A Monster in the Wall

Wei's household must have been fairly wealthy in this city.

At least, it had been wealthy once.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have had more than twenty people.

Their house stood near the center of Danxun County.

The county town was small, and it didn't take long to walk there.

But after dinner, with rain drifting through the night, dusk had slowly deepened. With every step of the way, Wei Yuanzhong's fear grew.

He knew it was true that this Demonic Ghost only beat people and never hurt them, but how many people could keep from being afraid?

Getting whipped still hurt.

"We're here, we're here."

"Creak..."

Wei Yuanzhong pushed open the gate to his home, trembling with fear as he gestured for Lin Jue to enter.

"Please, sir."

"You're too kind."

Lin Jue had long understood that fear was no help when facing a Demonic Ghost. He had also learned that many Demonic Ghosts weren't as frightening as he imagined. Whether out of reason or consideration, deliberate or not, he naturally wouldn't let his fear show. He strode inside.

As he did, he turned his head and looked around.

The Wei family's house could accommodate more than a dozen people, so it was much larger than an ordinary home. As a result, there was a small courtyard just inside the gate.

The houses here were usually compact and refined, not as spacious as a courtyard residence. And land in the city was expensive, so this courtyard wasn't very big.

Small as it was, it lacked nothing in elegance.

Moss at the foot of the walls and their mottled surfaces showed its age. The decorative bricks set into the walls were carved with plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, chrysanthemums, pines, and cypresses—symbols of lasting vitality. Courtyards like this usually had a tree planted in them. Whether in Heng Village or Shu Village, the homes of the wealthy were designed the same way, to add a touch of beauty. Its shade offered a quiet retreat, even on the sunniest days.

Unfortunately, the tree in this courtyard had been cut down not long ago. Only a stump remained.

A few green plants were left, enough to lend the place a little life.

The grand house and courtyard Lin Jue's younger cousin often talked about building someday must have looked like this. It could house a dozen or twenty people, with a tree planted in the yard. Once it grew tall, its branches would reach over the walls to catch the sunlight, and it would see several generations come and go.

Just then, Lin Jue's steps abruptly stopped.

A moment ago, he had felt a pang of regret and turned to look at the stump. But his vision blurred, and he thought he saw a faint shimmer of light and shadow flowing across it, much like when he sat in meditation and breathed in and out.

"?"

Lin Jue couldn't help frowning.

He said nothing for the moment, crossed the courtyard, and went inside.

The house was cool, with faint light falling through the open well.

"Young sir..."

"Lord Wei, don't look to me. I'm no Daoist. I don't know how to find the Demonic Ghost, much less drive it away. I only agreed to spend one night here, and that might not do any good," Lin Jue said. "We'll have to see whether it comes out tonight and gives me a beating too."

"Yes, yes! Of course!"

Wei Yuanzhong hurriedly led him to a room with two beds.

No one in the family had dared stay in this house for the past few days. The room had been locked, and they had to fetch the bedding from a cupboard. By the time they had made the beds, night had fallen completely, so they found an oil lamp and lit it.

Wei Yuanzhong was terrified, seeing monsters in every shadow and jumping at every sound. Lin Jue, by contrast, remained calm, as if he were staying at a friend's home. He unhurriedly fetched some water to rinse his mouth and wash his face.

Why was he acting this way? Half because he wasn't afraid, half because he couldn't let himself be afraid. Neither reason alone was enough to make up half; the two had to work together. He relied on staying calm to carry on with what he was doing, and on doing things calmly to nurture his courage and convince himself he truly wasn't afraid. Only through the two working together could he remain so completely unafraid.

"Lord Wei, you take this bed. I'll take the one by the door."

"Of course, of course..."

"Lord Wei, don't be so nervous. Haven't you heard that Demonic Ghosts bully the weak and fear the strong, and that being timid only draws them in?"

"Huh? Well..."

Wei Yuanzhong grew even more frightened.

"Haha..."

Lin Jue laughed twice and lay down, slipping the Firewood Knife beneath his pillow. In the lamplight, he kept his eyes open and changed the subject, making small talk with Wei Yuanzhong.

"You said at the inn that a powerful Daoist had recently arrived nearby, and that he'd vanquished the monsters in the neighboring county. You even went to look for him. Is that true?"

"It's true that we went to look for him. And I heard it's true."

"Who told you?"

"Merchants who travel between the two places..."

"What did the Daoist look like?"

"They said he was an old Daoist."

"If I recall, you said he used Daoist arts to exorcise monsters?"

"Exactly! Why else would everyone say that old Daoist was so powerful? His arts for vanquishing monsters were the very stuff of immortals. You could see them with your own eyes."

"He came from the neighboring county?"

"Yes, Qiuru County."

"Where was he headed?"

"Who knows..."

"..."

Lin Jue chatted with him while mulling things over.

He was already tired from his bath. After eating his fill and relaxing, he soon fell asleep.

The oil lamp remained in the middle of the room, filled with plenty of oil. But as the wick burned shorter and shorter, the light grew dimmer.

The darker it got, the redder it grew.

All at once, a shadow appeared on the wall.

Smack!

A whipping sound suddenly cracked through the silence. Just from the sound, the blow had clearly landed hard.

It was summer; who could bear to sleep under a thick blanket? Wei Yuanzhong couldn't take it. He jolted awake and let out a loud howl.

"Ugh!"

His cry was tinged with terror.

Lin Jue woke at once, too.

He opened his eyes and sat up immediately, the Firewood Knife already in his hand. The heft and weight of it offered a sense of security no small knife could match.

His eyes sharp, he scanned the room.

He saw nothing.

Yet something strange filled the room, something impossible to describe. It didn't come from his senses, but from the feeling he had cultivated while meditating in mountain streams and valleys, breathing in and out and nurturing his Vital Energy—a feeling mysterious and hard to grasp.

That feeling pointed to the wall on his left.

This was the second floor, and both the doors and walls were made of wood.

Lin Jue turned to look. His vision blurred, and he seemed to glimpse a faint, indistinct shimmer flowing within the wall.

He knew at once—

It was hiding there.

He could roughly guess that at dusk, it had been hiding inside that tree stump, breathing in the essence of Heaven and Earth.

Lin Jue put on his shoes but stayed seated on the bed, to show his restraint. Gripping the Firewood Knife tightly, he faced the wooden wall. Though he had no idea what kind of Demonic Ghost this was or what tricks it used, neither his voice nor his expression held the slightest trace of fear or hesitation as he asked:

"Why are you hiding inside the wall?"

As soon as he spoke, Wei Yuanzhong jumped in fright.

He had been closest to the wall. After a moment's stunned pause, he scrambled down from the bed and fled to the side, crying out in pain again and again.

The light and shadow on the wall moved in silence, shifting from the wall on Lin Jue's left to the wall on his right.

Lin Jue's gaze followed it, keen as a torch.

He kept his eyes fixed on it.

At the same time, he pondered what was happening.

Something was off.

"You've been causing trouble here for a month, yet you've never killed anyone. Just now, you appeared and struck again, but you only hit the person beside me, not me. I heard Lord Wei once went to the City God Temple to ask for a Divine Statue, but it only worked for a few days. Is there some other reason behind all this?"

The light and shadow said nothing and shifted farther to the side.

Lin Jue furrowed his brow, his eyes flickering.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The Vital Energy within the shifting light paused, then finally stopped.

A moment later, a voice came from inside the wall:

"What village bumpkin are you? This family took the matter to the City God, and still lost their case against me. Even the City God approved my whipping them. What business is it of yours?"

The voice was full of resentment.

Wei Yuanzhong was startled.

Lin Jue, on the other hand, felt relieved.

He had guessed right. It seemed the night would hold no real danger for him after all.

This one actually believed in reason!

But what was this about taking the matter to the City God and winning approval to whip them? What sort of strange business was that?

Lin Jue couldn't help feeling puzzled.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuanzhong was terrified and didn't dare speak. He kept bowing to Lin Jue, as if Lin Jue were his last lifeline.

Lin Jue saw him, of course. Amid his surprise and confusion, he asked, "It seems you really do have some connection to the Wei family. Would you tell me about it?"

"What's it to you?"

As soon as the words left its mouth, several objects flew out of the wall.

Lin Jue was on guard, and the objects weren't moving very fast or with much force. He instinctively ducked, dodging two, then swung the Firewood Knife without thinking and knocked another away.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

The objects hit the floor. They were several chunks of wood.

"I can tell your Five Qi are pure and your spirit clear. You don't seem like someone who's done evil. I also know you helped people on the road today, so I don't want to make trouble for you. Leave at once!"

The voice continued from within the wall.

Lin Jue knew that the other party neither meant to hurt him nor wished him harm, so he didn't take offense. After a moment's thought, he said:

"You're someone who believes in reason. You won your case before the City God, so I imagine you had right on your side. Now that there's a connection between you, if this keeps going, the Wei family will simply be too afraid to come home and will keep thinking up ways to deal with you. Who knows? One day they might invite some ferocious spirit to drive you out, or set the house on fire. What would be the point?"

"Who's afraid?"

"Why not discuss a solution?"

"What is there to discuss?" the voice came from within the wall.

"That's right! The young sir is right! What did our Wei family ever do to you? Tell us! We don't know what we did, so how can we even apologize? Tell us, and we can talk it through!" Seeing a glimmer of hope, Wei Yuanzhong immediately chimed in, nodding like a pecking chicken.

"Lord Wei speaks wisely. Even when someone is convicted under mortal law, they have to know what their crime was. Your conduct is truly baffling," Lin Jue said sincerely. "Lord Wei did invite me here, but only to spend one night. Whatever happens, I'll leave in the morning. I won't take either side. But it seems to me this is an excellent chance to clear things up. What do you think?"

"You sound like an honest man!"

"I don't deserve the praise."

"..."

The wall fell silent for a while.

But the light and shadow did not vanish.

The silence made Wei Yuanzhong uneasy. He kept turning to look at Lin Jue.

Lin Jue, on the other hand, was completely at ease. He even had time to wonder what kind of Demonic Ghost this was and what magic it used to hide inside a wooden wall. It was fascinating. Could he learn it?