My ancestors were spiritual plant growers, so it's not surprising that I hunt demons every day,

"It is indeed ghostly energy."

Cui Ying sensed the wisp of gray mist for a moment, her expression turning somewhat solemn as she felt surprised.

Although she didn't see the ghost's true face that night, she still remembered the aura it emitted.

Cui Ying sensed it several more times, and a few more doubts arose in her mind:

"However, the intensity of this ghostly aura is slightly different from what I saw that night, and it is also much dimmer. Perhaps it was created by a mountain ghost that has become powerful."

"But this excellent demon bear pelt is too good to pass up."

It was dusk; a half-sun hung in the sky, like a phantom, radiating a hazy halo.

With that thought in mind, Cui Ying rolled up her sleeves and quickly peeled off the skin and extracted the gallbladder. Then, without further delay, she rushed home on Tengyun.

Upon arriving home, I was naturally surrounded by my anxious family members who showered me with concern and care.

Because she had been cultivating in the stone cave on Jade Bamboo Peak for the past few days and hadn't had a proper rest, she quickly said goodbye to her parents, returned to her room, and fell asleep immediately.

However, she hadn't been asleep for long when a distant but extremely piercing roar of a beast woke her up.

Cui Ying suddenly sat up in bed, looking around warily. All she could see were the shadowy furnishings, haloed by the moonlight, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Only the shrill roar of the beast grew increasingly piercing.

The surroundings were unusually quiet. There used to be some flowers, plants and jacaranda trees in front of and behind the house. Even though the magic array was activated, the chirping of insects never stopped, morning and evening.

But at this moment, the world was eerily quiet, and she could even hear her own heartbeat.

Cui Ying was startled; the last vestiges of sleepiness vanished instantly. Just as she was about to call out, the figure sleeping on the inside sat up.

"My lady, it's late, let's get settled quickly."

Cui Ying was shocked and quickly turned around to look. Her fourth sister, Cui Yue, who had been sleeping on the inside, had somehow transformed into a young man with rosy lips, white teeth, and a slender waist.

"Brother Shi Yin?"

She paused, her mind growing increasingly confused, feeling as if she had forgotten something.

"My wife, call me husband."

Before Cui Ying could think about it, she saw Gu Shiyin smilingly take her hand and gently stroke her cheek, his voice clear yet cloying.

"Husband?"

Through the dim space, she could clearly see a pair of captivating eyes shining brightly, getting closer and closer to a stunningly handsome face—closer and closer—until their breaths began to mingle.

Just as Gu Shiyin's long, hot hand was about to touch her waist, Cui Ying bit her tongue, turned around and took out the Yao Guang sword, and slashed fiercely at the charming Gu Shiyin in front of her.

"My wife∽"

When Gu Shiyin saw Cui Ying pointing her sword at him, he immediately turned pale and tried to throw himself into Cui Ying's arms.

Seeing this, Cui Ying reached out without hesitation and stabbed him through with her sword.

"Pfft"

As the crisp sound of a sword piercing flesh rang out, the surrounding silence seemed to freeze completely, and the small courtyard, with its lush vegetation, melted away as quickly as spring snow.

"Wang Wang Wang"

The snow demon exuded its aura, its fur standing on end, and it roared wildly in a certain direction, its body covered in blood and trembling uncontrollably.

Looking up again, a chilling, bone-deep wind suddenly swept up from all around, causing Gu Shiyin's corpse to swell up instantly and dissipate into a cloud of black mist.

The next moment, the eerie wind dissipated, and the black mist churned and reformed.

"You beast, how dare you ruin my plans!"

The beautiful woman in the red dress had her hair piled high in a bun, and her face was as beautiful as a flower and the moon. However, her face was deathly pale, and a black mist surrounded her from the knees down. She was suspended in mid-air, clutching her chest with lingering fear, and looking in Cui Ying's direction with a very ugly expression.

"I wanted to make your death more pleasant, but since you don't know what's good for you, then don't blame me."

Enraged, she stretched out her hands, her originally pale fingernails growing rapidly, almost instantly becoming inches long, turning black, and looking eerie and terrifying.

"Ghost cultivator, no, that's not right."

Ever since this ghostly creature appeared, Cui Ying felt it looked somewhat familiar, but after carefully examining the face of this inhuman and ghostly monster for a few moments, she exclaimed in surprise:

"You are Fellow Daoist Xu Dairong, how did you become like this?"

It was obvious that something must have happened in the village during the days she was away, which led to the death of Xu Dairong, who was unharmed in her previous life, and her possession by a ghost again.

"You all deserve to die!"

Unfortunately, the ghost possessing Xu Dairong did not respond to Cui Ying's request. With a single movement, it transformed into a cloud of black mist and vanished from the spot.

"Humph."

At the same time, Cui Ying snorted coldly, and her entire body suddenly bent backward at an incredible speed.

"whoosh"

Five jet-black claws silently reached for Cui Ying from behind, piercing through her chest in a flash.

Cui Ying's posture remained unchanged, but her entire body swayed weakly and bonelessly, sliding backward more than ten feet at an astonishing speed before she straightened up again and looked at the opposite side with eyes as cold as stars.

Where she had been standing, Xu Dairong's figure reappeared, coldly staring at Cui Ying with her pupil-less, black eyes.

However, judging from the glint in her eyes, she clearly hadn't expected to fail repeatedly against a mere fifth-level Qi Refining girl.

Just then, Xu Dairong was completely enraged. Suddenly, his body blurred again, and three identical ghostly figures appeared on the spot. With a movement, they turned into three black afterimages and pounced over.

Without a second thought, Cui Yang raised one hand, and three ice spikes shot out instantly.

"Puff puff"

After three muffled thuds, the ice spikes all struck the dark figure, but quickly dissipated.

At this, Cui Ying couldn't help but be slightly taken aback.

In that brief moment of delay, the three black ghostly figures blurred and had already closed in on her. But suddenly they paused, and then each of them raised their hand, and three incredibly sharp ghost bone chains flew out.

The ghost chain started out as thin as a chopstick, but after flying only a foot or so, it "whooshed" and grew to the thickness of an arm. Before it could truly trap Cui Ying, a chilling aura swept over her.

Cui Ying's face was frosty. A silver short sword suddenly appeared in her hand, and with a slight swing, she unleashed six silver sword energies in one go.

"Boom boom"

The six sword energies landed on the three bone chains, only causing them to pause slightly before being shattered into pieces. The three bone chains continued to aggressively bind Cui Ying.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Cui Ying immediately moved her body and shot out to the side in a blur.

The ghost possessing Xu Dairong was Hao Ran, who was at the seventh level of Qi Refining. Since she couldn't resist, she naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to stand still and fight it head-on.

The golden scorpion, hidden in Cui Ying's sleeve, took advantage of the moment her clothes fluttered and disappeared into the soil.

To Cui Ying's surprise, no matter where she moved, the three bone chains would change direction and continue to follow her with a roar.

As a result, Cui Ying's expression really turned ugly.

Only then did she realize that although the three ghostly figures stood motionless, their dark shapes were still distinct, but the figures were too blurry for Cui Ying to discern anything.

All that is known is that the three ghostly figures each raised an arm and pointed into the void, presumably to control the three bone chains.

"Huh, pretending to be a ghost!"

Cui Ying let out a low groan, twisted her waist, and with one foot heavily touching the ground, her direction of advance suddenly changed, shooting towards the three ghostly figures.

As soon as she moved, the three bone chains turned and followed closely behind.