"A ghost?"
The cultivators in the room exchanged uncertain looks. For people like them, ghosts weren't so easy to dismiss. They existed squarely in the realm of things that might actually be real in this world.
Beliefs about energy and spirits had taken root in every region, along with countless disciplines built around them.
After all, cultivators and magic users had once been the stuff of legend to ordinary people too. So none of them were quick to deny it outright.
"Doesn't the butler know?"
Zheng Renyi caught the young man's secretive manner and couldn't help asking. He glanced toward the door in case Butler Fang came back in.
"No. I only found out after reading Grandpa's journal." Zhou Jingzi nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an old journal he always kept with him. The cover was fine leather, worn but well-made.
"Grandpa wrote that at night, he often heard a woman's voice coming from the mountain. Sometimes it was far away. Sometimes it sounded like it was right beside him."
"...A woman's voice?"
Bai Fanxian frowned. Her Heaven Sense had swept across the entire island and found no one else besides the people in this mansion.
"Could it have been wild animals?" The Sword Master looked out the window. With nature this dense, the island had plenty of small creatures and birds.
"Grandpa thought the same at first. But he said he'd been hearing it for years. It was always clearest on full moon nights."
Zhou Jingzi opened the journal. He wasn't making it up.
Bai Fanxian murmured to herself. She wasn't sure what to make of it yet, but it had caught her interest.
"If the Empress isn't bothered by this, then I feel much better."
Zhou Jingzi let out a breath. Most homeowners with something like this in their history, a death, a haunting, a rumor, would hide it from buyers. But he hadn't wanted to lie to Bai Fanxian and carry that guilt with him.
The caretakers who'd lived here before hadn't known either. He'd kept it that way so as not to frighten them off.
"I don't think it'll be a problem." Bai Fanxian had never been afraid of such things, and neither were her people.
"In that case, please sign here."
Huang Zihuan, who had managed everything from the start, produced two contracts. One for Bai Fanxian, and one for Zhou Jingzi.
Since Brother Yang was an outsider to both parties, he served as the intermediary.
Bai Fanxian handed the cash card to Zhou Jingzi and received the island's deed in return. She passed it along to Huang Zihuan to handle the remaining government procedures. Within moments, the island was legally hers.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing... just thinking about whether buying that house was really a good idea."
Zhou Jingzi stared at the black card with its several billion yuan and sighed. They'd bought a house in that development hoping to live close to their idol — only to find out afterward that Bai Fanxian was planning to move to a private island instead.
They were on the boat now, heading back. Beside him sat Butler Fang, packed and ready to go, gazing back at the island he'd spent so many years on with quiet, lonely eyes.
Brother Yang heard his younger brother and smiled dryly. "That's true. Like ships passing in the night, huh?"
.
.
.
"Will my lady be moving here soon?" Liu Yianfei had been walking the island and now turned to ask.
They had all settled on the wide balcony overlooking the beach. Huang Zihuan was making his way through the mansion, taking stock of things. The more he walked, the more he suspected that managing a place this size on his own might be beyond him.
"Probably soon..."
Bai Fanxian sipped her tea. Even without her Border, the air here was clean and alive with the freshness of nature. Zhou Jingzi's grandfather had chosen well when he'd decided to spend his final years in this place.
If she spread her Border over the island, Bai Fanxian thought it might surpass even the Cultivators' Paradise.
"...?"
The Dragon Queen had been sunbathing on the balcony railing, perfectly content. Then her eyes snapped open and she looked left and right, as if searching for something. Bai Fanxian also noticed.
"What's wrong?"
"Master... something feels off."
Little Red's nose twitched. She spread her small wings and lifted into the air.
"I think there's something in the valley."
The moment she said it, the small dragon turned toward the forest behind the mansion. From that direction — a thunderous roar so massive it shook the trees!
ROAR!
The sound was loud enough to shake the whole island. Fortunately, they were far out at sea, so no one on the mainland would have heard a thing.
Huang Zihuan rushed in from inside and moved to his lady's side. Zheng Renyi drew his sword in the same motion and released his Sage-level power in all directions.
Liu Yianfei moved on instinct. In an instant he was in front of the three children, putting his body between them and whatever was coming.
"...What is that?"
Zheng Renyi's eyes went wide. Trees were falling, one after another in a straight line, and then a massive shape nearly ten meters tall came crashing out onto the beach.
"A wild...boar?"
He was right. But this was a boar unlike anything he had seen. Each step it took sent tremors through the ground. Its tusks were long and razor-sharp. A single careless swing was enough to send a full-grown tree toppling.
"Master... why couldn't I sense it earlier?" The Dragon Queen landed on the tea table, her eyes full of unease.
"Same here."
Bai Fanxian's eyes narrowed. She had swept the whole island with her Heaven Sense when they arrived. There had been nothing. No creature this size, no presence this powerful.
So where had it come from?
The question lingered.
"Young lady... it's looking this way."
Zheng Renyi kept his voice low. The giant boar's small, rolling eyes had found the mansion. Something unfamiliar in its territory.
SNORT!!
The boar roared and launched forward, hind legs driving into the earth hard enough to crack the ground. The raw speed and force made both Sages' eyes go wide!
CRASH!
Before the creature reached the building, Zheng Renyi and Liu Yianfei moved together, swords drawn, bodies cutting forward in a single fluid charge. Their training together showed — the massive ten-meter body went airborne, tumbling end over end before crashing into the beach in a spray of seawater.
They had stopped it. But Zheng Renyi's hands were shaking. The impact had traveled straight up his blade and left both arms numb.
Liu Yianfei was no better off. They looked at the boar. The massive beast had barely even flinched. Not even a mark on its hide.
Its hide could shrug off a Sage-level strike?
If a creature like this ever made it to the mainland, the damage would be unimaginable. Good thing Zhou Jingzi had already left. If he'd seen this, he'd have been speechless.
"Master, this creature's power level..."
"Yes. Most likely a Sage-level demonic beast."
Bai Fanxian answered Little Red's unfinished question. The large black bird's wary behavior confirmed her words. The bird hadn't dared come any closer — the difference in power was too great, and it knew that well enough.
As for Bai Fanxian, her interest had been fully caught. Where had this boar come from? And how had the creature concealed itself well enough to escape even her Heaven Sense?
Rumble...
The giant beast hadn't calmed. If anything, its fury had only grown. Brown energy surged around its body. Its muscles swelled visibly, veins bulging beneath the skin. The aura rippling off it pulsed like something alive.
BOOM!
The moment it stomped, cracks split the ground in every direction. A single stomp — and the whole island shook!
SNORT!!
The boar roared again. This time, countless sharp thorns shot up from the ground beneath Liu Yianfei's feet. He leapt back to keep the structures safe, pushing his power until his body blazed white. His sword cut trails of light through the air as he moved.
But the boar had learned. It didn't charge headfirst like before. This time it angled its white tusks forward to receive Liu Yianfei's sword edge. When both clashed, it was the sword that bounced away.
"...Just how tough is this thing?"
"Let me try." Zheng Renyi appeared behind the wild boar. His Intent surged skyward, its sharpness leaving accidental cuts on the trees nearby. The old man gripped the sword at his waist and drew it in an instant, slashing down across the boar's broad, fur-covered back!
Slash!
It sounded like it cut through something. But Zheng Renyi knew better — his blade likely hadn't even penetrated the outer hide!
The fur and the swirling brown energy had swallowed most of the force.
"This creature's just like the Dragon Queen back then." The Sword Master couldn't help complaining. But his words floated all the way to Little Red's ears on the second floor.
"Hmph! I'm way tougher than that thing. Master, can I just roast it?"
The Dragon Queen had puffed up with indignation. Her hot-tempered protest made Bai Fanxian laugh softly. She reached out and stroked the small dragon's head until the bristling settled, then said:
"Calm down... Don't you think the way this boar's power moves is interesting?"
Bai Fanxian kept her eyes on the creature below. Those brown energy currents. She had been seeing something very like them at the military's Eastern Command lately.
It looked like magic power.