Chapter 215 - 215 213 Si Yin Paper

Words : 1378 Updated : Oct 3rd, 2025

215: Chapter 213: Si Yin Paper 215: Chapter 213: Si Yin Paper The reason for the cruelty was twofold. Zhou Ruyan harbored deep resentment, and he had a fervent, distorted devotion and respect for the Empress. Burdened by an infamous reputation he could never wash off and by the injustice of a wrongful death. He was finally vindicated. This made him even more eager to be reincarnated as a human than he had been as the exiled female cultivator. He longed to be among the people of Inner City, serving under the temples of the Immortals. Thus, he resorted to using Evil Techniques on living souls for Soul Nourishment and Body Refinement, foolishly fantasizing about the dead being reborn. After listening to Lan Youdie’s words, Baili An seemed thoughtful and said, “If the Empress could retrieve Zhou Ruyan’s eyes, why didn’t she fully convert him, instead of causing so many innocent people in the border city to die in vain?” Lan Youdie’s expression changed drastically, and her eyes suddenly became fierce. “You audacious young man! Are you suggesting that it’s all the Empress’s fault that the Fierce Ghost is killing people in the city?” Baili An replied, “I speak what’s on my mind spontaneously.” “Hmph, I advise you. While you’re in Immortal City, don’t recklessly discuss the Immortal Emperor! Blasphemy is a grave sin not excusable even by death!” Baili An found it very hard to understand the unfounded beliefs held so dearly by these people. Yet expressing doubt had become a heinous blasphemy. Being an Ancient Immortal, how could they lack even this small bit of tolerance? If they must thunder and rage at every worldly word they heard, then being an Immortal must be truly exhausting. As he remembered the strange guqin music in the darkness during the incident last night, Baili An felt there was something ancient and unusual about it. Seeing Lan Youdie looking so anxious and severe, Baili An naturally did not press further. Instead, he changed the subject, “Miss Lan, do you know if any families have recently lost the yang souls of their young children?” Hearing this, Lan Youdie looked at Baili An with a startled expression tinged with surprise. Zhou Ruyan murdered people as a resentful ghost, using the yang souls of young children to nourish his body and refine his spirit. Although it was a crude method, it proved effective. Perhaps after a few hundred years, he might really be able to cultivate a living body. Many innocent children had been harmed by him over the centuries. But children in the border city were ultimately just ordinary mortals. While everyone wanted to capture the old ghost to acquire fame and rewards, no one intentionally set out to save these mortal children. Lan Youdie found this young man quite strange. He had actually caught the city’s old ghost but showed no interest in claiming the substantial bounty. Instead, he cared so much about a commoner’s little girl. Was he out of his mind? What good would it do to waste energy saving a useless mortal? She had already found it odd that this capable young man, evidently poor, had to rely on women and trade his looks to survive. It seemed his brain wasn’t quite right. Although she looked down on him in her heart, Lan Youdie still patiently answered his question for the sake of his military achievements. “Zhaoting Street, Fourteenth Alley is home to a mortal young scholar named Ji Ting. He has two younger sisters, one of whom has lost her soul. Our people suspect Zhou Ruyan has taken it. That old ghost hasn’t been vanquished yet, and the sister has been crying daily to the city office for help. If you really have the soul, returning it would indeed be a good deed.” Clearly, Lan Youdie’s final words, “a good deed,” carried a tone of contempt and pretense. She didn’t believe that much virtue could be gained from a mere mortal. This young man was simply foolish, likely believing himself a chivalrous hero from the pugilist world, full of naïve and youthful ardor. There was no need to break his spirit. Baili An nodded in thanks and did not mind her pretentious consolations. He held his umbrella as he walked out of the alley. Snowflakes began to drift down from the sky again. The city lights shone brightly, a bustling scene from a worldly perspective. Lin Yuan and Lin Guiyuan emerged from the darkness, looking at Baili An, whose cheeks were smeared with blood. Baili An offered them a slight smile, “Any findings?” Lin Guiyuan said, “Someone was setting up a spiritual array in the back alley. When Lin Yuan and I apprehended him, he killed himself.” Baili An frowned, “Killed himself?” If it was just about being caught, what drove him to such desperation. “But we found these on him,” Lin Yuan pulled a stack of unusually dark papers from his chest. As Baili An took them, a pure chill of yin energy spread from his skin into his body. He flipped through two papers and instantly knew what they were. “Netherworld Papers.” Lin Yuan naturally recognized them as Netherworld Papers too, but what puzzled him was why a Mortal World cultivator would carry so much Netherworld Money. Baili An ran his fingers over the paper, his gaze intensifying, then added, “It’s not ordinary Netherworld Money. This Netherworld Paper is imbued with spirit. To ghosts, it must be something akin to a Spirit Stone.” Saying this, he casually pulled out a sheet and triggered the Netherworld Money with the dark power within his body. Soon, the edges of the paper caught fire, sending strands of Ghost Qi into his nostrils. After a short while, the vitality around Baili An weakened a few shades, his complexion growing increasingly pale and ghostly in the night. Seeing Baili An pull out another sheet, Lin Yuan quickly intervened, “Stop inhaling that. What good does it do to draw stuff from the Underworld into your body?” Seeing her concerned expression, Baili An neatly folded the Netherworld Papers back into her hands, smiling, “This Netherworld Money is quite interesting. It probably has many uses. Ghosts commit murder on one side, and on the other, someone collects Netherworld Money. The city seems much less peaceful than it appears on the surface.” A cold snow swept down the narrow streets, layering new snow atop the old. The night grew colder still. Zhaoting Street, Fourteenth Alley, near the outskirts of the border city. The alley was cramped and shabby, intersected by numerous paths. The old, low houses showed weathered, time-stained marks of history. At the entrance of the alley stood a simple terrestrial Immortal’s altar, its incense buried under ice and snow, desolate. The area was poor, yet it was imbued with the essence of human life. Each household lit long candles, casting warm glows into the cold alley. Ji Ying, the second Ji sister, was slicing garlic and cooking noodles by the window. Her family lived off a noodle stall. Their house was divided: the front half served for cooking noodles and attracting customers, while the back half was where the three siblings lived and slept. Though it was late at night, as it was during the Spring Festival, people kept the tradition of staying up all night, awaiting the city’s hundred-night fireworks display. Some would undoubtedly come to the shop for a steaming bowl of pickled cabbage and green bean noodle soup. With the alley light shining brightly, Ji Ying, wanting to save oil for her brother’s night studies, did her chopping and kneading without a lit candle. She let the cold wind of the snowy night chill her brows through the open window. The external light shining into the room turned her fingertips red and blue with cold, but it did not affect her chopping speed. Suddenly, the light from outside wavered, and a figure obscured it. Ji Ying stopped her chopping and looked up. In the snowy light stood a young man with an umbrella. White snowflakes gently brushed past the umbrella’s rim, and beneath it was a face gentle and elegant as jade.

Chapter 215 - 215 213 Si Yin Paper

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