Dusty Past

"What good could such utterly unforgivable villains possibly have in them?"

Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger said angrily.

"Tiger King, you should hear what they have to say."

Lin Chan spoke calmly. By now, he had more or less figured out Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger's temperament and could even stroke the tiger's whiskers.

Seeing this, Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger lifted the spell that had kept the four Grief Ghosts mute and said to them:

"Tell him whether I'm right or not."

"Great King is absolutely right. We are ashamed beyond measure, ashamed beyond measure."

Other than the Brocade-Robed Magnate, the other three echoed him again and again.

"Well? Do you have anything else to say?"

Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger looked at Lin Chan smugly.

Lin Chan was in no hurry. He merely swept his gaze over the four Grief Ghosts and said:

"Tiger King, you hold their souls in your grasp. If they do not please you, they will suffer the torture of having their souls torn apart. How could they dare tell the truth?"

"We're telling the truth!"

The Daoist Robe Youth glared viciously at Lin Chan.

Yet Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger silenced the four Grief Ghosts again and mulled over Lin Chan's words. It really did seem to make sense.

After pacing back and forth for a while, Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger turned its gaze toward the four Grief Ghosts and said:

"Now, I'll give you a chance. Tell me why you committed evil, or tell me of the good deeds you have done. If what you say is true, I will set you free."

"If it is false, I will make you suffer the agony of ten thousand ants gnawing at your heart every day."

With that, Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger lifted the silencing spell on the four Grief Ghosts.

At those words, all four Grief Ghosts were delighted.

Being a Grief Ghost was no good lot. Every moment was filled with unspeakable suffering—not human, not ghost, unable even to reincarnate.

In order, the Red-Clad Woman, Pan Chunping, spoke first.

After being a Grief Ghost for so long, Pan Chunping's mind was filled with resentment. All she could think about was how to help Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger harm people, how to send more people into the tiger's belly.

Of course, Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger ate only evil people, so Pan Chunping racked her brains to make people reveal their malice, allowing Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger to eat with peace of mind.

As for why she had killed her husband, no matter how long she thought, she could not remember.

Yet her desire to be free ultimately forced her to recall the events of the past.

"I... I remember now. I was originally a courtesan raised by Red Sleeve Pavilion from childhood, and my stage name was Bai Cha. After I turned thirty, my beauty faded with age, but I had saved up money from more than ten years of performing. So I redeemed myself, married a merchant, changed my name to Pan Chunping, and planned to live out the rest of my life properly. Who knew that when my husband married me, he had never harbored good intentions? From the very beginning, he had been after the silver I'd saved over the years. His business failed, and he urgently needed that money to keep things afloat. At first, I truly believed him and gave him most of it."

"Yet he was still unsatisfied. He wanted more! We already had a child, and he kept pleading and pestering me until I had no choice but to give him more money. Not long after, he said it still wasn't enough and came asking again. I knew something was wrong, so I followed him and found that he went to gambling dens and Red Sleeve Pavilion one after another. I should have known merchants were heartless."

As she spoke, the Red-Clad Woman covered her face and began to weep.

Now, she was no longer a Grief Ghost whose mind was filled with resentment, but merely a helpless, pitiful woman.

"So you killed him?"

Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger's eyes nailed themselves onto the Red-Clad Woman as it began a Soul Search.

It did not believe the story fabricated by this vicious woman.

Soul Search consumed a great deal of mental strength. That was also why Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger had not used it on the Red-Clad Woman before.

Rapidly flipping through the Red-Clad Woman's memories, Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger soon found the scenes from before she redeemed herself.

When she was young, the Red-Clad Woman had also believed in love. She and a scholar had pledged themselves to each other for life, so she began saving money early and lived frugally in every way. Unlike the other girls, who earned much and spent much on all kinds of beautiful clothes, jewelry, rouge, and powder, she had always waited for that scholar to return and take her away.

The scholar would not need to pay a thing. She could redeem herself with her own money.

But she waited for more than ten years, until age had withered her beauty and even Red Sleeve Pavilion could no longer keep her. By then, she could redeem herself for only a small sum, yet that scholar still never came.

At that moment, Pan Chunping understood that the scholar would never come for her again.

Thus, with her heart turned to ashes, she chose the most pleasing merchant among her many regular patrons, hastily married him, and planned to spend the rest of her life that way.

After having a child, Pan Chunping was even more determined to become a good mother, supporting her husband and raising her child.

Yet her husband was no longer as kind as he had been before their marriage.

All those vows of mountains and seas, all that sweetness between them, had been nothing more than false affection.

When she learned that her husband had secretly gone to Red Sleeve Pavilion, Pan Chunping was utterly disappointed in him. But they had a child together.

For her child's sake, Pan Chunping could only endure, gritting her teeth and holding on. She thought only of raising her child to adulthood; if she could do that, then her life would be complete.

Who would have thought that her endurance would only make her husband push his luck further?

Not only did he slowly take away the money she had accumulated over more than ten years of selling her art, he also beat and berated her at the slightest provocation.

But Pan Chunping did not care. She had performed all her life; what hardship had she not endured? If she endured it, it would pass.

With drinking, feasting, whoring, and gambling, even mountains of gold and silver would eventually be carried away.

Before long, there was not a single coin left in the household.

Unable to get any more money from Pan Chunping, her husband flew into a rage and actually began beating their child, using the child to threaten Pan Chunping.

Unable to obtain a divorce, Pan Chunping was driven into a corner. She could only buy poison from an old acquaintance and personally poison her husband to death.

Seeing this, Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger stopped its Soul Search.

There was no need to look at what came after. Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger already knew it all—it had swallowed Pan Chunping and her daughter.

"What you said is true. You are free!"

Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger exhaled a cloud of white smoke. The smoke merged with Pan Chunping, and her mismatched eyes became the same size while her ugly face returned to normal.

Her face could not be called a beauty to topple kingdoms and cities, but she was indeed somewhat pretty. She was merely a little old.

"Thank you, Great King!"

Pan Chunping repeatedly knelt and bowed to Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger. Being a Grief Ghost meant suffering torment every day, and now that she had been freed, she felt incomparably light.

After bowing to Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger, Pan Chunping turned and knelt before Lin Chan as well.

"Thank you, Young Master!"

Pan Chunping's words were no longer venomous, but filled with gratitude.

Lin Chan nodded. He knew that most people were not born evil; there were reasons behind their wrongdoing.

Especially since the Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger before him had been luring people into breaking the law, the evil people it caught had even more unspeakable grievances.

He had simply never expected Pan Chunping to have such a miserable past, and he could not help feeling a pang of sympathy.

Pan Chunping lingered for a long time, yet she was unwilling to let her soul body disperse or leave. Instead, she looked at Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger, hesitating as though she wanted to speak.

"Why haven't you left? You should enter reincarnation as soon as possible. Otherwise, once your spirit body disperses, it will be too late."

Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger said to Pan Chunping.

"Great King! There is one more thing. My Xing'er—do you know where she is now? I want to see her one last time."

Pan Chunping looked at Four-Eyed Fierce Tiger with pleading eyes.