That was why, after the girl was wounded, it stepped up to protect her—like a boss looking out for its little underling.
Only this time, the Lingmao was the boss, and the girl was its underling.
The two hadn’t known each other long. In the Lingmao’s memory, the girl had wandered into its Territory about ten days ago, already in bad shape.
After eating the fruit it offered, she recovered a bit and talked a lot to it—though it didn’t understand a word.
A few days later, someone with a terrifying aura appeared in its Territory and nailed the girl to the tree.
That person came and went quickly, and seemed to know the girl.
From what the Lingmao saw, the girl approached happily, only to be pinned to the tree with a sword.
Hua Jian relayed all this to Linglong, staring pensively at the still-sleeping girl.
Her clothes were simple—she looked even worse off than Hua Jian had been before meeting Linglong.
She didn’t even have a storage pouch or any spirit tools.
It wasn’t that her things had been stolen—the killer didn’t stick around long enough.
She simply hadn’t had any to begin with.
A girl with no equipment daring to venture into the deep mountains alone—there had to be a reason.
After thinking it over, Hua Jian came up with only one possibility. “Do you think she could be a local?”
Yes, if she’d grown up in these mountains, it would all make sense.
She was here because she had nowhere else to go. She had no equipment because she couldn’t buy or afford it.
“Hard to say. The nearest mountain village is still two days away, and she’s only a Ling Practitioner. Why would she dare come here alone?” Linglong studied the map, skeptical.
“Besides, this girl’s talent isn’t bad. She should be registered with the Saint Sect as a potential disciple and waiting in the village for the elders to escort her to Ascension City, not wandering out here.”
Right now, Saint Sect cultivators should be taking chosen youths to Ascension City for the Ascension Gathering.
Why would a talented girl not wait in her village but instead appear so far away?
“There’s no point guessing here. Just ask her when she wakes up—maybe she was tricked into coming here?” Taijian plopped down in a pile of dry grass, thinking the others were just spinning their wheels.
If she were already dead, they could guess all they liked. But since she wasn’t, why not just ask her?
“Who knows when she’ll wake up…” Hua Jian’s voice trailed off.
A few seconds later, she slapped her own forehead.
“Wait, why am I waiting for her to wake up!”
The girl might be unconscious from her injuries and need time to recover, but Hua Jian could just go straight to the source and ask her soul.
She could ask her questions, then let her go back to sleep for as long as she wanted.
After explaining her plan, Linglong and Shiqi only said, “Do as you like—just don’t turn her into an idiot.”
As for Hua Jian’s bizarre Soul Connection technique, the two always kept a respectful distance.
After all, it did look a bit sinister from the outside.
Connecting to someone’s brain through their ear just seemed a little… evil, didn’t it?
Both of them had been connected like this by Hua Jian before. All they could say was that the experience was strange—definitely not comfortable.
“I’ll try to improve it so you feel nice every time.” Hua Jian twitched her lips, suddenly feeling her skillset was developing in a questionable direction.
Ahem. She was a decent person—so please treat her skills as proper skills, thank you.
Standing before the girl’s head, Hua Jian placed her palms on both ears, sending out vines to establish a Soul Connection.
Soon, her practiced skill linked her to the girl’s soul.
“I’m going into her Godsoul Space—wait a moment.”
With that, she closed her eyes, letting her consciousness sink and follow the invisible channel into the girl’s Godsoul Space.
Whoosh!
The wind stirred her dress, making a soft rustling sound. Hua Jian opened her eyes and looked around—the space was tiny, containing only a house and a small courtyard.
After all, the girl was just a Ling Practitioner and likely hadn’t had soul training; it made sense for her Godsoul Space to be so cramped.
There was no sign of the girl in the yard. Hua Jian went to the door and pushed it open.
Light spilled into the dim interior, revealing a scene straight out of a horror film—a black figure, face veiled, holding a sword that impaled the girl.
Blood spattered everywhere; it was a murder scene.
Strangely, even though it was indoors, the tree from earlier stood behind the girl, and the girl here was also nailed to it.
Perhaps, as this was the last thing the girl saw before passing out, her mind had perfectly reproduced it in her Godsoul Space.
Hua Jian circled to the front of the shadowy figure, wanting to see what they looked like, but found they were just a lump of darkness—no features, not even a gender.
“Tch, I was hoping to see the killer’s face.” Hua Jian smacked the shadow, dispersing it, then pulled the girl off the tree once again.
Since this was the Godsoul Space, she was a lot rougher this time—just yanked the sword right out.
Once done, she slapped the girl’s face, “Wake up! Wake up! The sun’s up!”
Her hand, haloed in colored light, proved very effective—after a few slaps, the previously unconscious girl groggily opened her eyes.
Seeing Hua Jian leaning over her, the not-yet-fully-awake girl mumbled, “Fairy?”
Fairy, not demoness? This girl had potential! Hua Jian was delighted—finally, someone used a compliment after seeing her soul-form.
Sure, her outfit was a little seductive, but she was indeed as beautiful as a fairy, wasn’t she?
“Aren’t I already dead? Is this the Underworld?” The girl took a deep breath, recalling what happened before, and her face turned pale.
“That’s right, I’m the Ghost Messenger sent to escort you to the afterlife. If you have any unfinished wishes or grievances, tell me and I’ll see what I can do.”
Hua Jian nodded vigorously.
Even though her appearance was a far cry from the eerie Ghost Messengers in legend, as long as the girl believed it, that was enough.
“I…” The girl gently touched her chest, and upon feeling the unhealed wound, her expression turned to hopeless acceptance.
With such a gaping wound, survival was impossible.
Whether this beautiful little “sister” really was a Ghost Messenger or not, she was probably already dead.
As for regrets…
“Could you tell my family to be wary of the Saint Sect cultivator coming these days? He’s a Fake Saint Sect Cultivator, here to kill us!”
“Oh?” Hua Jian made a curious sound. A Fake Saint Sect Cultivator?
If that was the case, everything made sense—why the girl was here, why she’d been tricked out of her village.
“Tell me the details.”
“About ten days ago, a cultivator claiming to be from the Saint Sect arrived at our village, called me by name, and said he was to take me to Ascension City. Because he knew my name, we didn’t suspect him.”
The girl nodded and began recounting what happened.
“But after leaving with him, he took me to an unfamiliar place and told me to wait there for a few days.”
“He didn’t leave me anything to live on, and a few days later… he killed me…”
It was a simple story—a bad person tricked the girl and killed her.
You couldn’t really blame the girl—she was just a villager from a small mountain village, with no knowledge of the wider world.
The cultivator could call her by name and claimed he was taking her to Ascension City—exactly the same procedure as before. Why would she doubt him?
The real problem was how thorough the bad guy was—even mastering such inside information.
“I see. Then why did he leave for a few days? Did he do anything to you?”
“I remember, before he left, he took a lot of my blood and a few strands of hair. He said it was to do more detailed Measuring Talent. Does that count?”
Oh, it definitely counted! Hua Jian could think of plenty of uses for blood and hair, most famously in crafting disguise spirit tools.
Using human blood to make a disguise item could even perfectly mimic the person’s aura—no one but the closest of friends could tell the difference.
That villain must have taken her blood and hair to make these items. After they were ready, she was of no further use, so he killed her and left her in this deserted forest.
Given the girl’s status as someone about to attend the Ascension Gathering, why would the villain target her?
It couldn’t just be for fun, right?
Obviously, the girl was just a stepping stone—their real target must be the Ascension Gathering!
Of course, this was just Hua Jian’s guess, but she felt it was highly likely.
After all, her own next stop was the Ascension Gathering. With something that could shake the whole world, how could trouble not arise?
See? Here was the prologue.
“I think I get it. By the way, I lied earlier—I’m not a Ghost Messenger.” Hua Jian nodded, then stood up.
“Huh?”
“You’re not dead either. I saved you.”
The girl’s gaze grew dim. She didn’t think Hua Jian was lying about the former, but about the latter, she just felt Hua Jian was trying to comfort her.
To let her spirit pass on in peace.
“I’m not lying. There’s no such thing as an Underworld—just something made up in storybooks.”
Hua Jian tapped the girl’s head. “You have a Special Constitution; that sword didn’t take your life.”
“But…”
“You remember the little white cat that gave you fruit? It guarded you after you were nailed to the tree. If not for it, you’d really be dead.”
When Hua Jian mentioned the Shuanghua Lingmao, the girl finally started to believe.
She hadn’t mentioned the cat at all earlier, but Hua Jian knew exactly what had happened… How?
How could anyone else know about such things?
“Don’t look at me like that. If I can talk to you here, I can talk to the cat too.” Hua Jian flicked her forehead. “What’s your name?”
“Uh… Qinghui.”
“Alright, Miss Qinghui, now close your eyes and I’ll have you wake up.”
Though she still didn’t quite believe it, Qinghui obediently closed her eyes.
Hua Jian raised her hand. Colored vines grew around Qinghui, first crawling over her chest to heal her wound with colored energy, then releasing colored mist to send Qinghui’s soul back to the real world.
Not long after, Qinghui’s form disappeared, and Hua Jian relaxed, dissolving into petals to leave the Godsoul Space.
This was her first time using the ability like this; she wasn’t sure how effective it would be.
Hopefully not too bad.
……
Opening her eyes, Hua Jian broke the Soul Connection with Qinghui and stared intently at the girl’s face.
After a while, Qinghui’s lashes trembled and, slowly, she opened her eyes.
One, two, three, four?
Seeing three people and a cat, she couldn’t quite believe it was real.
Not until the Lingmao hopped elegantly onto her chest and delivered a chilly cat punch to her face, finally bringing her back to her senses.
“I’m still alive? Fairy sister, you weren’t lying?” She quickly sat up and checked her chest. Finding no wound, she looked at Hua Jian in delight.
Though it wasn’t quite like her dream, Qinghui recognized Hua Jian at a glance by those unmistakable colored eyes.
“Oh? Fairy sister?” Shiqi chimed in mischievously, “Is this your new beauty on the road?”
Hua Jian shot Shiqi a glare. “Don’t talk nonsense—I’m not into that.”
Hua Jian wasn’t so shallow. Qinghui’s figure was far beyond her type. She’d leave this poor girl to those who liked that sort of thing.
“I’m not a fairy—just a wandering cultivator passing by.” Hua Jian turned to Qinghui to clarify her identity.
Even she was a little embarrassed being called “fairy sister” to her face.
“This is Shiqi, my friend and also a wandering cultivator. This is Linglong—if you have any questions about the Saint Sect, ask her.”
Hua Jian introduced her two companions to Qinghui and briefly explained Qinghui’s experience to Linglong.
“That’s what happened. If you want more details, Linglong, you can ask her yourself.”