That punch came too fast, too unreasonably.

  With a dull "thud," the black-framed glasses flew right off Zhang's well-maintained pretty-boy face, his nose bridge making a crisp snap.

  Zhang clutched his spurting nose, staggering backward, eyes full of disbelief.

  The one who struck wasn't anyone else—it was Teon, who should have been locked tight by the groom's red silk "Soul-Binding Knot."

  Teon gasped for breath. That punch had been his last reserves. The eerie red silk had already fallen scattered on the ground. Though his eyes still held some fear, there was far more anger.

  The assembled ghosts were all stunned. They'd never seen any outsider break free on their own.

  Only Ling, hiding outside the window, saw clearly. That terrifyingly thick layer of "merit purple energy" on Teon was truly formidable. That was fortune cultivated over several lifetimes, or hidden virtue accumulated by Lei family ancestors. That sinister ghost-infused red silk simply couldn't bind him as seamlessly as it had bound Jann. Still, finding the key points of that complex knot so quickly was no simple feat…

  "This guy is basically a walking spell-breaker in human form." Ling murmured.

  Zhang wiped away a handful of nosebleed, his already dark face twisted with rage. He wanted to lash out—his hand had already formed a black baleful seal—but he forced himself to slam on the brakes.

  He'd worked both sides of the yin-yang divide for years, climbing up to serve powerful figures, specifically managing these unsavory enterprises for them. He was extremely well-informed. Of course he knew who this Lei family young master was—someone his backer had an almost unusually attentive interest in, a cooperative partner who commanded even his boss's respect. He didn't want to blindly offend deities he couldn't afford to provoke. Business was business—harmony brings wealth.

  "Fuck, why did it have to be him." Zhang cursed internally, took a deep breath, and suppressed his killing intent. He knew he couldn't touch Teon now, but he absolutely couldn't let him go either.

  "Young Master Lei, impressive moves." Zhang said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, then lightly flicked his finger.

  An invisible soundwave instantly struck Teon's eardrums.

  Teon didn't even have time to react. He just felt a buzz in his head, eyes rolling back, and collapsed limply.

  "Get some sleep first." Zhang straightened his disheveled collar and waved at the Village Chief, who had been scared witless. "Carry him to the side room and guard him carefully. After I finish inspecting this batch, I'll personally escort him back. Remember—don't let any of those dead ghosts touch a single hair on him."

  The Chief nodded repeatedly, directing several strong men to carry Teon away.

  Zhang picked up his glasses from the floor. Though the lenses were cracked, he habitually perched them on his nose, restoring his elite appearance: "Let's go inspect the goods. If the quality's acceptable, perhaps I can still cover for you."

  The Chief followed meekly behind Zhang's rear as they left the front hall. Only the ghost employees still making calls remained in the hall, along with the man and woman hiding outside the window.

  After confirming Zhang was far away, Ling climbed through the window like a thief.

  "So this should be the only place not disrupted by that damned weird cloud, still able to connect to the outside…"

  Ling scanned around, gaze locking onto an empty workstation. On the desk lay an idle "communication terminal," screen flickering with pale green runic light.

  She carefully picked it up, crouched under the desk, and expertly opened the "Spirit Signal Express" app with its bagua icon, dialing Dax's life-linked number.

  "Dax, you old con artist, answer the goddamn phone!"

  Static—

  After a few seconds of noise, the other end actually hung up.

  Ling was furious, calling back two or three more times before finally hearing an irritated voice: "What's wrong with you calling nonstop! No sales, no loans! Busy, stop calling!" About to hang up.

  Ling hissed: "FUCK!! It's ME!!!"

  "…"

  "Shit! I've been looking everywhere for you! Where are you?! Why aren't you answering?!" Dax's voice sounded frantic.

  "Obviously! Spirit signals don't work under that cloud!" Ling snapped. "Didn't you say you could handle that cloud? I'm right under this damn thing now, there's a ghost village, Teon's been captured!"

  "Listen to me," Dax's voice suddenly turned serious. "I can see that cloud already. That ghost village… I know about it, but I can't get in from outside—the yin-gathering formation is too thick. I'm nearby. Hold on a bit longer. These two things are about to go at each other's throats…"

  "At each other's throats?"

  "The Cloud has already gathered all its 'Sublimation Power' up top." Dax spoke rapidly. "All the energy is concentrated in one place—looks like it's preparing for a full assault. That yin-gathering formation definitely can't hold. When it hits, you need to stall as much as possible and protect Teon at all costs. Only when that cloud releases all its energy can I seize the chance to capture its 'mothership' and take the whole thing down!"

  "You want us to be bait?" Ling sneered. "Dax, you think I'm stupid? Trust you again and I'm a pig!"

  "Not bait—anchor points." Dax argued. "This cloud isn't ordinary. It's a creation-tier ancient divine artifact. Can you really just watch this opportunity slip away?"

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  "…You better—actually—be able—to deliver—this time." Ling squeezed these words out through clenched teeth.

  Seeing she'd taken the bait, Dax quickly beat his chest: "Relax, guaranteed! But remember—Teon absolutely cannot die. The moment the target croaks, that cloud will immediately return home—'whoosh,' vanishes on the spot. Then I won't even catch a fart! Think it over yourself!"

  Ling impatiently cut off the call with Dax. Turning around, she saw that little thing that should have been on the Village Chief's face—now curled up like a big black comma in the shadows deep under the table leg.

  It was facing Ling—though it was just a blob of matter three shades darker than shadow itself, impossible to tell where the head or eyes were. But Ling could just feel it staring straight at her.

  "You little thing," Ling crouched down, leaning closer. "Earlier you could detect my true form, and now you can even see through this 'Background Fill Talisman's' invisibility effect. Much more impressive than a certain idiot who claims to see through the nine heavens."

  The gold-rimmed glasses on her nose flashed with an aggrieved gleam: Are you calling me out?

  Even with fire at her heels, curiosity won. Ling reached out, tentatively trying to grab the little thing. Unexpectedly, it neither dodged nor attacked—it even cooperatively squeezed into Ling's palm. The texture was like a blob of cold jelly. This docile behavior was completely different from its earlier terror at seeing Ling's true form.

  Yet the instant she touched it, Ghost-Eye suddenly emitted a pained buzzing.

  "Boss… please… stop looking…" Ghost-Eye's voice trembled in Ling's mind. "This thing… so heavy… I feel awful…"

  "Heavy?" Ling weighed the wispy blob in her hand. "This thing doesn't even weigh two ounces."

  "Not physical weight… information density…" Ghost-Eye seemed about to overload. "My rendering engine can't handle it… feels like where it's touching, light and data are being devoured… can't see anything, but… so exhausted…"

  Sure enough, the image in Ling's vision began to flicker. She could only turn her head aside, forcibly cutting off Ghost-Eye's gaze. Yet in that brief moment of chaos, she felt a chill in her palm—

  An ice-thread-like sensation instantly burrowed through her palm. The feeling was extremely bizarre—like an invisible cold worm, rapidly crawling along her meridians with bone-piercing chill, shooting straight toward the dantian position three inches below her navel.

  "What the—"

  Ling yanked open her collar and looked down—on her previously smooth belly, there was now a small mole, like it had just been dotted with ink. Roughly mung-bean sized, right at the dantian position.

  Ling watched helplessly as that mole quivered like a living thing, then began to slowly spread—edges blurring, dissolving, like an ink drop on rice paper, seeping bit by bit into the depths of her skin. In just seconds, it had completely merged into her flesh, becoming an irregular greenish birthmark.

  Shape, color, texture—identical to the one on the Village Chief's face.

  Only…

  Ling stared at that birthmark, pupils contracting slightly. Maybe it was her imagination, but she felt it seemed a bit larger than before. And faintly, she could sense something squirming beneath that birthmark—like it had taken root in her dantian, slowly absorbing something.

  In this form, Ghost-Eye finally stopped its alarms. And what surprised Ling even more was that Little Ear, who had been dormant for days, suddenly perked up like rising from the dead.

  "Comfortable… so comfortable… alive again…"

  Ling was somewhat dazed. Ever since she'd come up to this mortal realm, the strong ultraviolet rays and yang energy had made her very uncomfortable. She herself was fine, hiding inside this "shelter," but Little Ear had been left "running naked" outside for real. Back in the Abyss, Ling had found it annoying—couldn't even speak properly yet chattered constantly like a babbling toddler. Now it had been smothered by yang energy into complete non-existence, practically crashed.

  Unexpectedly, the moment this "comma" attached, it was like some premium "yin energy nourishment serum," directly reviving Little Ear.

  "What the hell is this loach thing…"

  Ling lightly rubbed that birthmark with her fingertip. It seemed to enjoy this, actually warming slightly, its edges gently expanding and contracting rhythmically—like breathing, or like tides.

  As for this thing that had appeared out of nowhere and shamelessly stuck itself to her belly, Ling didn't know what to do with it for the moment. Though its origins were unclear, it didn't seem malicious for now. And the system hadn't popped up any "intrusion warnings" at all. Either it was harmless, or… its level was so high that the Court's system couldn't even detect it.

  But just then, something strange happened—

  The pitch-black view outside the window suddenly brightened like daylight. An excessively bright "moon" appeared in the sky. Half the dark sky was illuminated, that light pale white, cold, carrying a quality like an operating room's shadowless lamp.

  Someone inside noticed first and screamed:

  "The moon! It's the moon! The gods… the gods must have pardoned us! The moon is out!"

  One by one they looked up, then went mad as if possessed, rushing outside, kneeling packed together in the courtyard, kowtowing and worshipping that eerie full moon.

  Ling couldn't spare time to study the strange thing on her belly anymore. Taking advantage of all the ghosts being distracted, she went against the flow, crouching low, carefully making her way to the side room where Teon was held.

  …

  Teon had been carelessly thrown onto a grand chair against the wall, eyes shut tight, brow furrowed—clearly still unconscious.

  "Hey, wake up. Time to run for your live."

  Ling roughly slapped his sharp-featured face. No response.

  "Tsk, that Zhang guy hits pretty hard."

  Ling habitually reached for her Pouch, wanting to find a Qi Restoration Pill to help him recover. After fumbling around, she remembered the last second-grade pill had been generously given to Jann outside.

  "Well this is awkward…"

  Ling's fingers dug around in the Pouch, finally pinching out a dark red pill. It was loot confiscated from Master Bai earlier—some kind of potent aphrodisiac.

  "They're both for boosting energy… the principle should be about the same, right? Both promote blood circulation, get the blood pumping…"

  Ling hesitated for two seconds, then with a "long shot" quack-doctor mentality, pried open Teon's mouth to stuff the pill in. "Lucky you—this is Master Bai's private stash. After eating it, your combat power will go through the roof… probably."

  The pill had just reached his lips, not yet swallowed, when Teon suddenly coughed violently.

  "Cough cough cough…!"

  He sat up abruptly, instinctively spitting out what was in his mouth. He gasped heavily, eyes still somewhat unfocused. Being blessed with good fortune and a natural lucky halo, he had no idea what kind of dubious, violent concoction some irresponsible devil had nearly fed him.

  He opened his eyes, vision gradually clearing from blur.

  When he saw Ling—this visible, tangible "living person" with real body heat, alive and well before him—the boulder that had been stuck in Teon's throat finally dropped.

  That perpetually stern face of his couldn't hide a trace of joy. He asked hoarsely:

  "You're not dead?!"

  Ling rolled her eyes, discreetly picking up the pill from the ground and slipping it back into her Pouch:

  "Rest assured. Yours truly is as dead as dead can be, so I can't die."

  Teon looked at her devil-may-care attitude, sighed, and pressed down his earlier excitement:

  "Still playing supernatural tricks. What a waste of good looks, not walking the right path."

  Ling ignored his lecture, reaching out to help him up while asking curiously:

  "Hey, seriously though. How did you untie that red silk knot just now? That shouldn't be possible—it was a 'Soul-Binding Knot.' Even I couldn't undo it. How did you manage?"

  Teon steadied himself, straightening his disheveled shirt collar, looking at Ling like she was an uneducated charlatan:

  "Psh, Soul-Binding Knot? That was just a variant of a double-loop knot. You just observe its stress points, find the topological structural weakness in the rope loop, apply reverse force, and one pull opens it. Basic physics. Is that hard?"

  Ling's mouth twitched. She suddenly realized this guy had probably undone it in a half-dream state, purely on soul instinct. He hadn't even been aware he wasn't just operating on the physical level. And the scariest part was that his merit purple energy had actually cooperated with his "physics logic" and brute-forced through the spell.

  "No, I mean, this wasn't purely a…"

  Ling was about to explain when a huge commotion suddenly erupted outside the window.

  That pale white "moon" was getting bigger and bigger.