Chapter 196: A Beauty Hidden in a Golden House

Before the window, she arranges her cloud-like hair; before the mirror, she applies the floral yellow.

In the courtyard of Shuimen Bridge, Xu Qing had expected to see the embroiderer sitting upright before her dressing mirror, her pomegranate-like head resting between her knees, gracefully and dignifiedly taking up a comb to tend her beautiful hair.

But he never in a million years expected that after reciting the opening incantation, this ghostly girl would let out a wail and burst into tears right there on the spot!

Who knows how a ghost can even cry out loud; anyway, the embroiderer instinctively reached out to catch her head, and after a moment of bewilderment, she screamed, nearly tossing her own head away.

Fumbling to catch her head, the embroiderer wept like a pear blossom in the rain, constantly muttering in her mouth: "My head has fallen off, I'm going to die, I'll never see Mr. again, I'll never be able to weave cloth again," and other such nonsense.

Xu Qing felt somewhat guilty in his heart; when he taught the embroiderer the Headless-Immortality Art, he hadn't told her what kind of technique it was, yet the embroiderer was still as happy as a flower, and even when some small accident occurred during cultivation, she never doubted him for a moment.

Until the moment her head fell off.

"Don't cry, it's no big deal, calm down first!"

"But my head has fallen off, I'm going to die."

"Wake up! You weren't alive to begin with; you're a ghost!"

"Ghosts can die too; Mr. said that after a ghost dies, it becomes Jian."

Xu Qing's brain throbbed; how could the ghost he raised be so timid!

Pressing the embroiderer down to sit properly before the dressing table, Xu Qing soothed her earnestly: "With me here, it's no problem if your head falls off. Calm down first, and recall carefully the 'Head Return Incantation' I taught you. As long as you cast this incantation, your head will grow back."

"Head Return Incantation?" the embroiderer asked, puzzled.

"It's the Face-Return Incantation I mentioned to you earlier."

"."

Following the instructions, the embroiderer formed the hand seal and recited the incantation.

Accompanied by the dull female voice of "Head return, head return" from within her abdominal cavity, black mist suddenly appeared at the embroiderer's neck; after the incantation was recited three times, the head she was carefully holding in front of her body detached from her palms and lightly settled back onto her neck.

"Mr. was deliberately teasing me!"

The embroiderer was still shaken; even though she had trusted Xu Qing before, she couldn't help feeling somewhat annoyed now.

Although Xu Qing was in the wrong, his spirit was high.

"This is the Headless-Immortality Art, a true secret technique of the Nine Heavens, not some street performer's trick. With it, you will no longer fear beheading by blades in the future; even when you comb your hair in the morning, it will be more convenient."

"The reason I called it the Face-Return Incantation is that I know your nature is timid; if I had told you the truth, you certainly would not have been willing to cultivate this method."

Perhaps zombie skin is thick, for Xu Qing said this without blushing; anyway, in his subsequent words, he spoke entirely of how painstakingly well-intentioned he was, and how rare and extraordinary this Immortality Art was as a peculiar technique.

In short, it was seven parts truth and three parts falsehood; the embroiderer, being a simple female ghost, became happy again after hearing this, feeling that Mr. did this because he cared for her. If he hadn't cared about her, he wouldn't have come to the courtyard at all, nor would he have explained so much nonsense to her.

However, what the embroiderer did not know was that Xu Qing still had many techniques suitable for ghosts to cultivate, but whose cultivation process was extremely sinister.

He feared that if he didn't coax this female ghost well, it would be difficult to trick her into continuing cultivation afterward.

Xu Qing felt helpless too; this female ghost was good in every way, except she always felt she was still a human, and she refused to actively practice any slightly sinister spells or techniques.

But among those techniques suitable for ghosts to cultivate, how many were normal?

"Embroiderer, you must remember: you are already a ghost. Ghosts have no human rights in the Yang World. Only by cultivating well can you protect yourself and guard this courtyard for me."

"I don't want to return from seclusion one day and find this courtyard in complete chaos."

The embroiderer nodded repeatedly; when Xu Qing left the courtyard, the female ghost floated down to the eaves of the entrance gate and kept watching until the other party disappeared at the head of Shuimen Bridge.

In the sweltering heat of June, the weather was hot.

Xu Qing casually raised a white paper umbrella—that umbrella had originally been funeral paper goods burned for the deceased, but now it had become his divine tool for escaping the heat.

Although he was no longer afraid of the sun's scorching, that didn't mean he liked standing under the sun.

Xu Qing walked along the familiar street, holding the funeral umbrella in one hand and playing with the small black pouch the embroiderer had given him in the other.

That exquisite pouch was made for Xuan Yu; this cat occasionally went out to wander, although its wandering was merely strolling within Jinmen, but no one could say whether it might encounter danger right at the doorstep.

Before meeting him, this cat had already lost one of its nine lives; he didn't want Xuan Yu to encounter anything else within Jinmen territory, right under his own nose.

The small black pouch was neither too big nor too small; besides being able to hold the Water-Avoiding Pearl and some talismans, it could just fit a small bowl.

Xu Qing calculated the days in his mind; the progress of refining the Untransformed Bone was much faster than he had expected. At this rate, in no more than twenty years, he might have to lie in a coffin to refine the most important bones of his body.

"Tianzhu, Huangting, Beihai."

Tianzhu is the spine; Huangting is the skull, where the Niwan Palace is located; and finally, Beihai is the Immortal Bone in the eyes of cultivators, which is where the sacrum is situated.

Xu Qing didn't know how long these places needed to be nurtured and refined; anyway, before he lay down as a corpse, he must do everything possible to make all preparations.

Walking toward the Flower and Bird Street, Xu Qing saw Zhao Zhonghe leading a group of government office Runners, guarding a woman, and hurrying back in a rush.

So much so that they didn't even have time to greet him when they saw him; from their appearance, something urgent must have happened.

Xu Qing paid no attention at all and continued strolling toward the Flower and Bird Street.

Upon arriving at Second Master Feng's residence, Xu Qing looked left and right, fearing he might encounter that rascal Shang Shaoyang again.

"Did Second Master sleep well last night?"

When Second Master Feng saw Xu Qing arrive, he was beyond excited.

"Brother Xu has finally come; I didn't dare close my eyes all night long, fearing that headless ghost would come to my door."

Xu Qing asked in surprise: "Didn't I say yesterday that the ghost has been executed? Young Master Shang also knows; didn't he explain it clearly to you?"

Second Master Feng said gloomily: "Last night you signaled me to keep him here, but that friend of yours has a very strange temper. Before I could even keep him for a moment longer, he said he needed to go to the latrine. I thought I couldn't let a guest hold it in; that's not something a human should do, so I let him go, and I waited outside with him."

"As a result, I waited for a long while, heard no sound, and when I spoke, no one answered. I pushed open the latrine door, and the person was gone!"

"I thought he had fallen into the pit, so I shone a lantern, but there was no trace."

"You see how ridiculous this is; we don't know whether the person ran away or was eaten by the headless ghost."

Hearing this, Xu Qing said helplessly: "Second Master, no need to guess. This person is highly skilled in martial arts; he must have stepped onto the eaves and fled."

Seeing that Second Master Feng's complexion was indeed not good, Xu Qing comforted him: "This matter is already in the past. That ghost was actually just a headless corpse beheaded at the execution ground; it only came to cause trouble because its resentment did not dissipate. There's nothing extraordinary about it."

"That's good." Second Master Feng lifted his tea cup as if to drink, but suddenly looked up and said: "By the way, does Brother Xu still have the medicine you gave me last time? I've been greatly frightened these past few days, especially last night. Now my body feels extremely weak; I need to regulate it."

"Speaking of which, the medicine Brother Xu gave me last time, I felt its effect was quite good."

As the two were talking, Xu Qing suddenly noticed a woman with proper makeup, who did not look like a servant, walking past outside the door; seeing someone inside the room, she quickly turned back to avoid them.

Xu Qing blinked his eyes, then looked again at Second Master Feng, whose complexion was faint and unsteady.

This Second Master is not exactly honest!

Clearly he had hidden a beauty in a golden house and overtaxed his body, yet he shifted the blame onto a headless ghost.

"Second Master, please take it easy. Though this medicine is good, one must not be greedy in taking it."

(End of this chapter)