Chapter 269: 嘤嘤嘤

The nearby Immortal Yuan Guards were even worse off; even Liu Sanbao showed a look of pain.

"Roar!" Amber, perched on Lu Ye's shoulder, let out a tiger's roar.

At this critical moment, Amber was needed.

That roar suppressed the female spirit's cries and even stunned her. Only then did she notice Amber's uniqueness; her beautiful eyes scrutinized Amber, revealing a look of apprehension.

Amber had already darted out and opened its mouth to inhale at the female spirit.

The female spirit sensed danger, raised her hand, and plucked the pipa, sending Amber flying and tumbling several times.

Yi Yi seized the opportunity to rush out and cast a spell at the female spirit. At the same time, Lu Ye stepped forward and slashed with his saber.

The female spirit blocked the spell but failed to block Lu Ye's saber strike, and a spiritual light flickered on her body.

Seizing this opportunity, the surrounding ghoul spirits simultaneously took action, binding the female spirit with spirit-binding chains. Liu Sanbao even threw her three dice.

The female spirit's slender fingers hooked a few strings of the pipa. With a sudden pull and tug, most of the spirit-binding chains flying towards her froze in mid-air, while the rest shattered.

"Wail, wail, wail..." The crying resumed.

"Roar!" Amber roared at her again. This time, the sound was even louder than before. A visible wave of air rushed towards the female spirit, causing her to immediately show a look of pain, and her wailing abruptly stopped.

Lu Ye seized the opportunity to slash down with his saber.

"Wail, wail..."

"Roar!"

Lu Ye slashed again.

"Wail..."

Another slash...

The female spirit truly cried, clutching her pipa and shrinking her neck. She looked at Lu Ye pitifully, and bean-sized tears continuously streamed down her face.

This guest was difficult to entertain. He didn't recite poetry or engage in couplets; instead, he roared at her and chopped at her...

A moment later, Amber swallowed the female spirit, who had been tormented into submission, transforming her into a ghoul spirit.

With another powerful general added to his ranks, Lu Ye was in excellent spirits.

He had Amber release the female spirit. As expected, her power was greatly suppressed; like Liu Sanbao, she only possessed the strength of the ninth-layer realm.

The enchanting light that once flickered in her eyes was gone. Now, she stood there blankly, clutching her pipa, visibly dull and rigid, with a faint trace of her former delicacy.

This was the drawback of being transformed into a ghoul spirit. It could be said that once Amber transformed someone into a ghoul spirit, they would lose all sentience, regardless of whether they possessed it before.

Lu Ye examined the pipa in her arms. This item was similar to Liu Sanbao's dice cup. Lu Ye had initially thought it was a spirit artifact, but later realized it wasn't. Both Liu Sanbao's dice cup and this pipa seemed more like manifestations of their original powers—neither tangible nor intangible, just like themselves.

He tallied the number of ghoul spirits. Excluding Yi Yi, there were still thirty-one of them: two special ghoul spirits, fifteen squad leaders, and fourteen ghoul spirits converted from ordinary Immortal Yuan Guards.

Such strength was far greater than before. If he had possessed such a group of ghoul spirits when Chu Qing and her people ambushed him earlier, none of them would have escaped.

He had forgotten to ask the female ghoul spirit's name. "Never mind," Lu Ye thought, "I'll just call her the Pipa Girl."

He continued his exploration.

An hour later, Lu Ye stood before a grand courtyard with high walls. He looked at the lantern hanging by the entrance, then pushed the door open and entered.

For such a large city to have a courtyard like this showed that the original owner held a significant status in Immortal Yuan City. Upon entering, faint traces of small bridges and flowing water were discernible all around.

Lu Ye's gaze was immediately drawn to a splash of red in a certain part of the courtyard. There, on a swing, a slender figure sat with her back to him.

Lu Ye immediately felt elated, believing himself incredibly lucky. He hadn't been able to find special spirits like Liu Sanbao and the Pipa Girl before, yet he had encountered two in such a short time. It seemed that special spirits in Immortal Yuan City were not as rare as he had thought. His previous lack of encounters was either due to bad luck or because they had been killed by other cultivators.

The swing swayed gently, and the red dress of the woman sitting on it trailed on the ground.

Just as Lu Ye was about to have Amber release the ghoul spirits to communicate with the figure, his body suddenly stiffened.

He rubbed his eyes and carefully scrutinized the woman in the red dress, confirming he hadn't mistaken anything. He quickly raised his hand and clamped Amber's mouth shut.

Amber seemed to be trying to yawn...

Then he slowly moved backward, trying his best not to make any sound.

Boom...

The large door behind him suddenly closed with a thud. Lu Ye threw himself against the door but hit it solidly. This decaying door, which looked as if it would crumble at a touch, actually blocked him.

Spiritual power surged, and fiery red spiritual energy flowed from Lu Ye's back. With a flap of his wings, he was about to soar into the sky, intending to climb over the wall. However, his body seemed rooted to the spot, completely unable to move. An invisible force held him captive, his spiritual power stagnated, and the wings on his back vanished.

Cold sweat immediately streamed down his forehead. Lu Ye stared at the woman in the red dress, feeling an immense sense of danger enveloping him.

He suddenly understood the feelings of those Ten Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators he had killed, whose pleasant surprise turned into terror. Such dramatic shifts in life were truly overwhelming.

When he had looked at the spiritual light around the woman in the red dress earlier, Lu Ye had felt something was wrong because he couldn't see any spiritual light emanating from her body.

He had only encountered this situation with three individuals.

One was Senior Sister Shui Yuan.

The second was the Sect Master.

The third was Madam Yun.

Of these three, one was in the True Lake realm, and two were in the Divine Sea realm. Because the power gap between them was too vast, Lu Ye simply couldn't perceive their spiritual light.

This was why Lu Ye immediately wanted to retreat, because the woman in the red dress was very likely someone he couldn't afford to provoke, not even with his ghoul spirits.

Of course, the absence of spiritual light could also mean the other party had no power. Ordinary mortals who had not cultivated had no spiritual light.

But could a spirit entity in this Immortal Yuan City possibly have no power?

To take a step back, if she truly had no power, it would be useless for Lu Ye to convert her into a ghoul spirit. But if she did possess power... then things would be terrifying.

By the time he tried to retreat, it was already too late. The gate was sealed, and his spiritual power was restricted. Lu Ye hadn't even seen any sign of the woman making a move. From beginning to end, the woman in the red dress had remained quietly on the swing, gently swaying.

The intelligence from the Heavenly Mystery Alliance wasn't entirely reliable. At the very least, Lu Ye hadn't seen any mention of such a terrifying entity in Immortal Yuan City in their reports.

"Damn it, refund my money!"

A faint, mournful song suddenly began. Although the voice was soft, it felt as if it was singing right into his ear, striking deep into his soul.

Lu Ye's tense expression calmed down because he knew that any resistance against such a terrifying and insurmountable entity would be meaningless.

These special spirit entities in Immortal Yuan City each had their own obsessions and preferences from when they were alive. Liu Sanbao wanted to gamble, the Pipa Girl wanted to recite poetry and engage in couplets, and the woman in the red dress before him suddenly started singing a song.

Lu Ye secretly speculated, "Could it be that the woman in the red dress wants me to listen to her sing? Or perhaps sing along with her, and if I sing well, she'll let me go?"

The other party hadn't immediately attacked him but only restrained him here, which indicated there was still a glimmer of hope. It would depend on how he responded.

Lu Ye calmed himself and listened carefully. If she asked him later what she had just sung and he couldn't answer, his death would be a great injustice.

He couldn't make out anything distinct from the song. He could only feel the melancholic sadness of the melody. As for the lyrics, Lu Ye couldn't catch a single word.

Unconsciously, Lu Ye was enveloped by immense sorrow. The faint song seemed to be telling a tale of separation, of a beloved one who left and never returned for a thousand years, leaving a devoted lover yearning endlessly.

After an unknown period, the song that struck deep into his soul suddenly ceased.

Lu Ye was still immersed in the sorrowful atmosphere. Even though he knew he was influenced by the red-dressed woman's song, it was difficult for him to snap out of it immediately.

The swaying swing came to a halt. A faint voice asked, "Have you seen Tangyuan?"

"Are you looking for tangyuan to eat, miss?" Lu Ye sniffed, secretly thinking this would be difficult. He had plenty of food in his storage bag, mostly dried meat, but no tangyuan at all.

The woman in the red dress, with her back to him, shook her head and said, "Tangyuan is a cat."

"I haven't seen it."

After a moment of silence, the woman in the red dress spoke, "Can you help me find Tangyuan? It's dangerous outside, and I'm worried about it."

"Alright."

"Thank you then."

"You're welcome!"

Boom...

The tightly shut large door suddenly opened. Lu Ye decisively leaped backward and quickly exited the courtyard.

Boom...

The large door closed again, and a faint song could be heard from within.

Empowered by Wind-Stepping spirit runes, Lu Ye ran at full speed, running through two streets before finally stopping, gasping for breath.

Yi Yi floated out of Amber's body, her eyes tearful and hazy, clearly also affected by the song.

"Lu Ye, are we going to look for that cat?"

"Look for a..." Lu Ye originally wanted to say "look for a damn cat," but before he finished speaking, his heart skipped a beat. An invisible warning sign arose in his mind: since he had agreed to the red-dressed woman's request, if he secretly went back on his word, he would certainly face severe consequences. He quickly corrected himself: "Finding a cat should be very simple."

The sudden warning sign vanished without a trace.

This secretly alarmed him; only then did he understand why the woman in the red dress had let him leave so easily.

His head ached a little. In such a huge Immortal Yuan City, where was he supposed to find a cat? Moreover, it was hard to say whether such a cat even existed. If there was no such cat in the city, then it would be an unsolvable situation.

No, that's not right. He just needed to look for it. As for whether he could find it... that wasn't something he could control.

Realizing this, Lu Ye's spirits immediately lifted. The situation wasn't as bad as he had imagined.

On a side note, this Immortal Yuan City was truly peculiar. No wonder the cultivators who entered it were full of complaints. Not only were there dangers everywhere, but they also had to deal with the strange demands of the special spirit entities. One misstep, and their lives would be lost.

Only then did Lu Ye notice the aftermath of a skirmish nearby. And judging by the commotion, there were quite a few people involved.

He told Yi Yi to hide. Lu Ye activated his Concealment spirit runes, suppressed his aura, and stealthily approached the area.