Qing Sang said, “She is a fierce ghost. To get rid of her, I can only make her soul scatter and vanish.”
Bo Si narrowed his eyes slightly. “There’s another way. Keep your gold talisman. This thing is extremely powerful, don’t use it casually.”
Qing Sang said coldly, “My Qing family does not care about a few gold talismans. That female ghost hurt Wan’er, I will definitely avenge Wan’er.”
“Don’t care about a few gold talismans? What big talk. Looks like you’re also from an exorcist clan, and a prominent one at that. You want this female ghost to scatter and vanish for your little lover, but for my employee, I can’t let you do that.” Bo Si was firm. “Because this female ghost is my employee’s little lover.”
Qing Sang was slightly startled. “What did you say?”
“Ah!”
As the two were talking, Xia Wan’er suddenly cried out, and then her whole body turned sinister.
She twisted her stiff body, her face filled with yin and sinister aura. She stared at the person in front of her, her eyes blood-red, and let out a shrill laugh, sharp to the extreme. “I’m not afraid of you stopping me. Today, I will definitely make Lin Ming pay blood for blood!”
“Wan’er!”
Qing Sang was the first to react. He rushed toward Xia Wan’er, who was possessed by Bai Nuo. His face was full of concern. He held a gold talisman, and the cinnabar on the talisman began to glow red the moment it came into contact with the ghostly aura on Xia Wan’er’s body.
Xia Wan’er’s lips curved into a sinister, eerie arc. “If you use talismans on me, I’ll make this woman die with me!”
Qing Sang suddenly stopped.
He gritted his teeth, withdrew the talisman paper, and quickly threw out a handful of silver needles soaked in black dog blood. “Get out of Wan’er’s body!”
Those silver needles were useless against the fierce ghost’s ghostly aura, and when they struck Xia Wan’er, they caused no pain at all.
At this moment, Lin Ming was sprawled on the bed. Aside from his eyes still being open, his face was already so pale it was nearly that of a corpse.
After taking the silver needles, Xia Wan’er grew even angrier. She let out a deafening roar, and yin wind surged through the room. All the ornaments exploded in place, and fragments fell all over the floor.
Within the yin wind, Xia Wan’er’s long hair flew about, her lips red as blood. She swept a hand, and powerful ghostly aura struck Qing Sang. Qing Sang could not withstand it, and his whole body crashed into the wall before falling down. He clutched his chest and stood back up, his handsome face covered in sweat.
“I already said it, you’re next!”
Xia Wan’er stared at Lin Ming on the bed, hatred thick in her blood-red eyes, as if in the next moment she would turn into flowing blood and pour down. Her hair was disheveled, and the smile at the corner of her mouth was bloodthirsty and terrifying. She was about to force her way toward Lin Ming, but when Gu Yi appeared in front of her, she paused slightly.
“Bai Nuo.”
Gu Yi softly called her name.
The yin wind in the room suddenly stopped.
Gu Yi looked at Xia Wan’er’s face. He knew that the person he was facing now was not Xia Wan’er, it was Bai Nuo.
Hearing Gu Yi’s voice, the expression on Xia Wan’er’s face twisted with pain and struggle. She seemed to be fighting desperately against something, and the blood-red in her eyes spilled down into two lines of blood tears.
She wanted to cover her face, seeming to feel that she was too ugly at this moment, but she could not let go of the hatred in her heart. That hatred had already extinguished her humanity. She struggled between two contradictory emotions, her body stiff, like a broken puppet.
Her pain made Gu Yi feel sad. Gu Yi moved closer to her and tentatively extended a hand. He gently pressed her shoulder, wanting to calm her down. Looking at her blood-red eyes, he said in a low voice, “Bai Nuo, it’s not worth going to hell for people like this, not worth it.”
“Ah…”
Xia Wan’er tilted her head back and let out a mournful cry.
The sound of ghostly sobbing was heartbreaking. Gu Yi felt his own heart shatter. He kept talking to her, kept calling her name. “Bai Nuo, do you still remember? You said we would graduate together. At graduation, you would dance for me to see. I’m still waiting. I’m still waiting for you…”
The yin wind rose again.
Xia Wan’er froze, and her eyes were once again filled with intense hatred.
Hatred controlled everything in her. From her throat came a beastlike roar. “No one is allowed to stop me! I want him dead! Lin Ming deserves to die! If you stop me, you deserve to die too!”
As she spoke, all ten of Xia Wan’er’s fingers instantly grew long, sharp nails. Each nail was incomparably sharp, bloodletting at a touch, and gave off thick ghostly aura.
“Bai Nuo…”
“Brat! Get away from her!”
Seeing that something was wrong, Bo Si immediately shouted.
Xia Wan’er moved very fast, and with a sweep of those nails, she fiercely grabbed at Gu Yi!
Gu Yi was startled. Before his body could react, he felt a force yank him backward, and then a black figure blocked in front of him. Because the force was too great, his forehead hit that person’s shoulder.
In the blink of an eye, as Gu Yi was pulled away from Xia Wan’er, he smelled a familiar scent of blood.
Gu Yi steadied himself and saw clearly that the person blocking him was actually Bo Si.
Not only that, Bai Nuo had scratched Bo Si’s arm. Five tears had split open on his sleeve, all of them exuding black ghostly aura. That ghostly aura seemed able to corrode a person’s skin. Very quickly, a large patch of Bo Si’s arm began to rot, and blood dripped down, drop by drop, onto the expensive floor, blooming into one alluring, bewitching flower after another.
“Boss!”
Bo Si had actually been injured saving him. This realization made Gu Yi both tense and panicked. Bo Si’s hand kept bleeding, with no sign of stopping. He was worried to death. “Boss, your hand…”
“Don’t worry about this. I told you before, ghosts are a force of obsession. Bai Nuo’s obsession is revenge. Whoever interferes with her, she won’t even recognize her own family. Don’t come near her anymore. Leave this to me.”
Bo Si’s black eyes were deep. He forcefully grasped the wound once, letting blood soak every finger. Then he strode toward Xia Wan’er. Xia Wan’er saw his blood and was greatly alarmed. She turned around to flee, but it was too late. Bo Si struck her back with one palm. “Ah…” Xia Wan’er cried out in pain. This time, however, two different female voices rang out. Gu Yi watched as Bai Nuo, covered in blood, split away from Xia Wan’er. Bai Nuo used all her ghostly aura to break the seal in the room, smashed the glass, and fled out the window in panic.
Xia Wan’er lost all strength, closed her eyes, and softly collapsed.
She returned to normal, and the sharp nails disappeared as well.
However, her hair was disheveled, and her little face was still as pale as paper.
As she fell, Qing Sang, who was on the ground, rushed over in time to catch her and let her lean against his chest.
The room returned to silence, but it was a mess.
Bo Si’s arm was still bleeding. Gu Yi felt very guilty. “Boss, I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be so mushy. That was done by that female ghost, not by you.” Bo Si walked toward the window and said, “She ran. At least tonight, that brat made it through safely.”
“Will she come back?” Gu Yi asked.
“Who knows. A ghost’s thoughts are impossible for me to guess, too.” A trace of weariness showed between Bo Si’s brows. That mass of ghostly aura was still spreading over his wound, lingering without dispersing, corroding his flesh. Bo Si frowned almost imperceptibly, took a cigarette from his pocket and bit it between his lips, then lit it with a lighter, the movements smooth and practiced.
Gu Yi stood at his side, looking at his profile blurred by the smoke, wanting to ask something else, yet unable to ask anything at all.
Outside the window, it was still deep night, and Xia Wan’er woke up half an hour later.
“Baby… baby… who, who killed my baby, speak! Was it you!”
In her dream, Xia Wan’er was still calling out for her baby. Her expression was fierce. As soon as she opened her eyes, she swung a fist at Qing Sang!
“…”
Poor Qing Sang risked his life to save her, took a blow from the female ghost for her, and then got punched by her when she woke up. Now that was that, his originally handsome face had been beaten black and blue by her.
After hitting him, Xia Wan’er had no awareness of it at all. Holding her head, she said dazedly, “Huh, what happened to me? Where’s that female ghost?”
Bo Si turned around and said, “That female ghost ran. You were possessed by the female ghost and almost killed my employee.”
“What!?”
Xia Wan’er screamed. “That female ghost possessed me? Oh my god, Yi gege, are you okay?”
Xia Wan’er flipped over and scrambled up, rushing to Gu Yi’s side to ask worriedly about this and that.
Gu Yi shook his head and said, “I’m fine, it’s the boss…”
“Oh my god! Bo Si, what happened to your hand!”
Xia Wan’er let out another shriek. Bo Si’s eardrums were almost broken.
He covered his ears, rolled his eyes at Xia Wan’er, and said, “My hand is fine, you should worry about yourself. Being possessed by a fierce ghost will cost you years of life.”
“…” Xia Wan’er was stunned. “Th-then what should I do? How many years will I lose?”
“Exactly how many, I don’t know. But I do know there’s a way to make up for it.”
“What way?”
“The union of yin and yang. Look, the fierce ghost is yin. Find a man with strong yang energy to help you make up for it, and maybe you can even prolong your life.”
Xia Wan’er stared wide-eyed and believed him. “Then, Bo Si, look, are you willing to…”
Gu Yi coughed.
He could not listen to this conversation anymore.
Bo Si smiled and said, “I’ll help you count on my fingers. There’s a man with the strongest yang energy waiting for you.”
“…Who?”
“Him.” Bo Si pointed at Qing Sang in front, his face black and blue.
Xia Wan’er turned around and, seeing Qing Sang, screamed again. “Oh my god, Qing Sang! How did you become like this! Who beat you like that! I’m going to help you get revenge!”
After the brief relief came cleaning up the aftermath.
Qing Sang walked to the doorway, about to retrieve his puppet doll, when he suddenly discovered that all the talismans on the doll had fallen off.
It was caused by that female ghost’s resentment, and even Qing Sang was somewhat shocked by this.
“I’ve never seen a fierce ghost’s resentment so deep,” Qing Sang said worriedly. “We let her escape. She won’t let this go.”
Bo Si walked to his side and said, “There are causes before effects in this world. In the end, that female ghost was also a victim. If you make her soul scatter and vanish, you yourself will also bear her karma. Sometimes, we can only be bystanders.”
“That is your way of thinking.” Qing Sang turned and looked at him. “We came here to eliminate the female ghost. No matter how she was treated before she died, turning into a fierce ghost and harming people is wrong. We exorcist families never show mercy to ghostly beings. More than that, that female ghost possessed Wan’er’s body. She is not worth saving.”
Bo Si smiled faintly. “Whether she is worth saving or not, everyone has a different stance. You are an exorcist family, I am not. I’m just a coffin shop owner. Lin Ming is my employee’s classmate. He had the fate to walk into my shop and begged my employee to help him, so we came to take a look. You say that female ghost is not worth saving, but my family’s brat very much hopes she gets saved. If one day, that little loli also runs into the same thing, I think your choice will be the same as his.”
Qing Sang was at a loss for words and said nothing more.
A turbulent night finally passed.