Restless Mind

Zheng Que’s expression instantly turned grave. This was the third time he had seen people without shadows in the town.

The first time was right after he had passed his Dao Initiation Tribulation. On his way to see his master in the morning, he noticed several passersby without shadows. At that time, he wasn’t entirely sure and wondered if he had seen wrong.

The second time was yesterday morning, on his way to pay respects to his master. He saw several townsfolk heading out to work, also without shadows. This time, he saw it very clearly. There was absolutely no mistake.

Moreover, the condition of those townsfolk yesterday was exactly like Cui Ni’er’s now: aside from lacking shadows, everything else appeared completely normal. Even when viewed through the 【Spirit Eye Technique】, no issues could be detected.

And now, this was the third time.

Zheng Que took a deep breath. He remembered clearly that when he rescued Cui Ni’er from the well yesterday and brought her into the room, her shadow had still been fine.

But today. What on earth had happened?

At this moment, Cui Fugui was already speaking to his daughter. “Silly child! Of course, slaughter both of them. Clean them up properly, hang them in a basket to dry, and then pick a basket of fresh eggs. Hurry up!”

Cui Ni’er immediately replied, “Alright!”

With that, she picked up the two chickens and headed toward the backyard, clearly intending to slaughter them.

Zheng Que snapped back to reality. “Wait!”

Cui Ni’er stopped and turned to look at Zheng Que, her eyes questioning.

Zheng Que stared intently at the young girl before him and asked seriously, “Where is your shadow?”

Cui Ni’er immediately looked puzzled and instinctively lowered her head to glance at her feet. The sunlight was bright and shining directly on her, yet the ground beneath her was completely blank. Even the two chickens she held in her hands cast no shadows on the ground.

Cui Fugui also noticed something was wrong. His face paled. “Zheng Que, what… what is going on?”

“Could it be that the water ghosts weren’t all eliminated?”

“Please! You must save my daughter!”

Zheng Que frowned deeply. Those four water ghosts from yesterday were only at the second layer of the 【Tongue-Tearing Hell】, and he had already dealt with all of them. This couldn’t possibly be their work.

Thinking this, he continued to ask Cui Ni’er, “Did you go out today? Where did you go? Or did you encounter anything unusual?”

Cui Ni’er immediately shook her head, looking bewildered. “I… I didn’t encounter anything unusual. This morning, I just changed clothes and went to the small pond out front to wash yesterday’s dirty clothes.”

“On the way, I ran into Auntie Hua and greeted her.”

Cui Fugui added from the side, “That’s right! Because of the well trouble, our family hasn’t dared to use the well water these past few days. We’ve been fetching water from the neighbors for drinking and feeding the chickens, and we’ve been washing clothes at the small pond. You know that pond, Zheng Que. It’s right outside Auntie Hua’s courtyard wall. It’s considered one of the cleaner water sources in town and has never had any issues.”

The small pond next to Auntie Hua’s house?

Zheng Que did know about it. The pond wasn’t large, and the water was clear. Households without wells nearby would wash rice and clothes there. From what he remembered, nothing strange had ever happened there before.

He quickly made up his mind: he needed to go check that place out.

Additionally, Auntie Hua, who had greeted Cui Ni’er, would also need to be watched closely.

Thinking this, Zheng Que said in a low voice, “From now on, stay at home and don’t go out.”

“I’m going to check out that small pond.”

As he spoke, he turned and headed outside.

Seeing Zheng Que about to leave without delay, Cui Ni’er rushed forward. “Zheng Que, if you don’t have time to eat, take these two chickens with you!”

While speaking, she had already reached Zheng Que, quickly gathering both chickens into one hand. With her now free hand, she grabbed Zheng Que’s arm and tried to stuff the chickens into his hands.

Zheng Que was about to refuse, but the moment Cui Ni’er seized his arm, a sudden inexplicable sense of alarm surged within him. An almost instinctive fear washed over him like a tidal wave, as if he had been targeted by some terrifying presence. Instantly, every hair on his body stood on end, and his mind was thrown into turmoil.

Without any hesitation, Zheng Que violently shook off his arm.

Bang!

His current strength was immense, and Cui Ni’er had no ability to resist. She was instantly flung aside, crashing to the ground in a daze.

Zheng Que regained his composure. The heart-pounding sensation that had felt like needles on his back had come and gone as quickly as it arrived, as if it were all just an illusion.

Looking at Cui Ni’er lying on the ground and Cui Fugui staring at him in astonishment, Zheng Que steadied himself, momentarily unsure whether what he had just experienced was truly an illusion.

At that moment, Cui Fugui finally snapped out of his daze and hurried over to help Cui Ni’er up, scolding her rapidly. “You silly girl, what’s wrong with you!”

“Always so careless, can’t even handle a simple task properly!”

“I’m going to give you a good beating today!”

While berating his daughter, he quickly apologized to Zheng Que. “Zheng, Zheng Que, Ni’er is still young and doesn’t know any better. She really didn’t mean to offend you…”

As he spoke, Cui Fugui’s gaze toward Zheng Que clearly held a trace of fear.

He had no idea why Zheng Que had suddenly reacted that way, but since Zheng Que was now capable of killing ghosts and monsters, he dared not risk offending him.

Zheng Que shook his head slightly. Seeing that Cui Ni’er wasn’t seriously hurt, only suffering a minor scrape on her hand, he didn’t bother explaining anything to Cui Fugui. Taking a deep breath, he quickly left.

Once outside the Cui family’s courtyard, he immediately asked, “Qing Li, did you notice anything about Cui Ni’er just now?”

Qing Li replied without hesitation, “Her flesh is quite tender. She should taste more delicious than you, little human race boy.”

Hearing this, Zheng Que immediately understood that Qing Li, like him, hadn’t detected anything unusual about Cui Ni’er.

Thinking this, he lost interest in investigating the small pond for now and headed straight back home.

The issue with Cui Ni’er was beyond his current cultivation level to resolve.

Just being touched by her had nearly caused him to lose his composure. If he were to forcibly investigate the root of the problem, he feared he wouldn’t even know how he died.

A short while later, Zheng Que arrived home. Just as he was about to begin his cultivation, Qing Li immediately asked, “Little human race boy, do you have nothing else to do today?”

Zheng Que nodded. He had originally planned to visit the town mayor’s house today, but the incident at the Cui family’s had left him feeling unsettled.

To avoid any unexpected incidents, he decided to spend the day cultivating and visit the town mayor’s house tomorrow.

Seeing Zheng Que nod, Qing Li immediately said, “Since you, little human, are fine, then stay here obediently. This old lady needs to go out for a while.”

Huh?

Qing Li is going out to slay ghosts during the day too?

A ghost servant voluntarily working overtime. This is great!

Thus, Zheng Que promptly replied, “Fine, but you must return before dark.”