Chapter 38: Who Is Yun-niang?

"Not good."
"What a strange soul lure."
After all, Chu Feng had reached the peak of the Spirit Transformation stage, and thanks to his cultivation of the Grand Sorrow Sutra of Heaven and Earth, his soul had been greatly strengthened. Thus, the very moment the painting once again activated its soul-enticing power, he sensed it immediately.
It was trying to pull him into an illusion.
Chu Feng turned pale with shock and hurried to resist.
But clearly, even with his peak Spirit Transformation cultivation and his enhanced soul, he could not withstand this soul lure.
Seeing his soul about to be dragged into an illusion, Chu Feng suddenly remembered the reward for killing Fang Yun.
A Soul Gold Pearl.
Without thinking, he swallowed it in one gulp.
As the elixir entered his body, it instantly turned into a warm current, flowing deep into his soul.
It instantly roused his soul, which had been on the verge of being pulled into the illusion.
With sheer will, he broke free from the illusion.
Knowing that the painting before him was not to be provoked, he turned and left at once.
It wasn't until he left the Blood Cavern that he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He silently thought how close that had been.
That portrait of the beautiful woman had been so strange; it reminded Chu Feng of an old legend.
A Ling.
The woman in red depicted in the painting was a Ling.
A Ling is someone who, unwilling to die, performs supreme sorcery to seal themselves within a painting, continuing to exist in another form after death.
To become a Ling, one must at least have reached the Spirit Transformation level.
Only from Nascent Soul to Spirit Transformation does the body become independent.
It must be remembered—this was the Blood Cavern.
Why would such a painting appear here?
What surprised Chu Feng most was Fang Yun. The man must be insane; instead of simply seeking revenge, he ended up reporting to the Ancient Blood Cavern and even entered it himself.
Chu Feng had the feeling that everything Fang Yun did was manipulated by the woman in the painting.
A Child of Destiny.
Even being controlled, the very thought sent a chill through his bones.
With his current cultivation, the beauty within the painting was someone he dared not provoke.
No matter who she was, the farther away he could get, the better.
Back at his quarters,
Chu Feng did not go to sleep immediately, but instead spent time recuperating and gathering his strength.
Yet the moment he closed his eyes,
his head lolled to one side and he fell asleep.
He did not know how long he slept before suddenly waking in fright. As he started to rise, he found that in his arms lay a beautiful woman in red, her features exquisite, her skin fair as snow—her beauty breathtaking.
The woman in red sensed Chu Feng waking and smiled, saying, "Husband, you're awake."
"What did you call me? Husband?"
Chu Feng was utterly bewildered.
The woman in red lowered her eyes, tears falling as she wept, "Has my husband forgotten me? You are my husband, and I am your wife."
Chu Feng hurried to comfort her, "Don't cry, my dear."
"It's just that I seem to have forgotten. By the way, may I ask your name?"
The woman in red smiled, "It seems my husband has truly forgotten me. My name is Yun Niang."
"Yun Niang."
Chu Feng repeated the name softly.
Yun Niang smiled and blew gently in Chu Feng's ear.
At once, Chu Feng shuddered, unable to restrain himself.
Besides, she was his wife—how could he let her off so easily?
A fierce battle began.
This time, Chu Feng was dismayed to find that his vaunted prowess finally met its match. In their contest, neither gave ground.
Yun Niang kept perfect pace with him, meeting him move for move.
In the end, Chu Feng had to resort to the secret techniques he’d learned from his past-life teachers to finally defeat her.
Dawn broke.
When Chu Feng awoke from his dream, Yun Niang had already risen.
Last night’s contest had left Chu Feng utterly enthralled.
All his life, whether facing Shen Qianxue or Lu Linglong, their strength always fell a bit short, making it hard to truly let himself go—any excess might hurt them.
But Yun Niang was different.
With her, he could finally unleash himself completely.
Seeing Yun Niang about to leave, he couldn't bear it; he reached out to pull her back.
But his hand closed on empty air, as though Yun Niang did not exist at all.
Chu Feng stood stunned.
Yun Niang, unconcerned, said, "You did well last night. I am pleased. This is your reward. Serve me well, and you will not be mistreated."
As she spoke,
she produced a seal-like treasure and tossed it to Chu Feng.
He caught it.
The moment he grasped the seal,
he felt as if he were plunging from a sheer cliff into the abyss below.
Alarmed, he instantly summoned his mana, and, like a spring uncoiling, shot upright from the bed.
Glancing around at his surroundings, Chu Feng’s face changed at once.
Was it possible he had just been inside an illusion?
But that couldn't be—what about the seal in his hand?
Only now did Chu Feng recall that the beauty in red with whom he had battled so fiercely last night looked exactly like the woman he had encountered in the Blood Cavern.
Was it a dream, or had it truly happened?
If it had all been a dream, what was the meaning of this seal?
"Passage to the Netherworld."
Two characters were engraved on the seal.
What’s more, his whole body ached as though he’d been crushed by a boulder.
This was clearly the result of excessive exertion.
If all of this was real...
Chu Feng dared not imagine.
Holding the seal,
Chu Feng immediately began to examine it.
In the world of cultivation, there are two orthodox ways to refine a magical treasure: the nurturing method, which uses mana to nourish and the soul to comfort, slowly refining the item; although slow, once successful, it can unleash seven to eighty percent of the treasure’s power.
The second is blood refinement—using one’s own essence blood to forcibly refine the treasure; this is much faster, but the item can only display forty to fifty percent of its power.
At this moment, Chu Feng had no time for slow nurturing and could only use blood refinement.
He bit his finger.
A drop of blood fell onto the seal.
The seal instantly absorbed it, then floated into the air, emitting wisps of black aura.
They swept toward Chu Feng.
He did not dodge, but let the black aura flow into him.
The next moment,
information about the seal flooded into his mind.
To his surprise, the seal was actually a Heavenly Lord artifact.
Its greatest function was to open passage to the netherworld.
It could communicate with spirits.
That is, it could speak with ghosts and gods.
A Ling was only the lowest form of ghost.
Even the weakest ghostly entity was comparable to the Spirit Transformation realm.
“System, what exactly is Yun Niang?”
When in doubt, ask the system.
Chu Feng immediately called out to his system.
Last night, the system had not responded at all, which left Chu Feng uncomfortable.
[Host, who is Yun Niang? This system does not know.]
"You don't know?"
Chu Feng instantly felt uneasy, even terrified.
This meant that he had been lured into an illusion without the system knowing, much less being able to stop Yun Niang's arrival.