With the room back to its previous appearance, the ghost concentrated the threads back in the bead, rotating it between his fingers. 

That energy seemed to merge into his body, making Su Jing confused when he directed it towards her.

”Let's proceed by making a contract.” 

Once she heard him, Su Jing cautiously extended her hand and placed it above his. 

It reminded her of the agreements Feng Zhihao used to make with those she found untrustworthy.

Such a gesture, while not as potent as a soul contract or a master-servant bond, created a connection solely bound by the terms of their pact. It wouldn't affect them outside of it.

"We're going to exchange tokens since is the most comfortable method for us. I'm sure you wouldn't like to get bonded to a dying soul as much as I would not like to be your little pet."

Su Jing nodded, seeing how he took out his fan. She searched for something that maybe Yawen had left on her but found nothing - after all, all her wealth was made out of the things that the man in front took back.

"I don't think I have a token right now. Can I use a drop of blood instead?"

He nodded, getting out his dagger. The ghost then brought the fan in between them, making it float.

"Just drop your blood on it, and I'll concentrate the fan's essence in your own. From that point onwards, you have to get to the point of equilibrium in energies. Blood is sensible to qi deviations, so you will be in charge. "

Nodding, Su Jing accepted the dagger from him, uncertain about where she should cut herself without causing too much pain. The lame was sparkling, and it looked strong enough to cut through her bones.

Su Jing closed her eyes as a result, trying to quickly wound the tip of her thumb and not make a massive matter out of it.

Immediately, her palm felt touched by a warm flow, signalling that she put too much pressure on the sharp blade. The blood was gushing fast out of the wound with a slight stinging pain, making Su Jing a bit nauseous.

"Is this your first time handling a weapon? 

The ghost found her dramatic behaviour annoying.

He waited for her to finish her play and even fluttered the fan in her face when he saw her not responding, although the air was not moving at all.

Su Jing could only bite her lip and ignore his comment, her fear of blood being too great to get angry at him. Her journey as a cultivator already sounded challenging enough...

At last, she stretched her hand towards the fan, wanting to finish this. Just as the blood was close to touching it, the ghost dodged it, making it fall to the ground.

"..."

What's with him?

Su Jing wanted to question him, but the ghost suddenly had a frowning facial expression.

"Your body looks to be scented by someone. Don't do it yet."

She stood put, looking at her blood, which fell from the lame of the dagger. It loomed bright red, normal, making her wonder just how he knew she got poisoned. Do ghosts have a radar for such things?

"I'm curing myself right now. That's why I was using that medicinal bath."

He took the dagger from her hands and closely examined it, making Su Jing nervous.

"Such poison..."

For a second, he side-eyed her but didn't stay too much on it, wiping off the blood with his fingers. The moment it touched his body, the blood sizzled, boiling and then disappearing right in front of Su Jing's eyes.

She unconsciously put her open wound more closely to her chest, now wondering if she could search for something else for this ritual.

" The disciples that took me in said they have a solution, so this isn't a worrying matter."

The ghost raised his eyes curiously.

"Disciples? Don't you have a master?"

Su Jing could only put her other hand behind her neck, aware she wasn't that normal of a case.

"My seniors brought me here. I failed the root test before, so I'm just a servant in this sect."

Having a nominal master already sounds like a dream for her. The ghost glanced sideways toward the window, where Yawen's residence would have been located.

"By that, you mean that weak cultivator? "

Su Jing nodded, surprised that he knew Yawen. If he considered Yawen weak - it was clear what opinion he had about her.

"Did you see him through the bead?"

His figure glitched for a moment. Su Jing observed him, feeling that this was a sign of his strong emotions.

"Ah, more or less. He was hard to ignore."

The ghost looked like not want to press on this subject. He dodged his eyes elsewhere, making Su Jing wish to ask for his opinion.

"Do you believe he'll truly die?"

She already knew the answer to that, as the original story explicitly outlined the fate of Yawen. Changes could be made, but Su Jing was unsure at what point, so she wanted to hear what others thought about him.

The ghost was fast in replying.

"Wouldn't that be the best for you? Why worry unnecessarily?"

Su Jing frowned a bit, caught off guard by what he said. If Yawen died, it would only get difficult for her to get a foothold in this sect — after all, Yazhu and Yating didn't have a reason to keep her yet.

"What makes you say that? Just how is his death beneficial?"

He surprisingly chuckled. Su Jing found that to be an inauspicious sign.

"Don't look at me like that. I am not the one who decides things.”

Perhaps sensing her gaze he stopped laughing, switching it more with a mocking smile. 

”The innate qi energy is consuming him alive, and even with my loss of power, I can tell that. Once death, he will naturally become a splendid spiritual vein. You better keep him close because, who knows, maybe your cultivation will profit from it."

???

Su Jing almost coughed blood when she heard him. Spiritual vein? Who? Yawen?

How could be the same thing? Wasn't that an inanimate thing?

There was no such thing written anywhere in the novel!

” How could such a thing be possible? Yawen isn't thousands of years old to form such a thing!”

This piece of news made her not know how to handle Yawen. His fate was going from worse to worse!

The ghost looked quietly at her, expecting her mistrust. 

" At this point, you should just think of a method to grasp all the benefits. He lets you do that, so there is no need for remorse."

Su Jing breathed hard, her mind in turmoil.

It was unbelievable that Yawen, a living person, could transform into a spiritual vein upon death. It sounded absurd and contrary to the principles of cultivation she had learned so far.

"Isn't that something found in the mountains and rivers, not in a human body?" Su Jing questioned, her confusion evident.

The ghost sighed as if dealing with an ignorant child. 

"It's a rare occurrence, but it happens. Spiritual veins are born from concentrated spiritual energy over an extended period. Sometimes, when a cultivator with exceptional innate qi energy dies, their remains can transform into a spiritual vein. It's an opportunity for cultivators to absorb that energy for rapid progress. You would be a total fool to miss it."

Su Jing felt a knot forming in her stomach.

”I thought you forgot everything.” 

She, with the knowledge of the original story, didn't have a clue about such things. Spiritual veins were often found by Feng Zhihao, but it was always in nature and not after the death of someone.

The ghost wheezed when he heard her.

"This is not a memory. It's an instinct. Even if you lose your mind, you'll still get that feeling of wanting to get powerful, isn't that so? The same happens to me."

Su Jing thought about his words, applying them to what happened to her when she first awakened. She didn't remember anything, yet the wish to survive was still there.

Maybe the ghost, as undead as he looked, kept hovering to this instinct, too. He sensed Yawen to be a good resource of power.

The ghost then slowly let down a drop of what Su Jing thought was his blood, its reddish faded colour spreading on the entirety of the fan.

Shaking her head as if to get off this thought, Su Jing brought back her attention to the matter of tokens exchange, the ghost's blood finishing to be absorbed by the fan. 

Now she realised how this was a bit off. Since when did ghosts have blood?

The man seemed to catch her curiosity, answering her factually.

"It's my Qi energy stream, at least my remaining one. I'll put it on my token so it can neutralise your poison."

Next, he put the fan in front of Su Jing, awaiting her part of the token.

"I'll aid you. Let the matter of your senior brother for later."

Su Jing could only comply, not having any abilities for now that could be of help to Yawen. She opened her fist, and it was full of red blood, making it easy for her to make a drop of it fall on the fan.

The moment it touched it, the ghost poured another part of his qi energy, making his figure more transparent. Su Jing tried to amend the sudden pressure she felt in her body. 

That blood felt like an extension of herself, and Su Jing never passed by such a sensation. In a way, she saw the ghost qi energy, chaotically running around. 

Seeing that, she tried to calm it down as the ghost said it was needed. However, it was a great tool in her mind.

Some of his qi started disappearing rapidly, like a puff, and Su Jing was sure that it was because of her poison. She again tried to do her best, but now her part started to chaotically move, making Su Jing can't help but spit a bit of blood out of her mouth. 

After that, his energy slowed down, somehow coming to the same level as Su Jing's. 

Su Jing couldn't explain it, but in the next moment, their energies "clicked," standardising everything.

She opened her eyes, bending down on her knees as she breathed rapidly. 

The fan was as if untouched by blood, shining with a dim light in the room. Su Jing found it more beautiful now, and as she looked at it, she was able to feel a bond between them.

But it was barren, breakable since the contract wasn't set yet. The ghost recited a few words and Su Jing did the same, feeling how a constraint was put on her head —one that guaranteed for her and him to help each other without turning against each other.

The fan broke down, a part of it going into Su Jing's chest, and the ghost simply merged it back into his body.

Su Jing touched herself, finding it to be —normal. She didn't feel anything differently.

The ghost, now free from the worries that he may be harmed, observed Su Jing intently. After a brief silence, he spoke.

"Did I ever tell you my name?" 

Su Jing, still catching her breath, shook her head.

"I only know you as a senior. You never intended to tell me your name."

Now that she thinks about it, she regrets not asking him for his name. His existence was bare and not even knowing his name sounds scary to Su Jing - who fortunately had the luck to remember it.

"Well, if you've lost your name, how about I give you one?” she proposed.

The ghost tilted his head, a curious expression on his transparent face. 

"Li means 'beautiful' and Yu means 'rain.' Together, with An, which is quiet, it could represent a quiet and beautiful rain. What do you think?"

"Li Yuan?" He frowned, unsure about her words. He did not seem to care that much.

Su Jing nodded, unsure if he liked it.

”Very well.”

He looked at her and sighed, still appearing discontent. However, as if he didn't have the patience, the ghost showed the bead in his hand.

"Then that will be. I will mend my energies so don't disturb me unnecessarily. "

He threw the bead to Su Jing, his figure not resisting anymore and breaking down like last time at the lake. The bits of energy disappeared one by one, till the darkness enveloped the room and made Su Jing aware of the coldness.

She was now left alone, as fast as he first appeared. 

Su Jing couldn't help but breathe out her nervousness from her chest, the bead reverted to its previous banal appearance. 

Li Yuan was a good name, however, she hoped that this action of hers didn't unfavourably bind his fate. Names were, after all, significant in a story! 

No protagonist had a lame name - it was needed to show how good their fate would be throughout the story!

Feng Zhihao was such a good name, for example - a heroic ambition, a hero, a phoenix! Su Jing, rather than that, meant a simple and plain character. She couldn't argue it since she felt exactly like how the book described her - plain, simple and boring.

That was the reason why she hesitated to name Li Yuan. She had to make sure that his name didn't have a fighting or dangerous connotation, since who knows if the story would take that name for granted and make him a vengeful character!

 Little pretty and calm rain might have been her best option.