Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Out of caution, I didn’t swallow a single drop of that talisman water.

Instead, I spat it all into my sleeve.

And yet, for some reason, drowsiness still crept over me.

The next second, I realized I was Crossing the Yin.

I actually saw Great-Aunt’s little daughter-the one who had been abducted and sold.

Back then, she was still so young. She wasn’t as old as Chuxue, but she was even fairer, even more adorable.

Because Great-Aunt was always busy with work, she would leave the girl in the little building to play by herself.

At some point, the child gained an invisible “friend.”

Whenever the adults weren’t home, that small, pitch-black shadow would climb up along the tree trunk and, from within the dense canopy, reveal a pair of dark, gleaming eyes.

Every time she told her parents, they thought she was making up stories.

Gradually, that ghostly shadow began sneaking into the little building.

She became afraid to open her eyes, afraid to speak, and even more afraid to sleep.

Because she knew that once she fell asleep, that ghostly shadow would secretly crawl under her bed…

Or even onto it.

Then, at last, on a pitch-black night when everyone was fast asleep, a small, black hand turned her shoes over.

The little girl sleeping in bed was immediately smothered by that black hand over her mouth and dragged silently out of the room.

Not far away, in the dark woods, stood the thin silhouette of a woman.

The woman took her by the hand and slowly led her into the distance…

A violent stench of sweat hit me.

I woke with a start, only to see a half-naked man braced above me!

When he heard me scream, the man sat back awkwardly. Right in front of me, he calmly put on his Daoist robe as though nothing had happened.

Aunt Chen came in after that. Seeing my bright, alert eyes and realizing I was already awake, she froze for a moment, a flicker of barely perceptible surprise crossing her gaze.

Then she said to the man, “You go out first.”

He answered and left.

As he went, he even turned back to stare at me. The look in his eyes sent an inexplicable chill through me.

Aunt Chen sat down beside my bed. “Don’t be scared. He’s my eldest nephew. He’s still a virgin, so his righteous energy is strong, and his yang energy is vigorous!”

“With him helping suppress things for you, that ghost won’t dare come!”

I had been about to question her about why that man had come.

But with her saying that, it became hard to ask.

After pondering for a while, I asked, “Aunt Chen, have you seen that ghost too?”

“How could I not have?”

She shook her head. “That child spirit appeared more than ten years ago… Back then, Old Aunt was still perfectly fine…”

I realized that the “Old Aunt” she mentioned was my Great-Aunt.

“Aunt Chen, if ghosts really exist, then ghosts should have family too, right?”

“Family?”

Aunt Chen fell silent, her expression rather strange.

If I had to describe it, it was a look of sorrow mixed with anger.

I was about to ask more when she said blandly, “When you were Crossing the Yin just now, what did you see?”

I didn’t hide it from her. “I saw a little girl, in the room on the second floor…”

At that, Aunt Chen let out a long sigh. “Then there’s no mistake. That’s the youngest daughter your Great-Aunt lost more than ten years ago!”

“The fact that you could see her proves she’s already one of the Yin beings through and through!”

One of the Yin beings through and through?

What did that mean?

Seeing my confusion, she said flatly, “It means she’s dead.”

“…”

After a long silence, I asked another question. “Then what if she isn’t dead?”

“How could she not be dead? She…”

Aunt Chen spoke halfway before seeming to realize something. She abruptly shut her mouth, her face turning cold again. “If she isn’t dead, why has she never come home to see her own mother? Even you, a distant niece, knew to come back and visit, didn’t you?”

“Who knows?”

I curved my lips into a smile. “Maybe I’m just someone in the same miserable boat as her, a homeless person with nowhere to go, who happened to hear the name Bailu from her mouth and came over to take a look at the excitement.”

“Also, I don’t think ghosts are frightening.”

“After all, however many people there are in this world, there will be just as many ghosts, won’t there?”

At that, Aunt Chen seemed to want to speak but stopped herself.

Seeing that she appeared to be wavering, I pressed on. “Does no one in the village know what’s going on with that child spirit?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

For some reason, I suddenly thought of a classic trope from Hong Kong movies.

As if compelled by some unseen force, I couldn’t help saying, “Aunt Chen, maybe…”

“Have you ever heard of keeping a child spirit?”

She froze, and her face instantly turned cold.

“I would never do something that wicked.”