Standing by the window, she arranges her cloud-like hair and applies a flower-yellow tint in front of the mirror.
In the Shuimen Bridge Villa, Xu Qing had planned to see the embroidery maid sitting gracefully in front of the dressing mirror, placing her fine head between her legs, and elegantly picking up a comb to tidy her beautiful hair.
But unexpectedly, after chanting the opening spell, this ghost girl suddenly wailed and cried out loud on the spot!
I have no idea how a ghost cries out, but in any case, the embroidery maid instinctively reached out to catch her head. In a moment of bewilderment, she screamed in shock, almost throwing her own head away.
Frantically catching her head, the embroidery maid cried like a pear blossom with tears, muttering incessantly: My head is gone, I'm going to die, I will never see sir again, we'll be separated by life and death, and similar nonsense.
Xu Qing felt a bit guilty. When teaching the embroidery maid the head-cutting survival technique, he didn't tell her what kind of magic it was. Yet, the embroidery maid was as happy as a flower, having no doubt even when something unusual happened during cultivation.
Until the moment her head fell off.
"Don't cry, it's nothing serious, just calm down!"
"But my head fell off, I'm going to die."
"Wake up! You weren't alive to begin with, you're a ghost!"
"But ghosts can die too, sir said, when a ghost dies, it turns into a corpse spirit..."
Xu Qing's brain ached. Why is the ghost he raises so timid!
Sitting the embroidery maid properly in front of the dressing table, Xu Qing comforted her: "With me here, even if your head falls off, it doesn't matter. Calm down and recall the 'Head Return Spell' I taught you. As long as you can perform this spell, your head will grow back."
"Head Return Spell?" The embroidery maid was puzzled.
"It's the same as the 'Youth Restoration Spell' I mentioned to you earlier."
"..."
The embroidery maid followed the instructions, forming a seal and chanting the spell.
Along with the muffled female voice mumbling 'head return, head return' from the abdomen, black mist suddenly appeared around the embroidery maid's neck. Once the spell was recited three times, the head she was carefully holding fell away from her palms and lightly returned to her neck.
"Sir deliberately tricked me!"
The embroidery maid felt lingering fear. Even though she trusted Xu Qing before, she couldn't help but feel annoyed now.
Though Xu Qing felt embarrassed, he had a certain boldness.
"This is the head-cutting survival technique, a true nine-day secret art, not some street performance trick. With it, you will never have to fear decapitation by weapons in the future, and it's even more convenient during morning grooming."
"The reason I called it the 'Youth Restoration Spell' is that I know you have a gentle nature, and if I told you the truth, you certainly wouldn't practice this technique."
Perhaps zombies have thick skin, Xu Qing said this without blushing, and in any case, he continued to explain with words full of goodwill and how this survival spell is a rare and extraordinary magic.
In short, about seventy percent truth and thirty percent embellishment, the simple-minded ghost maiden was convinced. After listening, she became cheerful again, feeling that the sir cared about her. If he didn't care, he wouldn't have come to the villa or explained so much to her.
However, what the embroidery maid didn't know was that Xu Qing still had many exotic techniques suitable for ghosts to practice, though the methods were extremely unconventional.
He was worried if he didn't placate this ghost maiden, it would be difficult to deceive her into continuing her cultivation in the future.
Xu Qing felt helpless in his heart. This ghost maiden was good in every way, except she always considered herself human, refusing to voluntarily practice those slightly unconventional magic and cultivation techniques.
But among those techniques suitable for ghosts to practice, how many are considered normal?
"Embroidery maid, you must remember, you are already a ghost. Ghosts have no human rights in the mortal world. Only by cultivating well can you protect yourself, and guard this estate for me."
"I don't wish to return from seclusion one day to find this estate in turmoil..."
The embroidery maid nodded repeatedly, and when Xu Qing left the villa, the ghost maiden floated up to the eaves at the door, watching until he disappeared at Shuimen Bridge.
...
In June's muggy heat, the weather was scorching.
Xu Qing casually opened a white paper umbrella—an umbrella originally burned for the deceased at funerals, but it had become his artifact for avoiding the sun.
Though he was long unafraid of the sun's scorch, it didn't mean he liked standing under it.
Walking down familiar streets, Xu Qing held a mourning umbrella with one hand and toyed with the small black pouch given by the embroidery maid with the other.
The exquisite pouch was made for Xuan Yu, a cat that occasionally roamed, though its roaming was just within the Jin Sect, no one could be certain that danger wouldn't appear at its doorstep.
Before the cat met him, it had already lost one of its nine lives. He didn't want Xuan Yu to encounter anything in the Jin Sect's territory, right under his nose.
The small black pouch was just the right size for holding a Water-Repelling Pearl, some talismans, and even a small bowl.
Xu Qing continuously calculated the days, the refining progress of the Undying Bone was much faster than he anticipated. At this rate, in no more than a decade or two, he might have to lie in the coffin to refine the most crucial bones in his body.
"Tianzhu, Huangting, North Sea..."
Tianzhu is the spine, Huangting is the skull where the Niwan Palace resides, and the final North Sea is considered the celestial bone by cultivators, also the location of the sacral bone.
Xu Qing didn't know how long it would take to refine in those places. In any case, he must prepare everything to the fullest before lying in repose.
On his way to Flower and Bird Street, Xu Qing saw Zhao Zhonghe leading a group of constables escorting a woman, rushing back urgently.
So urgent that they didn't even have time to greet him; it seemed like something urgent was afoot.
Xu Qing was entirely unconcerned, continuing his stroll toward Flower and Bird Street.
Upon reaching Elder Feng's mansion, Xu Qing carefully looked around, wary of encountering that rascal Shang Shaoyang.
"Elder, how did you sleep last night?"
Elder Feng was overly excited to see Xu Qing come by.
"Brother Xu has finally arrived, I didn't dare close my eyes all night, afraid that headless ghost would come knocking."
Xu Qing was taken aback: "Didn't I say yesterday the ghost has been vanquished, and Young Master Shang also knows. Didn't he explain it to you?"
Elder Feng said gloomily: "Last night you signaled me to keep him here, but your friend has a peculiar temperament. I hadn't kept him for long before he said he needed to use the restroom. I thought I couldn't let a guest hold it in, that's not something one should do, so I let him go, and waited outside with him."
"After waiting for ages, there was no sound, and when I called out, there was no response. I pushed open the restroom door, and he was gone!"
"I thought he might have fallen into the pit, shined the lantern, no trace."
"You tell me what a mess, no idea if he ran or was eaten by a headless ghost..."
Xu Qing said helplessly: "There is no need to guess, Elder. That person is highly skilled, surely he ran over the rooftops."
Seeing that Elder Feng indeed didn't look well, Xu Qing comforted him: "This matter is already concluded. The ghost was merely a headless body executed at the execution ground, only causing trouble because its resentment hasn't dissipated, and there's nothing special about it."
"That's good," Elder Feng lifted a tea cup to his lips but suddenly looked up: "By the way, Brother Xu, do you still have the medicine you gave me last time? I've been scared lately, especially last night. Now I'm feeling significantly fatigued and need to recuperate.
Speaking of which, I found the previous medicine from Brother Xu quite effective..."
While speaking, Xu Qing suddenly noticed a women with a graceful appearance, not looking like a servant, walking past outside. The woman, upon seeing people inside, quickly turned to leave.
Xu Qing blinked and then looked at Elder Feng, who was visibly weak.
This elder isn't very honest!
Obviously hiding beauty in a bower, overextending himself, and yet blaming it on a headless ghost.
"Elder, you need to take it easy. Though the medicine is good, you shouldn't indulge."