Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 405 The Evil Woman
The corpse-driving Taoist was extremely anxious, wishing he could escape Moonlit City immediately.

However, Ran Qing, who was in the fog, looked up and looked outside, saying, "...It seems we can't leave."

Ran Qing's answer surprised the corpse-driving Taoist: "Can't leave?"

Ran Qing stared at the fog outside, her gaze gloomy.

The fog was thick, making it difficult to see anything more than three meters away, but through the shared perspective of the evil lords, he could vaguely make out the scene around the Yin Altar.

The pale, ghostly figures that roamed in the mist had devoured the evil spirit from the ancient Luo Kingdom, thus avenging the Li Hongye family's grievances.

The pale, ghostly figures that had devoured the evil spirits did not disperse or leave.

They still drifted eerily in the mist, hovering around the spirit medium's altar, neither too close nor too far.

Like a group of sharks that have smelled blood.

Ran Qing said, "It seems that Li Hongye wants to kill more than just those ghost breeders."

Besides the group of eerie and terrifying pale ghosts, flying zombies could be vaguely seen lurking in the thick fog outside the Yin Altar.

The flying zombie that Ran Jianfei became after his death also did not leave, but remained lurking nearby, as if waiting for the person in the Yin Altar to come out.

Near the seemingly safe concrete building, a sinister and deadly threat lurks.

Once the living emerge from the Yin Altar, they will be immediately overwhelmed by the lurking, pale ghostly figures, following in the footsteps of the greatest warrior of the ancient Luo Kingdom...

Ran Qing's description of the situation made the corpse-driving Taoist priest furious.

He jumped up and down, cursing, "Isn't Li Hongye only vengeful towards the ghost-raiser? Why isn't she leaving after she's taken her revenge?!"

"Isn't she your classmate and friend?"

The corpse-driving Taoist priest exclaimed incredulously, "Since she retained her personality from her previous life, why won't she let you go? This is impossible!"

The corpse-driving Taoist looked at Ran Qing pleadingly and said, "Kid, why don't you go and beg your old classmate for mercy? Maybe she'll take pity on us and let us go?"

Ran Qing's expression was complicated upon hearing this.

He and Li Hongye were indeed old classmates, even good friends and someone he had a romantic relationship with during their youth.

But now, as Li Hongye has been exposed to more and more information, the image of the once playful and cute female classmate has long since collapsed in Ran Qing's mind.

Now, he doesn't even know how much of his interactions with Li Hongye are genuine and how much are pretentious.

The Li Hongye he knew was not the real Li Hongye at all.

For a long time, Li Hongye, who had been facing him, was nothing more than the daughter of his enemy, a vicious woman who cruelly murdered her adoptive father, wearing a mask and putting on a show...

Therefore, when he saw that the group of pale, ghostly figures had not left but continued to lurk and wander nearby, Ran Qing was not very surprised.

It seems that Li Hongye not only intends to kill the ghost-raiser, but also doesn't plan to spare his old classmate.

Ran Qing shook her head and said, "It's better to rely on yourself than on others. Asking her won't help."

"A person like her doesn't care about the past; she only thinks about why she died while others can still live."

"So her targets for revenge are not just those ghost breeders."

"The entire Moonlit City, and even all living people in the human world, are within the scope of her revenge."

"She wanted to kill as many people as she could, to make everyone suffer the same agonizing death as her, which is why she used the Ghost King's corpse to refine blood corpses."

At this point, Ran Qing had figured out Li Hongye's motives.

Therefore, he felt even more sorrowful.

The woman he had liked for so long turned out to be such a vicious, cruel, selfish, and dark woman.

If she hadn't witnessed Teacher Li's tragic state firsthand and personally uncovered the secrets of Li Hongye's family, even if Zong Shu's grandfather had explained everything to Ran Qing, perhaps Ran Qing wouldn't have believed it...

Ran Qing sighed softly and said to the corpse-driving Taoist, "Master Liu, you should rest first."

"We won't be able to leave here anytime soon."

"The good news is that this ghostly mist can't possibly swallow up the entire Moonlit City in a day or two, so we still have time to prepare."

As she spoke, Ran Qing walked towards the main room.

The question is no longer whether or not to stop Li Hongye.

Li Hongye, who had already died a tragic death and become a ghost, had no intention of letting go of the living people in Moonlit City.

Ran Qing and all other living people were on her list of enemies.

Even setting aside the grudges and affections between the two families, Ran Qing, as a living person, only has one path left to take at this moment.

That means going to the Ghost Realm of Wujiang to find Li Hongye and suppress the blood corpse.

Only by killing Li Hongye can Ran Qing and everyone else have a way to survive.

Seeing Ran Qing's departing figure, the corpse-driving Taoist hurriedly asked, "What are you preparing? What do you need to prepare at a time like this?"

Ran Qing ignored him, walked directly into the main room, and closed the door.

Long Zongshu sighed in the mist and said, "Ran Qing is right. It seems that Li Hongye has no intention of letting us live. If we want to survive, we can only go to the underworld to find her."

"At least there aren't this many ancient demon soldiers in the underworld."

"The more ancient Luo ghost soldiers roaming the human world, the fewer there will be in the underworld. With this balance, it might be easier to kill Li Hongye in the Wujiang Ghost Realm."

Long Zongshu comforted the corpse-driving Taoist.

But the corpse-driving Taoist looked at Long Zongshu with an expression as if he were a fool: "You talk too easily, kid. That girl named Li Hongye is a blood corpse raised in the evil-nurturing ground under the red coffin lid."

"Or perhaps the whole family of three turned into blood corpses, ferocious and terrifying."

"Not to mention that she still holds the corpse of the Ghost King, which can bewitch and influence the evil spirits in the Ancient Ghost Kingdom."

"If you go to the Ghost Realm of Wujiang, you'll probably die an even more horrible death!"

After the corpse-driving Taoist finished speaking, he asked, "...Do you have a telephone here? I'd like to make a call for help."

The corpse-driving Taoist still wanted to escape, but he dared not leave the Yin altar of the Yin-walking people at this moment and could only place his hopes on the others in Bureau 769.

Mo Li, shrouded in mist, seemed lost in thought, his expression unreadable.

Long Zongshu sighed, led the corpse-driving Taoist into Ran Qing's bedroom next to the main hall, and pointed out the telephone to the corpse-driving Taoist.

Upon seeing the red landline phone, the corpse-driving Taoist immediately pounced over, pulling out a palm-sized phone book from his pocket while dialing the number.

The call connected quickly, and the corpse-driving Taoist priest holding the receiver immediately shouted urgently.

"Hey? Lao Luo, send someone to save me! I'm going to die in Zangke!"

"Yes, yes, it's about the ancient Luo Ghost Kingdom that I mentioned before."

"It's even more dangerous now. There's a little girl named Li Hongye, a descendant of the Lu family in the Northwest. Her father is Lu Baiyin... Yes! The one who died in Honghe Village ten years ago."

"Hey, don't interrupt! Listen to me!"

"Now this girl named Li Hongye has obtained the Ghost King's corpse and is going to refine it into a blood corpse..."

"Yes, yes, yes! If she succeeds, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

"Moreover, the entire Moonlit City is now shrouded in ghostly mist. That little girl is going to drag the entire Moonlit City to the underworld, just like the ancient Luo Kingdom thousands of years ago..."

“Moonlight City may be a small city, but it still has a considerable permanent population. If we really get dragged to the underworld… Yes! What I mean is, could you please send someone over to help us as soon as possible?”

"Damn! You're saying the Flood Dragon has killed hundreds of people and flooded five cities?"

"I don't care about anything else, just tell me if you can send someone over..."

"Are all the heretics in the bureau dead? No one can come to Zangke? Damn! There are only a few heretics in the entire 769 Bureau. Can't you send a few powerful esoteric practitioners over?"

"Those damned people from the Xuanmen sect, they always brag about how they're the orthodox Xuanmen, looking down on us unorthodox practitioners, but now that we've summoned Zangke, not a single one dares to come..." "Should we ask a ghost medium for help?"

"Bullshit! I was in the underworld altar of the spirit medium, otherwise how do you think I survived?"

"But this generation of spirit mediums is still a kid, still in high school. How can you place such a huge responsibility on a teenager? Doesn't your conscience hurt?"

"Hello? Hello?"

"Are you planning to send someone?"

"Okay, okay! I'll give you the address!"

"Send some people over to help, preferably with some powerful magical artifacts!"

"This young ghost-walker is reliable and capable. If you send some more help, we might be able to resolve this crisis..."

"Yes, yes, that's it..."

"Okay! I'll tell you..."

"Hmm...okay! Okay!"

"We'll wait for your news!"

In the dimly lit room, Liu Fang, the corpse-driving Taoist priest, was frantically making phone calls, arguing and cursing with the person on the other end.

Ultimately, Bureau 769 decided to send reinforcements to help.

The phone call lasted a full hour.

The Corpse-Driving Taoist reported almost every detail of the situation in Zangke to his superiors and discussed with the other side in detail how to send reinforcements.

After finishing the phone call, the corpse-driving Taoist finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He then raised an eyebrow and looked at Long Zongshu, who had been listening for a long time, and said, "Now we just need to wait for reinforcements. Bureau 769 is short-handed and they are all busy dealing with the Jiao Gui at Poyang Lake."

"But my good friend Daoist has a very high reputation in the Yin-Yang Dao."

"He used his connections to invite several senior and powerful monks and Taoist priests to come and help him."

"With the help of these eminent monks and Taoist priests, plus the three of you local boys, you should be able to get close to that girl named Li Hongye."

The corpse-driving Taoist priest was smug, and his superior used his influence to invite a reclusive master, making him feel honored.

But Long Zongshu hesitated and said, "...Given the current situation in Yuezhao, can outsiders get in?"

Previously, the ancient demon soldiers would only appear once every few hours, and once they did, the entire city would be frozen.

Now, when they appear, the creatures in the city are no longer frozen.

But their appearance in the human world seems to be unrestricted.

In the thick fog outside, those pale, ghostly figures linger and wander, showing no intention of leaving.

Now, under the shroud of ghostly mist, who knows how many evil spirits still roam the Moonlit City.

Once outsiders enter, ordinary people are fine, as they are not so easily attracted to these evil spirits.

But once someone from the Yin-Yang path sets foot on this land...

As soon as Zong Shu finished speaking, the door to the next room was pushed open.

Ran Qing, who was somewhat weak and pale, came out and said to the corpse-driving Taoist, "Make a phone call and tell him that I can write a talisman that can temporarily conceal one's aura so that those evil spirits won't find out."

"I'll find a way to send the talismans outside the city, so they can put them up before entering..."

After Ran Qing finished speaking, the corpse-driving Taoist looked astonished: "There are such talismans? Then why don't you use them now? We can put on the talismans and escape right now!"

Upon hearing the talisman that indicated the presence of concealment, the corpse-driving Taoist's desire to escape rekindled.

Ran Qing shook her head and said, "My talisman is only effective if it is applied before being targeted by evil spirits. If it has already been targeted by evil spirits, its effectiveness will be greatly reduced."

"Now the entrance is surrounded by ancient demon soldiers, all of them staring at us."

"Even if we put up talismans and go out, we will be surrounded very quickly."

Ran Qing's words left the corpse-driving Taoist looking disappointed.

He sighed, turned around, and picked up the phone again.

"Hello? Hello?"

After the call was connected, the corpse-driving Taoist looked puzzled.

He looked at the phone screen with surprise, then at the phone book in his hand, as if to make sure he hadn't dialed the wrong number.

After verifying that everything was correct, the corpse-driving Taoist priest, looking completely bewildered, quickly apologized: "Ah... I'm sorry, I dialed the wrong number."

After hanging up the phone, this time he didn't press the redial button, but dialed the numbers one by one from the phone book.

"Hello? Hello? Huh? Wrong number again?"

The corpse-driving Taoist priest looked up in bewilderment at the two young men in front of him.

"Kid, is your phone broken? How come you can dial the wrong number twice in a row?"

Ran Qing's eyelids twitched at the sight of the corpse-driving Taoist's astonished reaction.

He suddenly walked to the corpse-driving Taoist priest's side and pressed the speakerphone button on the landline.

The next second, a girl's voice came through the phone.

"...Um, I made a mistake."

The girl's voice was cold and calm, carrying a subtle sense of detachment.

Upon hearing this voice, Ran Qinglong and Zong Shu's expressions changed.

Ran Qing shoved the corpse-driving Taoist away and pulled him back away from the phone call.

Li Hongye...

The voice coming from that phone call was Li Hongye's!
Although the tone of her voice was very different from when she was alive, the voice itself was exactly the same!
After the girl's voice stopped coming from the red landline, the room remained silent for a long while.

The corpse-driving Taoist stared in horror at the two teenagers in front of him. Although no one spoke, he had already guessed who was on the phone from Ran Qing and the other boy's reactions.

An eerie, deathly silence filled the room for several seconds.

The voice on the landline suddenly let out a cold laugh.

"Huh? Why did you suddenly stop talking?"

Is someone listening nearby?

"Ran Qing?"

The woman's voice was cold and sarcastic, filled with resentment.

She gave a cold, emotionless laugh and called out Ran Qing's name.

"Are you listening?"

Li Hongye's eerie and cold voice contained not a trace of playfulness, much less cuteness.

Yes, there is only a cold madness, a calm resentment.

This is completely different from the sunny and cheerful Li Hongye that Ran Qing knew.

But this... might be her true nature.

A cold, sneaky, vicious, and meticulous madwoman.

(End of this chapter)