Chapter 22: The Ghost Moves Quietly

  This night I tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. By midnight, I finally dozed off a bit, but then had a nightmare that Xiaoxue encountered bad people. No matter how hard I ran, I couldn't catch up, and eventually woke up again. My mind was racing with worries, which kept accumulating. Facing the current situation, I didn't have any good solutions. Maybe I could use some special means to try and get out? Since I couldn't sleep anyway, I got up and flipped through that book of secret spells. Although most of it was incomprehensible, I gained a bit of understanding about the Xuan Guang spell and the Zhao Hun spell that Master had used before. I also understood one principle: all magic comes from Dao power, or what's commonly known as Fa Li (mystical energy). Without cultivating Dao Fa, all spells are just illusions. This made me feel very depressed. I flipped through the Golden Elixir Great Way again, and while it seemed like I understood some of it, I actually only grasped one principle: whether cultivating Dao Fa or magic, you need to focus your mind and calm your spirit. In other words, your heart needs to be steady and down-to-earth. Someone as anxious and scattered as me isn't in a good state for cultivation. As the sky was about to lighten, I couldn't take it anymore.

  When the sky brightened, I was already very spiritless. The master knew that I hadn't slept all night, but didn't say anything. Breakfast also became somewhat silent, but this silence didn't last long. Yesterday, no one disturbed me for a whole day, but today, early in the morning, there were police officers coming to interrogate me again. I was taken back to that interrogation room, but by now it had been cleaned up and everything inside was new. It looked just like yesterday.

  The interrogator was replaced by another one, and that woman, who seemed to be called Mu Qing or something, the other one was a young man in his thirties, looking gloomy all over his face, every time his eyes swept over me I felt like being cut by a knife, and when he looked at me there was no good feeling at all, I'm sure this kid is also here to make trouble for me.

  "We won't beat around the bush, let's not talk about yesterday's events for now. I just want to ask you, when you reported the case and said Li Dazhu was killed in a car accident, were you trying to lead us to that female corpse? What kind of relationship did you have with her when she was alive?" The young man looked at me coldly and asked, already pinning the blame on me from the start.

  I didn't get angry or surprised, I just shook my head and smiled, looking the young man up and down, feeling quite contemptuous of him. In a light tone, I said: "Do you know that someone tried to kill me yesterday? Why don't you ask who it was that wanted to kill me? Maybe I can tell you everything I know."

  "Cut the nonsense, I just want to know what your relationship was with that female corpse before her death. You and she attended university in the same city, did you know each other? Did you ever have a relationship? Didn't you...?" The young man still wouldn't let up, trying to get me to fall into his trap. Whether I admitted it or not, he would drag me in, and once I said too much, I would definitely make a mistake, and at some point, I would be led astray. One wrong word would put me in a difficult situation.

  Now that I understand, I won't give myself trouble. In my heart, I already have a plan to deal with it. Looking at the young man, he was just sneering: "If I say there's a ghost, you'll definitely say you don't believe me. But let me tell you, there are gods watching from above, and people are being judged by heaven. Yesterday's events, you also know about them. I can kill that evil spirit, and I have ways to exorcise ghosts. If others can use ghosts to harm me, I can also use ghosts to harm people. You think I don't know what you're thinking? At this moment, no matter how unjust it is, you want to find a way to make me fall into trouble, right? It's not that easy. Maybe by tonight, an evil spirit will come looking for you. I don't believe you can handle the evil spirit. Even if you get killed by the evil spirit, do you think they'll be able to find evidence on my body? Without evidence, can you say there are ghosts? If there are ghosts, then you should believe what I'm saying. If not, then your death will be in vain. Isn't this interesting?

  As soon as I finished speaking, the young man's face changed drastically. Confronted with such words, a chill ran down his spine from within. Do you believe in ghosts? Yesterday, Zhang Jianmin's fate was laid bare. Although he has recovered today, he is still being held in the hospital, treated as a rabies patient. If I were really capable of doing that, the young man didn't dare think further. He swallowed hard and spat out phlegm, unsure how to continue questioning me. Although it's just a matter of life and death, things seemed to have already spun out of his control. And I am not an ordinary person.

  He didn't know I was just bluffing, but it was enough to scare him. However, I had no intention of letting him off the hook. Those who tried to frame me would have to pay a price. Seeing the fear in the young man's eyes, I suddenly smiled: "I know that the female corpse is Zhang Jianzhen's sister, Zhang Yanqiu, from your 110 squadron. I also know who killed her, or maybe you all secretly understand why Zhang Jianzhen was kicked out of the criminal police team to 110. There's no need for me to say more about this. Oh, and I forgot to tell you something - yesterday, I summoned Zhang Yanqiu's ghost, so I already know everything. You should understand why I won't listen to your explanations. So, it's best not to ask me these unnecessary questions again. Framing me comes with a price."

  My words made the young man's face turn pale, he was speechless with a lump in his throat, but the fear in his eyes grew more and more apparent. Without waiting for him to think much, I burst out laughing: "I forgot to tell you, actually there is a ghost right next to you now, with a green face and fangs, staring at you..."

  "Ahh!" The young man let out a loud cry of surprise, and he was really frightened. He jumped up from his chair, but he couldn't see anything. He looked around in all directions, his face filled with fear. Ghosts are terrifying to people, and even the female police officer next to him had a look of shock on her face. I was quite satisfied with this result. I shook my head: "You can't see it, or maybe I can help you see the ghost. If you do too many bad things, evil spirits will naturally come to haunt you."

  "No——" Although I couldn't see, I was afraid, but seeing it might be even more frightening. The young man refused my kindness on instinct. I knew that today's interrogation had come to an end, but there were still some things I needed to say. Taking a deep breath, I straightened my face and spoke in a low voice: "I know who killed Zhang Yanqiu and crashed into Zhu Ge. It was the son of your city's deputy secretary, Li Chengdong. He lusted after Zhang Yanqiu's beauty and killed her when he couldn't get what he wanted. On his way to dispose of the body, he crashed into my brother Zhu Ge. I also know that a key figure in this case is Wang Yan, Zhang Yanqiu's classmate. If you bring him here, I'll find a way to make him tell you the truth."

  I carefully told the two police officers everything I knew, no matter how they reacted, but I had to explain my innocence. I wanted to make an effort for my own sake. As I looked at the two of them staring blankly at me, I furrowed my brow: "This was personally told to me by Zhang Yanqiu's ghost, you can go investigate. And why aren't you taking notes? Is it that except for my confession, nothing else needs to be recorded?"

  Mu Qing let out a cry, and looked at the young man. The young man was also very embarrassed, but had already been intimidated by me. He couldn't open his mouth to speak, but I had already spoken out. Moreover, my request wasn't excessive. Normally, no matter what the suspect says, it would be recorded in the file. After hesitating for a moment, Mu Qing finally made a written record of what I said, including the young man's questions. However, those threatening words of mine were not recorded. Afterwards, the two of them sent me back to the detention center and hastily left.

  Back in the detention center, my face turned gloomy and I didn't feel any sense of victory. Instead, I became more worried. If things went on like this, maybe I wouldn't be framed, but I also couldn't get out. It can't go on like this. Sighing inwardly, I suddenly looked at Master: "Master, is there a way to stir up some ghostly activity?"

  "What's going on?" The master was confused by what I said and looked at me in puzzlement.

  He let out a wry smile, glanced outside and said: "It's just making a scene, let the police deal with it, maybe I'll be able to get out of here soon. I really can't stay any longer, I'm worried about Xiaoxue."

  The master was stunned, a strange expression appeared on his face, and after a moment, he shook his head and sighed: "Your thoughts are not what our Quanzhen Sect disciples should think about, but it's understandable this time, don't do it again."

  I nodded, finally relieved. If the police station was haunted, it would confirm what I said. Even if it couldn't be used as evidence, at least the police would believe me. Without any evidence, I should be able to get out soon. At least they wouldn't frame me casually. I had to get out as soon as possible, the longer I stayed, the more worried Xiaoxue would become, after all, she was just a girl.

  The master naturally had a way, and it was a very good idea, even I didn't think of it. That evening, the master asked Officer Sun to help prepare some things, which were actually worthless: a bundle of incense sticks, an oil lamp, a stack of yellow talismans, a brush pen, and a box of cinnabar powder, as well as water. I didn't know what the master was preparing these things for, but he mysteriously told me: "You want to make a big fuss about ghosts, don't you? Let's make some noise and borrow the yin soldiers' way, hey, this is going to be a big commotion."

  Yinbing borrowing the way? I didn't understand what it meant, so I asked Master to broaden my horizons. Master had no objection and began to explain the story of Yinbing borrowing the way while preparing - The so-called Yinbing borrowing the way is divided into two types. The first type of Yinbing borrowing the way refers to the defeat and death of ancient or modern armies, due to their grievances not dispersing, combined with the heavenly timing and geographical environment at that time. The second type of Yinbing borrowing the way often appears after a major disaster has killed many people, this kind of Yinbing refers to the ghostly officials and marshals from the underworld who come to capture souls.

  It is said that after the Tangshan earthquake, there was a case of yinbing borrowing. At that time, a regiment was ordered to rush to the disaster area, but all the cars in the regiment suddenly broke down halfway, and no reason could be found. Soon, another strange order was received: everyone got on the car, not allowed to look outside the car shed. However, someone couldn't help but look out and saw that there were ghostly soldiers escorting hundreds of horse-drawn carriages passing by, all of which were filled with human bones, as well as a large number of patients being transported. After this yinbing team passed by, all the cars could start again. Later statistics showed that more than 200,000 people died in the Tangshan earthquake.