Chapter 62: Haunted by Ghosts! Are You Actually Afraid of Ghosts?

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

In the courtyard, inner strength rampaged.

From time to time came muffled noises; it was because Ye Liuyun was practicing martial arts.

A quiet courtyard whipped up with gales, the leaves on the old tree in the yard nearly stripped bare by now.

You could see Ye Liuyun’s figure darting back and forth in the yard, fists fierce and forceful, moving like a tiger in the wind.

In this situation, the servant girls couldn’t stay in the courtyard for long at all.

"Huff!"

After a good long while, that chaotic inner strength finally calmed down completely.

"I finally broke through!"

As he spoke, Ye Liuyun slowly let out a breath of impure air.

On his character panel, the previous mid-stage Innate had already become late-stage Innate.

He had thought that, since he’d only just broken through to mid-stage Innate, it would at least take a while longer to reach late-stage Innate—who would have imagined that just one upgrade to his talent entry was enough to push his cultivation past the hurdle.

Moreover,

Late-stage Innate wasn’t even the limit for this Battle Body talent.

Even if he just cultivated steadily from here on out, it probably wouldn’t take long to reach Innate Perfection, or even the Grandmaster Realm.

And this was just a gold-grade Battle Body talent entry.

If, in the future, he got a second or third talent entry for cultivation, he probably wouldn’t even need much hard training—he could just pile things up to Grandmaster level.

Not to mention, above gold-grade entries, there was an even higher red-grade tier.

Who knows,

What sort of effect could a red-grade entry reach?

He was starting to look forward to it now.

He believed the day when he no longer needed to eat beef was getting closer and closer.

...

For a while afterwards, Ye Liuyun hardly left the city.

He spent his days practicing martial arts, if not practicing martial arts—it was all training. Si Nan and Shi Sheng looked after Embroidered Uniform Guard business, so Ye Liuyun didn’t need to worry about it; his main focus remained on cultivation.

These days,

Anything can deceive you, but only the power you train yourself will never betray you.

Days like this lasted until over half a month had passed.

Only then, for a case, did Ye Liuyun take Si Nan, Shi Sheng, and a team of Embroidered Uniform Guards out of the Imperial City.

"Huff!"

Sitting on horseback, Ye Liuyun looked at ease.

As important as martial arts were, it felt pretty good to get out once in a while and relax—the change of pace could help improve one’s state of mind.

"Sir, do you think that ghost haunting described in the case is real?"

Si Nan rode next to Ye Liuyun’s side.

Thinking about the case they were heading to, he couldn’t help his curiosity and asked Ye Liuyun.

This case Ye Liuyun picked up was in a small town not far from the Imperial City. The town had once been peaceful, but just a few days ago, people saw ghost fire drifting through the night there.

Someone even saw a person burned to death by this ghost fire.

The whole village was terrified and had to report the matter to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

"Ghost stories have always existed—whether they’re real or not, we’ll know when we see for ourselves."

Even before his transmigration, Ye Liuyun had always believed ’better safe than sorry’; now that he’d gone through something even weirder like transmigration, ghost stories didn’t seem so strange.

If some random ghost really showed up, it wouldn’t even be all that surprising anymore.

"Still, just ghost fire alone isn’t enough to claim ghosts are at work. That’s a bit of a stretch."

When it came to cases, Ye Liuyun became much more serious.

In his view, there were plenty of ways to create flames out of thin air—for example, phosphorus powder. Even if it wasn’t widely known in this era, there were still some con artists who understood its use well.

Besides that, making fire appear out of nowhere by other methods wasn’t difficult either.

So,

Whether it really was a ghost at work, they’d have to see it for themselves.

"Wise as ever, Sir!"

Si Nan nodded along, skillfully flattering him.

But then,

The moment he turned his head, Si Nan noticed Shi Sheng following on the other side, quietly keeping to himself the whole way.

He gave Shi Sheng a curious look.

"Hey, what’s with you this time? Why so quiet—not a word at all?"

He hadn’t realized before,

But suddenly Si Nan registered: ever since they left the city, Shi Sheng had been like a mute, not a single word, nothing like his usual self.

"What’s there to say."

Even after hearing Si Nan, Shi Sheng just replied in a dull tone and then fell silent again.

Weird, really weird.

Si Nan immediately perked up.

"Well, you could share what you think about the case. Do you think it’s a ghost haunting?"

At the mention of "ghost," Shi Sheng’s eyelid twitched hard, and he turned his head to avoid looking at Si Nan.

"Didn’t Sir say, we’ll have to confirm it first before we can know?"

"..."

At that moment, even Ye Liuyun noticed something odd about Shi Sheng.

Si Nan, always quick-witted, instantly thought of something.

A teasing smile curled at his lips.

"Well, someone has to check, right? Shi Sheng, how about you go take a look tonight?"

"No way!"

At those words, Shi Sheng couldn’t help himself—he immediately raised his head to protest.

Noticing Si Nan’s teasing gaze, Shi Sheng quickly tried to explain.

"I need to stay with Sir to protect him. You’ve got good Qinggong—you should go."

Does Sir really need you to protect him?

Can’t even come up with a convincing excuse.

Si Nan had finally figured out what was up with Shi Sheng.

"Hey..."

He nudged his horse over with a grin, pulling up beside Shi Sheng.

With mock seriousness, he said—

"Don’t tell me you’re afraid of ghosts."

"How could I?"

It was like he’d jabbed exactly at Shi Sheng’s sore spot; Shi Sheng stiffened his neck and rebuffed instantly.

"Me, Shi Sheng, walk upright and sit straight—how could I ever fear ghostly nonsense?"

"Do no wrong in daylight, and you won’t fear ghosts knocking at midnight."

With such a transparently guilty excuse, Si Nan would believe it when pigs fly.

"Oh really? Then you go test it."

"I need to protect Sir."

"You’re scared of ghosts."

"I’m not scared."

"Then go test it."

"I..."

For once, Shi Sheng couldn’t say a word in front of Si Nan.

"We’re all brothers—if you say you’re scared of ghosts, I wouldn’t laugh at you."

Si Nan raised his hand and patted Shi Sheng’s shoulder.

"You really won’t laugh?"

"Of course,..."

As he spoke, Si Nan paused a beat, the smirk at his lips growing even wider.

"Just kidding!"

"Hahahaha!"

"You’re actually scared of ghosts—hahahaha!"

Watching Si Nan laugh until he nearly fell from his horse, Shi Sheng said nothing, his face expressionless.

But his fists clenched tighter.

What now? I kind of want to hit someone.

Everyone has something they’re afraid of—never mind Shi Sheng’s burly build, he really was spooked by all that supernatural stuff.

......