Chapter 20: Reversal

To speak of the Ghost Market and Lin Xuegeng, one must mention the three forces currently entangled in the affair of the spiritual artifacts: the Immortal Sects, the Sky City, and the Ghost Market.

Although the Dao of Immortality comprises over a dozen sects, the leaders are the three major pillars: the Xiaoyao Sect, the Fu-Guang Sect, and the White Cloud Pavilion. These three sects each have their own deep-seated grievances and tangled histories with Ye Miwei, forming a ledger of debts impossible to settle.

The Sky City is a gathering place for spiritual outlaws who have reached a dead end. It is heavily guarded, with no one allowed to leave once they have entered. It is said that its lord, Wei Yuan, was a traitor to the Xiaoyao Sect who stole a sect-protecting treasure and fled in his youth, seizing the opportunity of the spiritual artifact chaos to establish the city. The Immortal Sects have attempted to suppress the Sky City many times but have yet to succeed.

The final party is the Ghost Market, where the situation is far more convoluted. When Ye Miwei’s nightmare beast first manifested, it chose a child to instruct in the various methods of crafting spiritual artifacts. This child was nominally Ye Miwei’s apprentice, later taken in by the White Cloud Pavilion for supervision. Years later, she suddenly turned on them, slaughtering an entire minor sect and then storming the White Cloud Pavilion, killing forty-seven people, including two elders, thereby forging a blood feud.

The girl, named Lin Xuegeng, then fled to the Ghost Market, and Ye Miwei’s nightmare beast vanished without a trace. The hunt for Ye Miwei’s beast began only after the massacre at the White Cloud Pavilion.

The Ghost Market was originally a place for illicit business and the exchange of intelligence, but after Lin Xuegeng arrived, it effectively became the center for information regarding spiritual artifacts. However, the place is incredibly mysterious; ordinary people have no idea where it is, let alone how to gain entry.

In these twenty years, although Ye Miwei has never truly appeared, she has single-handedly turned the world upside down.

Sun Sheng, upon hearing Xie Yuzhu’s rebuttal, became displeased. He spat on the ground, glared, and shouted, "How does it not count? Do you think I’m ignorant? Who doesn't know that Lin Xuegeng is the apprentice of the Sect of Myriad Phenomena!"

Xie Yuzhu argued, "The Sect of Myriad Phenomena never acknowledged her as an apprentice!"

"The nightmare beast of the Sect of Myriad Phenomena acknowledged her, didn't it! That beast taught Lin Xuegeng all its skills. If she took the beast of the Sect of Myriad Phenomena as her master, isn't that the same as taking the Sect of Myriad Phenomena as her master?"

Sun Sheng was full of self-righteous logic, and he impatiently waved his hand at Xie Yuzhu: "I’m not going to argue about those trivialities with you."

He turned to Ye Miwei. "Lin Xuegeng is the only person in the world who can modify spiritual artifacts. You actually managed to modify one—are you from the Ghost Market? Are you Lin Xuegeng's apprentice?"

Sun Sheng’s deduction was logical yet completely inverted—turning the master into the apprentice and the apprentice into the master.

Just as Ye Miwei was about to answer, she heard Xie Yuzhu shout, "Great Master! We've been exposed!"

Xie Yuzhu frantically winked at Ye Miwei, causing the denial to get stuck in Ye Miwei's throat, leaving her with only an ambiguous, "Ah..."

Sun Sheng took this as an admission. He looked at Ye Miwei in surprise, then turned to examine Xie Yuzhu, clicking his tongue in wonder: "Hah, Lin Xuegeng’s apprentice has taken an apprentice? That girl doesn't even look twenty, yet she already has a grand-apprentice!"

The new "grand-apprentice" Xie Yuzhu bluffed, "That’s right! If you kill my Great Master, you’ll be making an enemy of the Ghost Market! Just wait for Lin Xuegeng to settle the score with you!"

Sun Sheng was half-convinced. He rolled his eyes and sneered, "What, you think I’ll believe she’s from the Ghost Market just because you say so? Let her fix this bracelet first, then we can talk about the rest!"

Sun Sheng and Xie Yuzhu were in the heat of their exchange, but Ye Miwei had no intention of participating. She glanced at the two of them and lowered her head to continue repairing her bracelet.

Beside them, Cang Shu remained silent. When he had been running away, he was full of life, but now he seemed exhausted, leaning against the crumbling wall of the dilapidated temple, watching Ye Miwei with a faint smile.

The sun gradually dipped low. Ye Miwei kept her head down, the sunlight filtering through the broken windows and spilling onto her. Her fair neck was flushed red from the light, and her silver-white hair shimmered dazzlingly.

Xie Yuzhu was nervous but helpless; she could only stretch her neck, trying to see what Ye Miwei was drawing on the ground. Long and short horizontal and vertical lines—they looked like hexagrams.

"What is that? Is the Great Master drawing hexagrams on the ground?"

"Not hexagrams, just Yin and Yang lines. The Yin line represents zero, the Yang line represents one; it’s her binary calculation system. She’s also drawn equations for the 'Gap Accumulation' and 'Heavenly Element' methods. Your Great Master is deeply skilled in mathematics," Cang Shu said languidly.

Xie Yuzhu looked toward Cang Shu, who explained leisurely, "I am also somewhat versed in mathematics, and I can tell that I cannot calculate what she is doing; I am far inferior to your master."

"Mr. Cang Shu, are you... are you not afraid?" Xie Yuzhu asked, puzzled.

"Eh, just a rotten life, what is there to fear?" Cang Shu waved his hand dismissively, the white cloth strips on his wrists fluttering. Sun Sheng glared at him, telling him to stay still.

Watching this scene, Xie Yuzhu felt she was the only normal person in this ruined temple. If not for Sun Sheng being a vicious spiritual outlaw, he would actually be more normal than her master and Cang Shu!

In this agonizing wait, time crawled by. The sunset dyed the horizon crimson, casting an orange-red glow inside the temple. Sun Sheng finally lost his patience. He grabbed Ye Miwei, lifting her up, and shouted impatiently, "How much longer? Can you fix it or not? You’re just fooling me! I don't have the time to waste on you!"

Blue threads hung before Ye Miwei’s chest. She looked up at Sun Sheng, holding the still-scattered *Myriad Phenomena Forest*. In a place hidden by her sleeves, a pale crystal slid from her palm, about to drop into the groove of the *Myriad Phenomena Forest*.

At that moment, Sun Sheng suddenly turned his head, looking around alertly: "What is that sound?"

The lingering sunset faded, and the sky outside the temple was a dim, bruised blue. A tinkling sound, like something colliding, echoed—so faint it felt like a hallucination.

Xie Yuzhu froze, calling out in disbelief, "That is... it’s a bell! The Second Master's bell!"

At first, it sounded like only one or two bells swaying, but as the night wind picked up, the sound grew until it seemed like dozens of bells were ringing in chaotic harmony. It was like jade beads falling, or the laughter of a child; scattered and distant, appearing from somewhere in the gloom.

As Sun Sheng turned in panic, a wind mixed with the scents of blood and flowers brushed past Ye Miwei’s nose. Something seemed to graze her face, moving too fast for her to track.

"If you force the *Myriad Phenomena Forest* to activate now, it will be ruined."

A familiar, clear voice. A familiar, arrogant tone.

Ye Miwei paused, her dark gray eyes slowly widening.

The last sliver of sunlight vanished. The night wind whistled through the open doors and broken windows, causing the tattered curtains and weeds inside to dance. A figure suddenly appeared behind Sun Sheng, who was still clutching her collar; the figure’s face was blurred in the dimness.

The wind whipped the silhouette’s hair and clothes, making them seem as if ink were melting into the vast darkness. The sound of the bells echoed, as distant as chants from a hundred years ago.

The man reached out to drape an arm over Sun Sheng’s shoulder, acting as if they were brothers. He leaned down, and amidst the scent of blood, whispered faintly in Sun Sheng’s ear: "I hate two things in this life: seeing blood, and being bothered during the day."

"You’ve committed both sins, you old bastard. You’re asking for death."

Sun Sheng froze as if paralyzed, his eyes full of terror, yet he couldn't move, as if he had lost control of his limbs. In the blink of an eye, Sun Sheng disappeared strangely, as if he had evaporated into thin air, leaving only the *Thread-Binding Box* on the ground.

Moonlight finally spilled into the temple, illuminating the figure standing in the center.

His features remained as exquisite as a painting, but his face was pale as paper. His cheeks, neck, and clothes were stained with dried blood, large patches of deep, dark red resembling blooming blood-colored begonias, making him look like a vengeful ghost that had just crawled back from hell.

He had always been beautiful in a sharp, knife-like way, and now it was as if that knife had tasted blood. It was unclear whether he had wounded another or broken himself.

He was Wen Ci, the man who had been "killed" just a few hours ago.

Xie Yuzhu and Ye Miwei stared at him, motionless, as if they had seen a ghost.

Wen Ci, however, looked indifferent. He calmly bent down, picked up the *Thread-Binding Box* from the floor, and tossed it to Ye Miwei. The box traced a silvery arc in the moonlight.

"Keep it safe. Now you have something to protect yourself during the day."

Ye Miwei caught the box. Instead of pulling her hand back, she extended a finger and poked Wen Ci’s arm. Wen Ci didn't dodge; he simply looked at her calmly.

Xie Yuzhu stood on her tiptoes in the distance, looking back and forth, and asked cautiously, "Great Master, is he a human or a ghost?"

"A human," Ye Miwei said honestly.

Xie Yuzhu gasped, covering her mouth and trembling: "Great Master... Second Master... he’s returned from the dead!"

Wen Ci let out a disdainful scoff. He coughed twice, crossed his arms, and leaned against the broken wall: "Dragging the two of you along, I really am not far from death."

Ye Miwei’s eyes reflected the firefly-like blue light of the *Thread-Binding Box*. She asked, puzzled, "You didn't die?"

"I don't die that easily. I just went to take a nap."

"How is that possible? I clearly saw your chest pierced, Second Master! Nightmare Masters can't cultivate the Dao; you’re just mortal flesh and blood—how can you survive a heart injury?" Xie Yuzhu trotted over. She didn't dare get too close to Wen Ci, but she observed him in astonishment, noticing the wound on his left chest was still faintly seeping blood.

Wen Ci reached up and wiped the blood off his neck. The blood had already dried, and his fingers left five dark red streaks, making it look as if he had been strangled, which only made him look more terrifying.

Whether human or ghost, Wen Ci said nonchalantly, "Then I suppose I’ve returned from the dead."

"..."

Before Xie Yuzhu could press for more, Wen Ci pushed himself off the wall and said calmly, "Alright, that fellow is dead."

He reached out, and a bead fell from the void into his palm.

"This is an information bead Sun Sheng bought from the Ghost Market; it can receive Grade A intelligence. This item is extremely difficult to obtain. It seems he was quite involved with the Ghost Market. A pity—if he hadn't made me lose so much blood, I should have kept him alive to probe the Ghost Market."

Ye Miwei took the black bead from Wen Ci’s hand and examined it carefully. After a bit of manipulation, a white light projected several lines of text onto the ground—a bounty notice for the *Myriad Phenomena Forest*.

The Ghost Market did not know the name of the *Myriad Phenomena Forest*; the notice only mentioned a gold-bracelet spiritual artifact with the "Thorn-Sprouting" and "Smoke-to-Ash" techniques. It listed the physical descriptions of "Yunchuan," Xie Yuzhu, and Wen Ci, along with several locations they had previously appeared.

Ye Miwei looked up at Wen Ci and said, "There is white powder on the bead."

"Oh, that probably stuck to it when I was pouring flour into his seven orifices in my dream just now."

Ye Miwei nodded naturally: "Oh, so that’s it."

Xie Yuzhu held her head, wanting to scream—what "so that’s it"? What did they mean? Where did Sun Sheng go just now? When did the Second Master pour flour into Sun Sheng, and when did he extract this information?