Thinking this, Lin Ling sighed.
She stuffed her unfinished sugar painting into Bai Yunyun’s hand, asking her to hold it, and slowly walked forward.
The others didn’t know what Lin Ling wanted to do and looked at each other in confusion.
Thinking she might have discovered something, they all crouched where they were and waited for her.
Lin Ling stepped forward and stared at the characters on the tombstone, sighing silently.
She looked down the length of the stone, reading the epitaph carved on the side.
[Prince Jing, Shi Yinghuan, Tomb]
[Dates of birth and death unknown]
[Born of heavenly grace, gifted and intelligent from birth]
[Yet nature was perverse, conduct was outrageous]
[Ultimately following the path to ruin, bringing about his own destruction]
[Sentenced to death for his crimes, buried crudely here]
Lin Ling stared blankly at these words.
Recalling her younger brothers and sisters who had been implicated and sentenced to death because of him, her heart was filled with complex emotions, and she let out a long, haunting sigh.
She didn’t know if it was her sigh that resonated with the owner of the tomb.
Suddenly, a ball of blue fire appeared out of thin air.
Seeing this, Lin Ling quickly stepped back and covered her nose with her sleeve.
When the others saw that Lin Ling had actually drawn out a ghost fire, they rushed over to help.
“Why do you sigh so deeply?”
A figure emerged faintly from within the ghost fire, sounding as if he were asking a question, yet also as if he were sobbing.
“You caused the ruin of my family,” Lin Ling said seriously, staring at the ghostly shadow.
“Now that you’re a ghost, do you still have to come out and scare people?”
Hearing this, the ghostly shadow fell silent.
The group approaching her stopped.
True essence surged within their bodies, ready to save Lin Ling at a moment’s notice.
“Big Sister Lin’s voice is actually quite pretty. This is the first time I’ve heard her say such a long sentence out loud. I wonder why,” Bai Yunyun whispered to her companions with a smile.
“Maybe she was practicing something like Silent Zen. Don’t ask questions; this is hardly the time for that,” Zhao Yuyu snapped, shooting Bai Yunyun a dissatisfied look.
“I died with a grievance. Why should I not cause a disturbance?” the ghostly shadow replied hollowly.
“What grievance?”
Lin Ling stared deathly still at him, exceptionally calm.
“I was framed for rebellion and given an evil posthumous title by my Imperial Brother. I cannot find peace even in the underworld,” Shi Yinghuan lamented.
“Now, my Imperial Brother knows that I never rebelled, yet he refuses to let me return to the ancestral temple, still leaving me buried in this lonely grave in the uninhabited wilderness of the Great Northwest.
“For years, I have been unable to enter reincarnation, unable to descend into the underworld. I can only wander here as a lonely soul and a wild ghost. I hate it! I hate it!”
As Shi Yinghuan spoke, his emotions gradually spiraled out of control.
Suddenly, a wild gale erupted.
“Presumptuous! We are members of the Xunchu Division, acting on the Emperor’s orders to eradicate demons and sweep away all evil!”
Zhao Yuyu shouted angrily.
“Cease your arrogance!”
Lin Ling, however, slowly knelt down, using her tail as a cushion.
She looked up at the flying ghost fires and lightly patted the ground.
“Tell me about it first. What exactly is your grievance?”
Lin Ling was a bit curious herself, wondering why she suddenly felt the urge to sit on the ground.
At this, Shi Yinghuan retracted his resentment and sat silently on his own grave, looking at Lin Ling.
“You say I ruined your family, but I don’t remember any of the Fox Clan being among my supporters. Besides, this is Yunzhou. There shouldn’t be any Fox Clan in Yunzhou.”
“That’s because…”
Lin Ling suddenly got stuck, feeling a bit distressed.
The curse wouldn’t even allow her to speak of anything related to the Fox Clan.
Lin Ling had no choice but to say, “Ignore me for now. Speak of yourself first.”
The three girls quickly hurried to Lin Ling’s side to protect her.
“Who harmed you?”
Lin Ling crouched on the ground and wrote in the sand with a twig.
The moment she wrote, she felt the chill of the ground against her bare ankles.
A trace of icy coldness crept up her tailbone silently, and a wave of drowsiness hit her.
Lin Ling couldn’t help but yawn.
“The Assistant Commander of the Linxiu Guard in Yuzhou, Wang Henian. I discovered he was secretly communicating with a demonic organization, and then…”
At this point, Shi Yinghuan fell silent, unwilling to continue.
“Then what?”
Lin Ling wrote on the ground, confused.
“Because he wanted to double-cross them,” a familiar voice came from behind.
The four girls turned their heads and saw Xiu Jiming, dressed in fine silk, standing not far away and walking toward them.
“Boss!”
Bai Yunyun waved excitedly.
Zhao Yuyu and Gu Xiao greeted him respectfully, “Sir.”
Xiu Jiming nodded slightly to them and looked at Lin Ling, who was still sitting on the ground.
“Can you still get up?”
Lin Ling had already become somewhat dazed, feeling as if she were about to fall asleep.
Xiu Jiming raised his hand and lightly snapped his fingers.
Lin Ling immediately regained her clarity as wisps of black energy dissipated from her body.
“Eh?”
The now-sober Lin Ling didn’t realize what had happened to her for a moment.
“Yin energy entered her body, and none of you even noticed.”
Xiu Jiming shot a dissatisfied look at the three girls, then leaned down and picked Lin Ling up from the ground.
Lin Ling felt weak all over, her body as frail as if she were suffering from a high fever.
“This… what happened?”
[Holy crap, what the hell is wrong with me!]
She struggled to lift her head, staring at Xiu Jiming’s Adam’s apple.
“Boss?”
Bai Yunyun and the other two girls quickly moved to Xiu Jiming’s side, looking warily at Shi Yinghuan sitting ahead.
“It’s just a shadow puppet. This soul might indeed be Shi Yinghuan, but you’ve been tricked by him. The one in front of you is definitely not his true body,” Xiu Jiming said.
“Prince Jing, Shi Yinghuan, your scheme has been seen through by me. Why don’t you surrender quietly?”
Xiu Jiming said softly.
“Why do you ruin my plans?”
Shi Yinghuan’s voice came from all directions, and the ghostly image in front of them slowly faded away.
“Was he lying to me about those things?”
Lin Ling had no strength in her body and could only lean against Xiu Jiming’s chest, which made her feel a bit strange.
“Not really. He didn’t tell you much to begin with, so there was no need to lie.”
Hearing Lin Ling’s flat, soft tone, Xiu Jiming’s voice also softened unconsciously.
“It’s just that Shi Yinghuan’s choice was to use those demons to fight for the position of Crown Prince. Unfortunately, he played with fire and got burned, being used by the demons in return until his death,” Xiu Jiming sneered, looking at the dissipating ghost fire.
“Then it was still rebellion.”
[Dead man. You’re already dead, yet you still lie to me. I curse you to have no balls in your next life!]
Lin Ling looked at the tombstone with annoyance.
“But in the end, he never actually committed an act of treason against the country. Or rather, before he had the chance to do so, he was backlashed by the demons, leading to his death,” Xiu Jiming chuckled.
“In terms of the outcome, he really didn’t lie to you.”
“You sure know a lot.”
[Then why the hell did you let me come here?]
Lin Ling glanced at him sideways.
“After arriving here, I did some investigating as well.”
Xiu Jiming turned his head and glared at Bai Yunyun and the other two.
The three girls immediately shrunk back, not daring to speak.
“I have to say, your mission this time was a total failure. Instead of setting an example for the Baozhang Zheng, you took her around just to eat and drink.”
He handed Lin Ling over to the three girls.
They quickly let Lin Ling lean against them so she could barely stand.
“But we’ll settle our own business later. Take good care of her,” Xiu Jiming said softly.
Carrying his wine flask, he leaned against the tombstone with a carefree air.
“Shi Yinghuan, let’s see just how much skill you really have.”