Driven to the Brink of Death, Then Born Anew, Then Dead Again

A fierce pain throbbed in Yue Renchun's temples as he slowly opened his eyes.

The Peng family mansion was pitch-black. All the red lanterns had gone out, and the villagers and the person suspected to be Old Master Peng were wandering aimlessly.

Yue Renchun had seized the opportunity to regain consciousness when Zou Cong used Ghost-Covered Eyes to interfere with Old Master Peng's supernatural power, but he had no idea what was happening now.

His face was withered and covered in wrinkles. He didn't need a mirror; one look at his hands told him how old he had become.

Yue Renchun looked away in disgust. Then a strange, pale pink aura began to emerge from the top of his head, spreading over his body like petals scattered from a peach tree by the wind.

After a while, his condition reset, and he became a handsome, dashing young man again, though traces of fear and lingering dread remained on his face.

It really was a brush with death. Luckily, I have a way to save my life. He sighed inwardly and looked around. Hu Jiu was already gone.

He searched the crowd for Hu Jiu in a hurry, not because he cared much about his temporary teammate, but because he possessed a special ability—Fortune-and-Misfortune Perception.

It could also be called Crisis Warning. Like an instinct for seeking benefits and avoiding harm, it gave him a vague sense of whether his current choices would have a good or bad effect on his future, but it couldn't tell him the details. It was also a passive ability, triggered at irregular intervals only when he encountered a relevant clue or situation.

Though he couldn't control it, the ability had helped Yue Renchun enormously early on. It was thanks to this that he had survived so far after encountering ghosts, and had amassed quite a few supernatural items.

When headquarters had ordered him to resolve the supernatural incident in Longevity Village, he had received a vague premonition as soon as he answered the call: joining the operation would bring him to the brink of death!

Yet when he had considered refusing, he sensed again that if he didn't go, he would suffer a fate worse than death!

A brush with death or a fate worse than death—it was a difficult choice.

It wasn't actually the first time he had faced such a situation, though none had been as severe as this one.

Only then did Yue Renchun realize that the supernatural was always harmful to humans. Fortune-and-Misfortune Perception wasn't a ghost he had controlled, but a curse. At first, he had thought it was a rare supernatural power that was entirely beneficial to humans. Later, he discovered that these false prophecies would slowly guide him onto a narrow bridge, forcing him into increasingly frequent dilemmas with no good way forward. The danger would grow greater and greater until, in the end, every option led to death.

He didn't agonize over it for long before choosing to come to Longevity Village. He was strong and had a firm will; if he could sense a fate worse than death, then that situation was probably truly worse than dying.

A brush with death, at least, offered a sliver of hope.

He had taken the initiative to work with Hu Jiu because he saw a precarious chance of survival in him, even though Hu Jiu himself was another source of danger...

As Yue Renchun gradually regained the ability to move, the strange villagers around him slowly stopped wandering. They had lost their original target, but had found a new one.

Eyes without whites all fixed on Yue Renchun. The danger facing Hu Jiu and Zou Cong had been transferred to him.

"What should I do now?" Yue Renchun endured the intense pain in his head as he ran outside, thinking of a way to deal with the situation.

The red candle in Old Master Peng's hand was gone, so Yue Renchun wasn't under as much pressure to survive as before. At least he wouldn't age for no apparent reason.

Aging would sap his strength and weaken his will, making it easier for the ghost that affected consciousness to erode him.

Yue Renchun could feel that things had become much easier. From his experiences over the past few days, he could also deduce some useful information.

He ducked and dodged, and was almost at the entrance to the Peng family mansion when his perception was triggered again.

This time it was fortune, not misfortune: an opportunity to find life by placing himself in mortal danger!

The strong premonition made Yue Renchun turn around at once, shove the villagers in his way aside, and retrace his steps.

Yue Renchun saw Peng Yan dressed entirely in black.

He had to be a special existence. No explanation was necessary; his middle-aged face stood out far too much among all the elderly people.

Peng Yan should still have retained some reason and intelligence. He had even held a fluent conversation with Hu Jiu earlier.

A thought suddenly occurred to Yue Renchun, and he touched the gemstone necklace around his neck. The gemstone was a supernatural item made from a Fierce Ghost codenamed the [Ghost Inquirer], and its ability was just as its name suggested.

Unfortunately, the current situation didn't allow him to use it on Peng Yan.

First, he had to shake off the half-human, half-ghost pursuers behind him!

He went around the front courtyard and headed straight for the rear residence.

There were many rooms in the rear residence, their doors, windows, and eaves all bearing the marks of age. He didn't know what was inside; there could be danger.

Following his instincts, Yue Renchun pushed open a door at random and hid inside.

The room was even darker than outside, but apparently, as long as he shut the door, the villagers couldn't come in and could only wander outside it.

He looked down, pulled out his satellite phone to use as a light source, and quickly scanned the room. His consciousness had just been affected by a Fierce Ghost, and he was terrified of running into something indescribable again. If he wasn't careful, he would have to endure that pain once more.

During a supernatural incident, damage to one's consciousness was worse than physical injury. People would often go mad, faint, become delirious or hysterical, and do utterly crazy things.

The good news was that none of that happened.

The bad news was that Yue Renchun saw a corpse.

Thump—

His heart involuntarily began to race.

It was a woman's corpse, already somewhat bloated. Her limbs were twisted grotesquely like knots of dough, and she seemed to be clutching something black and viscous. Her head was so disfigured that it no longer looked human, as though it had been corroded by a strong acid.

An ordinary person might have been scared speechless by the sight, but Yue Renchun was a Ghost Tamer. He had seen far too many corpses that had died in all manner of ways and had long since grown numb to them.

Only when he noticed that the dead woman's clothes looked familiar did his emotions stir slightly.

"Cui Xueyan?"

Her eyes had already turned cloudy, and her scalp looked as though it had been forcibly torn off. In the dim room, only the faint glow of the phone illuminated the grotesque, horrifying corpse.

Yue Renchun guessed that Cui Xueyan had probably encountered the strangeness at the birthday banquet too, then fled to a room in the rear residence to hide. He just didn't know whether she had been fatally injured outside or had encountered a new danger in the room.

He moved a little closer, trying to find useful clues on the corpse.

Cui Xueyan's clothes were soaking wet and torn in many places. Only then did Yue Renchun notice that the fabric was unusual: it looked ordinary on the surface, but gold threads showed through the inner layer. It was probably specially made.

There were also scratch marks on the corpse, but they weren't fatal injuries.

"How exactly did she die?" Yue Renchun held his phone up to shine it downward, his gaze fixed on the corpse's hand.

He noticed two things.

Cui Xueyan was a Ghost Tamer. After her death, her Fierce Ghost should gradually have revived, but the corpse showed no sign of revival at all. It was just like an ordinary person's corpse.

Secondly, what she was clutching seemed to be mud, and very wet mud at that. The first thing it brought to Yue Renchun's mind was the pond, and combined with her soaked clothes...

"Did she jump into the pond?" Yue Renchun wondered as he continued examining her.

Just then, he suddenly heard a hiss, as if something were leaking gas.

Yue Renchun immediately looked around, but saw nothing.

He scanned the room again and found nothing unusual, but when his gaze returned to the corpse, he abruptly realized that it had changed slightly. Its torso seemed to have shifted position, though the change was so slight that he couldn't be sure he hadn't seen it wrong.

He stared at it intently. The corpse's eyes reflected a strange light, and its abdomen suddenly swelled. Before Yue Renchun could react,

Bang—

The corpse exploded.

Rotten flesh, blood, and internal organs splattered everywhere. The air instantly turned foul and murky, and Yue Renchun was covered in filth, as though he had rolled around in a cesspit.

He froze on the spot. He hadn't broken down when his consciousness was being eroded; he hadn't broken down when his head was in agonizing pain; and he still hadn't broken down when his body aged at a tremendous rate.

But now, he was having a little trouble holding it together.

He had only heard of exploding whales before. As a corpse decayed, microorganisms inside it multiplied in great numbers and continuously released gas, causing it to bloat. Particularly large creatures could easily explode after death, which was quite dangerous.

Cui Xueyan had been a respectable person in life, but now she had become... hard to describe.

Yue Renchun's expression grew uglier, and he instantly made up his mind: he absolutely had to live well, live long, and live beautifully!

He couldn't bear the thought that he too would turn into a lump of rotten flesh after he died!

This fairy prince would rather be cremated to ashes than rot and stink!

Human remains that would need to be censored before anyone could look at them were scattered all over the room. Yue Renchun suppressed his nausea and found something amiss.

It was a lobe of lung filled with sludge. Though it stank too, it wasn't the normal stench of a corpse, but a stench with a trace of metal and the earthy smell of soil.

"Was this what killed her?" Yue Renchun frowned. Suffocation shouldn't have been able to kill a Ghost Tamer, unless the sludge blocking her airways was no ordinary mud!

He carefully searched the room again. The ghost Cui Xueyan had controlled seemed to be gone, but he found nothing else. The villagers outside seemed to have dispersed, and the stench in the room was making his head spin.

Yue Renchun immediately opened the door and darted out. Something really was wrong: the stench had actually made him dizzy?

He took off his coat and tossed it aside. It wasn't because he was a clean freak; he simply suspected there was something wrong with the stench!

If only this mission could have been postponed for a month or so, Yue Renchun thought. He had already tracked down one piece of Peach Blossom Sha. If he controlled another ghost, he wouldn't be as hard-pressed as he was now, and given that ghost's characteristics, he wouldn't have to fear any stench at all!

At some point, the dark clouds overhead had gradually dispersed, and faint moonlight fell on the ground. The villagers were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps the birthday banquet was over and they had all gone home?

Yue Renchun returned to the front courtyard without a sound.

Everyone was gone, but the supernatural phenomena hadn't disappeared.

An incredible scene was unfolding in the pond. The black platform was slowly writhing, like a great beast that had come alive and was struggling to break free.

Yue Renchun sucked in a breath. The platform seemed to be a ghost too! It was simply bound by the chains around it. Now it was trembling continuously, making the chains sway and clink, the sound echoing through the mansion.

Some kind of balance seemed to have been broken. The platform slowly warped and cracked, as though a giant mouth were opening, and tentacle-like things spread outward from the fissures.

Just as Yue Renchun thought Cthulhu had made an uninvited appearance, he saw clearly that they weren't tentacles, but surging sludge.

In an instant, the entire Peng family mansion was filled with an earthy stench. Yue Renchun recognized it too: the sludge was the same as the mud in Cui Xueyan's lung!

"Where's my opportunity?" Yue Renchun was sweating with anxiety. The longer he looked at the scene before him, the more it seemed like a sign that something was about to spiral out of control. It wasn't just the sludge in the pond; the floating corpses on its surface were crawling toward the shore one by one. They hadn't made it out yet, seemingly held back by a force of suction.

They can't all be ghosts, can they?

Yue Renchun startled himself with the thought.

Sitting and waiting for death wasn't his style. He immediately turned and headed for the main hall.

Perhaps because the birthday banquet was over, the door was shut. Yue Renchun pushed it open forcefully. As expected, Peng Yan was still sitting upright, facing the door, though his wife was nowhere to be seen.

Come to think of it, his wife looked more like his mother. Supernatural power was probably keeping Peng Yan's appearance unchanged.

Peng Yan was like a statue, completely ignoring Yue Renchun.

Yue Renchun pulled out the necklace around his neck.

Even in the dim light, the gemstone refracted a brilliant blue fire, and a supernatural aura filled the room.

"Do you know..."

He had barely begun speaking when Peng Yan stood up!

He reached out a hand!

Yue Renchun stepped back instinctively. Too many unexpected things had happened today; he wouldn't be too surprised by anything now.

Peng Yan moved quickly and almost grabbed Yue Renchun...'s gemstone.

Fortunately, Yue Renchun's reactions were quick too. He stepped back swiftly and tucked the gemstone away again.

Seeing Peng Yan slowly sit back down, Yue Renchun asked tentatively, "Are you still alive?"

He didn't speak, but some fleeting expressions appeared on his face. If Yue Renchun's eyesight hadn't been 2.0, he would almost have Neglect.

After waiting a little longer, Peng Yan was still the same.

A bubbling sound reached Yue Renchun's ears. He glanced aside and saw that the sludge from the pond had already spread out.

The pond was small, and there was no telling where so much mud had come from. It kept overflowing from the center, surging in all directions as though it had come alive.

The stones, trees, and buildings in the mansion were gradually submerged by the sludge.

Yue Renchun hurriedly jumped onto the roof and leaned over to look down. Countless faces were faintly visible in the sludge. They seemed to be the souls of everyone the mire had swallowed throughout the ages, wailing in agony as they took advantage of the boiling, spreading sludge to return to the real world.

When the sludge flooded into the room and touched Peng Yan, he came "alive."

As though waking from a long dream, he glanced around and grasped the situation, then immediately set off toward the platform at the center of the sludge.

"Wait!" Yue Renchun suddenly called out to him from the roof. "It's dangerous over there. What are you going to do?"

Peng Yan turned and glanced at him, but ignored him.

Yue Renchun added, "Can you tell me what happened here first?"

There was still no response.

The next second, Yue Renchun covered his ears.

A strange suona sound rang out, piercing the sky. Peng Yan was making the sound of a suona with his mouth, without any melody. Any elementary school student who had studied a little music could have played better than that.

Yet the strange music kept the boiling sludge from approaching, forming a circle around Peng Yan.

Yue Renchun stared at the scene in disbelief. The sound of the suona seemed to carry a powerful force, inspiring fear in anyone who heard it for no apparent reason.

Only when he stood on the platform did Peng Yue stop, standing in an awkward posture like a rusty marionette.

The suona sound changed its tune. Peng Yan raised his hands and began to dance gracefully.

Yue Renchun didn't know whether it could be called "dancing." A serious, stiff middle-aged man was performing a succession of bizarre movements on the platform, movements he had never heard of. They flowed smoothly, yet carried a hint of something uncanny and ghostly.

With his limited knowledge, Yue Renchun knew that dance seemed to have originated in rituals, and that many human dances came from imitating animals or natural scenery.

What was Peng Yue imitating with this unsettling dance?

Could he have seen a ghost dance?

The sludge surging from the pond seemed to gather into a giant monster and pounced at Peng Yan.

The suona sound grew increasingly shrill. Before the sludge monster could touch Peng Yan, it collapsed and dispersed, gradually settling down and returning to the pond bit by bit. The cracks in the platform slowly healed as well.

The Peng family mansion gradually returned to its original state. Nothing seemed to have changed, and only some viscous substance left on the ground bore witness to the incredible events that had taken place.

The suona and the dance both stopped. Yue Renchun uncovered his ears and jumped down from the roof. The devilish sound had left him in a poor state, but he had noticed that Peng Yan seemed to have regained a little consciousness. Afraid that this trace of awareness would suddenly disappear, he rushed over without delay.

Peng Yan stood on the platform at the center of the pond. Before Yue Renchun could speak, he asked directly, "Was it you who took the Lifespan-Borrowing Ghost Candle?"

The Lifespan-Borrowing Ghost Candle? The red candle in Old Master Peng's hand? Yue Renchun immediately denied it. "No."

Peng Yue looked him over a few times, then fell silent again.

In the end, Yue Renchun worked up the nerve to ask what was going on with the village and how he could leave.

He didn't really care about the secrets behind Longevity Village; he wasn't that curious. His main goal was to obtain some benefits and get away safely.

Peng Yan sounded as stiff as a robot, but he truthfully explained why Longevity Village had become what it was now.

What he said, however, differed in many ways from the villagers' account.

Mr. Peng had come to deal with the supernatural incident because the village was haunted. But he discovered that the ghost in the form of sludge simply couldn't be contained: if so much as a single drop escaped, the containment would fail.

Peng Yan's account skipped over countless details, saying only that Mr. Peng had kept watch here while he was alive, using the sludge to contain Fierce Ghosts. On the verge of death, he had used the different mechanisms of many ghosts in combination to form a closed loop, suppressing the ghosts beneath the pond in the Peng family mansion so they would never see the light of day.

Later, however, the balance had been broken for various reasons, and the supernatural had spread outward. But Mr. Peng had left remedial measures. Though he was dead, the ghost he had controlled was very special, and his orders remained in effect to this day. The frequent birthday celebrations that stimulated the Longevity Candle's revival, as well as Peng Yan's existence, were all meant to prevent the many Fierce Ghosts in the pond from breaking free.

The villagers were controlled as they lived and reproduced, generation after generation serving as sacrifices to the Longevity Candle!

Shock appeared on Yue Renchun's face, but he remained unmoved inside. When people recounted events involving themselves, they inevitably presented them in a way that favored them, unconsciously overlooking information that reflected badly on them. They wouldn't even mention the bad things they had done, and might even embellish them in their memories until they were unrecognizable.

They prided themselves on telling the truth, when in fact they had inadvertently watered it down a great deal.

If Hu Jiu had been here, he and Yue Renchun would probably have had a little common ground. Neither of them trusted others easily, precisely because they feared that unconscious embellishment, deletion, and distortion.

Yue Renchun urged Peng Yan to hurry up and tell him how to leave the village, but Peng Yan gave him only four words: "You enter, never leave!"

That wasn't all. The reason Peng Yan had been willing to say so much was that he intended to keep Yue Renchun here and make him part of the Peng family mansion. "Your ability and your supernatural items are both well suited to maintaining stability here, just like that young woman from before."

Yue Renchun's face darkened instantly. "You've been conscious the whole time, watching my every move in the mansion?"

Peng Yan remained expressionless. "Shameless little thieves like you have come to steal things time and again, ruining the arrangements here..."

"Neither you nor the one outside is getting away!"

"I'm not the one who stole it! Go after whoever took it..." Yue Renchun was halfway through his furious shout when expressions of joy and desolation suddenly appeared on his face. His lips moved, but no sound came out. He seemed immersed in his own fantasies, separated from the outside world by a pitifully thick barrier...

Meanwhile, Hu Jiu was on the street, waiting for daylight and thinking about what nonsense to put in his operation report once he got out.

Honestly, it was a little difficult. An operation report couldn't be written with a bladder like a lousy drama script: give it a shake and it was all water, give it a sniff and it reeked of piss.

If its contents were too outrageous, it would definitely be trouble.

Once he contained the Longevity Candle, the dark clouds overhead dispersed. He guessed that the Ghost Domain shrouding Longevity Village was probably several ghosts' Ghost Domains layered together, with the Longevity Candle being one of them.

He couldn't hand over the Longevity Candle, nor could he let anyone know it was in his hands. How could he make the candle "disappear" in a plausible way?

Just then!

Buzz—

A powerful supernatural fluctuation suddenly spread outward. Brilliant rose-pink light radiated in every direction from the Peng family mansion, illuminating every corner of Longevity Village.

The light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, lasting only a few seconds.

Hu Jiu scanned his surroundings warily, only to see to his shock that Longevity Village had revealed its true appearance—dilapidated houses, thick weeds, and the faint sound of barking dogs. It was desolate and run-down.

"What happened? Why did the Ghost Domain suddenly disappear?" Baffled, Hu Jiu didn't waste a second and retreated at full speed.

He passed the ancient stone stele at the village entrance. The thin mist he had encountered on his way in was gone, and the night sky grew brighter and brighter. Under the light of the stars and moon, Hu Jiu turned to look back. The Peng family mansion seemed to be undergoing some kind of transformation.

But...

It didn't matter.

When a problem became too big to solve, it no longer counted as a problem.

Hu Jiu spotted the cordon and the heavily armed police officers from afar, and the urge to stir up trouble began to rise. He wanted to cause mischief again~

Benefiting oneself at others' expense was more addictive than drugs. Once you got a taste of it, you couldn't stop.

Hu Jiu didn't want to stop either. It was funny, wasn't it? Society kept raising its moral demands, yet overall moral standards kept declining. As a result, bad people were living better and better, while good people were suffering more and more.

The Mirage Ghost's phantom flickered into two familiar forms, walking one behind the other along the country road.

The alert officers immediately noticed something. Looking closely, they saw that it was none other than the Ghost Tamers who had gone on a mission a few days ago!

The two said nothing, and the officers didn't dare approach them casually. They immediately notified headquarters.

Before long, a headquarters agent came running over. He was the same agent who had transported the four Ghost Tamers that day. Seeing that it was Cui Xueyan and Zou Cong who had returned, he felt considerably reassured and asked, "Headquarters just tried calling you, but couldn't get through. You..."

Before he could finish, something unexpected happened!

"Zou Cong" snatched at the red candle in "Cui Xueyan's" hand. "Cui Xueyan" refused to let go, and the two started fighting right then and there!

Seeing this, everyone present immediately backed far away and kept as quiet as mice. They didn't dare get involved in a conflict between Ghost Tamers. If they were accidentally hurt, they would have no one to blame but their own bad luck.

Only the agent spoke up weakly. "Stop fighting, please! Stop!"

But he didn't dare say much more. He merely made a token effort to stop them, then hurriedly reported the matter to headquarters.

After Fu Youhua learned what was happening, his face darkened. Just moments ago, he had been delighted that Ghost Tamers had finally made it out of Longevity Village alive. Even if they hadn't obtained what he wanted, they had at least brought back intelligence.

How had they started fighting among themselves in the blink of an eye?!

The people around them were all ordinary people, utterly incapable of stopping them. But if they were left alone and one of them died, a Fierce Ghost would revive, creating yet another problem.

Sending another Ghost Tamer to mediate would take time. By the time one arrived, they'd be fucking dead already!

For a moment, Fu Youhua was at a loss too.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have blinked twice at losing two Ghost Tamers.

But Zou Cong and Cui Xueyan belonged to different factions, especially Cui Xueyan. He was afraid someone would seize the opportunity to make trouble, and the two of them were also carrying spoils brought out of Longevity Village!

Couldn't they finish the important business first and settle their personal grudges afterward?!

What conflict couldn't they resolve in private? Why did they have to duel in front of everyone?! Were they afraid people wouldn't find out?!

With them kicking up such a fuss, there was no way to cover it up!

Fu Youhua suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu. Before he had time to think about it, he had the agent put the phone on speaker and sternly rebuked "Zou Cong" and "Cui Xueyan," ordering them to stop, an implicit threat in his tone!

But the two paid him no attention whatsoever.

At that moment, the headquarters agent at the scene realized something was wrong—why weren't they making any sound?

They weren't speaking, nor did they have any expressions. Even their movements were completely silent!

He couldn't make sense of it, and he had no chance to figure it out. "Zou Cong" suddenly lit the candle in his hand.

The candle flame wasn't bright; it couldn't even compare to the moonlight at night.

—The real candlelight was coming from behind the crowd!

"Ah!"

Someone let out a brief cry of alarm. He caught sight of wrinkles spreading across his companion's face, and within a few breaths, his companion's black hair turned white.

He looked down and saw that age spots had appeared on the backs of his own hands as well.

He didn't know what had happened. Everyone had fallen, and "Zou Cong" had successfully snatched the red candle. He fought as he retreated, with "Cui Xueyan" in relentless pursuit, and the two figures moved farther and farther away.

The sole survivor stared after them, hatred growing wildly in his heart.

"What happened?!" Fu Youhua's urgent voice came through the phone. He had heard the sound of people falling.

A long while passed before a reply came from the other end. The voice was halting, hoarse, and weak, like that of a dying old man with one foot in the grave. "Two Ghost Tamers... started fighting over a... red candle. We were all... caught in it. I'm the only one still alive. The male Ghost Tamer took the candle in the end, and the other, the female Ghost Tamer, chased after him..."

Hearing this, Fu Youhua frowned deeply and said nothing.

From beginning to end, he had never considered that Zou Cong or Cui Xueyan would betray him. But now, he had no choice but to face a situation that should never have happened!