Peerless ( Meng Xi Shi )

The pitiful cry did not stop just because Duan Qigu had shouted.

It continued to wail and cry like a surreal memory, a flicker of imagination there seemed real anf unreal at the same time. At first it came from the front, then it came from the left, the right... as if it was coming from anywhere and everywhere from all eight directions. Duan Qigu could not tell where it was coming from.

The strangest thing was that only he alone could hear the voice. Both his servants looked lost and fearful, unsure of who their Master was talking to.

Something isn't right.

Something definitely isn't right!

Someone is playing the ghost!

Duan Qigu forced himself to calm down, inhaling heavily, his heartbeat beating in his chest. There was a fire that threatened to spill, but it was currently being suppressed. His mood did not turn for the better, instead it was squeezing his eyes red, as if they were in a burning state.

He said in a deep voice, "Pray tell, which top martial artist here wants to see me? Just show yourself! There is no need to use such a cowardly method and turn yourself into a joke!"

Duan Qigu...Do you remember...You owed me a life...

"I have owe many people their lives, but no one can skip the queue and claim theirs first!" Duan Qigu laughed coldly, his lavished clothes could not veil that air of ferocity that was there for many decades.

It was as if he was facing thin air and speaking to it. Aside from him, no one could see it.

Both his servants gave each other a glance, feeling fear gripping their spines, and felt that their master had fallen into a trance.

Duan Qigu knew that he hadn't fallen into a trance.

He was positive that the so-called ghost is someone with incredibly high martial art skills, and that they were using their inner strength to meddle with their sense of hearing, pretending to be a ghost.

Duan Qigu closed his eyes and listened for a moment, he then leaped into the air and onto the Osmanthus tree of his garden.

Of course there was no Osmanthus flowers on the tree right now, and this place was never a place meant for botany, but with enough money one can even make ghosts grind the wheel, so let alone an Osmanthus tree; in the Duan manor, where he was far away from Jianghu, especially in the outskirts of the city, there could be such a garden. The expenses spent on such a garden was even greater than the most lavished manors in Jiangnan.

The Osmanthus tree wavered lightly in the wind as Duan Qigu landed lightly on top of it.

If Feng Xiao was here, he would have been able to see that not only did his martial arts improved, even his qinggong has reached an extraordinary level. A man of almost seven foot standing on top of a tree only as thick as a finger. That tree did not even threaten sway, let alone snap in half. This skill alone was only a skill the top martial artists of the world could manage.

But as he raised his eyes to look around, other than trees and plants, and the two servants that were running towards him, there was no one else.

Duan Qigu...Twenty years...It has been twenty years...

From where he stood, looking down from a high angle, Duan Qigu refused to believe that someone can hide themselves from such a close-up distance.

Everywhere was silence.

Under the tree, the servants shouted, unsure of what to do. "Master, should we call someone..."

Duan Qigu did not answer, because he was standing on top of the three for as long as one burning joss stick. The woman's voice that filled his ears was also persistently repeating itself with the words 'twenty years'.

Twenty years ago—

At that time, Duan Qigu had just took up the occupation of a horse thief and he was even a legend among the tales in the wilds. He desired to climb up the stairs, desired to prove his worth and desired to be like his eldest chieftan who had as many women as he wanted and countless number of silver and gold.

So when the group descended the mountain to commit robbery, he would always be the first one to rush out. Although he had sustained no little injury, he also received a lot of rewards and gifts, later on he succeeded the third chieftan and then continued to climb his way up, making his group of brigands the most powerful group among all the other clans. His power slowly grew until he became the Duan Qigu of today.

Behind every successful person was a bloody story, one where their hands were stained with blood. Duan Qigu believed that even those people that lived in temples also hid bloody stories behind them, even the present Sui Emperor, the Emperor of the Southern Chen Dynasty, which one of them did not spill blood in a similar way as if they were cutting melons? Otherwise, how would they achieve such a powerful place as they had today?

Duan Qigu snorted a cold laugh.

He had already killed many people twenty years ago, if ghosts exist, then they would have to queue up to have their turn at killing him. Since when would it be the turn of this nameless, female ghost's turn that came out of nowhere?

He bent a little from the branch and immediately leaped down, both his wrists raised at the same thing. The leaves on the branch shot in all eight directions. Those two servants were unprepared, and at the moment those leaves pierced their throats like razor, they couldn't even scream and immediately fell to the ground.

A growing puddle of blood was beneath them, and the scent of blood slowly filled the air, then the sound of wailing suddenly begun to cease.

It really is someone pretending to be a ghost.

Duan Qigu said in his heart, his expression unchanging, he waved his hand for men to drag those two corpses away.

There was no need to say much, naturally someone would clean the mess in the garden. Tomorrow when they come back, not one drop of blood would be visible on the ground, it would be as clean as though no one had died here before.

Qigi slowly felt his mood getting better. His wife heard that he had killed someone and immediately came to question him.

His wife had accompanied him through all the darkest moments of his life. So, although at the present Duan Qigu seldom spent the night at his wife's place, he still respected her—it was not the same as loving someone like his beloved concubine. So once he saw his wife approaching, he did not send her away, instead, the couple sat facing each other and his wife asked in concern, "Husband, is there anything troubling you? Even if your wife could not help, at least she could lend an ear, if that is not enough, I can offer you my body, that would suffice."

Duan Qigu did not feel comforted by her words, his eyebrows only squeezed tighter and asked his wife, "Do you remember what happened twenty years ago that was related to me?"

His wife's expression froze in place for a good half day before she said, "I only remember that at the end of that year, you were heading out and said you struck something huge. Not long later you became the third chieftan, and after that, our days only got better and better..."

However, Duan Qigu only remembered the part where he became the third chieftan. That was one of the most important times of his life, it was impossible for him to forget it.

But each time he left for a trip, his wife never followed him, so what she knew wasn't much.

His wife said, "I remember that day when you returned, you were never happier. When I asked you, you said that you've successfully dealt with a huge trade, but other than that you refused to say anything. Sighs, I know what you were doing as a living each time you left, so now I can only pray every day to the Guanyin and hope that she will be merciful and forgive you for what you've done in the past. Even if there should be a comeuppance, it should be on me..."

Duan Qigu felt a little troubled, so he rose to his feet to turn around and leave, but when he heard the words 'comeuppance', his body stopped, and the colour on his face changed as well.

But Duan Qigu's wife did not notice this. Since when a person reached an elder age, they couldn't help getting a habit of rambling, so she simply rambled on.

"Stop talking!"

Duan Qigu rose to his feet swiftly. "It's late. Go take a rest yourself. I am going back too."

"Husband!" Duan Qigu's wife could not stop him, so she could only watch as he flipped his sleeves and left, unsure of what she had said wrong, for he was obviously alright the minute before.

Once Duan Qigu returned to his own manor, he sent everyone away and lied down on his bed, staring at the translucent cloth above his head with wide eyes.

He was unsure how much time had passed before he slowly drifted into sleep. His eyes were half-lidded in a matter of minutes and if there was nothing disturbing him, he would have truly drifted into sleep.

At that moment, that voice sounded once again.

Duan Qigu....

Return me my life...

Duan Qigu's eyes immediately flickered open and he sat up.

"My own fate lies in my own hands, not even the Heavens could take it from me! So, give it up! It has been such a long time since you died, you must have already crossed the Yellow Bridge, if you refuse to disappear, don't dare you blame me when I make you perish myself, so that you could not even reincarnate even if you want to!"

Both his eyes were swollen red, turning towards the outside as he gritted his teeth.

But the other person could care less of what he said. They persisted, from both close up and afar, repeating themselves over and over again.

Duan Qigu...

Repay blood with blood….. Your own blood...

A blizzard swept fiercely, bring a lingering scent of blood.

Duan Qigu...

It came from the pond garden!

Duan Qigu was never a man who would willingly become a sitting duck, otherwise he would have already died a dozen times or more.

He called for two guards that he trusted the most who was responsible for manning the outside of the manor, before the three of them headed towards the direction of the pond garden.

The closer they are to the pond garden, the more strong that scent of blood filled their nostrils.

"Master, look!" One of the guards shouted in a low voice.

Duan Qigu saw it, at the side of the pond, there was a corpse, and when he looked closer, it belonged to one of the servants that died earlier.

"Did I not had people clean them up just now?!" His fury bellowed. Thinking that his servants were slacking off and threw the corpse here instead of taking care of them.

In the next moment, he felt a cold, lingering gaze on the back of his neck that made his hairs stood on their toes.

This was the instinctive feeling one gets when danger is around.

Duan Qigu did not say a word, he immediately turned around and lashed out with a palm!

Yet he only hit thin air!

From the side of his ears, an icy-cold voice that belonged to a female sounded.

Duan...Qigu...

It came from the direction where his guards are supposedly standing next to him.

Duan Qigu had walked innumerous paths through the darkness. He had braved through many strong waves and fierce winds, and he has definitely leaped out of Death's grasp many a time, but at this moment, he finally couldn't suppress the fear enveloping his heart and shed a hideous and frightening look, screaming—

"What in the world are you?! Show yourself!"

...

Qiemo's Bureau.

Gao Yi reached out his hand to accept the cup of tea poured by the maidservant, but because he was distracted, the cup slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. Hot tea splattered over his robes and even his hand was scorched by the burning liquid. He exclaimed with a sound of 'aiya!' and leaped three foot into the air.

The maidservant immediately begged for mercy. However, Gao Yi only granted her leave. He did not even asked her to pick up the broken pieces.

Carefully, he took out his tortoise shell, yet he didn't start reciting scriptures like all the previous times he did, instead he stared blankly into nothingness.

It was all until a servant rushed forward and told him that a guest was visiting.

"I refuse! I refuse!" Gao Yi said impatiently.

With his current mood, how would he have the mood to see anyone at all?

The servant said shakily, "My Lord, the man claimed himself to be the nephew of the Kucha King. He said that last night he saw something odd in the sky above the city and the direction that it is pointing to, is this exact location!"

Gao Yi's heart immediately skipped a beat, "Bring them in right now!"

After a while, Cui Buqu and Feng Xiao were quickly brought inside.

When the former's eyes met Gao Yi's, the first thing he said was, "Officer, trouble lies between your brows and it is showing a deep black colour. I fear, that you've brought some negative energy back from yesterday?"

Make ghosts grind the wheel: Basically means if you have money, there is practically nothing you couldn't make someone else do for you.