After sensing the powerful Sword Intent descending from the sky, the man in black hastily adjusted his aim and fired an arrow brimming with Rot Qi.
Fang Tianhai and the others followed the arrow’s trajectory with their eyes.
A young girl stood atop a flying sword, heading straight toward them.
The moment the arrow flew toward her face, she condensed Qi into a sword and split the arrow cleanly in half from the middle.
Then, she appeared above the man in black and hurled her Qi sword downward with force, piercing the thigh of the escaping man and nailing his lower body to the ground.
The young girl leaped up, performing a flip in midair. The flying sword that had been beneath her feet was now in her hand, carving an arc through the air as she spun.
The moment the sharp sword light fell, the man in black was cleaved in two and died on the spot.
The girl’s hair swept through the air. Her wrist turned gracefully as she sheathed her long sword with effortless elegance. She asked Fang Tianhai and the others, “Masters, are you badly injured?”
Fang Tianhai glanced at Zhou Qingwen, who nodded, indicating his injuries were not severe.
“No serious injuries for now,” Fang Tianhai replied, then asked, “Thank you for your assistance, Gexia. May I ask who you are?”
“My name is Ji Ruohan. I am the second disciple of the Sword Pavilion. I came here on the Emperor’s orders to ensure your safety.”
Ji Ruohan clasped her hands in a salute as she answered. After speaking, she produced her Sword Pavilion token and showed it to Fang Tianhai.
Xu Sichen, the Imperial Guard Commander, had found Ji Ruohan afterward and returned the token to her.
After locating Ji Ruohan, Xu Sichen informed her that Yu Yi had taken ten Soul Essences.
There was a hint of dissatisfaction with the Sword Pavilion in Xu Sichen’s tone, as if she were implying, “The person your Sword Pavilion brought is both very reliable and very unreliable.”
However, because both the Yunyin Forest and the ten Golden-Crowned Cranes were preserved, the Yan Emperor chose not to pursue the matter further.
Xu Sichen merely complained a bit and didn’t make things difficult for Ji Ruohan. She simply instructed Ji Ruohan to have an audience with the Yan Emperor to receive her reward.
Yu Yi had the courage to defy the Yan Emperor, but Ji Ruohan did not dare. She could only enter the Palace to receive her reward.
After collecting her reward, Ji Ruohan was ordered to head to the River of Forgetfulness to rendezvous with Fang Tianhai and assist them in investigating the cause of the unrest there.
Ji Ruohan approached the dead man in black and removed his mask.
After seeing his face clearly, she frowned.
“This man is Xu Kui, ranked fiftieth on the Blacklist of Evildoers and one of Great Yan’s important criminals. His wanted poster has been on the bulletin board in the Capital City for a long time. I never thought he would hide here,” Ji Ruohan said.
“He probably didn’t ‘hide’ here. He can control Rot Qi without being affected by it. There must be a conspiracy behind this,” Fang Tianhai said in a deep voice.
“In any case, let’s continue deeper into this area for now.”
Ji Ruohan glanced at the boundless River of Forgetfulness beside her, her mood somewhat unsettled.
Everyone had their own strengths. Just as Fang Tianhai and Zhou Qingwen weren’t skilled at dealing with evil men, Ji Ruohan, though adept at slaying demons and monsters, had little experience dealing with these kinds of malevolent spirits and evil spirits.
The group continued deeper into the area.
They all noticed that the cherry blossoms covering the mountain peaks were growing more and more lush, while the Yin Qi in the surrounding area was also growing heavier.
Legend had it that every cherry tree near the River of Forgetfulness had a corpse buried beneath it.
Behind the beauty of the cherry trees lay a horrifying truth.
They absorbed energy from the remains of other living beings, which was why the cherry blossoms bloomed so vibrantly and profusely.
In other words, the cherry trees covering the mountains and fields were nothing more than a beautiful graveyard.
Compared to Ji Ruohan, who was tense and ready to strike at any moment, Fang Tianhai and the others appeared much calmer.
“Gexia Ji, there’s no need to panic so much. The Yin Qi here is just a bit heavy, but aside from that, nothing unusual has been detected yet…”
Before Fang Tianhai could even finish saying the word “unusual,” his voice came to an abrupt halt.
He furrowed his brow, clearly having sensed something.
His horsetail whisk moved gently, and strands of golden light radiated outward as he silently recited an incantation.
Zhou Qingwen, along with the young acolyte, drew several spirit talismans in the air and pasted them in all directions.
Their reactions naturally caught Ji Ruohan’s attention.
“Daoist Fang, what’s happening all of a sudden?” Ji Ruohan asked quickly.
The moment her words faded, the river next to them suddenly churned.
A strangely shaped monster burst out from it, stomping the ground and scattering the petals of several Red Spider Lilies.
It lunged violently at Ji Ruohan and the others, but was repelled midair by the talisman array.
Zhou Qingwen moved swiftly. His left hand shot out and pasted a spirit talisman onto the monster’s forehead.
The talisman immediately turned red and began to burn.
Smoke rose from the monster’s forehead. With a shrill cry, it was burned to ashes.
“Is this an evil spirit?” Ji Ruohan asked, her eyes wide.
“That’s right,” Fang Tianhai replied in a low voice. “That was the physical manifestation of the resentment of the wandering souls of the River of Forgetfulness.”
Although Ji Ruohan was a member of the Sword Pavilion, she had heard plenty of strange tales from the Storyteller in the Capital City.
She knew that if a person’s soul could not find peace after death, their spirit would remain in the world.
If a wandering soul had an attachment, it would become perceptible to the living, which was known as “haunting.”
But if the attachment deepened into resentment, the wandering soul would take physical form.
At its mildest, it would appear in the mortal world as a transparent ghost. At its most severe, like the “monster” they had just seen, it would have a solid body and would actively attack humans.
“As I suspected, things are very wrong at the River of Forgetfulness.”
Fang Tianhai then said, “Ever since that riot, the Ferryman has guarded this land day and night, appeasing those wandering souls with unfinished business. If these wandering souls are having their deep resentment reawakened, then that means…”
“Clap, clap, clap.”
Suddenly, the sound of applause interrupted Fang Tianhai’s words.
On the peak above them stood several people dressed exactly like the man in black from before.
The difference, however, was that these people weren’t wearing masks. They openly revealed their faces in front of Ji Ruohan.
Ji Ruohan immediately recognized their identities.
Every single one of them was a heinous criminal sentenced to death by Great Yan, with a name on the Blacklist of Evildoers.
“As expected of Daoist Fang, you noticed the anomaly so quickly. We didn’t expect a Sword Pavilion disciple to be here too.”
The leader wore a mocking smile on his face.
“Both of you are great figures of the Right Path. Perfect subjects for testing our achievement.”
As soon as he finished speaking, more and more evil spirits appeared.
Some burst out of the river, some crawled up from underground, and some simply materialized out of thin air.
In just a few breaths, a massive number of malevolent spirits and evil entities swarmed in from all directions, trapping Ji Ruohan and the others tightly.
Ji Ruohan noticed that these evil spirits didn’t seem to be controlled by the men in black, yet they didn’t attack them.
She took a closer look and saw that the men in black themselves were also enveloped in Rot Qi. Moreover, they were unaffected by it, clearly having already mastered it for their own use.
Perhaps it was precisely because they were shielded by Rot Qi that these evil spirits didn’t target them.
“If you have any last words, say them now. If we’re in a good mood, we might just help you fulfill your unfinished wishes.”
The leader of the men in black then pointed at the evil spirits surrounding them and said with a sinister smile, “If you die with your wishes unfulfilled, you might just end up like them.”