Chapter 276 Burning
“It’s… really you?!”
Li Nanting stared in disbelief at the familiar face before him, his mind utterly frozen.
The longing that had built up over the years now spilled out as tears, streaming uncontrollably
down his face.
Ignoring the searing pain in his body, Li Nanting slowly sat up and opened his arms, trying to
pull his sister into an embrace, to hold her tightly.
But the moment he reached out, he realized the cruel truth—his sister was but a ghostly wisp,
intangible and untouchable.
“This…”
Li Nanting froze, his arms trembling mid-air.
“I’m just a wisp of a ghost now,” the white-clad ghost said softly, a bitter smile appearing on her
face as she gazed at her younger brother.
“Sister… how are you here?”
After a long moment, Li Nanting collected himself, his voice filled with confusion and sorrow as
he looked at her.
“I now serve the Immortal,” the ghost replied, her tone calm yet tinged with melancholy.
Li Nanting’s gaze shifted, falling on Yun Yanshuang, who stood to the side, watching him with
cold, detached eyes.
“After that wretched landowner…”
The white-clad ghost began recounting her story, her voice heavy with pain.
On the seventh night after her death, she had transformed into a vengeful ghost and
slaughtered the landowner’s entire family.
As her spirit gained some measure of power, she began to harm innocent civilians in Yuncang
County.
Eventually, she was subdued by Yun Yanshuang.
“I see…”
Li Nanting nodded slowly, a bitter realization dawning on him.
Years ago, when he first learned cultivation techniques, he had intended to return to Yuncang
County to exact vengeance on the landowner and avenge his sister. But by then, the landowner
and his family were already dead.
He had assumed their deaths were the work of some malevolent spirit, never imagining that the
spirit was his own sister.
“How have you been all these years? How did you become a cultivator?”
After recounting her own experiences, the white-clad ghost looked at her brother, her
expression filled with concern. She could tell from the weathered lines on his face that his
journey had been far from easy.
“After you were cruelly taken from me, I was left utterly alone.
One stormy night, someone found me and took me away.
That person gave me a reason to live, taught me the ways of immortality, and imparted to me
the arts of cultivation.
Since then, I’ve worked for him,” Li Nanting explained simply. He chose not to dwell on the
hardships he had endured, not wanting to burden his sister further even after death.
“Who was it? Was it this person who sent you to target the Immortal?”
The ghost’s eyes widened at his words, and she quickly pressed for details.
“Sister, I can’t tell you,” Li Nanting said, shaking his head resolutely.
“That person saved my life and gave me a purpose. I can’t betray him so easily.”
Li Nanting glanced at Yun Yanshuang, who stood silently nearby. He knew she was listening
intently, but he refused to reveal Ye Wusheng’s identity.
For Li Nanting, loyalty was paramount. It was Ye Wusheng who had rescued him from death on
that cold, rainy night in Yuncang County when he was just five years old. Without him, he would
have been nothing more than an unnoticed corpse.
“Nanting, I know that person saved your life and gave you a chance to survive, but you have to
say something!
If you don’t, the Immortal won’t let you live!”
Seeing her brother’s stubborn refusal, the ghost grew desperate. She had just been reunited
with him and couldn’t bear the thought of losing him again.
“Sister, don’t try to convince me,” Li Nanting said with a bitter smile.
He turned his gaze toward Yun Yanshuang, the rain cascading over her cold and indifferent
expression.
“I’m grateful to you for taking in my sister, for using the Moon Ascension yin energy to stabilize
her soul and help her grow stronger.
This time, I came under orders to target you. For that, I am willing to apologize.
Do with me as you will—kill me, torture me—it’s up to you.
But if you’re thinking of using my sister to pry information from me about who sent me, I’m sorry.
Even if I die, I will not speak.”
“Immortal, please don’t harm him! Please don’t!”
Terrified that Yun Yanshuang might lose patience and kill her brother, the ghost fell to her knees,
bowing repeatedly and pleading desperately.
“He’s made his stance clear. Is there even a point in convincing him further?”
Yun Yanshuang’s voice was icy, her expression unchanging.
“There is! There definitely is!” the ghost replied, her voice trembling.
She turned to Li Nanting, her face filled with panic. “Nanting, listen to me! Just tell her what she
wants to know! Are you even going to ignore your sister’s words now?”
“Sister… I’m sorry.”
Li Nanting lowered his head, guilt and pain etched deeply into his face.
“It’s… really you…”
Li Nanting looked at his sister, a bitter smile tugging at his lips.
“Knowing that you’re still in this world… that’s enough for me.
Even if you’re now just a wisp of a ghost, I hope you’ll stay by Miss Shuang’s side. One day, you
might become a ghost cultivator and walk a path far greater than mine.”
After apologizing sincerely to his sister, Li Nanting offered her his heartfelt blessing.
For a moment, his pale face regained a faint flush of color.
But in the next second, seizing a moment of inattention from Yun Yanshuang, he bit down on his
tongue, ending his life without hesitation.
Thud!
Li Nanting’s lifeless body collapsed heavily onto the muddy ground. A gust of cold wind swept
by, lifting the paper umbrella that had shielded him, allowing the icy rain to mercilessly batter his
corpse.
The man who had always hated the rain had now died in the middle of a storm.
The difference was that the rainstorm of his youth had marked a tragic farewell.
This rainstorm, however, had brought a bittersweet reunion.
“Why… why did you have to be so stubborn? Why are you so foolish? Just because someone
saved your life, you had to cling to this loyalty even at the cost of your own?”
Seeing her brother sacrifice himself to keep his secrets, refusing to betray the person behind
him, the white-clad ghost sobbed uncontrollably.
A reunion that had been so hard-earned was now, once again, torn apart by death.
“Immortal, I’m sorry… I failed to fulfill the task you entrusted to me,” the ghost said, her voice
choked with tears.
“But… I still dare to ask, Immortal, could you…”
She trailed off, turning to Yun Yanshuang with desperation in her eyes, repeatedly pleading.
She knew Yun Yanshuang was a master of ghost arts and practiced the unique Moon Ascension
energy.
The ghost hoped Yun Yanshuang could capture her brother’s soul before it fully dissipated.
“You don’t need to ask. I was going to do it anyway,” Yun Yanshuang said coldly. Her icy gaze
was fixed on Li Nanting’s lifeless body.
“If you think you can just die and be done with it… not a chance.”
With a single hand, Yun Yanshuang formed a seal, swiftly activating the Hundred Ghosts
Nightwalk technique’s Soul Gathering Art.
The yin energy of Moon Ascension surged into Li Nanting’s body. As Yun Yanshuang continued
her incantations, pale wisps of mist began to rise from his corpse, coalescing into a faint,
ghostly form.
“What… what is this?”
Li Nanting, now a ghost, stared at his new form, his expression filled with shock.
“It’s the Immortal’s doing. She captured your soul before it could disperse,” the white-clad ghost
explained as she rushed forward. Without hesitation, she embraced her brother tightly.
“I see…”
Li Nanting nodded slowly, realization dawning upon him.
Among the cultivators of the mountains, there were those who mastered ghost arts. Extracting
souls and raising spirits were tasks well within their capabilities.
As he came to terms with his new existence, Li Nanting gently raised his hands and returned his
sister’s embrace.
Though he was now dead, though he was nothing more than a ghost, being able to hold his
sister and stay by her side felt like a blessing in disguise.
Even if it meant sacrificing years of cultivation, even if his life’s work was reduced to ashes, he
had no regrets.
This was his way of repaying everything to Ye Wusheng—his life, his efforts, and his loyalty.
“Now,” Yun Yanshuang said, her cold gaze piercing through him, “are you ready to tell me who
was behind all this?
If you still refuse, don’t blame me for scattering your soul.”
“Nanting, please! Just tell her! Stop being so foolish!”
“You’re already dead. You’re nothing but a ghost now. Even if that person saved you, even if
they gave you a chance at life, you’ve already repaid them in full!”
The white-clad ghost’s voice was filled with urgency as she pleaded with her brother.
She couldn’t bear to see Yun Yanshuang destroy her brother’s soul.
As she spoke, her gaze drifted to Li Nanting’s cold, lifeless body lying on the ground. Pain
stabbed at her heart.
Becoming a ghost meant a future filled with hardship and no control over one’s destiny.
No matter how powerful a ghost became, as long as their master willed it, they could be
obliterated in an instant.
What’s more, the path of ghost cultivation was fraught with even greater dangers than the path
of ordinary cultivators.
While mortal cultivators faced tribulations during their journey to the Dao, ghost cultivators faced
disaster at every step.
A single mistake could mean total annihilation.
Ghosts could be captured and turned into spiritual tools, consumed to bolster cultivators’
powers, or used as ingredients in alchemy.
Weaker ghosts couldn’t even withstand sunlight. Without enough yin energy to sustain
themselves, they would gradually fade away, vanishing from the world entirely.
The suffering was endless.
“Sister, don’t worry. I understand,” Li Nanting said softly, a faint smile on his face.
His sister’s words had struck a chord.
He had already repaid Ye Wusheng in full—his life, his cultivation, everything he had. They
owed each other nothing now.
Now that he was a ghost, all he wanted was to stay quietly by his sister’s side.
And he understood what he needed to do next.