Chapter 21
Chapter 21: Wraithspeaker Emerges (Part 1)
“Achoo!”
Ding He Ran’s words made Song Wei Chen stare, wide-eyed, but it didn’t stop the sneeze from tearing out of her.
Mo Ting Feng didn’t look at her. He only turned his head toward an attendant behind him. “Ginger tea.”
“Could it be…” Song Wei Chen said hesitantly, “that Nian Niang is the chaos wraith you’re talking about?”
No matter how she thought about it, the only person she’d seen that night was Nian Niang. But…
“She looked like a person,” Song Wei Chen insisted. “She could use spells like you. She wasn’t what you described—no emotions, just mechanical behavior.”
“Nian Niang?” Ding He Ran echoed. “Venerable, are you saying this Nian Niang was also on the boat?”
Song Wei Chen nodded. “She was the only one I saw.”
“Do you remember any distinguishing traits?” Ding He Ran asked.
“A woman, around thirty. She looked exactly like my friend, but she absolutely wasn’t her. Her aura was… gloomy.”
“And there were black threads of qi around her, like snakes. She attacked me with them.”
“Black, ribbon-like sinister qi,” someone murmured. “That matches what we’ve received about the chaos wraith.”
Ye Wu Jiu’s expression tightened in surprise.
“Then the Nian Niang the Venerable described should indeed be that chaos wraith,” Ding He Ran said, though disbelief still shone in his eyes.
The Council Hall erupted at once.
“A chaos wraith has a name?”
“How did the Venerable even learn its name?”
“Is it that strange?” Song Wei Chen said, baffled by their bafflement. “She told me while we were talking.”
“White Robe Venerable talked with a chaos wraith?!”
The room roared louder. Even Mo Ting Feng, who rarely showed emotion, looked shaken.
“Is talking to a chaos wraith illegal?” Song Wei Chen asked, suddenly uneasy.
Her gaze flicked to Gu Cang Yue, and relief flashed through her. At least her granduncle was here. If she got in trouble, he wouldn’t let her face it alone.
The hall buzzed with whispers. Gu Cang Yue, however, stayed calm. As long as Song Wei Chen didn’t mention how she’d fallen into the water and he’d saved her, he didn’t care about anything else.
The chaos wraith was the Dust Warden Office’s headache, not his. He was only sitting here because she was here—and because he enjoyed watching Mo Ting Feng seethe while being unable to do a thing about him.
Mo Ting Feng set his teacup down with a hard thud.
The Council Hall fell silent instantly.
“This is no small matter,” he said. “Think carefully. Remember everything you can.”
“Let me think. I was scared half to death,” Song Wei Chen muttered.
As she tilted her head back, searching her memory, Mo Ting Feng placed a steaming cup by her hand. “Drink while you think.”
She answered softly and took it without hesitation.
That simple gesture darkened Gu Cang Yue’s face. He shot Mo Ting Feng a glare that practically said: No one is this kind for no reason. Then he leaned forward on purpose, cutting off Mo Ting Feng’s line of sight to her.
“She said her name was Nian Niang,” Song Wei Chen began. “She said she’s like every mother in the world—she only wants to stay by her child’s side.”
“And she said calming her down would be easy. Just fulfill her wish.”
Her voice lowered, almost instinctively, as she glanced at Mo Ting Feng. “She also said the Dust Warden Office is cold and ruthless. That if you catch her… she’ll only die.”
No one spoke. The silence stretched, thick and unnatural.
“Why is nobody saying anything?” Song Wei Chen asked, bewildered. “That’s basically it. And I know it doesn’t sound very useful.”
Everyone stared at her like the world had just cracked open.
Embarrassed, she set the ginger tea down and lowered her eyes.
“People speak of spirit communication,” Mo Ting Feng said at last, voice low. “That means communicating with souls, not corporeal souls.”
“Corporeal souls have no consciousness. They cannot speak. At most, they’re a habit driven by obsession—a motion that refuses to stop.”
Song Wei Chen’s grievance flared, sharp and hot. “You don’t believe me again?”
Mo Ting Feng looked at her for a long moment. “No. This time, I believe you.”
He stood and paced across the hall, as if trying to force his thoughts into order.
“Jade sprays, pearls scatter—when the Wraithspeaker appears, ten thousand grudges can be broken; with registers and tally slips, the way is made clear.”
“It’s said the Dream Realm will one day produce someone who can understand a chaos wraith’s obsession,” he continued. “Just as a spirit medium can hear the lament of a soul, a Wraithspeaker can converse with a chaos wraith as if with an ordinary person.”
“And when that happens… grievance-breakers will finally be able to break ten thousand grudges in one stroke.”
His gaze settled on Song Wei Chen, and images flashed through his mind like shards of glass. Her appearance in the Mist Forest was a mystery. White Robe choosing her was a mystery. Her connection to Gu Cang Yue was a mystery. Her ability to understand a chaos wraith’s words was a mystery.
There were too many secrets wrapped around her.
After turning it over again and again, he finally said it.
“Song Wei Chen. You are the Wraithspeaker.”
“Wraithspeaker?” Song Wei Chen blinked. “That sounds even more impressive than White Robe Venerable.”
Her mind couldn’t catch up. Wasn’t she the most useless White Robe in history? How did she suddenly become some prophesied figure? Was she about to get a cheat skill like the main character in a novel?
“See?” Gu Cang Yue drawled. “Wei Wei really is remarkable. My judgment was excellent.”
It was hard to tell whether he was praising her or himself.
Everyone watched her with expectation—Mo Ting Feng and Gu Cang Yue included. Feeling she ought to say something, Song Wei Chen stood and bowed to the room.
“You all have cultivation and spells. I don’t. I was worried this title didn’t suit me and that I’d drag everyone down… but if this small ability can help, I’m truly honored.”
The tension that had been hanging in the Council Hall since Gu Cang Yue’s intrusion seemed to dissolve at once. The grievance-breakers straightened, their faces bright with relief.
“I doubted White Robe’s choice before,” Ding He Ran said, voice thick with emotion. “Today, I’m completely convinced.”
“Wait—there’s no April Fools’ Day here, right?” Song Wei Chen blurted. “The holiday where people lie just to mess with you.”
Ding He Ran shook his head, amused.
She still felt like they were toying with her. The chaos wraith spoke Chinese—she wasn’t even translating. How was that a power?
How did that make her a prophesied person?
It felt ridiculous.
“From ancient times to now, no grievance-breaker has ever been able to speak with a chaos wraith,” Uncle Fei declared. “Today, Dust Division has gained such talent. This is the Dream Realm’s fortune!”
“Hold on.” Song Wei Chen frowned. “Even if what I remembered isn’t much, why aren’t you at least considering I could’ve made it up?”
“It must be true,” Ye Wu Jiu said, surprisingly firm.
His temperament was cold, but there was unmistakable approval in his eyes. “The missing one is a child without a mother. And the chaos wraith Nian Niang happens to be a mother who cannot let go of her child. It matches.”
“Thanks to you, our search direction is finally clear.”
“Wu Jiu,” Mo Ting Feng ordered, “send more people to An Ji Ward and the orphanages. We can’t risk more children going missing.”
“Also search places where a group of children could be hidden—abandoned houses, caves. Go.”
“Yes.” Ye Wu Jiu bowed and vanished with a spell.
“Wait—” Song Wei Chen said, hesitating. “Dust Warden Official… if you catch Nian Niang, what will you do to her?”
“Bring her back to the Dust Warden Office and shatter her corporeal soul under punishment,” Mo Ting Feng replied. “It’s the safest and cleanest way.”
“I…” Song Wei Chen began, then forced herself to meet his gaze. “If you catch her, and you can guarantee she won’t escape… can you let me see her?”
“You want to see her?”
“She looks too much like a friend of mine,” Song Wei Chen said softly. “I want to try—before you resort to shattering her soul—whether there’s another way to break the grudge.”
Mo Ting Feng studied her for a long moment, then nodded once. “Alright. I promise.”
The morning meeting ended and everyone filed out. Even Gu Cang Yue’s guard troops withdrew to stand watch outside the Dust Warden Hall. In the vast Council Hall, only the three of them remained.
Song Wei Chen sat there, replaying everything that had happened. A legendary figure? A chosen one? The protagonist halo had landed on her head out of nowhere.
If anything was a dream, this felt like one.
“Wei Wei,” Gu Cang Yue said first, “let’s go.”
She stared at him. “Go where?”
“Come back with me to Cang Yue’s residence. From now on, that will be your home.”