Chapter Ninety-Three: The Yellow River

The black cat, all mottled with stray hairs, slowly padded into the room. In the candlelight, its silhouette looked bizarrely sinister.

Its glowing eyes swept the room once, then fixed on the oil lamp where my soul was lodged.

The lamp’s shadow flickered in its pupils, and then I saw the cat bare its teeth in my direction, as if it were smiling at me.

Damn it.

It had discovered me. Cats can see what people cannot; this black cat must have seen my soul.

Without a trace of caution, it moved up to my body lying on the bamboo mat, sniffed at me, then opened its bloody, needle-fanged mouth and bit into my arm, tearing away a huge chunk of flesh, clothes and all.

My primary soul had already been torn free, so even with a piece of flesh ripped from my body, I felt nothing at all.

The black cat carried the chunk of human flesh in its mouth, glanced at me again, and began to chew and swallow it with relish. When it finished the meat on my arm, it went to my neck, sniffed there, and then opened its mouth once more.

Where would it bite?

The moment I saw where the cat was aiming, my emotions surged violently.

Just as I was utterly despondent, thinking my life was truly finished, the cat suddenly stopped. Its body arched high, and in the dim lamplight I saw its black fur standing on end.

I knew something was coming.

Could it be that the thousand-year-old female ghost had arrived?

Seeing the cat like that, I instinctively looked toward the oil lamps in the hands of the boy and girl attendants, but those lamps were still dark, not lit at all.

Not the ghost?

Then who?

I looked back at the black cat. Its glowing eyes had turned toward the doorway. Footsteps sounded there, and then the cat sprang away in a flash and fled.

“What is that?”

A sharp rebuke came from the doorway, a voice I knew all too well.

At that cry, I turned to look. In the darkness, an old man in a white mandarin-collar suit and a man in black had entered.

Chen Yetian?

I stared hard at Chen Yetian. The man in black behind him was none other than the mysterious master who had always stayed at Chen Yetian’s side and wanted to harm me.

Why had they come?

Their arrival surprised me. Chen Yetian and the man in black came to my side, and Chen Yetian glanced at the arm the black cat had bitten. His aged face broke into a triumphant smile as he said, “A stray cat feeds only on dead things. Senior Brother Luo, it really was just as you said. This short-lived wretch won’t live to see his wedding day.”

So this mysterious man in black was Chen Yetian’s senior brother?

I was deeply shocked. Though the man was entirely wrapped in black, he was clearly twenty or thirty years younger than Chen Yetian.

How could Chen Yetian have a senior brother so much younger than himself?

“Hmph.” The man in black looked at my body and gave a cold snort. “This fellow does not know his own limits. A frog in a well dreaming of eating swan meat. The Lady of the Yellow River did not approve of his marriage. If the Yellow River Dragon King were still alive, she might still have had some misgivings. But now that the Yellow River Dragon King has been missing for more than ten years, if he still wants to marry Bai Xiaoli, he is heading straight for death.”

“Good, good, good. Senior Brother, your methods are indeed brilliant. You laid the groundwork early and got word to the Lady of the Yellow River in advance,” Chen Yetian said, unable to hide his delight at the sight of my body.

“Even if the Lady of the Yellow River does not make a move this time, on the day of the wedding he still will not escape that vicious life-taking curse from Xu Yingying. I only did this to be safe,” the man in black said, his voice carrying a trace of smugness.

Chen Yetian nodded repeatedly. “Senior Brother, excellent work.”

Then, as if remembering something else, his smile froze. He turned anxiously to the man in black and asked, “Th-then, Senior Brother, what if the Lady of the Yellow River also refuses my grandson’s marriage to Bai Xiaoli?”

The man in black withdrew his gaze from my body and looked at Chen Yetian. “Don’t worry, Junior Brother. Our Raft Sect still has some standing in the geomancy world. The Lady of the Yellow River will not refuse.”

A sinister smile flickered at the corners of his mouth as he went on, “Once Pi Yangxi is dead, the White family’s full-moon wedding day will be left without a groom. Do not tell Bai Ranhe yet that Pi Yangxi is dead. When the time comes, let your grandson propose to the White family in front of everyone. That day, the main stage will belong to you.”

Chen Yetian could not help laughing. Looking at the man in black, he said, “Senior Brother, I have troubled you this time. If you had not come out of seclusion to help, I truly would not know how to deal with the grandson of the Yellow River Dragon King.”

The man in black waved a hand. “This is only proper. Bai Xiaoli has a special identity, so you must educate your grandson well. If he can really marry Bai Xiaoli this time, then the future of our Raft Sect will rest on his shoulders.”

Chen Yetian hurriedly nodded. “Of course. Of course.”

As they spoke, the two of them turned and left the room, disappearing from my sight.

After they left, the room fell quiet once more, but their conversation left me utterly stunned.

The thousand-year-old female ghost who had been trying to kill me was actually the Lady of the Yellow River?

The Lady of the Yellow River was a terrifying being that existed only in folk legend.