One year, then two—throughout his time in Huang Village, the man began to rebuild, cultivating farmland and transplanting cherry trees he found in the mountains to the outskirts of the village.
Day after day, the man repaired everything in the village. Gradually, those dilapidated houses began to look like homes again.
The female ghost hid in the woods, believing the man would eventually leave—he should... he should go back.
But the man did not leave. Three years later, he fell gravely ill and was bedridden. At last, the female ghost appeared before him.
Just like their first encounter—one human, one ghost.
The illness nearly claimed the man's life, but he pulled through. He said dying wouldn't be so bad—they could be ghost spouses for eternity. But the female ghost shook her head and told him that, in the world of the dead, you don't get to make your own choices.
So it went—one human, one ghost. The empty land in the center of the village became their boundary: the east side, facing sunrise, was for the living; the west side, facing sunset, was for the dead.
As time passed, the man grew older, and the female ghost's resentment deepened. Fearing she might hurt him, they agreed: whenever her ghostly aura became too strong, he would leave the village.
But the peace didn't last. Even when her aura wasn't overwhelming, the female ghost couldn't control her urge to devour humans. She grew more violent, often delirious—and more than once, she bit the man.
From the very start, the female ghost knew she'd missed her chance to report to the Underworld. She became a wandering wraith, her ghostly aura accumulating until it nearly crushed her.
The female ghost realized she could lose control and devour the man at any moment—especially the one she loved most. She tried to drive him away, but he refused to leave.
Finally, the woman explained her reasons. She told the man she had to keep cultivating her powers. Only by breaking through the limits of ordinary ghosts and becoming a Blue Wraith could she avoid harming him. They made a promise: every year, when the cherry blossoms bloomed, the man would return to the village to meet her.
With no other choice, the man left. Afterward, he was too ashamed to return to the home he'd once abandoned. To keep their promise, he decided to stay nearby, doing odd jobs for others to make a living.
Meanwhile, the female ghost remained in the village, honing her powers as time flew by. All she wished for was to break through the limits of her kind, so she could be with the man she loved without endangering him.
For seven years straight, every cherry blossom season, the man would come to the village and stay for a few days with the female ghost. Though brief, those days were enough for two people who loved each other.
Yet the female ghost seemed to forget something important. If human time is finite, then for a ghost, time is nearly infinite.
The gap between finite and infinite time grew wider and wider. By the tenth year, the man was in his forties. All those years spent yearning for the female ghost had left him sleepless and malnourished, his health steadily declining.
The female ghost noticed, too—his temples were streaked with gray, no longer the young man she'd once known.
In the fifteenth year, the man did not come. By then, the female ghost had broken through the limits of her kind and become a Blue Wraith. The key sign: she no longer needed to rely on the cherry tree roots. By now, the village perimeter was covered in cherry trees.
One day, two days, three days...
Waiting turned out to be an agonizing ordeal. By the tenth day, the promised time had passed, and the female ghost left the village.
She followed the man's trail, but there was no sign of him anywhere. To find him, she searched the world—north and south, far and wide—but found nothing.
Meanwhile, chaos erupted in the Spirit Realm. Some evil ghosts escaped from Abyssal Hell, and the Underworld dispatched many agents to hunt them down. Whenever they encountered wandering wraiths, they captured them if possible—if not, they destroyed them.
More and more powerful evil ghosts escaped from hell, and the female ghost was affected too—she nearly lost her life several times.
In the vast sea of humanity, searching for one man was like looking for a needle in a haystack. For ten whole years, the female ghost searched—her tears dried up, but her resolve only hardened. She swore she would find the man she loved, no matter what.
But fate is cruel. The woman returned to the desolate village, only to discover that three years earlier, the man had come back—and left a letter.
In his letter, the man explained that he hadn't come because he'd gotten into trouble and was sent to serve in the army. After escaping, he returned from far away, but couldn't find her. He wrote that she should wait for him in the village—he needed to go home once, but promised to return the next cherry blossom season.
The female ghost decided to stay. Using her powers, she made vast swathes of cherry trees bloom around the village. She wasn't going to leave again.
But the limits of human life had already passed. In a flash, thirty years went by. The desolate village changed—pavilions and towers sprang up, the area expanded, and more ghosts moved in.
This place was always a crossroads of earth energy. In the outside world, seven powerful evil ghosts appeared and began gathering their own followers.
No one knows who first spread the rumor, but for ghosts seeking peace and solitude, this place became a sanctuary—no one would attack here.
More and more ghosts gathered, but the female ghost refused to leave—she intended to keep waiting.
A massive war erupted in the Spirit Realm. As the seven evil ghosts claimed dominance, even some practitioners from the arts world came here.
"I came here because I didn't want to get involved in the disputes among you seven Ghost Sovereigns. I'm just a Blue Wraith."
Logan Lau spoke up.
Redmond dug at his ear, looking nonchalant and smiling dismissively.
Drip, drip—Rufina Howard's tears fell like broken strings. She choked out her words.
"That... that sister is still waiting, isn't she? Still..."
"She's already gone. She left with Zhang Qingyuan."
My heart jolted—the protagonist of this story was Miss Samantha Simons. Thinking back, when she first arrived at my apartment building, she made the cherry blossoms bloom in front of it. Maybe, deep down, she still hoped that the one she loved would hear the rumors and come looking for her.
As the war in the Spirit Realm raged and spread, someone arrived—Yuna Ji.
At the time, Samantha Simons joined forces with three Ghost Kings to resist Yuna Ji, but they were soundly defeated. Yuna Ji's goal was Shadowbane Mountain, drawn by its concentrated earth energy. She brought many ghost medicines and planted them on the mountain, declaring it her territory.
Samantha Simons tried again and again to resist Yuna Ji. She would not allow anyone to trample a place so important to her.
Time after time, she was defeated. Yet Yuna Ji never dealt a killing blow, as if she were trying to tell Samantha something.
"I couldn't stand it anymore, so I secretly leaked the news about Victor Graves, the Nether Ghost Sovereign, in this place. That's why Quentin Kue came here."
My heart skipped a beat. But at that moment, Blue Wraiths began falling from the sky, while the silver glow of the Big Dipper pressed down on the whole town. Strangely, the buildings were unaffected by this immense force. The only human, Rufina Howard, was also unharmed—this seemed targeted only at ghosts.
Just then, with a whoosh, Redmond floated into the air. He raised a hand, and black flames of malice flickered, holding off the silvery globes of light.
The Blue Wraiths who were still struggling felt some relief.
"Stupid girl, now that the story's over, quit crying and think of something!"
Rufina Howard glared at Redmond, wiped her tears, and went back to studying the problem. Many hours had passed, and nothing had changed. Redmond, meanwhile, frowned, looking increasingly annoyed.
Suddenly, Rufina Howard seemed to realize something. She got up and ran toward the house where Samantha Simons used to live.
Once inside, Rufina Howard began inspecting the eight sides of the spacious octagonal hall, then stuck long white talismans onto each one.
"Is this the heart of the formation?"
Redmond stood at the door, looked around, then burst out laughing and raised his hand. Instantly, Rufina Howard was flung out of the house.
"What are you doing?"
Rufina Howard looked at Redmond in panic.
"With formations, all you have to do is destroy the core—and the whole thing disappears."
With a thunderous crash, Redmond's ghostly energy instantly demolished the house.
"You idiot!"
Rufina Howard shouted, but just then, the seven silvery lights in the sky crashed toward Redmond.
All over town, an even stronger force spilled out, so violent that the Blue Wraiths suffered terribly.
"Do you know? If this formation is triggered, it only gets stronger—it could kill all of you here."
"Stupid girl, why didn't you say so earlier?"
"Did you give me a chance to say anything?"
Things were getting seriously out of hand. I was panicking, eyes wide open, unable to worry about anything else. Maybe, because of me, the past here had changed. I had to do something—if I used my Instinct, I should be able to dispel these forces.
"Redmond, old boy, how many years has it been? Hahaha..."
A hearty laugh rang out as the seven silvery globes merged and shrank. Redmond's face changed dramatically, and he spoke coldly.
"Quentin Kue, so it's just these childish tricks."