“What?!” Gu Daosheng exclaimed.
“I told you!” Nan Ying retorted. “Anyone who could scare me definitely isn’t human! I’ve been saying he’s not normal for a long time!”
The two spoke at once, one in disbelief, the other claiming victory in hindsight.
“I just checked his body. With so much merit, how could he be a ghost? Besides, even if he were one, he couldn’t have escaped my Dharma Eye,” Gu Daosheng argued. His academic record was a mess, but he was supremely confident in his ability to identify ghosts.
The entire courtyard was covered in talismans and magic arrays. Even if a fly were swatted dead and its spirit ascended right then and there, it would be impossible for it to escape detection. The talismans were embedded into the walls and floor, invisible to the naked eye. They remained dormant until something stirred, at which point Gu Daosheng would immediately sense it.
Lou Hongchen had been coming and going right under Gu Daosheng’s nose, even entering the house. He had been present the entire time the magic arrays were being set up.
How could he possibly be a ghost?
Hearing Gu Daosheng’s confident muttering, Lou Ling felt his insides go numb. He had no heart to correct the man’s delusional ramblings. His pupils trembled, and he shook like a sieve, as if transported back to the events of a week ago.
“He jumped off the building… The Eldest Young Master was still a student, only in his third year of senior high. He was supposed to take the college entrance exam this summer. But six months ago, Mr. Lou suddenly forbade him from attending school. Last month, he said he wanted to… to find him a new stepmother. That’s you.”
“The Eldest Young Master jumped off the building. Are you two classmates? He never mentioned…”
Lou Ling was on the verge of a breakdown. “His body shattered into six pieces! His head, two arms, two legs, and his torso, all separated! He’s dead as can be… I saw it with my own eyes!”
“Mr. Lou wasn’t home at the time, and Miss Eleven is a madwoman. There were hardly any servants in the house… I was the only one who saw it. He jumped from the top floor of the East Courtyard. It wasn’t even that high, but for some reason, he fell and shattered into pieces… I’m just a servant; I have no brains. I didn’t know what to do, so I just ran to find Mr. Lou. But before I could even get out the door, the Eldest Young Master walked right in and asked me where I was going.”
“I went back to the East Courtyard, and it was like I’d been blind before. There was no trace of the Eldest Young Master’s mangled body on the ground…”
This is a Great Evil Spirit, Gu Daosheng concluded firmly from Lou Ling’s frantic, disjointed words. He immediately sprinted toward the East Courtyard, fighting against time.
Lou Ling shouted from behind him, “Where are you going?” but Gu Daosheng ignored him.
Gu Daosheng silently reproached himself for his carelessness. How could he have failed to recognize this? If his negligence harmed Lou Mingzhang, he would be finished; his conscience would never be at peace. A ghost has a soul but no body or life; a malevolent spirit has a body and a soul but no life.
Lou Ling was a man of remarkable restraint; he had kept this matter to himself. Perhaps there were already so many strange occurrences in the Lou Family that one more wouldn’t make a difference. Besides, who would believe him? Lou Hongchen was still very much “alive,” after all.
And Lou Guangrui, with his sickly, drained appearance from having too much of his yang energy absorbed, kept Lou Junlian enshrined in the house. How could he be completely unaware of the ghost’s presence? Even if he knew, he hardly seemed the kind of considerate father who would hire a Heavenly Master to perform a ritual for his son. Wasn’t Lou Guangrui the one who despised all that overt “dark arts and heretical paths” nonsense?
In short, he’d rather see anyone else dead as long as it wasn’t him. Yet every time Lou Ling saw the Eldest Young Master, his legs went weak, terrified that the man would take him away.
Nan Ying clung to Gu Daosheng’s head. The man was running so fast he was like a tornado, causing Nan Ying to bounce and lurch wildly. Gritting his teeth against the rushing wind, he asked, “I’ve been dead for so many years, but I’ve never seen the kind of malevolent spirit you’re talking about. What is this?”
“When a person dies and becomes a ghost, they lose their physical form. To kill someone, they have to scare them. Even a vengeful spirit seeking retribution must wait for the right moment, like the Ghost Festival or the Qingming Festival. The Ghost Path emphasizes ‘harmonizing with ghosts through heavenly timing and earthly advantages.’ But what if the victim isn’t afraid of ghosts? Then the spirit’s efforts are half as effective for twice the work.”
Gu Daosheng rummaged through his magical artifacts, unable to tell which one was meant for fighting malevolent spirits. Whether his Master had even provided him with such a tool was another question entirely. Sweat beaded on his forehead, but his feet didn’t slow down as he rushed to find Lou Hongchen to rescue Lou Mingzhang.
“‘Sui’ are different. A Sui is a person who dies, but their soul, defying the laws of heaven and morality, refuses to leave the body. It manipulates the corpse to live out its previous life, camouflaging itself among the living. It ignores the restrictions of ‘heavenly timing and earthly advantages,’ taking matters into its own hands to seek revenge on its enemies with a hundred, a thousand times more cruelty. This is far more satisfying and better soothes the agony they suffered in life. They will not stop until their goal is achieved; they are a vengeful spirit of a different kind.”
Nan Ying thought of Lou Hongchen’s grim appearance and asked fearfully, “Are these things powerful?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen one.” If Gu Daosheng had seen one, he wouldn’t be rattling off all this theory to bolster his courage; he would have just charged in.
“I bet you don’t know either. I’ve never seen one, so how could you possibly be more experienced than I am?” Nan Ying’s voice, deep and baby-like, suddenly shifted gears. He grabbed Gu Daosheng’s ear, yanking him to a halt. “You couldn’t even catch me! The only reason I’m with you right now is that I choose to be! You didn’t give me to Lou Hongchen, so I’m treating you as my Master! But when those nine stunningly beautiful women showed up this morning, you looked like a total badass, yet you didn’t even land a single hit!”
Nan Ying’s hair bristled, standing straight up in fury. “And you even let that fierce ghost touch your bare foot and harass you because you forgot to put on shoes! Why aren’t you wearing shoes again?! Couldn’t you have just gone upstairs and put on a pair first? Why are you still running? Stop running! Are you going there to fight evil spirits or to get your feet kissed?! What are you trying to prove? Kid, put me down first, okay?”
“Doesn’t he love ‘me’?” Gu Daosheng paused graciously, then, as soon as the handbrake on his ear was released, he took off again. He plucked the Ghost Infant off his head like a hat, sparing his ears from the loud shouting, and tucked him under his arm with effortless ease. “Don’t call me Nan Ying, call me cowardly infant. So what if he loves me? Love conquers all. If he loves me, he’ll definitely save me, not kill me; that’s how every love story in history is written.”
“…That makes sense.” After listening, the cowardly infant fell silent for a moment before beginning to reason logically. “From what Lou Ling meant, Lou Hongchen jumped off the building because his father, Lou Guangrui, was going to marry you. His mental fortitude is just too fragile.”
“He hates his father for marrying you. So if he wants revenge on his father, how would he do it? By marrying you a hundred times, a thousand times, right in front of him?”
That would be a hundredfold, a thousandfold revenge.
But hearing it aloud, it sounded strangely pathetic.
Gu Daosheng: “…”
Gu Daosheng had no desire to be married off left and right; he was waiting to marry a man himself. At this point, he didn’t even admit that the one Lou Hongchen loved was “me.” He said, “The one he wants to marry is ‘Gu Daosheng,’ not me.”
“But you guys look so much alike. I’ve seen him,” Nan Ying said. “You have to understand, this is the Ghost Origin Land. I was able to return because I stayed with the Lou Family a few years ago. There are ‘memories’ of my existence here. I’m also a little ghost, so it’s normal to be affected when I come back.”
“Some ghosts have such heavy resentment. Sometimes, when their obsession runs deep, they’ll throw away all thoughts of reincarnation and rebirth. But we shouldn’t get involved with everyone.”
“So… you’re not the reincarnation of ‘Young Master Twelve’, are you?” Nan Ying was being carried upside down, and finding the position uncomfortable, he twisted his head a full 180 degrees with a sickening crack, now facing up to look at Gu Daosheng. His gaze was scrutinizing as he asked.
Hearing him say this, Gu Daosheng recalled another theory: the reason the Ghost Origin Land was so unique, unlike ghost-dreaming or ghost possession, was that it didn’t involve unrelated people. Not everyone who stumbled into the Ghost Origin Land would be dragged in; the Master of the Ghost Origin Land only “summoned their own.”
In other words, Gu Daosheng was indeed the reincarnation of “Gu Daosheng”… and Lou Hongchen, who had entered with him, was also Lou Hongchen’s reincarnation.
Their souls were the same; they had been destined for each other in their past life. No wonder Gu Daosheng’s heart had pounded so wildly the first time he saw Lou Hongchen that night in the real world.
Before Gu Daosheng could marvel at the wonders of reincarnation, his heart sank. Though he had known the answer all along, he still asked, his voice chillingly cold despite the sweltering wind, “So you mean ‘Young Master Twelve’ really died?”
“He died, yes.”
“So you should know,” Gu Daosheng said, grinding his teeth and sucking blood, his blazing Dharma Eyes threatening to burn holes all over Nan Ying as his resentment surged straight to the ghost’s forehead. “If I can’t fulfill his wish, he’ll die here, and I’ll die here too! Once this is over, I’ll die the same way I came in. I’ll suffer a sudden, violent death, just like that man whose head you bit off. Reincarnated for only eighteen years? Ha… hahaha…”
Nan Ying: “…”
The sight of this living man’s half-dead smile was truly terrifying to a ghost. The cowardly infant shrank back in defeat.
Entering the Ghost Origin Land in front of the Lou Family’s main gate was supposed to be temporary. He had thought he could just step in and out for a moment, intending to intimidate the Little Celestial Master. He never expected he wouldn’t be able to leave.
When he first met “Gu Daosheng,” the man had been frail and sickly, with a gentle, scholarly air. Though he couldn’t see ghosts, he believed in them. When Nan Ying was drawn to the Lou Family residence by the resentment of other spirits, he had exclusively eaten the offerings meant for children, the children of the Second Young Lady and others, all of whom had been short-lived.
The offerings were sweets and cakes, the kind two- or three-year-olds love. Nan Ying never touched the offerings meant for adults; instead, he took bites and licks from the children’s offerings here and there, leaving a complete mess.
“Gu Daosheng” had figured out that the little ghost who frequently caused trouble in the children’s ancestral hall was a young one, so he always kept some sweets and cakes on hand.
If a person “nurtures” a little ghost, they can make requests in exchange for a small price, like health or lifespan. Nan Ying had eaten so many cakes that he figured this counted as a price. If Gu Daosheng ever asked for help, he’d be willing to assist.
But “Gu Daosheng” never asked for anything. He lived a frail, day-to-day existence, merely speaking to the empty air: “If you’re still hungry, I have more.”
He truly didn’t seem like the kind of person who could harbor such deep resentment, yet he was willing to kill Gu Daosheng just to force him to help fulfill his own long-cherished wish.
“…Then you should go fulfill his wish for him,” Nan Ying whispered, offering his advice.
The walk was too long. The East, West, South, and North Courtyards were so far apart, and without any means of transport, Gu Daosheng was panting with exhaustion. He couldn’t understand what the point of living in such a massive place was when just walking around took over half an hour.
How the hell did Lou Guangrui manage to visit all those wives on foot?!
Finally, Gu Daosheng arrived.
The East Courtyard was home to several massive willow trees. Their “hair” trailed on the ground like jellyfish tentacles from the deep sea. The trunks, thick enough for three people to embrace, were partially obscured by the dense, weeping branches, creating a magnificent sight.
Gu Daosheng spotted the gate. He hesitated, torn between entering through the front door or finding a corner of the wall to climb. If someone sees me climbing, it’ll look bad, he thought. But if I’m seen at the front door, I can still make an excuse, say I just came to visit my stepson. If I’m caught scaling the wall, it’s an affair. In ancient times, I’d be thrown into a pig cage for that.
He made his choice and walked resolutely toward the main entrance.
I want to fulfill his wish, too, he thought, but he wants to be with Lou Hongchen. I haven’t even sorted out my relationship with his stepmother yet, and now there’s the added complication of being from different realms, one living, one dead. How am I supposed to be with him? He’s not just challenging my morals; he’s challenging my dignity as a Heavenly Master. How can a Heavenly Master be with a ghost? Absolutely not.
“Oh, Hah!” Nan Ying spoke with the tone of someone who knew the truth. “He probably never thought about staying with Lou Hongchen forever. Lou Hongchen is already dead, and you won’t be alive much longer either. If you fulfill his wish before you die here in the Ghost Origin Land, you can leave smoothly. Once you’re out, the Ghost Origin Land will be broken, and Lou Hongchen and I can both get out. His wish isn’t that far-fetched.”
Gu Daosheng asked, “What is it?”
“Just go to bed with him!” Nan Ying said cheerfully. He noticed Gu Daosheng freeze mid-step and wondered why he’d stopped.
Looking up, he saw two adults standing in the courtyard.
One was Lou Hongchen, the other was Lou Guangrui.
From the moment Gu Daosheng appeared, their gazes had both shot over simultaneously.
A smile played at the corners of Lou Hongchen’s eyes, while Lou Guangrui frowned in displeasure. Both stared fixedly at Gu Daosheng, demanding a reasonable explanation.
Though their moods were different, they asked in unison, “Why are you here?”