"Mommy returned right at that moment. I can still clearly remember that her face was exceptionally pale as she stumbled over to daddy"s corpse, before she leapt forward onto his body. She was still muttering under her breath, "I told you that I would bring you misfortune, I would bring you misfortune! Why did you have to choose an ominous woman like me? I hope I will be forgiven in another world."
"I wasn"t even able to call out to her before she took out a small knife and viciously stabbed herself in the chest," Na Na"s voice was shaking. "Mommy"s blood splattered all over daddy. She turned back towards me and raised her hand to touch me, but she seemed to lose all her strength, and she collapsed on daddy just like that.
"I was bawling at first, but all of a sudden I couldn"t cry anymore. My daddy left me and my mother killed herself before my very eyes in one day - I felt as if the entire world was going to crumble around me."
She paused for a while, and her eyes seemed to grow slack. "A stranger appeared right at that moment. He said insidiously, "You think you can escape by doing this? Death is nothing before us, and we can still inflict suffering upon you even after death."
"After that, I felt a unique force coming from his body, and something seemed to fly out from both mommy and daddy"s bodies. The man patted me on the head and said I would have to follow him if I wanted to see my parents again. I was still in a daze, and I followed him muddleheadedly. Another group of strangers took my parents" corpses away and buried them when I left."
Na Na"s breathing became a little rushed, as if she couldn"t continue the story. She was still struggling with her emotions, and her body quivered faintly.
Huo Yuhao walked over and patted her on the shoulder, hinting to her to that she should calm herself down.
Na Na suddenly hugged him across the waist. "I"m afraid, I"m truly afraid. I don"t know if telling you all this is the right thing to do. Perhaps I am a person of misfortune like my mother, I…"
Huo Yuhao growled, "Fortune is relative. Everything is fabricated and empty when juxtaposed with destiny. Wake up." His eyes sparkled with golden light as he spoke, and he fired a subtle strike of Spiritual Shock into Na Na"s head.
Na Na s.h.i.+vered from the cold, and her body quivered violently as she let go of him.
"I… I must have entered that nightmare again. It must be." She glanced at Huo Yuhao with a bitter smile on her face, before nodding in his direction and saying, "Thank you. I don"t recall how many times I"ve had the same dream, and I jolt awake with tears streaming down my face every time. I can"t take this torture anymore - if you"re not willing to help me, I will take my own life someday. I won"t be able to see my parents again in another world, but I can"t be bothered anymore."
Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and said, "You have to tell me how I can help you, or what you need me to do."
Na Na grew silent. Huo Yuhao wasn"t hasty or impatient either, as he could feel that Na Na"s emotions were running wild, and her mind was conflicted.
"I"m sorry, Huo Yuhao. I already regret this, as I cannot drag you down for selfish reasons. I can tell that you"re a good person." She played the cla.s.sic Samaritan card before she stood up and walked towards the door.
"Stop." Huo Yuhao blocked her path in flash, and Na Na looked up at him with a ghastly pale face.
Huo Yuhao patted her on the shoulder again and said, "I can tell that you"re not trying to loosen the reins so you can grasp them better. Tell me what happened afterwards - what is the ident.i.ty of these strangers?"
Na Na slowly answered, "They call themselves the Holy Ghost Church, and they are an extremely mysterious and secretive organization. They told me that they had imprisoned my parents" spirits after they took me away, before they deliberately released daddy and mommy"s spirits for me to see. Daddy and mommy were in so much, too much pain! They told me that I would have to be obedient and listen to them if I wanted my parents to rest in peace. Otherwise, they would trap my parents" spirits forever, and they would never be reincarnated."
"Spiritual imprisonment?" Huo Yuhao was taken aback. Electrolux had imparted part of his knowledge of Necromancy to Huo Yuhao, so he understood something about spirits. Imprisoning the spirits of the deceased was similar to a Necromancer"s ways. Pure Necromancy was used to investigate the spirit"s secrets, but these people weren"t that simple.
Na Na nodded her head vigorously and said, "You must understand now why I was so frightened when you sealed my spirit - I was afraid that I would end up like my parents, and someone else would control my spirit, and I would never be reincarnated.
"I had no choice but to obey their demands. They sent me into the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, and I joined the academy and started my lessons without any prior a.s.sessment. They told me that I would join their ranks officially once my cultivation reached a certain level. They would release my parents" spirits when that day came, so that they could be reborn.
"In order to put my mind at ease, they let me see my parents" spirits once every two months. I lose all courage to defy them every time I see my parents" agony, so I can only follow their instructions. Thankfully, they haven"t requested anything of me since, and only asked that I train hard, while giving me an a.s.sessment from time to time.
"Once, I came close to the place where my parents" spirits were imprisoned when others weren"t paying attention, and I heard their voices. I only found out then how my family was ruined. My mother met these people from the Holy Ghost Church when she was hunting soul beasts at a place where soul beasts gathered. They wanted mommy to join them because mommy"s martial soul was unique, but mommy decisively rejected the offer. My family"s nightmare began from that day onwards, and mommy herself didn"t know how she ended up under their control. She was forced to join the Holy Ghost Church, and they would compel her to complete various tasks for them involuntarily. Mommy broke her shackles from time to time because of her love for daddy, so they ordered her to murder my father. My mother was extremely distraught after she killed him, to the point where she finally broke free from their grasp, and eventually committed suicide over my father"s corpse. Mommy said that the thing she regretted the most was not being able to rescue me, so that I didn"t have to care about them anymore, and I could be rid of the Holy Ghost Church"s control once and for all. Otherwise, I would only become their tool for the rest of my life."
Na Na"s lips trembled incessantly from the emotional strain, and her tears flowed uncontrollably. "However, how can I just walk away? I am filled with so much hatred when I see the suffering that my parents" spirits go through even after death - I hate myself for not being able to save them."
Huo Yuhao had always thought that his own background was tragic enough, but his past couldn"t match up to Na Na"s misfortune. If everything that she said was true, she was like a puppet under someone else"s control, while her parents were dead and yet their spirits were still being tortured even after death.
Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and asked, "How do you want me to help you?" There was determination and decisiveness in his voice already.
Na Na lowered her head, but didn"t make a sound.
"Tell me. I can feel that everything you"ve said is true." Huo Yuhao was a spiritual-type soul master, and his vast spiritual sea would be a complete waste if he couldn"t even tell truth from lies.
Na Na muttered. "I was too hasty and impulsive, and I shouldn"t have sought you out. The Holy Ghost Church is so powerful, and I don"t even know what is it they do exactly. I"m afraid of pulling you down into the mud by boldly asking you for help."
Huo Yuhao said, "You never thought about asking the academy for help? The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy is one of the best academies within the entire Sun Moon Empire, and Ill.u.s.trious Virtue Hall is widely revered and respected."
Na Na growled, "How can I not have considered that? The only problem is that my considerations are useless, because they are in cahoots. I am very sure that Ill.u.s.trious Virtue Hall has something going on with the Holy Ghost Church, because I remember seeing a masked elder from the Holy Ghost Church walking into Ill.u.s.trious Virtue Hall late at night with my own eyes."
Huo Yuhao"s brow creased even more when she said this. The issue was more complicated and troublesome than he had thought, and figuring out its complexities wasn"t going to be easy at all.
Na Na suddenly raised her head and stared into Huo Yuhao"s eyes with a resolute and determined look. "I hate the Holy Ghost Church, and I hate this academy, and I even hate this country with all its hidden corruption. I am willing to serve you and become your slave, Huo Yuhao, if you can help me release my parents" spirits. I am willing to do anything."
Huo Yuhao shook his head. "I don"t need you to serve me or become my slave."
Na Na"s body froze, and she muttered grievously, "Then you can just pretend I was never here." With that, she turned around and started walking out once more.
Huo Yuhao grabbed her hurriedly and said, "I said I don"t need you to serve me, but I didn"t say I"m not willing to help you! You"re an orphan just like me, so I can empathize with your feelings. I don"t dare to guarantee success, but I will do everything I can. However, you have to tell me everything you know about the Holy Ghost Church first."
Na Na"s voice trembled as she said, "You… You"re really willing to help me?"
Huo Yuhao heaved a faint sigh. "I actually want to ask - why should you trust me?"
Na Na stared at him with her swollen eyes. "I trust you because of your previous embarra.s.sment, and because of my instincts. I can no longer take this stifled life - there is nothing left for me in this world, anyway. I will take any opportunity, no matter how slim it may be! I know many people who are much stronger than you are, but not a single one of them knows much about spiritual power. I know that they won"t be able to help me, even if they want to. But you"re different - you controlled my spirit with extreme ease when I used the Avenging Spirit, but you didn"t hurt my spirit after so many days, and you instead strengthened my spirit. Your ability to manipulate and control spirits is the strongest of anyone that I am acquainted with."