Chapter 225 - 225 223 Chance Encounter Around the Corner

Words : 1413 Updated : Oct 3rd, 2025

225: Chapter 223: Chance Encounter Around the Corner 225: Chapter 223: Chance Encounter Around the Corner Leaving that sacred great hall, the sky outside was as usual, with the snow still un-melted. But the guide named Luo who had been waiting outside the hall was long gone. Clearly, there was no longer any intention to lead him back. Baili An walked alone along the long corridor of palatial buildings and halls; although grand, they were very empty, showing no trace of others. The twilight snow and the howling cold wind swept up his hem, bringing with it a sense of desolation. The corridor was deserted; the snowy landscape was silent; everything was extremely quiet. Baili An hurried along, his head bowed, seriously pondering everything that had happened today. Last night, the sound of the qin shook the city, bringing darkness. Then there was the bizarre event of the old ghost killing people to take their pearls. At that time, it seemed that others could not hear the eerie sound of the qin, yet he could. Was it deliberate, or was it because of his unique constitution? Miss Sixi mentioned that the Empress was in the city and could observe all the major and minor events within. The insolent and bold qin music from last night couldn’t have gone unnoticed by the Empress. That being said… A very frightening truth suddenly dawned on Baili An, sending a chilling breeze down his spine. Xianling City’s grand examination had begun, yet the city gates had opened three months early, allowing cultivators from all directions to enter. Though the real examination was far off, those who were to be tested had mostly all entered the city in an unbroken line. The Empress, opening the city gates three months early, what was her intention? The Empress was the ruler of Kunlun Mountain, an ancient deity; she couldn’t possibly be unaware of the disturbance caused by ghostly affairs in the city. Yet she had neglected to intervene and even seemed to implicitly indulge such matters. Baili An could not fathom the cause and effect but felt that this magnificent city hall was not the wonderful sacred place people imagined. It was clear that beneath this land lay buried the Evil Ghost of Ghost Mountain; if one were to lift the veil of this extraordinary Immortal City, the soil beneath would undoubtedly be saturated with foul breath and full of evil spirits. Baili An had an epiphany, the Immortal City suppressing Ghost Mountain seemed to be more than just a simple containment. Fang Geyu said the Empress was lazy by nature, unwilling to meddle in affairs beyond Kunlun’s Heavenly Capital, yet she set up the Immortal City in the Mortal World and the Ghost Realm. With her level of cultivation, even if Evil Ghosts inundated the Mortal World, he believed that she had the power to purify the mortal realm and disperse the malevolent spirits. Not to mention these minor mountain demons and specters. It was incomprehensible, unfathomable. Baili An only wanted to leave the Inner City of Xianling, which everyone yearned for, as soon as possible. He quickened his pace, hurrying along. Unexpectedly, as he turned a corner, he encountered someone. The person walked without a breeze, nor did they emit the slightest sign of breathing. Now, although Baili An’s cultivation was by no means weak, and his eyesight was not to be relied upon at such close range, he inevitably should have detected the faintest trace of the flow of blood from the other person. Yet he found nothing. And the person he met at the corner also seemed unaware of Baili An’s presence. Because Baili An wasn’t breathing. Unavoidably and unable to stop in time, Baili An bumped heavily into the person’s embrace. Although caught off guard, the other’s body remained stable, not retreating a step, stopping firmly. In contrast, Baili An felt as though he had collided with an imposing snow mountain; the force of the rebound forced him to step back repeatedly. Stumbling and slightly disheveled, he nevertheless made a polite apology, “I’m sorry, I really am…” However, just as he clumsily took two steps back, he felt a sudden chill on his wrist. It was grasped tightly by a pale and slender hand; at the same time, a rough and hollow voice said, “Be careful.” The person’s voice was very strange, as if it had been ground down by gravel, and it was indistinct whether it was male or female. Not exactly pleasant to the ear, even somewhat rough and hoarse, the tone, however, was surprisingly gentle. Baili An steadied himself, feeling a shock in his heart. His body, as a corpse demon, was far more robust than ordinary people at the same stage, and with his Talent abilities pilfered from the Shebi Corpse, he was undoubtedly strong. But upon colliding with this person, he ended up at a disadvantage. Indeed, the Inner City of Xianling was a place where hidden experts mingled. The person who kindly steadied him was shrouded in a black robe, with a deep hood concealing their face, not even a strand of hair visible. From the appearance, one could only barely make out the person’s tall and lean figure; at the waist hung something wrapped in black cloth, likely a sword, but the details were obscured. “Thank you. I was pondering some matters just now, quite lost in thought, and I apologize for my rudeness,” said Baili An, sincerely expressing his thanks. A soft chuckle came from the hooded figure, who clearly did not take his bumbling to heart, the raspy voice remaining calm. “Although the inner hall is spacious and deserted, care is still needed. The ground is slippery with snow; it would not do to take a fall.” The considerate words were very thoughtful, but such thoughtfulness to a complete stranger seemed somewhat mysterious. Moreover, at that moment Baili An felt the temperature of the person’s hand was very cold, like that of a body just pulled from an icy lake. Now that he was standing firmly before this person, the hand on his wrist showed no sign of letting go. In fact, it was holding very tightly. Baili An’s face remained unchanged as he nodded, “Thank you for the reminder, I will be careful.” The grip on his wrist was strong enough to cause some pain to his bones, and through his skin, he could feel an odd trembling in the other’s fingertips. Baili An did not know how to describe the feeling, but it certainly was not the proper way to treat a stranger. He tried to withdraw his wrist, meaning to leave. Though the pressure from the palm was significant, as if reluctant to let go so easily, there was no use of Spiritual Power to coerce him. Thus, Baili An could easily free himself. Thanking the figure once again, he received no verbal response, and the emotion beneath the deep hood was inscrutable. But he could clearly sense a gaze intensely fixed on his face, as if trying to see through to his very soul. A restless irritation rose inexplicably in his heart, feeling that if this person kept looking, his true identity as a corpse demon might be revealed. Cultivating both politeness and firmness, he broke free from the other’s grasp, and in a fleeting glance, he spotted the surprising beauty of the person’s hand. The wrist was even and delicate, with long, shapely fingers and crescent moons adorning the pale nails, the winter’s daylight reflecting off the person’s skin, luminous and striking. It was a hand made for wielding a sword. But the beauty lay only on the back of the hand. The others person’s fingertips and palm were crisscrossed by numerous scars of all sizes that seemed ineradicable, vividly harsh, ruining the original beauty. The most gruesome wound was not on the hand but on the pale wrist. The gash was deep, as though once cruelly severed by an unforgiving blade, resembling the ugly mark of a centipede. Observing this scar, Baili An realized why he had not detected any Spiritual Power in the other’s palm; such a scar must have severed important tendons, the Spiritual Power nodes destroyed, the strength was still there but this hand could no longer wield a sword. A sword hung at the waist, but it would never be drawn again. For a moment, Baili An thought of Jin Sheng.

Chapter 225 - 225 223 Chance Encounter Around the Corner

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