Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“First question: How do I preserve my best friend’s body so it doesn’t rot and stink?”

“Second question: How can I keep her with me at all times without anyone discovering she’s a ghost?”

“Third question: Do I need to take out the tracker you secretly planted on me every few days to recharge it?”

Yun Jianyue fired off her questions one after another, leaving both men dumbfounded.

The last one, in particular, made Du Minghao want to curl his toes in embarrassment.

“Didn’t you say your technique was discreet? How did she find the tracker?” Du Minghao hissed through gritted teeth into Cai Zeyu’s ear.

Cai Zeyu had done this plenty of times, but this was the first time he had ever been caught. He was just as baffled. “How should I know how she found it?”

In the end, the two men awkwardly removed the tracker.

What they had done was technically against regulations. But then again, they really didn’t have any other choice.

The Paranormal Bureau was swamped and severely understaffed. They simply couldn’t spare anyone to monitor Yun Jianyue and her ghost around the clock.

Cai Zeyu also gave Yun Jianyue solutions to her other two problems. Just as the men thought they could finally get off work, she remembered something else.

“Oh, right. What will happen to that scumbag?” Yun Jianyue asked.

“He’s still in the hospital, but his case has already been handed over to the relevant authorities. His sentence should be decided soon,” Du Minghao replied.

Wang Hui had murdered his biological mother and Lu Changxue, on top of committing insurance fraud and other crimes. With all those offenses combined, he would receive life imprisonment at the very least, and there was a strong chance he would be sentenced to death.

Yun Jianyue nodded, then left with Lu Changxue in tow.

After returning home, Yun Jianyue ordered a custom-made chest freezer, one large enough to fit Lu Changxue’s entire body inside.

She also bought a piece of top-quality Hetian jade, which cost more than half her savings. The expense hurt so badly that she couldn’t stop cursing Lu Changxue.

Finally, Yun Jianyue purchased some cinnabar and yellow talisman paper.

Before leaving the Paranormal Bureau, she had added Du Minghao to her contacts.

Once everything arrived, Yun Jianyue video-called him.

“I’ve got everything ready. Is this how I draw the talisman?” Yun Jianyue aimed the camera at a blank sheet of yellow paper, dipped her brush in cinnabar, and began copying the pattern from the reference image.

On the other end of the call, Du Minghao rolled his eyes so hard they nearly disappeared into his skull. “Didn’t I tell you to contact me once the materials arrived so I could come draw it for you?”

Yun Jianyue might be surrounded by mysteries, but she had never received any formal training in Daoist arts. How could she possibly create a talisman just by copying its shape?

The Human-Ghost Contract Talisman could only be drawn by Daoist priests with profound cultivation and extensive mastery of talisman arts.

Before drawing it, they also had to bathe, burn incense, and kneel in worship before their founding master.

Even Du Minghao, one of the most talented young Daoist priests in the field of talisman arts, couldn’t guarantee that he would succeed on his first attempt. Meanwhile, Yun Jianyue still had a piece of chive stuck between her teeth. One glance was enough to tell she had just finished eating.

How could an ordinary person with no training, no cultivation, and a body full of impure energy possibly succeed?

Du Minghao had already made up his mind to mock her mercilessly once she failed.

Their mystic arts were far more profound than she realized!

“I took a look, and it didn’t seem that difficult. I thought I’d give it a try first.” Yun Jianyue’s hand was perfectly steady, just as it had been when she stitched Lu Changxue’s head back on.

But as she progressed through the talisman, her movements grew slower and slower.

She could vaguely sense something flowing through her body, gradually converging at her fingertips before passing through the cinnabar brush and settling onto the yellow paper.
As the talisman neared completion, the things flowing across it gradually slowed, as though the talisman paper were draining them dry.

“Phew, it’s finished.” Yun Jianyue let out a long breath of relief. Setting the cinnabar brush aside, she held the completed talisman up to the camera and asked, “Is this right?”

“I can tell at a glance that yours won’t work. Did you think all you had to do was copy the pattern?” Du Minghao launched into his mockery without even looking. After all, he didn’t believe Yun Jianyue could actually pull it off.

“I’d better teach you after I get off work.” With that, Du Minghao prepared to end the call.

But the moment his gaze fell on the screen, he froze. Then he shrieked, “How could you possibly have succeeded?! Don’t move! Let me take a closer look!”

Yun Jianyue held perfectly still, keeping the talisman raised for Du Minghao to inspect.

After a long while, Du Minghao slumped heavily into his chair, looking as if he had lost his mind.

“Impossible. How is this possible…? She didn’t bathe or burn incense, and she’s never even sensed Innate Qi. How could she…?”

Du Minghao was losing his mind, but Yun Jianyue understood one thing: she had succeeded.

She then followed the method Du Minghao had taught her and successfully formed a contract with Lu Changxue.

From that moment on, Lu Changxue was an evil ghost under her care. In a sense, Yun Jianyue was now Lu Changxue’s master.

The contract came with risks, however. If Lu Changxue lost her reason and Yun Jianyue was unable to subdue her, Lu Changxue might very well turn on her master.

Once the contract was formed, Lu Changxue could reside inside a piece of jade. As long as Yun Jianyue wore it, she could keep Lu Changxue with her at all times.

That meant Yun Jianyue no longer had to worry about Lu Changxue straying too far from her and losing control.

Thanks to the Paranormal Bureau’s intervention, Lu Changxue’s body did not have to be cremated. Yun Jianyue stored it in a large freezer and placed several talismans on the lid to keep the corpse from decomposing and starting to smell.

That way, if Lu Changxue ever wanted to use her own body again, they could take it out for her.

“All right, that’s everything taken care of. There’s just one last thing to do.” Yun Jianyue dusted herself off, sat down on the sofa, and began looking at tickets.

Now in ghost form, Lu Changxue passed straight through the furniture and drifted over to Yun Jianyue. “What else do we have to do?”

“Tell your parents that you’re dead and have become a ghost, obviously.” Yun Jianyue rolled her eyes at her. “What, now that you’re dead, you don’t have to care whether your parents live or die?”

Lu Changxue fell silent for a moment. “They still don’t know I’m dead, do they?”

“They’ll find out sooner or later. And in your current state, you aren’t completely dead, in a manner of speaking. For your parents, that’s at least a silver lining.” Yun Jianyue quickly booked tickets to the city where Lu Changxue’s parents lived.

She and Lu Changxue came from the same small county town and had known each other since first grade. They had later attended the same middle school, high school, and even university. Their families knew each other well.

After Lu Changxue started middle school, her parents had moved to a major city for work. Then Lu Changxue, hopelessly blinded by love, had spent her summer vacation with Wang Hui instead of going home.

As it happened, Yun Jianyue had used the inheritance from her mother to buy an apartment here. She had originally planned to return to her hometown after a while, but this whole mess had happened. Now she had no choice but to deal with Lu Changxue’s situation first.

Lu Changxue let out a melancholy sigh. “I just don’t know whether my parents will be able to accept having a ghost for a daughter.”