Pei Mingchuan was furious.
He had heard of Xie Jingci’s name before.
Born into a prestigious noble family in the imperial capital, she was a prodigy in blade techniques at a young age, a peerless talent on par with Pei Du—until an unfortunate accident during a secret realm expedition left her lying unconscious in bed like a limp radish for an entire year.
She shouldn’t have woken up at such a convenient time.
Even if she had, there was no way she would have come all the way to the Ghost Domain just for Pei Du.
The young lady of the Xie family had always looked down on everyone, dismissing even the most outstanding talents. Rumor had it that ever since she nearly lost to Pei Du in the academy’s grand competition, she had held a grudge against him, vowing never to rest until she crushed him beneath her heel.
Why would Xie Jingci ever want to help him?
After Luo Zheng’s defeat, Xie Jingci had urged him to repay his debt with an expression that screamed she was enjoying the show. As the third young master of the Pei family, Pei Mingchuan had never been favored, but he had still managed to accumulate a decently sizable private stash.
As the saying went, one could lose their head or shed their blood, but never their dignity. Suppressing his humiliation and resentment, he forced himself to maintain an air of nonchalance as he turned to the martial hall’s master, Zhou Shen. "How many spirit stones in total?"
No matter the number, he wouldn’t show even a flicker of shock or fear.
This was the Pei family’s pride—the unshakable dignity of an aristocratic lineage.
Zhou Shen was struggling to suppress a grin, his lips twitching downward in what could only be described as a manic smirk. At the mention of "spirit stones," he paused. "Huh? Spirit stones? What spirit stones? We don’t use that weird stuff in the Ghost Domain."
Weird… stuff?
A terrible premonition surged in Pei Mingchuan’s chest, his mouth falling slightly open in shock.
Zhou Shen’s gaze deepened ominously. "You… don’t have demon crystals, do you?"
De… demon crystals?
Pei Mingchuan’s eyes widened in horror.
Finally, realization dawned on him. He whipped his head around, staring straight at Xie Jingci, who stood beside Pei Du.
This woman had set him up!!!
The Pei family’s dignity had met an abrupt and undignified end.
Spirit stones and demon crystals weren’t interchangeable, and for Pei Mingchuan to settle his massive debt, he had no choice but to exchange his valuables at a pawnshop.
But the biggest problem was this: as a man, he didn’t carry jewelry like Xie Jingci did.
And as the neglected, talentless young master of the Pei family, he had only come to the Ghost Tomb to spectate, intending to hole up in the rear and wait for everything to end before splurging in the nearby towns.
Thus, Pei Mingchuan’s storage pouch contained few valuable treasures, and the handful of rare spiritual items he did possess were so precious—
That the pawnshop owner didn’t even recognize them.
For example, there was the high-grade Life-Prolonging Pill he had reluctantly offered, painstakingly explaining its worth for what felt like an eternity, his lips nearly cracking from the effort. Yet the owner had merely stared at him with eerie skepticism and muttered, like a demon whispering in his ear, "Really? I don’t believe you."
If you don’t believe him, he’s not even willing to sell it!
Pei Mingchuan was so furious he nearly coughed up blood. Then the balding, burly owner rubbed his thinning scalp and added, "How about this—I’ll give you a knife. Stab yourself, take the pill, and let me see if it works. Sound good?"
Pei Mingchuan: "Heh."
Pei Mingchuan: "Brother, did you forget? I only have one of these pills."
What he really wanted to do was take that knife and stab this bald brute instead.
Life’s ruthless beatdown had come without warning.
In the Ghost Domain, spirit platforms were considered a luxury. By the time Pei Mingchuan and his companion had scraped together enough to repay their debt, they had been thoroughly drained—both in body and soul.
"Ah, young people are always hot-blooded. Since you’ve shown remorse, I won’t hold today’s incident against you."
Zhou Shen cradled his grandmother’s heirloom, sighing deeply. "There aren’t many easygoing folks like me in the Ghost Domain. If this had happened in any other martial hall, you’d have been beaten half to death. Next time you feel like fighting, remember—come to my Tianyan Dojo. Even though my spirit platform was destroyed, my kind heart can’t bear to punish youngsters. Ah, what a saint I am."
Pei Mingchuan had been crushed beneath the wheels of society, his spirit broken.
While he suffered torment in the martial hall, Xie Jingci was happily sipping the first bowl of hot winter soup on the other side of town.
She had no interest in wasting time on Pei Mingchuan and had left Tianyan Dojo early with Pei Du.
Mo Xiaoyang, a native of Wucheng, had insisted on playing host, taking the two to a local eatery for a taste of regional specialties.
"This is the boss’s signature soup, made from demon beasts hunted in the Bone Burial Grounds."
Mo Xiaoyang swallowed a mouthful of the rich bone broth, swaying his head contentedly. "Those two are probably at the pawnshop by now, huh? Getting extorted by my master like that… truly, ‘a tiger at the plains bullied by dogs.’"
Pei Du quietly interjected, "...Brother Mo, the phrase ‘a strong dragon is no match for a local snake’ might be more appropriate here."
Only then did Mo Xiaoyang realize he had just called his master a dog.
What a disgraceful disciple he was.
Xie Jingci asked curiously, "Bone Burial Grounds? What’s that?"
"Great question!"
The man was an absolute chatterbox, his words firing off like wild pea shots. He immediately straightened up. "Wucheng might be small, but the Ghost Domain is vast. Aside from the central cities, the entire outer perimeter is a barren wasteland called the Bone Burial Grounds."
Xie Jingci nodded, urging him to continue.
"You can guess from the name—it’s not a pleasant place. To this day, no one has ever reached its depths."
Mo Xiaoyang’s expression grew uncharacteristically solemn. "The towns in the Ghost Domain are permeated with faint demonic energy, which is great for demonic and ghost cultivators. But once you enter the Bone Burial Grounds, that energy multiplies. For weaker cultivators, it’s like instant poison—not to mention the hordes of demonic beasts and evil spirits lurking there. Unless you’re at least at the Golden Core stage, you’d be insane to venture in."
He took another sip of soup, his handsome features obscured by the rising steam.
"Wucheng is on the border. If you keep heading north, you’ll see a towering circular wall. That’s a barrier to keep the demonic energy at bay. If that thing breaks, Wucheng will be littered with corpses in less time than it takes to burn an incense stick."
Pei Du heard Xie Jingci murmur, "I see."
Without making it obvious, he lifted his gaze slightly, his eyes flickering toward her face.
Winter’s chill clung to Wucheng, frosting everything in a pale haze. Xie Jingci wore light clothing, relying solely on her spiritual energy to ward off the cold. Against her jade-white skin, only the tip of her nose bore a faint flush of pink.
Pei Du recalled the way she had gently grasped his arm back at Tianyan Dojo.
He had never expected Xie Jingci to say such things.
Young Lady Xie had always been fiercely proud. Getting her to admit she admired someone—let alone that she had been spurned—was as difficult as scaling the heavens.
Yet she had used that very method to step closer, shielding what little dignity he had left when he had fallen into the mud, trampled and mocked by countless others.
Suddenly, Xie Jingci lifted her eyelids, her gaze meeting his midair.
She arched a brow in confusion.
Pei Du stiffened, quickly averting his eyes.
"By the way," Xie Jingci dismissed it as coincidence and turned back to Mo Xiaoyang. "Do you know Fu Chaosheng?"
Fu Chaosheng was, after all, her savior. She had tried asking Zhou Shen about him earlier, only for Mo Xiaoyang to abruptly cut in. Now that she remembered, she couldn’t help but feel curious.
"Fu Chaosheng? He’s been missing for years, hasn’t he?"
The young man scratched his head: "I don’t know much about him, only that he was once a friend of my master’s. Then one day, he just vanished without a trace."
"Vanished?"
"Yeah, like he just poofed into thin air one day, and no one could find him. A lot of people say he left the Ghost Domain for the outside world."
Mo Xiaoyang paused, lowering his voice: "There’s actually a story circulating about this."
His tone was dramatic, and now that he dropped his voice, the atmosphere grew thick with tension, rivaling even The Ghost Domain’s Life-and-Death Duel.
Xie Jingci’s curiosity burned brighter, and she too lowered her voice: "What story?"
"Don’t you think it’s strange? The Ghost Domain opens once every fifteen years, so why don’t we leave for the outside world instead of holing up here?"
Her brows furrowed at his words, and Mo Xiaoyang grinned: "The demonic energy here can enhance cultivation, but we’ve lived here so long that we’ve grown dependent on it—like an addiction. We can’t leave."
That’s why spirit stones were worthless here—almost no one could go to the outside world.
"As for the cure for this addiction, it’s hoarded by the rulers of the cities. They’re all supreme experts, each at the Nascent Soul stage or higher. Common folk wouldn’t stand a chance against them, even if they tried."
He took a sip of water, his gaze darkening: "Wu City is under the rule of the demonic cultivator Jiang Tu. Rumor has it that fifteen years ago, Fu Chaosheng made a promise to the people of Wu City—to assassinate him."
Xie Jingci’s heart tightened.
"Jiang Tu governs three major cities, with Wu City being the most remote. He rarely visits personally, only coming to inspect during the Ghost Gate’s opening."
Mo Xiaoyang snapped his fingers: "Fu Chaosheng seized the chance when Jiang Tu was patrolling alone and left his home with his blade. But after that night, no one ever heard from him again."
Pei Du hesitated before speaking: "Could he have died in battle?"
"If only it were that simple."
Mo Xiaoyang shook his head: "After that night, Jiang Tu himself announced that after a fierce fight, he took pity on Fu Chaosheng’s talent and gave him two choices: either continue fighting and risk certain death, or take the cure for the addiction and leave the Ghost Domain forever—never to appear before him again."
If he hadn’t died in battle, then Fu Chaosheng must have chosen the second option.
"But," Xie Jingci couldn’t make sense of it, "I met Fu Chaosheng once, and he didn’t strike me as the type to fear death. And according to the legends, during the battle against the Qiluo Demon—"
Before she could finish, Mo Xiaoyang burst into laughter.
The sudden outburst made her raise an eyebrow: "What’s so funny?"
"You just said the exact same thing my master did when he was drunk."
He shrugged: "That night, he grabbed my sleeve and slurred, Fu Chaosheng would never fear death. Back when he fought the Qiluo Demon, he nearly gave his life to save three children. There must be more to what happened fifteen years ago."
Right?! There must be more to it!
Xie Jingci’s eyes sparkled, but Mo Xiaoyang’s tone shifted: "But honestly, the people of Wu City didn’t believe Jiang Tu’s story either. After Fu Chaosheng disappeared, they even performed a soul-searching ritual."
Xie Jingci’s smile froze: "...Nothing?"
"Nothing."
He sighed: "Fu Chaosheng’s spiritual presence wasn’t found anywhere in the Ghost Domain, leaving only one possibility—he broke his promise and left for the outside world alone."
Xie Jingci tapped her head in frustration.
But it didn’t add up.
The people of the Ghost Domain knew nothing, but she was certain—in the past fifteen years, the name Fu Chaosheng had never once surfaced in the cultivation world.
With his temperament and strength, how could he have lived out his days in obscurity?
"These are just old stories, and there’s no point dwelling on them now—let’s talk about how amazing Xie Jingci is instead!"
Mo Xiaoyang had no interest in the past and turned to Pei Du with a teasing grin: "If someone treated me this well, I’d pledge my loyalty in a heartbeat—I’d even offer myself in marriage."
Xie Jingci snorted: "Please don’t. That’d be repaying kindness with enmity."
Unfazed, Mo Xiaoyang shot back: "If I’m repaying kindness with enmity, then what does that make Pei Du?"
The question caught Pei Du off guard, and he looked up in a fluster.
Clad in a thick white fur coat, his face was as pale as jade, his phoenix eyes sharp and alluring—though his dark pupils held a hint of innocence.
His features were cold and ethereal, but the faint flush from the cold at the corners of his eyes gave him an unexpected—
Xie Jingci covered her mouth with a hand and coughed lightly.
He looked a little cute, like a big, dumb white goose.
Pei Du clearly had no idea how to answer the question and froze in place.
Amused by the sudden mental image, Xie Jingci propped her chin on her hand and mouthed three words at him with playful boldness.
A brief silence fell over the table.
Then two voices spoke at once.
Xie Jingci: "Before we talk about repaying kindness with enmity, he’d have to be willing to offer himself first."
Pei Du: "I’m a big dumb goose."
Xie Jingci: "Pfft."
Pei Du: "..."
Heat exploded from the back of his neck to the top of his head. Pei Du stiffened, struggling for a moment before forcing out in a strained voice: "No, I meant to ask… after you finish your soup, would you like to go eat goose?"
This was the best solution he could muster—after all, "am" and "eat" sounded somewhat similar.
Mo Xiaoyang couldn’t hold back and snorted with laughter.
Seeing the young master’s discomfort, he schooled his expression and said solemnly: "As for eating goose, I’ll pass—let Xie Jingci enjoy it all by herself—pfft—ahem, I’ve caught a cold recently, and my voice keeps cracking."
At first, Pei Du didn’t think much of the words.
But Mo Xiaoyang’s odd expression made him suspicious, and after a moment of reflection, he finally grasped the hidden meaning.
First, he called himself a goose. Now, adding "eat" to the mix—no matter how he spun it, it…
His fingers tightened imperceptibly around the porcelain bowl, his knuckles paling like water-soaked jade.
No matter how he spun it, what should have been an innocent invitation now carried an indescribable undertone of ambiguity—like an invitation to something far more intimate.
The heat inside him flared uncontrollably, spreading through his entire body until it burned white-hot in his chest.
But he hadn’t meant it like that—not at all.
He opened his mouth to explain, but when he glanced up, he caught the faint blush on Xie Jingci’s ears.
She must have understood everything, which was why she was now pretending to focus on her soup—to hide her embarrassment and spare them both the awkwardness.
Pei Du’s heart sank.
He was so shameless. So sinful.
He was nothing like the model disciple, the exemplary swordsman—he’d just verbally flirted with Xie Jingci and made her blush in mortification. As for how to explain himself… this question was too hard. He didn’t know the answer.
Xie Jingci was right. Why bother being a swordsman? He deserved to be turned into a goose.
Just as Pei Du reached this epiphany, Xie Jingci finally looked up—belatedly.
The scene of Young Master Pei calling himself a "big silly goose" was utterly amusing. Xie Jingci was so immersed in her own laughter that she barely paid any attention to Mo Xiaoyang’s remarks.
When she finally looked up, only two thoughts remained in Xie Jingci’s mind.
First, the soup was scalding hot—so much so that her ears tingled from the heat.
Second, there was always someone better (or in this case, worse) out there. Good heavens, Pei Du’s constitution was so weak that not just his ears, but his entire face had turned red. It seemed he’d been thoroughly burned by the heat.
Weak constitution was an ailment—one that needed treatment.
