Moonlight spilled through the academy windows, washing the deserted lecture hall in a pale, frosty glow.
Rows of desks stretched across the dim chamber, their surfaces coated in a thin layer of dust. Yet between them stood figures that did not belong to the living.
The ghostly scholars remained perfectly still.
Their hollow eyes reflected the faint crimson glow of Li Shen's talisman lantern, which floated quietly at his side. Each spirit clutched a worn book tightly to their chest, fingers curled around the edges as though afraid someone might snatch it away.
For a fleeting moment, the scene almost looked ordinary.
A group of students standing respectfully before their teacher.
Except these students had died nearly a decade ago.
Instructor Zhou's lips trembled.
"I… I remember you all," he whispered.
His voice was hoarse, barely more than a breath.
His gaze moved slowly across the pale figures.
"Zhao Wen… Liang Fei… Sun Qiao…"
The names emerged one by one, each heavier than the last.
"These names… were carved on the memorial tablets after the catastrophe eight years ago."
The spirits did not react immediately.
Instead, they stared at him with quiet confusion—like students who had been scolded for a mistake they did not understand.
One of them stepped forward.
He was thin, almost gaunt. His scholar's robe had faded with time, its fabric worn thin at the sleeves. His sunken eyes held an odd determination.
"Instructor… the exam results aren't out yet," the young man said softly.
His tone remained calm, but his fingers trembled slightly around the book he held.
"I know I didn't perform well this year."
He lowered his head, voice tightening with nervous resolve.
"But if you allow me three more years…"
"I will surely pass the provincial examination."
Another spirit stepped forward and bowed deeply.
"This student has studied diligently day and night," he said earnestly. "I only hope to bring honor to my family name."
Behind him, a third lowered his head in shame.
"I… I failed again."
Their voices began overlapping.
Some spoke anxiously.
Some sounded ashamed.
Others whispered hopeful promises of future success.
Yet every confession carried the same fragile thread of hope.
Li Shen watched silently.
He had encountered many wandering spirits before.
Some were driven by hatred.
Others by vengeance.
But these ghosts were different.
There was no malice in their eyes.
What bound them to this place was something far quieter.
Regret.
A scholar's unfulfilled obsession.
---
Instructor Zhou's eyes slowly reddened.
Memories surfaced in fragments.
He remembered the thin youth who studied under candlelight long after curfew.
The proud boy who once topped the county examinations.
The reckless son of a wealthy merchant who constantly declared he would prove everyone wrong.
Back then, their futures had seemed limitless.
Bright.
Full of promise.
But fate had been cruel.
Some failed the examinations again and again.
Some fell into despair beneath the crushing expectations of their families.
And then—
The spirit catastrophe struck the county like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky.
The academy burned.
Students died.
Dreams were extinguished before they ever had the chance to bloom.
Now, eight years later, those unfinished dreams still lingered in the cold halls.
Instructor Zhou lowered his head slowly.
His shoulders trembled faintly.
"What should we do…?" he asked hoarsely.
The question barely carried across the room.
Li Shen did not answer immediately.
Instead, he stepped forward, his footsteps quiet against the wooden floor.
"These are not the students you once taught," he said gently.
"They are echoes."
"Fragments of obsession formed from lingering spiritual energy."
His gaze swept across the ghost scholars.
"They remember their ambitions… but not their deaths."
Instructor Zhou's fists clenched tightly.
His nails dug into his palms.
"Can they be saved?"
Li Shen paused for a moment before nodding.
"They can be released."
"If left alone, however, their resentment will eventually deepen. Their minds will slowly erode until they transform into vengeful spirits."
"And when that happens…"
He did not finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
Instructor Zhou understood.
The students he once cared for would become monsters.
Creatures that preyed upon the living.
Zhou closed his eyes.
The lecture hall fell silent.
Dust drifted lazily through the moonlight.
After several long breaths, he finally exhaled.
"Please… help them move on."
---
Li Shen raised his hand.
Spiritual energy flowed gently from his body, linking with the talisman lantern floating beside him.
Soft golden runes appeared in the air, one after another.
They shimmered like fireflies.
A quiet warmth spread across the room.
The oppressive chill that had lingered inside the lecture hall began to fade.
The ritual had begun.
But then—
Something changed.
The ghost scholars suddenly stiffened.
Their heads snapped toward Li Shen at the same time.
At first, confusion filled their expressions.
Then it shifted.
Slowly.
Into hunger.
Raw.
Primal.
The faint spiritual aura emanating from Li Shen had triggered something deep within them.
To wandering souls, a living cultivator's spiritual essence was irresistible.
Like blood in dark water.
A temptation too powerful to ignore.
Black mist began leaking from their bodies.
Their pale skin turned grey.
Sunken eyes ignited with a sickly green light.
The books slipped from their hands, hitting the floor with dull thuds as their fingers twisted into clawed shapes.
Instructor Zhou screamed.
"Ah—!"
His legs buckled beneath him and he collapsed onto the floor.
"Gu—Gu—Gu— I mean—Master Li! Save me!"
Li Shen sighed quietly to himself.
He screams even louder than before.
The spirits advanced.
Slow.
Unsteady.
Yet their twisted faces were filled with feral hunger.
Li Shen studied them calmly.
"Higher wandering spirits," he murmured.
"Still weak."
For a Spirit Warden, creatures at this level were little more than routine work.
The first ghost lunged forward.
Black mist surged outward like grasping claws.
Li Shen flicked his sleeve.
Three talismans shot into the air.
"Return to dust."
The papers ignited instantly.
Blinding light erupted across the lecture hall.
Golden radiance surged outward, sweeping through the darkness.
For a brief moment, it felt as though dawn itself had broken inside the academy.
The shadows shattered.
One by one, the twisted spirits froze in place.
Their bodies began dissolving.
Not violently.
Not painfully.
Instead, they faded into drifting particles of pale light.
No screams.
No resistance.
Just quiet disappearance.
As if a gentle wind had carried them away.
---
When the glow faded, silence returned to the lecture hall.
The desks stood empty once more.
Dust settled slowly onto the floor.
Instructor Zhou remained sitting where he had fallen, staring blankly at the space where the students had once stood.
Li Shen walked over and extended a hand.
"Are you injured?"
"I… I'm fine…"
Zhou grabbed the offered hand and shakily pulled himself upright.
His face had turned pale as paper.
"Those were really… my students…"
Li Shen nodded quietly.
"Yes."
Instructor Zhou stood there for a long time, staring at the empty room.
Memories flickered across his face.
Laughter.
Arguments.
Late-night study sessions.
Dreams that would never be fulfilled.
Li Shen softly recited a short spirit-passage mantra.
The words were quiet, almost like a whisper.
A faint breeze drifted through the hall.
It brushed across the desks and scattered a few loose pages.
Almost like a final farewell.
May your next lives be kinder, Li Shen thought silently.
---
By the time they stepped outside, the night wind had grown colder.
Clouds drifted slowly across the moon, dimming its light.
Instructor Zhou bowed deeply.
"This humble teacher owes you his life tonight, Master Li."
His tone had changed completely.
Gone was the casual familiarity he had shown earlier.
Among mortals, power commanded respect.
Li Shen waved a hand casually.
"Just doing my duty."
The talisman lantern flickered once.
Its glow faded, the light collapsing back into an ordinary sheet of burnt paper.
Li Shen crushed the talisman between his fingers and let the fragments scatter into the wind.
Another mission finished.
Another group of restless souls finally laid to rest.
Yet as Li Shen walked away from the academy gate, a faint thought lingered in his mind.
The spiritual energy within the academy had been unusually dense.
Too dense for ordinary lingering spirits.
Which meant—
Tonight's incident might not have been a simple haunting after all.
And somewhere in the shadows of Riverfall County…
Something might still be watching.
---