Little Pink Starfish

The atmosphere in the hall was thick with tension—everyone had unspoken thoughts, and now all eyes were on the two people in the center to see what would happen next.

Yuan Yuanyuan, however, ignored the crowd completely. Her full attention was on the man across from her. What she really wanted now was to dig something useful out of him.

“You’ve got the wrong person.”

Right as the crowd leaned in for drama, Yuan Yuanyuan delivered the perfect line for maximum soap-opera impact.

A collective sigh rippled from behind her.

It was a strange sigh—was it disappointment or… satisfaction?

The man opposite her didn’t respond immediately. But his expression was textbook perfect—his gentle smile slowly faded. Yuan Yuanyuan watched it vanish from his face in real time, like watching a .jpg load in reverse.

After a pause, he smiled again—this time, it was a very different smile.

Well, well, Yuan Yuanyuan thought, this guy’s kind of interesting.

She could feel herself getting a little cocky now, and it was the kind of cocky that even she found hard to explain.

Still, her goal was clear—if talking failed, then fine. She was more than ready to fight. And from the look of things, a full-on battle was inevitable anyway.

She could tell the other guy wasn’t really planning to fight just yet. But the old man behind him clearly didn’t have that patience. He shouted:

“Enough with the chatter—take her down, now!”

The moment the words were out, Yuan Yuanyuan leapt backward several meters. The candles she’d lit earlier flickered out again.

The spot where she’d just stood turned icy cold—so cold the candles themselves started freezing.

The ghost in front of her went silent, a thick aura of malevolence pouring from his body. Yuan Yuanyuan felt deeply uneasy. After all, youkai and ghosts were fundamentally different species, and close contact with ghosts made her feel off.

At the crucial moment, she took a deep drag from her pipe and blew the smoke out. It drifted between them, forming a hazy wall that blocked his aura.

His face, too, became obscured in the smoke.

The pressure hit her hard. Shit, she thought. This just got out of control.

This ghost… was way more powerful than she’d expected. Enough to make her feel nervous.

Not that she couldn’t win—but not without revealing her true identity. And that was a no-go. Her most effective techniques were highly distinctive. Anyone who’d seen them once would know she was Yuan.

Total headache.

The ghost stepped forward.

God, I want to run, Yuan Yuanyuan thought as she glanced behind her. But she quickly realized she couldn’t run now. If she fled, it was over.

“Who is that?” the boss lady muttered. A few youkai around her offered guesses, but she frowned and shook her head.

She had no idea who he was either.

Yuan Yuanyuan, meanwhile, had begun to realize just how familiar this ghost was with her moves. They’d exchanged maybe ten to twenty strikes already, and he seemed to know her style like the back of his hand.

Or rather—he was intimately familiar with Blood Jade techniques. So familiar that he could respond the moment she made the slightest motion.

Given his strange connection to Seventeen, this wasn’t all that shocking. But it wasn’t just that.

His entire fighting style… felt off.

It took her a while to figure out why. And then it hit her—his moves weren’t like a youkai’s at all. They were like a Taoist’s.

Weird, right?

Her eyes narrowed. She remembered something else—years ago, Seventeen had gone to a place called Qingmen, specifically to find someone called Yan Niang.

Right. If this guy could recognize Yan Niang at a glance… could he be one of the Taoists from that sect back then?

Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t know if her theory was right, but she started watching his movements more carefully. Sure enough, it didn’t take long before she was certain—

He really was a Taoist.

What the hell is going on with the world? Even Taoists can become ghosts now?

She didn’t really understand the mechanics, but this was the only Taoist she’d ever seen successfully turn into a ghost.

To confirm her guess, she decided to push a little further.

“…Why did you end up like this?”

The ghost attacked again. Yuan Yuanyuan dodged. As he brushed past her, he laughed—and that laugh was way too sexy. Deep, magnetic, and full of flirtatious swagger.

What the hell, Yuan Yuanyuan thought. Why the hell are you laughing like that at a guy??

“You don’t remember?” he said in a soft, ghostly tone, dark mist seeping from his body.

Yuan Yuanyuan’s brain was in chaos. She didn’t even catch what he said next.

This whole thing was turning into one of those manga flashback chapters where the “middle-aged” characters start digging up their angsty pasts. The kind of thing that feeds fanfiction writers for years.

Yuan Yuanyuan leaned in:

“I can’t guess. You’ll have to tell me yourself.”

Crowd: “OHHH!!”

The man lowered his head and didn’t attack again.

Crowd: “OOOOOHHHHHH—!!!”

…

Seriously, is the audience too into this or what, Yuan Yuanyuan thought.

Just then, the ghost came at her again. She knew by now that this was likely like Edo Tensei—he might not want to fight, but his body was being controlled.

She actually felt kind of bad for him. He couldn’t do anything, and now he was being forced to fight his old… friend, if he really had been close to Seventeen. If so, Yuan Yuanyuan wouldn’t mind helping him out.

So this time, she stepped up her attacks. She hadn’t planned to kill him—but now, she figured a quick end might be better than this torment.

Her strikes grew sharper. She began slipping in one of Yuan’s signature techniques—blazing fast, nearly invisible to the eye. She made sure her movements were subtle, careful not to give herself away.

Just as she swung her pipe, the ghost lunged toward her.

And then—ripped off her veil.

The razor-sharp ghost energy grazed her cheek.

A line of blood slowly trickled down Yuan Yuanyuan’s face. Her eyes turned red in an instant, and the demonic markings on her face began to appear uncontrollably.

From the crowd’s perspective, half her face was now exposed—but not enough to fully see her features. Still, everyone was stunned.

She… was beautiful. Even with just half a face, it was clear—she was a stunner. No wonder people on the internet always theorized the Red-Clothed Woman was a beauty.

But there was something off. Her features didn’t look exactly like a typical woman’s. Maybe it was the eyes. There was a certain strength and sharpness that set her apart—not your average soft beauty.

Her blood-red eyes made all the nearby youkai tense up. Her full aura as a major youkai finally exploded into view. After today, no one would ever forget her presence again.

The veil had only slipped for a moment, but the blood scent in the air thickened rapidly. Yuan Yuanyuan casually wiped the cut on her face—but the smell had already drifted down into the main hall.

Behind her, the ghost clutched his abdomen. Even as a ghost, red liquid leaked from his body. It might not have been real blood, but it meant one thing:

He was severely injured.

“You—” Yuan Yuanyuan started to speak, but stopped.

She realized—he’d let her hit him. On purpose. He wanted her to do it.

Sure, he was already dead. But if a ghost took enough damage, they could lose their chance to reincarnate.

“Cough.” He wiped the blood from his mouth.

The hall fell utterly silent. Not a soul dared speak.

Yuan Yuanyuan gently wiped her pipe clean. Even though she’d been internally panicking the whole time, she didn’t really believe the ghost had any connection to Seventeen.

Most likely, it was just one of those trolling coincidences. Nothing to take seriously.

…But now? Even she was starting to get suspicious.

What exactly was the relationship between this guy and Seventeen?
Would he really rather be obliterated… than raise a hand against Seventeen?