Neither of the two men recognized He Xiaoyi, but he certainly knew who they were.
One hailed from the city's most bustling Buddhist temple with the richest incense offerings, while the other came from its most ancient Taoist monastery.
Since antiquity, monks looked down on Taoists, and Taoists disdained monks; it seemed to have become an unspoken rule.
Naturally, the relationship between these two was far from cordial.
Rumor had it that during their fiercest quarrel, Taoist Master Dingyi had pointed right at Master Guangliang's head and cursed him as a “bald donkey,” while Master Guangliang grabbed Taoist Master Dingyi's beard, shouting “ox-nose!”
Normally, the two wouldn't cross paths in a million years, yet here they were today, gathered in the same room.
“Haha, Grand Master, Daoist Master, my ancestors belong to the Questioning Spirits He family. When this building was haunted before, I was the one who performed the ritual.
However, because this ghost died by suicide, his resentful energy is exceptionally heavy and difficult to deal with.
Even after borrowing the yang energy of the Dragon Boat Festival and the vitality of living people, I couldn't drive him away. In fact, I was nearly retaliated against.”
In just a few words, He Xiaoyi recounted everything he had experienced, before adding:
“Furthermore, this ghost is unlike any ghost we've ever encountered before—”
He glanced at Qin Yue, hesitating for a moment.
“This ghost... manifested in the surveillance footage.”
The expressions of Master Guangliang and Taoist Master Dingyi shifted in unison, and they blurted out simultaneously:
“What?”
“That is absolutely impossible!”
Qin Yue's brows knitted together, not understanding why the two of them reacted so intensely.
“Why are you two so certain? Modern science and technology have many methods at their disposal, and electronic equipment is upgrading and iterating faster and faster.
If an image of a ghost happened to be captured by chance, it doesn't seem impossible.”
“There is naturally a basis for our words.”
Master Guangliang pressed his palms together and chanted a Buddhist prayer. “The matters of this world are profound beyond measure and infinitely mysterious.
There are things that even the naked human eye cannot perceive, let alone inanimate objects.”
“Young comrade, how should I explain this to you?”
Taoist Master Dingyi scratched his head and traced a circle with his hands.
“Take photography as an example. The scene viewed by the human naked eye is always more vivid and beautiful than what a camera captures.
Why is that? Because within the human body dwell the three souls and six spirits.
When eyes look at something, it is not merely the eyeballs moving, but rather the 'spirit' and the 'flesh' operating together.
Therefore, no matter how technology advances, a camera remains an inanimate object without a soul. It simply cannot perceive what human eyes can see.”
Qin Yue remained silent.
A roomful of surrounding researchers listened closely with furrowed brows.
Some even jotted down a few notes in their notebooks from time to time.
—The scene was as absurd as it could possibly get.
“So you see, it's impossible!”
Taoist Master Dingyi said cheerfully:
“It's just like playing with magnets when you were little—everyone knows opposites attract and like poles repel!
If you insist on forcing two positive poles or two negative poles together, you will definitely feel a force pushing back.
This force is invisible and intangible, but can you say it doesn't exist?
Ghosts are just like that—invisible and intangible.
When a person dies, their soul departs the physical flesh and becomes a 'ghost.'
Some people can feel its presence and are influenced by it, while others cannot sense it at all and assume it does not exist.”
The more Taoist Master Dingyi spoke, the more animated he grew, his gray-white beard trembling as though seized by a tremor.
“A ghost can only influence your psyche; it has no way to interfere with physical reality. It can only make you irritable, hypersensitive, or insecure, but it cannot harm you on a physical level.
How could such an entity manifest under a camera lens?
In all my decades of life, I have never seen a Greater Ghost capable of manifesting before living people. Most are merely minor imps that amount to nothing.
Unless it is a ferocious vengeful ghost like those recorded in ancient tomes—one that has slaughtered dozens of lives and massacred countless living souls—only then might such a thing be possible.”
“How could that be possible?!”
He Xiaoyi reflexively denied it. “Chen Ping was just an ordinary citizen, not some wanted mass murderer.
Even if dying violently gave him heavier resentment, it certainly hasn't reached the level of becoming a ferocious ghost.”
“Amitabha.”
Master Guangliang smiled, looking genial and jovial like a Maitreya Buddha.
“What the Taoist master said is precisely what this poor monk was thinking.
Had it been before the Liberation, perhaps such things existed. But now we live in a society ruled by law, so it is impossible for such a...”
“Grand Master, please take a look.”
Qin Yue had been listening quietly all along. Hearing this, she raised a hand to gesture.
Immediately, someone began playing that section of the surveillance footage.
“Please look closely at the 137th minute and 49th second of the video. The face suspected to belong to 'Chen Ping' appears right here.
Our people have matched and cross-checked it thousands of times. We can state with complete certainty that the person in the video is indeed Chen Ping.”
—Even though it was broad daylight, looking at that ordinary face caused a layer of cold sweat to break out across everyone's backs.
“Heavens above!”
Taoist Master Dingyi stared intently at the video, his mouth agape wide enough to fit an egg.
“This is impossible! Even if a ghost from suicide had heavy resentment, how could he be this formidable?!”
“It is indeed strange. If it wasn't cultivated artificially...”
Master Guangliang suddenly thought of a possibility, his brows sinking.
“If there is a more formidable ghostly entity dwelling inside this building, then under the soaking and corruption of ghostly energy, it is not impossible for him to have transformed into this...”
“You mean—”
Taoist Master Dingyi paled in shock, so rattled he could barely stand steady. “Are you saying there might be a super-ferocious ghost hiding in this building capable of making Chen Ping manifest before living people?”
The atmosphere instantly turned bizarre.
Qin Yue's expression darkened further.
The researchers exchanged glances, and after a moment, an excited glint shone in their eyes:
Two ghosts?
Wouldn't that mean one more experimental subject!
However, the monk and the Taoist looked thoroughly grim.
Because they both understood what this signified.
Ever since spiritual energy depleted, the path of cultivation had grown increasingly arduous.
Centuries ago, ghosts and monsters vanished overnight.
Even demons had gradually withered away under the ironclad decree that “no spirits may attain enlightenment after the founding of the republic.”
It often led to the bizarre spectacle where, whenever a single ghost appeared, over a dozen Taoist monasteries would scramble to claim it.
Unlike He Xiaoyi, who had a special constitution that occasionally allowed him to communicate with spiritual entities,
cultivators were more like dragon slayers who had mastered the Dragon-Slaying Art but were born into a world of peace.
Possessing the skills to slay dragons, they were reduced to sitting in their own Buddhist halls or Taoist monasteries reading fortunes and physiognomy for passersby.
According to historical records, the last Greater Ghost capable of manifesting before living people with sky-high grievance had appeared before the Liberation.
In life, that ghost was a bloodthirsty bandit who, after being executed by firing squad, turned into a ghost that terrorized the countryside, claiming three lives in succession.
Records stated that this ghost could not only manifest, but also speak human tongue and consume food.
—In the end, PLA soldiers hauled up two artillery cannons and bombarded the bastard's grave for over half an hour, performing a direct physical exorcism.
The bone fragments were blasted into fine dust, leaving no trace of the soul behind.
Naturally, the Greater Ghost vanished without a trace.
Who could have thought that in such an era of peace, another Greater Ghost of this caliber might very well have emerged?
“Haha.”
He Xiaoyi vigorously denied the notion:
“Ancient records could be mistaken. Cultivation is so difficult nowadays; forget ghosts, even demons haven't shown up in centuries.
How could it be such a coincidence that two ferocious ghosts would pop up in a single building?”
Even as he said this, his feet were edging inch by inch toward the elevator.
Evidently, he was already prepared to bolt at a moment's notice.
Rate on N.U.
