Volume One, Chapter 18: The Road Out of the City

“Young Master Qingyang,” Li Hanzhou said politely.

Hearing this surname, Li Hanzhou confirmed that he was indeed a member of the royal family, for the surname Yu belonged to the Shenque royal lineage.

“Young Master…” Ye Qingbei was a bit anxious and about to say something, but Yu Qingyang raised his hand to stop him, saying, “Since I am asking Senior Li to take me out of Baiyun City, I should be honest with you.”

“Of course.” Since Yu Qingyang said so, Ye Qingbei naturally had nothing more to add.

“Sir, shall we leave now?” Yu Qingyang asked.

“No rush, wait a bit longer,” Li Hanzhou said with a smile.

“Wait?” Yu Qingyang was curious. “Wait for what?”

Just then, Li Hanzhou suddenly looked toward the door and said, “They’re here.”

In an instant, a chilling wind blew in, flinging open the doors of the house.

Ye Qingbei hurried forward to close the doors. However, Ye Ziying suddenly felt her body hair stand on end. Her eyes widened as she stared outside—the noisy crowd of ghosts had arrived again, carrying that eerie red funeral sedan chair.

But Ye Qingbei could see nothing. Strangely, he collided with the procession but the ghosts passed right through him.

“They’re here!” Ye Ziying quickly hid behind Li Hanzhou, trembling all over.

She was a disciple of the Shangqing Sect and had trained well in the Jade Illumination Technique. She was fearless against demons or monsters, willing to fight to the death, but facing ghosts terrified her to the point she dared not even breathe heavily.

“Ziying, what’s wrong?” Ye Qingbei asked curiously, noticing her sudden fear.

Looking around, Ye Qingbei saw nothing unusual.

Yu Qingyang also stared ahead with curiosity, but no matter how wide he opened his eyes, he could see nothing.

Without further ado, Li Hanzhou took a talisman from his cloth pouch and pressed it onto Yu Qingyang’s forehead.

Yu Qingyang’s pupils constricted as he felt a subtle change within his body.

At the same time, flames ignited on his shoulders and above his head.

“Young Master, you…” Ye Ziying stared in surprise at Yu Qingyang.

Before Yu Qingyang could understand what was happening, Li Hanzhou withdrew a small bottle from his pouch and sucked in the flames on Yu Qingyang’s shoulders. The fire flew into the bottle in Li Hanzhou’s hand.

As the flames disappeared, Yu Qingyang felt something missing within himself.

But before he could react, he saw the crowd of ghosts ahead.

Though Yu Qingyang was a well-traveled man, this sudden sight still made him flinch back two steps, eyes wide with fear.

---

“Young Master, what’s wrong?” Ye Qingbei was startled by Yu Qingyang’s expression.

“Senior Li, what’s going on?” Ye Qingbei quickly asked Li Hanzhou.

“It’s nothing, just startled by what he saw. It’s not a big problem,” Li Hanzhou reassured Yu Qingyang. “Were you scared?”

“Well…” Yu Qingyang was indeed frightened. He looked at Li Hanzhou in disbelief. “Are these ghosts?”

“Just some minor spirits. I summoned them to escort you out of the city,” Li Hanzhou said, pointing to the talisman on Yu Qingyang’s forehead. “This is a sealing talisman. It temporarily masks your living aura. Later, you’ll board this funeral sedan chair, and I’ll have these spirits escort you to the pine forest thirty miles away.”

“I’m supposed to sit inside this?” Yu Qingyang looked at the bright red sedan chair, feeling uneasy.

Just seeing it made his heart race.

“This is a wedding sedan chair, actually,” Ye Ziying explained, unable to help herself. “Senior Li specially grabbed it for you tonight. It originally had a ghost bride inside, but she’s attending a ghost wedding tonight, so you’ll have to go on foot.”

“Cough, cough.” Yu Qingyang coughed awkwardly and nodded stiffly.

“You seem to have some cultivation. Holding your breath won’t be a problem, right?” Li Hanzhou sized him up.

“Of course not,” Yu Qingyang nodded.

“Once you’re inside, you must hold your breath continuously. Don’t let your breath leak, or your yang energy will disturb the path of the dead, making it unstable. You’ll risk being exposed. Whether you get discovered then depends on your luck,” Li Hanzhou instructed.

“I understand, sir,” Yu Qingyang said solemnly.

“Get in,” Li Hanzhou gestured.

Yu Qingyang swallowed hard as he stared at the red sedan chair. He still felt a chill.

But this was the only way to leave the surveilled Baiyun City.

Summoning all his courage, he took a deep breath, stepped toward the sedan, lifted the curtain, and climbed inside.

Li Hanzhou and Ye Ziying saw him enter the sedan, but Ye Qingbei watched helplessly as Yu Qingyang vanished into thin air before his eyes!

From their earlier conversation, Ye Qingbei seemed to understand that something invisible to him had come to receive Yu Qingyang.

If he couldn’t see it, others likely couldn’t either.

“Let’s go,” Li Hanzhou shook the bell in his hand, and the ghosts began their eerie music, escorting Yu Qingyang out of the city lord’s mansion.

Seated inside the sedan, Yu Qingyang peeked outside and found himself passing through walls.

This marvel deepened his interest in Li Hanzhou.

What kind of divine technique was this?

“We should follow as well,” Li Hanzhou said to Ye Ziying. “My task is complete once he’s safely escorted to the pine forest.”

Ye Ziying swallowed nervously and pointed at herself, awkwardly asking, “Do I have to go too?”

Li Hanzhou was momentarily speechless. Wasn’t she the one determined to protect him at all costs?

---

“Ziying, what nonsense are you saying? Of course you must go. We have to ensure the young master reaches the pine forest safely,” Ye Qingbei said sternly.

“Yes, Father.” Ye Ziying felt like crying. She wished Li Hanzhou could open Ye Qingbei’s spiritual eye to see how terrifying those things were, to see if he would still speak so matter-of-factly.

The two mounted their horses and slowly followed the ghostly sedan chair down the deserted streets late at night.

Following a group of ghosts on an empty street made Ye Ziying’s heart pound.

She tried to make conversation with Li Hanzhou.

“Senior, do such things really exist in this world? How come I’ve never heard of them before? Not even our Shangqing Sect has records.”

“That’s because you can’t see them,” Li Hanzhou said calmly. “The living and the dead exist in two different realms. Humans follow the path of life, ghosts the path of the underworld. Naturally, you wouldn’t have heard of them.”

“Do these things harm people?” Ye Ziying asked nervously. “I’ve heard stories about malevolent ghosts hurting people. Are those true?”

“You said it yourself—they’re just folklore,” Li Hanzhou shook his head. “If you can’t see ghosts, they can’t harm you. Only those with great power can disturb the balance between yin and yang and encounter them. You don’t need to worry.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” Ye Ziying said, feeling much better.

As long as they didn’t harm people, it was fine.

But Li Hanzhou was still pondering an earlier question: this world was strange. How exactly had the cycle of reincarnation broken?

As Li Hanzhou and Ye Ziying followed the sedan chair out of the city, Li Hanzhou sensed many eyes watching them near the city gate.

But after a brief glance, those gazes moved on.

Still, the scouts sent out a message.

“The daughter of the Baiyun City lord, Ye Ziying, left the city at midnight, accompanied by unknown persons, but there is no sign of the Ninth Prince.”

Thus the news spread.

And Yu Qingyang had left the city unhindered.

“The people at the gate must have been waiting for Yu Qingyang,” Li Hanzhou said after leaving the city.

“Yes,” Ye Ziying nodded. “It seems they never realized the young master had already left.”

However, Li Hanzhou’s gaze was fixed on the distance.

Using his spirit-sensing art, he felt the path ahead tonight would not be so smooth.

But Li Hanzhou had long made other preparations.

This was, after all, an important trial in this world for him.