“It was me who killed her! I saw she was pretty and wanted to take her as my concubine, but she refused and even threatened to tell my wife. I was afraid of my wife, so in a fit of rage, I strangled her…”
“Wife, I didn’t mean to hide it from you. She was just a maid sent by your father, dead or alive, what does it matter…”
Fan Fangfang glared furiously, her plump face twisted in anger: “That was a human life!”
She stomped on Liu Xingde’s back: “You filthy dog! Not only are you lustful, but you also treat human life like dirt! I want a divorce!”
Liu Xingde clung to her leg: “No, wife! I can’t live without you!”
“I think what you can’t live without is my family’s money!” Fan Fangfang kicked him away, sending him flying across the room.
Shen Mingshu said coldly, “A life for a life. He can’t be let off.”
Upon hearing he’d have to pay with his life, Liu Xingde scrambled to his feet and bolted, only to be stopped at the door by the cold edge of a sword.
Leng Feng held the blade in front of him: “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Lend me your sword!” A slender figure darted forward, and Leng Feng felt a sharp pain in his wrist, forcing him to release his grip.
The hilt landed in Shen Mingshu’s hand. With a flick of her wrist, the blade sliced cleanly across Liu Xingde’s neck.
Without even glancing back, she tossed the sword back.
Leng Feng hurriedly caught it, his lips trembling: “That girl moves frighteningly fast…”
A shadowy figure emerged from Liu Xingde’s corpse. Seeing Pei Jingheng, whose body was wreathed in purple aura, it lunged at him with ravenous hunger.
Though Pei Jingheng couldn’t see the ghostly form, he could sense something unclean approaching him.
As the ghostly shadow closed in, a golden light suddenly enveloped him, shielding him. Liu Xingde was repelled and instantly disintegrated into nothingness.
Watching this, Shen Mingshu narrowed her eyes slightly and glanced at Pei Jingheng. “Your protective talisman is quite impressive.”
Fan Fangfang sighed as she looked at Liu Xingde’s lifeless body. “He died before we could divorce. Does that mean I still have to mourn him for three years?”
“Whether you mourn or not is up to you, but I’ll warn you, you won’t have any good marriage prospects in those three years,” Shen Mingshu said indifferently.
Fan Fangfang now trusted her words completely and quickly agreed. “Fine. At least I won’t end up with another scoundrel.”
Yun Niang pointed at the female ghost on the floor. “What about her?”
Shen Mingshu replied, “Though she died unjustly, she lent her ghostly form to the peach tree demon to wreak havoc for revenge. That makes her complicit. She can only be condemned to the Realm of Beasts.”
The female ghost wept. “Master, please have mercy! The tree demon tricked me! She promised to kill Liu Xingde directly, I was deceived!”
“She’s quite pitiful…” Yun Niang couldn’t help but sympathize.
Shen Mingshu looked down at her impassively. “Even if you were deceived, you enjoyed yourself while helping her drain Liu Cheng’s yang energy.”
“And in just half a month, you’ve already gained some cultivation. Clearly, you put in great effort to suck him dry.”
The female ghost pressed her lips together, no longer making excuses.
Fan Fangfang glanced at her, then at her unconscious son on the bed, and sighed without another word.
Right or wrong, she wasn’t qualified to judge. She left it all to Shen Mingshu.
Shen Mingshu lifted her gaze to a dark corner of the room and called softly, “Little ghost, come out.”
A shadowy figure drifted forward.
Recognizing it as the little ghost from before, Fan Fangfang and Yun Niang showed no surprise.
The little ghost looked at Shen Mingshu with an eager expression: “Master, I’ve been waiting for your summons.”
Shen Mingshu said in a deep voice, “Though you’ve been haunting and scaring me all day, I acknowledge your contribution in this matter. I will send you to the Animal Realm.”
“If you refuse, I can also reduce you to ashes.”
The little ghost immediately knelt and begged for mercy: “I’m willing! Whether it’s as an ox, a horse, poultry, or even as snakes, insects, or rats, anything is fine!”
Being reduced to ashes would mean true annihilation, while being reborn as an animal might still offer a chance to become human again in the next life.
Shen Mingshu gave a slight nod and turned her gaze to the two figures at the door.
Her eyes trailed slowly down the man’s strikingly handsome face before settling on his hands, resting at his waist. On his index finger was a translucent, emerald-green jade ring.
Pei Jingheng glanced down at the ring on his finger, puzzled by her intense scrutiny.
Shen Mingshu smiled faintly and walked toward him with measured steps. “Young master, may I borrow your magical artifact for a moment?”
Leng Feng immediately stepped forward to block her. “No! My master’s artifact must never leave his person!”
“Very well.” Shen Mingshu didn’t press further. Instead, she bent down to pick up a peach tree branch from the ground.
This peach tree was over a hundred years old, it would suffice as a temporary vessel for the two ghosts.
The mystical energy she had accumulated in her body wasn’t enough to open the Animal Realm and send them in. She would have to wait a few more days.
“What do you need the artifact for?” A cold, indifferent voice broke the silence as Pei Jingheng stepped over the corpse on the ground and entered.
Shen Mingshu turned to look at him, her gaze lingering on the red thread between them.
As the distance between them shortened, the thread grew increasingly taut.
She lifted her pale eyelids slightly, her dark eyes beneath long lashes calmly meeting his. “I’ve exhausted my mystical energy, but your artifact is brimming with it. I only wish to borrow a fraction to send these two to the Animal Realm.”
Pei Jingheng studied her bloodless face, a flicker of interest surfacing in his eyes.
Neither of these ghosts was virtuous, annihilating them outright would suffice. Yet she insisted on straining herself to send them to the Animal Realm.
“Very well.” He extended his left hand, his long fingers relaxed and slightly spread. “But the artifact cannot be removed.”
Master Qing Xuan had warned him, this artifact suppressed the deathly aura within him. If removed, the accumulated miasma would claim his life in an instant.
Shen Mingshu clasped her hands before her and bowed slightly. “Thank you.”
She placed her hand over his, her palm covering the emerald jade ring. A surge of potent mystical energy flowed into her body through her fingertips.
In an instant, she withdrew her hand, then swiftly formed a hand seal. A golden-red light flickered at her fingertips.
With two fingers pressed together, she channeled the borrowed energy to swiftly draw a glowing sigil in the air, murmuring an incantation under her breath: “By the decree of the Supreme, we release your wandering souls…”
A fierce wind rose beneath her feet, whipping her robes and tousling her hair.
Leng Feng pulled Pei Jingheng back. “Master, step away.”
As Shen Mingshu chanted, the golden-red sigil hovering before her expanded.
“Six Paths of Reincarnation, Animal Realm, open!”
Her cool voice rang out as the enlarged sigil split open, revealing a dark fissure at its center.
Shen Mingshu reached out toward the two ghosts beside her. A powerful gust swept them up and hurled them into the rift.
The golden-red sigil shrank and vanished, and the wind at her feet stilled.
Just moments ago, Shen Mingshu had been radiating an overwhelming aura, but now her legs gave way as she collapsed to the side.
“Shenshen!” Yun Niang snapped out of her shock and rushed toward her.
Pei Jingheng took a swift step forward, his hand catching her slender waist firmly, pulling her into his embrace.
The young girl’s eyes were tightly shut, her delicate face even paler than before.
She was so light, like a feather settling into his arms.