Chapter 9

Chapter 9 The Real Culprit

When spirits had not revealed their true forms, they might just look like a normal person . The only difference would be a depressing and gloomier appearance . Ye Shaoyang was enjoying the view of this female spirit . She definitely had a gorgeous figure . Ye Shaoyang watched as the spirit slowly approached Xiao Ma, who was sleeping like a log . She spread out her insanely thin and long fingers, as she inched closer to him . Suddenly, Ye Shaoyang sprung up and tossed his copper beads at the spirit, and some of them hit its mark . Where the beads connected, white smoke started to appear, and her milky white skin started to rot . Disgusting scars that were like black snakes started to crawl up her rotting skin .

The spirit turned around and let out a banshee-like scream . She stared at the person who was responsible for her transformation with her pupilless eyes . Every inch of her skin rotted at a rapid rate, while her body swelled like a bun that someone had soaked in water for a period of time . Her face, that was once as beautiful as a fairy’s, started to peel . Her lips became chapped, while her skin melted and revealed her cheekbones and teeth .

It was not her intent to disgust Ye Shaoyang . However, when the copper beads struck her, she could not help but revert to her appearance when she had died . This was because her cultivation was lacking .

So you’re someone who drowned huh, Ye Shaoyang said to himself . It was like he had seen nothing out of the ordinary . From his previous experiences with his master, he had seen eight hundred to a thousand spirits that were more grotesque than the one floating in front of him . He was numb to this long ago .

When she saw that the young man was unfazed, the spirit growled . She spread her fingers and pounced at him .

Ye Shaoyang muttered a simple chant, as he stood still, gesturing with his right hand . He avoided the pouncing spirit and smacked her face as if she was just a fly . He used his finger as a brush and wrote a giant ‘Chi’ on her face . Then, he told the spirit, “Stand still . ”

The spirit was naturally unwilling to stand still, but he had already suppressed her movements . At this moment, she realized that she had met a powerful person . As soon as this hit her, she immediately came up with a pitiful expression and started to beg, “M-Mister, p-please spare me! I have my grievances!” She seemed to have forgotten that her disgusting form had been revealed . Her made-up expression was more grotesque than ever .

This sight did not faze Ye Shaoyang . However, when he looked at her again, the sight before him gave him goosebumps of disgust . He frowned at her and told her to remain quiet . He went in front of Xiao Ma’s bed . The spirit had taken some of Xiao Ma’s Yang Qi, which made him fall into a deeper sleep . Ye Shaoyang did not hesitate to wake Xiao Ma up with a kick . His foot landed on the latter’s backside, as he told him, “Wake up fat ass!”

Xiao Ma tossed in his bed and finally woke up . Right when he was about to start fuming, he saw the back of a woman standing in front of his bed . The lighting was bad and the spirit’s back faced him, so he could not really see anything clearly . His only thought was, Why is there a woman in an all-boys’ dorm? Then he yelled, “Where the hell did you come from!! Shaoyang, this is an all-boys’ dorm! You can’t just bring a girl in!!!” he yelled, as he pulled his blankets to cover himself . Ye Shaoyang did not waste his time explaining . Instead, he just turned the spirit to face Xiao Ma .

Xiao Ma saw the spirit’s horrible appearance; it took a few seconds before he realized what was before him . As soon as his brain registered what was in front of him, his jaw dropped, “G-G-GHOOOSSSTTTTT!!!!!”

Ye Shaoyang swiftly covered up Xiao Ma’s mouth . They were in a dorm, and he did not want everyone to come crash the party .

“Didn’t you want to try it out with a ghost? Come on then, see if you like it?”

“N-no t-thanks, I believe in your abilities . Q-quick ! H-h-hurry up and g-get rid of her, I-I’m s-sc-scared!”

The reactions of those who encountered spirits for the first time were similar . Ye Shaoyang did not intend to scare Xiao Ma to the point of no return . After all, he needed his payback . He wiped off what he had written on the spirit’s face and stuck another charm meant for calming down souls on the spirit’s neck, “Hurry up and revert to your normal appearance . ”

The spirit turned around . Once again, she became a youthful beauty . This shocked Xiao Ma even more .

The spirit kneeled down and thanked Ye Shaoyang in a pitiful voice .

“Your grudge is not that strong, and you’re not an evil spirit, so I’m going to give you a chance . Spit out lies, and I will immediately shred your souls into pieces, ok?”

She held back her tears and slowly recounted her past, “My name was Fangdie, I was a student from the Department of Foreign Languages … A few years back, I took a walk at night and came across a caved in tomb filled with water . An evil spirit that resided there drowned me in that disgusting pool … The evil spirit saw that I was somewhat obedient, so she threatened me to go and absorb Yang Qi for her to use . She said that she would murder my family if I didn’t do as she commanded . If it wasn’t for this fatty, who has an abundance of Yang Qi . I- I … I really didn’t mean to do any of it . M-Master p-please I beg you!! Save me!!”

So it was as he had thought . Ye Shaoyang remained silent, as he thought about this spirit who had enchanted Xiao Ma . She had kept him alive just as a way to absorb his Yang Qi for herself .

As Ye Shaoyang stared at the spirit, his eyes softened slightly, “Fine, seeing as you were forced into it, I shall not give you any more trouble . Here’s a charm that will take you to the underworld . With this, the judges there won’t penalize you for staying in the human realm . ”

The spirit kneeled down and could not stop thanking him .

Ye Shaoyang took out a charm, a brush, and red ink from his backpack . He wrote the reasons for her stay in the human realm and released the talisman paper through the window, and it flew out slowly .

“Report to the underworld immediately, do not delay!”

The female spirit kneeled, gave thanks, and transformed into a wisp of white smoke . The smoke fused with the charm, as it flew out the window and disappeared . Ye Shaoyang let out a sigh and walked to the table to grab a can of beer . He looked at the astonished Xiao Ma and said, “You have something you want to ask?”

“Who … who are you?” Xiao Ma asked in amazement .

“I told you . I’m a Daoist from the Maoshan Sect . I came to study and hunt some demons and spirits . ”

The previous events were neither a dream nor an illusion . At this point, Xiao Ma had no more reason to not believe him . He sighed and said, “You win man, you win … . ”

Then, Ye Shaoyang walked over to him to gave him a slight slap on the shoulder . He said, “Let’s go then . Bring me to the swamp where you encountered the evil spirit . I’ll bring it to justice . ”

Xiao Ma looked at him in shock, “Right now?”

“Yeah, right now . That evil spirit would grow suspicious and might run away once they find out that the female spirit that they controlled has been sent to the underworld . As such, we must catch her tonight . ”

Xiao Ma asked hesitantly, “There won’t be any danger, right?”

“Piece of cake . If we don’t deal with it now, the evil spirit might come here and look for you . By then, I may not be around to help you . ”

Even though Xiao Ma was scared to go back to that place, he was even more terrified when he thought of the evil spirit coming to find him . After he witnessed Ye Shaoyang’s ability against spirits, he had no better option but to agree and bring Ye Shaoyang to that place .

As they walked to that place, Xiao Ma was finally able to ask Ye Shaoyang some questions, “So, did you destroy that female spirit just now?”

“No, I only sent her to the underworld . ”

“What do you mean? What if she doesn’t want to go to the underworld?”

“A spirit can choose to stay in the human realm and not report to the underworld, but if they encounter people like us, they will be forcibly sent to the underworld and get punished,” Ye Shaoyang said . Then, he explained it in more detail, “When a person dies, the spirit can only stay in the mortal realm for a maximum of seven days . After that, every day more would result in one more year of punishment in the underworld . As for that female spirit, she was held back in the mortal realm against her will . I wrote a Pleading Talisman Paper for her so that the judges won’t be too harsh on her . ”

The last bit shocked Xiao Ma, so he asked, “The judges listens to what you have to say?”

“Of course . The judges trust me since I’m an inner disciple of Maoshan Sect . We are equivalent to the grim reapers . ”

“Oh yeah, that female spirit you sent to the underworld . You didn’t even interrogate her to get some information about the evil spirit controlling her . What if that evil spirit is way too powerful and you can’t beat it?”

“If I can’t beat it, we’ll just have to run then . It can only catch one of us anyways,” Ye Shaoyang evilly laughed .

Xiao Ma stopped; he looked down at his stumpy legs and pot belly . He was definitely not going to be faster than Ye Shaoyang . He looked at Ye Shaoyang with fear, “Are you serious?”

Ye Shaoyang laughed raucously .

After 20 minutes of walking, the pair arrived at the top of a small hill . Then, Xiao Ma pointed at the swamp below and said, “That’s it, that’s the place where I got enchanted . ”

Ye Shaoyang gazed at the area that Xiao Ma pointed toward . It was a swamp that was the size of two football fields . Tombstones were everywhere; most of them were old and broken .