Chapter 374

Chapter 374: They Forgot Her Old Trade Includes Catching Ghosts

The murmur of the crowd grew louder.

Everyone knew that Chen Ruo Lan’s father once died to save Elder Alliance Leader Jiang, and that the reason the Jiang Clan stood so firm in the Martial Alliance today was because Alliance Leader Jiang calmed the chaos back then and lived more than ten extra years, giving the Jiang Clan time to settle its roots. To people who didn’t know the full truth, Chen Tie Sheng was the Jiang Clan’s lucky star, and his orphaned daughter should be honored and protected.

Yet the Jiang Clan was letting a junior bully their benefactor’s daughter over a small “misunderstanding,” which many called disgusting.

The talk grew sharper, and more voices began attacking Yu Zhi Yi.

Chen Ruo Lan lowered her eyes, a cold light flashing within as she thought: [Little wretch, today is your death day.]

This was all thanks to the little wretch’s status as an official. If the other side were a person of the martial world, today’s matter could be made big or small. After all, Nuan’er was only a house servant; if she died, she died. At worst, someone from the martial world could step out and pay more silver.

But the little wretch was an official-an official of the Ministry of Justice. With that identity, she was not allowed to make mistakes, especially not a huge one like killing someone. The lightest end would be losing her post; the worst would be losing her life. No matter how it ended, Chen Ruo Lan would be satisfied. Once the little wretch stopped being an official, the killing blow could be arranged.

The noise around them rose higher and higher, and some people even cursed her. Yu Zhi Yi didn’t care about that. But when they started bad-mouthing her mother, Xiao Qing Xuan, that she would not tolerate.

She put away her easy smile, fixed her bright eyes on Chen Ruo Lan, and let out a short laugh. Then she turned to Chen Xin Yue and You Bing Yue, the corner of her mouth tilting as she asked: “Do you two have anything else to say?”

Looking at Yu Zhi Yi’s calm, killing-cold face, Chen Xin Yue felt a prickle of unease and thought: [Could this little wretch still have a backup plan? Impossible, right?]

You Bing Yue sneered in her heart, thinking: [At death’s door and still pretending to be strong. Even if she’s burned to ash one day, that tongue of hers will stay perfectly intact.]

Chen Ruo Lan also didn’t believe Yu Zhi Yi could have any backup. She sighed softly and looked at Yu Zhi Yi like she was a junior who needed guidance, saying: “Second Miss, when you do wrong, you must accept punishment. The old alliance leader taught us this from childhood. Today, I will teach it to you.”

Yu Zhi Yi snorted and said: “Seems you didn’t learn that lesson very well.”

People of the martial world erupted at once. One man snapped: “Does she think being the Martial Alliance’s second miss means she can do whatever she wants? Someone this unfilial and rude to elders- even if her father is Second Master Jiang-my brat will never marry her!” Another huffed: “I won’t let someone like her into my family.” A third scoffed: “I want to see whether, when she turns into an old spinster, she can still strut around so proud!”

Yu Zhi Yi ignored those gross, stinking comments. She said, “Since you’ve nothing more to say, it’s my turn.”

She looked first at Chen Xin Yue and asked: “When you teamed up with Miss You, did you never ask her what I’m best at? Even if you didn’t ask and she didn’t answer, you’ve seen me summon a departed soul. How could you still be foolish enough to think that if you killed someone and then faked a silly ‘Jin’ character, you could dump the murder on me?”

People from the martial world blinked in confusion and whispered: “What’s ‘summon a departed soul’? What is she talking about?”

The faces of the Chen mother and daughter, and of You Bing Yue, changed at the same time. You Bing Yue had personally seen Yu Zhi Yi ferry a vengeful ghost. Chen Xin Yue had personally seen Yu Zhi Yi call out that unlucky fellow’s soul and then send it off to be reborn. But when Chen Xin Yue set up her trap, she completely forgot about that unlucky soul. As for You Bing Yue, she hadn’t helped kill anyone, but she had stumbled upon the murder scene and chose not to stop it. After learning of the grudge between Chen Xin Yue and Yu Zhi Yi, she decided to join forces with Chen Xin Yue to ruin Yu Zhi Yi. In the end, she too forgot Yu Zhi Yi’s old trade.

The air turned awkward.

Only Chen Ruo Lan had never seen Yu Zhi Yi’s abilities, so she didn’t believe any such talk about unlucky ghosts. For years she had enjoyed the honor and benefits brought by Ji Guang Dai’s mystic arts, yet deep down she didn’t believe in such mysterious things. Besides, she’d never seen a ghost; even Ji Guang Dai hadn’t.

She stared, puzzled, at the sudden change on You and Yue’s faces, and a sliver of unease rose in her heart.

Yu Zhi Yi didn’t let her stew in it for long; she essentially passed sentence. With a flick of her hand through the air, a flash of light winked, and a half-transparent shadow appeared out of nothing.

The “shadow” was a young woman, her eyes hollow, a gaping hole torn through her chest.

Gasps rippled through the crowd as everyone glanced down at the corpse on the ground-and sure enough, the figure floating in the air looked exactly like the body below.

The instant Nuan’er appeared, she let out a piercing scream and, full of hate, rushed at Chen Xin Yue, shrieking: “Chen Xin Yue, you wretch-you dared kill me! I’ll kill you!”

She blurred into a streak and shot to Chen Xin Yue, her two clawed ghost-hands, with long sharp nails, clamping around Chen Xin Yue’s neck.

“Ghost!” someone finally screamed, and the onlookers scattered like frightened birds. But they didn’t run far. Fear was fear, yet curiosity kills the cat; some people really will risk it for curiosity-especially to see a ghost. After sprinting a dozen or so meters away and finding the female ghost didn’t chase them, they stopped and craned their necks to look.

After hearing Nuan’er’s words, no one was confused anymore. The one who killed Nuan’er wasn’t Second Miss Jiang at all-it was Chen Xin Yue.

Chen Xin Yue had never dreamed that the person she killed not long ago would come back as something else and seize her by the throat. She tried to fight back, but no matter what, she couldn’t break those icy ghost-hands.

Jiang Liu Yi stepped in front of Yu Zhi Yi on instinct, and Du Zi Heng moved to the other side. Two tall figures shielded Yu Zhi Yi completely.

Yu Zhi Yi thought: [Isn’t it possible the ghost was called by me? I can handle it. And I understand my own brother blocking for me, but what is Du Zi Heng doing here? Shouldn’t he be with You Bing Yue? I’m not touched at all-just baffled.]

Too lazy to deal with this baffling man, she walked to Jiang Liu Yi’s side. Seeing her brother about to speak, she cut in first and said: “Brother, she isn’t my match. But if she went at you, that might be a different story.”

Jiang Liu Yi’s face stiffened. In more than twenty years of life, this was the first time he’d heard someone say he wasn’t another person’s match. But then his eyes fell on that ghost woman, cold as night and seething with hate, and he thought his sister was right.