Grandmaster of Heavenly Charm

In the shadowy recesses of Mount Dafan, Lan Sizhui and his companions had exhausted their search of the ancient burial grounds. Their quest for clues now led them to an unexpected location: the Celestial Maiden Shrine.

This shrine, nestled within the mountain's embrace, stood apart from the typical Buddhist temples. Instead of Buddha or Guanyin, it housed a peculiar statue known as the "Dancing Celestial Maiden."

Centuries ago, a local hunter stumbled upon an extraordinary stone formation deep in the mountain caves. Standing nearly ten feet tall, this natural wonder bore an uncanny resemblance to a human figure, complete with limbs frozen in a dance-like pose. Most remarkably, the stone's upper portion vaguely resembled a smiling woman's face.

The discovery sparked the imagination of the townsfolk. They wove fantastical tales around the statue's origin: some said it was an unfinished sculpture of a celestial maiden, abandoned after incurring her wrath; others claimed it was the crystallized memory of the Jade Emperor's beloved daughter. Regardless of the story, the people's faith transformed the cave into a shrine, with the stone figure elevated to divine status as the "Dancing Celestial Maiden."

As Lan Sizhui surveyed the spacious interior of the cave-turned-shrine, his eyes were drawn to the central figure. From afar, the statue's human-like quality was striking, its waist almost lifelike in its curve. Up close, however, the rough edges of nature's handiwork became apparent, yet it remained an awe-inspiring sight.

Lan Jingyi waved his spiritual compass, frowning as the needle remained stubbornly still. The altar before them was a mess of melted candles and thick ash, with rotting offerings emitting a sickly sweet odor. Being from the fastidious Lan clan, he wrinkled his nose and remarked, "I heard this shrine grants wishes. How did it fall into such disrepair? Couldn't they at least clean it?"

Lan Sizhui explained, "Seven people have lost their souls. Rumors say it's due to an evil spirit released from the ancestral graves by lightning. No one dares to come up the mountain anymore. Without worshippers, there's no one to maintain it."

Suddenly, a disdainful voice cut through the air from outside the cave: "A mere rock, arbitrarily declared divine, dares to accept offerings and worship!"

Jin Ling strode in, the silencing spell on him having worn off. His first words were far from kind as he sneered at the statue, "These ignorant villagers, instead of working hard, waste their time burning incense and praying to false gods. There are countless people in the world; how could the gods possibly care for each one? Especially not some nameless, wild deity. If it's truly divine, then I wish for whatever is eating people's souls in this mountain to appear before me right now. Let's see if it can grant that!"

The group of junior cultivators who followed him in laughed in agreement. The once-quiet shrine buzzed with noise and activity. Lan Sizhui shook his head silently, then glanced at the statue's face. Its features, though indistinct, seemed to wear a benevolent smile.

Yet, something about that smile tugged at Lan Sizhui's memory. It felt eerily familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Where had he encountered such a smile?

As Lan Sizhui stepped closer to the altar, intent on examining the statue's face more closely, someone suddenly bumped into him.

A cultivator who had been standing behind him collapsed without a sound. The others reacted with alarm, immediately on guard. Jin Ling asked warily, "What happened to him?"

Lan Sizhui knelt beside the fallen cultivator, sword at the ready. The man's breathing was normal, as if he had simply fallen asleep, but he wouldn't wake no matter how they shook or called him. Lan Sizhui stood up and began, "It looks like he's..."

Before he could finish, the dim cave was suddenly flooded with light. A red glow, reminiscent of a blood waterfall, cascaded down the walls. The candles on the altar and in the corners of the cave ignited spontaneously.

The sound of unsheathing swords filled the air as the cultivators drew their weapons and talismans. At that moment, someone burst into the shrine, wielding a gourd of medicinal wine. He doused the statue, filling the air with a pungent alcoholic scent. He then produced a talisman, slashed it through the air, and threw it onto the statue. Instantly, the altar erupted in flames, illuminating the cave as bright as day.

Wei Wuxian, having emptied the contents of his borrowed qiankun pouch, tossed it aside and shouted, "Everyone, get out! Beware the soul-eating Celestial Maiden inside!"

Someone cried out, "The statue's pose has changed!"

Indeed, the statue that had previously stood with arms raised, one pointing to the sky and one foot lifted in a graceful dance, now lowered its limbs amidst the raging orange flames. There was no mistaking it – this was no trick of the eye.

A moment later, the statue lifted one foot – and stepped out of the fire!

Wei Wuxian yelled, "Run! Don't try to cut it! It's useless!"

Most of the cultivators ignored him, unwilling to let their long-sought quarry escape. However, despite their barrage of swords, talismans, and magical artifacts, they couldn't impede the statue's advance. Standing nearly ten feet tall, it moved like a giant, its presence overwhelming. It grabbed two cultivators and lifted them to its face. Its stone mouth seemed to open slightly, and the cultivators' swords clattered to the ground as their heads drooped, their souls apparently consumed.

With all attacks proving ineffective, the others finally heeded Wei Wuxian's words and fled, scattering in all directions. In the chaos, Wei Wuxian frantically searched for Jin Ling, riding his donkey into a bamboo grove. Spotting some Lan juniors, he called out, "Children!"

Lan Jingyi retorted, "Who are you calling children? Do you know whose clan we belong to? You think washing your face makes you our elder?!"

Wei Wuxian conceded, "Alright, alright. Brothers, then. Send a signal to summon your... your Hanguang-jun!"

The juniors nodded repeatedly, fumbling as they ran. After a moment, Lan Sizhui admitted, "The signal fireworks... we used them all that night at Mo Manor."

Wei Wuxian was shocked. "You didn't restock?!"

Lan Sizhui, ashamed, confessed, "We forgot."

Wei Wuxian admonished them, "How could you forget something like that? Just wait until Hanguang-jun finds out. You'll be in for it!"

Lan Jingyi's face turned ashen. "We're done for. Hanguang-jun will punish us severely this time..."

Wei Wuxian nodded. "He should. You deserve it! How else will you learn?"

Lan Sizhui, running alongside, asked, "Young Master Mo, how did you know it was the Celestial Maiden statue consuming souls, not a soul-eating fierce corpse or beast?"

Wei Wuxian, still searching for Jin Ling, replied, "How did I know? I saw it."

Lan Jingyi caught up, flanking Wei Wuxian's other side. "Saw what? We saw plenty too."

"You saw, and then what? What was near the ancient graves?"

"What could there be? Dead souls."

"Exactly, dead souls. So it couldn't be a soul-eating beast or fierce corpse. It's obvious. If it were either of those, with so many dead souls floating around, wouldn't they have eaten those? They wouldn't pass them up."

Several voices chimed in, "Why not?"

Wei Wuxian couldn't hold back his exasperation. "Your Gusu Lan Sect... Why teach so much about cultivator etiquette and the long-winded histories of cultivation clans that you have to memorize, instead of something actually useful? This isn't difficult to understand. Dead souls are much easier to consume than living ones. A living person's physical body acts as a barrier. To eat a living soul, you need to break through that barrier. It's like..." He glanced at his panting, eye-rolling donkey. "It's like having an apple right in front of you, and another apple locked in a box. Which one would you choose to eat? Of course, the one in front of you. This entity only eats living souls, and it has a way to do so. It's picky, but also very powerful."

Lan Jingyi exclaimed, "So that's how it is! It makes sense! Wait, so you're not actually crazy?"

Lan Sizhui, still running, explained, "We all thought the landslide and lightning strike on the coffins caused the soul loss, so we assumed it was a soul-eating fierce corpse."

Wei Wuxian responded, "Wrong."

"What's wrong?"

"The order is wrong, the cause and effect are wrong. Let me ask you, between the landslide and the soul-eating incidents, which came first? Which is the cause, and which is the effect?"

Lan Sizhui answered without hesitation, "The landslide came first, followed by the soul-eating. The former is the cause, the latter the effect."

Wei Wuxian shook his head. "Completely wrong. The soul-eating came first, then the landslide. Soul-eating is the cause, landslide is the effect! Remember, on the night of the landslide, there was a sudden downpour and lightning, which struck a coffin. The first victim, that lazy fellow, was trapped on the mountain for a night, and within days he was married."

Lan Jingyi asked, "What's wrong with that?"

Wei Wuxian explained, "Everything is wrong! How could a poor, idle man suddenly afford a lavish wedding?"

The young disciples were stunned into silence. It was understandable; the Lan Clan of Gusu had never needed to worry about matters of wealth and poverty. Wei Wuxian continued, "Have you examined all the wandering souls on Mount Dafan? There was an old man killed by a head injury, buried in exquisite funeral robes. With such lavish attire, his coffin couldn't have been empty. It must have contained burial goods. The coffin struck by lightning was likely his, and the person who collected the remains didn't find any burial items. They must have been taken by that lazy fellow, explaining his sudden wealth. He married right after the landslide, so something unusual must have happened that night. It was raining heavily, and he sought shelter in the mountain. Where on Mount Dafan could one take refuge? The Celestial Maiden Shrine. And what's the one thing people always do in a shrine?"

Lan Sizhui answered, "Make a wish?"

"Exactly. He probably wished for good fortune, wealth, or money to marry. The Celestial Maiden granted his wish, sending lightning to open the grave and reveal the treasures. But as payment for fulfilling his wish, she appeared on his wedding night and consumed his soul!"

Lan Jingyi asked skeptically, "You're just guessing, aren't you?"

Wei Wuxian admitted, "It is a guess. But this theory explains everything."

Lan Sizhui inquired, "What about Miss Yan?"

Wei Wuxian replied, "Good question. You should have asked about her before coming up here. Yan had just gotten engaged. All newly engaged girls have the same wish."

Lan Jingyi, confused, asked, "What wish?"

Wei Wuxian explained, "Something like, 'I hope my husband will love and cherish me forever, and only me.'"

The young disciples were bewildered. "Can such a wish really come true?"

Wei Wuxian shrugged. "It's simple. If her husband's 'forever' ends immediately, then he will have loved only one person 'his whole life,' right?"

Lan Jingyi's eyes widened in realization. "Oh! So, after Miss Yan got engaged, her fiancé was killed by wolves the next day because she had probably made a wish at the Celestial Maiden Shrine!"

Wei Wuxian pressed on, "It might not have been wolves. There's something else unique about Yan: why was she the only one whose soul returned? What made her different? She had a relative who lost their soul. Or rather, someone took her place! Blacksmith Zheng is Yan's father. What would a loving father do when his daughter's soul is lost, and medicine proves useless?"

This time, Lan Sizhui answered quickly, "He would place his last hope in the heavens. So he also went to the Celestial Maiden Shrine and wished for his daughter's soul to return!"

Wei Wuxian nodded approvingly. "That's why only Yan's soul came back, and why Blacksmith Zheng became the third victim. Although Yan's soul returned, it was damaged. After its return, she began unconsciously mimicking the Celestial Maiden's dance and smile."

The common thread among the victims was that they had likely made wishes before the Celestial Maiden statue. The price for their wishes coming true was their souls.

This Celestial Maiden statue was originally just an ordinary rock that happened to resemble a human figure. After centuries of inexplicable worship, it gained spiritual power. But it grew greedy and misguided, deciding to accelerate its power growth by consuming souls. The souls obtained through wish exchanges were essentially voluntarily offered, making it seem like a fair trade. This is why spiritual compasses didn't react, yin-attracting flags didn't work, and swords and talismans were ineffective. The entity in Mount Dafan wasn't a demon or ghost, but a deity! It was a wild god nurtured by centuries of worship and offerings. Using tools meant for evil spirits and demons against it was like fighting fire with fire!

Lan Jingyi exclaimed, "Wait! But just now in the shrine, someone's soul was taken without us hearing them make a wish!"

Wei Wuxian's heart skipped a beat as he halted. "Someone lost their soul in the shrine? Tell me exactly what happened, don't leave anything out."

Lan Sizhui recounted the events clearly and quickly. When he reached Jin Ling's statement, "If it's really that powerful, I wish for whatever is eating people's souls in this mountain to appear before me right now. Can it do that?" Wei Wuxian interrupted, "Isn't that a wish? That's exactly what a wish is!"

The others who had agreed with Jin Ling were assumed to have made the same wish. The soul-eating Celestial Maiden was right in front of them, so the wish had already been fulfilled. Now, it was time to collect payment!

Suddenly, the flower donkey stopped and turned in the opposite direction. Wei Wuxian was caught off guard and nearly thrown off, barely managing to grab the rope. Then they heard a crunching, slurping sound coming from the bushes ahead. A massive figure was hunched in the undergrowth, its enormous head moving back and forth over someone's abdomen. Hearing the commotion, it suddenly raised its head, meeting their gaze.

The soul-eating Celestial Maiden, originally with indistinct features, had now developed clear facial features after consuming several cultivators' souls. It wore a smiling woman's face, with blood dripping from the corners of its mouth as it chewed on a torn-off arm.

Everyone immediately turned tail and ran along with the flower donkey.

Lan Sizhui cried out in distress, "This isn't right! The Yiling Patriarch said that high-level entities eat souls, and only low-level ones eat flesh!"

Wei Wuxian replied exasperatedly, "Why are you blindly believing everything he said? He got plenty of things wrong! Rules aren't set in stone. Think of it like a baby – when it has no teeth, it can only drink milk and soup, but once it grows up, of course it wants to use its teeth to eat meat. Now that her power has greatly increased, she naturally wants to try something new!"

The Celestial Maiden stood up, towering and massive, using both hands and feet in a wild, joyful dance, seemingly ecstatic. Suddenly, an arrow whistled through the air, striking her forehead and exiting through the back of her head.

Hearing the bowstring, Wei Wuxian looked towards the sound. Jin Ling stood on a nearby hill, already nocking a second arrow. He released it with tremendous force, causing the Celestial Maiden to stagger back a few steps.

Lan Sizhui shouted, "Young Master Jin! Use your signal!"

Jin Ling ignored him, focused solely on taking down the monster. He nocked three arrows at once this time. Despite being shot in the head twice, the Celestial Maiden remained unfazed, still smiling as she advanced towards Jin Ling. Although she moved in a dance-like manner, her speed was terrifying, closing half the distance in an instant. A few cultivators rushed out to engage her, momentarily hindering her progress. Jin Ling's arrows hit their mark with every shot, and he was determined to exhaust his quiver before engaging in close combat. His aim was steady and accurate, but unfortunately, all spiritual weapons were useless against her!

Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji were still waiting for news in Fozu Town, unaware of the unfolding crisis. If spiritual weapons were ineffective, then it was time for some unorthodox methods!

Wei Wuxian grabbed Lan Sizhui's sword, cut a length of bamboo, and quickly fashioned a flute. He brought it to his lips and took a deep breath. A piercing note shot through the night sky like an arrow.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't resort to this. But now, it didn't matter what he summoned, as long as it was fierce and powerful enough to tear the soul-eating Celestial Maiden to pieces!

Lan Sizhui was completely stunned, while Lan Jingyi covered his ears, complaining, "Is this really the time to play the flute? It's awful!"

In the battlefield, three or four of the cultivators fighting the Celestial Maiden had already lost their souls. Jin Ling drew his sword, now less than twenty feet from her. His heart pounding and blood rushing, he thought, "If I can't cut off her head with this strike, I'll die here – so be it!"

At that moment, a tinkling sound arose from the forests of Mount Dafan.

Ding-ding-dang-dang, ding-ding-dang-dang. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes halting, sometimes loud. It echoed through the silent forest, sounding like clashing chains or dragging iron links. It grew closer and louder.

For some reason, this sound carried an extremely unsettling, threatening aura. Even the Celestial Maiden stopped her dance, arms raised, staring blankly into the dark depths where the sound originated.

Wei Wuxian lowered his flute, focusing intently on the source of the sound.

Although the ominous feeling in his heart grew stronger, the fact that something responded to his summons meant it was at least willing to listen to him.

The sound abruptly ceased, and a figure emerged from the darkness.

As they recognized the figure and its face, several cultivators' expressions contorted.

Even when faced with the soul-devouring Celestial Maiden statue, these cultivators hadn't flinched or shown fear. But now, their voices were filled with undisguised terror as they cried out:

"...It's the 'Ghost General,' it's the Ghost General, it's Wen Ning!"

The title "Ghost General," like that of the Yiling Patriarch, was infamous and known to all, and the two were often mentioned together.

This term referred to only one entity. It was none other than the Yiling Patriarch Wei Ying's number one henchman, the one who had caused chaos and destruction, who should have been ground to dust long ago – the fierce corpse, Wen Ning!