Chapter 47 Tang Clan Ghosts: Catching "Ghosts"
Who exactly is this female ghost?
The silver moon hangs high, and the night wind weeps.
It was past midnight, the lights were out, and the Tang Clan was shrouded in darkness, everyone fast asleep.
If no one sees the ghostly figure standing at the door, perhaps tonight will be another quiet, uneventful night.
The white-clad ghost figure paused for a moment at the doorway, seemingly hesitant. The clouds were thin and the moonlight was bright, yet it couldn't illuminate her face clearly; only her flowing robes could be seen, like a misty illusion.
After a long while, she slowly extended her fingers, and in a few breaths, she quietly unlocked the door, her movements so light they were almost silent. The door was blown open a crack by the wind, and that sliver of white drifted into the room.
Unlike last time, no one stopped her this time.
A white shadow silently drifted to the bedside.
The person on the bed was perhaps afraid of seeing ghosts, so when they slept, they wrapped themselves tightly in the quilt, burying their little head inside, so that only a small outline could be seen.
Bai Ying stared for a long time, her shoulders beginning to tremble slightly, yet she made no sound. She seemed hesitant, seemingly in pain, before finally raising her hand to reach towards the brocade quilt.
The hand was extremely pale, and although the finger bones were slender, several joints were twisted and deformed, making it look terrifying and eerie.
The moment my fingertips lightly touched the blanket, it was suddenly lifted, and a cloud of white powder flew out and hit my face.
The white figure was shocked and immediately turned its head to cover its face, taking several steps back. However, it still inhaled some of the drug, and its steps became unsteady.
The "female ghost" instinctively swung her hand in retaliation, striking out with a palm that sent a shockwave towards Tang Yu on the bed.
However, Tang Yu had anticipated this and nimbly dodged it, leaping out from the side of the bed and clawing at the white figure with both hands.
Bai Ying sensed something was wrong and darted towards the window, but unexpectedly, a sound came from the roof beam. Before she could react, Xie Xingzheng and Wang Shanyue, holding black nets on either side, leaped down from the beam.
They immediately and precisely covered the white figure, while the two of them, one on the left and one on the right, gently pulled the opening closed, firmly controlling him inside the net.
Seeing that she was trapped, Bai Ying immediately struggled. However, she had just inhaled a sleeping potion, and now her steps were unsteady, and she had no strength in her hands. This net was also made of special rope material, and even if she hadn't been drugged, it was definitely not something she could break with ordinary strength.
After struggling for a moment, the "female ghost" quickly realized that it was futile. Suddenly, she calmed down, curled up into a ball, frantically grabbed at her long hair, and covered her face.
Tang Yu slowly approached, reaching out to brush aside the disheveled hair, just as she was about to see the face clearly.
Suddenly, the window frame was shaken open from the outside!
A sharp gust of wind, carrying the chill of the night, swept in. The dark figure moved like a ghost, and with a flash of cold light, the net suddenly broke open.
Wow, so fast!
Xie Xingzheng and Wang Shanyue were shocked. This person's martial arts were so high and his movements so fast that they didn't even have time to react, let alone stop him.
The two hurriedly drew their swords to stop him, but the dark figure deftly wielded his longsword, easily knocking their swords away.
Immediately, the dark figure reached out, pulled the white figure away, picked it up horizontally, and turned to flee.
But Tang Yu wouldn't let the two go so easily. She stood in front of the window, cutting off their escape route.
A fierce glint flashed in the shadowy figure's eyes, and the sword's momentum was as swift as thunder, stabbing straight towards Tang Yu's chest.
Faced with this sword strike brimming with murderous intent, Tang Yu, who had no weapon, remained completely calm. He didn't retreat an inch and even reached out with his bare hands to grab at the sword's edge.
To others, Tang Yu's actions were tantamount to suicide. This sword was powerful enough to shatter metal and stone; how could it possibly be caught by bare hands?
"Watch out!" Wang Shanyue shouted.
But things happened too fast, and there was no one left to save him. Xie Xingzheng felt as if his heart had stopped beating; he was afraid to face the outcome.
Strangely, there was no smell of blood in the air, nor the sound of a sword piercing flesh.
The sword missed its mark!
He was neither caught nor injured by Tang Yu. Instead, just two inches away from her, he abruptly changed his sword stance and perfectly dodged her attack, as if he had been cast a spell.
The shadowy figure missed its target, but didn't forget to flee towards the gate. Just then, a series of clanging sounds came from all around the house.
With a metallic clang, several iron plates fell from all the doors and windows, sealing off the entire house and creating a huge cage that trapped everyone inside.
Wang Shanyue and Xie Xingzheng stepped forward to protect Tang Yu behind them, wary of the shadowy figure that might make a move.
Unexpectedly, Tang Yu gently pushed the two away. Her expression was calm, and she smiled, saying with concern, "Sect Leader, let her down to rest."
Upon hearing this, shock flashed in their eyes. But upon further reflection, it made sense; perhaps only the leader of the Tang Clan could possess such martial arts skills.
The dark figure trapped in the room, despite being identified, remained as calm as a mountain, even exuding an oppressive aura.
Tang Yu didn't care. She calmly blew on the tinderbox in her hand and then slowly lit the oil lamps one by one.
The room instantly became bright and warm.
But the white figure in the dark figure's arms became frightened, trembling all over as it buried its head in his chest, trying to hide its face.
The dark figure sighed helplessly, gently comforting the person in his arms while searching for the sleeping acupoint on the back of the white figure's neck and lightly pressing it. Then, he settled her on the chair, standing to one side so she could lean back comfortably.
The mechanism around the house clicked again, and as the metal sheet retracted, the door opened.
The ones controlling the mechanism outside the door were Xiao Fangliang and Tang Yiqing.
At this moment, the man in black no longer concealed himself, removing his mask to reveal his cold, middle-aged face.
Sure enough, it was Tang Chen, the leader of the Tang Clan.
"Dad, it really is you!" Tang Yiqing exclaimed, her face full of disbelief.
Although she knew about Tang Yu's ghost-catching plan tonight and agreed to help, she never expected that she would catch her own father.
Meanwhile, the commotion attracted Si Huo as well.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" She rushed into the room, looking like she had just woken up, her steps slightly unsteady.
"It's really kind of you, Dr. Si, to come all this way." Tang Yu's words were sincere.
That pitying gaze made Si Huo's mind, which had just woken up, even more dizzy, and he couldn't understand what she meant.
Tang Yu pointed to the woman lying in the sect leader's arms and suggested, "Should we check if she's alright?"
Si Huo looked over, hesitated for a while, but finally mustered his strength and quickly stepped forward to examine Bai Ying. After confirming that she was alright, he stepped aside and said nothing more.
Seeing that no one spoke for a long time, Tang Yiqing became a little anxious and broke the silence first.
"Who exactly is this female ghost?"
Seeing that Tang Chen was still hesitant, Tang Yu spoke gently: "Sect Master, even if you don't want to say it, I have already guessed it. She is the third young lady of the Tang family, our aunt—Tang Yuan."
After being exposed, Tang Chen let out another long sigh, this time more like a sigh of relief. He gently brushed aside Bai Ying's disheveled hair, tucking it behind her ear to reveal her pale yet stunningly beautiful face.
"It seems..." Tang Yiqing exclaimed.
The white-clad figure's face and eyebrows bore an eighty percent resemblance to Tang Ge's, making it immediately clear to anyone that the two were related.
"But, didn't my aunt... twelve years ago..."
Tang Yiqing didn't say the word, but everyone present knew that she should have died twelve years ago.
"How my aunt came back to life is a story that cannot be explained in a few words," Tang Yu said calmly, raising her eyes to look at the sect leader.
Tang Chen looked at the person in his arms, his expression helpless and somewhat sad, "It's hard to say, no one can say for sure."
But he quickly calmed himself down and looked at Tang Yu: "How exactly did you guess that?"
Tang Yu: "Actually, you kept it very well hidden, making it difficult for anyone to find any flaws."
Si Huo gave a bitter smile: "I thought I had successfully attracted your attention and aroused your suspicion."
Tang Yu curled her lips and sighed: "Before I overheard my father mentioning my aunt by chance, I did indeed focus most of my attention on Doctor Si. After all, whether it was personally seeking her out to treat Yangyang, your familiarity with the Gu poison of the Southern Frontier, or even your usual drowsiness, everything seemed very suspicious."
She paused, then said with certainty, "But at the same time, I've always known that the female ghost isn't you."
"Oh? Why?" Si Huo asked, somewhat curious.
“There are just too many contradictions,” Tang Yu explained. “First of all, that night, when I first encountered the white-clad female ghost and fought with her, it was you and Sister Yiqing who caught me. Since you appeared at the same time as the white shadow, there are only two possibilities. One, there are two white shadows, and you are just one of them; two, you are not the female ghost at all.”
Si Huo nodded and asked, "Then how can you be sure it's not the first guess?"
Tang Yu walked to her side, gently took her hand, and exclaimed, "Miss Si's hands are very beautiful."
Those hands were slender and straight, with the fingertips meticulously cleaned. In contrast, my aunt's hands, hanging by her sides, had twisted knuckles and were covered in scars.
“I asked Sister Yiqing to inquire with everyone. Almost every time the female ghost appears, someone has seen those deformed hands and has a deep impression of them.”
Tang Yu's words made sense, but the others still didn't quite grasp the point, especially Wang Shanyue. He asked curiously, "What if the hand gesture was also deliberately disguised?"
"That Shadowless Step wouldn't work."
"Shadowless Step?"
"General Xie once told me that after his fight with the white-clad figure that day, he felt a strange sense of familiarity." Tang Yu turned to Xie Xingzheng beside him. "Right?"
Xie Xingzheng nodded slightly: "Because I am blind, my perception of movement is more acute than usual. At first, it was just an intuition, and I couldn't figure out where that sense of familiarity came from. But the night before last, when Tang Yu helped me climb over the wall and jump through the window, I suddenly realized that her movement seemed to have similarities to that of a female ghost."
Tang Yu nodded: "The similarity lies in the fact that the female ghost's movement technique actually originated from the Tang Clan. And that night, when I sneaked into the storage room and searched through the records, I happened to see that my aunt's specialty back then was the Shadowless Step, which no one in the Tang Clan practices now."
"However, even before I knew about the Shadowless Step, I had already guessed that the 'female ghost' was actually a member of the Tang Clan. Otherwise, in this Tang Clan full of traps and hidden weapons, perhaps only an invisible ghost could come and go freely."
“Yes.” Tang Chen smiled bitterly, his brows furrowed with worry. “Back then, my younger sister left three-year-old Xiaoge at the gate of the Tang Clan and never heard from her again. We all knew she was determined to die, which is why she entrusted her only son to us. In my heartache, I was also afraid of touching upon my past life’s emotions. Therefore, after that, I never let anyone in the Tang Clan learn the Shadowless Step. But I never expected that you would still see through my deception.”
He changed the subject: "But I still don't understand, how can you be sure that Bai Ying is the third young lady of the Tang family back then, based on just these facts?"
After all, even with these doubts in mind, they can still lead to many other inferences.
Who would have thought of someone who should have been dead for twelve years, just based on this Shadowless Step?
Everyone was puzzled and looked at Tang Yu.
"What I just said were only supporting evidence; it only confirms that the female ghost is related to the Tang Clan," Tang Yu explained calmly.
"Many people are misled by the word 'female ghost' and overlook the purpose behind her actions. If you think about it carefully, apart from the first time, when Yangyang acted rashly out of fright, causing her to be poisoned, no one was actually harmed every time this ghost appeared. So what does she want? The reason for this needs to be found in the person she follows."
After listening, Tang Yiqing felt as if the fog had been cleared, and continued, "The female ghost came to the Tang Clan after the two children. To be more precise, it was for Xiao Ge!"
“That’s right.” Tang Yu nodded and continued, “That greatly narrows down the suspects. What’s also leading me to suspect my aunt is the sect leader’s strange attitude.”
"My attitude?" Tang Chen was somewhat surprised.
Tang Yu: "Sister Yiqing said that the sect leader couldn't catch this ghost, and even went so far as to issue a curfew. If it were really a ghost, that would be one thing, but she is clearly a human, and the evidence isn't that hard to find, so how could they not catch her?"
"My good friends Xie Xingzheng and the others, even when they were new to the Tang Clan and unfamiliar with the terrain, were able to find that half-footprint. Why is it that everyone has been in the Tang Clan for so long, and the ghostly figure has appeared several times, yet not only has no one investigated it carefully, but everyone has also firmly believed that it is a ghost?" Tang Yu asked rhetorically.
"This..." Tang Yiqing realized something was wrong after she pointed it out.
"Naturally, it's because of the sect leader's obstruction," Tang Yu chuckled.
“It’s not that he can’t catch ghosts, but that he doesn’t want to, and he can’t. I guess that when the ghost first appeared in the Tang Clan, the sect leader actually caught it and recognized the person. So, he personally acted as a real ‘ghost’ and helped his aunt hide her identity, even issuing a ban so that she could come and go freely at night.”
Tang Yu's eyes flickered slightly, and she sighed softly, "For the sect leader to compromise so much, to hide it so carefully, and not even dare to tell his own daughter, this 'ghost' must be extraordinary. It must be someone extremely close yet inconvenient to mention."
"Realizing this, it's not hard to guess that she is the aunt who has been 'dead' for twelve years."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com