Chapter 42: Causing Trouble

In the main hall, Old Man Zhao's corpse was still trembling slightly, as if it could spring up at any moment, as though the fierce ghost that had possessed it still lingered within.

Because Old Man Zhao had not entered the netherworld for a long time, he was gradually turning into a malevolent spirit. At some point, he had begun hovering near his own corpse, trying to force the malevolent spirit out of his body.

Seeing Old Man Zhao attempting to reclaim his body, Elder Hai shook his head. He had shared an old friendship with Old Man Zhao, and seeing his old friend die in such unrest filled his heart with grief. "Having been old friends, it pains me deeply to see you like this."

"Grandpa!" Zhao Qian had performed a ritual, wiping her eyes with tears of a newborn calf, and could now see her grandfather floating there. Her heartache can well be imagined.

Just as she was about to run over, I intercepted her.

"Sigh, Zhao Zhou, oh Zhao Zhou. Look at the mess you've caused. Your father has ended up like this—do you feel good about it?" Lin Feiyu sighed.

Zhao Zhou clenched his teeth and turned his head away. "In this family, I was always the one my dad looked down upon the least! From childhood to adulthood, I've taken no end of scoldings from him. He wanted to leave everything to the eldest, and I hate him!"

"Yet a tiger will not eat its own cubs; he never thought of harming you. What a tragic debt of karma! And yet you've left him unable to enter the netherworld, reducing him to a wandering lonely ghost?" Elder Hai said, taking out a paper figurine from his sleeve. He chanted a spell, casually wrote Old Man Zhao's name upon the paper figurine, and cried out, "Old brother, your body is right here."

Old Man Zhao turned around, walked over in a trance, looked at the paper figurine, and vanished before Elder Hai.

"Uncle, you must consider the old friendship you had with our father and help us out!" Zhao Xi and Zhao Yuan were weeping uncontrollably, begging Elder Hai to lend a hand so their father would not be barred from the underworld.

Zhao Zhou chewed on Elder Hai's words, remaining silent. Then, recalling the events of the past, tears streamed down his weathered face.

"I know. Even if you hadn't spoken, wouldn't your uncle understand?" Elder Hai let out a heavy sigh, glancing around until he caught sight of the altar Zhao Qian had set up earlier.

"Little Lin, the one inside the house is yours. Zhao Qian, I'll borrow your altar for a moment; Old Uncle needs to summon a nether-envoys." Elder Hai said to Lin Feiyu and Zhao Qian, placing the trembling paper figurine before him. He rearranged the spirit altar, burned incense, drew a talisman, and began chanting.

Lin Feiyu nodded and walked toward the hall. "Brother Hai, even if you hadn't said it, I would have..."

Before he could even draw his ritual instruments, Xijun pounced forward, swiftly ripping the malevolent spirit out of the corpse in three strokes and two motions. She glanced at me, and upon receiving my nod, she unceremoniously began to devour it. To her, this was a delicacy that could enhance her energy, and she had no intention of yielding it to anyone else.

"Little Brother Xia, couldn't you let Uncle Lin make his move first?" Lin Feiyu stared at me, a bitter smile plastered across his face.

"Elder Lin, there will be bigger things waiting for you to duel later. How could we let you, our main force, strike right now over such a tiny creature?" I said with a smile.

"Mn, what you brat said does make sense. You know how to read the room!" Lin Feiyu nodded and laughed.

Just as we were bantering, Elder Hai clicked his tongue, his face turning pale as he shook his head. "No good. I asked the underworld administration and the local earth deity in charge here. The earth deity told me that the nether-envoy sent earlier to take Brother Zhao has yet to return to the netherworld, and the underworld authorities are holding us accountable. He's in a difficult position himself and refuses to send another nether-envoy up, threatening to arrest and prosecute all relevant parties."

Upon hearing this, the family members burst into loud wails. Even Zhao Qian began shedding tears continuously, sobbing into my clothes until they were soaked with her tears and mucus.

Lin Feiyu was not skilled in the way of Yin and Yang practitioners communicating with the netherworld, so he asked, "Brother Hai, you've seen how the family is. The funeral is tomorrow, so what do you propose we do? Everyone is waiting for you to act."

"There's nothing to be done; the people down below are furious right now. However, the underworld officials say the nether-envoy should still be alive, unless we can find that nether-envoy for them." Elder Hai shook his head, looking around as if searching for the missing envoy.

Hearing him say this, I joined in the search. My gaze swept across the room and landed directly on Zhao Zhou. "Hey, Wu Zhenghua detained your father's soul, but wasn't there a nether-envoy by his side as well?"

Zhao Zhou was shedding tears there, but upon hearing my question, he replied, "We didn't dare to touch the nether-envoy, so we just left him to wander around. Master Wu said the nether-envoy's yin energy is weak, and he was hiding in the corner just a moment ago."

With that, he pointed to a distant corner of the hall.

However, when I looked over, Xijun was there, chewing on something. At that sight, I froze, and the hair on my arms stood on end.

Xijun had eaten that nether-envoy until only half a leg was left!

"Xijun! You're trying to get me killed!" Veins popped out on my forehead as I glared at Xijun.

Xijun looked back at me innocently and tucked away the remaining half-leg of the nether-envoy. As far as she was concerned, any ghost was edible; she didn't care whether it was a wandering soul or a nether-envoy. The nether-envoy's yin energy had a chilly, pleasant scent, and it was simply delicious.

Elder Hai and Elder Lin could both see Xijun, and they witnessed the entire scene of her devouring the nether-envoy right before their eyes. Although a nether-envoy's yin energy was pitifully small, practitioners of their generation could always perceive at least a trace of it. Consequently, cold sweat began to drip down their foreheads in heavy beads.

"This... this is no laughing matter." Elder Hai looked at Xijun, then back at me, shaking his head like a rattle-drum.

Lin Feiyu even stomped his feet in anxiety, not daring to utter a word.

I looked at the family members standing nearby and noticed they were staring at me, completely unaware of what had happened. Panic gripped my heart. Since my little ghost had eaten the nether-envoy, Old Man Zhao wouldn't be able to descend into the netherworld. Wouldn't these people blame me to death?

I quickly pulled Elder Hai aside and said with an embarrassed expression, "Elder Hai, if a nether-envoy dies, what will happen?"

"The underworld authorities will definitely come looking for you to forfeit your life. It's over, it's completely over. What on earth are we going to do?" Elder Hai's face turned ashen, thoroughly terrified.

"She's already eaten it. Is there truly no remedy?" I asked again.

Elder Hai thought deeply, racking his brain, and finally said, "Sigh, this matter can't entirely be blamed on you. Before this happens, I'll try to mediate for you as much as possible. But the one you're raising... how could she cause such a disaster? Within three days at the latest, the underworld will send someone to apprehend you. From what I can see, this nether-envoy seems to have a very delicate relationship with the forces below. You must offer a hundred apologies, agree to whatever conditions they propose, and absolutely do not cross them. Remember that."

"Thank you in advance, Elder Hai. I suppose I can only await the grand arrival of the netherworld." I thanked Elder Hai and ordered Xijun to return.

As it turned out, Xijun even finished the hidden half-leg before reluctantly returning. When she entered the spirit urn, I discovered that the urn was on the verge of shattering. Perhaps because of this, it had driven Xijun to commit such an extra act. I could only blame my own miscalculation.

"Since matters have reached this point, we might as well head to the back mountain and see what game that old geezer Wu Zhenghua is playing," Lin Feiyu suggested.

"Mn, that's the only option. I'll properly secure Brother Zhao's soul first and purge his resentment. Once I've communicated with the netherworld, perhaps we can still send him down. I'll be staying in the manor these past two days," Elder Hai said, taking out a black box from his mountaineering backpack. He placed the paper figurine containing Old Man Zhao's soul inside and sealed it with a talisman.

Elder Hai had deep ties with the Zhao family, and many of the relatives trusted him completely. Since he said so, there was nothing else to be done.

"Then be careful, Uncle. That Wu Zhenghua is extremely insidious, and his Daoist arts are very high," Zhao Xi said from the side.

"It's fine. Your uncle has fought him in the past, and he couldn't do anything to me. Now that your Uncle Lin is here as well, there will be even less of a problem. Even if both of us fail, we still have Little Brother Xia, don't we?" Elder Hai said, handing the box to Zhao Xi. "You are the eldest son. Inside here is your father's soul, so I'm entrusting it to you. Burn incense and make offerings to it properly, then shroud your father. The funeral will be at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Alright, Uncle." Zhao Xi trembling held his father's soul, his face deathly pale. Truth be told, knowing his father had turned into a malevolent spirit still terrified him immensely. What if the sealing talisman were accidentally peeled off? What would they do then?

The faces of the many relatives were turning cyan with fear. They desperately wanted to distance themselves from Zhao Xi, yet felt too embarrassed to do so.

"If we're heading to the back mountain, let me lead the way."

Zhao Qian suggested this, though her true motive was to avenge her grandfather. I knew this quite well, but since it was pitch black, we were unfamiliar with the terrain, and I couldn't set my mind at ease leaving her behind, I said, "Elder Hai, Elder Lin, let Zhao Qian and Zhao Yi lead the way. Han Shanshan will wait here for reinforcements; Captain Huo should be arriving soon."

"That's fine, but be careful. Each of you take one of these paper figurines," Elder Hai said, producing the ghost-avoiding paper figurines from the Little Righteous Village days and distributing one to each of us.

After waiting a short while, the sound of police sirens echoed from outside the manor, and Huo Dadong arrived with several men. In the pitch-black night, he looked as though he had just been woken from sleep.

After a brief handover, our group of five set off toward the back mountain.

Wu Zhenghua had undoubtedly set up a stage in the back mountain, waiting for us to make our grand entrance. However, there was no way I was going to let that old scoundrel off the hook. Even knowing that danger awaited us up there, I couldn't care less now. Besides, there were three of us.

"That old fellow probably still thinks his Confucian magic completely counters Little Brother Xia, and likely didn't expect us to come after him. Heh."

Along the way, Lin Feiyu did not seem to find Wu Zhenghua particularly troublesome.

"Having numbers on our side is an advantage, but we must still be cautious. Don't forget—others might not know, but we know this fellow once studied under the Maoshan sect. Though it was only the basics, his methods are truly formidable. In a one-on-one fight, I might even have to flee." Elder Hai frowned, subtly cautioning Lin Feiyu to prevent him from underestimating the enemy.

Elder Hai's Daoist arts were superior to Lin Feiyu's; I could already tell that much. After all, Elder Hai had emerged safely from Linyin Town, and even the officials dispatched from the city had to bring him along when investigating Little Righteous Village. His prowess was evident.

A misty drizzle continued to fall without cease. About a kilometer or two past the manor, the trees gradually grew denser. As the yin energy in the forest rose, Zhao Qian began to shiver slightly from the cold. I took off my outer jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

Zhao Qian looked at me with a flushed face and seemed about to offer words of gratitude when Elder Hai spoke up to warn us: "We've entered the mountain. Everyone must be careful, and whatever happens shortly, do not panic."

"How do Xuanmen practitioners handle this sort of person?" I asked curiously. To be honest, I had plenty of experience fighting ghosts, but my experience in dueling practitioners was practically zero.

So here we were, heading up into the mountain. There had to be an objective, right? We couldn't just charge up there waving swords, spears, and clubs and start hacking away blindly. Killing people was a crime, after all! And Lin Feiyu was a police officer, to boot!

Lin Feiyu thought for a moment and said, "Usually, everyone just uses whatever methods they excel at..."

I was stunned upon hearing this. What did "using whatever methods they excel at" even mean?

Elder Hai chuckled. Seeing my incomprehension, he said, "Little Lin didn't make it clear? Then just wait and see for yourself. You don't need to make a move; our generation's matters will be settled by our generation. You youngsters just need to watch."