The Silent Mystic

Chapter 8

For a moment, he felt as if he were floating on air, soaring toward immortality. His very spirit seemed to slip out of his body, as if ascending into the highest heavens, returning beyond the nine clouds to the celestial palace to be crowned a deity.

But.

This sensation didn't last long.

A violent wave of freezing cold suddenly rushed over him, causing Chu Yun to violently shiver. His consciousness snapped completely awake in an instant.

The moment he woke, he was shocked to find that he was floating in mid-air!

No.

To be precise, his spirit was floating in mid-air. Down below, his physical body was still standing there, perfectly motionless.

His Spirit hovered in the air, with only a tiny thread still connected to his flesh. The separated portion of his spirit was battered by an agonizing, unearthly chill, as if the cold of the world itself was trying to freeze his entire Spirit solid.

Chu Yun took a deep breath.

But he didn't actually inhale anything; his spiritual body merely mimicked the motion.

"Ethereal Projection..."

A faint light flickered in his eyes. He wasn't particularly surprised.

Ethereal Projection!

The signature ability of an Eighth Tier Mystic Master!

The Spirit could briefly leave the physical body, but it couldn't stray too far. Wander too far, and it would easily become lost, reducing the Spirit to a wandering ghost and leaving the physical body as a lifeless husk.

The Ethereal Projection ability still didn't offer much combat power. It was merely an enhanced version of Spirit Vision.

In the projected state, Spirit Vision was automatically active, granting a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree field of view with no blind spots. His gaze illuminated an area spanning nearly a hundred meters in every direction, with himself at the center.

So Spirit level 6.0 really does mean I'm an Eighth Tier Mystic Master, Chu Yun murmured to himself.

After experiencing it for a brief moment, his Spirit returned to its shell.

Although an Eighth Tier Mystic Master could project their Spirit, it was still extremely dangerous, especially in broad daylight. A single beam of direct sunlight was enough to severely injure the spiritual body, or even scatter it entirely.

Even the most vicious and resentful spirits had to hide deep underground or in places heavy with Yin energy during the day.

He needed to reach the Seventh Tier as quickly as possible!

There wasn't much difference between the Ninth and Eighth Tiers, and their status was roughly the same. If they joined the Celestial Observatory, they would both serve as Ethereal Magistrates. But the Seventh Tier was entirely different. Entering the Bureau as a Seventh Tier meant becoming an Astral Overseer. Aside from direct imperial decrees, they could refuse any and all orders!

It was safe to say that once he became a Seventh Tier Mystic Master, he could immediately leave Duke Sovereign's Estate if he so wished. Even the Duke Sovereign himself wouldn't be able to stop him!

Such was the transcendent status of a Mystic Master!

[Name: Chu Yun]

[Age: 18]

[Martial Prowess: Feeble Mortal]

[Spirit: level 6.0 (+)]

[Spirit Points: 13]

[Spirit Projection (Nether Realm) — Available to Activate]

Chu Yun summoned the system interface again. After a quick glance, he continued upgrading.

His Spirit went from lv6 straight to level 7.0!

He experienced a sensation almost identical to the previous ones. The same intertwining of warmth and refreshing coolness, like Yin and Yang weaving together, enchanting the mind to the point of getting lost in it.

But since he had already gone through this before, and his spiritual body was now stronger and his will more resilient, he only sank into the sensation for a split second before quickly snapping back.

At level 7.0, his Spirit had grown a bit stronger still.

Chu Yun could sense that if it were nighttime, his projected Spirit could probably roam within a fifty-pace radius. Those fifty paces included floating into the sky and sinking underground.

Still, that wasn't particularly useful.

Spiritual Kinesis was the real key!

Chu Yun tried using the power of his Spirit to touch a teacup on the table, but he only managed to make it rattle and clink. He couldn't lift it at all.

The cold tea inside sloshed and spilled across the table.

Chu Yun gently reached out with his physical hand and picked up the teacup. "Still powerless... yeah, powerless."

After a moment of thought.

Chu Yun sat down at the table, summoned the system interface, and activated Spirit Projection.

The reason he dared to activate Spirit Projection in broad daylight wasn't because it was snowing outside. Rather, after his last experience, Chu Yun understood the absolute supremacy of the system.

If the boundless horrors of the Nether Realm couldn't pierce that faint layer of white light protecting him, a little mortal sunlight certainly wouldn't.

Buzzz!!

It was that violent, dragging sensation again.

A terrifying, utterly irresistible force grabbed him like a giant, invisible hand, suddenly yanking him away to some unknown destination.

The world flashed past his eyes like a phantom. Even with a Spirit upgraded to level 7.0, he was hit by waves of dizziness and couldn't keep his mind clear.

When he opened his eyes again.

The entire world had drastically changed.

Pitch-black mist spread across the sky, and dark brown, foul blood soaked the earth.

From afar came sounds that resembled ghosts weeping, mingled with tortured murmurs. Hearing just a snippet of it was enough to make his scalp tingle with dread, feeling as though his very Spirit was about to explode!

When Chu Yun turned his head around.

He immediately gasped in a breath of cold air.

There, pressed right up behind him, was a terrifying yet familiar ghostly figure. Black blood oozed from her seven facial orifices. If it weren't for the white glow shielding his body, she would have been practically pressed against his back.

It was none other than Little Jade!

This gave Chu Yun a severe fright, causing him to instinctively stumble backward.

Just as he was about to say something.

Little Jade remained frozen in place. Then, the congealed black blood flowing from her face silently began to flake away.

At the same time, the filth and corruption covering her body began to peel off piece by piece, like scraps of paper. Finally, it revealed the core within—a translucent phantom emitting a faint white glow.

This phantom looked like Little Jade from when she was alive. She was pretty and charming, closely resembling an older version of Su Yin. The only difference was a tiny red beauty mark below the corner of her right eye.

The young girl gracefully bowed to Chu Yun.

She seemed to wear an expression of profound relief.

Then, her entire figure dissolved into countless specks of white light, vanishing completely into the air.

Chu Yun stared at this scene in a daze, unable to react for a long moment. Finally, he gave a slight shake of his head and let out a soft, melancholy sigh.

It seemed things were exactly as he had guessed. Little Jade's lingering obsession had refused to disperse, tangling with the resentment and horrors of the Nether Realm to turn her into a wandering ghost.

She was a being sustained entirely by a single thread of obsession. Once that obsession was resolved, she naturally faded away into nothingness.

After pausing for a moment.

Chu Yun withdrew his gaze and slowly floated forward.

The withered, yellow grave dirt stretched on endlessly. Across the vast expanse of land, there was absolutely nothing else to see besides those dark brown bloodstains.

The patches of pitch-black mist were even more bizarre. They didn't look far away, yet no matter how far he floated forward, he could never get any closer. It was as if an uncrossable chasm separated them, an infinite distance that could never be breached.

He didn't know how much time passed.

Chu Yun finally spotted another figure.

Or, to be precise, another ghost.

The ghost looked like a beggar, with a rusted iron sword hanging from his waist. His eyes were closed as if he were deep in slumber; at a glance, he looked just like an ordinary person fast asleep.

However, his feet hovered above the grave dirt as he floated around aimlessly.

Chu Yun drifted closer.

Text materialized above the beggar's head.

[Yan Changyuan]

[Origin: The world is his home]

[Resentment: None]

[Obsession: Will never again taste the finest wine from Crimson Petal Pavilion...]

Looking at the text, Chu Yun blinked in surprise and studied the man more closely.

"It's him?"

This wasn't some nameless nobody. His inherited memories held impressions of this man; he was a frequent subject of storytellers in the teahouses.

He loved wine his entire life and wandered the world.

In his twilight years, he roamed the Imperial Capital. One night, while drunk, he encountered a malicious spirit harming the innocent. He drew his sword and slew it, but ultimately died from the exhaustion of his Crimson Vigor. He was buried in the north of the Imperial Capital.

So this obsession... does he want someone to bring a jug of good wine and pour it at his grave?

Chu Yun pondered for a moment.

Bringing wine into the Nether Realm was obviously impossible. Putting aside the fact that he didn't even know how he got here in the first place, even if he did, he probably couldn't bring physical objects into this realm.

The only possible solution seemed to be buying a jug of the wine he longed for and finding his resting place. That might be enough to erase his obsession.

The good news was that Crimson Petal Pavilion was located right here in the Imperial Capital.

And the man's grave was just outside the city.

Guess I'll just have to try it and see.

Still deep in thought, Chu Yun turned to look further into the distance. He noticed several other ghostly figures wandering aimlessly out there.

But just as he was about to head over, the white light protecting him began to dim. Before he could react, he was violently yanked away, vanishing completely from the grave dirt.

The old beggar's ghost didn't react at all.

He simply continued to wander aimlessly across the endless expanse of grave dirt.