Chapter 2: Yuan Dao Crosses Yang

  This wallet with its bright orange glow has been making me restless all morning.

  My first reaction was to call the police. But as soon as this thought occurred, a strange grinding sound echoed in my mind. My hand, which had been reaching for the phone, suddenly withdrew and I instinctively covered my head with both hands. To my surprise, the grinding sound slowly faded away into the distance.

  "Good heavens, could it be that someone has been spying on my thoughts? As soon as I had this thought, I turned pale and lowered my head to look around. Everything was as usual. But over there, my supervisor Old Qian was also looking at me with a strange gaze. Suddenly, I felt that Old Qian's eyes were also flashing with an inexplicable hint of mystery."

  This large office has only two people, me and Old Qian. It's a forbidden place for the company, a financial hub. The other two interns have no right to step into this house at all. Originally, according to the company's treatment, I and Old Qian should each have a small single room, but the accounting and cashier are separate, which is indeed very inconvenient for work. So, this large room serves as my and Old Qian's office, one person per corner.

  Lao Qian spoke up, "What's wrong, sneaking around like a thief? You must have had a guilty conscience after stealing last night."

  It's normal. I let out a sigh of relief and laughed: "What a joke, got robbed of my pants."

  Lao Qian's eyes were filled with doubt. I continued: "Don't worry, I have a suitable introduction."

  Lao Qian snorted and said: "These days, parting and reuniting are just like farting, got it? I'll pay attention, don't let you get sick from holding it in."

  Lao Qian lowered his head and busied himself. I wanted to laugh but couldn't, staring at this eerie wallet of his. In our line of work, money is the lifeblood of a company, and after a long time, everyone gets occupational disease - speaking little, and only saying things that are safe, never digging deeper.

  "Open it and see." Suddenly, a red shadow flashed outside the window, and I clearly heard a sharp cry of "Ah" that seemed to resonate in my heart. My heart tightened, and the red shadow looked like a bat with blood-red eyes staring at me. I suddenly got up and walked towards the window, but it was gone. Oh no, I'm on the 8th floor.

  Sneaking a peek at Old Qian on the other side, he's still lowering his head and busy with something. Is it possible that all these scenes are just my own imagination?

  Whatever, I nervously opened the orange-red wallet. Inside was a photo, a receipt, and about 300 yuan. The photo startled me, it was an old black-and-white photo that's rarely seen these days. The person in the photo could be clearly seen, it was the woman in red, but now she seemed to be floating in a black-and-white frame, giving off a nostalgic feel. But then, in a daze, the woman's eyes seemed to wink at me, scaring me so much that I dropped the wallet and jumped to the side.

  The movement caught Old Qian's attention, I dryly smiled and sat back down. The receipt slipped out. On it was written: Li Yan, water and electricity fee 147 yuan, also leaving a mobile phone number, presumably for the property to contact the owner, no need to say, this is Liu Yan's mobile phone number.

  Damn it, this broken wallet is driving me crazy!

  Never mind, report to the police first, whether you live or die, just be quick about it.

  Just as I was about to pick up the phone on the table, it suddenly rang. When I looked at the display, it was the same number as the receipt. I could clearly feel my face shrinking into a ball. It wasn't the phone call that scared me, but rather my own thoughts. No matter what idea popped up, it seemed like someone was standing in my brain, watching everything clearly. Before I even made a move, they had already taken action. Suddenly, I felt a chill run down my leg from the cuff of my pants to my heart, and my lower back felt icy cold.

  "At midnight 12 o'clock, the wallet was delivered to where I got off. The familiar voice that floated into my heart, just wanted to ask something, but on the phone it was already a rustling sound, this is not a busy tone."

  "Hey, no signal over here!" Old Qian called out, "Li Xin, do you still have a signal on your side?"

  I was startled and quickly closed my phone, looking at the computer, saying "there is".

  Old Qian muttered: "Damn it, now there's another one, never mind, you're busy."

  Something strange is brewing. I couldn't work anymore, so I made up an excuse and told Old Qian that something was going on at home and I wouldn't be coming in today. Old Qian responded with a simple "oh", we've been partners for years, our understanding is unspoken, and when one of us has something going on, we always take care of each other like this.

  Back to my rental house. Yu Zhen's things have been cleaned up, as if this whole thing never existed. I think it's for the better, life should be like a computer, timely cleaning and rebooting makes it run more smoothly.

  Suddenly, another red shadow floated outside the window, and the sound of grinding knives echoed in my mind again. It was still that bat, its blood-red eyes staring at me as before.

  I really can't take it anymore. My girlfriend cheated on me to find her high-end, and I was almost driven to collapse by this red-dressed woman named Li Yan.

  I rushed to the window, yanked it open with a whoosh, and outside there was only the howling wind, nothing else. I faced out the window, shouting at the top of my lungs: "Damn your mother, are you human or ghost? Your grandma's... I've lost everything, even my poor bones have been reduced to almost nothing. You bastard, come out if you dare, I'll take care of you." The screeching sound in my head made me helpless once again, and tears streamed down my face. Suddenly, I felt that my life had truly failed - the woman was gone, and I was on the verge of going crazy.

  "What's all this commotion? Your true energy is exhausted and your defenses are broken. You're beyond salvation!" A hoarse voice sounded from behind me.

  I suddenly turned my head and jumped up in shock. When did an old man appear in my room, his chin sporting a stiff goat-like beard that didn't move at all? Good heavens, it was the same old man who had been run over by a car in front of me this morning!

  The old man didn't seem to notice my surprise, and as I turned around, he took a swift step forward. A yellow paper with a talisman drawn on it slapped onto my forehead with a loud "pa" sound. The scene from the TV was unfolding in real life, and instinctively, I tried to peel off the talisman with my hand, but the old man shouted at me to stop.

  "Lock your qi and don't move rashly, you've already been possessed by an evil spirit, a yin ghost has crossed over to the yang." The old man's eyes gleamed brightly, but I was shocked and lost all color.

  The buzzing in my head suddenly disappeared.

  I'm completely numb and my brain can't think straight.

  The old man helped me sit down and said, "One thought, one idea, as soon as you think of it, your intention falls. You have too much killing intent, which is due to an idea hidden in your heart. You must have experienced a heartbreaking event before, so that your thoughts are revealed externally."

  I nodded, and at this point, saying anything else would have been too much. I told the old man about his girlfriend's infidelity, and said that since then, there had been a strange grinding noise in my mind.

  The old man nodded, stroking his stiff beard, indicating that there was a strange noise.

  "That's right," said the old man. "We, the people of the Yang world, are actually each a radiant body, that is, a source body. When some thoughts arise in your heart and come out, you yourself don't feel it, but actually your entire state is expressing these thoughts, which is usually what ordinary people see as a person's external joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure. And at the exact moment when you are sending this signal, there just happens to be a yin ghost borrowing a path, and so it rides on your intention. Yin ghosts have no form and need to borrow from external objects in order to rise up."

  "Am I possessed by a ghost?" I asked using the limited knowledge I had gained from some literary works.

  The old man looked at me with a faint gaze, "It can be said that way, but you are more miserable than being possessed. You have fallen into the Ghost Origin Path, and your entire person has become a ghost tool. All your thoughts have become symbols of yin ghosts."

  I was so scared that my eyes were wide with fright.

  The old man continued: "I've been chasing a ghost from the outskirts, this ghost is extremely cunning and only passes through places with many people. It borrowed your car to become its tool for crossing over. The street has heavy yang energy, yin ghosts can't borrow your body, so it can't move on its own. Luckily I appeared in time, otherwise you would have gotten into big trouble. Did you see that injured dog? I intentionally hit it, the dog's blood has a suppressing effect on yang energy, reducing it. Since there are many people here, I was afraid of hurting innocent bystanders, so I had to let it go and instead used the dog's lifeblood to help the ghost cross over, thinking of another way."

  The yellow talisman on my forehead has not moved, and my mind is now somewhat clear.

  I said thank you, old master. The old man chuckled and said: "You can also call me Qing Shan Dao Zhang."

  At this moment, the spiritual symbol on my forehead suddenly stirred. Qing Shan's long robe fluttered and rustled, as if his entire body was swelling up with energy.

  Look out the window again, oh my god, it's a group of bats as black as charcoal, staring with blood-red eyes, and crashing towards the glass window with their heads, the dense noise like raindrops seems to tear your heart apart.

  "It's terrible, the yuan blood is in chaos, I've done something wrong." Qing Shan shouted loudly, grabbed my hand and pulled me to walk in a Bagua shape around the room. At the same time, he took out a small peach wood sword from his sleeve and drew a lotus flower shape in the air, muttering incantations.

  The spiritual symbol on my forehead was about to fly away, as if an invisible hand and Qing Shan Dao Zhang's peach wood sword were competing in a tug-of-war. Qing Shan Dao Zhang gasped for breath instantly, the peach wood sword becoming increasingly exhausted, while the blood bats outside the window grew more numerous, forming a crimson sheet.

  "Hurry up and bite through my arm, spit blood at the window." Qing Shan's body became increasingly stiff.

  "What?!" I was completely stunned, how could this be possible.

  "Quickly!" Qing Shan said, already panting heavily, his eyes wide open with a thread of blood seeping out.

  I couldn't think much, I bit down on Qing Shan Dao Chang's arm with a mouthful of blood, and suddenly it was like a fountain. I spat out the window in one go. As my fresh blood sprayed out, there were sudden cries outside the window, the vampire bats dispersed violently, but soon they gathered again even more fiercely than before. I had to bite down again, suck again, and spit again, and the situation repeated itself.

  Qingshan Daochang suddenly pushed me away, and I flew up entirely. My hands were filled with many talismans, which slapped against the window one after another. He shouted at me, "Bite your middle finger and draw a line on my talisman."

  I acted on my words, and this scene made me forget the pain. The blood streaked across the spiritual symbol, Qing Shan Dao Zhang shouted a few times, and the peach wood sword suddenly became light and agile, dancing into large lotus flowers. Outside the window, there were finally screams all over, more than half of the blood bats fell, some escaped desperately without their lives, and no new gathering was seen again.

  Before long, they were all gone. Qing Shan Dao Chang, however, was like an empty shell that had been drained of its contents, sitting on the ground with a faint breath.

  I was scared to death. I thought of helping him up. Qing Shan Dao Chang said in a weak voice, "Protect me while I meditate and nourish my origin, do not leave."

  I wept and helped Qing Shan Dao up, who sat cross-legged on the ground, and stood guard tightly beside him.

  Good heavens! What's going on? How did this happen?