Li Cheng whimpered.

"Zhao Yaoyao, stop!"

I whipped Destiny Blade out of the air, hopped on, and sped forward at the speed of light just in time to kick the vengeful ghost of Zhao Yaoayo away from Li Cheng. My mind was racing for the first time in forever.

When had Zhao Yaoyao, my competitive shijie, become a vengeful ghost? When had she died? As far as I could remember, she was still alive when I left the sect...

Xu Yun ran after me like a stupid kid. I took him and Li Cheng by the shoulders.

"All right. You two need to get the heck out of here. Run back outside and go as far as you can. Don't fall off a cliff or do something stupid. I'll take care of this."

"But, Immortal Xia, we can't move!"

"What d'you mean? What, are you scared? You're about to be a hell of a lot more scared if you don't — "

I looked down.

Shit.

Drawn all over the ground in blood was one of the most complicated Motion-Restricting Arrays I'd ever seen. I realized now that it was Li Cheng's blood, which was streaming from his arm. That was why he looked so pale. Oh, and also, he was freaked the fuck out.

Imagine going to explore a fun cave with your classmate, and then them suddenly getting pointy teeth, red eyes, and a different face, and then using your blood to draw weird arrays on the ground?

Fucking creepy! CREEPY AF!

I felt sympathy for this confused, creeped-out, and not-super-smart boy. But now wasn't the time for pity.

More importantly, I was stuck.

Somehow, Zhao Yaoyao the vengeful ghost had drawn an array so powerful that it could trap an immortal! And not just any old immortal — ME!

I struggled to move my feet, but they wouldn't budge. The array started to glow bloodred, making things even creepier.

"Don't be creeped out!" I ordered Li Cheng and Xu Yun, who both looked extremely creeped out. "She's just a vengeful ghost who's looking for violent vengeance! That's all!"

Shit. That didn't come out right. Oh, well.

"Zhao Yaoyao! What is it that you want? I've never wronged you, and neither have these two young scholar-student-kids! Why is it you're doing this, and what do you plan to do?"

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Zhao Yaoyao cackled, circling the three of us who were stuck in her array like flies in a spider's web.

"Shimei, how unintelligent do you think I am? D'you think I'm going to spill all my motivations and plans just because you asked?"

That shut me up for a second. Heh...I had kind of assumed she was a low IQ kind of villain, since that was the kind of villain I'd dealt with in this life so far.

Maybe she wasn't.

"Since you asked, however...I'll tell you a little."

Okay, maybe she was. At least a little bit.

She walked straight through the array, unaffected. This array was made for humans, not ghosts. She grabbed my chin and leered right in my face.

Ugh. Creepy and gross! Who wants a villain breathing down their neck like that?

"Xia Yue, do you really think you've never wronged me? You are the reason I died. You are the reason I have become a vengeful ghost who thinks of nothing but murdering you day and night. You are the reason for my suffering!"

She dropped my face and started pacing around, as villains tend to do when they give explanatory speeches.

"Xia Yue, you have been the bane of my existence ever since you entered the Jade Heaven Sect. Before you arrived...do you know who the top student at the sect was?"

"...You?" I guessed.

"Yes! It was! It was me! Zhao Yaoyao, the Shining Jewel of the Jade Heaven Sect. No one could surpass me! I learned faster and better than all others. I was the only one in Master Li's favor! And then...YOU just had to come along! You, not having cultivated for a minute in your life, came along and right away stole my spotlight. You weren't even favored by my Master Li — he hated you just as much as I did! You were clearly a show-off with a blown-up ego. You came in and swept everyone away with your overwhelming resources of qi. You learned all the techniques. You gained access to the Quiet Cloud Library when even I had never been allowed to step foot inside! And then, just seven years after beginning to cultivate — you ascended to IMMORTALITY! IMMORTALITY! Xia Yue...you are the epitome of unfairness! How could a dull person like you ascend, when I was still stuck at Golden Core cultivation?!

"I grew more and more unsatisfied every day that you were gone from the sect. All they talk about there now is you, dear sweet immortal shimei...Immortal Xia this, Immortal Xia that. Every time you do some good cultivation deed, they paste it all over the sect and speak of nothing else. They even celebrate the day of your ascension every year! It's like you've become their god! Disgusting! I watched this unfold, and it made my heart boil. And I decided I was going to become an immortal...and a more powerful one than you'd ever be.

"I cultivated, and cultivated. I did not eat. I did not sleep. Instead, I spent all of my time cultivating and meditating, practicing qigong, and perfecting techniques to the utmost. And yet, still, I did not ascend. I was stuck with a golden core and nothing else.

"Until, one day, I decided to attempt the technique known to cause the most ascensions in all of history — "

"The Perennial Soul Technique," I muttered. I'd accomplished that technique one year before my ascension with ease — a technique that was known to lift limits on the mind, granting greater knowledge and power than an ordinary mortal can possess.

Zhao Yaoyao glared at me.

"Shut up, you insufferable immortal Xia Yue! Your shijie is speaking. Yes, the Perennial Soul Technique.

"Master Li discouraged me from trying it, as it has been known to cause as many deaths as it has caused ascensions. However, I knew my goal. If I didn't beat you, then I had no purpose in life. I had to perform it. Unfortunately, when I went to perform it on a mountainside, my qi backfired from the complexity of the technique, and the cliffside broke off. I was killed in the fall.

"Now...it is no longer an option for me to ascend to immortality and beat you in that manner. So, instead...I came back as a beautiful, vengeful ghost! And my new goal...is to kill you, my dear, sweet, and talented shimei!"