A few hours later, Ye Yu arrived at New City. Having been away so long, he wanted to see whether the Bone Lady had emerged from her seclusion. Yet before he could enter, he saw a familiar figure at the gate—Shen Fuxin! The female ghost deity stared blankly at the newly built Celestial Realm city, her expression full of confusion. Obviously, she could not understand what had happened. Where was the village she had left? How had it suddenly transformed like this? Hadn’t Chu Ge always praised small villages for their sense of kinship?
Before she could ponder further, Ye Yu was already beside her. “Long time no see!”
At those words, Shen Fuxin spun around; only when she recognized Ye Yu did she relax. Wait, something was wrong! She had already reached the late stage of the New God Realm—how could she have utterly failed to sense Ye Yu approaching? Could it be that he had become stronger than her? At the thought, Shen Fuxin drew in a cold breath. Ye Yu had only been in the Celestial Realm for at most three months—stronger than her now? Reluctantly admitting it, she saw from the divine-power fluctuations around Ye Yu that he truly towered above her. Her emotions grew complex as she murmured, “Long time no see.” Then she asked what had happened there. What of the previous village, and the other deities?
Ye Yu recounted the entire affair with Chu Ge. Upon hearing it, Shen Fuxin froze in place. So, Chu Ge’s intention in inviting them to stay had been far from pure—perhaps even malicious, treating them as mere fodder. Shuddering at the thought, Shen Fuxin stared at Ye Yu again. Chu Ge was a Grand God–Realm powerhouse, and Ye Yu had slain him alone two months earlier. How powerful must Ye Yu be now?
Shen Fuxin did not dwell on the question. After all, they had become friends. A friend growing stronger was a cause for happiness. A smile appeared on her face. “Let’s go. It’s been too long. Take me to see the Bone Lady—let’s catch up.”
Ye Yu hesitated on hearing this, his first instinct to refuse. The reason was simple: his wife, the Bone Lady, spoke her mind without filter. She had already tried to matchmake him with Shen Fuxin, and if Shen Fuxin returned now, she would surely bring it up again, creating an awkward scene. Ye Yu was torn: should he meet up or not?
Shen Fuxin noticed Ye Yu’s change in expression and feigned calm. “What’s the matter? Does the Bone Lady not want to see an old friend? Have you heard some rumor? Just because you two are married now, don’t believe Chu Ge’s nonsense!”
In truth, Shen Fuxin was also uneasy. Chu Ge had privately stoked her jealousy, insisting that the one who truly belonged with Ye Yu was Shen Fuxin, not the Bone Lady. Shen Fuxin feared that the Bone Lady had heard Chu Ge’s slander and held a grudge against ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) her.
Ye Yu waved his hand repeatedly. “It’s not rumors. I mainly worry about the Bone Lady—she’s too impulsive. As for you, don’t listen to her nonsense. Well, let’s go. I wonder if her seclusion has ended.”
What must come cannot be avoided. At worst, if the Bone Lady spoke nonsense, he could subdue her.
Ye Yu and Shen Fuxin entered New City and easily found the seclusion chamber. The divine-seal barrier was gone and the gate stood wide open—clearly she had emerged. Yet inside was no one. Had she left early? Why had she not contacted him? Curiosity burning, Ye Yu produced his communication stone to call her, but received no reply.
Shen Fuxin sensed something was amiss and hurried forward. “Let me help!”
Ye Yu looked puzzled. “How?”
Without answering, Shen Fuxin stood at the entrance and glanced at the moon above, then began to perform divine technique. “Moonshadow, reappear!”
In an instant, divine power gathered around them, forming an image—the Bone Lady’s phantom. She emerged from the seclusion chamber, stretching as she gazed at the sky with a sinister smile. Two breaths later, her figure vanished.
Shen Fuxin ended her technique and whispered, “Where moonlight shines, I can replay events of the past few days. But inside the chamber there’s no moonlight, so I can’t reconstruct it.”
Ye Yu nodded without speaking, though his heart raced. From the phantom’s gaze, he already saw the problem: the Bone Lady’s expression had been wrong, as if someone else entirely. If his guess was correct, the Heart Demon had manifested again! Damn—it meant he had still been careless.
At that moment, two figures suddenly appeared overhead. “This must be the place—the aura is very strong. Let’s go down and take a look.”
After a brief exchange, they shattered New City’s barrier and landed before Ye Yu and Shen Fuxin, asking coldly, “Hand over the person.”
Ye Yu looked up and saw two men wearing white robes with black lotus embroidery on their collars, giving them a bewitching appearance.
Shen Fuxin asked in a low voice, “Who are you? And what do you mean?”
The man on the left sighed, then stepped forward. “We are from Wuzhong Mountain. This is my senior brother Zuo Shanchuan; I am Jin Ci. We detected a taint of Yin evil energy here—surely the Heart Demon is at work. Hand over the deity possessed by the Heart Demon. We will take them away. Do you understand?”
Ye Yu raised an eyebrow. Wuzhong Mountain was one of the Celestial Realm’s divine leagues, self-styled guardians of this world, often engaging in odd activities. They had zero tolerance for evil gods and Heart Demons. He had heard before that Wuzhong Mountain dealt in Heart Demon purging—a prospect the Bone Lady had once wanted to witness. But after the Daodestroying Cataclysm, she had abandoned the idea and stayed with Chu Ge instead.
