Bound By Broken Promises

1 - A Catastrophe!

Yin opened her eyes in the darkness.

The temperature was freezing, the ground equally cold, and it took her a few moments to realize that it was deep into the night. It did not take long for her vision to adjust with the help of the moonlight. 

“Hmm? How odd.” 

She hesitantly used a finger to trace the skin on her forearm. Her skin felt cold. No. It was more precise to say her body was exposed and affected by the crisp chill in the air, to the point that goosebumps were appearing on her skin. 

Why was she feeling cold? 

It was a sensation she had not encountered for a long time, she nearly forgot how it felt. Fascinating. 

And looking up, that dim light partially covered by clouds indeed looked like moonlight, nothing like the cheap illumination emitted by the soul pearls in her dwelling. 

Since when did they put a moon up there? It seemed to be a normal moon too, not the enormous twin moons that the old ghost favor. Neither was it the blood moons the demonkin loved. Was there a special occasion?

As Yin let out a shaky breath, only then did the fact that she was outside her dwelling sink into her. She was lying on some damp grass and debris. Pressing against her back seemed to be rocks and...twigs? 

Silhouettes of large trees surrounded her. 

“Is this supposed to be a forest?” she could not help but wonder out loud, despite expecting no one to answer her. After all, she had always been alone. Well, it seemed to have been years since she last entertained a guest.

For the great Yin to wake up in some third-rate illusion in the middle of the night, what a funny scenario. It wasn’t the first, and it was probably not going to be the last, but it was the most realistic one so far.

Aside from the sound of the wind rustling the leaves and branches around her, only the faint sounds of what seemed to be insects and small animals could be heard. It seemed like now that she had finally shaken off the last dusts of sleep, her senses were getting more and more heightened. 

The scent of the forest mixed in with blood and decay. She could not help but let out a humorless laugh.

Which ghost general was playing a prank on her this time? How far did they throw her? Whose territory was she currently in? The place resembled a mortal plane of existence, and very thin qi energy could be felt in the air. 

Just because her soul seed's power was waning and she had been sleeping longer and longer with each interval, they're already bullying her to this extent? Did they already forget the lessons she gave them?! 

Or... could it be that a new generation of ghost generals had replaced the ones she beat up the last time she regained consciousness? 

Yin tried to sit up, but there was something holding her down. It was icy and hard and oh-so-uncomfortable. 

It was an arm.

Someone was hugging her.

"Hey!" she screeched. "You don't do that to me! No one touches my legendary boobs without permission!"

Yin jumped away, annoyed from hell and back. Her arms akimbo, she opened her mouth to berate the pervert.

But then she paused.

She did not know what to say… as the offender was a corpse.

Yes, she was being embraced by a corpse, long dead from what could be seen in how stiff its body had become.

The corpse was of a man in his early twenties, clean shaven, with long black hair just below his shoulders. He might have been handsome when he was alive, but in his death, his face was disfigured with anger and grief.

There was an arrow sticking out of his forehead. His enemy had shot him from behind, and it was obvious that it only took one arrow to kill the man.

Surrounding her and the corpse, there were traces of a fight. Other incomplete body parts lay here and there among the rocks, and based on the smooth cuts on the flesh, they were either chopped off by a knife-like heavy blade like a saber or slashed by a single-edged sword. The scent of blood was fresh despite being mixed with earth and rain. After a few more days, the last of the traces would be washed away by the rain and the remnants of the dead would be eaten by savage beasts.

However, those were not Yin's concern as of this moment. Waking up being hugged by a corpse might be outrageous, but it's something that she could calmly accept and think about. After all, she was someone who had been around for a long, long time.

No, something much bigger had occurred. Something that had sent her almost reeling.

"Ahh! My boobs!"

Yin had lost her legendary boobs!

She had turned flat-chested!

It was a catastrophe!

In her panic, she could not help but check out the rest of her body. Now that she noticed it, her body had turned into a midget without an iota of charm. No longer was her chest full, her waist slim and her hips curvy. Instead, she turned into a porky little human girl. Chubby fingers, pudgy arms, rounded cheeks…

She was not much shorter than a toddler—in fact, it seemed like she had become a toddler!

“Wait, no--my beautiful voice as well! My voice sounds like a snotty brat! Ahh!”

Her body—no, no, she could not accept this to be hers! This is another body! Yes, not hers, but another's! This borrowed human body had to be around four or five years old.

What the hell happened?!

Who had enough guts to manipulate the appearance of her body?! Which ghost general had a brain fart to mastermind this kind of atrocious act? Even their boss, that Yama boy, would not dare humiliate her like this!

“Who is the fcker who did this?! Show yourself and I promise not to beat you up too badly!” she yelled with gnashed teeth. She wielded her arm with flair, intending to disperse the illusion and catch the culprit who was probably hiding nearby.

Nothing happened.

“Huh?”

This time, she used both arms and waved them around, but there were no changes in her surroundings. It was still a forest. A life-like forest. 

She checked her cursed midget-like body that did not change as well. It was then that she found a large gaping knife wound at the left side of her bloody flat chest. The target of the attacker was obviously the heart. And the attacker had succeeded.

Chills ran through Yin.

This body now had heat. Despite the scary wound, the heart was whole and beating. Although her skin and clothes were soaked red with blood, there were no life-threatening injuries that could not be healed with the help of her knowledge.

The point was: the body was alive.

It was a living and breathing human body.

"D-Did I unknowingly possess this girl? After ten thousands among ten thousands of years, it seems a suitable body had appeared for me, one capable of carrying my soul seed. I finally succeeded in possession? Am I revived now? For real? For real?!"