Chapter 40: Female Corpse

Watching Dou Dou was still too young, and couldn't express herself very clearly.

Still, Shen Siyuan caught something off from her scattered words.

So he said to Yin Xingyue, "Little Yue, go with Watching Dou Dou and have a look—see what's actually going on."

Yin Xingyue obediently nodded, then turned her gaze to Watching Dou Dou.

"Oh?"

Watching Dou Dou was still clueless, not knowing what was happening.

"Where did you see the big bad guy before? Do you remember?" Shen Siyuan asked.

"Of course I remember."

Hearing this, Watching Dou Dou put her hands on her hips and puffed out her belly, looking quite pleased with herself.

"If you remember, then take big sister to go see."

"Oh~"

Watching Dou Dou suddenly seemed to get it, as if only now understanding.

Then she turned into a gust of yin wind, spiraled once around the room, and flew out the window together with Yin Xingyue.

Watching them leave, Shen Siyuan took out 【Embrace Wind Slumber】 and began to read, mainly the earlier explanations about wind and clouds; combined with what the Nine Nether Demon Lord had learned in the past, he felt a sudden spark of insight.

In the time of the Great Wastes, the Nine Nether Demon Lord had a movement art called 【Rolling Juan Yun Shu】.

Though he styled himself the Nine Nether Demon Lord, the names of his Cultivation Techniques were all grand and imposing, showing not a trace of ghostly air; but after all, they were demonic-path techniques—his cultivation methods mostly took unorthodox paths, advanced extremely fast, and ran counter to orthodox cultivation.

Take this 【Rolling Juan Yun Shu】, for instance—it sounds like the carefree detachment of sitting and watching clouds rise and fall, but in truth it is an art of commanding yin wind, terrifyingly fast, and accompanied by ghostly wails that sway the heart; hearing it can hook a person's soul right out of their body—truly horrifying.

But yin wind is still wind, and that gave Shen Siyuan the inspiration to draw parallels.

Although this world's spiritual energy was entirely gone, completely cutting off the path of cultivation.

He could use nether qi in place of spiritual energy; though the Ten Thousand Souls Banner was already damaged, it was more than enough for his own use, and once he repaired it later, the nether qi would be inexhaustible—fully able to aid his cultivation.

Moreover, as the banner master of 【Ten Thousand Souls Banner】, he didn't fear being eroded by nether qi and losing his mind entirely.

Of course, there would certainly be some effects on his body, but compared to the benefits, these effects could be completely ignored.

However, Shen Siyuan didn't intend to try it right now.

Instead, with a thought, he summoned 【Ten Thousand Souls Banner】; then he formed a hand seal, and in an instant his field of vision shifted away from his own body and appeared on Yin Xingyue—seeing what she saw, hearing what she heard.

This was a basic ability of being the Ten Thousand Souls Banner's banner master: he could share the vision of the ghosts under his command.

Not to mention Watching Dou Dou beside her didn't notice Shen Siyuan's arrival—even Yin Xingyue herself didn't know Shen Siyuan was there.

The two rode the yin wind, spiraling through the air at great speed; given the size of Coastal City, they should have arrived long ago.

Shen Siyuan was puzzled, but quickly figured it out.

He saw Watching Dou Dou circling in the air, still muttering: "It was right here, wasn't it here? How could I possibly not remember…"

Good grief—this little thing had just sworn up and down that she remembered the way, and she wasn't reliable at all; she could only be used as a mascot.

But Shen Siyuan didn't speak up, wanting to see how the two of them would handle it—after all, if he was going to keep them around in the future, they had to be of some use.

Just then, Yin Xingyue took the initiative to ask, "Watching Dou Dou, where is your home?"

This one she knew—Watching Dou Dou immediately changed direction.

"Over there." She pointed ahead.

"Then let's go check that way first." Yin Xingyue rode the yin wind forward.

"Big sister, wait for me!" Watching Dou Dou hurried to catch up.

The two of them riding yin wind and tearing across the sky naturally fell into the eyes of countless ghosts on the ground, stunning them speechless.

Some ghosts even tried leaping off the building to try riding the wind, but the result was just that they thought too much—they drifted lightly down to the ground, completely unable to fly into the air, let alone ride the wind.

"I remember, I remember…"

The buildings on the ground finally looked familiar to Watching Dou Dou.

Soon, the two landed on an unfinished building.

Through Yin Xingyue's vision, Shen Siyuan suddenly realized—it was Peninsula Sunshine, the largest cluster of unfinished buildings in Coastal City.

Construction had lasted only three years before stopping due to a broken capital chain, and once it stopped, it stayed stopped for over a decade, never taken over by anyone, eventually becoming Coastal City's biggest running joke.

The two little ones landed on the roof of a curved unfinished building—this one was meant to be a shopping mall, the whole structure looked especially large; it was unclear why Watching Dou Dou had ended up here before and then run into the big bad guy.

Yin Xingyue had the same question.

"Because of Jiujiu," Watching Dou Dou said.

"Who's Jiujiu?" Yin Xingyue asked, puzzled.

"Jiujiu is a little bird I found up in the sky."

Yin Xingyue: …

It turned out she was afraid Shen Siyuan would be lonely at home alone, so she left home intending to find her Sweet Potato Brother.

But while in the air, she ran into a little bird; finding it cute, she unconsciously followed behind it, and was led by the bird to this place.

Although the process was a bit roundabout, the little one was truly kind—with her parents by her side, this tiny person still thought of Shen Siyuan.

"Where was it that you saw the big bad guy?" Yin Xingyue asked.

"Follow me."

The little one beckoned and walked ahead, every inch the boss.

The two went down from the rooftop and finally reached the fifth floor.

"Why didn't we just fly straight down?" Yin Xingyue asked.

Watching Dou Dou froze for a moment, then broke into a silly grin: "Hehe, I forgot."

Yin Xingyue was helpless with this little sister; she looked around—dead silent, and frightening.

Yin Xingyue was, after all, still a child, and instinctively shrank back.

On the contrary, Watching Dou Dou, knowing no fear, simply waved her hand and strode forward boldly, while Yin Xingyue hurriedly followed.

Then, in a corner, they discovered a woman, her upper body naked, bound to a chair.

The woman kept her head down, her entire body a mess of blood and flesh; it seemed she had already drawn her last breath.

Watching Dou Dou, who had been utterly unafraid just moments before, immediately hid behind Yin Xingyue.

Yin Xingyue herself was so frightened that she kept retreating, yet she still held Watching Dou Dou behind her.

"With me here, do not be afraid."

Just then, Shen Siyuan's voice suddenly echoed in Yin Xingyue's mind.

Yin Xingyue was stunned for a moment, then instantly felt no fear.

"Let Watching Dou Dou stay nearby; you go up and take a look," Shen Siyuan added.

So Yin Xingyue turned her head and gave Watching Dou Dou a brief instruction.

Upon hearing this, Watching Dou Dou immediately kicked up her short little legs, turned, and ran, hiding in a corner, skulking about.

"Banner Master."

"Call me brother."

"Brother."

"I am here."

Hearing this, a calm and composed smile appeared on Yin Xingyue's face as she strode boldly toward the woman in the corner.

Through Yin Xingyue's eyes, Shen Siyuan observed that the woman must already be dead; her body was covered in whip marks, a mess of blood and flesh, and on her chest there was a Y-shaped burn.

This woman must have been tortured to death; the killer was extremely brutal.

Yin Xingyue, who had mustered her courage with Shen Siyuan's backing, now felt a wave of fear herself, an emotion that even transmitted to Shen Siyuan.

"It is nothing; do not be afraid. Look around some more."

Shen Siyuan offered these words of comfort in her mind.

Upon hearing this, Yin Xingyue mustered her courage once again and looked around.

Only then did Shen Siyuan notice an oil drum nearby; inside were burned ashes, and among the ashes lay a fire fork. The burn on the woman's chest must have come from this.

Seeing no one around, not even the ghost of the dead woman present, Shen Siyuan then instructed the two of them to return.