Chapter 62: Destroying the Evidence
Sang Jing didn’t have time to consider why Shen Jue was here. Her ears were filled with Xie Yu’s painful cries. The yin energy and resentment were continuously rushing into her body, and she was forced to bear all the pain and hatred of those ghosts.
“Sang Jing…” Xie Yu reached out to Sang Jing, who was outside the yin energy, but then thought of how painful these ghostly things were and pulled her hand back.
Sang Jing frowned. The little bit of malevolence that had been eliminated from Xie Yu’s body had been offset by her merit. Now, all her merit was wasted.
Without any more hesitation, Sang Jing tore off the talisman that had been hanging around her neck. When she unfolded it, it was a blank talisman.
Sang Jing was stunned for a moment, then quickly bit her fingertip and used her blood as ink to draw a talisman on the blank talisman with one stroke.
“Heaven and earth are bright, the four directions are my clothes. The mysterious water cleanses, and wards off all misfortune. The twin boys guard the door, the seven spirits guard the room. The spirits are carefully refined, and all qi is mixed and strong. Both inside and outside are chaste and auspicious, and fortune and prosperity are prolonged. Swiftly, as per the statutes and decrees!”
Sang Jing threw the talisman out and shouted, “Scatter!”
In an instant, a golden light appeared, almost illuminating the overcast Chaoyang Community as if it were daytime. The golden light pierced through the yin energy and resentment. The talisman carried the qi of a ten-coin Ghost Master, and wherever it went, all the yin and evil ghost qi dissipated.
Sang Jing found an opportunity and grabbed Xie Yu’s hand, pulling her out with a jerk.
Xie Yu stumbled and fell into Sang Jing’s arms. She was in her pre-death state, with blood on her body and head, and her neck was broken.
It was as if a rain of golden light was falling on the rooftop. Sang Jing held Xie Yu in the rain of golden light and watched as the yin energy and resentment on her were slowly devoured by the golden light. Her soul was coated with a faint golden light.
This was how she should have been. People with a destiny of longevity and prosperity were not common. They had usually been good people for several lifetimes, accumulating a body full of merit to have this life of longevity and prosperity.
“It’s alright, don’t be afraid,” Sang Jing said, gently patting Xie Yu’s back.
Xie Yu was still holding on tightly. She sniffed. “It hurts so much.”
The rain of golden light lasted for a while. Sang Jing held Xie Yu and waited for her to recover, her hand never stopping, patting her one by one, as if she were coaxing her.
“Um…” someone spoke. “Sang Jing.”
Sang Jing was startled. She looked back in confusion. Shen Jue had sat up at some point. Her face was a little pale, and her eyes were clear. “Where is this?”
Sang Jing let go of Xie Yu and walked to Shen Jue. She reached out and touched her head in disbelief.
It was warm, and she was alive.
“You’re not dead?” she asked in surprise.
To cause such a commotion and not be dead? Can a living person accommodate so much yin energy and resentment?
This was a bit beyond Sang Jing’s scope of knowledge.
Shen Jue was also a little hesitant. “I… should I be dead?”
Sang Jing: “…”
It’s good that she’s not dead.
“You…” Sang Jing had originally wanted to ask Shen Jue how she had gotten here, but seeing her blinking eyes, she swallowed her words.
Forget it. It would be a waste of time to ask.
The sky was bright, and the dark clouds above Chaoyang Community had also completely dissipated.
Sang Jing stood on the edge of the rooftop and looked down. That security guard was still standing there. That mother and daughter had appeared at the community gate again, and were repeating the same actions as when they had seen them, probably saying the same things.
Are they constantly repeating what they did before they died?
Sang Jing’s guess was confirmed in that notebook.
The owner of the notebook was an old teacher from the mountains. The children in the mountains all attended her classes. One of the children she taught was very smart and eager to learn, but her family was too poor to let her go to school and only let her work in the fields, herd cattle, and cut grass. She had gone to their house and said that she could waive the tuition, but the child’s family was unwilling. Later, the child fell ill, and her family would not treat her. The old teacher had used her own money to treat her. On the way, she had encountered a bridge under construction and had taken a detour. The child had not waited for her treatment money and had passed away.
The old teacher had returned in a daze, feeling that she had failed the child. On the way back, she had seen the repaired bridge and, in a moment of despair, had thrown herself into the river.
She had brought that child to Chaoyang Community and had fulfilled her regret.
But slowly, the old teacher had found that this place was not right. She had a habit of keeping a diary and would write down what she had taught the child every day. She had found that she was teaching the same thing every day, and a dozen pages of her diary had the same content. It was her handwriting, so it couldn’t be wrong. But the diary was like a copy and paste, so strange it sent a chill down her spine.
She seemed to be the only one who was awake, watching the residents of this community do the same things and say the same things every day, and then repeat the painful torment of before their death at night.
That child had also slowly changed. She had begun to resent the old teacher, and even hated her, hated her for not coming earlier, hated her for being old and slow and causing her harm, and also hated her for bringing her to this dark and inescapable cage.
And this hatred and resentment would only erupt at night. During the day, it was as if it had all disappeared, and the child didn’t remember it either.
The diary ended here, and there was no more news of the old teacher.
Sang Jing lowered her eyes. She thought that the person who had created this place would probably not leave a conscious ghost. The old teacher was probably in a bad situation.
After reading the diary, she understood. This was a gu-raising pond. Day after day, it stirred up the hatred and resentment of these ghosts, and would even affect their temperament, making them forget their original nature, only able to hate and resent, hate others and resent others. The ghostly shrieks at night were their release from the torment of this resentment.
In the Old History of Xuan Masters, there was the matter of raising a ghost with a ghost, using the resentment of many ghosts to raise a ghost king.
Chaoyang Community was very similar to raising a ghost with a ghost. But what Sang Jing couldn’t figure out was, why was Shen Jue lying on the stone platform? And she was alive.
Logically, what should have been on it was the ghost king that the person behind this was raising.
And Xie Yu had stumbled into the formation by mistake and had been forced to become the ghost king, bearing all that resentment.
Her thoughts were cut off at Shen Jue.
Sang Jing couldn’t help but stare at her, circling around her.
A living person, how could she accommodate so much yin energy and resentment?
It shouldn’t be…
Shen Jue sat cross-legged on the stone platform, her eyes following Sang Jing, from left to right.
“Sang Jing, you’re looking at me like that. I… am I dead?” Shen Jue lowered her eyes. “Actually, it’s nothing to be dead. I can accept it. It’s just that I haven’t seen Ying Laishi one last time. Does she know I’m dead? And when is my death anniversary? I have to tell Ying Laishi. She has to burn paper and incense for me every Qingming and Chongyang. Otherwise, I’ll hold a grudge against her even as a ghost. Oh… she doesn’t seem to be able to see ghosts.”
As Shen Jue spoke, tears began to fall. As she wiped her tears, she did not forget her grudge against Ying Laishi.
Sang Jing: “…”
Xie Yu: “…”
“You’re really the most vengeful person I’ve ever met,” Xie Yu said in admiration.
Sang Jing raised her hand and pinched her cheek.
It hurt.
Shen Jue reacted for a while. “I’m not dead??”
Xie Yu looked at her and muttered, “Who said you won’t feel pain after you die?”
It hurt a lot when Sang Jing pinched her.
Seeing Shen Jue’s eyes droop again, Sang Jing glanced at Xie Yu.
So talkative.
“Don’t worry, you’re not dead,” Sang Jing sighed.
Not dead, just not very much like a living person.
“Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“There should be a formation around the community. If we break the formation, we can ferry these souls. We can naturally get out and also know who is behind this kind of shady business.”
The two of them and a ghost went downstairs. Just as they turned to the pond by the community wall, Sang Jing found a formation eye and made a simple mark on the notebook, preparing to find the next one.
The tall building in the distance suddenly collapsed, floor by floor, and in the blink of an eye, the thirty-three-story building became a pile of ruins.
Then, a strong force pushed them into the pond.
By the time Sang Jing had pulled Xie Yu and Shen Jue out of the water, they were out of Chaoyang Community.
They were at the old site of the abandoned Chaoyang Community. In the distance were the ruins of the demolished community building, which looked exactly the same as in the formation just now.
Chaoyang Community had indeed been demolished, but someone had used a magical artifact and a formation to build another Chaoyang Community under this inconspicuous pond.
Sang Jing looked down at the pond. There seemed to be a firelight flashing under the water.
In the firelight, the ghosts were struggling and entangled, wanting to escape. But the surface of the water was like a gate that imprisoned them. They couldn’t break the gate and couldn’t escape.
The person behind this wanted to destroy the evidence.
Then they could have just trapped them all inside. Why did they have to push them out before they made a move?
A cold aura spread out. Sang Jing saw a familiar Ghost Gate.
Hei Wuchang was on her regular business. When she saw Sang Jing, she smiled. “Hey, you’re here too.”
She turned her head and saw Shen Jue, and her smile bloomed. “Oh, you’re here too.”
Shen Jue: “???”
Who are you?
