Nuwa, the goddess of immortality, said that cultivating immortality does not require spiritual energ

In the blink of an eye, several more days have passed quietly.

That noon, Qin Le, Chen Yun and their group were sitting around a table eating in the cafeteria.

Li Yanran suddenly put down her chopsticks, lowered her voice, and looked at everyone mysteriously: "Have you heard? Our academy is...haunted."

The group paused, looked up, and stared at her with somewhat speechless expressions.

In this era of cultivation, ghosts, and even ghost cultivators, naturally exist.

However, they are basically all within the jurisdiction of the underworld.

The mortal realm is rich in yang energy, and the underworld is extremely efficient—whenever a living being dies, their soul is almost immediately taken to the underworld to be reincarnated or punished, with very little chance of staying in the mortal realm.

Those who can enter the underworld for reincarnation are basically mortal souls who have not yet become immortals.

Once one becomes an immortal, the essence of one's soul undergoes a transformation, and upon death, it completely dissipates into the world, with no possibility of reincarnation.

Even if something unexpected happens, and some ghost is left in the mortal realm for some reason... would this group of cultivators be afraid of a ghost?

How about learning about thunder magic, which is specifically used to subdue evil spirits?

Even if that ghost was a cultivator who had reached the peak of the Void Refining and Dao Integration stage in life, the little bit of soul power he retained after death couldn't withstand a righteous group beating from a few students.

"Yanran, where did you hear that from?" Wang Zhiheng asked somewhat helplessly.

Li Yanran smiled shyly: "A senior student who lives next door to me told me this last night."

"Tell me more about it?" Qin Le asked, intrigued.

Although he didn't believe in ghosts, he was curious about the origins of the rumor.

"That senior student said that for about fifty years now, every year around this time, a very beautiful female ghost appears in the ginkgo forest behind the college, playing the piano alone. Last year, that senior student even went to listen to her play," Li Yanran recalled.

"Would listening to a female ghost play the piano be dangerous?" Chu Xiaonan asked curiously.

It is common knowledge that when ghosts approach people, even if they have no intention of harming them, their yin energy can unknowingly erode the life force of the living.

"No." Li Yanran shook her head, her eyes also filled with confusion: "Not only is there no danger, but there are actually benefits."

"There can be benefits?" Chen Yun raised an eyebrow, looking surprised.

"The senior students said that if you cultivate while that female ghost is playing the piano, your speed will increase. The exact speed varies from person to person. So the senior students are guessing that perhaps it is because of this 'benefit' that the academy and the alliance have never paid attention to that 'female ghost'."

Li Yanran told everything she knew. She had only heard about it secondhand and had never seen it with her own eyes.

"How about..." Qin Le looked at his companions, his eyes gleaming with interest, "these next few nights, shall we go take a look?"

It has to be said that his curiosity was piqued.

The situation Li Yanran described—that cultivation speed accelerated under the influence of someone else's behavior—sounded quite similar to the effects of his sermons.

He suspected that it wasn't a female ghost at all, but a celestial being.

"Sure!" Chen Yun was the first to respond.

The others nodded in agreement. Not only was Qin Le curious, but they were also drawn in by the rumor of the piano playing aiding in cultivation.

The idea was almost identical—the female ghost's methods did indeed sound remarkably similar to preaching.

Night falls.

Qin Le and several others came together to the ginkgo forest on the back mountain.

However, the scene before them was completely different from what they had imagined—it was practically a haunted place.

Clearly, they weren't the only ones who knew about this.

A number of students had already gathered in the woods, sitting or standing in twos and threes, talking in hushed tones, their eyes occasionally glancing at the clearing in the woods, clearly all waiting for the mysterious female ghost playing the piano.

"Yanran, when does that 'female ghost' usually appear?" Wang Zhiheng asked, looking around.

Li Yanran shook her head: "I don't know. My senior said she appears at unpredictable times, but it's been happening within the last few days."

"Fine," Wang Zhiheng said helplessly.

The uncertainty means they might have to wait in vain.

However, they seemed to have bad luck on their first night.

The group waited until late at night. Many students, having lost their patience, had left one after another, and the forest returned to its quiet and desolate state. However, the legendary female ghost and the sound of the zither never appeared.

In the end, they had no choice but to decide to come back the next night.

I waited for three nights in a row.

The change finally occurred late on the fourth night, when the bright moon hung high in the sky and its clear light shone throughout the ginkgo forest.

In a clearing in the woods, where the moonlight spilled like mercury, a figure gradually solidified, its form becoming more and more prominent.

It was the phantom of a woman dressed in an elegant fairy dress, with exquisite features. In front of her was the phantom of an ancient seven-stringed zither.

The moonlight enveloped her, but it couldn't dispel the lingering sadness in her eyes.

The woman raised her eyes, her gaze empty, as if piercing through time and space, looking at a figure that no longer existed in this world. Her slender fingers gently touched the strings of the zither.

Zheng—

The first note of the zither was clear and ethereal, yet it carried an indescribable sense of loneliness and sorrow, instantly captivating the hearts of everyone in the forest.

Many students snapped out of their amazement and immediately remembered their purpose. They sat down cross-legged on the spot, focused their minds on circulating the techniques, and entered a meditative state.

The instant she clearly saw the female ghost's face and demeanor, Lu Qingshuang's heart stirred slightly, and she subconsciously asked in her mind:

"Master...do you know this fairy?"

For some reason, she always felt that the cold and lonely aura surrounding this female ghost was somewhat similar to that of her master, the fairy Chang'e.

"I know her." The voice of the Moon Goddess gently echoed in her mind, with a hint of a sigh: "She is an old member of my Guanghan Palace, named Ye Huayin, who specializes in the Dao of Immortal Music."

"Then... why is this senior playing the zither here? And why doesn't the Alliance explain clearly, letting everyone misunderstand her as a 'female ghost'?" Lu Qingshuang asked, puzzled.

Given this senior's status and cultivation, why should he endure such misunderstanding?

"Because..." Chang'e's voice was lower and slower, filled with deep helplessness: "Her heart almost died more than fifty years ago."

"What?" Lu Qingshuang was shocked.

"Her Daoist partner died in a great battle more than fifty years ago." Chang'e did not hide anything and told her frankly: "If her Daoist partner had not asked her with his last thoughts to 'live well' before he died, she probably would have followed him and disappeared into the world long ago."

Ye Huayin plays the zither every year not to help people cultivate themselves, but to play the piece that her Daoist partner loved most on the anniversary of his death.

In remembrance and in comfort.

She used her supernatural powers when she played the zither, so that the music could not only be heard in the mortal world, but also spread throughout the three realms and the netherworld, hoping that her vanished loved ones might still be able to hear it.

As for why her phantom appeared at irregular intervals, it was not because she did not play on the anniversary of her death, but because the phantom projected from across realms itself had a delay.

"..."

Lu Qingshuang was speechless for a moment, her heart filled with mixed feelings.

How could someone whose heart has passed away with their lover and who is now just an empty shell wandering the world care if others mistake her for a female ghost?

Perhaps...deep down, she actually hopes she really is a ghost.

In that case, her Daoist partner might still have a sliver of hope for reincarnation.

"This war..." Chang'e sighed softly, her voice heavy with sorrow and compassion, a voice that spoke of a life lived through countless tragedies: "Too many people died, and too many tragedies were created."

After speaking, she said no more and returned to silence.

"..."

Lu Qingshuang silently gazed at the solitary figure playing the zither under the moonlight.

She suddenly thought about her future. This war that was sweeping across the three realms seemed far away, but in reality, it was very close at hand.

No one will force her to participate in the war, but if the three realms are defeated, who can remain unscathed?

With a sigh, Lu Qingshuang slowly closed her eyes, calmed her mind, and began to circulate her cultivation technique.

Right now, what she should do most is seize every opportunity to improve her skills.

Power may not be able to prevent all tragedies, but at least... it can protect those she wants to protect, and reduce the likelihood of certain tragedies occurring.

She didn't want tragedy to happen to her, and even less did she want to become another sorrowful phantom in someone else's heart, playing the zither under the moonlight.