Returning to Life in Another Body

I had only ever seen people return to life in another body in movies.

I never imagined it could actually happen.

"Seventh Master, don't scare me."

Meng Yifan feared this sort of thing more than anything. "Chen Mo and I are men. Even if she wants to return to life in another body, why target us? Does she want to experience the joys of being a man after she's reborn?"

The Seventh Master glanced at him. "Returning to life in another body doesn't work the way you think. Taken literally, it means borrowing someone's corpse to come back to life. But think about it carefully, and that simply isn't possible."

"Once a person dies, their organs stop functioning. Even if someone could return to life in their corpse, how would they make that already-dead body live like a normal person?"

"True rebirth in another body, explained in Daoist terminology, should be called soul possession. It means one person's soul occupies another person's body, but that body has to be alive."

"And soul possession isn't that simple. There's a great deal more to it. Simply put, from the moment a person is born, their soul is bound to their body. This gives rise to the seven souls and determines their lifelong fate pattern."

"Soul possession effectively changes two people's fate patterns at once. That goes against the Heavenly Dao."

Meng Yifan and I listened to the Seventh Master's lecture like a pair of elementary school beginners.

I vaguely grasped the significance. "For a religion as large as Daoism to give returning to life in another body a precise definition-'soul possession'-that means it exists, and it's possible..."

"You're very clever." The Seventh Master praised me, then continued, "Since ancient times, wherever there has been good, there has been evil. To achieve true soul possession, someone developed an evil art called the Seven Deaths Life-Exchange Art."

"It sacrifices seven lives, using their fate patterns to fill the flaws created by soul possession and eliminate the rejection between soul and body. This greatly increases the chances of success. Once it succeeds, a new fate pattern is formed."

Cold sweat broke out all over me as I listened. I couldn't help saying, "Seventh Master, is everyone in your line of work this twisted...?"

He smacked me hard on the head and snapped, "Are you out of your mind? I already said it's an evil art. What decent person practices evil arts? Most people in our line of work are good people."

I hurriedly apologized. "Please go on. Has something like this happened before?"

The Seventh Master thought for a moment. "I've never encountered it myself, but my master told me that a lot of these things happened in his day."

"But of the cases he told me about, not a single one ended well. Supposedly filling the flaws in a fate pattern actually creates even greater flaws. They bring doom to their spouses, their parents, or their children, and suffer bad luck all their lives. In short, nothing good comes of it. That's called karmic retribution."

Meng Yifan suddenly looked at me. "Chen Mo, didn't your grandfather say you'd bring doom to your wife? You haven't had your body possessed before, have you?"

"Go to hell!" I shot him a vicious glare.

This was already a sore subject for me, yet he still joked about it.

I asked the Seventh Master, "What makes you so sure Du Yuwei wants to be reborn through soul possession?"

The Seventh Master said, "Her body wasn't cremated or buried. That's what worries me, because the first requirement of the Seven Deaths Life-Exchange Art is that the body must not be damaged, much less allowed to decay."

I immediately grew worried too.

If things really were as the Seventh Master said, Meng Yifan and I were in serious trouble. We could very well be among those seven poor suckers.

Du Yuwei wanted to sacrifice us!

Fuck!

Why were we so damn unlucky?

"Then where exactly is her body?"

Meng Yifan frowned. "If it wasn't cremated or buried, and it has to be kept from decaying, that only leaves a hospital morgue..."

I interrupted him. "Du Ruhai is Du Yuwei's adoptive father now. I don't think he can be unconnected to this. Besides, he cares a lot about his reputation. He probably wouldn't leave her body at a third-party facility."

"Never mind keeping ghosts and soul possession-things he absolutely can't let outsiders know about. He'd keep them as secret as possible."

"Then where would be the most secret place?"

Meng Yifan picked up my train of thought, his eyes widening. "At home..."

I nodded. "Her body's probably still at home."

Meng Yifan said, "Holy fucking shit!"

"Then what do we do? Steal the body?"

"That's Du Ruhai's house."

I thought it over. This really would be difficult.

Breaking into someone's home was illegal in itself, and enough to land us in prison.

But our lives were at stake. We had to go.

So I made up my mind. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Let's go. We have to resolve this somehow."

Meng Yifan still hesitated. "During the day or at night? There are so many people in the neighborhood during the day, and Du Ruhai will be home at night. You think we're filming a movie? The Matrix?"

I took out my phone and pulled up a news article. "Du Ruhai has gone to another province for an event. At least he won't be home tonight. This is the perfect opportunity for us. If we wait until he gets back, we really won't have a chance."

I soon persuaded Meng Yifan.

Then I turned to the Seventh Master and asked him to come with us.

The Seventh Master flinched and looked at me in alarm. "Are you insane? Do you know what sentence you can get for breaking into someone's home? At my age, you want me to do something like that? What if I ruin my reputation in my twilight years?"

Of course I knew this was risky, and I couldn't very well force him.

But if he didn't come, what if Du Yuwei caught the two of us red-handed?

I prepared to guilt-trip him.

"Seventh Master, if she wants to be reborn through soul possession, seven people will have to die."

"As such a righteous man, how could you stand by and let her harm the innocent?"

"That wouldn't be consistent with your noble character."

My words left the Seventh Master silent.

He thought it over, but remained firm. "No! You're treating me like a sucker. I haven't made a penny, and now I'm supposed to risk my neck with you? Do you take me for a fucking idiot? Stop trying to talk me into it. There's no way I'm agreeing!"

Around midnight that night.

Meng Yifan, the Seventh Master, and I stood by the roadside, gazing across the street.

Across from us was some of the most expensive real estate in the city, lined with luxurious villas inhabited by the wealthy and privileged.

In the end, the two of us had managed to talk the Seventh Master into coming.

But he looked decidedly unhappy.

"Oh, my head hurts. My concussion probably hasn't healed yet. Hurry and call an ambulance." As he spoke, the Seventh Master started to collapse.

Meng Yifan and I hurriedly propped him up. "Seventh Master, stop pretending. You're already here. What's the point of putting on an act?"

"Hmph!"

He glared fiercely at us, clasped his hands behind his back, and sulked.

I left him alone for the moment and kept watching the villa complex across the street.

Meng Yifan smoked a cigarette and asked, "We're here, sure, but how do we get in? Forget a wealthy neighborhood like this-even a slightly upscale residential complex isn't easy to sneak into."

"I've visited places like this before. Between the surveillance and the security, there's practically no way to sneak in."

"Don't worry," I said calmly. "I've already planned how we're going to get inside."