Chapter 5

I spent a cold, quiet night in the mountains and forests, unable to figure out why he killed a cultivator right in front of me.

He killed Lynn, but then why didn’t he silence me as well?

After much hesitation, I went back the next day.

This time, I kept my distance, trailing far behind him.

Jay acted just as before, as if completely unaware of my presence.

Like this, we traveled for another seven days, arriving at a ruined city.

Jay entered the city, wound through several alleys, and finally stopped before a patch of ruins.

How strange.

This place wasn’t far from the main avenue of the city–by mortal standards, such a prime location shouldn’t have been left abandoned.

Perhaps it was because Jay lingered in front of the ruins for too long, and looked so strikingly handsome.

An old woman carrying a yoke walked over:

“Young man, this place is ominous. You shouldn’t stand here.”

Jay raised his brows. “Ominous? How so?”

The old woman shrank back a little before replying:

“Young man, you may not know–four hundred years ago, there lived here a family with the surname Yun, cultivators.

“The head of the family had a young daughter named Yunxi, said to be blessed with an extraordinary Spiritual Root. At age ten she’d already drawn the attention of the cultivation sects.

“Many years later, strange things began to happen in the city–within just a few months, thousands of young men and women vanished.

“The nine great sects came to investigate, only to discover that it was Miss Yunxi who had forged a terrifying blood sacrificial artifact.

“They said it was to save the people from disaster, but in fact, she’d kidnapped those young men and women to offer as sacrifice, aiding her own cultivation.

“In the end, when Miss Yunxi fought against the sects, she was consumed by the backlash of that evil artifact–her soul utterly destroyed. Karma fire rose up, and not a single member of her clan was left alive.”

“Ah, such a grievous sin…” the old woman finished, shaking her head as she walked away.

Jay was silent for a long time, then the corners of his lips lifted in a mocking smile.

“Do you think Miss Yunxi’s sins were grievous?”

I glanced around, making sure that aside from him, there was only me here.

Was I seeing ghosts? He was actually talking to me?

“Sounds pretty bad to me,” I could only answer honestly.

Jay snorted, lifted his leg, and walked inside. After passing through half a ruined house, he crouched in front of a strange stone.

He reached out and brushed away the dust from the corner of the stone.

Curious, I drifted over for a look.

On the stone, two names were carved in a wobbly hand. On the left, “Yunxi dear” was carved a bit deeper; on the right, “Jay dear” was a little shallower.

For a moment, it was as if I saw a boy and a girl, two children, crouched before the stone, solemnly carving each other’s names.

“Let’s go.”

After watching for a while, Jay stood up and smiled.

“I’ll take you to kill a few more people.”

?

Was he so sure I’d follow him?