86: The Mysterious Woman

From Xu Buhuo’s reaction, I knew it was really her who had come.

Otherwise, Xu Buhuo would never have reacted like that.

Recalling what Li Yao had said when she came in, I asked her in return, “Are you sure she’s here for me?”

Li Yao nodded and replied, “She’s looking for you. She kept saying your name.”

Why was she looking for me?

I was confused. Logically, I had never met her, so how could she know my name?

Or could it be that the person outside wasn’t actually her?

With these doubts weighing heavily on my mind, I glanced at Xu Buhuo. He seemed to know what I was thinking and gave me a shaky nod, his voice trembling as he said, “Unless something’s gone terribly wrong, it’s her.”

Remembering how powerful she was, I knew hiding in the house would do no good. Without hesitation, I walked out, Xu Buhuo following close behind.

She stood at the door, gazing into the distance, her figure well-proportioned, long black hair falling down her back. From the side, she looked like a beautiful woman. During this time, I stole glances at Xu Buhuo’s face; he looked panic-stricken, confirming my suspicion—it was truly her.

What must come, cannot be avoided.

I took a deep breath and stopped three meters away from her. She turned to face me, her beauty so striking that it was hard to believe she was the entity sealed in the mountain cave for who knows how many years.

Her eyes looked just like ours, but when she fixed them on me, I felt a strange sensation, as if something invisible swept over my body.

“You, you—”

“Come with me.”

She cut off my question with those words, not caring whether I agreed or not, and turned to leave.

Where was she taking me?

I looked at Xu Buhuo, uncertain what to do. Just as I hesitated, the woman, having walked a few steps, suddenly stopped, slightly turned her head, and said coldly, “Are you deaf? Do you need me to repeat myself?”

The chill in her voice sent a wave of panic through me.

“Where do you want to take him?” Xu Buhuo stepped in front of me, his face tense as he stared at the woman.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she looked to the side; though her face wasn’t turned directly toward me, I could feel her gaze fixed on me, like a fierce spirit’s eyes boring into me—I began to tremble uncontrollably, my strength draining away.

In the tense silence, Xu Buhuo’s shoulders quivered. Suddenly, his whole body spasmed. Clutching his chest, he fell to his knees. I rushed to help him, only to see blood trickling from his mouth.

Coughing up blood was only the beginning. On Xu Buhuo’s neck, the corpse spots I’d once suppressed at the cost of my own lifespan began to reappear. He grew paler, struggling as if suffering a pain invisible to the eye.

This told me that the secret technique keeping Xu Buhuo alive was failing. I looked up at the woman, understanding that she was the cause. After surviving in a mountain cave for countless years, she was no longer human—and only she could make Xu Buhuo’s life-preserving spell lose its power.

“I’ll go with you. Just don’t hurt him,” I stood up, glaring at the woman with anger.

I knew she was using Xu Buhuo to threaten me, telling me I’d better behave, or she’d see him dead for good.

The woman started to walk again, Xu Buhuo following her. His pain visibly eased, and the corpse spots on his neck gradually faded.

It truly was her.

Seeing this, my fear of the woman only grew.

Xu Buhuo looked at me, his eyes full of pain and struggle. I knew he was tormented by his inability to help me. Forcing a weak smile, he said, “Don’t worry. Maybe this isn’t all bad. Take care of yourself. If I can, I’ll get in touch.”

With that, Xu Buhuo said no more.

When the woman stopped not far ahead, I hurried to catch up. As I was about to ask her something, she simply kept walking. After a while, seeing she was heading up the mountain, I couldn’t help but ask, “What do you want with me?”

She kept walking, as if she hadn’t heard me.

“Hey, I’m asking you—what do you want with me?”

I was getting angry, but there was still no response. Frustrated, I asked several more times, but the woman didn’t so much as look back. Feeling uneasy at not knowing her intentions, I gritted my teeth, blocked her path, and demanded, “What exactly do you want from me?”

Everything has a reason. For her to come straight to me, my instincts told me it couldn’t be anything good.

The woman stopped, her eyes locking onto mine.

Instantly, I was frozen cold, shivering.

Terror fueled by anxiety made me want to escape, but my feet felt as heavy as lead.

She let out a contemptuous laugh, the corner of her mouth curling up, and brushed right past me.

As she did, the coldness left my body, and I could move my legs again.

Terrifying.

Watching her graceful figure, I gave up resisting, following her like a lifeless corpse.

My instinct told me that if she wanted my life, it would be no trouble at all.

“Is she human, or something else?”

That was the only thought in my mind as we walked. I remembered something from my grandmother’s collection of books—stories of spirits, in which animals or plants, due to age or circumstance, would gain sentience and become monsters.

Whether animal or plant, once transformed, they could survive without food or drink, live for centuries, and kill with ease. That’s why my grandmother used to say: Good spirits can be spared, but if you meet a wicked one, you must find a way to destroy it.

We walked until night fell. My feet were aching terribly, yet the woman kept her steady pace.

By now, we had ventured deep into the mountains. I wanted to stop and rest, but every time I paused, the woman would turn her head to look at me. Whenever she did, icy terror gripped me, making me shiver uncontrollably.

The strangeness of it all, my own uneasy suspicions, left me terrified, half convinced she meant to lead me deep into the mountains and eat me alive.

After crossing two mountain ridges, a village appeared at the foot of the next hill. The woman changed course and headed toward it. My anxiety lessened a little—I thought the village must be our destination.

Entering the village, I instinctively opened my spirit-sight and saw dark energy and resentment coiling above the rooftops—someone in the village must have died in the past couple of days.

The woman led me to a house where a simple, honest-looking man was sitting at the door. When he saw us, his face lit up with joy, and he greeted her respectfully, “Fairy Ma’am, you’re back.”

The woman, who hadn’t paid me the slightest attention, nodded to the man and strode into the courtyard. I followed, and as soon as I crossed the threshold, a bone-chilling cold enveloped me. I could see clearly that the courtyard was filled with dark energy.

Dark energy is cold by nature; that explained the chill. Looking further, I saw a pitch-black coffin sitting in the center of the main hall, unattended. The incense burner and the brass bowl by the coffin were cold, with no offerings being burned.

This struck me as strange, so I turned to the simple man who had followed us in.

There are taboos around death, and respect for the dead is basic. That’s why, after someone dies, anyone even remotely acquainted will come to pay respects. Before the coffin is buried, incense must be kept burning day and night, right up until the funeral, the air filled with drums and gongs, friends and family sending the departed off with fanfare.

The man didn’t seem witless—surely he knew the basics of tending a coffin. I wanted to ask him, but realized the woman must have brought me here for a reason. The resentment around the coffin was especially thick, so clearly something unnatural had occurred.

Once inside the main hall, the woman suddenly turned to the man and asked, “How many times has the coffin knocked?”

“Three times,” the man answered honestly. “Each time, I did as you instructed.”

A walking corpse?

The thought crossed my mind just as the woman looked at me and said, “I’m leaving this matter for you to handle.”

With that, she turned and walked toward a side room. Before she disappeared inside, she added coldly, “Don’t disturb me until it’s done.”

And that was it?

Hearing her instructions, I was left bewildered.

I’d thought she’d brought me here to harm me, but now it appeared she just wanted my help with the funeral in the main hall.

I couldn’t understand it—if she was so powerful, why did she need me?

Once she entered the room, the main hall fell silent.

The man came up nervously and invited me to sit.

With the woman gone, I considered running away, but quickly dismissed the idea. If she could find me once, she could find me again.

By now, I feared her from the bottom of my heart.

If handling a funeral was what she wanted, so be it. I gathered my thoughts and asked the man to tell me what had happened.

As he began to recount the events, I couldn’t help but feel chills running down my spine.