Chapter 27

Qi Xu didn’t think that Xia Zhiming had her go catch the ghost because she was stronger as a ghost. Instead, it was purely because Xia Zhiming was lazy and wanted to make full use of her. After a scolding from Xia Zhiming, Qi Xu prepared to head upward without any temper, but Xia Zhiming called her back.

Qi Xu turned her head in surprise, thinking that Xia Zhiming had finally realized she had gone too far and was calling her back to take her place. Instead, she handed Qi Xu a piece of talisman paper.

It was the one she had just picked up from the ground.

Qi Xu initially wanted to take it, but then she remembered that this talisman paper from Xia Zhiming had previously blocked that hanging ghost, preventing it from catching up to her so quickly. She figured it must pose a threat to ghosts. The hand she had already extended timidly shrank back.

“This talisman paper won’t kill me first, will it?”

“It won’t. Don’t worry, you’re a very strong ghost. There’s no way it could kill a big ghost like you.”

Only then did Qi Xu take the talisman paper. The moment her fingers touched it, there was a slight stinging pain at the tips, like the little electric shock toys she had played with as a child— not painful, just a bit numb. After taking it, Qi Xu examined it carefully.

The talisman paper was entirely yellow, with patterns drawn in red pigment that Qi Xu couldn’t understand.

At the very top were three small hooks forming incomplete circles. Below them were crooked, twisted characters that Qi Xu couldn’t recognize at all. On the entire talisman, only the two characters “Edict” could be vaguely made out.

Below “Edict” were eight horizontal eights stacked together, connected in the middle with brush strokes. Further down were two lines, one on each side, enclosing a row of vertical characters. Those two lines seemed to have something drawn on them as well.

As for the characters in the middle, Qi Xu didn’t recognize them either.

Xia Zhiming’s handwriting was overly illegible. Apart from “Edict,” which she knew from watching too many TV dramas and movies, she truly couldn’t make out the rest. These days, not only were doctors’ handwriting hard to read, but Daoists’ were too.

Xia Zhiming kicked Qi Xu’s butt. Qi Xu jolted and glanced back: this woman not only wanted to kick her body, but her soul too!

“Keep staring and dawn will break. Hurry up and find it.”

“How am I supposed to find it…”

“I’m not a ghost. How would I know? Figure it out yourself.”

With that, Xia Zhiming shooed Qi Xu away. Qi Xu could only sigh and climb the stairs upward. Unlike the previous dazed and disoriented feeling, this time Qi Xu truly felt different from when she had been a living person.

She was very light, as light as clouds and mist, able to be blown away by a gust of wind. Her feet had no solid sensation on the stairs. Though she wore loose ancient-style clothing, her steps made no sound, even lighter than climbing stairs as a living person.

Qi Xu lowered her gaze, her eyes sweeping over the “emergency exit” sign at the base of the wall, and she really noticed something different from what she had seen as a living person.

There were—red lines.

To be precise, they were a dull red. The red lines clustered densely inside the sign but were slowly diminishing and fading. Besides that, there was a very obvious red line extending from this sign to the next one.

Qi Xu gripped the stair railing and looked up, seeing the red line winding continuously, connecting every sign.

Qi Xu understood. These were traces left by the Inverted Hanging Ghost. The fainter the color and fewer the lines, the longer it had been since she had been here. It… seemed to be fleeing upward.

Another benefit of becoming a ghost was improved night vision. In this dim illusion with only faint green light as illumination, one should barely be able to see anything, let alone mere red lines.

But Qi Xu could see them exceptionally clearly. Even though it was night, it was as bright as day to her eyes.

Qi Xu ascended step by step, completely unaware of how terrifying she looked to others. Xia Zhiming stood at the base of the stairs, looking up at her. From the start, she had floated by Xia Zhiming’s side. Only after being kicked did she snap back to reality and head upward as instructed.

The way Qi Xu lightly and quietly landed on the stairs wasn’t the thin wisp of smoke she had imagined, but thick, ink-like darkness that couldn’t be dispersed. It was like the great villain in a fantasy film emerging wrapped in black special effects.

When she inadvertently glanced back, those gloomy black eyes looked eerily unsettling. The sight of her climbing with her head down was straight out of a horror movie. The dim stairwell and eerie green dim lights cast heavy shadows on this evil ghost that seemed to have crossed through a rift in time to arrive here.

Xia Zhiming expressionlessly nudged her lollipop with her tongue, shifting its position in her mouth: good thing she still remembered that was Qi Xu, or she wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from gripping the peachwood sword.

Qi Xu followed the red line’s guidance to the fourth-floor stairwell landing. She felt her steps were extremely light, but she hadn’t noticed that at some point, her feet no longer touched the ground.

If she had known, Qi Xu probably would have fallen silent for a moment and then sighed: that was normal, after all, she was a ghost now.

Qi Xu looked at the red line, which pooled at the fourth-floor stairwell landing, clustering inside that directional sign. The red lines inside were extremely numerous, twisted into a mass that was nearly black, and they writhed from time to time.

Somewhat disgusting.

Qi Xu thought this, then squatted down. Her pitch-black ornate robe draped straight to the ground. She reached out a hand, then paused. It wasn’t because the sign before her stirred or the talisman malfunctioned, but because she discovered— at some point, her nails had also turned black. They seemed… a bit longer too.

Qi Xu’s expression soured. The last time she turned into a ghost, it hadn’t been like this! Black nail polish made skin look fair, but her skin was already extremely pale as a ghost! Now with black nails, it was as white as paper!

Moreover, were black nails a good omen?! What if she couldn’t turn back into a human because of this?!

She recalled Xia Zhiming saying that the longer she stayed as a ghost, the lower the chances of returning to a living person, so she immediately acted, directly pasting the talisman onto the directional sign.

After pasting it, she quickly stood and backed away a bit. Qi Xu was still a little scared—what if this talisman was too powerful and affected her too?

The talisman was indeed extraordinary, as expected from Xia Zhiming. The moment it was pasted on, it erupted in a burst of golden light and ignited in midair, but the flames didn’t look like real-world fire.

The flames already had an otherworldly feel, seeming illusory but capable of burning if approached. Yet as they burned, Qi Xu felt no heat—instead, they carried a chilling yin coldness.

Through the firelight, Qi Xu saw the red lines inside the sign writhing faster, far more violently than their previous imperceptible movements. The red lines twisted for a while, then clustered together. Then, they burst out from the sign.

As they emerged, they kept expanding and growing.

This sudden change made Qi Xu instinctively step back, and then she saw the red lines inflate into the Inverted Hanging Ghost. The Inverted Hanging Ghost stood on the ground with both feet, having little in common with the “inverted hanging” nickname Qi Xu had given her. The moment she saw Qi Xu, she bared her fangs and brandished her claws, as if about to lunge at her.

But after clearly seeing Qi Xu’s appearance, she startled, her bared teeth retracting somewhat. Clearly, Qi Xu’s getup exceeded the Inverted Hanging Ghost’s expectations: “How did you turn into this?”

It was hilarious— just minutes apart, and Qi Xu had become a ghost.

“It’s a long story…” Qi Xu didn’t know how to explain, but Xia Zhiming didn’t give her much time. From downstairs, her voice rang out powerfully, piercing through the floors: “Qi Xu, what are you doing?! You used the talisman, but didn’t drive that ghost down?! Hurry up, dawn is about to break.”

With the talisman used up, Qi Xu actually didn’t know what to do next. But the Inverted Hanging Ghost was clearly very afraid of Xia Zhiming below. Hearing her words, she immediately wanted to flee further up. Qi Xu blocked the upper position and, seeing the Inverted Hanging Ghost approach, instinctively reached out to stop her.

The instant she touched Qi Xu, the Inverted Hanging Ghost recoiled. Qi Xu could clearly see that the spot on the Inverted Hanging Ghost’s arm that had touched her became shaky, as if a chunk was missing… At the same time, Qi Xu felt a wisp of chilling aura seep into her from that small contact area, making her feel exceptionally refreshed.

It felt a bit like the reverse of kissing Xia Zhiming.

If kissing Xia Zhiming was like basking in the winter sun, warming her whole body and softening her heart; then this touch was like eating ice cream in summer— bone-chillingly cool, yet utterly refreshing.

Realizing this, Qi Xu’s already pale face grew even paler. Feeling comfortable from kissing Xia Zhiming was because she was transferring yang energy to her! But feeling this icy refreshment now— didn’t that mean this ghost’s yin energy was flowing into her?!

Was that a good thing for her?!

Thus, the scene turned strangely comical. The ghost didn’t dare touch Qi Xu, fearing her yin energy would be sucked away again. Qi Xu didn’t dare let the Inverted Hanging Ghost touch her, fearing she’d absorb more yin energy and drift further from being human. But at the same time, she remembered Xia Zhiming’s order to drive the Inverted Hanging Ghost downward and didn’t dare let her pass.

The two reached a delicate stalemate, but Xia Zhiming’s pressure on Qi Xu was too great. Just thinking of Xia Zhiming waiting impatiently downstairs made Qi Xu tentatively take a step forward. Next, the hilarious scene repeated.

Qi Xu advanced, and the Inverted Hanging Ghost retreated. Soon, it became Qi Xu herding the Inverted Hanging Ghost from behind. The Inverted Hanging Ghost tried multiple times to drill back into the emergency exit sign, but Qi Xu was quick-eyed and blocked her each time. She had figured it out now—even if she absorbed a bit more yin energy, she could just kiss Xia Zhiming a few more times!