Not long after the three men had settled down for the night, Ning Caichen heard the faint strains of singing drifting through the darkness. He sat up, intending to ask Gustave or Fahai if they'd heard it too, but when he looked over, both appeared to be fast asleep. Not wanting to disturb their rest, he rose quietly and decided to investigate on his own.
The scholar was truly a contradictory soul. Earlier, he'd been terrified to learn of a tree demon lurking in Lanruo Temple, yet now he was brave enough to venture alone into the wilderness following mysterious music in the dead of night.
Following the haunting melody, Ning Caichen left the temple grounds and discovered a structure that definitely hadn't been there when they'd arrived. An elegant plaque above the entrance read "Shuizhongju" - Water Residence.
"Strange," he murmured, studying the ornate characters and the pair of stone lions flanking the doorway. "How did we miss this place entirely when we came through?"
Despite his confusion, curiosity proved stronger than caution. Ning Caichen stepped through the entrance and found himself in a courtyard built over a tranquil pond. Just as the name suggested, the entire residence seemed to float upon the water's surface. In the distance, a delicate pavilion rose from the center of the pond, and from within came the source of the music - someone playing a qin and singing with ethereal beauty.
A wooden bridge stretched across the water toward the pavilion, and Ning Caichen found his feet carrying him forward almost without conscious thought.
Inside the pavilion sat a woman in flowing white robes, her slender fingers dancing across the strings of her instrument. While she couldn't match Tu Shanyan's otherworldly beauty, she possessed a different kind of allure - an elegant, almost translucent quality that seemed to belong more to dreams than reality. Her face was delicate and refined, with an otherworldly grace that immediately captivated the young scholar.
"Ah!" The woman gasped when she noticed him, her eyes widening in alarm at the sight of the blade at his side - a knife he'd brought for protection.
"I'm so sorry! Please don't be frightened, miss!" Ning Caichen hastily sheathed the weapon and bowed apologetically. "I meant no harm whatsoever!"
At that moment, a sudden breeze swept through the pavilion, catching the white silk veil in the woman's hand and sending it dancing away on the wind.
"My veil!" she cried out in distress.
"Don't worry, miss! I'll retrieve it for you!" Without hesitation, Ning Caichen rushed after the drifting fabric.
But in his eagerness to help, he forgot that water surrounded the pavilion on all sides. His foot found nothing but air where he expected solid ground, and with a tremendous splash, he plunged into the pond.
"Help! The water's so deep here!" Ning Caichen flailed desperately. He actually knew how to swim quite well, but the shock of the sudden fall had scattered his wits completely.
"Young master, take my hand quickly!" The woman first extended one delicate foot over the water's edge, then reached down with her arm.
Ning Caichen looked up at her in confusion, uncertain whether to grasp her foot or her hand. But despite his flustered state, his scholarly upbringing prevailed. He would never take such liberties with a lady. Instead, he reached for her outstretched hand and allowed her to help pull him from the water.
However, the moment Ning Caichen emerged dripping from the pond, the woman lost her balance. She tumbled backward, pulling him down with her. He landed directly on top of her in a thoroughly compromising position, their faces mere inches apart.
"Forgive me! I'm so sorry, miss!" Ning Caichen's face burned crimson as he scrambled to get up.
But as he started to rise, the woman suddenly pulled him closer and breathed softly across his face. The scholar's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed unconscious in her arms.
The woman - Xiaoqian, Ning Caichen's destined love - held his limp form and gazed down at his peaceful face. She traced his features with one finger and sighed deeply.
"Young master, someone as kind as you doesn't deserve to die in this place."
Meanwhile, from their concealed positions nearby, Gustave and Fahai had observed the entire encounter. Both had carefully masked their energy, making them undetectable to the ghost maiden.
"Fahai, aren't you going to exorcise that little demon?" Gustave asked quietly.
"Destroying the small ghost would be simple enough, but dealing with the power behind her is far more complex. Besides," Fahai's voice carried a note of thoughtfulness, "the little spirit has no intention of harming Brother Ning. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to act rashly."
This version of Fahai was proving himself remarkably reasonable and emotionally perceptive.
"Haha," Gustave chuckled softly but didn't respond further.
Suddenly, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed through the night. Yan Chixia burst into view with Shanks close behind him. After dealing with Xiahou's reanimated corpse, the demon hunter had used his tracking arts to follow the trail of whoever was responsible for the swordsman's death, leading them straight to this location.
Xiaoqian, who had been completely focused on the unconscious scholar in her arms, immediately sensed the newcomers' arrival. She gently laid Ning Caichen down and vanished into the darkness like mist dispersing in moonlight.
"Let's go, Brother Fahai," Gustave said, seeing that the ghost had departed.
Fahai nodded, and the two emerged from concealment to approach the pavilion where Ning Caichen lay sprawled on the wooden floor.
"Brother Ning! Brother Ning!" Gustave called out, gently shaking the scholar's shoulder.
Ning Caichen's eyelids fluttered open in confusion. "Brother Gustave?"
"Brother Ning, Brother Fahai and I discovered you were missing from the temple. We searched everywhere until we found you here, completely soaked." Gustave helped the young man sit up, adopting a concerned expression.
"I was lying here soaked?" Ning Caichen rubbed his temples, trying to piece together recent events. Suddenly, the memory of his encounter with the mysterious woman came flooding back, including that rather intimate moment when he'd fallen on top of her.
"Oh, that's right! The young lady - I met the most beautiful woman here..." He proceeded to tell them everything that had happened, naturally unaware that both his companions had witnessed the entire scene.
"Brother Ning, when we arrived, you were the only person we found," Gustave replied with apparent puzzlement.
"Only me?" The scholar looked genuinely bewildered.
"Brother Ning," Fahai spoke up carefully, "in such a remote location, the person you encountered might not have been... human."
Though the monk was being reasonable, it didn't mean he approved of romantic entanglements between humans and supernatural beings.
"If not human, then... a ghost!" Ning Caichen's face went pale as understanding dawned. With Fahai's gentle prompting, he finally recognized the strangeness of what he'd experienced.
"But if that lady was a ghost, why didn't she harm me? She must have been a benevolent spirit," he concluded with touching naivety.
Gustave couldn't help but shake his head. Even after Fahai's clear hints, Ning Caichen was still defending Xiaoqian. Their fate was clearly written in the stars.
"Brother Ning, regardless of whether that woman was human or ghost, we should return to the temple. Your clothes are soaking wet - if you don't dry them, you'll catch your death of cold by morning. Besides, it looks like Brother Yan has come looking for us."
"You're absolutely right. Thank you both for coming to find me. Let's head back."
Ning Caichen saw the wisdom in Gustave's words, and the three men began making their way back toward Lanruo Temple.
They'd barely taken a dozen steps when they encountered Yan Chixia and Shanks approaching from the opposite direction.
"Brother Gustave, Brother Fahai! What brings you out here?" Yan Chixia called out in surprise.
"Brother Yan, Brother Fahai and I discovered that Brother Ning had gone missing. We tracked him to a pavilion over the water where we found him fast asleep."
"Ah, Brother Ning, you must have encountered one of the tree demon's minions!" Yan Chixia's expression grew grim. "During my time at Lanruo Temple, I've learned that the tree demon frequently sends its servants to seduce unwary travelers and drain their life essence. Poor Xiahou fell victim to this very scheme tonight!"
"When we found Brother Ning, he was unharmed except for having fallen into the water, and we saw no sign of any supernatural servants," Gustave reported.
"What a pity, what a waste of an opportunity..." Yan Chixia sighed heavily. With so many capable fighters gathered in one place, he'd hoped they might finally track down and destroy the tree demon once and for all. But now that the ghost servant had vanished without a trace, they'd lost their chance to follow the trail back to its master's lair.
With no other choice, the group returned to Lanruo Temple to wait for dawn.