Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Ancient Stele

I started the car and drove toward Liancheng Mountain.

The route did not follow the direction of urban development; it was desolate, the roads were in poor condition, and the atmosphere was gloomy and somewhat frightening. Fearing that I might be caught off guard by any malevolent spirits along the way, I released the little vengeful ghost. Once out of her spirit urn, she was brimming with excitement. Finding no one else around, she began to explore everything with curiosity. She touched this and poked that, never staying still for a moment. Worried that her yin energy might cause a malfunction in the car—which could lead to us plunging into a river—I stopped her from wandering about. She seemed a bit displeased, but soon, like a half-grown child, she climbed onto my shoulder. Although she appeared to be seven or eight years old, she was very slender and light, and in truth, she possessed no weight at all.

"What is your name?" I asked, feeling bored behind the wheel. I could not understand ghost language, but she understood mine, and our bond had deepened significantly over recent times, so I felt it necessary to know her name. Besides, I couldn't go around shouting "I choose you, Pokémon!" like in some cartoons; that would be embarrassing and beneath my dignity.

She looked left and right, her gaze settling on the mineral water bottle beside me. Shortly after, the letters "Xi Jun" appeared on the storage rack in front of the passenger seat, written in mineral water.

"Your name is Xi Jun? It sounds archaic and beautiful. May I call you Xi Jun from now on?" I said.

She nodded in response, appearing very pleased that I liked it.

Although the road was not long, it was full of malevolent spirits drawn to me. I could only imagine how heavy my own yin energy must have been. I finally understood why Xi Jun always liked to cling to me; while she didn't possess my body, she was particularly fond of my yin energy.

As I drove, a sudden "thump-thump" sounded against the car window. I frowned and looked toward the passenger side, and what I saw nearly made me lose control of my bladder! An old woman with a blue-tinged face and blank, white eyes was staring at me, knocking on the window as she ran alongside the car!

"Young man, you hit the old lady..." The thought seemed to echo in my mind. If I were an ordinary person, I would have slammed on the brakes, swerved off the road, and lost my life. But as someone accustomed to such entities, I simply floored the accelerator and sped away.

"Old lady, don't say I didn't warn you. If you keep following me, you're done for," I muttered, focusing intently on the road.

The old woman seemed not to understand, continuing to pursue me relentlessly. Most vengeful ghosts lack consciousness and act on instinct, lunging at anything they perceive as food. Entities like Xi Jun, who possess intelligence and can understand human speech, exist on a different level; they generally hunt other ghosts to consume them and increase their own power.

The old woman lunged at me again, but Xi Jun reached out, grabbed the ghost woman by the hair, and bit off half her head in one go. I felt that Xi Jun’s tastes were sometimes quite macabre, and her table manners were less than refined. Sigh, she didn't usually act like a delicate princess, but she was curious—why did she have to be so unconcerned with her image while eating?

After devouring the fierce old ghost in a few quick bites, Xi Jun giggled like a child, which gave me goosebumps. I told her, "Just wipe your mouth when you're done, could you please not laugh so terrifyingly?"

The ghost woman had been quite formidable, likely having existed for a long time; otherwise, she wouldn't have been so desperate to snatch food from Xi Jun’s mouth.

I parked the car at the Liancheng Mountain shooting range. There was not a soul in sight; the nearest landmark was a ticket booth for a mountain trail, and everything around was pitch black. Nature called, so I stepped out of the car to find a quiet spot. Xi Jun, ever the curious princess, sat on my shoulder with no intention of getting down, constantly peering downward.

I couldn't go, so I said, "Xi Jun, why don't you stand further behind me? I'm busy, and you're too young to see this."

Xi Jun pouted, climbed down, and stood behind me. The thought of a little ghost girl standing behind me made my urge disappear entirely, so I told her to stand to my side, facing away. She agreed, which helped me relax slightly, but the moment I took out my "equipment," she turned her head. I had anticipated this and turned away immediately, nearly spilling on my shoes.

Xi Jun tried to fly over, but a cold, ghostly wind rose up behind me, scaring her so badly she fled as far as she could, not daring to try again. *Heh, the Ghost Wife still has her ways,* I thought, finally able to relieve myself in peace. But then a thought struck me: if the Ghost Wife had been by my side for all these years, hadn't she seen me doing my business? And what about when I watched Japanese adult films?

My face turned bright red at the thought, and I nearly face-planted into the puddle. What a blunder! I should have asked my grandmother how to deal with the Ninth Princess years ago.

However, I later reasoned that these worries were likely unnecessary. In my mind, the Ghost Wife always kept her eyes closed, and given her proud and aloof nature, she would never stoop to such sordid behavior. She wouldn't do it herself, nor would she allow others to do so. Besides, whenever I watched those films, I would inexplicably feel a chill run through my body; I could never get worked up.

Relieved, I pulled up my pants and walked toward the shooting range. The open, field-like area was filled with white shadows, and near the foot of the mountain, many gloomy figures were wandering about. My arrival seemed to signal a feast to these spirits, and they all turned toward me, but seeing Xi Jun perched on my shoulder, they hesitated to make a move.

With Xi Jun holding the fort, my courage grew, and I headed toward the area with the strongest yin energy. I found that while the shooting range was full of fierce spirits, the strongest concentration of yin energy was not here, but near an old bridge leading toward Pao Tai Mountain at the foot of the mountain.

Perhaps I hadn't seen the details clearly from the mountaintop. I remembered Zhao He telling me this was Xunyang Mountain; before the war against the French, it had been a village of a dozen households. Later, for unknown reasons, the village vanished, and the old bridge fell into disuse and ruin.

Standing by the old bridge, I looked down into the dry riverbed under the moonlight. There was no water left; the parched ground was filled with jagged, oddly shaped rocks that exuded a piercing chill. Further ahead, I saw a small, desolate graveyard with several ancient stone tablets. Intrigued, I decided to cross the bridge to investigate.

But the moment I stepped across, the Ghost Wife tugged on my sleeve. Clearly, there was danger ahead, and I immediately froze. Even with Xi Jun on my shoulder, the Ghost Wife’s warning meant there was something ahead I couldn't handle.

I frowned, yet I decided to press on. The Ghost Wife’s tug had not been forceful, suggesting danger, but not necessarily a fatal one. I admit I am not particularly brave, but whenever I thought of my grandmother still trapped in Yin Feng Town, I felt a lingering restlessness. To break the Blood Cloud Coffin, one cannot stop without taking risks.

The Ghost-Raising Path my grandmother passed down was entirely different from others; theirs was about enslaving ghosts to harm people, while hers was about using one predator to defeat another—a completely different matter. Furthermore, Xi Jun was unlike other ghosts; she possessed wisdom. I noticed that after letting her consume several vengeful spirits, she became even sharper. If I let her eat more, she might develop stranger abilities, so I did not mind letting her feast. Most vengeful ghosts have lost their minds and missed the cycle of reincarnation, remaining only to harm others; my actions could be seen as a form of salvation.

I pushed through tall, overgrown weeds and reached the abandoned graveyard. Standing before one of the ancient tablets, I saw it was inscribed during the Daoguang era—it was over two hundred years old. The monument was built of solid stone, suggesting the tomb’s owner had been from a wealthy and prominent family.

The weeds were so thick that I hadn't been able to see this from the mountaintop, and the darkness made it even harder to discern my surroundings. Guided by the intense yin energy, I moved toward another ancient grave.

Suddenly, the Ghost Wife tugged at my sleeve again. I stopped in my tracks. Looking around, I saw many white phantoms hovering nearby, watching me with covetous eyes. Xi Jun jumped off my shoulder and stood in front of me, her mouth stretching to her ears as she glared at the tombstone hidden by the weeds.

The dilapidated monument looked desolate, but the fierce yin energy made me shiver with terror. Just a few meters away, at my feet, was a tomb-raider’s hole someone had dug. A gust of cold wind blew from within, carrying a pungent, fishy stench.

I trembled involuntarily. In the moonlight, I saw loose soil piled by the hole. It looked like someone had been digging recently, and given the smell of rotting fish, I suspected the raiders had already met their end. A crime had definitely occurred here not long ago!

Around the hole were other strange, uneven pits. It seemed many had tried to raid these tombs over the years, but none had succeeded; all had met with misfortune, making the graveyard look all the more sinister.

I took a step back, pulled out a bundle of incense I had prepared, lit it, and bowed. "I am just passing through with no intent to disturb. Please accept this incense as an apology; do not take offense. I shall depart at once, leaving behind these offerings in exchange for peace."

Afterward, I planted the incense in the ground, scattered the spirit money I had brought, and fled back the way I came without looking back. Behind me, shrill, eerie cries echoed, but I didn't dare turn around. Xi Jun followed closely, yet I couldn't stop shivering, nearly tripping over myself several times.

Back in the car, I gasped for air. I didn't know what kind of entity was hiding there, but it was certainly something beyond Xi Jun's capabilities. Of course, the creature likely feared Xi Jun as well, which was why it didn't attack me directly. By burning incense and scattering money, I had shown weakness, signaling that we would keep to our own paths.

This trip was only for scouting; I wouldn't give up, but I would have to face that creature another time—perhaps after Xi Jun had grown stronger.

When I drove back to Longyuan Residential Complex, it was already 2:30 in the morning. The lights in my home were eerily still on, and my brow furrowed in concern.