Spirit Hunters of Maoshan Sect - c9

Chapter 9: The Raid
A ghost not showing its true form looks just like a living person, only shrouded in yin energy. Ye Shaoyang watched through half-closed eyes, quietly appreciating the female ghost’s figure as she floated to sleeping-like-a-dead-pig Xiao Ma’s bed. As she extended ten exaggeratedly thin fingers, about to act, Ye Shaoyang suddenly jumped up, throwing a handful of copper beans. Some hit the female ghost, causing white smoke to rise where they struck, her fair skin immediately rotting and developing scattered black scars.

“Ah—” With a shriek, the female ghost turned, fixing her pupilless white eyes on Ye Shaoyang with hatred.

Her skin rapidly decomposed as her body swelled, becoming white flesh that looked like water-soaked steamed buns – utterly disgusting. Her small oval face also swelled, with flesh turning outward in places, revealing white bone beneath. Half her lip was missing, exposing her teeth. Yellow fluid constantly dripped from her body. In an instant, the young and pretty girl transformed into a terrifying evil ghost, baring her teeth at Ye Shaoyang in an even more horrible display.

She wasn’t trying to disgust Ye Shaoyang – her cultivation was too shallow, and being hit by copper beans had broken her ghost form, forcing her to reveal her appearance at death.

“Ah, a drowning ghost,” Ye Shaoyang nodded, completely unafraid. In his years traveling with his master, he’d seen hundreds of ghosts, many far more terrifying than this. He was long since desensitized.

Seeing he wasn’t afraid of her appearance, the female ghost let out a fierce howl and lunged at him with her ten grotesquely long fingers extended.

“Heaven and Earth Limitless!” Ye Shaoyang chanted the simplest incantation, standing his ground. His right hand formed a mudra, avoiding the ghost’s hands and striking her face with his palm, using the momentum to flick out the cinnabar under his fingernail. Using his finger as a brush, he wrote a large “command” character on her face, then exhaled, telling the ghost: “Stay put now.”

The female ghost naturally resisted, but her body was controlled by the cinnabar talisman and couldn’t move. Only then did she realize she’d encountered a master. She immediately put on a pitiful expression, pleading: “Great Master, spare me! I was wronged!”

She’d apparently forgotten her broken form – this expression on her horrifically grotesque face was like Looking-for-Love in heavy makeup, creating a nauseating sense of dissonance.

Ye Shaoyang, who hadn’t been scared earlier, now shuddered with disgust. He frowned and said: “Calm down.” Walking to Xiao Ma’s bed – this guy’s yang energy had been drained, making him sleep deeply – he unhesitatingly kicked his plump bottom: “Fatty, wake up!”

Xiao Ma rolled over, opening sleepy eyes and about to curse, when he suddenly saw a woman standing by his bed. Since she was facing away and the light was dim, he couldn’t see clearly in his hurry. Shocked, he quickly covered his lower half, clad only in flowery boxers, with his blanket, shouting: “Where’d this beauty come from? Xiao Ye-zi, this is a men’s dorm, you can’t mess around like this!”

Ye Shaoyang said nothing, turning the female ghost’s shoulders to face Xiao Ma.

The moment he saw the ghost’s appearance, Xiao Ma froze. Several seconds later, his mouth slowly opened, and all his fear transformed into a piercing cry: “Ghost!”

Ye Shaoyang quickly covered his mouth – this was a dormitory, and he didn’t want to attract the entire floor.

“Didn’t you want to play with female ghosts? Thirty-six positions, hmm, how about it?”

Xiao Ma’s face turned deathly pale as he shrank into the corner, waving his hands repeatedly, almost crying. “No, no, Xiao Ye-zi, I believe in your abilities now, please get rid of her, I’m… I’m scared!”

Everyone reacts this way seeing their first ghost. Not wanting to traumatize him, and having vented his spite, Ye Shaoyang stopped teasing. He wiped the cinnabar talisman from the ghost’s face and wrote a soul-fixing talisman, sticking it to the back of her neck. He waved his hand, “Quick, return to your usual appearance.”

The female ghost turned around, becoming once again a young and beautiful girl. This transformation astounded Xiao Ma even more.

The female ghost knelt on the ground, saying mournfully: “Thank you, Great Master.”

“Your resentful energy isn’t strong – you’re not an evil ghost, so I’ll give you a chance. Tell me the truth, and if you lie, I’ll instantly scatter your soul. Hmm?”

The female ghost covered her face, weeping as she spoke haltingly: “My name is Fang Die, I was a student at the Foreign Language College… A few years ago, walking at night, I passed that hollow with the lonely grave. A hundred-year-old female ghost killed me, holding me down in a water pool to drown… *sob* She saw I was obedient and threatened to kill my family if I didn’t help her cultivate by absorbing yang energy. I saw this fatty had strong yang energy, so I… I really didn’t want to do this, Great Master, please save me.”

So that’s how it was. Ye Shaoyang pondered – the hundred-year-old female ghost she mentioned must be the one who trapped Xiao Ma in the ghost wall. She didn’t kill him immediately, planning to slowly absorb his yang energy for her evil cultivation.

Ye Shaoyang looked at the female ghost, his eyes showing a trace of pity. “Very well, considering you were coerced, I won’t make things difficult for you. I’ll write you a petition talisman to send you to the netherworld courts, asking the judge not to punish you for lingering in the mortal realm.”

The female ghost kowtowed, expressing endless thanks.

Ye Shaoyang opened his bundle, taking out talisman paper and a cinnabar brush. His strokes flowing like dragons and snakes, he briefly wrote the circumstances on the talisman. When he looked up, the spiritual talisman rose without wind, floating toward the window.

“Go quickly to the netherworld courts to settle your account, don’t delay!”

The female ghost rose after bowing in thanks, transforming into a wisp of smoke that attached to the talisman and flew out the window, disappearing in an instant.

Ye Shaoyang exhaled, walked to the desk, opened an unfinished can of beer, and took a drink. Looking at the dumbfounded Xiao Ma, he jerked his chin, “Anything you want to say?”

“Who… exactly are you?” Xiao Ma asked blankly.

“I told you already – a Maoshan priest, here to study and, by the way, hunt demons and ghosts.”

Everything that had just happened wasn’t a dream or hallucination – Xiao Ma had no choice but to believe. He shook his head and sighed: “Fine, you’re… awesome.”

Ye Shaoyang walked over and patted his shoulder, smiling: “Come on, take me to that hollow to settle accounts with that hundred-year-old vengeful spirit.”

Xiao Ma suddenly looked up at him. “Now?”

“Yes. I’ve subdued that female ghost – if she doesn’t return by dawn, that vengeful spirit will definitely suspect something and might run away. If we’re going to catch her, it has to be tonight.”

Xiao Ma timidly asked: “It won’t be dangerous?”

“Small matter. But if you don’t come, that vengeful spirit might seek revenge on you, and I won’t help.”

The threat worked. Though Xiao Ma was afraid to return to that place, he was more afraid of the fierce ghost coming after him. Seeing Ye Shaoyang’s confidence and remembering his ghost-catching skills earlier, he had to agree.

On the night road, Xiao Ma finally calmed somewhat and asked Ye Shaoyang: “That female ghost just now, did you kill her?”

“No, sent her to the netherworld courts.”

“What does that mean? What if she doesn’t go?”

“If she stays in the mortal world as a wandering soul and gets caught by a priest or ghost officer, she’ll suffer when sent to the netherworld,” Ye Shaoyang explained. “After death, people can only stay in the mortal world for seven days. After the soul-returning night, they must report to the netherworld. For each extra day in the mortal world, they face an extra year of torture in the underworld. She was coerced by the vengeful spirit, so it’s forgivable – that’s why I wrote her a petition talisman, so the judge won’t trouble her.”

Xiao Ma looked at him in surprise. “The judge just listens to what you say?”

“I’m a Maoshan heir – equivalent to a mortal realm judge. The netherworld judges won’t doubt my word.”

Xiao Ma was thoroughly convinced.

“By the way, you just caught that female ghost without asking about the fierce ghost’s background. Coming here so rashly – what if we can’t beat her?”

“Then we run – she can’t split herself, at most she’ll catch one of us.” Ye Shaoyang grinned evilly.

Xiao Ma suddenly stopped, looking down at his elephant-like legs, confident he couldn’t outrun anyone. He stared at Ye Shaoyang in horror: “Are you serious?”

Ye Shaoyang burst out laughing.

Twenty minutes later, they reached a small hill. Xiao Ma pointed down, saying: “This is it – where I was trapped that night.”

Ye Shaoyang looked down at a hollow about the size of two football fields, covered with graves – far more than he’d imagined. Most of the graves had collapsed and were overgrown with weeds, clearly quite old.