Human or Ghost?

"Senior Brother, did you hear someone laughing?"

"Junior Brother, did you smell a whiff of human scent?"

While the two headless monks whispered among themselves, One-Brow Taoist had already leapt out of the grass.

"Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, let my Dao display its might. Divine soldiers, clear the way; let no taboo stand."

With a flick of the divination mirror in his hand, he formed a sword-finger seal with his right hand and stepped through the gang steps. A vast, mighty aura bore down upon the two ghosts.

"Where wind passes, grass must bow; where the mirror shines, ghosts must submit. Great Expansion Yin and Yang, creation as the craftsman; King Qin illuminates bones, the Han Emperor receives dew—fall!"

A glimmer of ghostly light flashed. Where were the two ghosts now?

Only two headless paper figures remained, tightly stuck to the divination mirror in One-Brow Taoist's hand.

A crimson pattern was clearly visible on the paper figures, faintly forming the character "Edict."

One-Brow Taoist drew a red thread from his sleeve and bound the two paper figures together.

"A thread of heaven and earth stretches across this divine land. The sun, moon, and three lights; heaven and earth, the six directions. Yang returns to the Ninth Heaven, Yin Kun returns to the underworld."

Several beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. One-Brow Taoist tied up the two paper figures and tucked them into the bag at his waist.

Then he lightly stepped through the Yu Steps, formed several more hand seals, and wrapped it all up.

"Master really is amazing."

Qiu Sheng edged closer curiously. "Master, when will you teach me those moves?"

"Teach you? When you can cut your meal from three bowls to half a bowl, then come learn this."

Su Che smiled at those words.

The ninth rank of Daoist cultivation was Qi Consumption.

To attain this level of cultivation, the foundation was fasting from grains, using the essence of heaven and earth in place of the five grains to nourish one's vital energy.

As the saying went: "Meat-eaters are fierce, grain-eaters are clever, Qi-eaters are divine and long-lived."

Once Daoists reached the ninth rank, they not only possessed the foundation to wield all manner of Daoist arts, but could also prolong their lives.

This One-Brow Taoist was clearly a Daoist practitioner who had surpassed the Qi Consumption realm.

His two young disciples, however, were plainly rather lacking. They likely had not even entered the gate yet.

"Wencai, what's wrong with you? You dared laugh in a situation like this?"

Qiu Sheng looked at his junior brother, filled with the frustration of hating iron for not becoming steel.

"Hehe, the way those two talked was a little funny."

One-Brow Taoist's younger disciple scratched the back of his head and gave a simple-minded grin.

Su Che looked at the unruffled expression on Taoist Lin's face beside him.

It seemed this was also part of the disciple's usual routine. Taoist Lin had seen it too often; even if he had a temper, it had long been worn away.

"They were merely ghosts that had lost their roots and could no longer amount to anything." One-Brow Taoist looked toward Su Che. "Brother Yue, what did you make of what those two ghosts said just now?"

"Brother Lin, you mean...?"

"Brother Yue is from out of town. Withered Forest Chan Temple was once occupied by a demon. Though it belonged to wood, it was bloodthirsty by nature, often murdering travelers and merchants passing through this place."

Most plants and trees, once they gained spirits, possessed naturally tranquil dispositions. Tales of flower demons marrying men, or tree demons discussing ancient times with old men, were often heard in streets and alleys.

Some households even deliberately kept ancient trees in their homes. Once they nurtured spirits, those plant and tree monsters would remember old kindnesses and seek ways to repay the debt of years of care.

That one-eyed creature in Withered Forest Chan Temple truly counted as an unusual exception.

As for why it was like this, that was difficult to fathom.

Rumors had already spread through Guobei County that the newly appointed county commandant of Shanyin County was a highly accomplished sword cultivator. He had spent the night here and had already severely wounded that tree demon.

Su Che looked at Lin Jiugong.

Their news really was remarkably well-informed.

"Better to meet by chance than choose a day. If I had come here alone, I would simply have destroyed that zombie. But having encountered Brother Yue today, I have another idea."

"Brother Dao, does Mo mean that evil should be eradicated completely?"

Su Che looked at Lin Jiugong. A faint radiance flickered in the Taoist's eyes.

"Brother Yue, demons blanket this world, ghosts walk by daylight, and the human path declines. We cultivators must fight for every fraction we can gain, seize every inch we can take."

Su Che fell silent for a moment.

Perhaps the reason this world had not become a human purgatory like Lion-Camel Ridge in Journey to the West—

Was because there were countless ordinary cultivators like One-Brow Taoist. Like scattered candle flames in the dark night, though their light could not reach everywhere without limit, they stubbornly illuminated the three feet before them, keeping this world from falling wholly into darkness.

"Brother Lin speaks truly. That is precisely the reason."

One-Brow Taoist's heart immediately settled.

"Qiu Sheng, Wencai, the purpose of this trip has changed. Go home first. Mr. Yue and I will handle what remains."

Qiu Sheng and Wencai exchanged glances, but their expressions were far from the same.

"Mr. Yue, please take good care of my master. Don't try to act tough if anything happens. Master, if it's time to leave, we should leave. It's only a job—ten taels of silver. There's no need to risk our lives. People like us spend our entire lives as slaves to money..."

Wencai spoke tremblingly, his words rambling and disjointed.

"Mr. Yue, you don't look much older than us. Please take care of yourself. If fate allows, we shall see whether your swordsmanship is superior or my Daoist arts are more wondrous."

Qiu Sheng clasped his hands in salute, his words brimming with the loyalty of the martial world.

Su Che also held the peachwood sword by its hilt behind his back and spoke to the two of them.

"Thank you for your concern. But there is no need to speak of meeting again if fate allows. Once we finish tonight's business, I will surely trouble you to warm a pot of old wine and let me impose upon you for a while."

The two disciples headed toward Guobei County, turning back every few steps.

"Brother Lin's two disciples are quite good."

Su Che looked at their retreating figures and spoke with feeling.

"They're passable, I suppose."

One-Brow Taoist frowned.

"Brother Yue, I do not know whether this is presumptuous, but ghosts will surely run rampant further ahead. Allow me to ask one more question."

"Please speak, Brother Dao."

"Since Brother Yue is a sword cultivator, why do I not see Brother Yue's sword?"

Su Che fell silent for a moment. Old Lin had indeed hit the nail on the head.

The foundation of a sword cultivator was the sword in his hand. A person never left his sword, and a sword never left its person—that was the most basic principle.

What could he say? Bro, I was just passing through, and by some coincidence we ran into each other. My pay-to-win divine weapon was currently sitting back at home.

"The lineage Yue belongs to takes Sword Qi as its foundation and does not place much importance on sword forms. As they say, when the sword heart is lucid, all things may become swords. This peachwood sword belonging to Brother Lin's distinguished disciple is enough for me."

Su Che recalled the settings he had read about in his previous life.

Lin Jiugong sighed inwardly. Those sword immortals of the Eastern Sea truly brimmed with vigor, their ideas emerging one after another. Compared to them, both the Confucian and Daoist schools had become somewhat set in their ways.

"That is good, then."

Lin Jiugong led Su Che onward, the two of them proceeding deeper into Withered Forest Chan Temple.

The layout of Withered Forest Chan Temple was no different from that of an ordinary temple.

At the mountain gate stood the Hall of the Four Heavenly Kings, where the four heavenly kings—Dhritarashtra, Virudhaka, Virupaksha, and Vaishravana—were enshrined.

Beyond the Hall of the Four Heavenly Kings was Vilu Temple, which enshrined the Buddha who had opened the Buddhist lineage in this world. Because his title was Vilu Zhe, it was named Vilu Temple.

Behind Vilu Temple stood the Scripture Repository, the Hall of Great Enlightenment, and other buildings.

When Withered Forest Chan Temple was first seen, it had appeared vast and grand. Now, only broken walls and crumbling ruins remained.

Su Che and Lin Jiugong walked one before the other among the weeds and ancient trees, both deeply moved.

Withered Forest Chan Temple had once been a Dharma lineage left behind by some great cultivator. Who could have known that a strange calamity would wipe out the entire temple, after which a demon would occupy the magpie's nest? Even the dead ghosts of the temple's monks did not dare show themselves in ordinary times.

Human affairs rise and fall; those who come and go become antiquity and present.

That was likely what the saying meant.

Lin Jiugong held a compass in his hand, but suddenly stopped ahead.

"Brother Dao, have you noticed anything unusual?"

Lin Jiugong looked toward Su Che, his single brow tightly furrowed.

"Brother Yue, are you human or ghost?"

Thanks to friend Midnight Sunshine Red Panda for the donation, and thanks to friend Black Star Is Not Rising for the monthly ticket. I shamelessly ask everyone for recommendations and bookmarks. I will certainly work harder and write a good work. Thank you, everyone.