Chapter 67: Lonely Ghost

“She’s right, don’t be impulsive.”

Xiu Qingcheng also persuaded Meng Yingxing, “Most demonic beasts are weak, but they are different from humans.”

“They do not feel fear, and once they choose a person to devour, they will fight to the death. Especially since demonic beasts often appear in groups, you might be able to kill a few if you go, but you’ll be putting yourself in greater danger.”

Although with Xiu Qingcheng around, Meng Yingxing would be fine, she still preferred to avoid trouble.

“If you go now, you’ll only drag down your senior brothers and sisters. It would be better to wait until you’re stronger. There will be plenty of demonic beasts for you to kill then.”

“Besides, didn’t Liu Chenxin say there are even some more powerful demon races? That would be an even greater danger for you. You should just stay in the city and do what you need to do.”

Meng Yingxing clenched his fists, seemingly unreconciled that he couldn’t go and fight the demonic beasts.

But in the end, Meng Yingxing accepted it. Xiu Qingcheng was right. If he went now, he might just hold others back.
“I understand. Senior Sister, please be careful.”

After all, Liu Chenxin was going to fight demonic beasts, so Meng Yingxing hoped she would return safely.

“Don’t worry, our Tianfeng Sect’s combat power is top-notch. A mere group of small demons is nothing to fear.”
Liu Chenxin smiled, then unfolded her flying artifact and flew towards the city outskirts.

Meng Yingxing looked up in the direction Liu Chenxin had left, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.

“Relax, disciple. It’s normal for demonic beasts to riot from time to time. They aren’t as terrifying as you think. If the demon races were that scary, the human race wouldn’t have flourished so prosperously.”

Xiu Qingcheng told Meng Yingxing to just relax. If something really happened, it didn’t matter, the Tianfeng Sect would intervene.

If the great Tianfeng Sect couldn’t even handle a mere demonic beast riot, then it could be immediately delisted from the countless immortal sects.

“It would be better to take this time to wander around the city some more.”

Xiu Qingcheng was truly carefree.

Meng Yingxing convinced himself mentally and began to wander around Yongning City to see if he needed anything else.

As Meng Yingxing was walking down a familiar street, a sharp, high-pitched sound of a suona¹ pierced the sky, stabbing into his eardrums like a sharp arrow.

Following the sound of the suona, he looked down the street and saw a shop with white mourning banners hanging high outside. The faint sound of a woman’s tragic sobs could be heard.

A saying goes: a suona’s blast is worth ten thousand taels of gold, for it signals either an ascension to heaven or a wedding ceremony.

It seemed this time, the suona was for a funeral.

Meng Yingxing had no intention of joining in on such a sad event and was about to leave the street when Xiu Qingcheng suddenly called out to him.

“Hey disciple, that shop holding the funeral… doesn’t it look a bit familiar?”

Only after Xiu Qingcheng’s question did Meng Yingxing focus his gaze and look inside.

On the plaque of the shop holding the funeral, four characters were clearly written.

“Changyue Medical Clinic, isn’t that…”

Meng Yingxing’s heart sank.

Changyue Medical Clinic. It was that clinic, it was the Jiaoren named Li Mo, it was the old man named Wang Zhuihai.

At this moment, the Changyue Medical Clinic no longer looked like a clinic at all.

A heavy coffin was placed in the main hall of the clinic, white cloths hung on the walls, and mourning banners were lined up on both sides.

A woman in mourning clothes was lying on the coffin, crying with deep grief and sorrow.
Standing in the surrounding crowd, Meng Yingxing could clearly see that the woman was the Jiaoren he had met before, Li Mo.

Then, the identity of the person lying in the coffin, who had passed away, needed no further guessing.

It was the old man who had bandaged his wounds, Wang Zhuihai.

Just half a month ago, Wang Zhuihai and Li Mo had stood alive and well at the entrance of this clinic, celebrating its opening with red firecrackers and festive fireworks.

But now, white mourning banners fluttered in the wind, Li Mo’s sorrowful cries scattered in the wind, and the soul of the dead would never return.

“Disciple, is it hard to bear?”

Xiu Qingcheng could feel Meng Yingxing’s incredibly heavy mood.

Meng Yingxing nodded silently, his face expressionless.

If it were a stranger who had died, Meng Yingxing wouldn’t have felt anything.

But this time, the person who died was someone he had met, and that person had been vividly alive just a few days ago.

A joyous occasion before, a funeral now, as if in the blink of an eye.

Joy and sorrow, speaking of life’s impermanence.

The concept of life and death, at this moment, became particularly weighty in Meng Yingxing’s heart.

“Then why not… see that old… man off on his final journey.”

A boy’s shadow suddenly stood in front of Li Mo. She subconsciously raised her face and saw a familiar face.

“Benefactor…”

Meng Yingxing looked at Li Mo’s tear-streaked and haggard face. Her voice, like her heart, was shattered.

“Miss Li Mo, my condolences.”

Meng Yingxing said, bowing deeply before the coffin in front of him.

Perhaps Meng Yingxing’s appearance reminded Li Mo of something, and tears once again streamed from her eyes.

After Meng Yingxing paid his respects, Li Mo quietly asked him to stay for a while.

Since Meng Yingxing had nothing else to do in the city, he decided to agree.

Wang Zhuihai’s simple funeral soon ended, but there was still time before the burial.

Taking advantage of this precious free time, Meng Yingxing met Li Mo in the inner room of the Changyue Medical Clinic.

She was dressed in white, the tear stains on her face not yet gone, like a fragile butterfly.

“This was my grandfather’s favorite pastry. You can try some. I’m sorry, Benefactor, for keeping you so suddenly.”
Li Mo sat on the stool opposite Meng Yingxing and placed the pastry she had brought on the table.

“It’s no trouble, Miss Li Mo. If there’s anything I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to ask,” Meng Yingxing said.

‘At a time like this, I should help however I can.’

Li Mo smiled, a very forced smile.

“It’s nothing major, it’s just… I hope you can listen to a story I have to tell…”

“Please go ahead, Miss Li Mo.”

Meng Yingxing didn’t know why Li Mo suddenly wanted to tell a story, but he knew that what he and his master needed to do now was to listen quietly.

Li Mo raised her face, trying to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes, and began to speak in a broken, choked voice.

“A long, long time ago, a Jiaoren girl fell in love with a human boy.”

“For the sake of the human, she left her clan and went ashore without hesitation. On the perilous land, she successfully fell in love with the human.”

“Unfortunately, there is always a difference between humans and demons.”

“The boy gradually grew up and even grew old, but the Jiaoren remained forever beautiful.”

“The boy was afraid that the Jiaoren’s identity would be suspected and exposed by acquaintances, so he took her and moved between various cities.”

“The boy left his hometown, with no relatives to turn to.”

“Later, the boy became an old man, and the Jiaoren called him ‘Grandfather’.”

“But even so, though the seas may dry and rocks may crumble, their love never changed.”

The story seemed to end there. It was a very simple story.

Meng Yingxing looked at the Jiaoren in front of him, silent.

He finally understood that the Jiaoren in Li Mo’s story was herself, and the boy was the deceased Wang Zhuihai.

So Wang Zhuihai was never Li Mo’s grandfather, but the man she had pursued with deep love.

“I knew from the beginning that the relationship between Li Mo and Wang Zhuihai wasn’t that simple.”
Xiu Qingcheng said in Meng Yingxing’s mind.

“It’s just this story… it’s quite…”

‘Classic.’

Xiu Qingcheng didn’t finish her sentence.

Meng Yingxing remembered what Xiu Qingcheng had said before: “The demon race has a long lifespan, and when they fall in love with humans, they can only watch as their loved ones are carved into old age by time, and then die.”

He had never expected such an ending to happen right in front of him.
But Meng Yingxing still had one question.

“Miss Li Mo, why did you tell me this story?”

“Foolish disciple, what are you asking!”

Xiu Qingcheng felt that Meng Yingxing shouldn’t say anything right now. Wasn’t this just ruining her mood at this moment? He really couldn’t read the room!

Li Mo smiled at Meng Yingxing, a smile uglier than crying.

“My husband and I have always been moving from place to place. I never expected that just as we arrived in this Yongning City, my husband would pass away.”

“After drifting in the mortal world for so many years, I may have long been trapped by these wandering years.”

“I just wanted… to find someone to vent to.”
Her wandering life with Wang Zhuihai, their life of hiding their identities.
And Meng Yingxing, whom she knew but not deeply, was the best listener for this story.

“Thank you, Benefactor.”

Li Mo stood up and bowed deeply to Meng Yingxing.

Footnotes:
¹ Suona: a traditional Chinese double-reed woodwind instrument. Its loud and high-pitched sound is commonly used for both festivals and funerals.