The look on the Captain’s face was strange. It flitted back and forth between ferocity and incredulity. Xu Qing could understand his reaction.

“The man with her…?” Xu Qing said hesitantly.

The Captain sighed bitterly. “That guy, well it’s highly likely that he… is my body from that previous life.”

Wu Jianwu and Ning Yan didn’t know who Nethersprite was. But after hearing the conversation between Xu Qing and the Captain they could guess at what was going on. Both of them inhaled sharply.

Ning Yan hesitated, then quietly said, “Congratulations on your big day!”

Wu Jianwu was deeply moved. Thinking back to stories he’d heard about matters related to predestined relationships, he couldn’t help but get excited and say, “The situation causes shock and confusion; the Ox wonders if his life’s a delusion! In the past they were nothing but foes and aggressors; in the present they’ve chosen to grow old together!”

Xu Qing sat there quietly. The Captain sat there even more quietly.

There was no way Ning Yan was going to let an opportunity like this slip away, so he asked, “If the two of them have children, Elder Brother Erniu… what will the kids call you?”

Veins bulged on the Captain’s forehead.

Seeing that, Wu Jianwu decided that he could temporarily forget his revulsion for Ning Yan. After a moment of thought, he looked meaningfully at the Captain and said, “My son’s dad is not his dad, my son’s mom is not his mom; ask my son what he calls me and he’ll say, biological dads and stepdads are all still dads!”

The moment Wu Jianwu finished with his poem, the Captain clenched his hand into a fist and punched him in the face. With a howl in grief, Wu Jianwu was sent flying backward 300 meters. Ning Yan was about to turn and run when the Captain launched a kick and sent him flying over to join Wu Jianwu. Eyes bloodshot, the Captain then looked up into the sky.

Xu Qing looked sympathetic. He could imagine what complex emotions the Captain was dealing with. Reaching out, he clasped the Captain’s shoulder. A long moment passed.

“What the heck is going on here?? Why did Nethersprite fall for my past-life body?” The Captain’s complex feelings were reflected in his facial expression. There was really too much to put into words.

“Don’t be too upset, Eldest Brother,” Xu Qing said. “If Nethersprite knew the truth, she’d probably have mixed feelings as well.”

His words seemed to have a positive effect. After a moment of looking surprised, the Captain gritted his teeth.

“It doesn’t matter. All it took was a single glance and I could tell that my past life body was actually possessed by the spirit automaton of one of the funerary objects in the tomb. As for which exact funerary object it was, I can’t tell at the moment. But that doesn’t matter! I’m taking my body back. All I have to do is touch it!”

A crazy light flashed in the Captain’s eyes as he pulled Xu Qing closer to discuss the details.

It was going to be a difficult job. For one thing, Nethersprite’s aura made it clear she was in the great circle of Spirit Trove. Based on what Xu Qing remembered from various war reports, that was likely a result of how Nethersprite had severely injured herself on the battlefield to make her escape.

“Her ‘escape’ was a tactic,” Xu Qing said, “used by the swordsage grand elder of Emperor-Receiving Prefecture to keep Seventh Prince in check. But I always assumed the grand elder had her held captive secretly somewhere. As it turns out, he really did set her free. That said, I’m sure the grand elder has other contingencies in place. Unfortunately, we’re too far away from Sea-Sealing County to ask him for details.”

Eyes narrowing, the Captain said, “My past-life body has a very strong aura of death, and no fluctuations of any magical techniques. That’s as I expected. That body has been dead for long enough that whatever damned thing possessed him only has access to the shell. That said, that fleshly body power is comparable to the great circle of Spirit Trove.”

The Captain frowned. The past-life body alone would have been too much for him to deal with. And now Nethersprite was in the picture. For all intents and purposes, getting close enough to his past-life body to touch it was going to be impossible.

“Considering how intimate Nethersprite was with him, Eldest Brother, it seems to me that your past-life body must be the number-one expert in the Unfinished Mountains that we heard about. Master Darkfate. But I’m really curious as to how Nethersprite ended up here. And how could she really fall in love so deeply at first sight?”

Xu Qing got the feeling something suspicious was going on. He looked at the Captain. “We need some intelligence reports about this Master Darkfate.”

“I have some,” the Captain said. “Before, I didn’t pay much attention to the small fries around here. But I did get some basic information.” The Captain rummaged through his bag of holding and eventually produced a jade slip that had some information about Master Darkfate.

He had founded a sect in the Unfinished Mountains, its name being the Darkfate Sect. Master Darkfate himself spent most of his time in seclusion in his sect. He rarely made public appearances. It went without saying that his secluded meditation facilities had very tight security. Infiltrating them would be very risky. And they would only have one chance to do it. If they were discovered, all of them would be in incredible danger.

After Xu Qing and the Captain discussed matters at length, they decided that they had no choice but to cut a few corners.

“Eldest Brother,” Xu Qing said thoughtfully, “your past-life body and Nethersprite are supposed to be getting married soon….” A plan was already starting to form in his mind.

Hearing that, the Captain got a very bad premonition.

“Eldest Brother, didn’t we hear that Nethersprite is going for a month-long baptism at the spirit spring in the Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect? If we could think of some way of capturing her there, then she wouldn’t be able to go through with the wedding…. And then, Eldest Brother, you could disguise yourself as Nethersprite!”

The Captain’s eyes went wide. Around that time, Wu Jianwu and Ning Yan had just run back. Hearing the last bit of dialogue caused both of their eyes to shine. That was especially true of Ning Yan, who couldn’t stop a grin from spreading out on his face. But then, fearful of being whacked again, he wiped the grin away.

“Eldest Brother,” Xu Qing continued, “you know your past-life body better than anyone. And you know Nethersprite fairly well too; after all, you’ve been in her house before. What’s more, you’re really an expert in dressing up like the opposite sex. You have experience, remember? You know, that Seazombie princess? Back then, your disguise was remarkably true to life. Incomparably realistic!” 1

Keeping his eyes on the Captain, Xu Qing slowly took out an apple and handed it to him. “And that’s why I think,” he went on, “that you should disguise yourself as Nethersprite and go to the wedding with your past-self body. That would be the perfect way for you to lay hands on him, right? Of course, it’s all based on the presumption that we can figure out how to restrain Nethersprite and also pull the wool over the eyes of your past-self body.”

The Captain reflexively took the apple. His expression was one of hesitation.

On the one hand, he had to admit that Xu Qing’s plan seemed feasible. On the other hand, the idea of getting married to his past-self body seemed patently absurd. The end result was that he wasn’t sure what to think.

Sighing, Xu Qing squeezed the Captain’s shoulder. “Eldest Brother, this is the only plan I can come up with right now. But it’s pretty crazy. I understand if you can’t do it.”

Gritting his teeth viciously, the Captain started breathing heavily. Then he looked at Xu Qing with a crazy look in his eye.

“I can do it! However, we have a lot to prepare before we go through with it. Little Ah Qing, can you lend me that world fragment of yours? That’s going to be how we restrain her. Ordinary methods won’t work if we want to capture Nethersprite. I’m going to set up a grand spell formation in that world fragment. Then I’m going to have to undo some of my seals. We’ll add in my treasured skin patch, plus the might of my sun and… right, your Ghost Emperor nascent soul! We’ll need that as well.

“We’ll combine all of those things and then trap her inside the world fragment! In terms of tricking my past-self body, I have my ways!”

The Captain’s eyes were bloodshot; he was clearly willing to go all-out to retrieve the body that had once been his. With that, he and Xu Qing went on to discuss more details about the setup, including ways to avoid attracting the attention of the Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect.

One suspicion Xu Qing brought up was the possibility that this entire thing was a big trap. Like a fishing expedition. Xu Qing knew from experience that traps like that weren’t obvious from the outside.

The Captain nodded and looked at Xu Qing with a strange look in his eyes. However, only a moment later, he brimmed with confidence as he explained that he had everything under control.

Xu Qing looked at the Captain. Ever since coming to the Unfinished Mountains, it seemed like the Captain’s confidence levels were different than before. That said, Xu Qing was used to his overconfident words.

A few days later, they had hashed out all the details and had a plan in place. With that, they headed toward a branch of the Southern Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect located in the Unfinished Mountains.

The Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect was a very large organization in the Moonrite Region. Because they worked with the Red Moon Cathedral to provide sacrificial dances, they had a good amount of authority. Also, they were so large that they had eastern, western, southern and northern branches. .

Among their disciples were people both righteous and wicked, and as a result, it wasn’t hard to infiltrate them. That was one of the reasons that the Captain, during his initial preparations, had arranged secret identities in that sect.

Their destination was one of a number of branches of the Southern Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect in these mountains. Its patriarch was in Void Returning, and he spent most of his time on the Penitence Steppes in the headquarters of the Red Moon Cathedral. The sect leader was his heir, who had a Spirit Trove cultivation base.

Because there were so many branches of the Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect, it wasn’t possible for all of them to get along. Though there were some dealings between the various branches, most stuck to themselves, and even guarded against the others. As a result, even though the Captain and Xu Qing had identity medallions from the Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect, when they presented their identification, they were refused entry.

The headquarters of this branch was located on a tall mountain with twin peaks. It featured carved jade railings and extravagant decorations. On the back side of the mountain was a spirit lake formed because of how the local spirit rivers converged in the area. Because of that, the place was well-known.

At the foot of the twin peaks, a blur of light appeared in front of Xu Qing and the Captain, blocking their path. Three sect disciples walked out of the light.

The leader of this group of three was a middle-aged cultivator with his hands clasped behind his back. “Your identity medallions aren’t from the southern branch here in the Unfinished Mountains. In accordance with our rules, we can’t just let you inside. Go back to wherever you came from.”

Of course, they had already planned how to deal with this exact situation. Smiling, the Captain took a few steps forward and put his hand on his bag of holding to take something out.

Before anything else could happen, Spirit Trove fluctuations rolled down from above, followed by a light sigh.

Xu Qing’s gaze hardened, and the Captain froze in place. Wu Jianwu and Ning Yan both had uneasy feelings.

A figure appeared in the sky, floating down to hover above them. It was a good-looking middle-aged woman in a daoist robe. The moment she appeared, the disciples on guard duty dropped to their knees to kowtow.

“Greetings, Sect Leader!”

Xu Qing and the Captain quickly clasped hands respectfully. However, even as Xu Qing bowed, he pondered how odd it was that this person showed up at this exact moment.

The middle-aged woman wasn’t looking at Xu Qing or the Captain. The moment she appeared, she smiled, looked at Wu Jianwu, and softly said, “This is our second meeting, young sir. Yet your poetry is still fresh in my mind from our first meeting.”

1. How could any of us forget the time the Captain disguised himself as a Seazombie princess in chapter 183? ☜

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