“Mm!” Yiyi nodded. “There was this strange odor on her, but Yiyi wasn’t able to identify it.”
“It was the air of death,” Tang Jie replied. “That maid is dead.”
“Dead?” Yiyi was aghast. “So you’re saying that person’s a ghost?”
“Mm, 80% sure.” Tang Jie sternly nodded. “As a Basking Moon student, since I’ve noticed a haunting ghost, I can’t just sit back and do nothing.”
Ghosts were lingering spirits. When living things died and a part of their consciousness refused to vanish, a sliver of their soul would attach itself to spiritual energy, giving birth to a ghost that would wander the world.
Unlike fiends and sprites, ghosts had no bodies and found it difficult to cultivate. Thus, they often attached themselves to living creatures, absorbing their Yang energy and eating their flesh and blood.
But as ghosts were born from the consciousnesses of the deceased, they were born weak yet intelligent, completely different from fiends. They knew that there were many cultivators among humans and normally wouldn’t attach themselves to humans, preferring livestock or wild beasts.
Yet since humans were intelligent creatures, they were of greatest benefit to ghosts. Thus, there were always a few ghosts bold enough to desire the human body.
This ghost had attached itself to a human and taken their life. It was clearly one of the bolder sort.
Did it really think it could escape the eyes of a cultivator?
There had been a lecture specifically on how to identify the symptoms of someone being haunted by a ghost. Tang Jie was the top student of his year, so he had naturally been able to tell that something was wrong at a glance.
“Alright!” Yiyi clapped her hands. “Let’s have some fun and catch a ghost!”
“What’s so fun about it? If we don’t do this properly, someone might die,” Tang Jie said, flicking her forehead.
Yiyi blinked her large and bright eyes. “Is that ghost very powerful?”
“It’s not that powerful, but ghosts are born from strong wills that refuse to be extinguished and cling to spiritual energy, thus gaining intelligence. Even ignorant beings will become intelligent in this way, and so they are born naturally devious. You can’t compare them to fiends and sprites. If you press it too hard, it can do anything. For example, it’s common for ghosts to threaten the lives of the innocent. When removing a ghost, we can’t harm others, so we can’t recklessly charge in for fear that we might end up hurting those people.”
This ghost even knew to take hostages? Yiyi was flabbergasted. “So what do we do?”
Tang Jie chuckled. “There’s no rush. I was staring at her so hard that if this ghost is smart, it must know that it’s been exposed. It’s probably going to escape, so we just need to wait for it to escape before making our move.”
“I get it now,” Yiyi said, enlightened. It turned out that Tang Jie had intentionally been trying to scare out the snake just now.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before a shout came from inside the monastery: “Shiqin, Shiqin, what’s wrong?”
A clamor erupted within the monastery.
Upon hearing the shouting, Tang Jie rushed inside. He saw that family in the monastery, gathered around the supine figure of the maid, who was thoroughly dead.
Tang Jie faintly smiled. “Success.”
That ghost had already taken fright and fled. Without the ghost possessing her, the dead maid had naturally collapsed.
Tang Jie formed a spell and began to search his surroundings for spiritual energy pulses to find that hidden ghost.
He had learned this observation technique from Gu Changqing. Though it wasn’t some powerful combat spell art, it was extremely practical and perfect for finding this ghost.
The moment he looked around, he really did sense a spiritual energy pulse moving to the back of the monastery. It was a congregation of Yin energy, lacking in substance. This was a clear sign of a ghostly energy pulse.
Tang Jie chuckled and said to Yiyi, “You stay here in case that wicked ghost comes back.”
He began to walk to the back of the monastery.
At the back of the monastery was a run-down courtyard that was overgrown with weeds, like it had been ages since someone had last taken care of the place. There was only a stone table and two stone stools.
Tang Jie entered the courtyard and looked around. He set his eyes on a sleeping black cat and smiled. “What? Now you know to possess a beast?”
The black cat opened its green eyes and hissed.
Tang Jie shook his head. “Still acting? You’ve clearly left your body, but you’re still hanging around? You’re still thinking about a comeback? But you’re rather unlucky to run into me today.”
The black cat hissed and then laughed like a human. “A puny little Spirit Lake Tier dares to speak so boldly? If you know what’s good for you, you should back away now, or else I’ll suck you dry of Yang energy!”
A ball of light formed on Tang Jie’s fingertip. “Let’s test it out.”
Without another word, he fired an Energy Needle at the black cat.
The black cat howled and jumped, clawing at Tang Jie’s face, the five claws whooshing through the air.
Tang Jie chuckled and let the cat scratch his face, which didn’t even manage to draw blood. He quickly extended his left hand and grabbed for the cat’s throat.
This was someone else’s backyard, so Tang Jie didn’t want to make too much noise. Thus, he decided to end the battle quickly. Ghosts didn’t have any form and could only use the power of their host. With how strong his body was, it wouldn’t matter even if the cat was ten times stronger.
After clawing at Tang Jie’s face, the black cat turned around, dodging Tang Jie’s hand and shooting back into the monastery.
Tang Jie was taken aback, immediately knowing that this was bad. Sure enough, this ghost wasn’t willing to leave the monastery because it planned to take people hostage.
Tang Jie flicked his fingers, and several needles flew out and struck the black cat.
The black cat staggered a little, but with a shriek, it charged forward. As a ghost, it could control the host body. So long as it could still move, it could make the body move even if the head were cut off.
Tang Jie knew that he couldn’t let it run into the monastery, or else there would be casualties. Activating the Violet Lightning Lunge, he shot forward and made to grab the black cat by the neck.
The ghost hadn’t expected Tang Jie to be so fast at the Spirit Lake Tier, so it yelped in surprise, unable to dodge.
At this moment, a young Daoist boy walked out. Seeing Tang Jie lunging at the black cat, he froze.
The ghost was delighted and lunged at the boy.
Tang Jie knew that this wasn’t good and shouted, “Hah!”
This roar was like a sound wave, causing the ghost to see stars and momentarily freeze. While it ran into the Daoist boy, it didn’t have time to strike as Tang Jie grabbed it by the neck. To his surprise, the ghost twisted the black cat’s body, allowing the body to break free while leaving Tang Jie with a handful of fur.
The ghost ran onto the roof beams and shrieked, “You’re not Spirit Lake Tier!”
A normal Spirit Lake Tier would never be able to make such a soul-shaking shout.
Tang Jie coldly laughed. “But I am Spirit Lake Tier!”
He chased the ghost onto the beams, preventing the ghost from rushing into the monastery’s main hall.
But that shout of his had alarmed many tourists, and they began to walk to the back to see what was happening. They saw a man and a cat flying along the ceiling and the walls and were dumbfounded.
The ghost saw a chance and rushed down, lunging at that noble young lady.
It appeared that the young lady wouldn’t be able to dodge in time, at which point a human figure rushed out and crashed into the black cat. It was none other than Yiyi.
The ghost and sprite collided and bounced away from each other, after which Tang Jie charged in, a golden light appearing in his hand that stabbed through the black cat’s head.
The ghost knew that it had completely lost its chance. With a howl, a human figure erupted from the cat’s body, misty and vague. But it was only half a body, the face blue and covered in blood, fangs protruding from its mouth.
Everyone screamed in fear.
“So it’s the ghost of someone who was chopped in half,” Tang Jie sneered.
A ghost’s form would usually be connected to their life, and most of them would keep the form they had when they died.
As the lower half of this ghost was missing, it had clearly been cut in half at the waist. Being chopped in half was a form of torture used in Sageheart and it meant that this person was probably some wicked character in life to have received this treatment. After their death, their resentment had lingered and become this ruthless ghost.
Once the ghost took its original form, it shrieked at Tang Jie. This time, its shriek took the form of a ball of azure light that flew at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie grunted and let the ball of light strike him as he thrust his palm in the direction of the ghost.
There was no spell art in this thrust, which served only to disrupt the spiritual energy in the area.
As ghosts had no original body and were born by some will attaching itself to spiritual energy, ordinary methods were no good against them. On the contrary, methods that could disrupt spiritual energy dealt the most damage to them. But this would only be effective against minor ghosts. A ghost that had cultivated ghost essence would require proper spell arts to deal with.
As Tang Jie thrust out his palm, a wave of spiritual energy swept out, and the waist-severed ghost immediately turned blurry, scattering and recondensing. It appeared like a reflection on the surface of water.
This was no small wound for the ghost. Frightened, it did not dare to attack again and fled into the distance.
This time, it was really running.
“Want to run?” Tang Jie grunted, preparing to pursue.
Someone furiously roared, “A puny ghost dares to try and show off? Die!”
An azure light emerged from the monastery, shooting toward the fleeing ghost.
The azure light struck the ghost and exploded in a puff of smoke. The ghost wailed, but it moved down the mountain even more nimbly, picking up speed.
Tang Jie hastily ran off in pursuit. Only now did he notice that there was someone next to him: the abbot of White Rose Cloud Monastery, a long-bearded, middle-aged man wearing a Daoist hat. To Tang Jie’s surprise, this man was a cultivator, and he had been the one to unleash that azure light.
As they pursued the ghost, the abbot said, “Young Master, we owe much to your sharp eyes. I did not expect a ghost to appear among Secretary Li’s family. If not for Young Master, the Li Clan would have experienced a calamity in the near future.”
“I just happened to notice in the passing. I did not think that the venerable abbot would also be a cultivator.”
“Not at all, not at all. I’ve only learned a few small tricks. Right, this lowly Daoist is known as Daoist Fuyu.”
“Basking Moon Student, Tang Jie. I pay respects to Abbot Fuyu,” Tang Jie courteously replied.
He was in no mood to chat with this Daoist, continuing to pursue the ghost from the summit to the midway point of the mountain. He saw the ghost drift into a forest of ducktail flowers.
Tang Jie pursued like a bolt of lightning. Just when he was about to end this ghost once and for all, he heard a girl gasp, “Why is there a ghost running around the mountain?”
Another figure soon appeared—that of a girl wearing a white dress.
She was a refined and attractive figure, possessing a slender waist, a graceful figure, eyebrows like black willow branches, and eyes like rippling pools of water. At her waist was a string of bells that jangled as her dress swayed in the air.