After a while, Ye Huohuo noticed that it was already quite late, checking her phone to find it was past eleven.
She then realized her phone had been on silent, and now displayed dozens of missed calls, mostly from Li Mohan, but also from Li Mochen and Li Moyan.
With a wry smile, she tapped on Li Mohan's name and took a deep breath before blocking him.
Then, she looked up at the stars, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. When she opened them again, her gaze was much clearer. Estimating that Chen Jiaming and the others were likely asleep, she took out a small glass bottle from her bag and released Du Lihua's soul.
“Du Lihua, this is your home, isn’t it?”
Du Lihua’s soul had been heavily injured by Ye Huohuo earlier and could only let out muffled sounds, unable to speak. However, she nodded to confirm Ye Huohuo was correct.
“Alright, I’ll let you go back now. But you must promise me that you will only force them to reveal the location of your body. You are not to harm their lives on your own. Can you do that?”
A red light flickered in Du Lihua’s eyes. After a long moment, it dimmed, clearly indicating an internal struggle. Finally, she suppressed her anger and nodded in agreement.
“Good. I hope you keep your word, or I won’t be so lenient.” Ye Huohuo said, loosening the golden threads binding her. Du Lihua’s soul transformed into a black smoke and flew into the hallway.
Ye Huohuo followed, ascending to the floor of Chen Jiaming’s apartment. She didn’t enter, but leaned against the wall outside the door, her head slightly lowered, eyes closed, listening for any sounds within.
Soon enough, voices could be heard from inside, filled with terror.
“Don’t find me, I didn’t mean it! Let me go… Lihua, don’t kill me! Help!”
Ye Huohuo sensed something was wrong. Fearing that Du Lihua might lose control and kill Chen Jiaming and his mother, she quickly took out a wire from her bag and fiddled with the lock. With a click, the door sprang open.
Ye Huohuo rushed in, but the scene inside startled her.
She had intended for Du Lihua to enter Chen Jiaming’s dreams and scare him into revealing where her body was buried. However, she hadn’t anticipated that Chen Jiaming would be awake and see Du Lihua’s spectral form. He was now cowering in a corner, trembling violently, clutching his head, curled into a ball, repeatedly crying for mercy.
Du Lihua stood before him, a figure in white, covered in blood. Her appearance was truly terrifying, with blood flowing from her seven orifices, eyes rolled back, and hair disheveled.
It wasn’t just Chen Jiaming, who had wronged her, but even an ordinary person would have been scared out of their wits.
Standing not far from them was Fang Fang.
What confused Ye Huohuo the most, and made her wary, was Fang Fang. Normally, if Chen Jiaming, a grown man, was so terrified, Fang Fang, a young woman, would be screaming for help, or worse, would have fainted.
Yet, she stood there with a peculiar, forced smile, a hint of excitement in her eyes as she watched the scene unfold.
Furthermore, seeing Ye Huohuo arrive uninvited in the dead of night didn’t seem to surprise her. Instead, she offered Ye Huohuo a smile.
This smile, on any other occasion, might have been enchanting and captivating, but in this moment, in this setting, it was chillingly unsettling.
Even Ye Huohuo, known for her courage, felt the hairs on her neck stand on end from that smile.
“Who… who exactly are you?” Ye Huohuo, using the motion of closing the door, discreetly clutched a lightning talisman.
Fang Fang glanced at Ye Huohuo but didn't answer her question. Instead, her gaze fixed intently on Du Lihua’s soul. “So, you didn’t dissipate into nothingness. Where have you been? Why couldn’t I find you before!”
As she spoke, she reached out as if to touch Du Lihua’s face.
Du Lihua’s eyes immediately flashed with ferocity, and she raised her hand to claw at Fang Fang’s face.
Du Lihua’s fingertips had now grown into long, sharp nails. If she had succeeded, Fang Fang’s face would surely have been scarred.
Ye Huohuo cried out, “Be careful!” and simultaneously pulled Fang Fang away. “Are you tired of living? Can’t you see she’s already a vengeful spirit?”
Pulled away, Du Lihua reverted to her previous state, simply standing there without further action. She was now just an ordinary ghost, lingering in the mortal world due to her obsession. Her obsession was Chen Jiaming before her. Towards other people or things, she was almost indifferent.
She wouldn’t proactively attack others.
Fang Fang, somewhat displeased, wriggled out of Ye Huohuo’s grasp. “I don’t need your help. She can’t hurt me!”
“You… fine, just who are you? I can’t discern your origins at all!” This time, Ye Huohuo didn’t even ask who she was, but rather what she was.
Fang Fang raised an eyebrow as she looked at her. “What am I? With your cultivation, you naturally wouldn’t be able to tell, little girl. Go back and study with your master for another hundred or eighty years before you come back!”
“Is that so?” Ye Huohuo suddenly attacked, a bolt of lightning shooting from her palm directly towards Fang Fang’s forehead.
Fang Fang clearly hadn’t expected this move and was hit square in the face. However, she merely frowned, wiped her forehead with her hand, and the scorched black mark was erased with that single swipe, leaving no trace.
Looking at Ye Huohuo again, her eyes held a hint of interest. “Little girl, I didn’t expect you to be able to use lightning talismans at such a young age. It’s a shame it’s not enough to impress me.”
Ye Huohuo stared at the woman before her in shock, her feet involuntarily taking half a step back.
Her gaze swept up and down the woman, scrutinizing her several times. “You, you couldn’t be… a Mei?”
Hearing this, Fang Fang was taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter. “I never expected this! I never expected that at such a young age, you’d have so much knowledge, even guessing my true form.”
“You are truly a Mei? Master said that only a beauty’s soul that has existed for a thousand years can cultivate into a Mei. A Mei can freely enter a person’s body and perfectly merge with them, so much so that even lightning talismans cannot expel them.
It seems Master was right. You are indeed a thousand-year Mei. Then… why did you take a fancy to Chen Jiaming? With your beauty, any man would surrender at your feet if you desired. Why did you specifically choose him?
Or, were you originally looking for her?” Ye Huohuo’s gaze shifted to Du Lihua, who had been standing in the middle of the room.
“What connection do you have with her?”
Fang Fang looked at Ye Huohuo with an appreciative gaze, then turned to Du Lihua. However, her expression towards Du Lihua softened considerably.
Then, she gave an answer that Ye Huohuo could never have anticipated.