Chapter 45 Part 2

Zezhi saw her shame. “We should be the ones apologizing. We concealed the truth from you before. I hope you can forgive us, Boss Zhen.”

“Just call me Sister Zi,” she said. Then, Zhen Hezi waved her hands hastily. “Given my age, I mean, it’s not that I’m trying to act superior.”

“Sister Zi sounds nicer anyway,” Yinyu said, pulling the Brocade Pouch’s drawstring tight. “If I’d told you directly earlier that we’re in this line of work, you definitely wouldn’t have believed us.”

Zhen Hezi nodded awkwardly.

Yinyu’s entire body ached with fatigue. She sat down on a chair, crossed her legs, and asked, “Big brother, when you went into the mountain before, did you run into anything strange?”

“I…” The guest hesitated. “Actually, it was because I saw a figure in there, so I chased after it. I wasn’t familiar with the mountain paths, so I relied on following that person.”

Zhen Hezi said in alarm, “There were other people in the mountain?”

The guest nodded, stammering, “That person’s posture was a bit strange, stiff all over, but they moved incredibly fast. I couldn’t keep up and lost them. It took me a huge effort just to get out of there.”

His face flushing with embarrassment, he scratched his head. “You know what happened after that. As soon as I came out of the mountain, I got sick.”

“Then what you saw might not have been a person,” Yinyu teased.

The comment was not funny at all. The guest shuddered and asked timidly, “What I saw, could it have been what you called a Plague Ghost?”

“No,” Yinyu tapped the Brocade Pouch at her hip. “That Plague Ghost clung to you for a long time, and you couldn’t even see its shadow. How could it have been him?”

“Maybe it was a Jiangshi,” Zezhi said in an even tone.

That thing was hardly better than a Plague Ghost. The guest panicked even more. Fearfully, he asked, “A jiangshi, like a zombie?”

“You’re quite sharp,” Yinyu teased.

The guest’s face went pale, and he shivered uncontrollably.

Seeing that this guest had just escaped his harrowing ordeal and was clearly in need of rest, Zezhi turned around and said, “We’ve seen him and asked our questions. Shall we go?”

“Let’s go,” Yinyu let out a soft yawn. “Get some sleep, then head into the mountain tomorrow.”

“You still plan to go into the mountain?” Zhen Hezi followed them out. Before closing the door, still a bit frightened, she specifically scrutinized the space around the gentleman a few extra times.

Yinyu’s posture was utterly listless. Listlessly, she said, “Of course. If this isn’t resolved, more disasters will follow.”

Zhen Hezi no longer dared to stop them. Trailing them down the hallway for a distance, she hesitated and said, “If you need anything at all, just tell me.”

“I can’t think of anything for now,” Yinyu took out her room key card, swiped it against the lock, and turned her head with a smile. “But for the next few days, if anyone asks, please don’t mention we’re here, Boss.”

All sorts of theories instantly sprang to Zhen Hezi’s mind, but she agreed anyway.

After entering the room, Yinyu saw Zezhi squeeze in behind her. With great interest, she asked, “Doesn’t Boss Yu have her own room card?”

Zezhi held her thin key card between two fingers. With a slight flick, the card spun through the air and landed on the bed. “My hand’s empty now.”

“Good aim.” Yinyu turned her head to follow the card’s trajectory. Smiling, she said, “What, want to swap rooms with me?”

However, Zezhi was glancing towards Yinyu’s waist. “Aren’t you going to take it out for a look?”

Yinyu settled herself comfortably into a chair and placed the Brocade Pouch on the table. She then took out her Smoking Pipe and said, “I’ll just take one puff.”

Zezhi untied the Brocade Pouch herself and found it was still quite full of copper coins inside—no wonder it had looked so bulky.

With all those copper coins, the Plague Ghost hadn’t had a comfortable time inside. When it was released, it was a shriveled, wilted lump; its former aggressive bluster was completely gone.

Yinyu pinched out some tobacco, pushed open the window, leaned on the windowsill, and inhaled lightly.

The white smoke was swept away by the wind, leaving only a faint trace of the scent drifting into the room.

Zezhi approached from behind, making a move as if to close the window. “Aren’t you feeling unwell all over? Still letting the wind blow on you?”

“Afraid the smoke will bother you,” Yinyu said, turning around, putting them face-to-face.

Seeing this, Zezhi paused slightly but still moved closer. What she wanted to smell, however, wasn’t the pipe in Yinyu’s hand, but the lips that had just held it.

Yinyu guessed it right away. She wasn’t about to think Zezhi wanted to kiss her.

She certainly wasn’t going to let Zezhi get what she wanted. So every time Zezhi came closer, Yinyu leaned back further, her waist nearly snapping against the windowsill.

Inside the room, the Plague Ghost tried to flee, frantically bumping around in all directions.

“Boss Yu, is this strong enough for you?” Yinyu pursed her lips around the mouthpiece. Finally, she did something to Zezhi she had never done before.

At Zezhi’s cold, beautiful face, she gently breathed out a puff of smoke.

Zezhi jerked back abruptly, and took out a Red String to bind up the Plague Ghost.

Yinyu glanced down at the pipe bowl—the tobacco had already burned out. Unfulfilled, she let her hand drop and said teasingly, “He won’t get away.”

Bound into a lump, the Plague Ghost glared with its gray-white eyes, occasionally rasping strange sounds from its throat.

Looking at the ghost’s clothing, it did have the feel of a past era. Who knew if it had become a Plague Ghost during the Gaozu generation of the Five Gates.

Yinyu stepped forward, covering the Plague Ghost’s forehead with her palm, not caring at all how hideously ugly the creature was. In that instant, a series of unfamiliar scenes flashed before her eyes—Ivory Mast Village before it became a ghost village.

At that time, the village wasn’t so dilapidated. Though still houses of brick and earth, the walls were painted with colorful murals, keeping it from seeming too bleak and shabby.

Villagers milled about everywhere. At first glance, the population seemed quite prosperous—old and young alike, each going about their happy lives.

In life, this Plague Ghost had been a rather robust man. He shouted towards the distance, “Boss Wu, you’re back again!”

Through the Plague Ghost’s eyes, Yinyu was able to see the person whose name had been struck from the Five Gates’ family register.

Wuxian.

Her long hair was tied up. She wore an earth-colored robe, somewhat resembling the garb of a female cultivator in a nunnery. When she turned her head, her bare, unadorned face was revealed.

She wasn’t especially beautiful; her facial features seemed somewhat plain at first glance. She had a look that put people at ease.

This person was exactly the same as the woman in the Buddhist Nun’s Robe from Yinyu’s dream.

It was her. Wuxian.

Wuxian had indeed become an Immortal. She reached the White Jade Capital and even entered the Little Enlightenment Ruins.

Unfortunately, just as Yinyu saw a group of villagers following Wuxian into the mountain, she was forced out of the Retrocognition. The memories were simply too old; the Plague Ghost’s memory was too fragmented.

“Did you see it?” Zezhi frowned.

Yinyu shook her head. “Not much. Some of his memories seem to have been deliberately erased. But the villagers did indeed follow Wuxian into the mountain.”

“And after returning from the mountain, they contracted the plague?” Zezhi sounded unsure.

“Seems so. We definitely need to go into the mountain and take a look.” Yinyu bit down on her pipe stem, waved her hand, and said, “Finish off this Plague Ghost.”

Zezhi simply took out her Lighter, burned the Red String binding the ghost, and then produced a pre-prepared Paper Effigy, pressing it onto the Plague Ghost.

The moment the Paper Effigy moved, the Plague Ghost moved with it. Effigy and ghost stepped together into a mirror. Inside the mirror world, the ghost would unravel its own spiritual knots on its own.

Yinyu was uncomfortable all over. She didn’t know if it was because the Yin Energy here was too thick, but even breathing was a struggle now, and the pain in her joints was flaring up more and more frequently.

“Where does it hurt?” Zezhi put down her lighter.

Yinyu rotated her wrist, baffled. “The whole way here, the closer we got to Overgrown Mountain, the worse I felt. My sickness didn’t start here, so tell me…”

She narrowed her eyes, deliberately lowering her voice as if afraid someone might overhear. “Could this illness of the Five Gates… also be connected to Wuxian?”

She found a chair and sat down, draping her leg in Zezhi’s direction. “Do you know anything about this?”

Zezhi’s brows furrowed slightly. She glanced at the leg resting against her and hesitated for over three seconds. “I don’t know for certain if it’s related to her.”

Yinyu withdrew her leg and clicked open her Tobacco Box. “Forget it. Tomorrow we’ll go into the mountain, and everything will come to light.”

With the Plague Ghost sent on its way, Zezhi had no further reason to stay. She picked up her room key card. Before leaving, she glanced back. “I’ll go bring the car around. I’ll have them help bring up the luggage. You just rest.”

As it happened, Yinyu didn’t want to move either. She slumped bonelessly in her chair and said, “I’ll leave it to you, Boss Yu. Next time, I’ll be your beast of burden.”

“No need for that.” Zezhi closed the door.

Yinyu held the pipe stem between her lips and waited for a moment. She had forgotten to ask Zezhi if that place called Wisdom Water Red Mountain had tobacco. If not, what would she do?

The old memories she could recall were still so few, yet she had a distinct feeling that she would eventually return.

Fortunately, where they had parked earlier wasn’t far. It took Zezhi less than twenty minutes to walk there, drive back, and soon after, someone knocked on the door to deliver the luggage.

Once she had her luggage, Yinyu hurriedly took a shower and wanted to do nothing else. The moment she collapsed onto the bed, smelling the unfamiliar, uncomfortable scent of the bedding, she fell asleep.

That night, she didn’t dream of the White Jade Capital. Instead, the events of the past twenty-odd years flickered through her mind like a revolving lantern. The faces she could recall from these years appeared one by one, like a final chapter before a journey’s end.

Yinyu woke up in the middle of the night, overheated. Only then did she realize the blanket was too thick, and the room’s air conditioning hadn’t been set to turn on automatically. She had been sweating profusely.

She got up to check the time. Three in the morning. No wonder she was not only hot but also ravenously hungry.

The moment she turned on the light, a black shadow pounced at her violently, startling her so much she jerked backward. But she was still caught full-on.

The Ink.

Smelling the Ink Fragrance, Yinyu instinctively looked towards the suitcase, because the prayer wheel was inside.

The suitcase was locked tight, muffling most of the noise from within the wheel. But when Yinyu opened it, the moaning and wailing poured out together, creating a cacophony.

Plugging one ear, Yinyu found a washbasin in the bathroom. She unceremoniously tossed the prayer wheel into the basin and, in one fluid motion, burned a Talisman Paper and filled the basin with water.

The ink dispersed in the water, and those faint sounds became inaudible once more.

It took Yinyu a lot of effort to fish the prayer wheel out. The object, which looked palm-sized, now felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, so heavy she could barely lift her arm.

She figured it couldn’t just be because they were closer to Ivory Mast Beach. This thing was absorbing souls more easily now, so its weight must be shooting up like bamboo after a spring rain—growing visibly by the day.

Lying back down, Yinyu couldn’t fall asleep again. So she resorted to disturbing someone else’s rest, calling Zezhi.

It rang for barely three seconds before the other end picked up.

Yinyu lay prone on the bed and said weakly, “Boss Yu, are you busy? Come keep me company?”

“Keep you company for what?”

“Going into the mountain.” Yinyu turned over. The faint, barely audible sound of her breathing was transmitted completely into the phone’s receiver.