Chapter Forty-Nine: Tongxuan, the Miao Maiden

Wang Sheng was relieving himself in the restroom, whistling as he went. After finishing, he washed his hands under the faucet below the mirror. As he bent down to splash water on his face, a terrifying shadow appeared behind his reflection, though Wang Sheng, eyes closed, was entirely unaware of what lurked there.

Behind him, a female ghost extended her hands in a circle, reaching slowly for his neck. At her side stood a little ghost child, its body riddled with cracks.

Wang Sheng saw all of this, but pretended not to notice; in truth, his legs were already trembling. He slipped his hand into his pocket. The ghostly woman's hands were nearly around his throat when, without further thought, Wang Sheng leapt back, pulled a handful of talismans from his pocket, and chanted, "Heaven and earth without boundary, the Boundless Celestial Lord, act swiftly as the law commands!" He flung the talismans at the ghost woman and the ghost child, then pushed open the door and fled as their wails echoed behind him, shouting, "Xiao Dong, hurry up and catch these ghosts!"

When I heard him, I kicked open the restroom door and rushed inside. Everything was calm, as if nothing had happened at all.

Pointing at the floor strewn with talismans, I said to Wang Sheng, “Are you play-acting? There’s no ghost here—are you hallucinating?”

Wang Sheng, clutching a talisman in his trembling hand, walked in. Ran Lingpeng, curious, followed, holding a yang talisman Wang Sheng had given him.

Wang Sheng pointed to the five toilet cubicles. “Could she be hiding in there?”

Taking his suggestion, I opened the two nearest stalls—nothing inside but toilets. I opened two more—still nothing. Only the last one remained. Was she inside?

That fifth stall was the crucial one, the greatest test of nerves. As I slowly opened the door, a miracle occurred.

A black cat shot out with a sharp “meow!” and a piercing shriek, nearly sending Wang Sheng and Lingpeng tumbling to the floor. I reassured them, “Don’t be scared! It’s just a cat!”

Once the confusion cleared, we left. As the three of us walked down the empty corridor, a woman in white drifted around the corner ahead of us. I saw only her back.

Confronted with this strange, unearthly sight, I told Wang Sheng to watch over Lingpeng and strode forward alone in pursuit.

To be honest, this ghost seemed to be deliberately luring me. Each time I reached a corner, I glimpsed her vanishing figure, until—

Until I reached a dead end. Before me was a wall, ten meters behind, a door; and I could sense her right at my back.

I did not turn around, but calmly spoke: “You are neither human nor ghost. Who are you?” Then I waited, like in the movies, for the thing behind me to respond. Minutes passed in silence.

I couldn't take it any longer. After waiting so long, there wasn’t the slightest sound. I slowly turned around.

What I saw made my heart leap—there wasn’t a single shadow behind me. Damn those movies for misleading me! I didn’t have time to think further and dashed back toward Wang Sheng and the others.

But as I neared the door, a strange wail rose behind me, like a child crying. In the darkness, it was chilling—especially since I hadn’t seen her when I entered.

But no darkness could deceive my demon-corpse eyes. I saw clearly a little girl in a school uniform curled up in the corner, looking utterly pitiful.

Looking out the door, I found that at some unknown moment, the ghost woman was now standing before me, as I cradled the sobbing girl.

The ghost woman’s face was deathly pale, her cloudy eyes like dead fish soaking in water, standing there stiffly, staring at me—I could not tell if it was anger or something else, as her features were grotesquely twisted.

Beside her, the ghost child raised a sooty little hand and said in a childish voice, “Let go of my sister! Let her go!”

But to my ears, the voice was piercing, like some strange energy flooding my mind.

Just as I felt I could bear no more and was about to shift into my demon-corpse form, Wang Sheng and Lingpeng arrived. Lingpeng, witnessing this scene for the first time, fainted immediately—at least that kept him out of the way.

Wang Sheng faced the ghosts head-on, no longer fearful, and pulled six talismans from his pocket, slapping them onto the walls and ceiling to form a simple ghost-trapping array, cutting off the ghosts’ retreat.

Now trapped like caged lions, the two ghosts circled helplessly within the array Wang Sheng had set.

But it was only a temporary solution. The ghost child’s strength was no less than the ghost woman’s, and under its assault, the power of the talismans began to wane. Soon, all six talismans ignited and crumbled to ash, and the ghost-trapping array was broken.

Freed, the two ghosts lunged at me as I held the little girl. But with Wang Sheng present, there was no way he’d let them get close.

He pulled out several higher-grade yang talismans from his sleeve and struck the ghost woman and the ghost child with them, blasting them back against the wall with great force.

The power of the talismans forced them to reveal their true forms, cowering together in fear.

Damn, they were so easily overpowered. With such strength, I couldn't imagine how they’d managed to frighten two normal people to death.

The ghost woman, now revealed, trembled as she shielded the little ghost beneath her. She knew she and her child would not last much longer, yet that maternal love still lingered in her ghostly heart.

Just as Wang Sheng was about to slap a blazing talisman onto their foreheads, a girl’s voice called from behind us: “Stop! Don’t harm them!”

Aside from me, Wang Sheng, and Lingpeng, there was actually someone else in the building. Turning, I was stunned by the sight—the girl was breathtakingly beautiful.

Though dressed in office attire, her charm was impossible to conceal. Wang Sheng’s hand froze, talisman hovering half a meter from the ghost woman’s head, his eyes nearly popping out. Realizing his own foolishness, he straightened up and declared, “No offense meant!”

I looked at the woman and asked, “Who are you? Are you a practitioner too, bringing harm to the living?” Though I said the words myself, in truth I was just copying lines I’d heard in the movies.

The woman smiled, girlish and sweet. Seeing Wang Sheng nearly drooling, I kicked him into the corner.

After a moment, she replied, “I am not a practitioner, but I have inherited Miao witchcraft from my family. I am a Miao woman—my name is Tong Xuan. This ghost is a wronged soul who came to me for help, seeking the husband who betrayed her and her child.”

She gave me a gentle smile, but I did not return it. Instead, I shouted solemnly, “Do you realize your crime? You let them kill two innocent people! Enough talking—Wang Sheng, capture them and let’s bring them to Uncle Mao.”

Wang Sheng clambered up from the corner with an “Alright,” pulled a small jar from his kit, drew a sigil on the bottom, and moved to trap the ghost woman. The little girl I was holding immediately leapt into the jar—as I’d suspected, she was a ghost, and she seemed to be hiding from the ghost woman and the little ghost child.

At that moment, Tong Xuan shouted, “How dare you! If you want to take them, you’ll have to get through me first!” She rang her spirit-summoning bell.

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