Chapter 159 Are you the master who has come to exterminate us?

Seeing Qin Fang approach with her lunchbox and pastries, Su Liang's mood instantly improved, and his aggrieved expression transformed into a cool, aloof look.

Watching Su Liang's rapid facial transformation, Xu Lin was left speechless. To think that the dignified young master of the Su family was so easily coaxed—did the rest of the Su family know about this?

Did the various factions following behind the Su family know about this?

If they knew that the young master they planned to follow in the future was so cheap to please, who knows what kind of mood they would be in.

Too disgusted to keep watching, Xu Lin decisively withdrew her spiritual sense and returned to her room. Having spent the entire day running around outside, Xu Lin decided it was time for her beauty sleep.

Shortly after Xu Lin went back to her room, Han Hong returned to the educated youth courtyard carrying a small bag of rice.

He delivered the rice to Wu Siyu, stayed for dinner, and then left.

The entire process went by without attracting anyone's attention.

In the middle of the night, Xu Lin heard a commotion coming from the courtyard and quietly observed the situation.

Then, she spotted Ning Xiaoqin leaping out of the educated youth courtyard and sneaking toward the West Mountain, immediately followed by Qin Fang, who also vaulted the wall and headed in the direction of the West Mountain.

After a moment of thought, Xu Lin decisively followed them, determined to see if the two were heading to the same place.

Upon trailing them, Xu Lin realized she had overthought it; Qin Fang had no idea that Ning Xiaoqin was ahead of her.

Furthermore, their directions differed entirely. Ning Xiaoqin plunged straight into the West Mountain, running continuously deeper into the remote mountains.

Meanwhile, Qin Fang was wandering around the outer periphery of the deep mountains holding something that looked like a compass, acting precisely like someone treasure hunting.

Could she really be after the Xu family treasure?

Yet hadn't that treasure already been collected by herself?

Finding this a bit baffling, Xu Lin withdrew her spiritual sense and began scanning her surroundings intently.

Xu Lin prepared to use the Qi-observing technique to check if there was any treasured aura in the vicinity.

Although she did not know the clues to the treasure, she could search by gauging the concentration of the treasured aura.

However, to Xu Lin's disappointment, she did not see any treasured aura—no, she only spotted a few very faint wisps of it.

Without even needing to dig, Xu Lin knew there wouldn't be many valuables there; perhaps just some old items hidden by the villagers.

Those meager treasures held no attraction for her whatsoever.

"Xiaoqi, according to the data, it should be right around this area. Why haven't we found it?"

Qin Fang asked stubbornly, spinning around with her compass in hand.

"How should I know? But the magnetic field over there is a bit off. Walk over that way; I can only sense the situation once you're closer."

Guided by the system, Qin Fang immediately walked in that direction.

Hearing that the magnetic field was unusual, Xu Lin instantly perked up. She stopped using the Qi-observing technique and began examining the surrounding terrain.

Suddenly, a miserable scream rang out from the woods. Raising her gaze, Xu Lin saw Qin Fang throw away the compass in her hand, screaming as she turned around and bolted.

Yet she was running wildly in circles on the spot as if caught in a ghost's trapping maze, completely oblivious to it herself.

A ghost maze? Xu Lin narrowed her eyes and crept closer. As she drew nearer, her expression grew grave.

Qin Fang wasn't just acting like she had run into a ghost maze; she had genuinely encountered one.

It was just that the ghost bore no malice and was toying with Qin Fang like a mischievous child.

Every now and then, it would tug at Qin Fang's hair, flick the palm of her hand, or pull her sleeve, scaring Qin Fang into screaming at the top of her lungs.

While shrieking, Qin Fang was also calling out to the system in her sea of consciousness, but unfortunately, her system was playing dead once again and gave no response whatsoever.

Filled with curiosity, Xu Lin leaned against a nearby large tree to watch the show, having no intention of stepping in to help.

Right at that moment, a chilly gust of wind materialized behind Xu Lin's ear. Xu Lin calmly turned her head to investigate.

Upon looking, she mentally exclaimed "Oh, boy," as she saw a female ghost with blood streaming from her seven facial orifices blowing wind directly into her ear.

Noticing Xu Lin turn around, the female ghost shrieked in fright and backed away several meters—a reaction that hardly suited a ghost.

The female ghost: ......What reaction was a ghost supposed to have?

"Aren't you scared?" The female ghost tilted her head to study Xu Lin, her bleeding eyes suddenly widening. "Wait, you can actually see me?"

Good grief, the female ghost increased the distance between them once more, eyeing Xu Lin with a mixture of vigilance and curiosity. "Why can you see me?"

"Is seeing you that difficult?" Xu Lin lazily leaned against the tree trunk, looking the female ghost up and down.

The female ghost appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old, with delicate features, qualifying as a petite and graceful beauty.

She wore coarse cloth garments, and her feet were clad in ordinary cloth shoes without any embroidered flowers or grass.

Her attire and grooming indicated that the female ghost's living conditions before death had not been particularly good, and judging by her dress, she was not an ancient ghost either.

Xu Lin mentally calculated on her fingers and reached a conclusion: the female ghost had died in the year '45, exactly thirty years ago.

If she were still alive, she would be considered an elderly woman by now, and if she had married and had children, it would be the age of being surrounded by children and grandchildren.

"Can you really see me? What kind of person are you? Are you a master who has come to destroy us?"

The female ghost retreated in fear once more, hesitating over whether to flee. Yet for some reason, she didn't want to leave just like that.

"Will you really destroy us? The kind that makes our souls scatter into nothingness?"

"Why would I destroy you?" Xu Lin's interest was piqued. "Is someone trying to destroy you?"

"Mm-hmm, someone hired a master to perform a ritual wanting to destroy us, but we scared them away."

The female ghost was quite innocent. Seeing that Xu Lin did not look like she intended to attack, she drifted forward a few more meters and curiously observed Xu Lin.

"You don't look like a master either. Why can you see me?"

Seeing that the female ghost was obsessed with this question, Xu Lin smiled. "I have Yin-Yang eyes, so naturally I can see you.

Can you tell me why you haven't gone to the underworld to be reincarnated?"

"You have Yin-Yang eyes? Then you really are a master," the female ghost drifted backward a bit further. "You really won't destroy us?"

"I won't. I have no grudge or enmity with you, so naturally I won't destroy you.

Besides, if you can tell me why you haven't gone to be reincarnated, I might even be able to help ferry you across."

Xu Lin tilted her head against the tree trunk, looking somewhat roguish yet appearing completely harmless at the same time.

Upon hearing the word "ferry," the female ghost's eyes lit up. In her excitement, she drifted forward a few steps to a distance she considered safe and asked:

"Can you really help ferry us across?

Wuwu, it's not that we don't want to go be reincarnated, but someone deliberately trapped us here, refusing to let us go.

Although we are ghosts, we really haven't harmed any human lives. Please, I beg you to help ferry us across; we want to go be reincarnated."

As the female ghost spoke, she began to wail miserably, two streams of blood tears flowing down the corners of her eyes, making the sight all the more eerie.

Only someone as experienced and knowledgeable as Xu Lin could remain unfrightened and maintain the patience to converse with a ghost.

"Don't cry. I can tell that you carry no karmic debts. Can you tell me what happened back then?"

There was a calming power infused within Xu Lin's voice that worked on ghosts as well, causing the female ghost to gradually cease her crying.

Speaking of the events of the past, the female ghost felt deeply wronged, terribly helpless, and filled with a surging anger.

Yet that anger had not shattered her rationality, which was why she had not turned into a malicious spirit to exact revenge on her enemies or society.