Chapter 122

Chapter 122

I sniffed lightly.

There was no mistake. The faint stench of a rotting corpse hung around Xia Degui’s home.

That proved the terrifying thing he had encountered at night was no hallucination.

Moreover, it might not be a simple disembodied ghost. It seemed closer to a corpse-fiend.

That was why I could smell faint decay. The thing had come here, and its odor had lingered behind.

A purely spiritual ghost wouldn’t leave the stench of a corpse. I would have needed to employ talisman arts and other methods to uncover any traces of one.

Seeing me stand motionless before the courtyard, Xia Sanjin assumed I was lost in thought and asked cautiously, “Young Mr. Wu? Should we…?”

I came back to myself and nodded without explaining.

“Yes. Secretary Xia, please call him out. Let’s get ready to go inside.”

Xia Sanjin raised his voice.

“Brother Degui! I’ve brought someone to help. Come open the gate! Are you home, Brother Degui?”

The door soon opened.

A haggard, middle-aged man emerged, his face covered in stubble and his hair disheveled. He crossed the small courtyard and opened the gate for us.

One glance revealed dark energy coiling around his entire body, clear evidence that he had been in close contact with something unclean.

His sunken eyes were ringed with darkness, another sign that his mind and spirit had suffered harm.

There was no longer any doubt. Xia Family Hamlet truly was haunted.

Now I had to determine how to deal with it. First, I needed to identify the source.

“Sorry to trouble you, Sanjin.”

“It’s no trouble. Serving the people is my duty. Brother Degui, this is Young Mr. Wu–Wu Zhong. He’s the disciple of the Immortal Lady from Wujia Village. He’s here to help us solve this…problem.”

As Xia Sanjin introduced me, Xia Degui studied me with obvious doubt and distrust in his eyes.

Perhaps because Xia Sanjin was present, he didn’t voice his objections.

To be fair, I didn’t think even Xia Sanjin fully trusted me yet.

He simply didn’t want to embarrass the old village chief of Wujia Village.

I couldn’t blame either of them.

Anyone would have doubts. Was a middle school kid really supposed to solve a problem this serious and terrifying?

I smiled and offered Xia Degui my hand. After a moment’s surprise, he recovered and shook it.

I immediately said, “Uncle Degui, dark energy is wrapped around your body. That means an evil entity has come into close contact with you. For the past two days, have you felt exhausted, weak, short of breath, and tight in the chest? Let me clear it away for you.”

Before he could react, I circulated the qi in my dantian. I guided a tiny thread through my meridians into my palm, then sent it into Xia Degui’s body.

He shuddered and stared at me, astonishment filling his eyes.

I released his hand with a smile.

“How do you feel, Uncle Degui?”

“This…you…sir… You’re a real master!”

Xia Degui’s attitude toward me transformed completely.

Every trace of suspicion vanished from his eyes, replaced by profound awe.

Then he bowed deeply, bending a full ninety degrees at the waist.

I laughed and waved my hands. “There’s no need for all that, Uncle Degui. I can’t accept such a deep bow. Just call me Xiao Wu.”

Xia Degui was only a few years younger than my dad, so his excessive deference made me uncomfortable.

Of course, my own attitude mostly depended on how other people treated me.

I had always responded better to kindness than force.

If someone respected me, I returned the courtesy.

But if someone genuinely provoked me, I never held back when striking back.

Xia Sanjin and Xia Jianguo were both astonished by what they saw.

Xia Sanjin, the village Party secretary, blurted, “Brother Degui, what…what happened?”

Xia Degui looked at me with awe once more and exclaimed, “Master Wu truly is incredible! I haven’t slept well for the past two or three days. Between the shock and fear, my body and mind were both close to collapse.

“But the moment Master Wu shook my hand, a warm current flowed from my palm through my entire body. My head cleared instantly, and all my exhaustion vanished. Incredible!”

Was I really that miraculous?

Xia Sanjin and Xia Jianguo stared at me in shock.
Before, the two men had treated me well simply because they were decent people with good manners.

Now, they had personally witnessed that I wasn’t some fraudulent expert or fake master.

I smiled and waved a hand.

“Uncle Degui, I told you, I’m still young. Xiao Wu is fine. And what happened isn’t quite as mystical as you’re making it sound. You’re in the prime of your life, so there was nothing wrong with your body or mind to begin with.

“You only felt that way because close contact with an evil entity allowed sinister yin energy to enter your body. All I did was drive that energy out.”

So that was it.

Understanding dawned on Xia Sanjin, though his expression remained respectful.

“Whatever the explanation, this proves Young Mr. Wu has genuine skill. Now I can finally stop worrying.”

His whole body seemed to relax.

I, however, felt no such relief.

That thing had only visited twice, yet the corpse aura it left behind still lingered. I could even smell decay in broad daylight.

It had clearly developed considerable power.

That wasn’t remotely normal for something that had died so recently. Something strange had to be going on.

I might be in for a difficult battle.

Strictly speaking, there was no longer any need for Xia Jianguo to remain.

But his curiosity kept him with us.

Xia Degui led us into the house and moved to make tea.

I shook my head. “Don’t trouble yourself, Uncle Degui. Please ask Aunt Xia Dong to come down first. I have a few questions for her. If my guess is right, the source of this whole affair lies with her.”

“Oh, all right. Master Wu…I mean, Young Mr. Wu, wait here. My wife is upstairs in our child’s room.”

“Go ahead.”

It was broad daylight, so I wasn’t worried.

I waited in the main room with Xia Sanjin and Xia Jianguo.

Silently circulating the qi within me, I guided it into my eyes. Then I brushed my fingertips across my eyelids, narrowed them slightly, and scanned the room.

Just as I expected.

Trails of gray footprints covered the floor, each still releasing wisps of corpse aura.

“The corpse aura is so dense it refuses to disperse anywhere those feet passed. This thing won’t be easy to handle.”

I sighed inwardly.

But difficult didn’t mean impossible.

My cultivation was fairly respectable now. I was no longer a helpless rookie and had at least begun to cross the threshold into genuine proficiency.

I had a seventy or eighty percent chance of defeating this thing, something halfway between a corpse and a ghost.

Thinking that, I once again felt grateful to Zhou Min, the female vicious corpse.

Without the massive increase in strength her corpse core had given me, I would have turned around and hurried back to Wujia Village to fetch Master the moment I encountered a situation like this.

“Don’t worry, Zhou Min. I’ll investigate your case properly.”

I repeated the promise silently, making it clear that I hadn’t forgotten our unseen nether covenant.

Before long, Xia Degui brought his wife downstairs.

Dark energy veiled her face, and she looked even more exhausted than her husband.

“Hello, Secretary Xia. Hello, Uncle Xia. And this is…?”

“My name is Wu Zhong. I’m visiting Xia Family Hamlet from Wujia Village.”

I introduced myself with a smile. For the moment, I didn’t say I had come to catch a ghost–which, from Xia Dong’s perspective, meant catching her daughter.

According to Xia Sanjin, any mention of that might send her into another screaming fit, making everything much harder to handle.

For me now, ghosts were easier to deal with than people.

I gestured toward a nearby chair and smiled. “Aunt Xia Dong, why don’t you sit down and talk with me? I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

She gave me a puzzled look, then glanced at her husband, Xia Degui.

She was probably wondering why I, a young stranger, seemed to be taking charge when so many adults were present.

But since her husband, the Party secretary, and a respected village elder raised no objections, she sat down.

“What do you want to ask, Xiao Wu? I’m only a country woman. I don’t have much education.”

I spoke softly.

“Aunt Xia Dong, I only want to ask you this: what do you think about the fact that the dead cannot return to life?”

Xia Dong froze.

Xia Degui and the others tensed beside us. Holding their breath, they stared at Xia Dong, waiting to see how she would react.