Zhou Tian lay sprawled on the floor, his cheek already beginning to bruise from Mo Lin's kick. His henchmen lunged forward in outrage—only to halt in their tracks the moment Chen Xi's presence swept through the air. Her form dissolved into silvery mist, filling the entire chamber. The men froze, petrified, as a colossal maw materialized overhead: any movement now would invite certain consumption.
Mo Lin cast a cool glance at Chen Xi—she must have devoured a nightmare-tier spirit. Her aura had grown far more potent than before.
"Let's see who still dares to move," Mo Lin drawled, his eyes sweeping over the motionless crowd.
Terrified, the thugs' legs turned to jelly; none dared defy him. Liu Feng hurried forward, enfolding his daughter in a protective embrace. "It's all right, my dear—Daddy's here," he soothed, even as the oppressive weight of Mo Lin's presence made his chest tighten. Though he had researched Mo Lin's formidable contracted ghosts, he had never known such tangible dread until now.
Feng Mingyu watched Chen Xi in astonishment. "Even stronger than before," she murmured, recalling their first encounter with this spirit, which had chilled her to the bone with a single glance.
"Any more spirit money?" Mo Lin added. "Hand over everything you've got." Panic-stricken, Zhou Tian emptied his wallet—eight hundred coins at most—and Mo Lin appropriated them with a nonchalant flick of his hand. Feng Mingyu couldn't shake the odd sense of injustice as she watched Mo Lin exact payment from the cowering criminals.
"Everything else is up to you," Mo Lin said, waving them off. His task of finding Liu Feng's daughter was complete; what transpired next—whether Zhou Tian lived or died—was none of his concern. At the threshold, he deposited a few coins into the lantern's flame to ensure it did not gutter out, then waited.
After ten minutes, Liu Feng and Feng Mingyu emerged. Mo Lin made no inquiry about the fates of the others. Such matters did not fall within his purview.
Liu Feng's eyes were red-rimmed as he clutched his daughter. The ordeal of her abduction had clearly left him shaken. "I found her," Mo Lin reminded him. "Now tell me what you know of the Underworld Shadefire."
Liu Feng took a steadying breath. "Shadefire is a strange flame that appeared five years ago. The Li family's head discovered it in Qinghai City and claimed it for their own."
Mo Lin's lips curved in mild disappointment. "So someone else holds Shadefire."
"Mo Ge," Feng Mingyu interjected, her eyes widening, "you wouldn't be planning to seize it from the Li family, would you? They're far more fearsome than you imagine."
The Li clan—even the Ghost Sovereignty Society dared not provoke them. With Shadefire bolstering their might, they had risen to dominate Beihai as its foremost power.
Mo Lin laughed softly. "Are you suggesting I raid the Li estate for Shadefire?"
Feng Mingyu hastened to clarify, "No, no—I merely worry for you."
Mo Lin murmured thoughtfully, "Perhaps… it's not impossible. Though it feels… unethical." But the hint of a plan gleamed in his eyes, and Feng Mingyu could only sigh: it seemed he truly entertained the notion of challenging the Li family.
Soon they piled into the car and set out for Yunchuan City along the familiar mountain road. Thirty minutes passed, yet the white mist thickened instead of thinning. Feng Mingyu peered through the window at the winding bend they had just navigated. "Are we going in circles?" she asked, her voice tinged with unease.
Liu Feng frowned, "I swear I followed the same path—how have we ended up back here?" He slowed the car to a halt. Before them lay the river and rickety bridge where their journey had begun. Everything had returned to its starting point. An uncanny stillness hung in the air.
"Are you afraid of ghosts?" Mo Lin asked Feng Mingyu as they climbed from the car.
A shiver ran through her. "Not again…" The words carved through her mind like a knife—she had heard them before in her last encounter with Mo Lin, right before a particularly terrifying specter appeared. The memory still haunted her.
"I'm not afraid of ghosts," she insisted, mustering courage.
"Good," Mo Lin replied, "because we're going down there to find one." He instructed Liu Feng to keep the lantern's flame alive beside his daughter and led Feng Mingyu into the mist.
Once they stepped out, the world dissolved into blinding white fog, visibility reduced to barely a meter. They had barely advanced a few steps when the car vanished from sight.
A harsh creak sounded beneath Feng Mingyu's feet. She looked down to see human bones scattered on the ground and gasped. When she raised her eyes, a fresh wave of terror struck her heart.
"There's something—just ahead," she stammered, pointing into the mist.
"Don't be like that," Mo Lin chided gently.
"Are you afraid?" she shot back in disbelief.
He smiled faintly. "No… I'm afraid of you."
Feng Mingyu flinched at every sound—who wouldn't tremble in her place? Ghosts are hardly unusual; in this world, everyone accepts their existence as a fact, nothing more to fear. Yet her every startled jump carried an uncanny chill.