Li Jue told Chu Liang a story.

The protagonist of the story was named Situ Yan, an ordinary girl. She was not considered beautiful, but she came from a wealthy family and lived a comfortable life.

She could have lived a happy and fulfilling life.

Unfortunately, two years ago, Situ Yan’s house caught fire. Although she survived the fire, half of her face was burned and left with permanent scars that she could never get rid of.

They were all classmates in the Gengzi class of the Nanshan Academy. Since Situ Yan’s disfigurement, her classmates were afraid of her appearance. Although she could cover her face with a veil… and thick hair on the left side of her face, it was still impossible to completely cover it up.

Several naughty classmates began to bully her, trying to force her to leave the Nanshan Academy.

Zhang Cong would shout “ugly freak” at her every day… Wu Shao’an would throw paper balls at her… Chen Da knew that she was especially afraid of fire since then, but he would often scare her with burning hay… Yan Xiaohu would ask her for five taels of silver every month…

Situ Yan thought about giving up. She didn’t want to go to the academy anymore. At this time, it was Li Jue who encouraged her.

Yes.

Her classmates either bullied her or dared not look at her, only Li Jue was sincerely kind to her. The usually silent Li Jue and Situ Yan, who gradually became introverted after being burned, seemed to have a kind of empathy between them.

He would encourage Situ Yan to come to the academy bravely, help her with missing coursework, and stand up for her when those bad guys bullied her…

Although the result often ended up with him being bullied too.

Before Situ Yan was burned, they had a casual relationship, but after she was burned, they became good friends.

Li Jue thought that he could help Situ Yan recover slowly in this way.

But he didn’t expect that one day, when they were reading by the lake together, he fell asleep unconsciously… When he woke up, he found that he was tied up by Situ Yan!

Situ Yan tied Li Jue’s hands and took out a small knife. There was a terrifying light in her eyes.

She said that she had fallen in love with Li Jue. As long as she scratched his face too, making him also a “monster”, then they could be together forever.

Li Jue tried to dissuade her, but she seemed hysterical and completely ignored his words, just wanting him to become the same “ugly freak” and “monster”…

Thanks to Li Jue’s frantic struggling, he finally broke free before her small knife got close. He pushed Situ Yan away and cursed her as a lunatic. Then he turned and ran away, never daring to look back at her.

The next day, it was heard that Situ Yan had drowned herself in the lake.

Li Jue was confused.

He didn’t know whether he was right or wrong, why he had treated her sincerely all along but got such a return, and whether his curse of her as a lunatic was the last straw that crushed her…

Seven days later, the corpses of Wu Shao’an and Zhang Cong were also found in the lake.

Everyone in the academy was guessing whether it was Situ Yan’s vengeful spirit coming back for revenge. Li Jue also thought so.

It must be!

She must have come back, and everyone who had bullied her would be retaliated against.

But he didn’t know… whether he would become the target of her revenge or not.

Li Jue was very scared.

…When Chu Liang walked out of the room, his mood was somewhat complicated. This was indeed a heavy story, but cultivators still had their own responsibilities.

Lin Bei was waiting outside and asked, “What happened?”

“Since Zhang Cong and Wu Shao’an died, Chen Da hasn’t been to the academy and has been hiding at home… Yan Xiaohu, on the other hand, does as he pleases, but he probably can’t leave his house in the past two days…”

“If Situ Yan turns into a grudge spirit, she will probably appear by the lake behind the academy…”

“I’ll go check there. You stay and watch Li Jue.” Chu Liang briefly explained the situation to Lin Bei before preparing to go to the back mountain of the academy.

“Okay, leave it to me.” Lin Bei said, “Be careful when dealing with the grudge spirit alone.”

“Don’t worry, Situ Yan didn’t have much cultivation during her lifetime. Even if she turns into a grudge spirit, she won’t be hard to deal with.” Chu Liang replied.

The dazzling light of the sword illuminated as he chose the slower but more simple method of flying with the wind.

It should be late at night and the city gates were probably closed, but it was actually more convenient for cultivators. During the day, they had to worry about disturbing the people when flying around, but at night they could just take off without any problems.

When he arrived at the back mountain of the academy, it was already dark and there was no one around. The shadows of the trees were slanting, the wind was whistling, and it seemed like there were many people hiding in the darkness.

It was a perfect night for ghosts.

Chu Liang hid himself in the bushes, concealing his aura, afraid of alerting the enemy, and waited quietly until midnight.

But he didn’t have to wait long before he heard a rustling sound.

Someone?

Chu Liang used his spiritual sense and caught a glimpse of a woman’s back not far away.

She came early.

Chu Liang carefully concealed his aura and flew over with his sword in hand.

But when he arrived at the spot where the woman had passed by, there was no trace of her.

Huh?

Even if it was a ghost, it couldn’t disappear for no reason…

There was no trace of Yin Qi around either.

Just as he was wondering, he heard a sound of breaking through the air above his head.

Swoosh-

A green ribbon fell from the sky, like a sword aura, like a qi!

“Who’s there?” Chu Liang raised his sword to meet the attack.

With a clang, the two energies collided, and the strong wind stirred up, crushing all the fallen leaves within a few feet.

It was then that he saw that the weapon attacking him was not a long sword, but a jade ruler. The quality of that jade ruler was undoubtedly far superior to his flying sword. Although his cultivation was similar to his opponent’s, the sword trembled under the impact of the jade ruler.

Just one strike.

The person holding the jade ruler flipped in the air and landed about ten feet away.

Chu Liang didn’t pursue because the person’s true qi was righteous and just, obviously not a ghost.

It turned out to be a tall woman in black martial arts clothing, with a graceful figure and a particularly prominent chest. Her skin was fair and delicate, reflecting the moonlight.

“Teacher Song?”

“Chu Liang?”

Both of them exclaimed in surprise.

It turned out that the person who suddenly attacked was none other than the female teacher, Song Qingyi.

But…

During the day, Song Qingyi’s chest didn’t seem to be as large, but it had grown so much overnight… it was truly strange.After a moment of eye contact, the two of them asked in unison, “Are you also a cultivator?”

Pausing for a moment, they both said at the same time, “What are you doing here?”

Song Qingyi blushed and then put on a stern face, “Don’t copy my way of speaking!”

Chu Liang could only smile and gesture with his hand, “Please.”

“I noticed that something was off about you earlier. Where are you from as a cultivator?” Song Qingyi asked.

“I am a disciple of Shu Mountain Sect, here to protect a student of the academy who invited me.” Chu Liang answered truthfully. “And what about you, Teacher Song?”

“I am from Jiangnan Gentleman Hall…” Song Qingyi responded. “There was a strange case at South Mountain Academy, and it was up to us scholars to solve it. But we were afraid of alarming the culprit, so I entered as a teacher.”

That explained why this teacher was so young.

Chu Liang said, “It’s true that it’s not appropriate for a disciple of Shu Mountain to intervene, but I received some information and was entrusted to do this. That’s why I came to investigate the lake in the back mountain. Since Teacher Song is here, you must also know about the matter regarding Situ Yan.”

Song Qingyi nodded, “Yes, I’ve been guarding here for the past couple of nights, but I haven’t seen anything…until today, when I saw someone acting suspiciously. That’s why I made a move on you. I hope you don’t mind.”

“It’s fine.” Chu Liang shook his head and said, “Since our goals are the same, to solve this strange case, can we exchange information?”

He thought that as someone from the academy, Song Qingyi might know some insider information that Li Jue, the student, didn’t know.

Song Qingyi didn’t object and nodded lightly, “What do you want to know?”

“I want to know…” Chu Liang looked curiously at Song Qingyi’s chest and gestured with his hands, “Teacher Song, did you wear a chest binder earlier…why…is there such a big difference between day and night?”