There’s a saying that goes, “Newborn calves aren’t afraid of tigers.” It sounds bold and fearless, but no matter how Shu Fu turned it over in her mind, she couldn’t help feeling it was more about the calf’s ignorance—unaware of the vastness of heaven and earth, charging ahead recklessly into danger.
Just like the group of young cultivators before her.
Though in Shu Fu’s eyes, the quality of these youngsters varied greatly. A fair number of them couldn’t even be called calves—more like little brats, or downright little bastards.
Jiang Xuesheng had just pulled off a stunt, descending from the sky with a palm strike—no, wait, not a palm strike, but a display of skill so effortless it left several of the brats scowling. Some tilted their chins up with disdain, while others shot sidelong glances, their eyes practically rolling out of their sockets.
And who could blame them? Anyone could descend from the sky, but not everyone could do it with Jiang Xuesheng’s grace—his robes fluttering like petals in the wind, more elegant than anything a wind machine could conjure.
His grand entrance was nothing short of spectacular, and trailing behind him were two women—one dressed in fiery red, the other in pristine white, like roses of contrasting hues—painting the picture of a man living his best life. If not for Jiang Xuesheng’s refined demeanor, his ever-present smile, some hot-headed youngster might’ve stabbed him in the back the moment he turned around.
Shu Fu, the “white rose,” steadied herself and swept her gaze over the crowd, silently committing each face and outfit to memory.
She didn’t recognize a single one of these cultivators, but they were all impeccably dressed, every last one of them blessed with the kind of looks only the cultivation world could produce.
Though one of them wasn’t human.
The leader of the group was the most ostentatious—dressed in lavish robes, strikingly handsome, and radiating arrogance.
Shu Fu took a closer look: his skin was fair, his face delicate and sharp, with large, expressive eyes. His sapphire-blue robes were embroidered with intricate floral patterns, making him look like a peacock flaunting its plumage.
Surrounded by admirers, he was basking in the attention, unconsciously adopting the air of a phoenix. “Might I ask who you all are?” he said loftily. “To be frank, we’re about to enter the Hidden Wood Forest to slay a demon. If you wish to join us, you’ll need to follow my lead. We can’t afford any mistakes.”
“...”
Liu Ruyi lowered his head, covering his mouth with his sleeve, his eyes brimming with what seemed like bashful charm.
But Shu Fu knew better—he was holding back laughter.
And failing.
His mirth carried an irresistible allure, and the young man’s face flushed crimson, his words stumbling. “Th-this young lady…”
Shu Fu couldn’t bear to watch. Another one bites the dust, she thought.
“Enough dawdling! Let’s hurry into the forest!” a young woman urged. “If we’re too slow, some outsider might kill the Qiongqi before we get there.”
“Right,” another youth chimed in, eyeing Jiang Xuesheng suspiciously. “You outsiders should stay out of our way. We don’t need you causing trouble.”
Liu Ruyi smiled sweetly. “Don’t worry, fellow cultivators. We’re just here to observe. We won’t interfere.”
The young man’s face turned red again, and he awkwardly shuffled aside, falling silent.
Shu Fu: “...”
Ah, the misplaced affections of these straight youngsters.
Compared to the noisy living, the girl who had “been dead for seven or eight years” was remarkably subdued. She hadn’t spoken a word, standing quietly in the background like a servant waiting to pour tea for the young heroes.
If not for the sentient sword Guanguang revealing her true form, Shu Fu wouldn’t have given her a second glance—let alone realized she was a ghost hiding among them.
[Fellow cultivator, is… this really okay?]
Having never encountered ghosts in her past life, Shu Fu couldn’t help but tense up, her palms slick with sweat.
—At least give me some warning before dropping me into a horror movie!
[Ah, still just a child after all.]
Jiang Xuesheng seemed to sense her unease. With a sigh in their telepathic exchange, he brushed his sleeve against hers, his fingers curling around her chilled ones as a warm surge of spiritual energy flowed into her.
[The Hidden Wood Forest is a place of dense yin energy. Ghosts here are more corporeal than elsewhere, and most cultivators can’t even tell the difference. Don’t worry—this isn’t a vengeful spirit, just a girl with unfinished business, unwilling to move on.]
Shu Fu nearly laughed. In modern horror films, that’s exactly what makes a vengeful spirit!
What about Sadako? Kayako? Weren’t they all “girls with unfinished business”?
But the warmth of his spiritual energy was so soothing, seeping into her limbs like a gentle bath, melting away her panic in an instant.
Shu Fu shot Jiang Xuesheng a sidelong glance, suddenly understanding why Liu Ruyi said he “knew how to charm women.”
Right now, she definitely felt charmed.
The others were too preoccupied with thoughts of the Qiongqi—and the glory that came with slaying it—to notice their exchange. Only the ghost girl, bored out of her mind, turned to glance at Shu Fu, her gaze lingering on the overlapping sleeves between her and Jiang Xuesheng.
Then, with a mischievous glint in her eye, she winked at Shu Fu—a knowing, girl-to-girl smile that practically spelled out: I see what’s going on here.
Shu Fu: “...”
Oh no. Did I just get gossiped about by a ghost?
---
Fifteen minutes later, inside the Hidden Wood Forest.
The moment they stepped in, the world around them fell into eerie silence.
Ancient trees loomed on all sides, their towering forms like silent sentinels holding hands, swallowing all sound and light from the outside world.
As twilight faded, the vibrant greens of the forest darkened into ominous shades of black, from the trunks to the leaves—a scene so unsettling it sent chills down anyone’s spine.
Yet Young Master Bai at the front remained unshaken, striding forward with his head held high, rallying his nervous companions. “What’s there to fear? This Qiongqi hasn’t taken many victims—it must be weak. Once we corner it, we’ll strike together. Swords, spells, everything at once. It’ll be dead before it knows what hit it.”
“Yes, Young Master Bai is right! There’s nothing to fear!”
“We’re counting on you, Young Master Bai!”
“If not for you leading the way, I wouldn’t dare come at all.”
The group eagerly played along, their sycophantic praises so thick in the air it was almost unbearable.
Young Master Bai was so flattered by the praise that his face lit up with delight, his heart swelling with satisfaction, and his peacock-like pride soared even higher.
But at the same time, Shu Fu clearly saw—several of the young men who were enthusiastically buttering him up behind his back were exchanging mocking glances. Some sneered, others curled their lips, their expressions dripping with disdain and even a hint of schadenfreude.
The way they stared at Young Master Bai from behind was as if they were watching a pig happily skipping onto a roasting spit.
Clearly, Young Master Bai saw them as lackeys, while they saw him as cannon fodder. No loyalty, no mercy—tit for tat, a fair exchange of mutual deception.
"..."
Shu Fu was momentarily speechless. With a formidable enemy ahead and vengeful spirits lurking behind, this flock of weaklings was still busy infighting. What a textbook example of the blind leading the blind.
She considered herself one of the weaklings too, but at least she had the right attitude.
Shu Fu couldn’t be bothered to care about their petty squabbles, so she let them continue their male version of palace intrigue while she kept close to Jiang Xuesheng and Liu Ruyi, mulling over the oddities surrounding the "Qiongqi" incident.
—Something felt off.
She had a fiery temper by nature, unable to tolerate injustice—if someone slapped half her face, she’d beat them half to death—but that didn’t mean she lacked brains.
Earlier, she had just heard a mouthful of old grievances, then been dragged off by Liu Ruyi for shopping, only to have Miss Qi stir up more chaos. Her thoughts had been tangled into a boiling pot of glue. Now that the glue had cooled and the water had settled, a corner of the doubts festering in her heart finally surfaced.
The history Jiang Xuesheng and the others recounted seemed reasonable and flawless at first glance, but upon closer scrutiny, there were still many unexplained inconsistencies.
For example, what exactly was this "Qiongqi"?
The Tong family had numerous cultivators, and Tong Yao was no weakling—armed with a sword like "Guguang," yet even she could do nothing but perish together with it.
Even if it was one of the legendary "Four Fiends," could a single demon beast really slaughter an entire cultivation clan single-handedly?
For another example, the Qiongqi back then had been beheaded by Tong Yao’s sword, dead beyond doubt—so where did the current "Qiongqi" come from?
Did it lay an egg somewhere before dying, like some heroic mother?
And another thing—back then, Qiongqi had been elusive, its whereabouts a mystery, and the Tong family had dug three feet into the ground without finding its lair. So why, this time, were its traces so widely known that even random nobodies could come scavenging for scraps?
...
Shu Fu pressed a hand to her forehead, her eyelid twitching incessantly. She couldn’t shake the feeling there was something fishy about this whole Qiongqi mess.
As for what exactly, she had no idea.
Meanwhile, the girl in white continued to follow them step by step, showing no signs of stirring up trouble. Just as Shu Fu began to think, "Maybe she’s just a passing ghost," the girl suddenly halted. Her dark eyes darted left and right before she swiftly reached out and slapped a hand against a tree trunk.
Immediately, the branches shook violently, and with a rustling sound, a shadowy mass tumbled down from above, hanging upside-down.
"Waaah!!!"
The young men at the front jumped in fright, stumbling backward. "What kind of monster is this?!"
Young Master Bai, ever the bold one, drew his ornate, gold-and-jade-inlaid sword and—without a care for cleanliness—used the tip to flick aside the tattered cloth wrapped around the object.
The hilt of his sword was studded with several luminous pearls, casting a faint greenish glow in the darkness, illuminating the small area where his blade pointed. What it revealed was a deathly pale... or rather, a deathly pale skull.
"WAAAAAAAH!!!!!"
The young heroes’ screams grew even louder, startling several crows from the branches, their wings flapping noisily as they took flight.
Under the dim light of the luminous pearls, every face took on a ghastly pallor, tinged with green, as if shrouded in an eerie, deathly aura.
Only the girl in white remained unperturbed, her lips curled in a cryptic smile. She even turned to Shu Fu and winked, raising her index and middle fingers to point at herself, mouthing the words:
"That’s me."
Shu Fu: "..."
Good heavens, this ghost girl really seemed to like her!!!
