Chapter Thirty-Seven: Becoming Stronger

  When he said that, Su Tong suddenly understood everything. He must have been out of his body when he woke up, but at the time, he didn't notice it, so he didn't pay attention to his surroundings. As a result, he didn't discover that there was a female ghost lurking beside him, waiting for an opportunity to possess his body. At that moment, Su Tong's mind was preoccupied with finding someone to ask about Tang Xiao's safety, which gave the female ghost a chance to take advantage of him.

  Su Tong wanted to ask about Tang Ao's current physical condition, but he thought better of it. After all, there were more pressing matters at hand. The fact that he could temporarily subdue the female ghost suggested that his spirit was still quite good, and at least indicated that his body was not seriously injured. As for what had happened in the abandoned house earlier, it could wait until the current trouble was resolved before asking about it.

  She cast her gaze towards the female ghost who was still struggling, and Tang Ao followed her line of sight. From her expression, he understood what she meant, so he stood up and spoke to the female ghost: "You don't have to waste your energy, I won't let you go, you absolutely can't escape. I think you were quite young when you died, and you've been wandering around the hospital for many years, probably with unfinished business on your mind after a sudden death. But you've lingered for so long, you must have suffered a lot too, it's time to let go. Look at yourself, because you've had evil thoughts about other people's bodies, you've accumulated a lot of yin energy. If you don't stop soon, the yin energy will intensify and turn you into a fierce ghost, and in the end, you'll never be able to transcend. Do you really want to end up like that?"

  "It's easy to say, but if I could reincarnate, I would have gone already," the female ghost said with a tragic and desperate expression. "We secretly dated back then, and entrusted everything to others, but somehow, things got exposed, and everyone in school knew what we had done. The school punished us, our families wanted us to transfer schools, I couldn't bear to leave him, so I told him that since we were already disgraced, let's just die together and be done with it. If there's an afterlife, we can stay together forever, and no one will be able to separate us. He agreed, and we took medicine together in school. When I woke up again, I was in the hospital, covered in white sheets. There was another old lady who had just died, she told me to go with her, saying it was the ghost officer's orders. But I couldn't leave, I said my boyfriend hadn't come yet, and we promised to go together. The old lady advised me, but I didn't listen, so she told me how to avoid the ghost officer. If I could avoid them, I should wait for my boyfriend, maybe he was still being rescued, and hadn't died yet. So I followed the old lady's method and kept hiding from the ghost officer. But no matter how long I waited, he never came. It wasn't until later that I found out, he didn't die at all. After I took the medicine, he got scared and ran away by himself, without even calling an ambulance for me."

  "You know you can't wait for him anymore, why don't you just leave?" Su Tong asked.

  The female ghost glared at her, unsure whether she was resentful that her own plan had been foiled or annoyed that she had spoken without common sense: "If I could, I would have left long ago, but I missed that opportunity. If the ghost officers discover me and find out that I deliberately avoided them, they'll catch me and I'll fall into the animal realm! In my previous life, I didn't live enough or understand enough. I want to continue being human in my next life, and I still want to experience the love that I didn't get to enjoy in this life. I want to find a man who truly loves me and doesn't waste my affections. If I fall into the animal realm, all of this will be hopeless! So I can only keep hiding. My only way to become human again is to find an ownerless body with unfinished yang energy and attach myself to it. I originally thought I could finally fulfill my wish, but in the end, it turned out like this. Now, I don't have any hope, so do whatever you want with me."

  As she spoke, she closed her eyes, turned her face away, and assumed an air of readiness to sacrifice herself generously.

  "Who told you that if you miss that moment, you'll be taken away by the ghostly envoys and fall into the animal realm?" Tang Ao furrowed his brow, asking with a hint of skepticism.

  "It was a few old ghosts in the hospital, they have been hiding in the hospital for many years, that's what they told me, and they also taught me how to possess spirits and borrow corpses to return to life." The female ghost replied.

  Tang Ao let out a long sigh and said to Su Tong beside him, "There are people who like to do things that harm others but not themselves when they're alive, and after they die, they'll become this kind of ghost. I read a book before that described it very accurately - there are as many kinds of ghosts in the underworld as there are kinds of people in the world."

  "What do you mean? Are you saying I was deceived? I wouldn't have fallen into the animal realm back then, and I won't now either? Can I rush into reincarnation whenever I want?" Tang Ao's words were directed at Su Tong, but the bound female ghost could also hear them clearly, her face revealing surprise as she blurted out.

  Tang Ao shook his head: "You used to be able to rush into reincarnation and become a human at any time, but before becoming a human again, you might need to pay a price for Vini's previous escape. However, now that you want to normally enter the cycle of reincarnation, it's probably not possible anymore. I warned you earlier that because you had evil thoughts and possessed a body that didn't belong to you, your body has been tainted with evil energy. If you want to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation, you must first eliminate the evil energy from your body. If you let the evil energy grow unchecked, not only will you be unable to become human again, but even becoming an animal might be impossible for you. The final result of having too much evil energy is falling into the devil's path, and the ultimate outcome is that your soul will scatter."

  The female ghost's expression also became extremely tense upon hearing this, she bit her lip and temporarily forgot about the idea of struggling to break free from Tang Yao's curse. She pondered alone for half a day before finally speaking again: "Then how can I resolve my resentment? I don't want to lose my soul, I really want to start anew! I was deceived in the past, that's why I was confused for a moment. Give me an opportunity, point me in the right direction, and I will never forget your great kindness in this life... no, in the next life! From now on, I won't listen to others' temptations and do bad things again! Please, please help me think of a way! You can control me, so you must have a way to resolve my resentment!"

  "I won't help you dispel the evil spirit, but I can give you advice. However, I don't think there's any reason for me to help you. If it weren't for my timely discovery, if it weren't for the fact that I have a pair of yin-yang eyes and some spiritual power, and if I couldn't subdue you, do you think you would be as obedient as you are now, no longer harming people?" Tang Ao looked at the female ghost with an icy gaze, his tone extremely cold and stern.

  After saying that, he reached out to help Su Tong up from beside him, preparing to take her to the study next door, leaving the female ghost alone in the living room. The female ghost probably didn't expect him to refuse her without hesitation, and she was even more furious because of his straightforward rejection. Her previous pleading seemed to have turned into humiliation, and she angrily shouted at Tang Xiao's back: "Don't pretend to be a good person here! You're not an original product either! You just used some kind of evil magic trick!"

  Tang Ao listened with annoyance, swiftly swept the void with a stroke, then turned around and made a pushing palm gesture towards the female ghost. The female ghost still opened and closed her mouth, but seemed to be muted, and in an instant, there was no movement.

  The female ghost struggled and screamed in desperation, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break free from the invisible restraints. No matter how hard she tried to let out a blood-curdling scream, it was all in vain. Tang Ao supported Su Tong as they walked into the study, and then heavily closed the door behind them, leaving not even a sliver of space.

  "That female ghost..." Su Tongsheng was afraid that the female ghost would hear her voice, so she almost lowered her voice to just a faint breath, "Are you going to leave her in the living room?"

  "Of course not," Tang Ao smiled and shook his head, "you don't have to be so tense, I not only sealed her voice but also her hearing, she can't hear us talking now. What I said is true, the evil energy on her body is indeed not something I can help resolve, I'm not good at resolving evil energies, I've just read some books related to this, so I have a general concept. The evil energy on that female ghost's body wasn't severe enough to be irredeemable, she could solve it herself, and I could guide her, but I think if I let her off easily, it wouldn't be enough for her to learn a lesson. What if during the process of resolving the evil energy on her own, she had some bad thoughts again? I don't have time to follow her around and supervise her all the time. In comparison, the one in your house, and the one at Changqing Mountain's abandoned mansion, are the truly formidable ones."

  Su Tong nodded, she thought Tang Ao's smile seemed to have a hint of worry and anxiety, but that worry and anxiety didn't seem to be related to the abandoned house or the baby spirit in her own home, it was more like he was secretly worried about something. So she asked again: "What's wrong? Are you troubled by something?"

  "I was just thinking, why did that female ghost say I'm not an 'original' either?" Tang Ao didn't evade Su Tong's question and furrowed his brow in distress.

  Su Tong didn't take this as a big deal: "Maybe she thought you didn't want to help her, so she deliberately said that to give you trouble. Don't mind it, the more you mind, the more you're letting her get away with it. This is typical of someone who won't bite but makes you feel uncomfortable. By the way, I haven't asked you yet, how did you come out of the abandoned house later? Is there anything wrong with your body? I don't know if it's my illusion, but why do I think that after coming out of the abandoned house, you seem... not only didn't suffer any bad effects, but instead became even stronger?"