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Under the red umbrella was a face that Xing Ruyi was not familiar with. Before she could think much about it, the skin on that face began to slowly peel away, followed by the eyeball dropping down, leaving only a face covered in blood.
The woman said ominously, "Miss, do you remember me now?"
Xing Ruyi looked at her in silence.
"In the overgrown graveyard, buried under yellow earth, do you still remember the person outside the city in the western suburbs who sought your help?"
"You are Xiu Xiu? No! You should be Xiuhe!"
"Who I am is not important; what matters is that you once promised me something."
Under the red umbrella, that face changed again, transforming from bloody to a skull. Xing Ruyi suddenly recalled the scene in "Journey to the West" where Sun Wukong fought the White Bone Demon three times and felt a headache coming on.
"I did promise to save you, but the truth is, you don't need my help at all." Xing Ruyi leaned against the pillar at the door and continued, "Change your face. Although I'm not afraid of evil spirits, looking at your skull face in the middle of the night is honestly quite terrifying. By the way, what should I call you? Xiu Xiu or Xiuhe? You must have a name."
"Call me Xiu Xiu!” The woman said as she transformed her face back to how it looked when she first arrived.
"Tsk tsk, you are really stubborn. Fine, Xiu Xiu it is. By the way, weren't you already dead? Oh no, I should say your soul has scattered." Xing Ruyi glanced at that ghostly face, which was somewhat different from what she had seen outside the desolate graveyard. But when alive, she must have been a pretty girl with delicate brows and eyes. Yet this beautiful girl chose to abandon her own skin and sought something called Blood Rouge, only to end up with nothing and buried in the wilderness.
"It’s not so easy for bones to turn into ghosts; get up, or else you'll disappoint me."
"Disappointment doesn’t really apply here; I can always just hit you again." Xing Ruyi said as she conjured a wisp of Ghost Fire, waving it in front of her. "So, coming to find me in the dead of night is for revenge? Or are you looking for death? Regardless of your purpose for coming here, the outcome will be the same: another scattering of your soul."
"Without that Azure Fox Immortal around, do you think you can make Xiu Xiu scatter her soul just by yourself?"
"That’s hard to say; how about we give it a try?" Xing Ruyi said as her gaze turned sharp, and the Ghost Fire in her hand surged toward Xiu Xiu. With a faint sound of "sizzle," half of Xiu Xiu's face was burned away.
"Xiu Xiu has come to ask you to fulfill your promise, but I didn't expect you to be so unreasonable!"
"Have you ever seen someone reason with a ghost? Especially when you are a deceitful and malicious spirit," Xing Ruyi said, conjuring another Ghost Fire, aiming once again at Xiu Xiu's face.
Xiu Xiu lightly stepped back, irritated, and asked, "Why do you only attack my face?"
"Quite simply, because you don't even cherish this face yourself, so why shouldn't I attack it?" Xing Ruyi replied, reaching for the red umbrella in Xiu Xiu's hand. Xiu Xiu took another step back and urgently exclaimed, "If you don't want the innocent souls to be scattered, please stop!"
Xing Ruyi halted, looking at Xiu Xiu's hollow eyes and sternly asked, "Did you capture Liu Rui's soul?"
"It wasn't intentional; I just happened to encounter it on my way to the Rouge shop," Xiu Xiu said, exhaling a puff of black mist, causing Liu Rui's soul to be released: "Here is Liu Rui returned to you as a sign of my sincerity. I came tonight only to ask you to fulfill your promise; I did not intend to make things difficult for you. Moreover, if I were to fight you to the death tonight, who would win or lose is still uncertain."
"You are already dead; what are you talking about fighting to the death for?"
Xiu Xiu smiled bitterly: "Yes, Xiu Xiu is just a wandering ghost, but since I've become a ghost, what is there to fear?"
Xing Ruyi brought Liu Rui's soul closer and shielded it behind her before extinguishing the Ghost Fire at her fingertips. She looked at Xiu Xiu's burned ghostly face and asked, "What exactly do you want? Also, I warn you not to play tricks on me again. Although I am not a bad person, my thoughts are certainly not kind. If you set any more traps, you know what kind of consequences await."
"Xiu Xiu guarantees that I have come tonight with absolute sincerity!"
"Ghostly words hold little truth. However, since you didn't retaliate just now, I will listen to what you have to say."
"On the street?" Xiu Xiu glanced around: "Even though it's the middle of the night and mortals won't see me like this, they will see you."
"Come inside with me!" Xing Ruyi said as she turned and entered the Rouge shop, dragging the half-unconscious Liu Rui along. Xiu Xiu smiled slightly and put away her red umbrella before following her into the Rouge shop.
At the street corner, Mo Xu You squinted his narrow eyes and let out a gentle sigh.
Inside the Rouge shop, Xing Ruyi opened a portrait of Guanyin and tossed Liu Hui's soul into it before turning to look at Xiu Xiu. "I don't know the rules of your ghost realm. You can stand or sit as you wish. There's tea on the table; help yourself if you want some."
"Xiu Xiu is a ghost; it makes no difference whether I sit or not. As for the tea, I probably can't enjoy it," Xiu Xiu said, loosening her grip. The red umbrella floated lightly to the ceiling, but its shadow still enveloped her.
"We understand each other, right? What do you want me to fulfill? To save you from Wei Village?" Xing Ruyi pointed at Xiu Xiu in front of her. "You don't need saving now; you've already come out. Oh, wait, I should say I've already fulfilled my promise. We destroyed that arms factory in Wei Family Village and changed the situation in the Yin Corpse Land, so that place should no longer be able to trap you."
"What can truly trap Xiu Xiu is not that place," Xiu Xiu shook her head. "Xiu Xiu knows she was foolish in life and made mistakes, but long before her death, she felt remorse. Xiu Xiu does not wish to be an evil ghost; aside from luring a girl into an illusion in the tomb, she hasn't done anything heinous."
"Really never done anything?"
"The girl has a pair of Ghost Eyes and possesses ghostly skills; how could she not see through it? At the western suburbs' arms factory, Xiu Xiu did not engage in a fight with that Azure Fox Immortal but used the method of shedding one's shell. If Xiu Xiu were truly an evil ghost, she could have fought back desperately; even if she couldn't win, she could have escaped and wouldn't be foolish enough to seek you out today. The girl should understand that Xiu Xiu indeed has unspoken troubles and truly seeks your help."
"You've spoken half of it but still haven't made it clear what you want me to do."
"I want you to save me!" Xiu Xiu said, pulling down her clothing slightly to reveal her neck and part of her shoulder. Dark red light intertwined across her body.
"What is this?"
"I don't know; it's probably something like ghost ropes!" Xiu Xiu replied, adjusting her clothes back into place. "After I became a ghost, this thing appeared on me. Initially, I thought these were just scars, but when I realized I couldn't escape that place no matter how hard I tried, I sensed something was wrong. Later, I discovered that many people who wandered into Wei Village would inexplicably go missing, their souls lost as well. So I began investigating along the clues. I found out that beneath Wei Village lies a large tomb, and those missing people along with their souls were absorbed into that tomb. I don't know why I wasn't absorbed, but these crisscrossing ghost ropes on me are left by that thing."
Xiu Xiu looked outside and continued, "After you all left, I thought I was free too, but later I realized that no matter how far I ran, at dawn every day, I'd be pulled back to Wei Village by that force. If you don't believe me, would you let me accompany you until dawn so you can see for yourself the mystery of these ghost ropes?"
"So your goal is for me to find a way to untie these ghost ropes?"
Xiu Xiu shook her head and said, "Don't think that Mo Daochang can help me. This ghostly rope is formed from the essence of that creature's blood. If it doesn't die, even a Great Luo Immortal cannot unravel it."
"And then what? You want me to help you kill that thing!" Xing Ruyi spread her hands and said, "Do you think I have the strength to meddle in such matters? Besides, I'm doing well with my business at the Rouge shop. Why would I go looking for trouble with an ancient monster hiding underground?"
Xing Ruyi paused, suddenly recalling the disheveled appearance of the fox before they set off for the armory. She quickly understood, "Did the fox fight that thing?"
"That Azure Fox Immortal?" Xiu Xiu raised her eyes. "He indeed entered that place, but I did not see him come out at the time. Later, when I saw him arrive with the girl, I was quite surprised, thinking they were just two similar-looking immortals. Now hearing the girl ask this, I realize that the Fox Immortal must have fought with that creature underground and likely suffered heavy injuries."
"So you want me to fight an ancient monster that even the fox couldn't defeat?"
"Xiu Xiu never thought of it that way. Given your current strength, you are not yet a match for it. Although Xiu Xiu was not a good person in life, she is certainly not someone who would make a request knowing it would lead to death."
"Then how do you expect me to save you?"
"Mo Daochang, everything in this world has its cause. Even a thousand-year-old monster must have its weaknesses. Therefore, what Xiu Xiu asks of you is to help investigate the origins of that old monster and find a way to rescue me. This request is not only for myself but also for those villagers who were innocently devoured by the monster. Furthermore, Xiu Xiu wants to tell you a secret: Wei Shu's group is not forging weapons there; they are crafting a very strange tree-like object for sacrifices. Mo Daochang suspects that this object is meant for rituals, but just a few days before the Fox Immortal and you arrived, it was quietly taken away by people from the Government Office, and its whereabouts are unknown. As for those missing children, some were indeed eaten by Wei Shu's group, but many more were used as sacrificial offerings."
"Sacrificial offerings?"
"Yes, sacrificial offerings! Have you ever heard of the stories of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye?"
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