“…Are you saying you know Wan Shao and that this bamboo whistle is from her?”
After managing to calm the furious Blood Lotus spirit, Shang Can explained the incident involving the bamboo whistle and the flower spirits. The spirit crossed her arms, pouting unhappily.
“That flower spirit…” she spoke through clenched teeth, her eyes fixed on the bamboo whistle hanging around Shang Can’s neck, “Did she send you here to pick a fight?!”
“No, she didn’t.”
To avoid ending up in a brawl with her, Shang Can immediately denied it, silently noting this down as a debt to Wan Shao in her mind.
The spirit before her looked quite indignant, but at least she was someone they could communicate with. Shang Can subtly surveyed the area, not detecting any hostility from her.
…What should she do? Would saying everything here be too rash?
As she pondered how to speak, the flower spirit sulked, saying, “What are you thinking? Just say it; if you don’t, I’m leaving.”
…Her temper seemed to be better than Shang Can expected; at least she wasn’t saying things like, “If you don’t speak, I’ll hit you!”
Shang Can thought for a moment and said, “I’m a friend of Wan Shao. She knew I had business in the Ghost Realm, so she gave me this bamboo whistle, telling me to blow it when I encounter trouble.”
The spirit’s pretty face immediately scrunched up in anger, and she growled, “How could that woman! She calls me out and still expects me to help!”
“…Yeah, how could she do that?”
Though she could guess that Wan Shao’s actions were likely to ensure she could lure the Blood Lotus spirit out, Shang Can still nodded in agreement, playing along with the outraged spirit.
“And you!” The flower spirit glared at Shang Can, pointing at her, “What trouble have you run into? You smell like the River of Forgetfulness! Do you know how many flowers and plants would wither from the water you’ve dripped along the way?!”
Ah, she seems to be a good spirit.
In this situation, still concerned about asking her what trouble she faced, Shang Can couldn’t help but feel a bit of respect for the spirit, so she nodded honestly and replied, “I just came out of the River of Forgetfulness.”
Shang Can then shared half-truths about her experiences since arriving in the Ghost Realm, omitting her purpose for being there and her current physical condition, eventually stating vaguely, “—and now I want to go to Fengdu, but I haven’t been able to find the way.”
“…”
The flower spirit looked at her with a very sympathetic expression and said, “With the way you’re wandering around like a headless fly, you probably won’t find Fengdu even after a month of walking.”
Shang Can was left speechless. The flower spirit seemed to have taken an interest and asked, “So, you’re a cultivator?”
“…Sort of.”
Since she could no longer pretend to be a new ghost, Shang Can sighed and admitted this. As soon as she did, the spirit’s eyes lit up, and she assumed a serious demeanor.
“Helping you is possible,” the flower spirit said dramatically, putting on a difficult expression, “but why should I go through this trouble? There’s no benefit for me.”
Shang Can nodded in understanding. “What do you want?”
“Hmm, now that you understand what I mean, I can relax. You’re much smarter than that idiot Wan Shao!”
The vividly beautiful woman brightened up, pointing in the direction from which Shang Can had come.
“Fengdu is over there. Let’s walk and talk.” She smiled at Shang Can, her apparent ulterior motives still overshadowed by a charm that captivated the eye. “Just call me Yuan Ge!”
“The dust brush of Frostfall Jun from the Outer Heaven?”
Walking along, Shang Can raised her eyebrows in surprise, asking, “What do you want that for? Are you a… um, admirer of Frostfall Jun?”
“Admirer? Don’t say nonsense!”
Those three words seemed to strike a nerve with Yuan Ge, causing her to bristle and loudly correct Shang Can. She looked quite flustered.
Shang Can understood and, out of consideration, decided not to pursue the topic further, redirecting the conversation: “You want me to help you find that as a reward for your assistance… It’s not impossible to try, right?”
“Really?!”
Yuan Ge’s face instantly lit up, her eyes sparkling with excitement as she happily bounced a few steps before remembering to maintain her composure and quickly stopping, clearing her throat.
“I just want to find a dust brush to play with. Yes, just to play with.” After saying this, she deliberately emphasized, “That’s all.”
“…”
Shang Can thought the spirit was rather poor at lying. Was this a hereditary flaw of the flower spirits? She furrowed her brow and recalled, “I’ve met Frostfall Jun a few times, but we weren’t close. I’ve heard she has profound skills, but her behavior is unpredictable and hard to grasp. It seems she disappeared several years ago, with her life or death unknown…”
“She’s dead.” Yuan Ge interjected cheerfully. Shang Can looked at her in surprise, noticing that her eyes showed no hint of heaviness as she confidently asserted, “There’s no way I’d let you rob something from someone who’s still alive.”
“…Is that so? I see.”
Though Shang Can didn’t know what kind of connection Yuan Ge had with Frostfall Jun, she didn’t intend to delve deeper, merely nodding in agreement. After all, she would likely need to rely on Yuan Ge in many ways during this journey, so giving her a reward seemed appropriate. It was just as well that Frostfall Jun was Pei Chen’s master—
Shang Can pursed her lips, deciding not to tell Pei Chen about the uncertain news that “Frostfall Jun is dead” just yet.
“Speaking of which,” Yuan Ge, looking satisfied, became much friendlier as she spoke to Shang Can, “how did you fall into the River of Forgetfulness? I’ve lived in the Ghost Realm for a long time, and it’s the first time I’ve heard of someone being this unlucky.”
“…”
Shang Can swallowed her anger and muttered, “I’d like to know why too. That river must have something strange about it.”
“Of course! There’s probably no river stranger than the River of Forgetfulness, above or below.”
Yuan Ge nodded in affirmation, sighing, “But you’re quite impressive. It’s been three days since I heard the River of Forgetfulness suddenly transformed and sucked someone in, and yet here you are, alive and kicking—”
“What did you say?”
She was abruptly interrupted as Shang Can froze in place, her face filled with disbelief as she repeated, “You said… how long has it been?”
“Three days.”
Seeing her expression, Yuan Ge became serious and nodded soberly, “Surprised, right? So you really are quite impressive! Ah, of course, it could also be a problem with the River of Forgetfulness. After all, no one’s ever fallen into it before…”
With no desire to respond to Yuan Ge’s rambling, Shang Can felt a throbbing pain in her temples as her mind slowly processed this information.
…Before entering the Ghost Realm, Pei Chen had said something like this.
“When the entrance opens, there will only be twelve hours. After this period, it will seal itself, and you will have to wait until next month for it to open again.”
The flow of time in the Ghost Realm is similar to that in the cultivation world, which means…
Shang Can looked up blankly, ignoring Yuan Ge, who was mumbling, “What’s wrong with you?” and gazing absently at the vast dark red world before her.
…It seemed that the time she would have to stay here might be much longer than she had imagined.
At this point, Shang Can no longer held out any hope of meeting Yun Duan in the near future.
Or rather, she now hoped that they would not meet—after all, it was a certainty that she had missed the window for entering and had been left in the Ghost Realm. If she did encounter Yun Duan, it would mean that Yun Duan would also have to stay here for a month.
…Just thinking about it made her uneasy. She hoped Pei Chen had already persuaded Yun Duan to leave this place.
With this heartfelt prayer, Shang Can then began to worry about her own situation.
Living in the Underworld for a Month…
With her strength severely compromised, Shang Can felt a deep sense of uncertainty.
Not only was her already poor condition exacerbated, but the thought of wasting such a long period of time left her feeling extremely anxious. That heart lotus seed was still out there; although it had a tough shell that most people couldn’t open, if others managed to get it open in the span of a month…
Shang Can frowned in frustration, unwilling to entertain such a possibility.
“Are you okay?”
Her mood was so low that even Yuan Ge began to worry. The beautiful flower demon looked at her expression and commented honestly, “You look like a ghost.”
“…”
Shang Can weakly tugged at the corners of her mouth, somewhat interpreting it as a compliment due to the circumstances.
“What’s wrong? You’ve been acting strange since just now.” Yuan Ge asked anxiously, “It’s not that you got water in your head earlier and are just now acting up, right? Are you still going to Fengdu?”
“… Yes, I am.”
That demon had a sharp tongue. Shang Can pouted and sighed, “It would be great if you could help me find a place to stay. What else do you want from Frostfall Monarch? I’ll help you find it once I go out.”
“Wh-what Frostfall Monarch’s things? I’ve said I just want a whisk to play with—are you serious?”
The flower demon, who was averse to admitting her true desires, perked up at Shang Can’s words, her attitude towards her improving significantly as she dutifully led the way.
Along the way, they passed by numerous ghost tribes, some of whom showed interest in the oddly scented Shang Can, but Yuan Ge acted like a guard dog, baring her teeth at the ghost tribes. Eventually, they retreated in defeat.
“Recently, these ghost tribes have been outrageous, feeling restless. Especially these past few days, the fights have been particularly fierce,” Yuan Ge grumbled, glaring at the departing ghost figures before turning back to ask, “Do you want to change clothes? Wet clothes must be really uncomfortable, right… uh.”
She looked up at Shang Can, who was nearly a head taller than her, clearly struggling with the idea.
“… But you probably can’t fit in my clothes.” Yuan Ge frowned, thought for a moment, and finally seemed to make a determined decision, nodding, “How about this?”
“I have a place that will give you somewhere to stay, ensure your safety, and also provide clothes to change into.”
It all sounded good, but Yuan Ge’s expression was different from her earlier ease; she looked on high alert and warned, “I live there too. I will take you there, but you must remember—don’t speak out of turn, especially don’t mention our deal!”
Deal… she must be referring to helping Yuan Ge find something from Frostfall Monarch.
Shang Can felt a bit bewildered but nodded obediently, “… Okay, I won’t mention it.”
“Very good.” Yuan Ge’s face relaxed with satisfaction as she pointed toward the outline of a distant city, explaining, “We’ll be there soon; we’re going straight to the Ghost King’s residence in Fengdu.”
“… Ghost King?”
Shang Can widened her eyes slightly, seeing Yuan Ge nod proudly for some reason as she said, “Yes! The biggest authority in the Underworld! I have a close relationship with her!”
“Oh, thank you.”
Although she was still trying to keep up with the rapid developments, Shang Can agreed cheerfully. After all, her original intention was to go to Fengdu to get a roster of the ghost tribes from the Ghost King, to determine how many had escaped from the Underworld. With Yuan Ge leading her directly there, it saved her quite a bit of effort.
Thinking this way, Shang Can followed Yuan Ge smoothly into Fengdu and arrived in front of the Ghost King’s residence in the city, the process surprisingly smooth.
“… It feels like Fengdu is much more ordinary than I imagined.”
Standing in front of the Ghost King’s residence, which had a somewhat familiar architectural style reminiscent of the world beyond, Shang Can muttered softly. Yuan Ge snorted proudly beside her, saying, “You thought this place was filled with brainless ghosts who can’t even speak? That would be unbearably annoying.”
Saying this, she unceremoniously walked up, pushed the door open without knocking, and yelled, “A-Shuang, I’m here—”
A-Shuang?
Shang Can’s heart skipped a beat. She quickly stepped forward, looking over Yuan Ge’s shoulder to see a woman dressed in loose, casual clothing with wide sleeves.
Her hair fell carelessly over her shoulders, her features were handsome, and she looked slightly older than Shang Can, exuding a unique air of nonchalance. It seemed she was idly sitting in the courtyard when she finally looked up at them.
“Yuan Ge? What brings you here today?”
The woman’s voice was lazily drawn out, and she cast her gaze toward Shang Can, her slanted eyes narrowing slightly.
“… Oh, isn’t that Shang Can? You’re not dead, are you?”
“…”
Shang Can suddenly realized that her mask might no longer be in place, but this wasn’t the time to think about that.
“… Frostfall Monarch.”
Shang Can’s gaze sharpened, exclaiming, “Frostfall Monarch is… the Ghost King of the Underworld?”
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