Antisocial personality

It had always been this way, from ancient times to the present.

If someone died a violent death, or suddenly passed away with an unfulfilled wish, they would leave behind obsession or resentment.

If those obsessions and resentments still could not dissolve after being tempered and settled by time, they would form a Resentment Domain.

A Resentment Domain was something like a spatial concept, enveloping a certain area.

If ordinary people stepped inside, they might suffer disturbances that drove them insane, or, in severe cases, be terrorized and killed by supernatural forces.

But aside from wreaking havoc in the world and killing a few unlucky souls, a Resentment Domain served another purpose.

The evil spirit's lingering consciousness from life would remain within it, like a movie replay, though it was more like AR technology: put on the glasses, and you could immerse yourself in a different, miserable life.

Including the pain before death.

Jian Ran had joined the Mystical Sect at thirteen. His master had warned him not to enter an evil spirit's Resentment Domain casually. With insufficient cultivation, he could easily be devoured by obsession or resentment, and even if he woke up, he would be insane.

He had nodded with perfect obedience at the time, but the words had gone in one ear and out the other. As soon as he learned how to enter a Resentment Domain, he ran to the graveyard on the mountain behind them for some hands-on practice.

He ended up squatting against a gravestone all night until his legs went numb, without finding a single evil spirit that had died violently or with an unfulfilled wish...

At this very moment, every sensation Jian Ran experienced was incredibly real. Mud and sand seemed to work their way into his ears, nose, and eyes. Breathing grew harder and harder, until his entire head was covered.

A fire of resentment burned in his chest, growing fiercer and fiercer.

The child in his belly seemed affected too, kicking incessantly, trying to break free of its predicament.

A shrill, grief-stricken voice circled and echoed in his mind.

"Father, Mother, how could you be so heartless?!"

"Li Zongsheng, where are you?! Don't you even want to see your unborn child?!"

"The Ancestral Hall? The Clan Leader? All you neighbors and villagers? You're all so vicious! You won't even leave me and my child a way to live?!"

"I resent you!"

"I hate you!"

"If I can't scrape by in this world, then you can all join me in death!"

"Hahahahaha-"

"Come to hell with me-"

Even though Jian Ran had expected things to develop this way, he was still startled. He secretly calculated, then recalled the glimpse he had caught outside just as he was kicked in, and could not help clicking his tongue.

Heh.

Seventh Month Fifteenth, the gates of the underworld stood wide open.

The dead ran rampant, the living kept away.

Dark clouds massed, cold winds howled.

Fuck.

What perfect timing, terrain, and ghostly cooperation. The ideal opportunity to become an evil spirit.

If someone hadn't fucking arranged this deliberately, he'd rip his head off and let them kick it like a ball...

Just as he was about to witness firsthand how Liu Ying had slaughtered all 107 villagers after turning into a vengeful ghost,

a flash of golden talisman light suddenly stabbed into his vision.

Jian Ran's heart lurched. Shit. Which idiot had interfered with the Resentment Domain this time?!

The instant he finished cursing, he was forcibly pulled out of the dying Liu Ying. One foot touched down on the wooden floorboards of the corridor with a series of creaks.

The door to Li Zongsheng's room stood wide open, and the noise inside was grating.

"Ji Yuanming, are you fucking sick in the head?"

"Why are you crawling into that metal wardrobe?! Get out! If you don't come out, I'm leaving!"

"No one's staying here to mess around with you!"

Jian Ran frowned, his face full of distaste. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, exposing finely shaped forearms, and strode toward the guest room on his long legs.

The moment he entered, he barked, "Move!"

Yu Fengyi had already been badly frightened by Ji Yuanming's bizarre behavior. At the clear, cool voice behind him, he instinctively stepped aside.

Then he saw Jian Ran stride over and grip Ji Yuanming's ankle with one hand.

"I tried pulling him out of the wardrobe, but he wouldn't budge." Yu Fengyi tried to warn him, only to gape in disbelief a second later.

"H-how did you do that?"

How could such a seemingly frail physique have enough strength to drag Ji Yuanming straight out by one leg in the span of a single breath?!

"What are you standing there for? Drag this idiot away!" Jian Ran threw Ji Yuanming onto the floor, took a wet wipe from his trouser pocket, and wiped his hand meticulously.

As though he had just touched something filthy.

Fortunately, Ji Yuanming looked utterly bewildered, with no idea what was going on. Otherwise, he would have flown into a rage and lost his mind without any regard for the occasion.

Seeing Jian Ran's expression, Yu Fengyi glanced at the eerie, peculiar metal wardrobe. It felt somewhat familiar, but mostly he felt fear, so he looked away without lingering even half a second.

"Come with me," he said urgently, lifting Ji Yuanming's arm.

Jian Ran sneered. "Leave, my ass."

"If I leave, who's going to clean up the mess this idiot made?!"

Yu Fengyi desperately wanted to mock Jian Ran the way he used to, but the words stuck in his throat, refusing to come out.

Left with no choice, he could only drag Ji Yuanming out of the room.

As soon as they reached the corridor, the wooden door slammed shut. The instant it sealed tight, Yu Fengyi seemed to hear a piercing scream.

Mixed with a curse. "Why the fuck are you running?!"

"You've got the guts to drag people in, but not to come out? What kind of fucking vengeful ghost is this cowardly?!"

With a stiff expression, Yu Fengyi dragged Ji Yuanming downstairs. Rounding the corner, he saw Lu Yanting wearing a faint, ambiguous smile.

The latter did not hesitate to start mocking him. "Regretting it now?"

Yu Fengyi seemed to understand something, a flicker of realization crossing his face. "Y-you knew all along?!"

"Knew what?" Lu Yanting raised an eyebrow. "That Jian Ran's a treasure?"

Yu Fengyi bit his lip, his face stubborn.

Behind him, the "vengeful ghost's" screams continued without pause, making the atmosphere bizarre and absurd.

"Unfortunately, it's too late even if you know now." Lu Yanting extended his crimson tongue and licked the corner of his mouth, his lips curling into an eerie, wicked smile. "You can never get back what you've lost. Now..."

"It's my turn to take the stage!"

With that, he climbed the final step and brushed past Yu Fengyi, his imposing presence crashing over him like an unstoppable tidal wave.

Yu Fengyi froze where he stood, feeling something silently slipping away. He wanted to reach out and catch it, but it seemed futile.

He could not accept it, nor was he willing to.

For the first time in his life, he felt a fierce desire to win... yet it was not directed at his cherished love.

Inside the guest room, Jian Ran gripped the soaking-wet hair and drove punch after punch into the metal wardrobe.

He knew full well that showing mercy to a vengeful ghost meant being cruel to himself. Although Liu Ying's life had been miserable, she had harmed no small number of living beings after death.

Among those 107 gravestones were children of seven or eight, who had yet to experience the world, much less take part in persecuting her, yet they had still been unable to escape disaster.

"Aah-"

"Stop hitting me-"

"It hurts-"

Jian Ran did not stop, a sneer playing on his lips. "No shit. Of course it hurts."

"If it didn't, wouldn't all my effort be wasted?"

The vengeful ghost inside the metal wardrobe: "..."

"Let me go. I still have a child in my belly."

"Begging for mercy?" Jian Ran said. "Heh, that trick won't work on me."

"I have an antisocial personality."

The vengeful ghost inside the metal wardrobe froze. "What's an antisocial personality?"

"Also known as an affectionless personality. To put it simply,"

Jian Ran chuckled.

"I'm a fucking psycho-"