Chapter Eleven: Lao Qian's Strange Change

  The sound is like a person's heartbeat, panting as if a traveler on a long journey was tired of rushing. We hurry when we are quick, and slow down when we are slow.

  I clearly heard it, and I think Qing Shan Daozhang also heard it. I suddenly wanted to turn my head, but was pulled back by Daozhang.

  The Taoist priest's expression suddenly turned solemn, and I knew that in this strange place, it was really impossible to predict what unexpected things might happen.

  "The sky will soon be bright, and white bones will turn to smoke. Do you still insist on going?" The Taoist priest suddenly said in a loud voice, yet he didn't turn around or stop walking.

  The willows around me swayed their branches, and there were bursts of dark wind rising. Compared to when I was exploring the spirit just now, this gust of wind is even stronger and more concentrated. It blew my neck and back into a chill, and my whole heart was tied up. If it weren't for Qing Shan Dao Zhang by my side, I would have been really scared out of my wits.

  I grasped the Daoist's hand that was pulling me and wouldn't let me turn around, trembling as I said: "Daoist, there's no need to doubt anymore, it must be those little ghosts from Wuying Gate who have come to cause trouble. Quickly use your peach wood sword to get rid of these scoundrels!"

  "Unacceptable," the Taoist master said in a low voice. "My teacher, the True Person of Qingcheng, taught me the Way of Emotion, which is divided into three types: the Way of Eradicating Emotions, the Way of Transcending Emotions, and the Way of Having Emotions. Listen carefully to every word I say, and you will understand later.

  The Way of Eradicating Emotions is what you commonly see in the world, often using methods to eliminate evil spirits and ghosts. For example, if a house has an unusual object, or if there's a spirit wandering around, or if the layout of the tomb is not correct, or if the door is not open, or if there's a pillar of incense in front of the door, it can lead to the entire family being wiped out. The result of such actions is to eliminate the evil spirits and bring peace to the world of the living. This isn't entirely wrong, as it ultimately brings stability to humanity.

  However, the underworld is also a realm with its own joys and sorrows, and there are three levels of existence within it. Those who frequently move between the underworld and the world of the living are often just minor spirits, each with their own reasons for doing so. But there's one thing in common: they're all being forced to do so out of desperation, just like us humans when we're driven to extremes. They also have grievances, but if you eliminate them all, it may bring peace to the world of the living, but it's too harsh on the underworld.

  This is where the Way of Transcending Emotions comes in – transforming half-spirits into full spirits, and giving them a stable place to reside. Who would still want to wander aimlessly? And then there's the Way of Having Emotions, which not only transcends but also resolves grievances, transforming spirits into peaceful beings. This is the highest realm of our Taoist teachings.

  My teacher treated Nanmanzi in this way, and at first, I didn't understand. But as I followed my teacher and practiced for a long time, I slowly came to comprehend this principle: killing is not the goal; warmth and harmony are the ultimate destination."

  When the Daoist priest finished speaking, I gradually came to a realization in my heart.

  "You were the one who led me to Li Yan, I can understand. At that time when I made my move, you protected her with your life, and it further confirmed that you are the person I was looking for. It seems everything has its cause and effect. It appears that Daozhang has been observing me all along."

  "At this time, we have just finished reporting the situation in the Yin realm, and the qi and blood in our bodies have not fully recovered. If we were to go again now, it would be easy to mistakenly stir up evil spirits, attracting a large number of small demons to gather at the shore, which would disturb the people of the world and bring great calamity upon you and me." The Daoist priest's heavy voice weighed on my heart.

  I nodded and followed closely as Daozhang floated along.

  Suddenly, a faint sobbing sound was heard, similar to Li Yan's voice at first, but weaker and more mournful. Finally remembered, damn it, I'm all about Li Yan in my heart and mind, this crying sound is clearly the same as the one I heard when I went to pay respects earlier.

  As the crying sound rose, there were again strange noises around, as if responding and intimidating.

  "The way is clear, all roads have a reason, in the dark there is no door but there are consequences. Often thinking of the past, the heavens are heavy with the Tao, and below the nine abysses, no one pities." The Daoist murmured to himself for a while, then suddenly spoke out loud, "I know who you are. This time, I won't be able to save you. You will only stop when you let go of the person you're attached to."

  The copper bell in my bosom suddenly rang out, and I thought there was another little ghost approaching, but at this time I was not afraid, the Taoist priest was here.

  The Taoist priest's words fell, but a faint voice came through, "I can exorcise the possessed person, who can exorcise me? I will turn into white bones and dissipate into smoke, if you don't help me cross over, I'll leave on my own."

  "Threefold path of bitterness and hardship, separated by water and cut off from the world, with emotions that cannot be expressed. Having entered through a side door, why bother to cross Naihe Bridge again?" The Taoist priest spoke as he walked, without stopping his pace.

  "I don't know what door or phase I'm related to, I cultivate and practice to find the path, everyone says I'm walking the wrong road, but it's actually confusing me about what kind of person I am." The gloomy voice was full of indignation. It seems like there's some hidden situation, this guy took a shortcut, but was discovered by the person in charge above him and received punishment, now he wants to find the Daoist master to resolve it.

  "Our door is the orthodox gate, you still insist on going your own way. Cultivation is originally bitter, where can you find a shortcut? You don't understand the cause of the orchid, it's hard to achieve the right result. The orthodox spirit won't open up, and evil desires will oppress your body. Listening to your words and observing your actions, you still refuse to let go of the person whose body you're borrowing. I'm afraid I won't be able to save you. You'd better leave on your own. If you continue to stubbornly follow me, in the east, you'll see red, white bones will turn to smoke, not to mention ruining the true body of the person whose body you're borrowing. Your vengeful spirit will fall into the Ten Thousand Cliff Valley again, and I won't be able to save you either." The Taoist's tone was firm.

  "Same ruthless heart, same unfeeling affection. You say there is a way of emotions, I see an unfeeling body." A strange cry rose up, the sound of "yi ya" faded away, and the surrounding willow branches stopped, with no other unusual sounds.

  There was no more movement behind him, and Dao Chang's face looked very unpleasant.

  "Is there another monster causing trouble? Doesn't this guy listen to the Taoist priest's words? I've figured it out, you want to help it cross over, but it insists on going its own way. A yin ghost like this will only cause chaos, can we eliminate it?"

  The Taoist said: "One thought one machine, one fate is certain, the Yin world alternates, cannot be reckless, let's see its fate."

  I won't ask anymore. Anyway, Li Yan's matter has come to an end, and there's nothing else that worries me.

  The Daoist suddenly stopped in his tracks, thought for a moment, and said to me: "At this time, both you and I are tired. I'll pass on a symbol to you, which will be useful later. This trip to explore the spirit, I'm worried that Nan Village is in trouble, so I must hurry back. The matter of making up for the lost soul can be handled now."

  I hadn't quite understood yet, and suddenly I sat down on the ground, Da Zhang stroked my head with his palm, and a warm air entered my body, which was very comfortable.

  The east is getting brighter, and the Taoist priest puts away his hands.

  He pulled out a small yellow flag from his bosom and said to me, "Keep this token well. When you are in trouble, ring the copper bell to call for me."

  She finished speaking and floated away, leaving me stunned. But in these days, I have also been calm and unhurried.

  Back to the residence, drive directly to work, anyway can't do anything else. At work, thinking about discussing with Old Qian about entering Nancun, these days have been busy, haven't had time to take care of it, and Old Qian hasn't urged either. In the past, there was a situation where I went in late and rushed to work so much that people wanted to vomit. This time, so many strange things happened again, if the main event is not done well, the rice bowl will be smashed.

  I arrived at the company, but was told that Old Qian had taken a leave of absence. I said, "But he was fine just yesterday, what's with the sudden leave today?" The HR director stared at me with his eerie little eyes and said, "Yes, he was indeed fine yesterday, it's just that he took leave today!"

  I'm so fed up, are all HR personnel in the world that gloomy and incomprehensible? What they say is always more meaningless than talking to a ghost. They're ambiguous, you think they've said something, but you can't understand what it means. You think they haven't said anything, but they've clearly spoken a whole paragraph with their mouth opening and closing. Screw it, I don't want to think about it anymore. At the end of the year, a performance report can make many people pack up and leave. Maybe the one who was fired yesterday was still giving a grand speech about new year plans at the company's annual meeting, and this gloomy HR person might have even been leading the applause.

  Never mind him. Lao Qian is both my direct supervisor and a good friend of mine, so I have to go see him.

  Lao Qian's place is far from the company, it's one of the older apartments. Several times we had a night out, all at Lao Qian's place. Lao Qian also came from a poor background, his family had been through several generations to produce a university graduate like him. Originally, they had arranged for him to marry a girl from their hometown, and Lao Qian was very close to her, treating his parents as if they were her own. Honestly, there's no tragic love story here, it's just that the girl really cared about Lao Qian and he was loyal to her, not like some people who change after they make it big. But then came that huge flood in '98 (you know what I'm talking about, forgive me for not saying it out loud), and the girl sacrificed herself to save Lao Qian's mother, it even made the news. Lao Qian was devastated. After that, he dated a few girls, but every time he went back home, they would run away the next day, all because they loved Lao Qian and the money his job brought in, but not the mess he dragged along with him. Lao Qian once said angrily, "Damn it, I'm also someone's son, how can my life be a mess? Screw that!" So, after that, the "damn" remained, but the girlfriend was gone, and now Lao Qian is still single.

  Walked to Lao Qian's door, just about to bang on the door. Yeah, I've always banged on his door whenever I came over, never knocked.

  Suddenly, I heard a loud noise coming from inside, like something was crashing around. I thought to myself, "This guy must be playing Japanese action games live at home." As soon as I approached the door, the sound stopped. I took a few steps back and looked at the door suspiciously, but then it started again, and it really was eerie.

  Regardless of everything, he slammed the door shut. There was no sound from inside the door, and after a while, a dragging sound approached the door, "Who is it?"

  Is that Old Qian's voice? It sounds like Old Qian's voice, but somehow it doesn't sound quite right. Anyway, at first glance, it seems to be Old Qian's voice, but upon closer inspection, there appears to be some other sound mixed in with Old Qian's voice.

  "It's me, Cao, early in the morning, I'm not going to work and playing at home!" I said loudly.

  The anti-theft door was suddenly opened, and I was so startled that I retreated several steps.

  My god, is this still Old Qian? His hair was disheveled, his clothes were askew, and to make matters worse, his entire face was a dark mess, but his mouth was an unusually bright red, like a woman who had applied lipstick. The room was in complete disarray, with chairs overturned and tables on their sides, and there were all sorts of unidentifiable foods scattered everywhere, red, yellow, black, and green, covering the floor and the tables.

  I walked in with a mixture of surprise and doubt, Old Qian ignored me, turned around and walked inside by himself, I closed the door.

  As the door slammed shut, my heart leapt to my throat. Oh my god, Old Qian, this guy who normally wore a suit and tie, was now on all fours on the ground, frantically grabbing at food, stuffing his mouth with it, and making strange "wuuu" noises from his throat.

  And the copper bell in my bosom is ringing loudly at this moment, it's not good, something bad is going to happen.

  I took a step forward and pulled Old Qian up with one hand. Suddenly, he looked into my eyes, which were a bright green. Good heavens, was he possessed by a ghost?

  Lao Qian was still wailing and struggling to grab food from the ground. I shouted: "Lao Qian, what's wrong?!"

  "I'm starving, let me eat quickly." Old Qian's voice suddenly became very coarse, his eyes slowly turned bloodshot, and the hand I was holding onto gradually turned pale and icy cold.

  My goodness! I let out a loud cry and dropped everything. Suddenly, the whole house felt eerie and strange, as if there was a faint evil spirit lurking somewhere, making my heart stand on end.