A stream of chilly drafts whipped up the clouds of fumes higher and higher into the Heaven overhead. The Heaven Immortal and their tiger did not appear bothered by the red flames below nor were they stirred by the trembling child in Yue Liang’s arms. Instead, every bit of their attention was focused on the spirit and the destruction he had caused, which climbed higher behind him.

It was all the same.

The boy’s countless acts of violence and displays of power never tired.

Quietly, the floating person in their billowy white outer robe and flying copper hair thought to themselves, This needs to end.

“Yes, we are now.” replied the person, their voice splitting into a duality of a man and woman’s. Their long pure white outer robe rippled into the wind like flowing water. “You and I have chosen two completely different paths. We have become enemies.”

From afar, Kong observed with a perplexed expression. His arm had been burned and was being healed by another disciple’s cool blue spiritual energy healing. The man could not tear his attention away from the scene unfolding.

It was clear that the ghost was familiar with the Heaven Immortal, Mei Ying’s shifu. But how?

“Celestial En Lai!” shouted one of the wounded Song cultivators next to Kong. His broiled shoulder was throbbing in pain. “That ghost had hurt one of the boys who were with Mei Ying—and was about to abduct your disciple when we arrived!”

Hearing this, En Lai’s brows creased together. Their frown deepened at little Yue Liang, who did not seem fazed at all. The spirit glanced down, unwilling to look at the Heaven Immortal in the eyes.

“Master, if we don’t do something soon, he might…” The tiger, a magical Immortal creature, trailed off.

“Would I?” Holding the small girl close, Yue Liang scoffed. “Ha! Do you both think so low of me?”

At once, the boy’s voice deepened a bit, filled with enmity. “After nearly eight hundred years, you decide to show your face now. I was surprised when Mei Ying told me about you!”

For a moment, the tiger turned to his master, the Heaven Immortal.

“Yes, we do…” En Lai’s gold eyes flared.

A dark shadow fell over the beautiful shifu’s pale face. They tilted their chin and raised their right hand. “We do think so lowly of you. So, I’m only going to say this once…”

A great, lengthy red whip flashed into the person’s hand, long enough to drift into the night skies like the string of fate.

“Let her go!” Little by little, En Lai held onto the weapon a bit more tightly.

“I already know that the Heaven realm has chosen her as the Child of Red Omen.” Yue Liang’s words were soft. “I don’t care about that. But I do care about whether or not you have considered what Ying Ying wants…”

Lowering their eyelids, the Heaven Immortal’s grip around the scourge quavered a bit. The person turned their face away. En Lai furrowed their brows together.

Then, the shifu raised their hand with the weapon. “I’m sorry.”

Like a whirlwind, the extensive red whip glinted into the air.

Suddenly, it was spread out three hundred times of its original length!

In no time at all, the vermilion light swirled around the boy, who remained sitting on his floating sword. He covered the little girl’s eyes, gnashing his teeth together.

While Mei Ying had been quietly listening, she abruptly felt his cool fingers over her closed eyelids. “Y-Yue Liang?”

Ah, the little girl was deciding whether she should have spoken up…

Quickly, the spirit’s red eyes darted around as the red lash hovered around them with the rows and rows of ribbon. A million tiny blood-scarlet scriptures of incantations could be read up close, all dedicated to the binding of an incredibly powerful demon. It was truly a daunting presence of spiritual energy!

“En Lai…!” The boy laughed, bitterly. His face was filled with venomous rage. “You f*cking hypocrite!”

Before long, the red whip started to close in toward the spirit!

Just as Yue Liang was about to cast a spell—radiating gold light lit up the entire field.

Truly, the warm, dazzling shine was far too great! It forced the Heaven Immortal, their powerful tiger companion, Kong, and all the other cultivators to shield their vision with their sleeves or hands.

“MASTER!” The tiger roared.

Then, in a blur, several huge stalks of plants shot up from nowhere!

Encircling the two children, the vegetations flourished in a complete frenzy, with green buds and crimson blossoms. Every stem took part in slapping away the opponent’s glowing whip like a simple child’s toy!

Each red flower was about the size of a person’s head. Gold dust sprinkled everywhere, creating an overall shimmering and dream-like scene if not for the further destruction going on.

The earth under everyone shuddered as if it was overtaken by the same rage that Yue Liang was feeling. Fissure formed, drawing across the vicinity. Rocks burst out of the ground below, creating boulders and knocking down tall, overarching trees into the wide grassy plain. Surviving demons were quick to slither out of the way, disappearing altogether.

Promptly, the Song cultivators gathered and looked to Kong for orders. About a hundred sky-blue outer robes blew back like clouds and sea waves. Even amid mortification and injuries, the men all shined brilliantly in their silver necklaces and braces almost like well-reputable cultivators of major sects. Their composures were slightly bothered, with a few of them being clearly astonished by the little girl’s power.

Kong seethed, with his long, dark hair flying in the air.

“Why didn’t she run away?” muttered the man. “She has the spiritual energy to do that. She could’ve…” If his silver eyes could, he would pierce them into what empty head Mei Ying was wearing! He even felt like shaking her! “She could’ve escaped anytime if she wanted to—but this…!”

“MEI YING!” growled En Lai, holding up their broad snow-white sleeves to shield their eyes. They squinted from the golden beams. “STOP THIS AT ONCE! IF YOU DON’T, YOU WILL KILL YOURSELF!”

Yes, Mei Ying could die. Her small mortal body could not possibly handle the weighted stress and exhaustion of such tremendous powers if she continues to go all out!

Right now, due to her overwhelming feelings of whether it was fear or distress—the student could no longer suppress her spiritual powers! Mei Ying’s current state was dangerous and unstable, mostly due to the high risk of injuring her spiritual platform. It is also where her future Golden Core will be formed and store the concentration of spiritual energy for all her martial arts, magic, and exorcism skills.

If the spiritual platform becomes damaged, it could hinder the child’s cultivation progress and destroy all chances of her ascending as an Immortal—or it may eliminate all abilities of using spiritual energy ever again!

“YING YING!” From behind the little disciple, the boy called out in alarm. He had hopped off his flying sword. “HEY!”

While the vicinity buzzed, the girl had paid no attention. Her short child-legs were shaking. Yue Liang's red protective veil of aura no longer shrouded her.

Mei Ying stood, with her hand out in front of her, palm opened, and emitting all her golden powers forward. Bright light surrounded her small figure. Enormous greenery flourished wildly, with leaves and crimson flowers everywhere, pushing away all cultivators.

“YING YING, STOP! LISTEN TO YOUR SHIFU!” commanded Yue Liang.

Hot tears dribbled down the child’s face. Mei Ying’s heart would not stop pounding. It was uncontrollable. She was scared. I-I can’t!

If the disciple stops herself, won’t all the cultivators attack Yue Liang and possibly scatter his soul by exorcising him, never to reincarnate again? Though he was a ghost, he had committed what appeared to be a horrendous crime against mortals—the attempted kidnapping of a child and hurting other mortals. To them, Yue Liang had potential to be a true threat if he finally becomes a demon!

Even though none of the accusations were true, both Kong and Shifu were not going to hear the boy out at all!

Mei Ying felt that she herself was to be blamed.

Had the girl knew that all these troubles were going to happen, she would have chosen to run back home. She would rather risk straining the family ties with her three bullies and their parents—instead of ending the life of her only friend.

“SHIFU!” Before they knew it, some of the monstrous-looking plants dipped and swiped several Song cultivators off the ground. “AHHHHH! SHIFU!”

Immediately, about seventy blue-robed cultivators turned to their martial brothers. With a whistle, their swords flew to their aid. They began to slash through the many plants and flower heads. There seemed to be no end to them though—even with the means of burning or freezing through the thick vegetations.

More blossoms kept bursting through the earth, ready to replace those that the men had destroyed before. What is with this child’s magic?!

“What should we do?” asked one of the disciples, wiping off the sweat from his forehead.

Kong clenched his jaw. Then, after cursing his luck, the man hotly spat out, “Prepare Magical Formation Ten!”

“T-Ten?” The student swallowed. “Isn’t that a bit too severe?”

“What other choice do we have?!” Whipping around, Kong was trembling. He had been completely humiliated by not only a mere ghost boy—but also, a stupid little girl! “Mei Ying’s gone completely berserk! She’s now a liability!”

“Shifu…” The young man’s eyes widened. “But she’s just a child! She doesn’t know what—”

“Are you disobeying me?” With red eyes and wind in his long, dark hair, the shifu appeared rather beyond furious and intimidating. He looked as though he would not hesitate to break the student’s arm right here. “If you’re not here to help—then, get out of my sight!”

There was brief hesitation from the other. Ah, Mei Ying was a curious girl. While she was an adorable child with a pure heart, half of Cheng Xiu Village still felt divided on whether the ominous conditions surrounding her birth was worth anything. Will she save mortals—or will she one day turn on them?

“N-no, you’re right! Magic Formation Ten, it is!” Averting his attention to the other younger disciples, his shidis, the elder one yelled out, “MAGIC FORMATION TEN!"

Upon hearing the command, Yue Liang turned to the disciple, who remained standing in front of him. Her hair was so unkempt, the ponytail fell apart from the loose blue ribbon. She was small. Still, the spirit could not help but feel soft toward her.

From what the boy could see, Mei Ying’s sudden push of golden spiritual energy expanded over the disorderly and massive crimson flowers and their stalks, which grabbed people from all ends and throwing them into the air. It was clear to Yue Liang that the little girl had no control over her emotions and spiritual powers.

A thin red line slipped down the child’s lips. Mei Ying coughed, almost shuddering. Her chest ached.

“…Idiot.” Yue Liang knew how stubborn the person could be.

Wind continued to whip through the spirit’s high ponytail. The golden hairpin shimmered gently as he tilted his head, watching En Lai and the beast hold off about a hundred giant stems and blossoms with their black-and-gold auras combined.

The old Heaven Immortal, despite how young they seemed to be, was sweating profusely.

“MEI YING!” snapped the great celestial, their copper hair swirling about in the air. “DON’T MAKE ME—”

Before the person could finish their sentence, the boy blitzed through the air and chaos. In a blink, he reappeared right behind the little disciple. He swiftly struck down the side of Mei Ying’s neck.

From high above in the sky, En Lai stiffened. Their eyebrows were raised. “…do it…”

Suddenly, the shambolic beams of golden light vanished. The violent and catastrophic plants all flopped over in heaps and mounds everywhere. Once more, the realm slept calmly for the night.

Like a soft, withered bloom, the small child fell limp toward the ground. Her dirty blue outer robe billowed like waves of water. Her long locks flowed on freely as silk would.

But the girl did not meet the earth.

Instead, the black-robed youth caught the disciple, allowing her to sleep in his arms. Quietly, Yue Liang swoop her up in a bridal carry. He then lowered his face and wiped the blood that had trailed down to Mei Ying’s chin. If he had not stopped her, the child would have surely suffered serious internal damage…

“MAGIC FORMATION TEN!” It was Kong, with the other ninety-nine cultivators summoning their glistening swords into the high black satin skies. “FAN REN!”

All one hundred glimmering weapons slit through the Heaven. Every one of them was covered with hundreds of blazing gold talismans from end to end! Pre-written magical scripts were all over the glowing papers, forming potent ghost-repelling spells!