When the moon reached its zenith, Jiang Ai once again saw Chen Ying beneath the Golden Wall of Virtual Life Mountain.

He sat cross-legged against the Golden Wall with the open Ghost Register on his lap. The Ghost King’s Lantern beside him emitted a dim glow as he rested his arm on it, studying the Ghost Register intently by its light.

This little Chen Ying had spent the entire day handling administrative affairs with her, and now at night, he was reading the Ghost Register. Although evil spirits didn’t need sleep, Chen Ying’s energy seemed exceptional—he could work continuously for several months without rest, which was astonishing.

Jiang Ai’s first impression of this heir to the ghost realm was of a mangled corpse lying in He Simu’s arms. She heard he was only fourteen, having died on the battlefield with his heart pierced by countless arrows. Due to his obsession with protecting He Simu and Duan Xu, his soul hadn’t dispersed and became a wandering spirit. He Simu’s hands had trembled as she held his body—unlike an evil spirit accustomed to life and death.

Chen Ying’s body was buried by He Simu on the back mountain of Yu Zhou City, beside her parents’ graves.

The second time Jiang Ai saw Chen Ying was on Virtual Life Mountain, when the child, now an evil spirit, came to see his own grave. Standing before his tomb, he bent down and examined the tombstone carefully for a long time, appearing very calm.

“So I am dead.”

After saying this, he turned to look at He Simu and Duan Xu beside him, smiling as he said, “When I was dying, I was thinking that Third Brother and Sister Xiaoxiao had disappeared without a trace, and your wishes had not yet been fulfilled. I had to see you both again, had to make your wishes come true. And then I did see you again—how fortunate.”

At that time, the child wore all black, with a pale face and delicate features. His expression showed a combination of childlike innocence and maturity. She wondered what this child had been like when alive; if he had grown up, he probably would have been very handsome.

Dying with his heart pierced by countless arrows—to experience such painful death yet still speak of “fortune” was indeed strange. No wonder he had become an evil spirit.

At that moment, He Simu’s eyes had moistened as she embraced Chen Ying. Jiang Ai noticed that since becoming human, He Simu seemed to cry more easily.

That child Simu was finally no longer pretending to be tough and was now allowed to have her vulnerabilities.

She was happy for Simu.

Later, when He Simu asked the Ghost King’s Lantern to choose between Jiang Ai and Chen Ying as its master, the Lantern surprisingly chose Chen Ying. Jiang Ai was both shocked and relieved—relieved because she didn’t want to be the Ghost King, and shocked because the Ghost King’s Lantern had chosen Chen Ying, a child who had only recently become an evil spirit with minimal ghostly power.

Chen Ying didn’t appear to possess the same innate talents as He Simu.

Over the years, as Jiang Ai supervised the ghost realm and Chen Ying familiarized himself with it alongside her and He Simu, learning the ways of kingship, she gradually discovered that while Chen Ying indeed lacked He Simu’s powerful natural abilities, if the effort could be considered a talent, then Chen Ying was surely a genius.

She had never seen an evil spirit more diligent and focused than Chen Ying. He seemed completely unaware of how harsh his self-demands were, continuously pushing himself and testing his limits.

People always have moments of laziness and weariness, evil spirits even more so, but Chen Ying never did. He was never impatient, simply maintaining this effort day after day, the same as the day before.

The implementation of the Golden Wall Law and the suppression of rebellions had already brought stability to the ghost realm. At the rate of Chen Ying’s improvement in ghostly powers and governance abilities, within He Simu’s lifetime, she should be able to see Chen Ying formally take charge of the ghost realm.

Sometimes Jiang Ai wondered if this was the purpose behind Chen Ying’s diligence.

He Simu was also somewhat concerned, though not about Chen Ying’s abilities. Rather, she worried whether the position of Ghost King would become a constraint for Chen Ying, just as it had once constrained her. He Simu asked Jiang Ai to indirectly sound out Chen Ying.

This was truly difficult. When communicating with Chen Ying, it was hard to be “indirect”—unless Duan Xu and He Simu came to visit him, he never engaged in idle chat. His questions and answers were always about official matters as if nothing trivial could take even a moment of his time.

Jiang Ai cleared her throat.

Chen Ying didn’t hear her; his attention was completely focused on the book before him.

Jiang Ai thought she should have brought her loud-mouthed Bai San Xing along, who could certainly disturb Chen Ying enough to make him look up.

“Chen Ying,” she walked to his side and called his name. Chen Ying finally looked up, saw Jiang Ai, and smiled, calling her “Auntie Jiang Ai.”

He Simu’s father called her Auntie Jiang Ai, He Simu called her Auntie Jiang Ai, and now this teenage ghost also called her Auntie Jiang Ai. It seemed she would be carrying this “auntie” title until the end of time.

Jiang Ai sighed, sat down beside him, and said, “Reading the Ghost Register again?”

“Yes, I need to familiarize myself first with the evil spirits from the twenty-four Ghost Palaces over the past three hundred years, and also see why people in the world become evil spirits. Speaking of which, I have a question I’d like to ask…”

Jiang Ai felt her head swelling. She waved her hand, “Chen Ying, let’s not talk about that right now. Simu just sent a message that she and Duan Xu are going to hold their wedding ceremony.”

Chen Ying’s eyes immediately brightened with excitement, “Third Brother and Sister Xiaoxiao are finally getting married! Where… where will it be held? Yu Zhou City? With half evil spirits and half humans as guests, the banquet needs careful planning…”

Jiang Ai saw the rare animation on Chen Ying’s face as if his entire being had come alive. After he unusually set aside official matters and chatted randomly, Jiang Ai rested her chin on her hand and asked him, “Little Chen Ying, are you envious?”

Chen Ying paused, his pale face reflecting the blue lamplight.

“Envious of what?”

“Simu and Duan Xu have both become human. They have five senses live passionately, and can marry and grow old together. But you died and have to learn all these complex things to support the ghost realm. Don’t you envy them? Do you truly want to be the Ghost King?”

A surprised expression appeared on Chen Ying’s young face. He replied as if it were a matter of course, “Third Brother and Sister Xiaoxiao becoming humans who can stay together for life—that was one of my wishes. My wish has been fulfilled, so what is there to envy? Besides, I don’t feel there’s anything wrong with being dead. Sister and Third Brother are still by my side—what has changed in this world?”

After a pause, he seemed to understand what Jiang Ai was trying to ask, so he said, “Sister once said that only sacrifice exists above the throne, but I have nothing to sacrifice. The most important things to me in this world are my Sister and Third Brother, and their wishes are my lifelong desires. Third Brother has already recaptured the seventeen provinces, and Sister hopes to maintain the balance between the human and ghost realms. So becoming the Ghost King and doing this well is my wish.”

Although she had long known that Chen Ying’s obsession was to protect He Simu and Duan Xu, this was the first time Jiang Ai so clearly felt that it was indeed an “obsession.”

She frowned, “What about you? What about yourself?”

“This is my wish.”

“What if Simu and Duan Xu die after a hundred years?”

“Then they will have descendants, people they cherish. I will do my best to protect the world they inhabit,” Chen Ying lowered his head to look at the Ghost Register and said, “I know I’m not as clever as Sister and Third Brother. I don’t know if I can do well, but I will try my best.”

Jiang Ai didn’t know what to say.

She discovered a quality in Chen Ying: he held himself lightly and those around him heavily. Perhaps because he had lost his family at a young age, he had a deep attachment to his later family—He Simu and Duan Xu.

Jiang Ai thought, perhaps this child would improve as he grew up. Once he had his own family and more relatives, his obsession with He Simu and Duan Xu would gradually fade.

But Chen Ying never had the chance to grow up as a normal young man.

Jiang Ai patted Chen Ying’s head and said, “Simu and I both know how hard you work. There’s no evil spirit in this world more diligent or kinder than you.”

She seemed to understand now why the Ghost King’s Lantern had chosen Chen Ying.

“You will likely become a good Ghost King.”

Chen Ying smiled, put away the Ghost Register, picked up the Ghost King’s Lantern, and said cheerfully, “Let’s go find them first!”

Jiang Ai watched as Chen Ying hummed a tune while walking down the mountain. In the moonlight, there was no shadow of his tall, straight figure. She also smiled and shook her head.

The former Ghost King He Yi Cheng was the lord who established laws in chaotic times; the previous Ghost King He Simu was the lord who implemented laws in times of governance; and the later Ghost King Xue Chen Ying was the lord who embraced laws in prosperous times.

Later, under his hand, peace endured for over a thousand years between the ghost realm, the human world, and the immortal sects.

Setting aside such distant matters, in the fifth year of Xin He, a grand wedding was held in Dai Prefecture city. The wedding procession with the bride’s dowry was like a long dragon with no visible end. The attendants beside the carriages scattered pearls and silver coins to the common people lining the streets. Gongs and drums resounded, firecrackers filled the sky, and the entire city was covered with red confetti, like a red snowfall.

The feast lasted for three days, stirring the entire Dai Prefecture.

No one had expected that He Simu, the famous painter, possessed such immense wealth, lavishly spending thousands of gold to welcome a husband. For years afterward, the people of Dai Prefecture still discussed that wedding. Some said, “If I had known, I would have become a live-in son-in-law for the He family,” while others replied, “Don’t dream—you haven’t seen the bridegroom.”

On that summer day, with brilliant sunshine, the bridegroom wore red clothes embroidered with gold, smiling as he rode his horse through the streets. Anyone who saw him would say there was no more handsome gentleman in the world.

Decades later, Zhao Xing, the Governor of Qi Province, rebelled and declared himself emperor, capturing the Southern Capital, establishing a new dynasty, relocating the capital northward, posthumously honoring a scholar surnamed Fang from the previous dynasty as Imperial Tutor, and erecting monuments in memory of the previous dynasty’s general Duan Xun Xi—countless legends abounded. Yet when the people of Dai Prefecture recalled the past, they still delighted in talking about that grand wedding and He Simu and her husband, who had long since left Dai Prefecture city.

This seemed to be the most celebrated legend in Dai Prefecture over those decades.