nose collapsed inward.

Grandpa Zhao, seeing his talisman had trapped such a spirit, addressed him, “Can you speak?”

Though immobilized by the charm, the spirit could still talk. “I can, Immortal! Spare my life! I am just an ordinary wandering soul—I have never done anything wicked or evil!”

Under the talisman’s power, the spirit trembled so violently that his body, which had been floating, now dropped to the ground and stood before us, bowing in fearful reverence.

“What happened on Fenghua Mountain? Why are you all running?” Zhao Fifteen questioned.

“A great ghost appeared on the mountain. It rushed straight into the Cave of Yin Fiends, broke the seal entirely. Now, the Yang energy is rapidly gathering throughout Fenghua Mountain. What once was a place of extreme Yin has now become a terrifying land of extreme Yang!”

“What?” Zhao Fifteen’s expression changed dramatically at this news.

The spirit, terrified, immediately fell to his knees, kowtowing repeatedly, “Immortal, spare me! Every word I say is true. We used to linger on Fenghua Mountain for years, but now we have no choice but to flee to Ghost City. Please, let me be reborn!”

Zhao Fifteen’s face grew grave, and he asked sternly, “Did you say the Cave of Yin Fiends?”

“Yes, yes! It’s beneath the temple on Fenghua Mountain. We were only able to reside here because the cave suppressed all the Yang energy. But just now, the seal was broken in an instant, and all the Yin energy was sucked away by some force, while the terrifying Yang energy burst forth!”

The more Zhao Fifteen listened, the darker his expression became.

I stood aside, puzzled. If there truly was such a cave, that meant someone had once arranged an ancient Yin-Locking formation here. It was precisely this formation sealing the cave’s entrance that suppressed the mountain’s Yang energy, turning this place into a potent gathering ground for Yin.

And now, with mention of the Cave of Yin Fiends, could it be that someone had placed something extraordinary within?

“Who arranged the Cave of Yin Fiends?” Only a master of Yin-Yang arts could set up such a formation, as only they could manipulate the great forces between Heaven and Earth.

“Immortal, please spare me! I really don’t know. I’ve only been here about four years. The cave was already here when I arrived!”

At that moment, flashes of strange light shot out from around Fenghua Mountain. Ordinary people would never see such light; only those with Yin Eyes could perceive these phenomena, unique to lands of Yin.

If a normal person were present, they would only feel gusts of cold wind swirling around Fenghua Mountain. In reality, it was the desperate flight of countless spirits—many even diving straight into the ground.

Some of these souls had lingered in the human world for years and, having gained some power, could burrow directly to Ghost City.

I reached out and plucked the Soul-Locking Talisman from the spirit’s forehead. Relieved, he floated away into the distance.

“Grandpa Zhao, what should we do now?” I asked, seeing him staring intently at the mountain, wreathed in waves of ghastly white light.

“Xiao Dong, do you remember that great ghost you met on the Ghost Road?”

I nodded.

This was a memory I preferred to avoid. I had always been searching for Su Ying, even asking Chen Chuyi to divine her fate. In the end, Chen Chuyi uttered just four words: “Fate will reunite you.”

Many times I dreamt of Su Ying standing by my side, watching over me as I slept; but each time I awoke, she was gone again. I didn’t even know if the Su Ying I’d seen in that grand mansion was the one in my heart. She was no longer human, yet if I ever mastered my cultivation, I vowed to return to the Ghost Road to find her.

“If I’m not mistaken, another great ghost is being forged within Fenghua Mountain—one even more formidable than the one you met on the Ghost Road. Now I understand.”

“Just as Chuyi said, all of this is fate. We cannot change it.”

“Grandpa Zhao, what do you mean?” My heart trembled. Could it be that the legendary Three Corpses Resurrection formation was about to be completed, and tonight was the night?

“We should go up and see for ourselves. If my guess is right, this is the Yang Corpse—one of the three.”

“What?!”

“It must have been that female ghost. After devouring nine fiendish fetuses, she sought to transform into a Vajra Corpse. Discovering some artifact here, she came to this place, hoping to use it to materialize her Vajra soul. But she didn’t anticipate that disturbing the seal would unleash an even more terrifying Yang Corpse!”

Suddenly, the image of the Moonlight Corpse flashed through my mind—the stunning female corpse that rose from the reservoir, flying in this very direction.

Without another word, I followed Zhao Fifteen as we rushed up Fenghua Mountain. The fleeing spirits parted before us, sensing our powerful Yang energy, which we made no effort to conceal—especially myself. These were all benign spirits, possessing little power, and so they scattered at our approach.

When we finally reached the summit, the sight that greeted us left us utterly stunned...