Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Lonemoon frowned, as if recalling something. He quickly turned to the person beside him. “Yi Qing, check her soul!”
Yi Qing nodded and knelt down, activating a bit of his divine power and transmitting it to the center of the woman’s forehead. A moment later, he widened his eyes strangely. “She… She has no primary soul!”
Indeed!
Lonemoon’s expression darkened. A primary soul was the most important part of a person’s soul. A person without a primary soul would have no consciousness – he would only count on his own physical strength. It was no different from a travelling soul. But why did she attack them? And it was obvious that she was targeting immortal souls.
“There you all are. It was easy for me to locate you.” Just as Lonemoon was figuring things out, he heard a familiar voice. A figure that was as tall as the woman and dressed in a black robe landed in front of them.
“You’re the Ghost Immortal Zhu Ming!” Lonemoon recognised the man from Feng San’s mirror.
“You remember me?” He nodded suspiciously. He had the same bleeding eyes as the woman did, but he did not seem as crazy. Instead, he looked relatively calm. He cupped his fists and bowed. “I am Zhu Ming. Greetings to you, Fellow Daoists Feng San, my old friend, said that you entered the Divine Underworld to look for someone. He told me to offer some help.”
So that annoying couple sent him here. Lonemoon heaved a sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Fellow Daoist.”
“Don’t stand on ceremony. Feng San is an old friend of mine. I take him as… Mother Feng!” He started, eyes widening as he looked at the ghost immortal pinned to the floor.
“Fellow Daoist Zhu, you know her?” Lonemoon asked.
“Mother Feng, is that really is you!” Zhu Ming rushed forward anxiously, scanning the crazed woman. He looked up at them and asked, “What… is going on here?”
“We were trying to lure the ghost immortal that captured our friend out.” Lonemoon explained everything that had happened. “It turned out to be her.”
“How can that be!” Zhu Ming’s face was a mask of shock. “Mother Feng has lost her senses, but she has always been…” He trailed off mid-sentence and scanned Lonemoon from head to toe. “Could it be that you’re still an immortal?”
Lonemoon exchanged a meaningful look with his other two companions. “I am still an immortal.”
“I see.” Zhu Ming’s expression softened. As if understanding something, he said, “No wonder… It’s no wonder that I bumped into that friend of yours in that cave. So it was Mother Feng…”
“Fellow Daoist Zhu, what do you mean?” Lonemoon asked.
Zhu Ming’s expression darkened. A moment later, he sighed and bowed to the group. “Mother Feng is my junior sister. She lost her senses and has committed many sins. Please forgive her.” He stepped forward and knelt down, touching the woman’s forehead.
The next moment, the woman that had been struggling violently just moments before relaxed and quietened down. She did not say another word. “When she was living, she ascended to become an immortal. After she died, she became a ghost immortal. That’s why she’s particularly sensitive toward immortal souls. She tried to attack you because she sensed an immortal soul similar to her own primary soul. She mistook it for her own and tried to snatch it.”
Lonemoon glanced at the woman on the floor. No wonder the moment Zhu Ming covered her divine perception, she quietened down.
“You mean she’s not the one who tried to kidnap my friend?”
“Well…. I’m not too sure either.” Zhu Ming lowered his gaze and studied the remnant Yin Qi on the ground. He flicked his wrist and transferred some Yin Qi into the woman’s palm. “When I last met your friend, the remnant Yin Qi in the Blood-Soul Array was indeed similar to Mother Feng’s. Although, I’m not sure why the Blood-Soul Array did not succeed. Mother Feng lost her senses because she lost her primary soul – if your friend is really with her, she would immediately use the Blood-Soul Array to snatch your friend’s soul. She would not bring your friend all the way back to the Divine Underworld, and she would definitely not fall for your trap.”
Lonemoon fell silent. Indeed, this ghost immortal Mother Feng was a crazy woman. Why would she do something so logical as to come back to the Divine Underworld before she sets up her Blood-Soul Array? But if she was not the one who captured Shortie, who did?
“But there was Yin Qi left behind where Xuan Tong disappeared.”
Zhu Ming pondered for awhile and said, “If that’s the case, why don’t I bring the few of you to Mother Feng’s abode so you can take a look? Perhaps you might find some clues. What’s more, the Blood-Soul Array needs two days before it can completely remove someone’s soul. If she really was the one who caught your friend, your friend should still be in the cave now.” He glanced at the woman on the ground who had begun to play with her own hair. “Mother Feng is my junior sister afterall. I cannot leave her alone like this.”
The few of them exchanged looks. There was nothing else they could do now.
“Thank you, Fellow Daoist.”
The few of them had no choice but to mount their swords and travel in the direction that Zhu Ming led them. Zhu Ming carefully carried Mother Feng and rode on a cloud behind them, shouting directions to them on the way. “Your relationship is quite close,” a female voice said just as Zhu Ming was supporting Mother Feng’s weight.
He looked up and saw the little boy that Feng San had instructed him to look after time and again. He was apparently Feng San’s biological son. He looked behind the boy and saw a woman who was seated cross-legged on the sword, dressed in white robes. She rested her chin on one fist and looked at him curiously.
Zhu Ming started. Eh? Was this woman here before? On seeing that neither Lonemoon nor Yi Qing looked surprised, Zhu Ming smiled. “When Mother Feng was alive… we grew up together. We were also from the same sect as cultivators. That’s why we’re closer than anyone else.”
Shen Ying nodded. “How did she become like that?”
“Well… I’m not sure.” Zhu Ming frowned, as if thinking of something. Then, his expression went blank. “All ghost immortals became the way they are because of excessive anger and indignation when they were alive. We have all gone through torture and pain like no other and we can only become ghost immortals by getting rid of our own souls. When I became a ghost immortal, she was already like that. Perhaps she suffered more pain than the rest of us.”
“Oh, then she…” Shen Ying wanted to ask something more, but something caught her eye and she jumped to her feet, gripping the person in front of her. “Father Niu!”
Lonemoon was relaxing. When Shen Ying gripped him, he almost fell off the sword. “Why did you pull me back all of a sudden?” He restored his balance just in time.
Shen Ying pointed in front. “There’s a river in front!” Did he not see it? He almost fell into it.
“What river?” Lonemoon looked around, confused. Apart from pitch-blackness, there was nothing.
Huh?
Shen Ying stared blankly back at him. Yi Qing was the one who reacted. He used his God Power to form a sword and caused it to fly ahead of their own sword. After only travelling less than three feet, the sword seemed to fall into something highly corrosive. It melted right before their eyes and disappeared in less than two seconds.
“Holy shit!” Lonemoon retreated. The river could swallow even God Power. If not for Shen Ying, he would probably have been dead by then.