Farewell to Ghosts

In the courtyard aboveground, a black-robed man unleashed astonishing spiritual power at the late stage of foundation establishment, battering the Daoist priest and the monk.

The monk had brought out his Golden Alms Bowl again and was fighting desperately for his life.

The other two black-robed men did not attack. Instead, they stared gravely at the house in the courtyard. Red blood mist filled the house, concealing the secret passage underground.

The vigilance honed at the late stage of foundation establishment kept the two observing black-robed cultivators from acting rashly.

They sensed a trace of something unusual in the blood mist.

Clang... clang... The black-robed foundation establishment cultivator kept attacking the monk's Golden Alms Bowl, each strike ringing louder than the last.

Cracks spread across the protective barrier.

The barrier cast by the monk's Golden Alms Bowl was on the verge of shattering.

Daoist Mude gritted his teeth and pulled a battered dagger from his robes. He slashed his palm hard, and blood flowed down the dagger.

"Boundless Heavenly Venerable, swiftly obey the decree... coalesce!"

A blood-red talisman appeared in midair and flew toward the Golden Alms Bowl's barrier. It merged into the barrier, its markings turning into a strand of golden light that flowed into the cracks. In an instant, the cracks were repaired.

"It won't hold much longer! Think of something!" Daoist Mude shouted.

"What can I possibly do? If Benefactor Su were here, he could lend us a hand. How are just the two of us supposed to stop three late-stage foundation establishment cultivators? And who knows whether more of them are coming?" Monk Zhixuan said helplessly.

"Benefactor Su has it even worse than we do. That thing underground..." Mude's face was filled with anxiety and despair.

"Why hasn't anyone come, with all this commotion?" Monk Zhixuan cursed angrily.

Daoist Mude froze at his words.

Suddenly, he too found it baffling. This place was so close to the Capital City that even the slightest disturbance should have drawn people from the city to investigate.

Yet here was a dreadfully ominous place steeped in extreme yin, with people even refining blood pills here.

None of this had attracted anyone's attention.

There were only two possibilities!

One was that this place had some means of blocking other people's perception.

The second was that they all knew what was happening here, but could not or dared not come.

Both possibilities were frightening.

If it was the first, and some other means was shielding this place from perception, it meant someone more powerful was involved.

If it was the second, it meant those involved had hands and eyes reaching to the heavens.

Daoist Mude and Monk Zhixuan suddenly felt as though they had been swept into an enormous whirlpool.

Beside the underground blood pool, amid the darkness...

Departed souls appeared before Su Mo, paused... then dissipated.

The eerie figure watched from the side throughout.

"Am I dead?" the departed soul of a gray-clad swordsman asked calmly.

"Yes!" Su Mo nodded numbly.

"Why can't I remember anything?" the swordsman asked.

Su Mo fell silent, then shook his head.

"What about you, then?" The swordsman looked at Su Mo. Dressed in black, with his hair tied up and delicate features, Su Mo looked every bit a scholar.

"I'm here to see you off..." Su Mo said.

"Impermanence?"

"Perhaps..."

"Got any wine?"

"I came in a hurry. I didn't bring any!"

"How dull! Not a shred of sincerity... seeing ghosts off without bringing wine!" The swordsman sighed.

"Next time... I'll bring some!" Su Mo promised.

"I want Apricot Blossom Village!"

"All right!"

"I'm off, I'm off... dying without even knowing why. What a stifling end!" The swordsman smiled with carefree ease.

With those words, the swordsman's soul dissipated and vanished.

The eerie aura around Su Mo grew ever stronger, as though it connected to some unknowable place hidden beyond perception.

After the swordsman vanished, another departed soul appeared.

A butcher!

The butcher saw Su Mo.

The butcher asked, "Where is this? And who are you?"

"This is the River of Forgetfulness... I am Impermanence, here to see you off!"

"I've never heard of an Impermanence in this world..." the butcher said.

Su Mo remained silent for a long time before slowly saying, "From now on... that is who I am."

Since he had no identity, he would give himself one. Using that identity to see these departed souls off... seemed fitting enough!

The figure in the darkness glanced at Su Mo, its thoughts unknown.

"I haven't taken today's earnings home yet. My wife will scold me." The butcher was silent for a moment. "How will she and our child survive without me?"

"The soul crosses the River of Forgetfulness; its love remains on the far shore. They can live well even without you..." Su Mo said.

"That's good, then... that's good..."

The butcher faded away...

Su Mo comforted every departed soul that appeared and saw them off.

Each time a departed soul dissipated, the eerie aura around Su Mo grew a little stronger.

Su Mo could also feel the aura emerging around him, but he paid it no heed.

He suspected that this aura might have something to do with the purpose of the figure in the darkness.

But... at this moment, he only wanted to see these people off.

Departed souls appeared one after another, and departed souls left one after another.

It was as though he were living through these people's cycles of life and death...

Their joys, anger, sorrows, and pleasures...

A little beggar said, "Better to be dead, better to be dead... there was nothing to hope for while alive anyway!"

A teacher said, "Before I could see my peach and plum blossoms spread their fragrance, my own life faded like the morning dew..."

A peddler said, "I only wanted to earn a little money to feed myself. I never did anything that offended heaven or harmed others. Why is this world so unfair..."

A warrior said, "My great vengeance remains unfulfilled. I cannot accept it..."

A flower grower said, "The flowers haven't bloomed yet. Who will pick them?"

A traveling physician said, "Now that I'm dead, those patients will have to seek another skilled physician. I only hope they find a good one..."

A painter said, "..."

A thousand kinds of people, ten thousand facets of life...

Su Mo kept seeing departed souls off.

One departed soul after another left beneath Su Mo's gaze.

Su Mo could already feel the eerie aura around him beginning to take solid form.

It seemed he could glimpse another world through that aura.

That shadowy, eerie world.

Every time he saw a departed soul off, Su Mo could feel their emotions.

Some were accepting, some unwilling, some lost, some afraid...

Gradually... Su Mo grew numb...

Yet his trembling hands and reddened eyes... his thoughts began slipping out of control.

Dazed, bewildered...

The darkness returned to darkness once more.

Silent and still.

Su Mo stood in a daze...

Suddenly, something cool and soft touched his hand.

Su Mo looked down, and his whole body jolted.

A pale-faced little girl, her eyes shining with fear, had caught hold of his finger.

"Older Brother, I'm scared..." the little girl said, fragile and uneasy.

Su Mo crouched and gently stroked the little girl's head. "Don't be scared, don't be scared... Older Brother is here. Older Brother is right here..."

"Older Brother, where is this? It's so dark here. I walked for so long... so long before I saw you. There's nothing here... only darkness!" The little girl was innocent and afraid.

The words Su Mo had spoken countless times would no longer leave his lips.

How could he tell this little girl, still so innocent and unaware...

You're already dead? I am Impermanence? I've come to see you off?

Su Mo could say nothing more. He only stroked the little girl's head, his frail, pen-holding hand trembling uncontrollably.

"Older Brother, I want to go home... I sneaked out so long ago. If I don't go home soon, Father and Mother will worry..." The little girl lowered her head fearfully, yet clung tightly to Su Mo's hand, as though blaming herself for her thoughtlessness.

Su Mo's heart gave a violent spasm.

He drew the little girl into his arms and gently patted her back.

"I can't find the way home... it's so dark here. I walked for so long, and you're the only person I've seen..." The little girl began to cry. Tears fell from her departed soul; fear and self-reproach had finally overwhelmed her.

"Older Brother, can you take me home?"

She was only an innocent child who understood nothing... of course she was afraid!

She had merely seen someone amid the pitch-black darkness and taken him as someone to lean on...

"All right... Older Brother will take you home!"

Su Mo took the little girl's hand, stood, and walked outside.

At that moment, the eerie aura around him seemed to undergo a sudden transformation, becoming a door.

This door led straight to the Netherworld, allowing the living to commune with ghosts!

At that same moment, the figure in the darkness drifted into Su Mo, possessing him...

That day, Su Mo spent a night bidding farewell to ghosts...