Volume One, Chapter 110: Opening the Gate of the Ghosts

The air was thick with the faint fragrance of rice porridge.

Qin Yu lifted a hand and took the bowl. Golden millet rested inside it, speckled with bright red carrot slivers, making it look especially appetizing.

“You dug up Master’s precious carrots?”

Mu Ling rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin. “Well, there’s hardly anything to eat on the mountain. Besides, wasn’t Master growing them so they could be eaten? If he has any spirit in heaven, he’ll surely forgive you!”

Qin Yu frowned. That did not sound right at all.

“The carrots were dug up by you. Why should he forgive me?”

“Wasn’t it you who was going to eat them?”

Qin Yu: ...

Fair enough. She had no rebuttal.

As for what happened afterward at Golden Chubby Kindergarten:

An ambulance carried away Yao Yao’s mother’s remains.

Not long after, the police arrived as well.

On the rooftop of Golden Chubby Kindergarten, they discovered a large number of infant and rat bones.

After professionals examined the bite marks on the children’s skeletons, they determined that the infants had been gnawed clean by rats.

Through DNA comparison of the bones, the children’s biological parents were identified. Stranger still, those parents could no longer remember ever having had those children.

To prevent public panic, the matter was not made public.

—

It was nearly midnight.

Qin Yu lit the incense candles and the burner. Wisps of smoke curled upward, scenting the surrounding air.

She sat at the center of the ritual altar, and beneath her stood a whole line of ghosts.

Mu Ling led the group, followed by the unborn girl doll, Hui Yuanyuan, the little child’s soul, a pale remnant soul, and Yao Yao’s mother.

The unborn girl doll was rather unwilling, struggling as if she wanted to flee, but Mu Ling held her fast with his tail.

“Be good and wait over there for two years,” Qin Yu said to the disobedient little doll. “In two years, you’ll be born safely into her womb.”

The unborn girl doll blinked her bright, shiny eyes and asked in a soft baby voice, “Really?”

“If it isn’t, then you can come and settle the score with me.”

The doll tilted her head, her little cheeks puffed up as though she were seriously thinking it over.

“Sister, you’re pretty. I believe you.”

Qin Yu found herself quite pleased by that sweet little “sister.”

Mu Ling glanced at the unborn girl doll and thought to himself that this child’s good fortune still lay ahead of her.

Hui Yuanyuan kept trying to avoid Qin Yu’s gaze, but the unborn girl doll was so tiny that there was nowhere she could possibly hide.

“Hui Yuanyuan.”

Her heart lurched. The moment she had dreaded had finally come.

She felt guilty toward Qin Yu and did not dare meet her eyes, staring fixedly at her own toes like a child who had done something wrong.

“Benefactor...”

Qin Yu gave her a cool, cursory look. “Once you’re over there, behave yourself and do your best to be reincarnated soon.”

Hui Yuanyuan looked up in surprise and rubbed at her ears. “Benefactor, y-you’re not angry with me?”

“Wanting revenge for yourself is only natural. Where you went wrong was in lacking the brains for it. Revenge was simply too difficult for you.”

Qin Yu had never objected to ghosts taking revenge for themselves.

The condition was that they had the brains for it.

As for someone like Hui Yuanyuan, who was physically weak and mentally simple, she was better off letting go of her hatred.

For a moment, Hui Yuanyuan could not even tell whether the benefactor was praising her or scolding her.

But one thing she did know: the benefactor was not blaming her.

Her eyes wet, she said earnestly, “Benefactor, don’t worry! I’ll do my very best! I won’t bring shame to you.”

Qin Yu heard that and felt something was off at once, so she hurriedly stopped her.

“Once you’re there, don’t mention my name. Keep a low profile.”

Hui Yuanyuan nodded again and again, too moved to speak.

Further back stood the lonely soul of the child who had been trapped beneath the apple tree for ten years.

“You’re family is all doing well,” Qin Yu said gently. “Go on and begin your new life as soon as you can.”

The child’s heart grew warm at that. Though she had died young, her mind had already been quite mature.

She bowed deeply to Qin Yu in gratitude.

Behind her were the remnant soul and Yao Yao’s mother.

Qin Yu had never held much liking for those who took their own lives, and she pouted in silent annoyance.

Then she looked up at the sky. The moon was directly overhead. The time had come.

Qin Yu tried to summon Chang Yi, but it was obvious she had failed.

Hah. What a foul-tempered sword.

She summoned Frostclasp instead.

“Heaven’s gate, move. Earth’s gate, open. Let the spiritual energy of a thousand miles serve me...”

With her left hand forming a seal, Qin Yu chanted continuously under her breath.

As the incantation flowed from her lips, Frostclasp filled with spiritual energy and shone with dazzling gold light.

In the stillness of the night, the summit of Spirit Mountain gleamed as bright as day.

Qin Yu released the long sword from her hand, sending it slicing into the night sky.

Slowly, a fissure appeared in the air.

Something fell out from within.

It came down at terrifying speed and struck the ground with a heavy crash, carving out a pit the size of a bowl.

“My goodness! A meteorite?”

Mu Ling, fussing over the group of ghosts like an overprotective old maid, hurried over to take a look.

“Who is it that summoned this ghost officer?”