Something felt off—extremely off.
Lin Mo looked at Xie Yuling.
"Why did you pull me?"
Xue Yuling glanced subtly at the old woman’s location before patting her chest guiltily. "Nothing, I just thought I saw dog poop on the ground, so I pulled you away."
Lin Mo was about to turn and check the ground when Xie Yuling yanked him back.
"What’s so interesting about dog poop? Do you think I’d ever harm you?"
Good point. No rebuttal there.
Lin Mo could only shrug. He had already pieced together some of it.
Seems Xie Yuling had her own extraordinary traits.
Ever since encountering the yellow weasel and later the lingering spirit, Lin Mo had realized this world wasn’t as simple as it appeared.
Yet, it wasn’t as blood-soaked as the "system" had claimed—at least, he hadn’t encountered any other cultivators so far.
Perhaps they were hidden away, or perhaps they didn’t exist at all.
After all, according to the yellow weasel, this world held many mysteries from the supernatural side.
But all of it seemed buried beneath the march of history.
Xie Yuling took Lin Mo’s hand and led him forward.
Yet, within Lin Mo’s spiritual sense, the lingering spirit kept watching them.
Or rather, staring at Xie Yuling’s back.
This spirit seemed different from before—its eyes now held a flicker of awareness.
Back in their rented apartment, Lin Mo’s spiritual sense caught Xie Yuling taking a deep breath.
She glanced warily behind her, relieved to see nothing there.
"You seem relieved. Did something happen?"
Xie Yuling immediately shook her head.
"No, just glad to be home."
"Sure, sure."
...
Late at night, silence enveloped the room.
Xie Yuling sat on her bed.
Beside her was a window, the moonlight spilling through.
"What’s the use of this ability anyway?"
She lay down, not even bothering with her phone, and sighed softly.
A wisp of white mist escaped her lips.
Xie Yuling bolted upright. Even with the temperature drop, nights in Yangcheng were still around 17 or 18 degrees.
Yet now, even under the covers, she felt a biting cold.
The temperature was plummeting—something frigid was approaching.
A faint shadow slowly seeped through the door.
Gradually, it solidified, revealing a deeply wrinkled face.
The old woman.
"What do you want?" Xie Yuling’s voice was icy as she glared at the apparition.
The old woman’s face twisted with excitement.
"You... you can see me! You really can! They all ignore me—none of them can see me!"
"You’re dead. Of course they can’t see you."
The old woman didn’t seem surprised, merely touching her own face.
"So I’m dead... finally. But my little Bao is missing."
She fixed her gaze on Xie Yuling.
"Little Bao... my Little Bao is gone. I need to find him."
Xie Yuling shook her head. "I don’t know where your Little Bao is. The police are already looking."
The old woman dropped to her knees, kowtowing desperately.
"Please! Help me find him!"
Xie Yuling wasn’t the type to help indiscriminately—especially after being betrayed in the past.
"I can’t help you. The police are on it. They’ll find him soon."
"Help me! Find Little Bao!"
The old woman lunged, her hands clawing toward Xie Yuling.
But the talisman on the desk suddenly glowed, blasting the spirit backward.
Xie Yuling stared in shock at the shimmering talisman.
"This... the talisman Lin Mo gave me?"
"What is this?!"
The old woman’s form sizzled under the light. She turned to flee.
"Did I say you could leave?"
A figure phased through the wall, landing beside Xie Yuling’s bed.
Her eyes widened as she stared at Lin Mo’s sudden appearance.
With a mere flick of his wrist, Lin Mo compressed the lingering spirit into a dense orb.
He glanced at Xie Yuling.
"You okay?"
Xie Yuling scrutinized him before shaking her head vigorously.
"I’m fine. What will you do with that soul?"
"Either crush it or let it go."
"No other options?" Xie Yuling eyed the orb in Lin Mo’s palm.
The old woman’s spirit was now a compressed sphere, her aged face imprinted on its surface.
"So you want to help her?"
Lin Mo respected her choice.
"I don’t. But I don’t want you to crush her either. That’d make you a killer."
Lin Mo shrugged. "She’s already dead. Probably killed by her grandson or son—either way, she died before the school sports day."
Xie Yuling blinked. "How do you know so much?"
"Because I’m just that good."
He walked to the window, opened it, and addressed the orb. "If I catch you near her again, I’ll grind your soul to dust. Understood?"
With that, he tossed the orb outside.
The spiritual seal would fade eventually, freeing the old woman to roam again.
Closing the window, Lin Mo sat down.
"Questions?"
Xie Yuling nodded. "You can see spirits too, and that talisman glowed. You’re powerful—so you’re a Taoist descending the mountain!"
Lin Mo rubbed his nose.
"Wrong. I’m better than a Taoist. I’m a Celestial Master—though I’ve never been up a mountain, so ‘descending’ doesn’t apply."
Great. Another identity added to the list.
To Jiang Yunlu, he was a rule-abiding martial artist.
To Chu Miaomiao, a qigong master.
To Chu Lintian, a spell-wielding mystic... sort of.
And to Xie Yuling? A Celestial Master.
But it didn’t matter. Identities were just masks.
Lin Mo didn’t mind revealing his abilities to them.
Xie Yuling adapted quickly—likely because she could see spirits.
Lin Mo gazed out the window.
"Now, your turn. After school, I noticed you could see lingering spirits."
Xie Yuling froze. The conversation had circled back to her.
Complex emotions tangled in her chest as she met Lin Mo’s eyes.
"So... you’ll believe whatever I say?"
Lin Mo thumped his chest. "Of course I will."
Hearing this, something inside Xie Yuling loosened.
She leaned her head against his shoulder and began her story.
"Everything started after my dad passed away.
I cried so much I thought I’d go blind.
On his seventh-day memorial... my left eye saw him return."