Chapter Two: Midnight Arrives

Su Ye sat in the courtyard, his eyes half-closed, as a jade-colored radiance rose from behind his head. The spiritual energy within the courtyard began to converge upon him, swirling into his body.

The cultivation method Su Ye practiced was called the Yin-Yang Five Thunders Heart Technique—a path both rigid and blazing with pure yang energy. In his previous life, the world Su Ye inhabited was starved of spiritual energy, and so this cultivation art had been refined to an exceptional degree. Its speed in absorbing and refining spiritual energy into a cultivator’s own power was astonishingly swift.

“Midnight is nearly here,” Su Ye exhaled softly, a faint smile playing on his lips. This was, after all, just an ordinary little courtyard in Jinhua County. If he could find a place where spiritual energy gathered naturally, he would soon restore his former cultivation.

Rising from the courtyard, Su Ye returned to his room. He lay down on the bed without removing his clothes and waited patiently. After a short while, a chill wind swept in from outside the door. In the blink of an eye, a little ghost appeared at the head of his bed.

She was a female specter in white, her features exquisitely delicate. She leaned over Su Ye’s bedside, exhaling a wisp of ghostly yin energy toward him.

“So, Su Ming has been nurturing a Joyous Ghost!”

The moment the specter breathed out her yin energy, Su Ye, who had been feigning sleep, sat up abruptly. His fingers formed a blade, gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth at their tips. In his sea of consciousness, a jade talisman emerged, radiating a luminous glow.

In an instant, the spiritual energy between Su Ye’s fingers formed into runic patterns—a bright talisman for exorcising ghosts materialized before him.

“By decree!” Su Ye uttered in a low voice. The exorcism talisman erupted in a misty blue-green light and shot toward the female ghost.

The azure glow enveloped the specter, and tendrils of gray-white yin energy steamed from her body. Her once-solid form began to fade into insubstantial mist.

The ghost emitted a series of mournful, piercing screams. Her eyes were filled with emotion as she gazed at Su Ye. “Master, have mercy! I was forced into this—I had no choice but to try to harm you!”

This ghost was a Joyous Ghost, not a vengeful or malicious spirit. She possessed only the power to enchant and draw forth the vital yang energy of mortals. Against ordinary folk, she might prevail, but before a cultivator so versed in the Dao as Su Ye, she had no power to resist.

A Joyous Ghost had another critical use: serving as a medium for evil cultivators to enhance their own cultivation. As for this particular female specter, she would absorb the yang energy of mortal men and, after coupling with Su Ming, he would refine that energy into his own cultivation.

It was impossible to tell how long Su Ming had kept her, or how many mortal men she had helped him harm. For her to claim she had been forced, Su Ye did not believe her in the slightest.

With a thunderous crack, the exorcism talisman exploded, releasing a surge of blue-green light. The female ghost, caught in the radiance, gave off even more yin energy, which steamed away from her body. In but a moment, the exorcism talisman had destroyed her, leaving only wisps of ghostly energy dissipating in the air.

…

At the Su Estate, in the Maple Courtyard.

“Who dares take Xiao Rou’s life?” Su Ming sat bolt upright in bed, his bare chest gleaming in the dim light. On either side of him lay two beautiful, naked women.

The pair were strikingly alluring, their figures voluptuous and enticing. Yet, just like the ghost Su Ye had slain, cold yin energy drifted around their forms—they, too, were female specters.

Counting the one destroyed by Su Ye, Su Ming had raised three Joyous Ghosts, drawing upon their ability to harvest the yang energy of common men. Since joining the sect of an evil cultivator three years before, Su Ming had become a cultivator of the second realm.

Such progress was not remarkable, but for a wandering cultivator like Su Ming—bereft of resources—his advancement was inevitably slow.

These three female ghosts were linked to Su Ming’s mind and spirit. The instant Su Ye destroyed one of them, Su Ming sensed it.

He leapt out of bed, seized a long banner hanging nearby, and muttered an incantation, sending out two pulses of yin energy. Brandishing the banner, he swept it over the bed. Instantly, the two remaining female ghosts dissolved into mist and were drawn into the banner.

This banner was called the Ghost-Nurturing Banner. Besides the three Joyous Ghosts he used for cultivation, Su Ming also kept a fierce and vengeful specter within it.

Unlike Joyous Ghosts, such vengeful spirits were formed from souls consumed by powerful obsession in life, rendering them ferocious and violent after death. These ghosts were dull-witted, driven solely by the urge to kill, and were far more formidable than Joyous Ghosts.

The vengeful ghost in Su Ming’s banner was as powerful as a third-realm cultivator and, imbued with venomous yin energy, was even more difficult to deal with than most in the third stage of Qi Refinement.

Raising four such ghosts had cost Su Ming great effort and wealth. The sudden, inexplicable loss of one now filled him with unquenchable rage.

Grabbing the Ghost-Nurturing Banner, he hastened toward Su Ye’s courtyard.

The Su Estate was vast. Su Ming’s Maple Courtyard lay at its center, while Su Ye’s humble dwelling was at the farthest edge. Su Ming rushed from the Maple Courtyard, and after some time, arrived at Su Ye’s gate.

Su Ye had been kept under strict confinement by Su Ren and his wife for years. When Su Ming reached the courtyard, he found the gate still locked from the outside.

Not in the mood to waste time with the lock, he lashed out with a kick. The already decayed gate splintered into pieces.

“He’s here!” Hearing the commotion, Su Ye emerged from his room, just in time to see the murderous glint in Su Ming’s eyes.

“Su Ye, you’re still alive!”

Su Ming’s face flashed with surprise, quickly followed by deep confusion. Two days earlier, Xiao Rou had already drained half of Su Ye’s yang energy. Even if Su Ye had survived, he shouldn’t have been in such a state.

“Xiao Rou—it was you who killed her!” Su Ming accused, instantly suspecting Su Ye of murdering the ghost.

“The one you call Xiao Rou—the specter who tried to harm me? If you mean her, then yes, I killed her,” Su Ye replied with a faint smile, his gaze flickering toward the Ghost-Nurturing Banner in Su Ming’s hand, his heart growing heavy.

That banner was a genuine magical artifact. Such treasures had been rare even in Su Ye’s previous life; he hadn’t expected Su Ming to possess one.

“You court death!” Su Ming’s face contorted with rage, though his heart was filled with deeper suspicion. Twice before, he had confirmed Su Ye was no more than a common mortal. How could such a person possibly destroy Xiao Rou?

“You’re not Su Ye. Who are you, really?” Su Ming took two steps back, wariness in his eyes. He had traveled widely over the past three years, hearing many strange tales. He knew that those of formidable cultivation could sometimes seize another’s body and be reborn.

The feeling Su Ye now gave him was entirely different from before. He was certain someone had taken over Su Ye’s body.

In the next instant, Su Ming channeled his power into the Ghost-Nurturing Banner in his hand.