"Xiao Qi, don't just eat vegetables—have some ribs!" Auntie picked up a rib and dropped it into Lin Qiye's bowl.
Lin Qiye smiled. "Thank you, Auntie."
"Today's a grand day. Eat plenty—don't you go saving money for your auntie!"
"I know, Auntie. Ah Jin, you eat more too. You're right at the age where you're still growing...
"Ah Jin?
"Ah Jin!"
Lin Qiye called twice at Yang Jin, who was staring into space.
"Huh? Oh—eating, eating!" Yang Jin surfaced and scratched his head.
"This child. Where has your mind wandered off to? Have you gotten picky now—won't even touch meat?" Auntie shot Yang Jin a look and piled several more pieces into his bowl.
"Ah Jin's probably just buried under homework." Lin Qiye said with a smile, picking up the bone he'd just finished. He glanced around the room, and faint puzzlement crossed his face.
Auntie noticed too, and spoke in surprise. "Strange—where's Little Blackie? At dinnertime it's usually first in line. Now there's a bone on offer and not even a shadow of the dog?"
As if hearing its name, Little Blackie poked its head out from the balcony and gave a bark.
"Woof—!"
Lin Qiye waved the bone through the air, beckoning it over to eat. But Little Blackie only looked at the bone, then out the window, apparently torn.
"What's gotten into the little thing today?" Auntie said suspiciously.
Lin Qiye hesitated a moment, stood with the bone still in his chopsticks, walked to the balcony, and rubbed Little Blackie's head, speaking softly:
"What's the matter with you? Hm? Is there something outside?"
He dropped the bone to the floor, and while Little Blackie gnawed at it, straightened up and looked out the window.
In the vast blackness of the night there was nothing at all—nothing but the downpour.
Even the other residential buildings in the distance had gone completely lightless. The world lay in such stillness it seemed nothing remained but endless rain.
"Strange. There's nothing out there..."
Lin Qiye muttered, and was about to turn away when several soft thumps came from beyond the glass—like someone patting the window.
He looked back and saw a tiny bat outside the window.
The bat looked soaked through by the rain. It kept bumping against the glass, as if searching for somewhere to shelter.
Lin Qiye's eyes slowly brightened.
Come to think of it, he had never once used the ability Starry Night Dancer gave him—speech with nocturnal creatures. It wasn't every day a bat showed up. This seemed like the moment to try...
And so Lin Qiye stood quietly at the window, his gaze fixed on the bat.
"Xiao Qi! What are you doing over there? Come back and eat—the food's going cold!" Auntie called, seeing him stand there blankly.
But Lin Qiye stayed rooted like a statue, unmoving, for a long, long moment.
Just as Auntie was about to say something more, Lin Qiye's head snapped around—his eyes were quaking!
He shot to the entryway and started pulling on his shoes.
"Xiao Qi, what on earth are you doing?"
"I just remembered something. I need to go out."
"Silly child, what are you talking about? It's pitch-black out, the rain's coming down in buckets—go out to do what?"
"Something important. Very important!"
"Then—then what about dinner?"
"I'll eat when I get back!"
Under Auntie's dumbfounded gaze, Lin Qiye had already changed his shoes and was pulling the front door open.
At that moment, Yang Jin's voice suddenly sounded.
"Ge. The rain's too heavy out there. Don't go."
"No. I have to."
"However important it is, someone else will handle it. The Earth will keep turning without you on it."
"But there are some things I have to do myself." Lin Qiye drew a deep breath and forced a smile to the corner of his mouth. "Don't worry too much. It's one small thing. I'll sort it out and come straight home.
"It's not every day we eat this well. I'm not about to let it go to waste.
"I'm off."
Lin Qiye pulled the door shut behind him and flew down the stairs.
Only when he was well away did Auntie finally react, hurrying to the door and shouting down the stairwell:
"Silly child! It's pouring out there—at least take an umbrella!"
In the stairwell, Lin Qiye's footsteps faded further and further. No answer came.
Auntie sighed helplessly and returned to her seat—and suddenly, the food in front of her didn't smell so good anymore.
As for Yang Jin, he simply sat there in silence, eyes on the downpour beyond the window.
...
In the rain.
Snick, snick, snick!
Zhao Kongcheng thumbed the lighter over and over. Each time the spark caught, the falling rain drowned it.
Cigarette clamped in his lips, he sighed in mild defeat.
His luck today... was truly rotten.
"SKREEE—!!"
Not far off, the Ghost-Faced King stood like a demon carved out of the rain, its silhouette radiating crushing pressure!
The Ghost-Faced King looked very different from an ordinary Ghost-Faced Man. It was two full sizes larger to start—from a distance, it looked like a small mountain.
More than that: where ordinary Ghost-Faced Men loped on all fours like beasts, the King stood upright on two legs, head high, chest out. If you ignored the chalk-white ghost face and the long scarlet tongue, it was almost human.
And yet this savage, horrifying creature was covered head to toe in blade wounds—each one carved deep into its flesh, leaving its body a dripping ruin of blood.
Zhao Kongcheng eyed the wounds and clicked his tongue.
"Captain's a beast, all right... cutting it up this badly. Guess he really was going easy on me in sparring...
"A 'River'-realm monster. Even half-dead, it's still a freak of nature.
"Wonder how many exchanges I can last against it."
Muttering, he reached up over his shoulder, gripped the hilt of the straight blade, and drew it slowly...
The pale-blue edge sliced the falling rain, humming faintly.
One downpour. One cigarette.
One cloak. One straight blade!
The Ghost-Faced King watched Zhao Kongcheng, scarlet tongue curling, bloodlust welling up in its eyes!
In the same instant, both of them moved!
Zhao Kongcheng shot forward like an arrow off the string, blade in hand, eyes frost-cold, killing intent boiling off him!
He was fast—but the Ghost-Faced King was faster!
Its massive body burst through the curtain of rain, its pallid ghost face contorting wildly—a hunter who had sighted prey and could no longer contain its ecstasy!
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The moment their bodies collided, blade-light flashed cold—three successive screams of metal on metal split the rain, claw against edge, striking out strings of blinding sparks!
Zhao Kongcheng was every inch the close-combat master: three precise cuts, each aimed at a vital point—and each turned aside by the Ghost-Faced King's superior speed.
Three cuts were all he got. After the third, the King's monstrous strength hurled him away, and he crashed sprawling into the mud.
The gap between them was simply too vast.
One was a mythological creature at the 'River' realm, with a Forbidden Ruins and a monster's physique.
The other was ordinary flesh and blood, armed with nothing but technique and experience.
Zhao Kongcheng dragged himself up out of the mire, spat out his rain-soaked cigarette, and growled through his teeth:
"Fucking hell. Mythological creature, big deal! Strong, big deal!"
The Ghost-Faced King had no interest whatsoever in a fair duel. It roared at Zhao Kongcheng, a sound like rolling thunder!
"ROAR-ROAR-ROAR!!"
Then, with the Ghost-Faced King at its center, an enormous, twisted ghost face began to surface across the ground...
Zhao Kongcheng's expression changed on the spot.
"Forbidden Ruins Sequence 176. 【Ghost-Face Geomancy】."