Chapter 5 

The sky remained gray and misty, with a steady drizzle falling. 

This spring rain seemed endless, shrouding Yanyue Mountain Villa in a haze of mist and fog, draping it in a veil of ethereal gauze.

　　The entire world was damp, with moist air enveloping everything, even clothes and skin feeling clammy, stirring a touch of irritation in one's heart. 

　　The damp, gloomy weather was frustrating and cast a shadow over one's mood. 

　　Ji Yu walked slowly through Yanyue Mountain Villa, holding an oil paper umbrella.

　　The architecture of Yanyue Mountain Villa was primarily in the style of Jiangnan gardens, with pavilions and towers all exquisitely beautiful. Every flower and every scene was worthy of a painting, and under the spring rain, it added even more poetic charm. 

　　However, it was too quiet, adding a touch of decay to this beautiful scene. 

　　It should have been a spring of growth and vitality, but here, one could sense the impending aura of extinction.

　　Hongxiao followed Ji Yu, observing along the way, and could not help but feel an inexplicable sense of eeriness about Yanyue Mountain Villa. 

　　She spoke up, "Young Master, I heard that there are not many living people left in Yanyue Mountain Villa now. Even if there are, most of them are like Master Yue, with their vital energy nearly depleted and their soul flames weak, able only to lie in bed and cling to life..."

　　Even the demon exorcists don't know how to treat them, so they can only temporarily keep them alive with specially crafted pills. 

　　That's why Yanyue Mountain Villa feels so lifeless.

　　Ji Yu gazed at Yanyue Mountain Villa shrouded in rain and mist. The mist grew denser in the distance, and only the vague outline of the mountains beyond the villa could be discerned.

　　The green mountains, washed clean by the spring rain, should have exuded a gentle and romantic aura, but instead they emanated an eerie, ominous atmosphere.

　　The two walked through the rain and mist for nearly half an hour before reaching the entrance to a secluded underground passage within the villa.

　　According to the map, Yanyue Mountain Villa had numerous underground secret passages, with entrances scattered throughout.

　　Other demon exorcists chose to enter through the nearest secret passage, as this was more convenient and allowed them to quickly find and eliminate the troublesome demons, thereby earning the reward from Yanyue Mountain Villa.

　　The entrance to the secret passage was hidden within an artificial mountain.

　　If they hadn't checked the map beforehand and known there was an entrance here, they wouldn't have been able to find it. Even if they did find it, without knowing the mechanism of the entrance, they couldn't enter and would have to resort to forcefully breaking it open. 

However, doing so would destroy the secret passageway, making it equally impossible to enter.

　　Hongxiao stepped forward and activated the mechanism to open the entrance. 

　　The method for opening it had been told to them in advance by the master of Yanyue Mountain Villa, so they quickly opened the entrance to the secret passage. 

　　As the entrance opened, an extremely cold and eerie aura swept out from within, like a bone-chilling chill that seeped into the marrow, causing one to shiver involuntarily. 

　　Hongxiao cautiously probed the area and found no immediate danger, so she entered alongside Ji Yu.

　　The secret passage was extremely dark, winding and clearly descending downward.

Knowing they would have to enter the secret passage, Hongxiao had made preparations beforehand, asking the mountain villa's servants for torches. She lit the torches and walked ahead, illuminating the pitch-black, chilling passage.

　　The passageway was even colder than the surface, and the eerie atmosphere grew increasingly intense. Hongxiao remained vigilant, ready to confront any malevolent entities that might emerge from the darkness.

　　However, the journey proceeded smoothly without any attacks.

　　After an unknown amount of time, they finally reached the end of the passageway, which led to a dark chamber.

　　The door to the chamber was tightly closed, bearing the emblem of Yanyue Mountain Villa. Beside it was a mechanism door, not particularly complex—it only needed to be turned to open. 

　　Hongxiao said, "Young Master, step back. I'll open the door." 

　　Ji Yu hummed in response, taking a few steps back, and cautioned, "Be careful, Sister Hongxiao."

　　Hongxiao turned the mechanism on the door, and the stone door creaked as it slowly slid to the side.

　　As the door opened, a sudden chill swept out from the room, like a malevolent wind, lifting the hems of their robes. Before they could react, it dispersed and vanished.

　　Hongxiao shone her torch inside and found it was a stone chamber, empty and devoid of anything dangerous. 

　　At the other end of the chamber was another passageway, its destination unknown. 

　　The two continued forward. 

　　Along the way, they encountered many such chambers, all empty and clearly abandoned for a long time.

　　Hongxiao was puzzled as to why the ancient Yuezhi ancestors who built Yanyue Mountain Villa had constructed such a vast underground chamber beneath the villa.

Along the way, the winding passages and endless stone chambers revealed the immense scale of this underground space.

Moreover, despite walking for so long, they had not encountered any other demon hunters.

　　Soon, the two heard some noise ahead.

　　Ji Yu's eyes flickered, and she said, "Let's go check it out."

　　Hong Xiao nodded and followed nervously behind her, keeping her eyes peeled for any potential dangers lurking in the darkness.

　　The two of them walked through a long, dark passageway and arrived at a place that resembled an underground palace.

　　Tall, sturdy stone pillars rose upward, arranged in rows, with strange, ferocious beast carvings wrapped around them, each one hideous and ugly, unlike anything from the human world.

　　The view here was wide open, and they could see an altar at the end.

　　At this moment, many demon exorcists were standing before the altar.

　　Ji Yu and Hong Xiao walked over and immediately noticed a set of wedding attire for a woman on the altar.

　　The attire was dull in color, covered in dust, as if it had been sealed away here for years. It appeared ordinary, as if someone had casually placed it there, with no unusual aura emanating from it.

　　It was not a malevolent object and had not been tainted by any evil or impure energies. 

　　The exorcists present furrowed their brows, staring intently at the altar. 

　　The altar, equally covered in dust and abandoned for ages, served an unknown purpose. 

　　They carefully inspected it but found nothing unusual. The underground chamber was empty, and both the altar and the wedding gown appeared ordinary.

　　Having found nothing, most of the exorcists complained and left the area to continue their search elsewhere.

　　Ji Yu stood before the altar, staring at the wedding gown.

　　As the others departed, Xu Xiu Jue noticed Ji Yu and approached her, saying, "Junior Sister Ji, you're here too."

　　Ji Yu nodded at him and addressed him as "Senior Brother Xu."

　　The two exchanged a few words and realized that neither of them had encountered anything unusual along the way, indicating that the underground chamber posed no danger.

　　Similarly, they had found nothing of note.

　　Xu Xiu Jue furrowed his brows and said, "I just feel something is off." Seeing Ji Yu look over, he shook his head and added, "I can't put my finger on it, but something about the Yanyue Mountain Villa feels wrong, yet I can't pinpoint what it is."

　　Ever since entering Yanyue Mountain Villa, he had clearly felt something was amiss, and it wasn't just him—the others felt it too. 

　　But when it came to pinpointing exactly what was wrong, no one could say for sure. 

　　That was the tricky part—the more they couldn't trace the source, the more it proved that the demonic entity causing the trouble was difficult to deal with.

　　Xu Xiu Jue needed to check other areas, so after exchanging a few words with Ji Yu, he departed with the Xu family disciples.

Soon, most of the people around had left.

Ji Yu glanced once more at the dust-covered wedding gown on the altar, then departed with Hong Xiao.

Throughout the entire day, the group had little to show for their efforts in the underground chambers of Yanyue Mountain Villa.

　　Of course, there were some gains. The demon exorcists had explored all the secret passages and connected chambers, then mapped them out.

　　When the map was completed, they finally noticed something amiss.

　　Chen Qingfeng exclaimed, "This is clearly a replica of the Longquan Underground Palace."

　　The Longquan Underground Palace?

　　Instantly, all the demon exorcists present recalled what the Longquan Underground Palace was.

　　It was an underground palace that appeared twenty years ago at the foot of Longquan Mountain. A thousand-year-old demon corpse that had been dormant in the Longquan Underground Palace awoke, bringing immense disaster to the human world.

　　After a fierce battle, the demon exorcists paid a tremendous price but finally sealed the demon corpse.

　　Among them, many outstanding demon hunters from the Ji family of the Four Great Clans perished in that fierce battle, leaving the Ji family with a severe shortage of talent. Even the young master of the Ji family, Ji Yu, was born weak and frequently ill because her mother, Ji Lan, had contracted corpse poison while on the battlefield during her pregnancy, leading to a premature birth.

　　Thinking of this, many people turned to look at Ji Yu, even Chen Qingzhe couldn't help but glance at her, his expression oddly unsettled. 

　　Facing the gaze of the crowd, Ji Yu remained calm and composed. 

　　She sat there, her posture still dignified and elegant, like the noble ladies meticulously cultivated by the aristocratic families of Yunjing, every movement graceful and refined.

　　She was beautiful, but she didn't look like an exorcist.

　　Ji Yu sat for a while, then left, saying she wasn't feeling well.

　　The people present understood her, knowing that she had always been in poor health, and today she had insisted on going to the underground palace of Yanyue Mountain Villa to investigate for a whole day, so it was normal for her to be tired.

　　**

　　Upon returning to the guest quarters, Ji Yu's body swayed slightly as she entered the door.

　　Hong Xiao kept a close eye on her and immediately supported her, helping her sit down on the Buddha bed covered with a sapphire-blue cloud-dragon-patterned mattress. She asked with concern, "Young Master, how are you feeling?"

　　Ji Yu's face was pale, almost translucent, her brows slightly furrowed. She opened her mouth but could not speak.

　　Seeing this, Hongxiao's heart tightened. She quickly took out a white jade bottle, poured out a blood-red pill, and helped her swallow it.

　　After a long while, Ji Yu's forehead was covered with a layer of cold sweat, soaking her temples.

　　She whispered, "Sister Hongxiao, I feel much better."

　　Hongxiao saw her weak and fragile appearance, feeling both heartbroken and bitter. She wiped away the cold sweat with a handkerchief, wanting to suggest they leave this place, but she knew the young master would never agree. 

　　They had come here for the reward from Yanyue Mountain Villa, which contained something the Ji family needed. 

　　In the end, she only instructed her to take good care of her health.

　　Ji Yu smiled gently and said softly, "Sister Hongxiao, don't worry. I want to live a long life and stay with Grandmother and you all. I will take good care of myself." 

These words made Hongxiao force a smile. 

After dark, Hongxiao helped Ji Yu, who had washed up, get into bed to rest.

　　Hongxiao instructed, "Young Master, rest well. I will stay here to watch over you tonight."

　　She held her sword in her hand and sat down firmly on the footstool by the bed, as if to say that she would stay there to prevent any demons or evil spirits from disturbing her rest.

　　No matter what kind of demonic beings or ghosts they were, they were not allowed to harm her young master.

　　Ji Yu couldn't help but smile and said deliberately, "Hongxiao, you should go rest too. Your young master isn't so useless that he needs you to stay by his side every moment. It makes me look useless."

　　"Nonsense, the young master isn't useless at all." Hongxiao grew flustered, but she was tongue-tied and didn't know how to respond.

　　In the end, Ji Yu persuaded her to rest on the bed in the outer room and not stay awake all night.

　　**

　　That night, Ji Yu was once again pulled into a dream.

　　She stood there in a daze, her eyes unfocused and vacant. Her vision was a blood-red haze that blurred the entire world, preventing her from seeing clearly. 

　　As the hazy red gradually faded and her vision cleared, she realized she was in a woman's bedroom.

　　At that moment, a stiff, dark-blue face covered in black wrinkles loomed before her.

It was an old zombie woman dressed in festive attire, busily arranging Ji Yu's clothing. Ji Yu noticed that her fingertips were sharp and elongated, resembling those of a thousand-year-old zombie. If one were to be accidentally scratched by them, even a demon exorcist would not survive.

　　Ji Yu's heart contracted slightly.

　　However, on the surface, she still looked dazed and confused, as if she had no idea that the creature before her was a terrifying demonic zombie of the highest order.

　　The zombie old woman finished arranging her clothes, helped her sit down to the side, and then brought a phoenix crown to place on her head. 

　　Only then did Ji Yu notice that she was wearing a wedding gown. 

　　In fact, this wedding gown was identical to the one she had seen in the underground palace of Yanyue Manor today.