The Journey of Flower

That night, Hua Qian Gu sneaked away while everyone was sleeping. She left a letter for Luo Shi Yi explaining there would be a lot of evil spirits during the Ghost Festival when the gates of Hell opened. If she stayed with the group, she would endanger everyone. Mount Mao was nearby so she would go there and reunite with the group a few days later. She left Tang Bao behind because she felt Tang Bao was safer with Luo Shi Yi and Qing Shui.

The bells hanging from the Emotionless sword rattled with every step Hua Qian Gu took, sounding eerie in the middle of the night. However, she was not afraid because she felt as if Teacher was with her. Evil spirits smelled her fragrance and surrounded her. Hua Qian Gu tried to destroy them, but there were too many. She ran away to escape. They chased after her. When she saw a river, she immediately jumped into it.

Hua Qian Gu held her breath, kept her body under water and began to swim. The water was cold so the evil spirits could not sense her presence. Close to shore, she felt something wrapping around her body. It was the long, white hair of an evil spirit from the river!!! Hua Qian Gu used the Emotionless sword to cut off the hair and fly out of the water.

It was past midnight so the gates of Hell already opened. Hua Qian Gu was tired after repeatedly fighting off evil spirits. Thankfully, she came upon abandoned temple in which she could rest. She felt it was safer if she slept on a ceiling beam where she would not be seen.

Hua Qian Gu did not dare to sleep deeply when she heard a commotion. She peaked down and saw arms and legs flying into the temple and fighting with each other. Then two evil spirits came in. They sat down to rest, but the two pairs of arms and legs still floated separately from the bodies and fighting. One evil spirit had a red face with a horn on its head. The other evil spirit looked like a skeleton.

The fight continued for a long time without a winner. The evil spirits said they fought every year, but it always ended in a tie. This year, they decided to have a different competition based on music.

The red face pulled out a black flute and began to play. Hua Qian Gu recognized it as a valuable, ancient flute she had read in the music book. The tune was earsplitting at first, became softer and then agonizing. The skeleton opened its mouth and stuck out its long tongue. A little bird stood at the end of the tongue and began to sing in a woman’s voice.

The flute tune and bird singing turned anguished. Hua Qian Gu used her internal energy to seal off her five senses so she could not hear to protect herself. The competition intensified. The red face’s mouth oozed blood, which dropped into the flute. At the same time, the skeleton opened its mouth wide as hundreds of singing birds flew out of it.

The red face had the advantage because of the ancient flute. Finally, a music note pierced into the skeleton like a sword. The singing birds exploded. Blood splattered everywhere.

Hua Qian Gu felt as if her head would explode. Her internal energy dissipated. She rolled off the ceiling beam and fell down.