Betraying His Master and Forebears

"Chapter 2 · Afterword · Little Ghost"

"After the zombie in the cold storage was destroyed, I wondered where it had come from, so I checked the surveillance footage."

"I saw a familiar face!"

"It was the man with triangular eyes I had happened to meet when I visited the twins' home. His name seemed to be... Zhong Fa?"

"I felt I needed to confirm whether it was him, and why he had done this. It was important to both me and the funeral home!"

"I left the funeral home and reached my destination at 4:35 a.m."

"Just as I approached Zhong Fa's shop, someone I hadn't expected walked out. It was the man who had fought alongside me, Zhong Cai!"

"What happened next shocked me. After I followed Zhong Cai into the shop, I discovered that Zhong Fa was dead!"

"Zhong Cai said Zhong Fa had died at the hands of that zombie!"

"I marveled at how karma always came around, but I still had questions."

"Why had Zhong Fa done this to the Tianmen Funeral Home?"

"I couldn't make sense of it!"

"Looking at Zhong Fa's corpse, I suddenly felt a chill of alarm."

"Could Zhong Fa turn into a zombie too?"

"To prevent my suspicion from coming true, I took out some incense sticks and recited the 'Descending the True Evil-Subduing Incantation' I had been using lately, hoping to help his soul pass on."

"After I finished the incantation, the incense smoke underwent an astonishing change, just as expected. But its target wasn't Zhong Fa—it was his room!"

"Following the smoke, we found Zhong Fa's secret chamber."

"Inside, Zhong Cai discovered the jar in which Zhong Fa had been keeping a little ghost. Only... the little ghost was gone."

"Zhong Cai said my incantation was no ordinary one."

"I tried hard to remember, but only grew confused."

"It seemed that even I couldn't remember where this incantation had come from!"

"This world, this Tianmen County where I had lived for so many years, seemed to have become unfamiliar."

"Somewhere beyond my perception, something that belonged to me seemed to have grown another two qian heavier."

[Chapter 2 · Afterword · Little Ghost completed. Obtained Yin Virtue (two qian). Obtained a memory fragment of Lin Ziyang.]

Another memory fragment?

Click!

Chen Miao raised his head and looked toward the bed.

The sound of a mechanism rang out, accompanied by the clatter of chains.

Zhong Cai had found the switch to Zhong Fa's secret chamber, exactly as the book had described.

"Be careful. My Senior Brother had quite a few tricks up his sleeve. I'll go down and take a look first."

As Zhong Cai spoke, the Spirit-Sealing Talisman in his hand was already activated.

He leaned over to inspect the space below, then jumped straight down instead of using the ladder.

Chen Miao put the book away and climbed down the ladder without waiting for Zhong Cai to call him. He trusted his book more than he trusted Zhong Cai.

The moment he reached the bottom, Chen Miao's gaze was drawn to the jar on the altar.

What could be inside that jar?

By the time Chen Miao walked over, Zhong Cai had already reached the jar, his expression grim.

"What's wrong?"

The little ghost had already been destroyed, so why did Zhong Cai look so grim?

Zhong Cai said nothing. He reached out and tore the two Spirit-Sealing Talismans off the jar, tucked them into his robes, then walked away.

Chen Miao leaned forward and peered into the jar.

Inside the jar, which stood less than a meter tall, was a brown, desiccated corpse curled into a ball—a child's corpse!

Chen Miao drew his head back, his expression turning grim as well.

Merely reading the words had not let him grasp what lay behind the term "little ghost."

Only now, after seeing it, did he feel the cruelty involved.

Chen Miao realized something.

Because he had Notes on Achieving Divinity in the Mortal World, although he had encountered several supernatural incidents, he had never actually confronted their true horror, apart from the zombie this time.

What would have happened to him without this book?

What would have happened to the Tianmen Funeral Home?

Compared with people like Zhong Fa and Zhong Cai, who had spent decades walking this path, Chen Miao had overtaken them thanks to Notes on Achieving Divinity in the Mortal World, but in certain respects, he still had a long way to go.

At the very least, he could never put a desiccated corpse like that into a jar beneath his own bed just to perform some spell!

He stopped dwelling on it and turned to look at Zhong Cai.

Zhong Cai was holding a small white porcelain jar and pinching a little white powder out of it.

"What is this?"

Chen Miao asked as he looked at the shelves in front of him.

"Cremated ashes."

"Huh?"

Chen Miao whipped his head around to look at Zhong Cai.

"Cremated ashes? Whose?"

"I don't know."

Zhong Cai shook his head. After their master died, he and Zhong Fa had parted ways over their differing beliefs.

Over the years, he had encountered some fortunate opportunities out in the world. Zhong Fa had probably traveled further down his crooked path as well.

Without any context, he couldn't guess what these cremated ashes were used for.

After examining the ashes, Chen Miao became more certain of the vague suspicion he had formed earlier.

Ashes this fine weren't something just any cremation could produce.

The cremators at the Tianmen Funeral Home couldn't do it, because they lacked a mechanical pulverizing function.

Among the surrounding counties and towns, only the fully modernized Fushou Funeral Center had cremators with that capability.

Of course, Zhong Fa might have brought these ashes from somewhere farther away. Still, the Fushou Funeral Center was the more likely source, and it would also better explain why Zhong Fa had targeted the Tianmen Funeral Home.

Clang...

A somewhat muffled bell rang nearby. Chen Miao turned and saw Zhong Cai take a long-handled bronze bell from a box on the floor.

The Corpse-Control Bell?

Chen Miao recalled the description of the Corpse-Control Bell in the Zhong Clan's Secret Manual of Corpse Driving.

Its body was shaped like a large bell, with talismanic inscriptions carved in cinnabar on its inner walls. A tall, three-pronged handle extended from the top, with red cloth tied around it. Because the clapper was thick and heavy, it gave a muffled sound when shaken.

As Chen Miao mentally compared the description with what he saw, Zhong Cai had already put the Corpse-Control Bell into his bag.

Noticing Chen Miao's gaze, Zhong Cai's brows bristled, and his voice carried an anger he couldn't conceal.

"This was supposed to have been buried with my master..."

By now, calling Zhong Cai's expression grim no longer did it justice.

When he saw the jar, Zhong Cai had merely thought that Zhong Fa had strayed beyond redemption.

But when he saw the Corpse-Control Bell, he wished he had killed Zhong Fa himself!

A wretch who had robbed his master's grave, betraying his master and forebears, deserved nothing less than death!

Just then, footsteps sounded overhead.

The two exchanged a glance. Chen Miao quietly moved beside the entrance and stood to one side. Zhong Cai stuffed a thread-bound book from one of the boxes into his bag, then joined Chen Miao, guarding the entrance from the opposite side.

The footsteps stopped at the entrance.

The suffocating silence lasted more than ten seconds. Just as Chen Miao was about to give in and open his book for a look, a voice came from the entrance above.

"Zhong Cai?"

Chen Miao looked toward Zhong Cai, who had already lowered the slightly charred Peach Wood Sword in his hand.

Chen Miao knew the newcomer was a friend, not an enemy.

Soon, Zhong Cai and Chen Miao climbed out one after the other.

For the first time, Chen Miao met someone from the Special Department.