The three exchanged uneasy looks before Li Mother finally stammered out, “Wh-what relationship could there be? She… she was just the girl I bought from a broker to be Second Son’s wife. It was a proper transaction, we even have the deed. The magistrate’s office stamped it too!” As she spoke, she pulled out a yellowed sheet of paper, marked with handprints and a red official seal.
Yun Jiao frowned. She knew this was ancient times and that the buying and selling of people was real, but it still left a sour taste in her heart.
“And after that?” If it was just that, how had the woman ended up dead?
“After that… after that…” Li Mother’s face darkened further before she muttered defensively, “It was all her fault for being disobedient! We paid twenty taels for her. Yet she was lazy, and even at nine months pregnant she dared run off. After that… she never came back.”
“Great Immortal,” Li Da chimed in to support her, “we searched the mountain for her again and again. Second Brother himself looked for half a month, turning the hills upside down. But that wretch was too useless, dying up north and dragging my brother down with her.”
“All my fault!” Li Mother spat bitterly. “I brought a curse into this house. All these years and she never gave us a son, and even after death she comes back to harm him. If I had known she was such an ungrateful wretch, restless even in the grave, I’d never have let her into my family!”
Li Da nodded vigorously in agreement.
Mother and son took turns spitting venom at the ghost’s life, while Li Er on the bed stayed silent, head bowed, saying nothing.
“You mean… you never found her?” Yun Jiao’s eyes narrowed.
“Of course not!” Li Da insisted.“She must have turned into a vengeful ghost because no one claimed her corpse,” Li Mother added.
“Really?” Yun Jiao asked flatly. “Then how did you know she died in the north?” If they never found her, how did they know where she’d died?
Li Da froze. Li Mother also faltered, panic flickering in her eyes.
“We… we guessed. She ran in that direction,” Li Mother said, her voice defensive. She shot Yun Jiao a glare, her tone turning sharp. “What would a girl like you know?” Then, anxiously, she turned back to the old man. “Great Immortal, your powers are boundless—you must save us!”
“This…” Bai Yu hesitated, instinctively glancing at Yun Jiao for help. “Girl, what do you think… eh? Girl, where are you going?”
He’d barely begun speaking when he saw Yun Jiao turn and walk straight out. Reflexively, he tried to follow, but Li Mother and Li Da clung to his sleeves. “Great Immortal, you can’t leave! We already gave you incense money!”
The old man swore inwardly. Why hold him back? He could draw talismans to shoo away small spirits, sure—but that was a vengeful ghost! And it wasn’t even him who’d driven her away just now!
Meanwhile, Yun Jiao was nearly out of the courtyard. Bai Yu was on the verge of tears. “Girl… girl… we agreed to put on a show together! How could you walk out early?”
Perhaps because his cries were so pitiful, Yun Jiao’s steps slowed. She sighed and finally said, “If you want to live, leave this place. The farther, the better.”
The old man blinked, then quickly caught on. “Yes, yes! Ghosts cannot stray too far from the place they died. Even a vengeful spirit can only move within a few hundred li. If you leave here, you can escape her.”
“This…” The three exchanged uneasy looks, their hesitation plain—they clearly didn’t want to leave.
“This is no ordinary ghost, but a vengeful spirit,” the old man added gravely. “Leaving is the only way to survive. Anything else… I am powerless.”
With that, he shook free of their grip, darted out the door, and hurried after Yun Jiao. Run, run! A vengeful ghost was too terrifying!
By the time the three came to their senses, the two had already vanished into the woods.
Once they crossed back into Kui Mountain’s bounds, the old man finally exhaled, then turned to Yun Jiao. “Girl, how did you know ghosts can’t stray far from where they died?”
Yun Jiao glanced at him, expression steady as always. “You told me.”
“Huh?” When had he ever said that?
Yun Jiao handed him a book. He looked down—it was the very one he’d used to chant spells earlier. When had she picked it up? Wait… was this written in there?
“Page thirty-eight, third line,” she prompted.
He flipped to the page. Sure enough, the words were there: Ghosts are beings of condensed yin; bound to the place of their corpse. Their range cannot exceed a hundred li.
It really was there?!
The temple had plenty of these texts. He knew she sometimes flipped through them out of boredom, but he hadn’t expected her to remember them word for word, even the exact page and line. What memory!
“Read more when you can,” Yun Jiao added.
The old man: “…” That was scorn, wasn’t it? Definitely scorn! So what if she had a good memory!
He sighed, glancing at her again, and couldn’t hold back his curiosity. “Girl, you really didn’t like that Li family mother and sons, did you?”
“Did I?”
“Of course!” he insisted. Even though he’d only known her a few days, he could tell—beneath her icy exterior she had a warm heart. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have saved him that time. She wouldn’t have helped clean, cook, fix furniture, and patch the roof in the temple. But just now, with three lives at stake, she’d turned her back, only pausing to tell them to leave. “Why?”
Yun Jiao’s steps halted. Her expression grew even more solemn. She drew in a breath before meeting his gaze. “That female ghost had a hole in her belly.”
“I know!” He shuddered at the memory of the organs strewn across the bed. “But what’s that got to do with the Lis?”
“She had many wounds, but the fatal one was the cut from chest to abdomen. It spread inside and out—clear evidence something had been cut from her. The wound was one straight, clean line, made by a blade.” Yun Jiao spoke each word firmly.
“A blade?” The old man was slow to realize. Then the meaning hit him like ice water. His eyes went wide. “You mean… she was cut open alive?!”
“She was nine months pregnant. Who else would be interested in her belly?” Yun Jiao asked flatly.
“The… the Lis!” His eyes bulged wider still, disbelief etched on his face. “So the ghost was likely murdered by them?” And not just murdered—cut open for the child.
“Not just that.” Yun Jiao’s gaze sharpened. “More importantly… did you see the child?”
“…” The old man shuddered, suddenly unwilling to think further. The child must have died too. No wonder she became a vengeful spirit. “But… why would she run to the northern mountains if she was so pregnant?”
Yun Jiao’s hand clenched at her side. In her mind flickered the images of the Li family’s scornful looks. At first, she hadn’t grasped what it was. Later, hearing their words, she understood. It wasn’t disdain for her supposed Daoist identity, but contempt for her being a woman. They looked down on women from the core of their hearts. Which meant…
“Most likely… the child cut from her belly wasn’t her first.”
The old man: “…”
Holy shit!
(End of this chapter)