Burning Lotuses

"What's on it?" Yu'e forced herself to remain calm as she asked.

The guard captain scratched his head awkwardly. "I… don't know." Seeing Yu'e's face darken, he grew nervous, his voice shrinking. "Since you say the young master isn't here, I won't impose any further. I'll take my leave."

Realizing she wouldn't get any more information from him, Yu'e waved her hand dismissively, letting them go.

Once the doors shut, Yu'e bent down and peered through a gap in the wooden planks, watching the guards' movements. After confirming they had left, she turned back and said, "If you want to find Liu Rumeng, follow me."

"You know where he is?" Qi Nian asked in surprise.

"Just a guess."

The three of them sprinted northwest from the main street, racing toward the village outskirts. By the time they arrived, dusk had settled, and the last traces of sunlight had been devoured by the mountains. A full moon had begun its ascent.

After several kilometers through the forest, they reached a river valley. The barren mountains loomed in the dark, their outlines appearing even more gaunt under the cold night sky. The river's surface rippled as the wind swept across it, disturbing the layers of fine sand on the shore.

Ye Mingnan nearly collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily. "Hah… Why do you two run so fast?!"

Yu'e cast a glance at her exhausted state. "That's what you get for slacking off in training. Now you're paying for it."

Ye Mingnan pouted and turned away, looking like a hermit crab retreating into its shell.

Qi Nian remained vigilant, scanning their surroundings. "Where is Liu Rumeng?"

"Just wait. He'll come. Even if he's not here now, sooner or later, he will be." Yu'e replied.

"Why?"

"He once told me that if he ever lost all hope and wanted to end it all, he'd come to Blackwater River." She hesitated, then added, "I don't know if he truly intends to go through with it, but it's the only lead we have."

As they spoke, a sudden gust of wind howled through the valley.

The river churned, and an unbelievable sight unfolded before them. A single lotus lantern emerged from the river's mouth, drifting westward with the current. Then another. And another. Soon, dozens, then hundreds of lanterns floated downstream at varying speeds. The river became a flowing spectacle of flickering light, like fireworks scattered across the water's surface.

The night seemed to split open.

Ye Mingnan rubbed her eyes frantically, as if to confirm she wasn't hallucinating. "What the hell?!"

"So Jade Town has a tradition of releasing river lanterns during the Ghost Festival," Qi Nian observed. Then, her expression turned wary. "Lotus lanterns guide spirits. Water carries dark energy. We shouldn't linger here for too long."

As she spoke, a massive lotus lantern surfaced on the water. Unlike the smaller paper lanterns, this one spanned nearly four or five feet in diameter, standing out strikingly among the others.

More conspicuously, a person sat cross-legged at its center.

With one hand resting on his knee, the man sat poised, his long hair cascading like a waterfall over his white robes. Moonlight bathed him, making him appear like a sculpture carved from the purest jade. Though his features weren't entirely visible, the sharp contours of his face, his slender neck, and his elegant posture painted the image of a strikingly handsome young man.

Yu'e's lips quivered. After a long pause, she murmured, "That little brat." Then, turning to Qi Nian, she added, "That's Liu Rumeng."

"Are you sure?" Qi Nian eyed the figure on the water skeptically. The man did appear to be in his early twenties, and his luxurious attire hinted at noble origins.

Ye Mingnan studied him as well, memories stirring in the back of her mind. "Yeah, it's him."

Qi Nian frowned. "And what exactly is he planning to do?"

Yu'e's expression darkened. She let out a bitter laugh. "You should know that downstream from Blackwater River is the sky burial site. He plans to jump in, drown, and let the vultures finish the job."

Qi Nian deadpanned. "That's a next-level death wish. Took at least ten years of brain damage to come up with that plan." Then, glancing at the other two, she ordered, "Don't make any sudden moves. We're in the dark; he won't see us. It's best to wait until he drifts closer before we make our move."

Yu'e and Ye Mingnan nodded.

Just then, Qi Nian noticed something unsettling—the river water was darkening. Not the usual night sky reflection, but a deep, murky blackness seeping up from below.

A monstrous whirlpool formed, churning violently as if an underwater tornado was trying to devour everything on the surface. Liu Rumeng's lantern rocked wildly. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let his body suddenly fall into the water.

"Change of plans!" Qi Nian exchanged a glance with Yu'e before sprinting forward, drawing her demon-banishing sword as she leaped straight toward the river.

Rescue mission initiated!

Yu'e hesitated for only a second before unsheathing her dual swords and dashing after her.

A streak of black and a flash of red shot through the night, kicking up clouds of dust as they raced toward the riverbank.

"Hey, wait for me!" Ye Mingnan yelped, scrambling after them.

——

Panting heavily, she raced to the riverbank only to find that Qi Nian had already disappeared beneath the surface.

Just minutes earlier, Qi Nian had plunged into the water, intent on pulling Liu Rumeng back. But in all the chaos, the whirlpool had dragged them both under.

Yu'e was about to dive in to rescue them when Qi Nian stopped her. 

"The dark energy below is overwhelming—stay on shore and cover us," Qi Nian instructed. With that, her body vanished into the depths.

Hearing this, Yu'e swiftly erected a protective barrier within a twenty-meter radius to prevent any malevolent spirits from seizing opportunity.

Still anxious, she paced along the bank until she grabbed Ye Mingnan's arm and demanded, "What kind of person is your friend, anyway?"

Ye Mingnan crossed her arms and kept a vigilant eye on the water. "I'm not entirely sure. But since she's an underworld official, she's far more capable than we are when it comes to handling what's down there."

Unable to shake her anxiety, Yu'e continued pacing until, after a long while, Ye Mingnan broke the silence, "I mean, do you want him to live or die?"

Yu'e let out a bitter laugh as she tilted her head back, allowing the cold wind to slice across her cheeks. 

The wind then swept in, stirring up dust and sand so that the contours of the dark night blurred into obscurity.

… 

Meanwhile, beneath the seemingly calm surface, dark currents were churning. 

Qi Nian was being devoured by a mass of inky shadow. Her exposed skin could sense that its surface was smooth—as if made of silken ribbons—writhing with a deliberate motion. Such texture couldn't belong to an insubstantial spirit.

Countless black strands wound around her, attempting to cocoon her as they slowly dragged her deeper.

In her dazed state, she noted that these dark ribbons bore uneven textures and speckled markings. Despite their formidable strength, they were merely thin layers of matter.

In that moment, Qi Nian realized that what appeared to be something sinister was nothing more than water plants.

The Blackwater River earned its name because its riverbed is densely carpeted with aquatic vegetation, rendering the water pitch-black and bottomless—a sight that sends shivers down one's spine. At night, the entire valley seemed drenched in ink, and in the deepest reaches of the river, no light ever penetrated. Beneath the tangled vegetation and murky silt lay an endless despair that spoke of death itself.

With nothing visible and no clue of what lurked about, the greatest fear often stemmed from the unknown. Qi Nian couldn't help but think that if she were an ordinary person, she'd have long since met her end here.

Fortunately, the only real challenge in this place was the darkness.

So she closed her eyes to ease the strain on them, then quickly regulated her breathing and concentrated her inner energy at a point between her brows.

Gradually, the darkness before her began to dissolve into distinct lines. The static shapes and dynamic shifts of the surrounding space became incredibly clear in her mind—even with her eyes closed, everything was so vivid that she could track the movement of a single speck of dust.

Growing more adept in the dark, once she had mapped out the tangled network of underwater plants, Qi Nian drew the sword at her waist and began to slice through the entangling vegetation.

The resistance of the water made her movements heavy and sluggish, but each of her strikes landed with unerring precision, compensating for her slower pace.

Then, an unsettling realization struck her. Despite having severed several strands that bound her, her movements were becoming even more restricted—as if the plants were tightening their grip around her.

The very vegetation she had cut was regrowing before her eyes.

A sudden surge of inexplicable panic overwhelmed her. She wanted to move faster, but in the water, speed was an impossible luxury. The more she cut, the quicker the plants regrew—each time wrapping around her with double the force. At this rate, there was no escape.

Suddenly, Qi Nian distinctly sensed—a black spectre was weaving through the water plants, sometimes drawing near, sometimes receding.

So it was: these water plants were possessed by a drowned corpse spirit.

Such water corpse ghosts are born of the resentment of those who drowned and often roam the heavily haunted riverbeds. They attach themselves to plants and animals to assault the living, draining their essence.

In truth, this dark water corpse ghost had long merged with the impenetrably black river, making it even harder to detect under the cover of night. It moved silently along the riverbed, its presence nearly undetectable under normal circumstances.

An ordinary person would have been paralyzed with fear, but ghost-catching was a skill honed by underworld officials—and in her case, the darkness posed no barrier to her senses.

At that moment, Qi Nian felt a searing pain in her lungs; she was nearing the limit of her breath-holding ability.

"I can't afford to linger here—I must end this quickly," she thought.

In a flash, Qi Nian focused on that patch of dark mist. Summoning all her strength, she broke free from the tendrils constricting her right hand and lunged forward with her sword.

The blade flashed as the water corpse ghost revealed a body resembling a gigantic leech. It thrashed wildly, as if desperate to escape. But Qi Nian's swift wrist flick sent her sword tip plunging two feet deep into the spectral mass.

Taken completely by surprise, the creature had no time to react—its spirit dissipated in an instant.

The water plants that had bound Qi Nian loosened immediately, returning to their harmless, ordinary state.

Watching the remnants of the water corpse ghost vanish, Qi Nian finally exhaled in relief. Then a thought struck her—according to underworld regulations, any ghost unlawfully lingering in the mortal realm should be captured and brought back for judgment. In doing so, she was technically breaking the rules.

She wasn't about to wait until King Yama's temper subsided and she was reinstated—only to have her salary docked again (and her nomination for Outstanding Talent revoked).

Frightened, Qi Nian quickly retrieved her exquisite, all-encompassing bag from her belt and stowed away the remaining fragments of the spirit—a small measure of accountability.

After dealing with that ordeal, she continued downstream and finally discovered Liu Rumeng, trapped in the silt and sand.

Damn it. Being a divine official for so long, she'd forgotten that mortals can't hold their breath.