Shrouded in thick, gray fog, the Hundred Ghosts couldn’t make out the woman approaching. But her low, pleasant, and calm voice carried the unmistakable authority of soone used to giving orders.
Of course, he’d never t this woman before. Then again, he couldn’t be certain whether the real Hundred Ghosts had either.
That thought made him second-guess his decision.
Because the Hundred Ghosts standing here wasn’t the real one. He was Li Xun, fresh from breaking through a bottleneck in his cultivation. The real Hundred Ghosts had died months ago, ambushed by Li Xun in one of the hidden corridors beneath the imperial palace.
He’d taken on this identity for a reason. The man’s barely-mastered NetherYin Qi made for the perfect cover. Plus, Li Xun had found a bamboo token on his corpse that marked his identity.
Even better, he’d once subtly asked around while Gu Pin’er and others were guarding the palace and learned that Hundred Ghosts kept a low profile, always moving alone, and had no interaction with the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect.
It was just a stroke of luck . He happened to co across a dying disciple of the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect and picked up a few cultivation techniques from him. As his skills improved, he gradually started to make a na for himself.
It had seed like a pretty solid identity to borrow. But now, after using it just once, he already found himself in danger of being exposed. He couldn't help feeling a bit awkward about it.
Still, he wasn’t the sa man he used to be. Even with things going sideways, he didn’t panic. A thought flashed through his mind, and he smiled lightly.
"I wonder which old acquaintance this might be?"
That simple line drew angry rebukes and curses from all around him, as if he’d just insulted soone very important.
Li Xun’s heart skipped a beat. Because of the Netherworld Record, he’d made a point of learning about key figures in Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect. Now, comparing everything he knew against what he’d just heard, a na flashed through his mind.
His thinking was lightning-fast. By the ti he made his judgnt, he was already playing out possible scenarios in his head. Outwardly, though, he only appeared hesitant for a beat before cautiously asking: "Might you be Madam Yan, by any chance?"
It was a brilliantly worded question. One could take it as him suddenly recalling the speaker’s identity after a hint, or as a deduction he arrived at on his own. Either way, it carried a double aning that kept his cover perfectly intact. On top of that, his tone had noticeably softened, making it impossible for anyone to find fault with his response.
A soft laugh echoed from behind the fog, but it wasn’t the graceful, lilting kind you'd expect from a young woman. Instead, it was poised and reserved, carrying a subtle depth that made it hard to read.
Then her tone turned a shade colder.
“Hundred Ghosts… You were clever back then, I'll give you that. You returned the True Solution, and the sect allowed you to cultivate one of its secret techniques. But don’t think we ever gave you permission to snoop around our secret domain. Care to explain yourself?”
Li Xun’s eyelid twitched. So the real Hundred Ghosts did have a connection to Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect
And judging by this woman’s voice, they must've interacted directly in the past. After all, why would a high-ranking elder of a major sect bother rembering soone as minor as the Hundred Ghosts?
But his face was nothing like Hundred Ghosts’, there was no way anyone could miss that. And the woman had no reason to play along if she knew sothing was off… unless they’d never actually t face to face?
The thought sparked like lightning in his mind.
Could it be… the Soul Summoning Command?
From what he knew, the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect had a way of delivering reprimands or punishnts to disciples: a Soul Summoning Command that sealed a voice ssage and sent it flying on a sword-scroll. When it reached the target, it released the recorded ssage.
That would certainly explain everything, and it fit perfectly with their statuses.
His mind raced, but he kept his expression in check, forcing a bitter smile.
“Ah, so it is Madam Yan… Hundred Ghosts only rembered the voice from the Soul Summoning Command back then…”
The mont the "Soul Summoning Command" left his mouth, the tension around him noticeably eased. Li Xun, ever sensitive to shifts like these, instantly knew that his bold guess had hit the mark.
A spark of joy lit up his heart, and his tone sweetened as he went on, “…and your voice, Madam, is as clear as ever. Forgive for not recognizing it right away. It’s been a long ti.”
There was a brief silence behind the fog.
“I don’t rember you being so slick with your words back then,” she finally talked again, her voice suddenly carrying a new edge.
Li Xun quickly put on a polite smile. “Hundred Ghosts was being careless, I admit it. But this is really a misunderstanding. I truly didn’t know this was part of the sect’s secret domain…”
Her next laugh was soft and aningful, but it carried a strange rhythm that made Li Xun’s heart sink.
Sothing in it felt… wrong.
He didn’t know what he’d said to upset her, but he didn’t dare wait to find out. With a flicker, he dropped low and slid along the ground, darting away.
The instant he moved, a noise ca from behind the fog, then a grayish-white spark flared up.
The dim light swept through the fog, revealing vague and flickering silhouettes.
With shapes shifting between light and dark, real and illusory, any ordinary person would’ve been completely dazzled.
But in Li Xun’s eyes, there was only one target—
She didn’t seem the least bit bothered by his focused attention. Even through the fog, Li Xun could tell that she hadn’t spared him so much as a glance. Her hand moved almost lazily inside her sleeve, but the next mont, a powerful undercurrent surged forward, parting the fog as it ca crashing toward him.
The undercurrent surged like a midnight tide. Calm on the surface, yet carrying an overwhelming force beneath. What rushed toward him wasn’t the salty breeze of the sea, but a chilling inferno that cut straight into his organs, a yin fire capable of turning flesh and bone to ash.
In an instant, the entire space turned scorching hot. Yet the mont he inhaled that fiery air, a searing cold sank deep into his lungs—a cold so biting it could freeze the thought itself.
This one strike was all it took to make one thing clear. This woman was at least at the True Person level.
That was the level of a sect leader.
Li Xun fought back the urge to summon Nether One and Nether Two. With a shout, he launched himself skyward. The undercurrent chasing him struck like a crashing wave against rock, surging upward with even greater force than before.
It felt like the ground beneath his feet had caught fire. Not daring to hold back, Li Xun twisted midair and struck down with his palm.
A sharp crack echoed through the air. The force behind his palm wasn’t overwhelming, but its precision and finesse actually surpassed his opponent’s.
The yin fire within him surged, contracted, and flowed with perfect ease, fully under his control. The wild, aggressive energy from before had vanished without a trace. His palm strike seed light, almost playful—harmless, even—yet its force was strange and formless, as if it had torn open an invisible hole in the very air itself. And at the deepest point of that void lay a furnace hot enough to lt gold and dissolve bone.
The rushing yin fire poured in. Li Xun, clearly outmatched in cultivation strength, managed to absorb less than thirty percent before he let out a pained grunt and was sent flying backward.
The woman behind the fog defeated her opponent with a single move, but there was no trace of triumph on her face. Instead, she let out a soft hmm, her surprise tinged with a subtle ripple of sothing almost too faint to detect.
All around, sharp intakes of breath filled the silence.
Li Xun had been defeated, and quite badly. But the power he had just unleashed clearly demonstrated the highest level of mastery of the Netherworld Qi.
Everyone present was sharp-eyed, and the sound of their gasps filled the silence.
Although Li Xun had been defeated, and quite badly at that, the power behind that palm strike was undeniable; he had clearly mastered the Netherworld Qi to an extraordinary level.
If he continued to advance, the next steps would be drawing energy across space, followed by transforming its essence and shape, reversing life and death, and ultimately reaching the supre Netherworld Divine Arts.
Once soone reached the level of lting and forging the void, they went from being just an ordinary disciple to soaring to the top and becoming one of the sect’s most highly valued and carefully trained elites.
But how many in the entire Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect, with nearly a thousand disciples, had actually reached that level? At least, among the many disciples present here, not a single one has made it that far.
And yet here’s this rogue cultivator, soone who’s only grasped a bit of the sect’s secret techniques already showing this kind of power? Have all their centuries of cultivation, as direct disciples no less, been for nothing? Might as well have trained dogs instead!
Just as the disciples were caught in an awkward silence, Li Xun staggered to the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood and nearly collapsing.
He wasn’t quite as badly injured as he made it seem. At the very least, he still had enough strength to summon Nether One and Nether Two and make a run for it if he had to.
"You've earned the right to speak your mind," the woman in the fog said after a brief pause, offering him a generous complint. "For a rogue cultivator to reach this level with no guidance; that's truly impressive. But without more advanced techniques, this is as far as your path will take you in this life."
She paused again, but this ti her tone softened noticeably. “Hundred Ghost, your talent is exceptional. You have the makings of soone great. Roaming the wilds of the Tongxuan Realm as just another naless spirit; it’s a waste of your potential. Why not rise higher? Why not pursue the path to the supre Netherworld Divine Arts?”
Li Xun blinked, stunned for a mont before realizing what was happening.
She was recruiting him.
If he hadn’t just demonstrated his lting and forging the void technique, he’d probably have been discarded like trash, tossed into so remote mountain valley and forgotten. Her sudden shift in attitude was clearly based on pragmatic value. Cold as it was, it lined up perfectly with what Li Xun expected from a demonic sect like this.
Truth be told, he was tempted.
He had long desired a systematic path to study the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect’s secret techniques.
And now, with full confidence in his ability to escape danger at a mont’s notice, he finally had the security to consider the offer seriously.
After a long silence, pressing one hand to his chest, Li Xun gave a bitter smile.
“Madam Yan… you an to say…”
The woman didn’t answer right away.
Instead, she stepped slowly out of the mist, her body swaying gracefully as she approached.
With the fog now cleared, Li Xun finally got a full look at her. And he couldn't help being stunned.
Could this be the most renowned female cultivator of the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect?
Though she was beautiful, her looks didn’t quite match the dazzling allure of soone like Qingyin or Wanderer Yin. Her face was slightly pale, her features not particularly striking, yet still enough to draw the attention of any man.
But if you looked a little closer at the gentle curve of her brows, the serene smile, and her graceful, perfectly asured movents, you’d feel a quiet elegance and a calm warmth that ca from deep within. There was a composed dignity to her, sothing poised and effortless that made her stand out without trying.
As she walked toward him, Li Xun found himself montarily stunned. For a second, he thought he was looking at a virtuous wife from a well-off household—soone who managed her ho with quiet devotion—not the sa woman who’d just unleashed a torrent of yin fire. The contrast was jarring.
She stopped a few steps in front of him and smiled gently. “It’s been over a hundred years since I last took a disciple. And in all that ti, never once have I accepted a male student. But today… I’m thinking of making an exception. Would you be willing?”
Li Xun couldn’t help but smile bitterly to himself. Why does this keep happening to ?
In the past ten years, it felt like all he ever did was bow to this master or that elder. And here it was again. This weird pattern still hadn’t changed. If the real Hundred Ghosts had been standing here instead of him, he’d probably be overjoyed and already on his knees, shouting “Master!” without hesitation.
After all, for a rootless rogue cultivator to suddenly rise into the ranks of a powerful sect like the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect, and even gain soone like Madam Yan as a personal ntor, was a dream co true.
But Li Xun knew one thing for sure: refusing her outright would be the sa as shouting, “I’m not Hundred Ghosts!” And he wasn’t about to make a mistake that stupid.
Still, the mory of how he’d been constantly ordered around by those two Wanderers was fresh in his mind. And now, unlike before, he wasn’t completely powerless. That mix of mory and pride stirred up a rare trace of defiance in him.
He twitched the corner of his mouth, bent at the waist in a respectful bow, but for so reason, it felt awkward. The words that ca out weren’t what he intended. Instead of calling her “Master,” he said: “Madam.”
Madam Yan noticed, of course. Nothing about his reaction escaped her, but she simply smiled, a warm expression that sohow made her quiet beauty even more radiant.
She was already a kind-faced woman, but now, as she looked at Li Xun, there was a trace of genuine affection in her eyes.
“I can tell you’ve got a bit of spine. I won’t force you,” she said softly. “It’s just… a sha, really. With talent like yours…”
She furrowed her delicate brows slightly, as if reluctant to let him go. She looked torn, like she wanted to release him but couldn’t quite bring herself to do it.
Seeing the subtle sorrow in her expression, Li Xun suddenly felt a cold chill creeping through him.
Who was he? He knew this ga. He was a professional at reading people like her.
And right now, every instinct he had was screaming. If he turned and walked away, she’d strike him down before he took three steps. He’d be dead, reduced to ashes on the spot.
This woman was terrifying.
That thought sobered him up fast. Whatever spark of backbone he’d just managed to summon vanished completely. Gritting his teeth silently, he bent down in a full, proper bow, lifted his head, and forced a broad smile.
“Madam’s favor is too great, how could Hundred Ghosts possibly refuse?”
Madam Yan tilted her head slightly, amused. “That’s an… interesting way to address ,” she said, referring to his choice of calling her “Madam” instead of “Master.”
Strictly speaking, it was inappropriate, even disrespectful. But Li Xun played dumb, and she didn’t take it to heart. Rogue cultivators often had a wild streak; she’d seen plenty of them and wasn't surprised. She took it as a way to win people over.
“Fine,” she said. “It does have a nice ring to it.”
Li Xun exhaled quietly. It was done. The master-disciple bond was now official. His heart was a swirl of emotions. Too many to na. But suddenly, one strange thought surfaced.
Co to think of it, haven’t all my previous masters ended up with a terrible end?
So… what about this one?
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