Master Yu shot to his feet, surprise filling his beady eyes. His voice sank. "What did you do?"
Yunxi tossed the shattered bell onto Xiao Ruixiang. He flinched back on instinct. Clearly he knew it was no good thing.
Seeing everything, Xia Mengmeng's gaze burned with disappointment and anger. Her tone went cold. "Xiao Ruixiang, why would you do this to me? You knew that bell was not good. Why did you still have Master Yu give it to me?"
Xiao Ruixiang frowned and tried to argue. "You said you kept blacking out for no reason. I begged Master Yu to help. After you wore the bells you were fine. Why suspect me now?"
"Bah. Are you pretending you did not hear that scream just now?"
"I did not hear it." He intended to deny to the end.
For the first time, Xia Mengmeng saw how ugly his face could be. She turned to Yunxi. "Master, you promised to get me the reason."
Yunxi had been studying Master Yu. At that, she turned her head. Her eyes met Xiao Ruixiang's, and his gaze went slack. Only then did she speak. "You may ask now."
Trusting Yunxi, Xia Mengmeng barked, "Xiao Ruixiang, tell me why you did this. Do not try to lie."
Xiao Ruixiang answered blankly, "I wanted you to obey my every word. Everything you have should belong to me. Once you were completely my puppet, I would transfer all your assets to me. After your accident, I would be free."
Xia Mengmeng had not thought he wanted not only her money but her life. The man of seven years became a stranger. He was terrifying.
"What is that bell for?"
"It seals your perception so you do not notice your abnormal state in time. That makes it easier for the female ghost to control your body to do things."
As for what things, she could guess, but she still asked, "What have you made me do?"
"Transfer that company to my name. And the property…"
Xia Mengmeng pressed a hand over her heart and did not want to hear more. She turned to Yunxi. "Master, can I take him now to reclaim everything?"
"You can."
Yunxi waved a hand. She wanted the two of them gone first anyway.
Xia Mengmeng snorted. "Xiao Ruixiang, come with me."
She led the dazed man out of the hall.
Master Yu stared hard at Yunxi, voice cold. "Who are you? Why meddle in my business?"
Yunxi frowned. "You call this business? What right do you have to seize souls and refine them into fierce ghosts?"
Master Yu sneered. "If I do not take them, should I let them dri ft and disturb the world's magnetic field? I act with permission. On the contrary, how dare you destroy souls on your own?"
"Hmph. Souls? Those are fierce ghosts you refined."
Yunxi's disdain matched his.
"Since you dare crash my place, I will see what you can do."
He clearly did not take her seriously. He tapped his wrist device twice. Doors and windows sealed. The hall darkened and grew more oppressive. From the shadows, many ghosts wrapped in dark qi drifted out and rushed Yunxi under Master Yu's command.
The Nine Nether Dragon Umbrella appeared in Yunxi's hand. As she raised it, a dragon's roar rolled through the hall. The ghosts trembled, their forms unstable. The black qi around some of them thinned. A trace of clarity returned. They froze in place, dazed.
Master Yu's face changed. He knew he had met a hard wall. He flung out the black bead-string. As it scattered, it became thirty-two towering soul puppets that lunged to punch Yunxi.
Yunxi's expression darkened. How could such an evil art appear here. She turned the Nine Nether Dragon Umbrella. The black dragon on the canopy slowly opened its eyes, swam one circuit across the silk, then burst out. One dragon became nine. Nine black dragons tangled with the thirty-two soul puppets. Piercing dragon cries filled the hall.
Master Yu grew paler and paler until he coughed blood. He gestured to call the bead-string back. Yunxi twisted the umbrella again. The nine dragons fused into one, shot straight up, and punched a skylight through the roof. Sunlight spilled down. The remaining soul puppets shrank away at once, clearly fearing the sun.
The dragon wheeled once above and dived again, nearly tearing the entire ceiling off the hall before returning to the umbrella's canopy.
"Stop!"
Master Yu roared in fury.
The sunlight was already thinning the black qi on the thirty-two soul puppets, weakening his helpers. He tried to recall them into the bead-string, but Yunxi would not give him the chance.
Drawing on the lightning spiritual power within her, she stirred the thunder element between heaven and earth and unleashed Thunder Judgment. The sky boomed. Bolts of violet thunder crashed down and struck Master Yu and all thirty-two soul puppets with perfect precision.
Wails rose at once, with Master Yu's the shrillest. "You fight without honor!"
Yunxi ignored him. When the purple lightning had scattered all the black qi clinging to the puppets, she looked at the freed souls and waited. No soul-retrieving envoys came. She glanced up. Was it because it was daytime? She remembered there should be Day Patrol Gods who could collect souls under the sun.
As the ghosts began to drift away, Yunxi took a jade vial from her storage bracelet, drew the restored spirits inside, and sealed it. She turned to leave. A bad guess gnawed at her, and she wanted it confirmed.
"Do not leave. You will not—"
Master Yu, scorched beyond recognition, still shouted after her. She did not listen. She stepped out of the gloomy residence. Xia Mengmeng's car was gone, clearly off to deal with the scumbag.
She did not hail a car. She walked the road at an easy pace, the Nine Nether Dragon Umbrella shading her from the blazing sun.
The place was remote. After a quarter hour she had seen no one. Two houses stood along the way, both lifeless, clearly long vacant. A car occasionally passed and left a curl of dust.
Yunxi strained to extend her divine sense. Last night when she arrived here it was already dark. She had spent the night reading up in the RV and come here at dawn to settle accounts with Xiao Ruixiang, so she had not yet probed the laws of this world.
As her brows drew together, nine black SUVs approached from the distance. The lead car braked hard and stopped in front of Yunxi. The door opened and a man in a black suit stepped out.