Chapter 62: Bloodline Inheritance

Doudou continued, “But I’m flying in the sky—he can’t catch me…”

Her tone carried a hint of pride.

“If that’s the case, why are you afraid?”

“I’m afraid he’ll use his feather duster to spank my butt,” Doudou said matter-of-factly.

“Alright, then what happened after? Did you just run away?”

Shen Siyuan found talking to this little thing truly exhausting.

Though she pouted and gesticulated wildly as she spoke, her little mannerisms were undeniably adorable.

“No, I remembered what Old Man Sweet Potato said—I’m really powerful now, and I’m a fire-spitting dragon, so I flew down from the sky and spat fire at him. He screamed in terror and vanished behind the wall…”

“Wait—you’re saying that old man, like you, is also a ghost?” Shen Siyuan finally realized.

“Of course, what else would he be?” Doudou said again, as if it were obvious.

“You say he was holding a feather duster?” Shen Siyuan frowned.

People come into the world naked and leave it the same way—they don’t carry anything with them, not even their clothes, which are merely manifestations of the mind.

After death, possessing a companion object—or rather, a death-bound object—is virtually impossible, especially in a world devoid of spiritual energy; such a spiritual artifact simply cannot exist.

“Yes.”

“What color was the feather duster in his hand? What did it look like exactly?”

Doudou thought for a moment and said, “His feather duster had white feathers—it looked kind of pretty, hehe, I wonder if Old Man would let me play with it…”

Shen Siyuan was startled upon hearing this.

Based on Doudou’s description, this sounded like the weeping staff of Bai Wuchang—could Doudou have encountered a ghost official?

But that didn’t make sense—according to Qingyun the Daoist, the Ghost Gate was sealed, the Underworld hidden, reincarnation ceased—how could any ghost official still exist?

“Where did you meet him?” Shen Siyuan asked.

Doudou thought for a moment, then pointed in one direction.

“Over there.” She pointed east.

Then she changed her mind and pointed north. “It should be over there.”

Shen Siyuan: …

“I’m terrified, I’m terrified…”

Old Man Liu hurried back home, his soul trembling with fright—he’d nearly been set ablaze by that little girl’s flames.

Huang Niangmu was worshipping the gods, her daily ritual, performed twice a day.

Aimei stood behind her, mimicking the same reverent gestures.

As Huang Niangmu’s heir, she still had much to learn.

Though many things seemed useless, since they’d been passed down, she must learn reverence—whether useful or not, first learn them.

Just as she finished half her worship, Old Man Liu rushed through the main hall, muttering incessantly, visibly shaken, and vanished into the inner rooms without even noticing the two women—clearly terrified.

Aimei grew curious and wanted to go see what had happened, glancing up at Huang Niangmu, who knelt directly before her.

But Huang Niangmu continued worshipping, as if utterly unconcerned, undisturbed.

Seeing this, Aimei could only suppress her curiosity and continued worshipping alongside her.

Yet soon after the worship ritual ended, Huang Niangmu suddenly rose and dashed into the inner chambers.

Aimei was stunned—she’d truly thought Huang Niangmu was calm and indifferent.

But now was no time for such thoughts; she hurried after her.

Inside the inner room, Old Man Liu still looked shaken, surrounded by several other old ghosts offering comfort and asking questions.

And the feather duster Doudou had mentioned now sat on the table beside him.

Each of these ghosts was one of Aimei’s ancestors.

This was Aimei’s bloodline inheritance—the ability to commune with ancestors, through whom they could manifest incredible powers.

“What happened? What exactly did you see?” Huang Niangmu rushed in and demanded.

“That special little girl you all mentioned,” Old Man Liu said, still trembling.

“She scared you this badly?”

As she spoke, her gaze fell on the feather duster beside her.

With this object, all ghosts in the world could be commanded—yet here it was, and this little girl had terrified him so.

“You don’t understand—you don’t understand—this little girl is terrifyingly powerful…”

As Old Man Liu spoke, his spirit seemed to tremble.

“Grandpa, how exactly is she so powerful?” Aimei asked curiously.

Huang Niangmu and the surrounding ancestors were equally curious.

So Old Man Liu recounted what had happened that day.

“You told me to find out if anyone had seen any unusual ghosts, so I went around asking, and in Chengxi, I heard from other ghosts that recently a very peculiar ghost had appeared—covered in blue flames, flying through the sky…”

“At first I didn’t believe it—how could such a ghost appear in these years? But so many ghosts said the same thing—some claimed there was only one, others said there were two…”

“I was half-skeptical, so I decided to verify it—I went to the route where the ghost was often seen, hoping to catch a glimpse…”

“To my surprise, I actually met her—this little girl rode a gust of yin wind, whooshing past right above my head, so I chased after her immediately…”

“Riding yin wind?”

The other old ghosts in the room all exclaimed in shock.

Though they could communicate with their descendants, they were merely ordinary ghosts—the incense offerings they’d received over the years had done them no good at all.

“Yes, riding yin wind,” Old Man Liu nodded firmly, insisting he hadn’t misstated it.

“Could it be that this little girl also received an inheritance or some kind of opportunity?” one old ghost ventured.

Everyone turned their gaze to the “feather duster” on the table.

“But how did she scare you so badly?” another old ghost asked.

“Uncle San, you don’t know how terrifying that little ghost is.”

Old Man Liu continued: “I chased after her, wanting to ask her some questions. She sensed me, suddenly turned around and dove from the sky. Before she even got close, I felt as if I were burning—my whole body seared with pain, my spirit filled with dread, as if some great terror had descended from the heavens…”

“Then she opened her mouth and spat—a stream of blue flame rushed toward me. That was even more terrifying—I barely escaped being burned, and only because I ran fast enough…”

Everyone exchanged uneasy glances.

“Is she really that powerful?”

“More than powerful—she’s the absolute bane of our kind,” Old Man Liu said.

“If that’s true, are you certain you escaped her? She can ride yin wind,” one old ghost asked quietly.

“Didn’t the last visitor ask about the character of the man who’s going to marry into our family? I’ll go find out…”

“Society has changed so fast—I haven’t gone out in ages. I’ll take a walk, broaden my horizons…”

“I haven’t visited some old friends in a long time—I’ll go pay them a call…”

The old ghosts all turned and left—even Old Man Liu picked up the “feather duster,” muttered something about being too frightened and needing to clear his head, and hurried out.

Only the grandmother and granddaughter remained in the room, staring at each other, bewildered and uneasy.

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