She stood up and straightened her robes.
“Qin Shuying is also heading in this direction. Let her clear the path for us, let her wear down Nan Gong Jin. Once the two of them have fought each other to the point of mutual destruction—” She raised her hand and peeled a strip of bark from the trunk of the old banyan tree, “—then we close the net.”
Chu Yi pressed the bark back onto the tree trunk and brushed the debris from her hands.
“I’ve heard that Qin Shuying and that silver-haired girl have been frequently active in the southeast. It seems they haven’t found it either. As for Pei Yu, his movements are secretive, and his whereabouts are still unclear…”
She paused for a moment. “However, over in the Southern Wilderness, demonic Qi activity has been abnormally frequent lately. Several ancient devil’s dens show signs of revival. I suspect he may have been drawn into that mess.”
Yun Fuling spoke with a trace of laughter.
“Milady need not worry. That corpse puppet has been successfully refined. Though the Transcendent Master is dead, his body neither rots nor decays. I have now grafted his head onto a corpse puppet. The original soul residing within is more than enough to influence the current Nan Gong Jin…”
Her face lit up with joy. “Truly?”
Back then, Nan Gong Jin had been dismembered by the Seven Major Sects, with her head preserved by Cloud Hidden Mountain.
Though there was no intact corpse, could the head of a Transformation God Realm cultivator be compared to that of an ordinary practitioner?
“Milady, look.”
In the mirror, behind Yun Fuling, one corpse puppet after another opened their eyes, their ghostly green luminescence flickering dimly.
One of them stood out from the rest. Upon closer inspection, one could make out the appearance of Nan Gong Jin.
Over the following days, the atmosphere inside the underground palace grew even more oppressive.
The spiritual pressure from the fully activated defensive prohibitions was everywhere.
The demonic cultivators moved with even more silence, and the air was thick with the tension of an impending storm.
Chen Mo’s range of movement was strictly confined to this enormous bedchamber that resembled an altar.
The only excursions allowed were under the close surveillance of Blood Orchid or that other old woman with a more sinister aura—the Ghost Hag.
Blood Orchid returned to the residence on the seventh day.
As she passed through the courtyard wall covered in withered vines behind the ginkgo tree, a demon cat crouched atop the wall.
Its emerald eyes glowed for a brief moment, recognized her, and lazily closed them again.
She lightly tapped her foot against the wall top and soundlessly descended into the inner courtyard.
Her shadow swept past beneath the trees, lighter than a falling leaf.
She went straight to the study. Chao’er usually reviewed those endless volumes of documents around midnight.
The study door was left ajar, light spilling through the crack.
“Come in.”
Blood Orchid pushed the door open and entered.
The ghostly green flame stood quietly in its lamp.
Chao’er sat behind the desk, her cinnabar brush resting on the brush rest, the pigment at its tip already half dried.
Her fingers were interlaced, resting on the desk surface, her thumbs rubbing against each other—a nervous habit of Chao’er’s.
But her eyes held Nan Gong Jin’s composure.
A dark red light churned deep within her irises.
“What’s the situation outside the city?”
“Chu Yi has spread the rumor,” Blood Orchid said.
“The content is this: the residence of the Nangong Ancestor holds a man with a pure yin constitution, gravely wounded and unconscious, and the severely injured Lord of Jiaoyue Peak is also within. The spread radius covers all Southern Wilderness demonic cultivation forces capable of reaching this residence within a single day. The dissemination channels are those who hold grudges against you from the secret realm—those who lost their senior sisters, those whose fate opportunities were stolen, those whose magical tools were seized. Estimated message delivery rate exceeds seventy percent, and the response rate will not fall below fifty percent.”
Chao’er’s fingers stopped.
“How many?”
“The first wave, approximately thirty to fifty people.”
Blood Orchid’s voice remained as steady as an intelligence dossier.
“They will reach the outskirts of the residence around noon tomorrow. The second wave will arrive by tomorrow evening—greater in number, higher in cultivation.”
“Chu Yi won’t act herself. Drive the wolf to swallow the tiger.” Nan Gong Jin set the cinnabar brush back onto the brush rest. “Where are her people?”
“Chu Yi and Yun Fuling’s tracks have yet to be locked down. Shadow Hall’s scouts last caught their aura at the edge of the Black Wind Forest, after which they vanished.” Blood Orchid paused briefly. “However, this subordinate has discovered something strange.”
Nan Gong Jin raised her head.
“What?”
“Your head.”
The lamp flame in the study suddenly leaped higher.
A sickly green light bathed the entire room in pale green.
Nan Gong Jin’s face showed no expression.
The study fell silent for a long time.
She spread her fingers, palms facing upward, resting them on the open documents.
“A thousand years. I thought it had rotted away in the soil of Fallen Immortal Ridge.”
“Back then, when the Seven Major Sects besieged Fallen Immortal Ridge, my physical body was destroyed and my soul was sealed. The righteous path announced to the world that I had been dismembered to eliminate all future trouble.”
Her voice was calm, like someone telling someone else’s story.
“My torso was taken by Tianheng Sect and sealed within the Demon Suppression Tower. My left arm was nailed by Wanjian Gate into the depths of the Sword Grave. My right arm was sunk by Biluo Palace into the Boundless Sea. My left leg was crushed by Taixu Gate into the mountain belly of Fallen Immortal Ridge. My right leg was refined away by the combined efforts of the seven peaks of Yun Yin Sect. Every piece of flesh was suppressed in a different location, and every suppression site was outfitted with prohibitions.”
Of course, Blood Orchid knew this history.
The master of Shadow Hall was more familiar with Nan Gong Jin’s past than with the lines on her own palm.
The Seven Major Sects had carved up Nan Gong Jin’s torso and limbs like a pack of hyenas dividing the carcass of a lion.
Every piece of flesh was suppressed, and every suppression site was kept secret from the outside world.
“She grafted the head onto a corpse puppet. Shadow Hall scouts discovered a discarded head at the edge of the Black Wind Forest, with cut marks on the cross-section, and its spiritual energy fluctuation shares the same origin as Yun Fuling’s.”
“The scouts also found, around the cold pool on the outskirts of the Black Wind Forest, a stretch of demonic beast carcasses drained dry of their essence. Several hundred zhang in all directions, ranging from first-tier to fourth-tier, all killed with a single strike, all drained of their essence.”
“What’s the purpose of draining their essence?”
“Feeding,” Blood Orchid said. “The original soul slumbered for a thousand years. After being forcibly grafted onto a corpse puppet, it requires massive amounts of essence to maintain activity. Yun Fuling has been feeding it with the demonic beasts from that forest for at least a month.”
Chao’er’s fingers, which had been tapping against the back of her hand, stopped.
“What level is it at now?”
“The scouts did not get close enough to make a definitive judgment, but based on the highest-tier demonic beast drained of essence, it is estimated to be at least Nascent Soul Peak…”
“Ancestor, no matter how high its cultivation level, it is still a dead thing. What I fear is that once the original soul fully awakens, it will be able to influence your divine sense. The closer the distance, the stronger the influence. If that head is brought close enough—”
The original soul. Not the spirit soul, not the nascent soul—but the “self.” It was the root of why a person was who they were.
Once the original soul fully awakened, it would resonate with the remnant soul.
It would summon Nan Gong Jin, like a tree’s root system drawing back its scattered leaves, like a river’s source reclaiming its branched tributaries.
To it, the soul that had gone abroad was merely a kite on a string.
“Where is that head right now?”
Blood Orchid produced a folded map from her sleeve and spread it across the desk.
The map’s material was not paper, but an extremely thin layer of beast hide, embroidered with dark red silk thread depicting the terrain of the Southern Wilderness demonic path—mountains, rivers, cities, strongholds.
Every location bore tiny annotations, the script dense as a colony of ants.
Her fingertip stopped on the southernmost region of the map, painted in ink-green: “The last trace of the corpse puppet was captured here.”
Her fingertip shifted and came to rest at a ferry marked “Bone Ferry.”
“West of Cangming Fort, at Bone Ferry. Six hundred li from here. The water route leads directly to the Southern Wilderness.”
Blood Orchid’s fingertip traced a blue river as thin as a strand of hair northward and stopped at the city’s location.
“Flowing downstream, one can arrive in two days.”
“What about the land route?”
“The land route requires crossing Moyun Ridge and passing through Yinyang Gorge. The distance is doubled.”
“But the water route has the prohibitions you set up. Though worn and damaged, they still have a restraining effect on the corpse puppet. The land route is longer, but there are no prohibitions blocking the way.” Blood Orchid’s fingertip tapped lightly on the map. “So Yun Fuling will take the land route.”
“Why?”
“Because she is in no hurry.” Blood Orchid’s voice dropped low. “She knows the original soul takes time to awaken.”
Chao’er’s fingers moved slowly across the map, from Bone Ferry northward, following the arc of the land route, crossing Moyun Ridge, passing through Yinyang Gorge, and finally stopping at the city’s position.
She tapped the city once with her fingertip, leaving a faint impression.
“We move tonight.”
Her voice was very soft.
“Yun Fuling wants to stall until the original soul fully awakens. Chu Yi wants to drive the wolf to swallow the tiger, letting those who bear grudges against me wear me down first. They are all waiting—waiting for me to exhaust my trump cards one by one, waiting for Qin Shuying and me to destroy each other at the outskirts of the residence, waiting for the original soul to grow strong enough to cripple my combat power…”
She drew her hand back from the map and clenched it into a fist at her side.
“Then I’ll strike fast while the enemy is slow.”
Blood Orchid’s brow twitched.
“This subordinate understands.”
Chao’er looked down at her.
“One more thing. Where is Qin Shuying now?”
“Less than eight hundred li away.”
“And the Grand Elder of Tianheng Sect?”
“After breaking through the eye of the Ten Thousand Soul Banner Formation, he led his disciples back to Tianheng Sect. He has not moved south.”
Chao’er nodded.
Her finger traced lightly along Qin Shuying’s southward route on the map—from Fallen Immortal Ridge heading south, crossing the upper reaches of Bone Ferry, skirting the western side of Moyun Ridge, advancing along the edge of Yinyang Gorge.
This route had more than one point of intersection with Yun Fuling.
“Let her come,” Chao’er said, rolling up the map and handing it to Blood Orchid.
“Yun Fuling wants me and Qin Shuying to destroy each other. Then let them believe I will destroy each other with Qin Shuying. Send Shadow Hall agents to create traces of garrison movements around the Nangong Ancestor’s residence on the western side of Moyun Ridge. Not too much—just enough. Make Qin Shuying think I’m defending against her. Make her focus her attention on the outskirts of the residence. And then—”
She tapped the edge of the rolled map with her finger.
Blood Orchid took the map and tucked it into her sleeve.
“Understood.”
From the heart of the Southern Wilderness to Bone Ferry, the straight-line distance was eight hundred li.
Fortunately, every stronghold had teleportation arrays, making travel quite convenient.
After activating the grand array, in the blink of an eye, they arrived at Cangming Fort.
Suddenly, everything was much closer.
Chao’er moved with extreme speed, and Blood Orchid struggled to keep pace.
She was the master of Shadow Hall, her movement technique ranking within the top three in the Southern Wilderness demonic path.
But following behind her, she felt for the first time like she was chasing the physical form of a shadow.
Bone Ferry was not a ferry at all—it was a waterside fortress abandoned for a thousand years.
Crumbling walls stretched along the riverbank. The gate had long since collapsed, leaving only two tilted stone pillars.
Most of the buildings within the fortress had fallen into ruin, wooden beams rotted into black debris and mixed with rubble.
The entrance to the exploration site was at the bottom of a dry well connected to the fortress’s dark channel.