Chapter 34: Why is Wang Linger here?

“Thud!”

A muffled sound, like something hitting the ground, broke the dead silence of the night, sharp and jarring.

Xie Qiyang’s heart lurched.

A sudden, searing pain stabbed through her chest, so intense her vision blackened, her steps faltered, and she nearly collapsed.

The pain came and went like a phantom, but the lingering dread left her pale, cold sweat soaking her temples.

Clutching her chest, she scanned her surroundings, bewildered. The thick fog rolled, the silence oppressive, her divine sense detecting nothing unusual.

“Could there really be something weird here…?” Her voice trembled as she muttered.

In her old world, she might’ve chalked it up to her imagination. But in this realm of gods and monsters, where five-meter cockroaches could exist, a cultivator’s gut feeling of danger was never baseless.

Especially for someone like her, blessed with strong luck.

“It’s all that damned Li Tianxing’s fault!” Overwhelmed by fear and pressure, she vented her frustration. She didn’t know many people here, so he became the target of all her resentment.

“If not for that bastard, I wouldn’t be stuck in this godforsaken place. Even if I find a way out, I’ll still have to worry about him catching me and taking advantage…”

Ugh, as a modern person, wandering in a place like this in the dead of night would make anyone shiver.

Cursing Li Tianxing through gritted teeth to dispel her fear, she stumbled through the thick fog.

“Damn bastard! You filthy… son of a—”

Her curses cut off abruptly! She froze, a chill shooting from her soles to her scalp—she’d kicked something! The sensation… soft and squishy?! Could it be…

The darkness was absolute, the fog impenetrable. Even with her enhanced Acquired Realm vision, she could barely see a meter or two ahead, her hand invisible in front of her face.

No way… an actual ghost?! Panic nearly suffocated her; she wanted to bolt.

Fighting the urge, she stiffly, agonizingly lowered her head to look at her feet…

Phew—Seeing it clearly, her tense body relaxed, exhaling heavily. Cold sweat had soaked her inner clothes.

Just a tattered scarecrow, slumped in the ash.

Scared me to death… just my imagination… She patted her chest, still shaken.

But before she could fully relax—

Deep in the relatively intact palace ruins ahead, a faint green light flickered. Eerie, ghostly, like phosphorous fire from a grave.

It flashed for a moment, then vanished, as if it had never been.

Just as Xie Qiyang thought she’d imagined it—

The green light reappeared, teleporting right in front of her, so close it nearly touched her nose.

The size of a head, its eerie green glow churned, radiating bone-chilling cold and thick deathly aura.

“Holy—! A real… ghost?!” Xie Qiyang nearly jumped out of her skin, her soul fleeing in terror. She instinctively tried to retreat.

“Bang!”

She wanted to back away, to put distance between her and this thing.

But her back slammed into something cold and rigid—not a wall… more like… flesh.

A nauseating stench of decay flooded her nose.

“I’m done for!” Her blood ran cold. A ghostly light ahead, a sinister thing behind. Was this her bad ending?

Before she could turn to see what was behind her, the green orb, inches away, gave her no time to react. It swelled and lunged at her face.

“Ugh—!” A piercing, icy force shot toward her brow, the green light vanishing into her body.

I’m going offline… this is it… Her mind went blank, the shadow of death swallowing her.

One second… two… three…

The expected agony, tearing, or fading consciousness… never came.

Her body… seemed fine?

“I’m… okay?” Xie Qiyang stood rigid, her mind blank. Was that terrifying green light just an illusion?

But the cold touch and reeking decay behind her were starkly real, reminding her—the danger wasn’t gone. This was no hallucination.

She slowly turned her head…

A face, inches away.

It was Wang Ling’er.

But this Wang Ling’er was no longer the jealous, venomous woman who’d fled while entangled with others.

Her face was deathly pale, more ghastly than the cheapest zombie. Her skin was shriveled, bloodless, coated in ashen gray.

Her eyes were the worst—twin orbs of eerie green fire, identical to the light, burned in her sockets. Cold, lifeless, and ravenous for living flesh.

“Roar… grr…” Wang Ling’er’s throat emitted an inhuman, beastly growl, her green-fire eyes locking onto Xie Qiyang, as if to tear her apart.

“Ah—!” Xie Qiyang’s soul scattered in fright, leaping back over a dozen yards, her heart pounding.

Why… didn’t she attack just now? Amid her panic, a thought flashed. After the green light entered her, Wang Ling’er seemed to… pause briefly?

“What the hell are you?!” Xie Qiyang shouted, her voice quivering.

Wang Ling’er answered with a more ferocious roar.

“ROAR—!”

Her green-fire eyes blazed, her arms jerking up stiffly, unnaturally. Her bony fingers, like withered branches, danced in grotesque, joint-defying motions.

Whoosh—Woo!

Her movements summoned a violent, icy gust laced with decay and death. Scattered stones, debris, and bones rose from the ruins, manipulated by an invisible force, clattering and grinding.

The debris spun rapidly in the gust, forming dark, deathly whirlwinds, aligning with Wang Ling’er’s eerie gestures, slowly aiming at Xie Qiyang.

A malevolent killing intent locked onto her.

As her focus fixed upward—

“BOOM!”

The ground beneath her collapsed. Caught off guard, her balance faltered, and the black whirlwind surged, blasting her backward.