The mortuary

There were no voices in the clinic, only the rustling of plants in the breeze. Red lanterns swayed in the night wind like sinister, blood-red eyeballs.

After trying a few directions, Wang Qilin discovered that the farther northwest he went, the colder his mouth became. Xu Da noticed this too, and the two crouched low, gripping their sabers as they crept silently to the door of a side room in the northwest corner.

Xu Da whispered, "Do you know what this room is used for?"

Wang Qilin's face twitched. With some difficulty, he said, "The clinic's mortuary."

Xu Da asked again, "Did you look inside during the day?"

Wang Qilin nodded. "I did. There was nothing wrong then."

"There is now."

Xu Da sneered, raised his foot, and kicked the door open with a crash.

The mortuary was pitch-black. Once inside, Xu Da took out a fire striker and shook it, revealing white candles as thick as pig's trotters on an offering table.

Each took a white candle, and the room finally grew a little brighter.

Wang Qilin raised his candle toward two low beds against the south wall. He remembered that each had held a corpse beneath a white cloth.

But when the candlelight fell on them, only one bed still had a mound beneath its white cloth. The other bed was empty.

Tightening his grip on his saber, Wang Qilin hurried over for a closer look. The corpse that should have been lying on that bed had fallen to the floor, but it was still covered by its white cloth.

Both suspected that the qi-eating ghost had possessed this corpse. Why else would a corpse roll out of bed?

Xu Da gave him a look, signaling for him to lift the cloth with his waist saber. He was about to do so when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the cloth covering the corpse on the other bed twitch.

He grabbed Xu Da and pointed.

Before he could say anything, the white cloth twitched again.

Xu Da was trained in martial arts. His blade flashed, its tip hooking the white cloth and flicking half of it aside.

An arm was exposed.

So was a rat.

The corpse's hand gripped the rat's lower body, while its upper body lay over the back of the dead hand, gnawing at the flesh. It was the rat that had made the cloth twitch.

Xu Da spat. "Damned rat gave me a fright!"

Wang Qilin breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to watch the corpse on the floor. Then realization struck him. "Wait! How could a dead man catch a rat?"

Clang!

With a crisp ring, his saber left its sheath!

The opening stance of the Lunar Soul-Severing Saber-Dark Night, High Winds!

The saber's tip swept past like a rising gale, whipping the white cloth away and revealing the pale, delicate face of a teenage boy beneath.

Wang Qilin turned toward Xu Da. "Is the qi-eating ghost-what's wrong with you?"

Xu Da looked grim, his brows tightly knitted and his eyes wide, as though he had seen something unbelievable.

"I've seen this boy. Just yesterday. He's the youngest of the Zhang family's grandchildren!"

"Was he seriously ill too?"

"He was sturdier than you!"

Wang Qilin's heart sank at that. "Then he wouldn't have suddenly dropped dead. Did the qi-eating ghost drain his yang qi and kill him?"

If so, this qi-eating ghost had already attained its cultivation!

That morning, he had asked Zhang Yuning whether anyone had died the night before. That little puppy boy had actually lied to him!

If they had known the qi-eating ghost had already grown powerful, they would have fled long ago!

Xu Da grunted. "That must be it. Before this qi-eating ghost makes a move, let's go!"

His voice seemed to be a signal. The moment he finished speaking, the wooden door he had kicked open moved without a breeze and slammed shut!

Xu Da cursed his mistake. Why hadn't he kicked the whole door off earlier?

A hazy shaft of moonlight drifted through the window, and the boy on the low bed rose eerily to his feet like a marionette.

His eyes remained shut.

His face remained expressionless.

There was no peaceful way out. Xu Da immediately drew his saber and attacked, roaring, "Seventh, get out first! I'll destroy it!"

His eyes bulged as he strode forward, veins rising on his large hands as he raised his saber and brought it down.

In an instant, the steel saber became a streaking meteor, cleaving toward the boy's head!

Die!

Xu Da was as ferocious as a tiger!

Then the boy's corpse possessed by the qi-eating ghost smashed him to the floor with the low bed.

Then the ghost threw the bed aside and pressed toward his face with its eyes shut: Don't talk. Kiss me.

Xu Da hurriedly covered his mouth and nose. This ghost was trying to suck out his yang qi!

His yang qi was reserved for his sweetheart at the Leaning on Emerald Pavilion. Nobody else could have it!

A lean, vigorous figure burst out from behind, knocking the qi-eating ghost tumbling across the floor, then pulled Xu Da up and retreated.

Xu Da shouted, "The door's in front!"

Wang Qilin shouted back, "There's one in the back wall too!"

His preparations during the day had not been for nothing!

The toppled qi-eating ghost thought they had nowhere to run. Rather than hurry to its feet, it slowly rose like a marionette again.

Once it stood up, it discovered: Fuck, they're gone!

Seizing that opening, Wang Qilin found the inner chamber's door by the moonlight streaming in and shoved Xu Da against it, bursting through the unlocked door.

There was a bolt on the other side. Wang Qilin reacted swiftly, sliding it into place as Xu Da shut the door.

Then the qi-eating ghost slammed into it from outside. Bang!

The Zhang family had made plenty of money over their years of practicing medicine and were particular about their furniture. Even the low beds for corpses were solid wood. Naturally, this door was solid wood too.

How could a human body be as tough as solid wood?

The qi-eating ghost was strong, but the corpse it possessed was fragile. It struck the door several times without breaking it open.

Both breathed a sigh of relief. Wang Qilin took out his fire striker and flicked it.

Red light flared, revealing a room full of ominous spirit tablets!

The tablets were pitch-black, their inscriptions painted in white. Arranged at varying heights on the offering tables, they presented a densely packed sight!

Xu Da cursed. "Don't be scared. This is the Zhang family's ancestral shrine. Fucking hell, putting an ancestral shrine beside a mortuary? Have they lived too long?"

Wang Qilin said calmly, "Something's wrong. Outside this shrine is the mortuary, and the mortuary is full of dead people. Why would the shrine's door have a bolt? Who are the Zhangs trying to keep out?"

Just as they were about to ponder this, everything outside suddenly fell silent.

For no particular reason, a line occurred to Wang Qilin: Nothing's scarier than the air suddenly going quiet.

He signaled for Xu Da to light the candles while he secretly peered through the crack in the door.

A grayish-white eyeball!

A dead person's eye, without a pupil!

The qi-eating ghost had finally opened its eyes. It too was pressed against the crack on the other side, peering in!

Truly-peeping through a crack in the door!

Wang Qilin sucked in a cold breath and stumbled two steps back.

Making a living in the Heaven-Listening Bureau was no easy task!

But the qi-eating ghost only peered through the crack. It did not ram the door again.

Being stared at by a ghost was unpleasant. Both men's hearts felt heavy.

After a long while, Wang Qilin asked, "Do you have a magic treasure that can send a message?"

Xu Da stood decisively. "No need to send for help. This qi-eating ghost is just strong, that's all. It's only an ordinary little ghost. Look, haven't we stopped it with a single door? There's nothing to fear!"

Wang Qilin said nothing. It knocked you flat before you could finish a single move, and you call that an ordinary little ghost? What would an extraordinary one be like?

Xu Da's confidence returned. "Everyone knows ghosts fear evil men. As long as we're fiercer, more ruthless, and more vicious than it is, we can scare it off!"

With that, he suddenly bellowed at the top of his lungs through the door. "Fuck your mother, you little ghost bastard! Your grandpa's right here! Come on! Eat your grandpa if you've got the balls! Fuck your mother! Fuck your mother! Come on if you've got what it takes! Get in here..."

He did more than roar. He kicked the door too, looking extremely vicious indeed.

But his big feet were far too powerful. Two kicks brought half the door crashing down!

Wang Qilin was stunned!

Are you inviting the ghost to a buffet?

The qi-eating ghost's head poked through the gaping doorframe. Half its face had been smashed apart, while the other half was deathly still. Its entire head slowly emerged...

Xu Da hurriedly blocked the door and shouted, "Quick, use an offering table to block the door!"

Wang Qilin dragged an offering table over as fast as he could, roaring, "Why aren't you being vicious now?"

Fortunately, only half the door had collapsed. The qi-eating ghost could only get its head through. Once they blocked it with the offering table, the ghost was trapped, unable to advance.

Xu Da gave Wang Qilin a sheepish smile. "I-it's fine. See, it still can't get in..."

Wang Qilin muttered, "Jinx!"

The boy's corpse suddenly slumped limply against the door, and a hazy gray shape emerged from it.

The qi-eating ghost was a ghost, after all!