“Chen Ning, how can it be you?”
The red-clothed female ghost also recognized Chen Ning, and a trace of clarity returned to her bloodshot eyes.
“Now’s our chance!”
Right at that moment, two figures darted out from behind the courtyard.
Seizing the opportunity while Hong Ye hesitated, they abruptly hurled the rune-engraved chains in their hands.
The chains whistled through the air, firmly binding Hong Ye’s two arms.
The runes engraved upon them were incantations specifically designed to suppress ghosts. The moment they made contact with the chains, Hong Ye felt as if struck by lightning, her entire body trembling in agony.
She tried to break free, but dazzling golden light flared from the two chains, locking her firmly in place like two immovable mountains.
“Heh heh, now that you’re bound by the Soul-Binding Chains, let's see where else you can run!”
The corners of the two Daoists’ mouths curled into gloating smirks.
The man in silk robes, who had been so terrified earlier that he nearly wet his pants, instantly regained his smug demeanor.
“That was close! We finally caught you, you wench.
Brother Confucian over there, there’s no need for you to step in; leave the rest to us.
After all... I’ve prepared for so many years just to capture her alive.
Little girl, don’t think that sneaking behind my back to jump into a well would let you escape my grasp.”
Looking up and down at the tightly bound Hong Ye, a hint of greedy, lecherous desire flickered in the eyes of the man in silk robes.
Chen Ning couldn't help but frown slightly.
Compared to Hong Ye being painfully restrained, the man’s vile expression disgusted him even more.
More importantly, when Chen Ning prepared to draw his sword...
He discovered that the blade vibrating in response to his call was not the Black Sword, but the White Sword of the Noble Scholar’s Sword.
The Black Sword slays evil, while the White Sword guards goodness.
In other words, in the judgment of the Noble Scholar’s Sword, the female ghost Hong Ye was not an evil to be slain, but rather a goodness the sword sought to protect!
Noble Righteous Qi swirled upward, condensing into the white Noble Scholar’s Sword in Chen Ning’s hand.
The moment the Noble Scholar’s Sword materialized, a flood of memories surged into his mind.
...
In a remote small town, there was once a beautiful young woman.
The young woman was named Hong Ye, as lovely and spirited as autumn maple leaves.
When the young woman reached the age of sixteen, matchmakers practically wore out her doorstep, yet she rejected every single one without exception.
Because she already had someone she loved.
That person was a destitute scholar whose clothes were often patched, sometimes not even knowing where his next meal would come from.
Yet to the young woman, the scholar’s lofty aspirations for his sovereign and country, and the impassioned words flowing from his brush, were more heart-stirring than anything else.
In autumn, the two often sat beneath a maple tree, watching the fiery red leaves dance across the sky and feeling the brisk autumn breeze sweep past.
Such days were incomparably wonderful, but just as brief.
Finally, one day, the scholar passed the examination to become a Xiucai, saved enough silver, and decided to travel to the Imperial Capital for the Imperial Examination.
Before leaving, the scholar promised that he would definitely return immediately after the examinations to watch the autumn maple leaves with her the following year.
The young woman believed him. From then on, she sat beneath the tree, waiting year after year.
Flowers bloomed and withered; winter departed and spring returned.
Over three years, the young woman received no word from the scholar. Instead, the town’s squire came to her door time and time again to force her into marriage.
The town’s gossip and the villagers’ cold mockery pierced the young woman’s heart repeatedly.
It even caused her to wonder at times whether the scholar had already placed first as the Zhuangyuan and forgotten their past promise.
Yet she still waited steadfastly, and finally, on a night of falling leaves, she received a letter signed with the scholar’s name.
The words on the letter shockingly informed her that he had already married and had children, telling her to sever all thoughts of him.
Yet the young woman noticed something amiss.
Even though the handwriting on the letter was the scholar’s, and the tone sounded identical to his...
That unfamiliar feeling made the young woman utterly disbelieve that the letter truly came from the scholar.
At that moment, she even sincerely wished from the bottom of her heart that the letter had indeed been written by his hand.
Because if the letter was forged by someone else, it meant that the scholar had likely met with misfortune...
Sure enough, from then on, there was no further news of the scholar.
The young woman also wanted to find the lover she cherished for a lifetime, yet she realized that as a weak, defenseless woman, her strength was so minuscule.
She couldn't even determine whether he was dead or alive.
Her longing turned into illness, ultimately becoming an obsession in her heart.
To find the scholar...
Finally, in the fifth year of their separation, the young woman put on the bridal dress she had yearned for so long and threw herself into the deep well beneath that promised maple tree.
She became an aggrieved spirit as she wished, and it was at that exact moment that the young woman learned everything.
It turned out that the scholar had neither abandoned her nor forgotten their promise.
Instead, he had been murdered as early as the first year on his way to the capital for the examinations.
The town’s squire had long coveted the young woman’s beauty and flew into a rage after repeated rejections.
Thus, taking advantage of the scholar leaving the town for the exams, he dispatched men to strangle him to death.
Fearing vengeance from an aggrieved spirit, the squire had even suppressed the scholar’s corpse beneath the Ghost-Suppressing Talisman Array in his own courtyard, subjecting the scholar's soul to relentless torment and lashes.
On that day, upon learning the truth, the young woman was filled with boundless grief and regret, her tears falling like rain.
She did everything in her power to reclaim the scholar’s corpse, but the squire, having committed endless atrocities and terrified of death, had long hired experts to lay down layer upon layer of arrays in his home.
With the strength of a newly formed aggrieved spirit, how could the young woman possibly stand against them?
The young woman was still the same kind-hearted woman she had always been.
Even with bone-deep hatred for the squire, her reason was not devoured by the desire to kill, nor did she degenerate into a Specter.
She left the small town, never using her aggrieved spirit form to commit a single evil act. Instead, she accumulated strength through small acts of kindness, hoping that one day she could reclaim the scholar’s corpse and soul to free him from suffering.
Yet the young woman had still been too naive.
She never imagined that the squire still refused to let her go, even intending to capture her soul and leave her with no escape for all eternity.
...
With that, the story concluded.
Chen Ning finally understood that the goodness guarded by the White Sword of the Noble Scholar’s Sword was not necessarily the goodness of a human, but rather the goodness of a ghost.
Some ghosts were kinder than humans, and some humans were more terrifying than ghosts.
Hong Ye’s existence was precisely that sliver of pure goodness that refused to be tainted by evil.
In contrast, the squire who was born human, along with the Daoists aiding his tyranny, were worse than beasts.
Without hesitation, Chen Ning drew his sword, and the Purple Qi surrounding his body transformed into sharp strands of Sword Intent.
The two Daoists were instantly horrified:
“Brat, what are you doing?! These are Soul-Binding Chains! Once a soul is bound, it's impossible to sever them!”
“You say they can't be severed just because you say so? How would we know without trying?
How did that poem go again?
Listen well, System—don't you dare tell me there's no reward for a poem this cool!”
Chen Ning stepped forward, his gaze as sharp as a blade.
“A kill every ten steps, leaving no trace for a thousand li. Once the deed is done, brush off the clothes and depart, hiding both name and fame.”
【Ding! A knight-errant's path must cut down all injustice.】
【Congratulations to the host for obtaining 《Poem and Wine Sword Art》.】
“That’s what I was waiting for.”
Chen Ning smiled faintly, his entire body swaying slightly as if entering a half-drunken state.
Before him, a figure dressed in a white robe with a wine gourd hanging from his waist seemed to draw a sword and dance.
“Brat, watch this strike of mine closely!”
The white-robed swordsman laughed heartily to the heavens and drew his blade from its sheath.
This man poured life's injustices into wine.
This man hid his soaring ambitions within poetry.
He was Layman Blue Lotus, and also the Poet-Immortal of Sword and Wine!
In the night sky, a sword resonated loudly, as if tens of thousands of swords were vibrating in unison at this moment.
A Blue Lotus blossomed beneath Chen Ning’s feet.
This sword—its rise like surging waves, its fall startling the Nine Heavens!
Crack!
The two rune-covered Soul-Binding Chains snapped cleanly in response!
Rate on N.U.
