Chapter 11
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Yuyeon the Ghost Hunter (1)
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Yuyeon ultimately left the village before sunset. If she lingered any longer, she might grow attached. Besides, since she'd already led them on, she figured the villagers could face reality and flee if she vanished quickly.
Of course, that last part was purely Yuyeon's delusion. Shrine Maiden Jang Jina was handling things quite competently on her own.
'It's unfortunate, but the village's troubles are for the villagers to deal with.'
The best she could do was pray that everything worked out.
With that, Yuyeon turned her steps away, facing no obstacles. She calmly departed the village by a different path from the one she'd arrived on.
Normally, if one had partaken of an offering table, it would be akin to accepting the villagers' incense as a cultivator, obligating aid in return.
But while Yuyeon had eaten the ritual food, she wasn't a proper cultivator worshiper, nor did she know how to properly receive offerings. She'd just shoveled it into her mouth like a barbarian. Thus, there was no binding obligation as she left.
By the time Yuyeon departed before evening, the sun hadn't set outside, but the mountains were already dim with encroaching night. Mountains always darkened early, so it wasn't particularly strange.
However, this mountain carried a yin chill that made the shadows deepen even faster—or so Yuyeon assessed, as something of a yin energy specialist.
With such thick yin qi blanketing the forests around a village plagued by ghosts, Yuyeon couldn't help but suspect a connection.
But since she couldn't see by mere mortal light anyway, she pressed on indifferently.
Mountains gathering yin qi wasn't inherently odd. Natural terrain naturally tilted toward yin or yang based on its features, reshaping the five elements in new forms as it evolved.
When entering the village, Yuyeon had stuck to the path to get her bearings. But now, she no longer needed it.
Paths formed where humans tread often, along gentle slopes and mountain curves.
Villages with wealth and manpower sometimes carved new ones, but unless it was some official road, they always wound around for easier footing—relatively flat and navigable.
In other words, that "easy" factor was the problem for Yuyeon. Bursting with energy and light on her feet, she could scale sheer ridges all night without tiring.
She might follow paths again later if she craved human company, but having gorged on meat, she had no reason to now. She set north, vaulting ridges freely.
After crossing one more peak, even her maximum-range Divine Sense picked up no trails, markers, stumps—nothing man-made.
Returned to true wilderness, Yuyeon suddenly sensed something odd with her Divine Sense. She halted, on guard.
It wasn't a person. It was something spiritual.
It had been over a week since leaving Xifeng County, and in these mountains and valleys, she'd encountered novelties beyond her past experience. Her realm had expanded, sharpening her Divine Sense.
She'd detected faint auras in beasts on the verge of spiritual awakening, and wandering souls from mountain dead dissipating into the nine heavens.
But this was the first time she'd faced such a dense spiritual presence. Its qi pool was a bit weaker than Namgung Manor Lord's by her measure, but ghost qi roiled across its entire form, its aura ferocious.
Having once been spotted by a perceptive foe via Divine Sense, Yuyeon wasn't careless. She didn't assume a ghost shrouded in such qi lacked perception.
'Why's it just standing there?'
Unable to read its mind, she chalked it up to stillness.
'Can I ignore this ghost? Or should I check it out?'
No worry it'd tail her stealthily after she passed—lacking mortal sight, her all-around senses made ambushes unlikely for her.
Her real concern: it staying put now, but summoning allies once she left, encircling her.
Especially if they were cunning swarms harassing her endlessly from beyond Divine Sense range, she'd be in trouble.
Within arm's reach, she was confident she could dispatch something of this power instantly.
If it were some trivial stray soul or less ferocious, she'd have ignored it. But leaving this one be grated on her.
As a proper Entrance Stage Ghost Dao cultivator, her cultivator's conscience permitted proactive self-defense—against inferiors, at least.
Having gleaned all her Divine Sense could reveal yet left unsatisfied, she approached to at least identify it.
That was Yuyeon's perspective as a Divine Sense-bearing cultivator. The ghost saw things differently.
—Stay here and ensure no one passes. Guard this spot.
The ghost was simply obeying orders, holding position.
If given to a human, even an elite soldier wouldn't last two or three hours without losing focus—alone in these wild hills, no less.
It had been the same when the ghost was human. Flesh bodies were inherently vulnerable to idleness.
But as a ghost, bodiless, stillness brought no itch. Its mindset shifted; standing blankly held no hardship.
Time blurred as it zoned out on duty. Then, something probed its inner depths intimately. It froze.
Like skin flayed bare. That was the sensation of Yuyeon's Divine Sense—something ghosts, still clad in spectral garb, found repulsive.
Then it felt itself squarely in that being's domain. Terror surged.
Unknowing the cause, it dared not move. Nor could it pinpoint the source, amplifying the dread.
What if it overcame fear, turned, and faced something beyond its senses?
Imagining a ghost vaster than its master shredding it, the ghost trembled finely.
While it spun such delusions, Yuyeon arrived before it.
She first waved a hand before its eyes, wondering if ghosts truly had vision.
Lacking sight herself and relying on Divine Sense, she wouldn't assume it saw like a mortal.
Regardless, its pupils didn't twitch.
'Can't it see me? Or are the eyes just ornaments, no visual sense at all?'
Strictly speaking, with their cultivation gap, she could just capture it and interrogate. Done.
But Yuyeon's ghost lore was scant; she wasn't sure it could talk, or if it'd lie.
Next test: reveal herself directly. She was thrilled her Concealing Form Formation met expectations.
She'd trusted it, but the village fiasco had left doubts.
No other spells or formations pinged her Divine Sense. At last, she released it, stepping behind the ghost.
The ghost flinched briefly.
First motion since her Divine Sense locked on.
She waved casually from behind—no reaction. Just more shivering.
Thus, Yuyeon learned ghosts couldn't see behind their heads either. Fascinating.
She reactivated the formation, stepped back to what might be a human's peripheral vision range.
Releasing it now would let it "pass" the test and spot her, tainting pure results—or so thought this ghost-loathing cultivator.
Instead, she ducked behind a tree large enough to hide her, testing if ghosts were blocked by obstacles.
She dropped the formation; the ghost flinched again.
Even harder this time—its face would have been pale with cold sweat and nausea if embodied.
It whipped its head around, seeking the source. It stared hard at her hiding tree but uncertainly, then scanned anew.
Yuyeon's conclusion:
Ghosts had field of vision—and blind spots!
And it turned its head to search? Most unfair—it eyed the world like mortals.
Annoyed, Yuyeon wondered if injuring its eyes would blind it, but as fellow Ghost Dao being, she opted for communication first.
Ah, one more test.
Concealing Form Formation cloaked her again. The ghost huddled, quaking like it was dying—ironic, a ghost tormented by ghosts.
She circled opposite, hid behind another obstacle, and released it. This time, it snapped toward her faster.
Not fully convinced, but repeatedly toyed with, its face twisted in fury.
Finally, it jerked its head up and snarled.
Partly wishing for a clean kill, partly venting frustration impulsively.
"Hey! I can't even guess your purpose, but why toy with and torment me like this?!"
Yuyeon felt a twinge of guilt for her first ghost encounter—teasing it for knowledge, despite its weakness. Just a twinge.
"If you want to play ghost pranks, do it somewhere else!"
'This inferior dares?'