Chapter 7: Riverside Immortal (Part 1)
Perhaps it was the winter-like chill that emanated from him, but the blood flowing from the bodies at his feet seemed to shimmer with a faint, white mist in the moonlight.
The mountain was silent except for the incessant chirping of cicadas.
“Dead… are they all dead?”
Ni Su heard a terrified cry from behind her. She turned and saw the two servants huddled by the carriage door, trembling like leaves.
She turned back. Bodies lay scattered across the mountain path, but the figure who had been standing there moments ago had vanished.
A chill ran through her. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to return to the carriage and retrieved some banknotes from her bag, dividing them between the two servants.
“M-Miss, who saved us?” one of the servants asked, his voice trembling as he held the money.
“I don’t know,” Ni Su said, her lips pressed together. After a moment, she added, “You came with me. If you return to the Ni family, Second Uncle won’t spare you. Take this money and leave.”
“But Miss, you…” The thinner servant hesitated, but his companion tugged at his sleeve, silencing him. Remembering the blade that had almost sliced his throat, fear gripped him again.
“Thank you, Miss! Thank you!” The dark-skinned servant, pushing his companion’s head down, kowtowed repeatedly, expressing their gratitude.
The encounter had terrified them. The journey to Yun Jing was long, and who knew what other dangers lay ahead? Ni Su knew she couldn’t keep them. She watched as they scrambled down from the carriage and ran into the dark wilderness, quickly disappearing from sight.
Sitting in the carriage, she could still smell the lingering scent of blood.
The carriage curtain had been slashed by the bandit. Moonlight spilled onto the floor. Staring at it, Ni Su tentatively called out, “Are you still there?”
Her voice was soft, almost a whisper.
A gentle breeze, unusual for a hot summer night, brushed against her face and stirred the hair around her ears. Her eyelashes fluttered, and her gaze shifted towards the window, obscured by the bamboo blind.
Her heart pounded in her chest. Holding her breath, she cautiously lifted the blind.
The faint moonlight illuminated her face. Ni Su saw him standing by the window, his figure translucent, almost transparent.
It seemed that if she touched him, he would vanish like mist, just as he had in the cypress grove at Da Zhong Temple.
Ni Su quickly lowered the blind. Sitting in the carriage, she clutched her skirt, her hands trembling. After a long silence, she finally found her voice. “You… have you been following me?”
A gentle breeze stirred, a silent answer.
Ni Su turned her head towards the bamboo blind. “Why are you following me?”
“Unless summoned, the deceased cannot enter the mortal realm.” His voice, cold and lifeless, came from outside the carriage.
Ni Su immediately remembered the winter clothes she had burned. Her lips trembled. “An old monk… he asked me for a favor.”
It dawned on her. She retrieved the beast bead from her sleeve.
“What’s in your hand?” The figure outside seemed to sense it.
Ni Su pursed her lips, hesitated, then extended her hand out the window.
The bamboo blind rattled against the window frame. The young man turned his head towards the sound, his features cold and clear. Tentatively, he reached out.
His icy fingers brushed against hers. A chill, like ice and snow, enveloped Ni Su. For a fleeting moment, the beast bead slipped from her fingers into his palm.
His eyes were vacant as his fingers traced the carvings on the bead. His eyelids flickered. “It’s him.”
“Who?” Ni Su caught the certainty in his voice.
“The Earth Lord of Youdu.”
Youdu? Earth Lord?
Ni Su had heard of Youdu, but the more common terms were Huangquan or Hell. Who was the Earth Lord?
And why had he orchestrated this, leading her to summon this spirit?
“If you don’t leave now, you might encounter officials.”
The beast bead was tossed back into the carriage, rolling to her feet. Ni Su, startled by his words, realized he was warning her that someone was coming.
She picked up the bead and clumsily grabbed the reins. The carriage lurched along the mountain path. Ni Su struggled to control it but didn’t dare stop, heading in one direction.
After a long while, still not seeing the walls of Qiao Zhen, Ni Su realized she had gone the wrong way. Fortunately, she found a dilapidated mountain god temple to take shelter in.
Lighting a candle inside the temple, Ni Su sat huddled on a pile of dry grass, tears streaming down her face.
She knew that Ni Zong’s desperation to capture her meant he had discovered the sale of the lands and estates and knew she had the money.
This could only mean one thing.
Mother was gone.
Her eyes red and swollen, Ni Su buried her face in her arms. Suddenly, she felt a cool breeze on her back. She shivered and instinctively straightened up.
She didn’t look towards the temple door behind her. After a long while, she spoke. “Why did you help me?” Her voice choked with unshed tears.
The faint candlelight illuminated Xu He Xue’s face. His eyelashes fluttered, and a flicker of light appeared in his empty eyes. He shifted his gaze, seeing the young woman huddled on the dry grass, her back to him.
“What year is it?”
Ni Su waited for a long time before hearing his unexpected question. Without turning around, she answered, “The nineteenth year of Zheng Yuan.”
The nineteenth year of Zheng Yuan.
Xu He Xue was taken aback.
One month in the mortal realm was equivalent to half a year in Youdu.
He had been in Youdu for nearly a hundred years, while only fifteen years had passed in the mortal realm.
Ni Su didn’t hear him speak again, but looking at her shadow on the ground, she remembered the phantom she had seen earlier. “Why did I see my brother’s image behind you that day in the cypress grove at Da Zhong Temple?”
“Perhaps I came into contact with his soul fire,” Xu He Xue said, his voice cold, standing under the eaves.
“What do you mean?” Ni Su, finally voicing the fear she had been suppressing, turned abruptly, her red-rimmed eyes meeting his in the candlelight. “Are you saying my brother…”
The candle flickered. The figure outside, previously fainter than moonlight, seemed to have become more solid.
“Youdu and the mortal realm are separated by the River of Resentment. The reed beds by the river are often frequented by new souls, including the soul fires of those suffering from soul loss.”
Only those afflicted with soul loss would have their soul fires, like fireflies, drift to the River of Resentment. Only their blood relatives could see the phantoms formed by these soul fires.
“How could my brother suffer from soul loss?” Ni Su’s mind raced, her mother’s words echoing in her ears. Tears welled up again.
Was her mother now by the River of Resentment, among the reeds?
Suppressing her grief, Ni Su looked up. The tall figure stood with his back to her, his head raised, as if gazing at something in the night sky.
Looking at him like this, he seemed no different from an ordinary person.
As if sensing her gaze, he suddenly turned, his clear, cold eyes meeting hers. His pale lips parted slightly. “Ni Su.”
He had heard people call her that more than once.
He also knew she was going to Yun Jing.
Ni Su stared at him, speechless.
“I was summoned by you and cannot leave your side in the mortal realm, but I also have unfinished business.” Xu He Xue looked at her intently. “Therefore, let’s make a deal. On our way to Yun Jing, I will help you find your brother, and you will help me fulfill my wish.”
In the dilapidated mountain temple, under the vast summer night sky, Ni Su, after a long silence, finally spoke. “What is your unfinished business?”
“The same as yours. To find someone.”
“Find who?”
Xu He Xue lowered his gaze, and Ni Su followed his line of sight to the silver embroidered characters on his sleeve.
“An old friend,” he said simply.
Perhaps it was the friend for whom he had prepared the winter clothes and written the inscription, yet had failed to burn them for fifteen years, Ni Su remembered the old monk’s words.
Ni Su remained silent. He stood outside the door, also silent. She noticed his shadow on the ground, a shimmering, fluffy, white light.
Traveling with a ghost, Ni Su should have been terrified.
“Alright,” she said, her throat tight, meeting his gaze. “As long as no innocent lives are harmed and no unnecessary trouble is caused, I agree.”
She lay down on the dry grass, her back to him, and closed her eyes.
But she couldn’t sleep.
Not only was there a ghost outside she couldn’t escape, but when she closed her eyes, she saw her mother’s face, her brother’s face. Tears welled up. She sat up again and took a piece of dry ration from her bag, eating it slowly.
She looked back and saw his shadow again, fluffy, seemingly with a tail, like an unknown creature, lively and endearing.
Ni Su looked up and unexpectedly met his gaze.
Unaware of the tears still clinging to her eyelashes, she saw him staring at her and lowered her gaze to the dry ration in her hand.
She broke off a piece and offered it to him.
But he didn’t move, his expression indifferent.
Ni Su withdrew the half-eaten ration, stared at the candle flame for a moment, then rummaged through her bag and pulled out another candle. Tentatively, she offered it to him. “Do you ghosts… like eating this?”
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