She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and casually picked up the bamboo sap on the small table beside her to take a sip and moisten her throat.

　　"Whew..."

　　"Actually, this isn't so bad. The scenery is nice, there's food and drink, and I don't have to work. Isn't this basically a free vacation?" Evelyn Foster muttered to herself, smacking her lips, and took another sip of bamboo sap.

　　After a nap, she managed to cheer herself up, packed her things, and got ready to find a place to rest. There were a lot of houses here, but most were buildings like aerial corridors. The others were staying in small buildings on the outskirts, so she found an empty house nearby—not too far from the others, but close enough to hear if anything happened.

　　She picked a room, a small attic. For some reason, the place was completely empty—no furniture or belongings in any of the rooms, not even dust. Evelyn Foster did a bit of arranging, took out an everlasting candle for light, and some food, and had a candlelit dinner alone while watching the sunset.

　　Once she started treating this as a rare vacation, she felt herself relax and grow lazy.

　　The only downside was the monotonous food. For dinner, she really wanted something with a stronger flavor, like meat.

　　Night fell completely. Evelyn Foster happened to look down and noticed that the Sun and Moon Ghost Epiphyllum she had seen during the day had completely changed. During the day, it had white flowers and black leaves, but at night, it turned into black flowers with white leaves. The white leaves seemed to glow, making the clusters of black flowers clearly visible.

　　It was actually quite strange. In such a large area, the only plants she saw were these flowers—not even a single weed.

　　As she gazed at the flowers below, she suddenly noticed a girl walking over to them, apparently admiring the flowers as well. As she admired them, perhaps really liking them, she reached out to pick one.

　　Evelyn Foster: "...!" Wait! Girl! Behind you!

　　The girl's head was casually plucked off by the ghostly figure behind her, in the same motion as the girl had just used to pick a flower.

　　Blood sprayed from the headless corpse, splattering onto the glowing white leaves, making the scene exceptionally gruesome.

　　Witnessed a murder scene twice in one day

　　Evelyn Foster covered her mouth to keep from throwing up what she had just eaten. At the very instant she turned her head, the black-clad ancestor who had taken the head looked up and glanced in her direction.

　　When Evelyn Foster looked again, the person was already gone. A huge black snake was there, swallowing the corpse.

　　……

　　"Not good! The life flame of my Yu family’s Rongrong has gone out!" In the Lamp Pavilion of the Inner Court of Gengchen Immortal Mansion, more than a dozen people sat around a hundred burning lamps. A handsome man suddenly reached out and grabbed forward, shouting, "Return!"

　　Strands of white mist gathered in his palm, and only then did the man's expression ease a little. "Fortunately, the soul hasn't scattered."

　　He blew the white mist from his palm, and in an instant, a translucent female figure appeared before everyone—the unlucky one who had lost her head while picking a flower.

　　The woman looked utterly confused, as if she still hadn't figured out what had happened. When she saw the man before her, she called out joyfully, "Grandfather!"

　　Autumn Brooks was furious at her incompetence and glared at her fiercely. "Didn't I tell you to be careful in everything! How did you end up dead already!"

　　Hazel Brooks was stunned. "I'm dead? How did I die?"

　　Autumn Brooks was so exasperated he laughed. "You're asking me? How would I know how you died?"

　　Hazel Brooks said sheepishly, "I just saw that Ancestor had planted a lot of Sun and Moon Ghost Epiphyllum. I’d only heard of them and never seen them before. I got curious and wanted to pick one to take a look..."

　　Everyone fell silent. Autumn Brooks almost wanted to smack her again and let her soul scatter for good. "You! How could I have such a foolish descendant! Sun and Moon Ghost Epiphyllum—do you think you can just pick them? Huh?"

　　The middle-aged man sitting next to him tried to calm him down. "Lady Brooks, what's done is done. Scolding her now is useless. It's better to prepare to send her for reincarnation. In a few years, we can bring her back."

　　Hazel Brooks: "Grandfather, pick me a good-looking vessel, one that's even prettier than I am now!"

　　Autumn Brooks scolded her, "Useless troublemaker, shut up!"

　　Gengchen Immortal Mansion had a long history and was already a giant in the immortal world. It was inevitable that some important and outstanding disciples would die unexpectedly, so the practice of soul transfer and reincarnation arose. Originally, it was meant to collect the souls of disciples who had made great contributions to the sect after their deaths, and use secret arts to have them reincarnate into families affiliated with Gengchen Immortal Mansion. When the child was born, their memories would be awakened, and they would be brought back to Gengchen Immortal Mansion to cultivate.

　　But over time, this soul transfer and reincarnation had become a tool for the powerful in Gengchen Immortal Mansion to maintain and expand their families. Each palace master and lineage head would, generation after generation, continue the lives of their blood relatives and favored disciples, letting them live again. Although soul transfer and reincarnation could only be used once, this unchanging cycle had made the upper echelons of Gengchen Immortal Mansion like a stagnant, murky pool, growing ever more corrupt.

　　After putting away Hazel Brooks's soul, the dozen or so people present turned their attention back to the hundred lamps in the center. Now, only ninety-eight remained lit—two had gone out in less than a day.

　　"The first lamp to go out..."