Chapter Seven: The Haunting Shadows Linger

“There’s a tavern over there, let’s ask around!” Outside the tavern, Yu Shiyu’s voice rang out. Yu Youwei had just raised her cup of rice wine for a sip and couldn’t help but click her tongue—how fast they’d come!

The Yu family’s guards arrived on foot, crowding around Yu Shiyu outside the tavern. One of the guards exclaimed, “The Ninth Miss is inside!”

“Ice-face brother, those are the bad people here to catch me!” Yu Youwei cried out in feigned panic, leaping like a startled rabbit and darting behind the counter.

Outside, the guards looked battered and disheveled—even Yu Shiyu’s black robe now resembled a beggar’s garb, likely a result of a costly ambush. Hearing Yu Youwei’s voice, Yu Shiyu shouted furiously, “Drag that wretched girl out! Leave no one else alive!”

The guards surged in like a pack of wolves, storming the tavern. The companions of the young man in the dark robe all realized they’d been tricked by Yu Youwei, but none offered an explanation; instead, they drew their swords and forced the Yu family’s guards out, engaging them in a tangle of combat. The young man in the dark robe remained seated, unmoved, but when a Yu family guard with a goatee charged in, he flicked his sword in a trembling arc, unleashing a cascade of swordlight, as if a thousand arrows had been loosed at once, the radiance pouring forth without end.

The swordlight fell like a slanting sun sinking into a tranquil lake, outlining the young man’s silhouette in stark relief and leaving a striking impression. Peeking from behind the stove, Yu Youwei couldn’t help but be dazzled. “Ice-face seems to have quite some skill!”

“Nothing special, just slightly stronger than you,” the horse-faced woman tending the stove sidled up with a teasing grin. “Is the Venomous Lady feeling a romantic flutter?”

“Nine-tailed Fox, would you please clean that years-old eye gunk of yours? Could you be any more revolting?” Yu Youwei scooted away with distaste, snapping, “I’m in a murderous mood, not a romantic one. That damned dried fish just won’t give up.”

“Ha! A brat barely out of diapers, calling herself ‘old lady.’” The horse-faced woman scoffed, showing no regard for her feelings.

Counting both her past and present lives, thirty-eight springs was nothing to make a fuss about! Yu Youwei simply smiled in mock profundity, offering no retort.

“Excellent swordsmanship!” shouted the Yu family guard fighting the young man in the dark robe, his voice booming like thunder on a rainy night. The force of it made the young man’s sword falter. The guard followed with a palm strike in midair, snuffing out the swordlight in an instant.

“That unremarkable old man is actually a cultivator. Ice-face and his friends won’t be able to hold out—I’d better slip away now,” Yu Youwei muttered under her breath. Then she turned to ask, “I asked your lady to check into Ning the Fourth. Any news?”

“Ning the Fourth and the Third are twins. The third is clever, but the fourth suffered a head injury at birth. Still, it doesn’t seem that way—how could someone with a damaged brain cultivate?” The horse-faced woman eyed the young man in the dark robe with suspicion.

Yu Youwei’s heart skipped a beat. “You’re not trying to tell me that Ice-face is actually Ning the Fourth, are you?”

“Probably Ning the Third, but I can’t be sure. The word from the sect is that the Ning family sent for the third to return from the Immortal Chen Sect. By the timing, he should reach Dongling Prefecture in two days and accompany his brother to the Yu family for the betrothal. Which one this is, I really can’t say.” As she spoke, the horse-faced woman shook her head, feeding more firewood into the stove until it was packed full and the flames choked out, sending thick smoke billowing.

“Nine-tailed Fox, if you want to turn into a smoked fox, at least wait until I’m gone!” Yu Youwei whispered irritably, covering her nose.

“I thought the Venomous Lady meant to use the smoke to finish them off,” the horse-faced woman chuckled, lifting a stone slab from the floor to reveal the entrance to a tunnel.

“I’ll deal with them, just not right now,” Yu Youwei replied, leaping into the tunnel without the slightest compunction.

The horse-faced woman closed the entrance above her. The tunnel was pitch black, reeking of damp rot. The walls were coated with slick, spongy moss, and the stone floor was equally treacherous, sometimes yielding unexpectedly to crawling, soft-bodied creatures. As Yu Youwei ran, she cursed Yu Shiyu for driving her into such a place.

She ran for several miles before the sound of running water reached her ears, and her heart sank. “Don’t tell me this is the underground river in Ghosts’ Sorrow Gorge.” After two more miles, the tunnel sloped sharply downward, and the exit was mostly submerged. Fortunately, the water rose only to her neck. Once out, the hopelessly poor swimmer let the current carry her along until she could scramble out through a half-meter-wide fissure, finding herself deep in the area of Ghosts’ Sorrow Gorge inhabited by monstrous beasts.

Rain and wind had not abated, dispersing the mist that usually shrouded the gorge. Lashing branches and sheets of rain obscured her vision. Drenched to the bone, Yu Youwei took a hasty survey of the terrain and sprinted eastward.

The depths of Ghosts’ Sorrow Gorge teemed with dangerous creatures—neither herbalists nor hunters dared venture so far. She had hardly run any distance when Yu Shiyu’s roar echoed ahead: “She can’t have gotten far! Search!”

“Persistent as a ghost—the damned dried fish again, and the Ning family’s lot are useless.” Without hesitation, Yu Youwei wheeled around and fled, only to crash into a jutting rock and tumble backward.

A drop of water landed on her nose. She wiped it away, lifted her eyelids, and gasped, “Heavens!” Her pupils shrank as her voice rose in alarm.

A massive python was slithering down the rock wall, its scales gleaming with a bronze sheen. The thick body was as gnarled and ancient as a dragon pine; the serpent’s red tongue flickered with a hissing sound, and shiny threads of venom hung from its jaws. What had landed on her face wasn’t rain—it was snake saliva!

“This is bad! That python must be at least a third-tier demon beast!” Yu Youwei’s heart pounded madly. In that critical moment, she spotted a fissure in the rock wall to her right and immediately dove toward it.

A foul wind rushed over her. With half her body still outside the crack, the python lunged in for the kill. Just then, there was a loud crack—she thought the beast had bitten her and screamed, but felt no pain. In a flash, she pulled her legs in and squeezed her entire body into the gap. Looking back, she saw the python had bitten into the protruding rock instead.

“Lucky! Ha!” Yu Youwei laughed in delight.

Suddenly, an eagle’s cry split the air, followed by a bolt of lightning that struck the python’s head. The serpent whipped about, trying in vain to shake off the lightning. It raised its head and hissed furiously.

Only then did Yu Youwei see that the lightning was in fact a mighty thunder eagle—a high-level demon beast in its own right, its feathers glinting like flames. It was fighting the python to the death, hurling lightning bolts from its beak while its talons clamped tight on the serpent’s crest. No matter how the python thrashed and writhed, it couldn’t break free.

The python’s maw gaped wider, its hissing intensifying. Its trunk-like body whipped and crashed about, striking the rocks above Yu Youwei’s hiding place several times, making her fear the stones would collapse and bury her alive.