Ghost-Fallen Guanyin

At Doje's startled cry, everyone turned to look.

Rinchen shuddered with fright as well. He took a closer look and snapped angrily:

"What traces of blood? That statue was painted red to begin with. Isn't that just rain dripping onto the statue, washing away the grime and leaving streaks of water? It only makes the red look more obvious."

Rinchen had screamed the loudest in fright just now. Seeing the mischievous grin on Doje's face, he realized the fellow was deliberately teasing and frightening them.

Senior Brother Rinchen said, "You slippery fellow. Mind I don't go to your steward and report you." With his hands behind his back and his belly thrust out, Rinchen walked out.

"Why did you scare him?" Qu Zan asked.

"Who told him to go around barking orders, as though he were some exalted elder?" Doje snorted. "Junior Brother, hurry up and become a scholar monk so we can take him down a peg."

Qu Zan smiled faintly, then grew serious. "I keep feeling there's something wrong here."

"What's wrong?"

"If he fell from the hall roof, isn't the flesh and blood spread over far too wide an area? And look, there's flesh still hanging from that hole in the roof. It's too strange!"

"Who knows? Maybe it got caught there by accident as he fell," Doje said. "Let's not think so much. Hurry up and work. Once we're done, we'll leave."

The Ancient Empty Courtyard had over twenty rooms. The seven menial workers bustled in and out for half the day without finishing even half the cleaning.

As for Rinchen, he did no work at all. With his hands tucked into his sleeves, he ordered one person about one moment and complained that somewhere was still dirty the next. Not only did he fail to help, he only made more trouble.

Rinchen leaned against the main hall's threshold, watching everyone work from behind like a landlord watching his serfs toil.

"Wait, how many of you came this time?" Rinchen asked.

"Reporting to Senior Brother, seven in total," Qu Zan said.

"But why do I see eight figures?" Rinchen frowned.

Doje said irritably, "Senior Brother, naturally there are eight if you count yourself."

Rinchen snapped, "Do you think I'm stupid? I said there are eight figures besides me."

"What seven or eight? Can't you count for yourself? Gyatso and I are in the main hall, three are sweeping the courtyard, one's polishing candlesticks in the east hall, one's washing utensils in the west hall, and one's in the side room opposite..." Doje's voice trembled. "How is there really an extra person?"

"There were originally seven menial workers, but now another figure has appeared out of nowhere."

Qu Zan's heart tightened at those words.

He hurriedly put down his work and walked to the hall entrance to look outside. From this angle, the three people sweeping the courtyard all looked normal.

He could also see the one polishing candlesticks in the east hall, standing on tiptoe to clean the candlesticks on the offering table. The senior brother washing utensils in the west hall was cleaning the various ritual vessels they used every day, one by one.

Only the figure in the side room opposite looked utterly unfamiliar, judging by the outline visible from a distance. It was none of them.

Moreover, the figure was pacing back and forth inside the room. Those stiff movements were nothing like a living person's, but more like a rigid corpse's.

"There's something wrong with the person in the side room opposite."

Qu Zan stared fixedly at the figure in the room opposite, a chill running down his spine.

"Could it be a Vengeful Ghost?" Doje had also noticed something amiss, and cold sweat streamed from his forehead.

Rinchen murmured, "No, it can't be. It's daytime now, with the great sun in the sky. Vengeful Ghosts don't come out. Besides, this is Corpse Camel Temple. How could a Vengeful Ghost be causing trouble here? My eyes must be playing tricks on me."

Rinchen rubbed his eyes and counted again, only to find that there were still eight people-still one too many.

"We really have encountered a ghost!"

Qu Zan said, "Although it's daytime, these halls are gloomy and dim, filled with darkness. To a ghost, it's no different from night."

Rinchen's calves went weak at those words. "Junior Brothers, what should we do?"

If it were merely an ordinary evil spirit, the Lion's Roar Heart Mantra Qu Zan had mastered would still have some effect. If this really was a Vengeful Ghost, his meager strength would not be nearly enough.

From Lama Huode, Qu Zan had learned the three rules for encountering a Vengeful Ghost:

"First: Vengeful Ghosts cannot be killed. Second: only a Vengeful Ghost can subdue a Vengeful Ghost. Third: discern the pattern by which the Vengeful Ghost kills."

Only when the figure in the opposite side room reached the doorway did Qu Zan and the others see what that thing looked like. A woman's head emerged from the thick darkness.

The woman's face had extremely narrow eyebrows, eyes, and mouth, and was coated in white powder, as though five slits had been cut into snow-white dough with a knife. Two patches of sickly red marked her cheeks.

There was not a trace of a living person's vitality in the woman's face. Her features were deathly still and sinister, like a cold corpse standing rigidly upright.

Below the head was a withered body, human skin wrapped around bones.

The breastbone, pelvis, and leg bones-the entire skeleton was scarlet.

The Vengeful Ghost had six arms, two of which cradled the head.

The Vengeful Ghost's mouth kept chewing something.

Scripture banners were also wrapped around that skeleton, inscribed with blood-red esoteric writing. Qu Zan caught sight of what it said:

"Ghost-Fallen Guanyin!"

Around it lay a darkness so thick it would not dissolve.

Everyone who looked toward the Vengeful Ghost wore an expression of terror.

"Ah, run!" Whether an instant or a long time had passed, no one knew, before a monk cried out mournfully.

"Where can we run now? The ways out are on either side of that thing's room..." Doje's teeth chattered with fright.

At that moment, Qu Zan noticed that only two of the original three people remained in the courtyard. One had already vanished.

"How could this happen? Where's Tseten? Where did he go?" Qu Zan asked in alarm and bewilderment.

The other remaining monks all ran out of the courtyard, watching the Vengeful Ghost as they moved away from that side room. The main hall lay farthest from it.

"Help! Buddha protect us, Buddha protect us!" One monk closed his eyes and recited Buddhist scriptures, but he could no longer get the words out smoothly.

One monk still clutched a candlestick with a pointed spike. It seemed this ritual implement normally used for worship could give him aid in subduing demons and exorcising evil.

"Ah! Help!" Suddenly, the monk Nacang screamed. He slammed his head into the ground, injuring himself at once.

"Save me!" Nacang shrieked miserably as he kept striking his head against the ground. It was as though an invisible ghostly hand were pressing down on his head, smashing it downward again and again.

His legs convulsed violently, his feet kicking against the ground.

The others wanted to help him up, but feared being tainted by that evil aura and getting caught up in it themselves.

Under the repeated blows, he finally lost all strength and could no longer make a sound.

Just like that, he died.