Chapter 430: Chapter 394: Breaking Out of the Shell
Sang Que didn’t know how Cheng Ge talked to those people; not only did they not blame her for almost dismantling the Five Spirits Altar, but they were actually grateful she saved them.
Speaking of Nine Songs and Yunzhou being a family, they very respectfully welcomed her to reside in Moshan City, the largest city in Yunzhou.
Yunzhou is full of villages, with only this one true city, sitting under Mojiang Ridge near the Five Spirits Altar.
Sang Que thought, Cheng Ge probably didn’t tell the truth to the leaders of each village from the beginning. He most likely told them she was willingly returning the Yin Child and didn’t mention anything about the Earth Ghost.
After that, he told those leaders that the Earth Ghost was summoned by the Yin Child, and as the leader of Nine Songs, she took a heroic effort to seal both the Yin Child and Earth Ghost within the Five Spirits God. When the Five Spirits God finishes digesting the Yin Child and Earth Ghost, Yunzhou can select a new Holy Daughter.
Moreover, Sang Que was preparing to help Yunzhou rescue the Old Gu Master, so the Yunzhou people owed her gratitude and wouldn’t blame her for anything.
At night, the Ghost Vendor was guarding in the courtyard, while Xia Chan was outside the room, eating the sumptuous meal specially prepared by the locals for them, complaining it tasted bad while continuing to stuff it into her mouth.
Inside the room, Qiao Ling was preparing a wooden barrel of medicinal soup for Sang Que to take a medicine bath, perform needle therapy, and repair various damages to her body.
With Sang Que’s current level, the Ghost Realm could extend from the city to the Five Spirits Altar, so the Opera House still stood on the altar, and she could know of any changes happening inside immediately and rush there.
"Do you have a way to contact other members of Nine Songs?" Sang Que asked Qiao Ling.
Qiao Ling inserted a long needle into Sang Que’s nape, and immediately black blood began to flow from the needle’s hole. The mark left by the Earth Ghost faded significantly and would soon disappear completely, indicating that the Earth Ghost’s power at the altar was gradually weakening.
Qiao Ling said, "Now, besides me, the Bell Doctor, and the Ghost Vendor, you’ve also met the storyteller. Yao Zhen’s master is the Daoist, and Yao Zhen might take over from her. The remaining Old Gu Master was captured, the Monk is in Tibet, and the Ghost Vendor can send him a message."
"The Shopkeeper holds a large amount of resources, and we’re not allowed to contact the Shopkeeper directly, the same goes for the assassin. These two only listen to the orders of the leader, but to command them, you must present three tokens."
Sang Que squinted; the three tokens besides the Token and Mountain Ghost Coin likely included the Master’s Blade that Zuo Jinye carried.
No one knew how to contact the Shopkeeper and assassin, neither Qiao Ling nor Sang Que. So, she could only keep the Token on her to attract them to approach invisibly.
Resolving the Earth Ghost issue smoothly this time, Qiao Ling and the Ghost Vendor helped her a lot. Having benefited from Nine Songs, she must also appropriately shoulder Nine Songs’ responsibility.
Currently, the most urgent matters for everyone in Nine Songs were rescuing the Old Gu Master and resolving the Qinzhou crisis.
After Qiao Ling’s medicinal bath and needle therapy, Sang Que felt a lot lighter. She called the Ghost Vendor and Cheng Ge into the room, and they briefly discussed the upcoming matters.
There would definitely be results on the Five Spirits God’s side within seven days; the Yin Child knew that seven days later, the shell of the Demon-Subduing Pestle would completely become stone-like, so if she wanted to come out, she must do so before this time.
The Ghost Vendor said he could enter the Hidden Realm and travel from there across Qinzhou to reach Jinzhou.
However, the Hidden Realm was affected by the Qinzhou Death Domain, becoming even more dangerous than before, so the Ghost Vendor dared only travel during the day and had to hide at night.
Calculating like this, it would take at least two months to get to Jinzhou.
Sang Que decided to stay in the coffin to return to the modern time, letting the Ghost Vendor take the coffin to Jinzhou. Moreover, Qiao Ling suggested she should properly recuperate for at least a month, trying not to use ghostly powers.
On the modern side, the rookie training for the SWAT team was three months, which could count as relaxation.
Discussing until midnight, Sang Que asked the Ghost Vendor to help send a letter to Yao Zhen at Bright Moon Mountain, saying they’d arrive in two months.
The Five Ghosts raised by Sang Que were not as strong as the Ghost Vendor’s Five Ghosts, and with Qinzhou in between, her Five Ghosts couldn’t deliver messages to Jinzhou.
While waiting for the Yin Child in the days following, Cheng Ge went to make preparations, and the Ghost Vendor and Qiao Ling traveled to various villages in Yunzhou, collecting some rare items, catching uncommon ghosts, and gathering rare medicines.
On August 1st, Sang Que took Xia Chan back to modern times, letting her stay at home to accompany her mom. She gave Ye Changqing a call, saying she needed a few days of leave due to unfinished matters.
Higher-ups had already informed Ye Changqing about Sang Que and the Otherworld, so he agreed without saying much, telling Sang Que to take care of herself and not risk herself.
Sang Que smiled bitterly; the risks had already been taken.
Sang Que went to the Five Spirits Altar every day to stabilize the Opera House and check on the condition of the stone sculpture.
The Buddhist Scripture on the stone sculpture grew deeper, and its stone shell became stronger. By the third day, the mark left by the Earth Ghost on her nape had completely disappeared.
After waiting two more days, one night Sang Que was watching the Ghost Vendor crafting secret artifacts in Mojiang City when she suddenly sensed a disturbance inside the Opera House.
When Sang Que rushed inside the Opera House, she saw five mischievous children frantically fleeing from it. She made a rapid stride into the Opera House, seeing a crack open on the back of the Five Spirits God’s stone sculpture, with countless Five Poison crawling out.
The Skinning Master, wearing a Daomadan skin, and the two Paperman Martial Artists silently performed opera on stage while driving away the Five Poison crawling up the stage.
The Big Gate Saber was inserted in the center of the Opera House, and Old Tian was hiding in a room in the middle of the first floor, lifting the window to peer outside.
Hee-hee~
Sang Que heard mischievous laughter, crisp and melodious, seemingly coming from four directions at once, echoing around.
Sang Que turned her head to look everywhere but couldn’t find the trace of Yin Child.
But she clearly felt Yin Child was inside the Opera House; the connection between the Mountain Ghost Seal and her had weakened but not broken.
At this moment, the Five Poison that had emerged from the stone sculpture gathered in front of Sang Que, piling up layer upon layer, intertwining, and swiftly forming the appearance of an eight or nine-year-old girl.
The little girl wore red and black Miao clothing, with a silver crown on her head, her face bearing some resemblance to Sang Que, precisely the Yin Child.
Sang Que breathed a sigh of relief; she knew the Yin Child would be the final victor.
The Yin Child’s current body was formed by the gathering of the Five Poison, with reduced ghost qi on her, looking more like a normal little girl, indicating she had already devoured the Five Spirits God and taken its place.
The Yin Child suddenly appeared on the stone sculpture, gesturing for Sang Que to look. Sang Que followed her, peering into the gap in the stone sculpture, and was shocked to find a hole below, with the air at the entrance distorted, and white mist drifting out from it.
The Yin Child wore embroidered shoes on her feet, returning the Veil and phoenix hairpin to Sang Que, her face showing apology.
The Veil was torn to shreds, the phoenix hairpin also broken into two, and looking at the hole below, clearly showed the Earth Ghost had returned to the Hidden Realm and hadn’t completely vanished.
Subconsciously, Sang Que touched her nape, feeling warmth there, with no sign of the Earth Ghost’s mark reappearing.
The Earth Ghost was certainly severely injured this time; it would probably not show up in the world for a while.
Sang Que looked at the Yin Child; she had undergone quite a transformation!
