Ye Huohuo looked up at the person speaking. The person was backlit by the sun, and at first glance, Ye Huohuo couldn't see her face clearly. She squinted her eyes and only after a moment could she make out the person's appearance.
Upon seeing her clearly, Ye Huohuo inwardly exclaimed, "What a coincidence, we're destined to meet!"
This woman was named Lu Yao. She was once a disciple of the Xuanmen. Around the same age as Ye Huohuo, in her early twenties, she was the most promising successor to the Maoshan Taoist techniques. Two years ago, she was expelled from her sect due to an incident, and since then, she had only been able to secretly take on cases like ghost exorcism and feng shui readings to earn a meager living.
Later, for some unknown reason, she fell in with some people in the Xuanmen referred to as "black mages" and engaged in the same type of fraudulent activities as Master Peng, where they would first release ghosts to harm people and then offer to exorcise them, setting up scams to cheat for money.
A few months prior, Ye Huohuo had taken on a case, and the little ghost involved was released by Lu Yao.
Lu Yao had initially assumed that the family wouldn't be able to find any high-level practitioners to handle the situation, so she grew careless and didn't monitor the little ghost. However, by chance, they found Ye Huohuo. Not only did Ye Huohuo capture the little ghost, but she also followed the trail back to Lu Yao's home.
That day, Ye Huohuo had cornered her in her house, and the two had exchanged several moves.
As a result, Ye Huohuo, who was suffering from bad luck, was almost injured in her spiritual awareness by the little ghosts released by Lu Yao. Ye Huohuo was forced to act ruthlessly, using a single "Palm Thunder" technique to shatter the little ghosts that Lu Yao had raised. Lu Yao was also injured and fled.
From then on, a feud was established between them. On several occasions, Ye Huohuo was ambushed by the ghosts Lu Yao raised. Although Ye Huohuo won each time, the victories became increasingly narrow. It was clear that Lu Yao's ghost-raising skills were becoming more sophisticated. In their last encounter, the little ghost Lu Yao released was already comparable in strength to a malevolent ghost.
Ye Huohuo had narrowly avoided being clawed by that ghost, and even now, she felt a lingering sense of dread. If she hadn't managed to escape using the Earth Evasion Talisman given to her by her master last time, she might have been long gone by now.
She hadn't expected her bad luck to lead her to encounter Lu Yao here. Although she knew Lu Yao wouldn't dare to harm her in front of everyone, at night, people couldn't move around freely in the detention area, but ghosts could! No iron gate could stop a ghost.
There was no guarantee that the situation from last night wouldn't happen again, especially since one could never be too careful. No tiger would willingly be a paper tiger. Now that she had run into Lu Yao, not only did she have to guard against the people in her dormitory, but she also had to guard against ghosts seeking her out in the middle of the night! This truly made Ye Huohuo feel overwhelmed.
"What a coincidence, I never expected to meet an acquaintance here!" Ye Huohuo leaned against the wall behind her, tilting her head, her eyes narrowed, appearing rather nonchalant.
"Yes, I've done many evil deeds and swindled people out of their money, so my arrest is justified. But how did someone like you, who helps people and speaks of righteousness, end up here? Is heaven blind or not?" Lu Yao advanced, her face almost pressing against Ye Huohuo's.
Lu Yao's eyes and brows were filled with provocation, and her expression was openly gleeful.
Ye Huohuo turned her head slightly, evading Lu Yao's approaching face. Her own face showed no hidden disgust. "Do you know why I was locked up? I killed someone! Don't you know that killing someone is the biggest crime here? Aren't you afraid I'll do you in too?" She deliberately put on a sinister expression.
Indeed, she saw Lu Yao's expression change slightly. "You? Killed someone? For Xuanmen practitioners, committing murder incurs a loss of merit. In severe cases, it can draw down heavenly tribulations, which are deadly. You..."
Lu Yao looked up at the clear sky, then her expression changed, and she smiled. "You dare to stand in the courtyard and the sky hasn't struck you with lightning, so it seems you didn't kill anyone and were framed."
Ye Huohuo hadn't expected that the person who believed her without any explanation would be her nemesis. It seemed the saying that your greatest enemy knows you best was true.
"Should I thank you?" Ye Huohuo replied with a smile.
"No need for thanks. I believe you didn't kill anyone, but that doesn't mean our grievances are resolved. Don't worry, with me here, you won't be lonely." Lu Yao was a woman with a somewhat aggressive beauty, with large eyes, a high and sharp nose, and cheekbones higher than average.
Judging by her appearance, she looked rather harsh, and people like this were usually not easy to deal with, possessing stubborn and vengeful personalities.
From the moment Ye Huohuo first saw Lu Yao, she knew she couldn't avoid her. Even if she begged on her knees now, Lu Yao wouldn't let her go. Since that was the case, Ye Huohuo saw no need to lower herself to beg for mercy.
She lifted her small face slightly, adopting a defiant stance, "A defeated opponent, this isn't the first time we've clashed. Don't always act like you're superior to me. You weren't my match before, and you won't be in the future. Have you raised more little ghosts and need me to help you deal with some?
But I heard that raising little ghosts is very energy-consuming, even requiring feeding with vital blood. And the more powerful the little ghosts, the more vital blood they need. Are you sure you can still afford it?" Ye Huohuo deliberately examined her closely. "Look at your pale complexion, you have no color at all. What if you fail to kill me and are drained to death by the little ghosts yourself."
What Ye Huohuo said wasn't entirely meant to scare her. Lu Yao's complexion was indeed very poor, much paler than ordinary people. Even standing in the sun, she exuded a chilling ghostly aura. She lived on the second floor, in dorm room 204, directly above Ye Huohuo.
Her roommates kept their distance from her. Originally, the leader of her dorm room had intended to bully her to establish dominance.
Before she could even make a move, Lu Yao's ghostly demeanor had frightened her, and she hadn't dared to act. As a result, Lu Yao, without doing anything, had become someone whom no one in room 204 wanted or dared to provoke. However, Lu Yao had no interest in being the leader of the dorm and spent her days on the fringes of the group.
Even when she went out for fresh air, she was usually alone, not interacting with others.
This was the first time someone had actively spoken to her, drawing curious glances from the other residents of room 204.
"Why were you arrested? With your secretive method of defrauding people, it's not easy to be discovered." Ye Huohuo was stating a fact. Like the previous Master Peng, although they set up scams to defraud people, those who defrauded money in their way were difficult to detect. Even if discovered, it was hard to find concrete evidence. One couldn't exactly report someone to the police just because they released a little ghost into your house.
Even if reported, the police wouldn't accept the case and would likely assume the person had mental health issues.
Ye Huohuo genuinely couldn't figure out how Lu Yao had been caught.
Lu Yao's lips curled slightly, a mysterious smile on her face. "I won't tell you. But I'll give you a piece of advice: just take care of yourself here, and don't interfere with my important matters! Otherwise..." As she spoke, she raised her right hand, extended her thumb, and traced it under her neck, making a throat-slitting gesture. Then, she turned and left. Even in the bright sunlight, there was no sign of vitality about her.
She seemed to lack the youthful vigor expected of a girl in her twenties, as if her vitality had been completely drained. Watching her retreating back, Ye Huohuo couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for her. She remembered seeing Lu Yao once when they were children, both less than ten years old and new to the Xuanmen, with their Taoist skills still rudimentary.
At that time, like other children their age, they had played together. Once, they went down the mountain and saw several boys in their teens throwing stones at a stray dog.
Lu Yao's sense of justice flared up instantly. Although weaker than the boys, she was fearless. To save the little dog, she got into a scuffle with the older boys. Ye Huohuo initially held back but joined the fight when she saw Lu Yao was about to be at a disadvantage.
Although they managed to save the dog, they both sustained injuries. Lu Yao's clothes were torn, and her face was bruised and swollen. Ye Huohuo was even worse off. Her bad luck caused her to lose a tooth, but fortunately, it was a milk tooth, otherwise, she would have been gap-toothed now!
Later, Lu Yao, afraid the dog would be bullied again, wanted to take it back to the Taoist temple to raise. However, the temple had rules against keeping small animals. But the young Lu Yao at the time was very stubborn, holding onto the puppy and refusing to let go, as if she would rather die than be separated from the dog.
Ye Huohuo also felt sorry for the dog but hadn't considered raising it. Even then, Ye Huohuo knew she was plagued by bad luck, and those closest to her were most easily affected. She felt the puppy would not survive if it followed her.
The incident caused quite a stir. The then-sect leader of Maoshan, Lu Yao's master, was so angry that he almost expelled young Lu Yao. It was only after Ye Huohuo's master, Xuan Ji Zi, intervened and spoke persuasively, finding a good home for the puppy at the foot of the mountain, that Lu Yao finally let go of the dog.
After that day, Lu Yao secretly went to see the puppy for over a month, fearing that the adoptive family wouldn't treat it well.
Ye Huohuo and her master stayed at the Maoshan sect for nearly two months. During that time, she and Lu Yao got along like two young sisters. In private, disregarding sect rules, they sparred with each other, practicing their learned Taoist techniques. Maoshan Taoism excelled in talismans, and Ye Huohuo's current skill in drawing talismans was partly due to learning some Maoshan techniques from Lu Yao during that time.
Unfortunately, after parting ways that time, they never saw each other again until months later, when they clashed over a case. Now, seeing Lu Yao again, Ye Huohuo could no longer see any trace of the Lu Yao from their childhood. If it weren't for her similar appearance and her Maoshan magical arts, it would have been difficult for Ye Huohuo to recognize the current Lu Yao as the kind-hearted girl from her childhood.
As Ye Huohuo was sighing over Lu Yao, the deputy captain named Zheng walked over with a large bundle. "This is your clean change of clothes from your family."
Perhaps due to work habits, Ye Huohuo noticed that the female police officers here had loud voices. Captain Zheng's shout was heard by everyone having their recreation time in the courtyard.
All eyes turned to Ye Huohuo, their gazes like wolves targeting prey. Ye Huohuo suddenly felt that the bundle in her hands was scorching hot.