MMLZ CH3

The group returned to the village and went to the ancestral hall to examine the bodies of the deceased.

It was terrifying—at least that’s how Xu Yan felt. The corpses all looked the same: their eyes were bulging, pale skin with bulging veins—especially around the face. Even though they were dead, the veins were still clearly visible.

It was as if they had been scared to death.

“Village Chief, this ghost doesn’t seem to be related to the exhumed grave. Has anything unusual happened recently in the village or nearby?” asked Uncle Jiu.

“No,” the village elder replied after thinking hard.

“Has anyone traveled out of the village recently?”

“This…” The elder thought for a moment, and suddenly his expression changed drastically. “Daoist Master, A’mu went to his wife’s family to attend a funeral. On his way back, he said he encountered some strange things… Could this be related?”

Did that even need to be asked?

Xu Yan’s heart skipped a beat. He realized that one of the victims was likely A’mu.

Could it really be that the ghost was brought back from outside the village?

Xu Yan used to think that all ghosts were terrifying and powerful. But after hearing his master’s teachings, he came to understand that ordinary ghosts weren’t actually that strong—it was often difficult for them to harm people. Human beings naturally possess three fires of yang energy in their bodies, especially strong in young, healthy men. Small ghosts usually avoided them.

Ghosts seemed powerful mainly because they were hard to detect. They could move unpredictably, pass through walls, and conjure terrifying illusions to scare people.

“Where are A’mu’s family? Bring them here. I need to ask them something,” Uncle Jiu said.

Xu Yan quietly asked, “Master, were those people scared to death?”

Uncle Jiu nodded solemnly and said in a low voice, “More or less. Ordinary ghosts fear human yang energy. So they resort to scaring people to find an opportunity to strike.”

No wonder Master had warned him—when facing supernatural phenomena, never let fear take over. Fear gave the ghost a chance to harm you!

Xu Yan had an epiphany.

Sometimes, encountering a ghost doesn’t harm you at all—until you realize it’s a ghost and start to panic. That’s when things go wrong.

Soon, A’mu’s wife came into the ancestral hall crying, holding her child.

She was just an ordinary village woman. Her husband had gone alone to attend a funeral because she was caring for their child and couldn’t travel far. Who would’ve thought he’d die shortly after returning—and that others in the village would die too?

Her husband had been the pillar of the family. With him gone, her world collapsed. She had no idea how she would raise her child alone now.

“He said he was very tired after staying up all night at the funeral. On his way back, he felt a sudden chill. After returning home, he kept saying he was cold… and then that night, he passed away.”

“You weren’t at home?” Uncle Jiu asked.

She nodded tearfully. “I was at a neighbor’s house helping with some grain.”

That confirmed it—the ghost had been brought in from outside.

Because A’mu was mentally and physically weak from exhaustion, he had encountered a ghost on the way back. It latched onto him and entered the village, bringing disaster to others as well.

Now the next step was to find a way to catch the ghost.

With the villagers’ guidance, Uncle Jiu and Xu Yan went to investigate the homes where people had died. Then they discussed plans with the village chief. Some of the young men stayed at A’mu’s home that night. Uncle Jiu and Xu Yan also stayed there.

This ghost wasn’t particularly powerful. Uncle Jiu’s skills were advanced enough that the ghost wouldn’t dare show up if he was around. But they needed bait to lure it out. To Xu Yan’s dismay, he was one of the bait.

Damn it. Being a Daoist wasn’t easy, especially when he was just a total rookie.

Sitting beside a fire, Xu Yan tossed in some more wood, grumbling silently. Thankfully, he was only the backup bait—the real bait was inside the house.

Trying to comfort himself, Xu Yan had no idea that ghosts often preferred to target certain types of people—even in groups. Specifically, young men full of vitality and strong yang energy.

And he was exactly that type.

As time passed with nothing happening, Xu Yan, who had been alert the whole time, started to doze off.

A cold wind brushed past, causing Xu Yan to blink drowsily. Instinctively, he reached for a piece of firewood to toss into the flames. But the moment he turned his head, he almost died of fright—a deathly pale face was right beside him, grinning hideously.

Sh*t!!

Sometimes, when people are terrified beyond reason, they don’t even scream—and that’s exactly what happened to Xu Yan. He had been wondering how the ghost would appear, and suddenly it was just there, grinning silently at him.

Even though this female ghost wasn’t bleeding from the eyes or hair all over the place, she scared him half to death.

Xu Yan froze instantly, and then he realized—that cold breeze earlier wasn’t wind. It was the yin energy stirred up by the ghost’s arrival.

A chill ran up his spine all the way to the top of his head, every hair on his body standing on end.

“Get lost!!”

On reflex, Xu Yan shoved the ghost with his hand. The wooden stick he was holding flew straight through her body. He didn’t wet his pants, but he was barely doing better.

The ghost saw that Xu Yan was unusually calm and gave a cold, eerie smile. She raised a clawed hand to grab him—

“AHHH!!”

At that moment, her hand touched the back of Xu Yan’s hand—and suddenly she let out a shriek. Her entire body crackled with electricity, like she had been wrapped in live wires, smoking as if electrocuted.

Xu Yan jumped back, staring in horror at the ghost writhing on the ground, screaming in pain. He was stunned—what just happened? Did Master do that?

“Evil creature, die!!”

At that moment, Uncle Jiu burst out from the small hidden room. With a peach wood sword in his right hand and a Soul-Calming Talisman in his left, he was ready to destroy the ghost.

But when he saw the ghost already on the ground, twitching in agony, he paused.

“Die!!”

He slapped the talisman onto the sword and hurled it. The sword pierced the ghost’s body, and her wails rose in pitch. Her spirit form was burned by the talisman, turning into a puff of black smoke and vanishing. The peach wood sword remained stuck in the ground.

Ignoring the sword, Uncle Jiu rushed to grab Xu Yan’s hand. He saw that the back of Xu Yan’s hand and his fingers had small cuts—probably from when he threw the stick out of fear—and fresh blood was trickling down.

“This… this isn’t possible,” Uncle Jiu muttered to himself, staring at the wounds in disbelief.