Chapter 78 Part 1
Lai Jun, the Yin messenger, pulled the struggling soul closer, frowning as he looked at his face. ‘You again?’
Xie Zhi also wanted to ask, why you again?!
He wanted to complain, but he didn’t dare offend an Yin messenger, especially this Lai Jun, a notorious bully when he was alive, now an Yin messenger, probably thanks to his spirit medium grandmother’s connections.
Lai Jun was puzzled. A soul wandering off once was possible, but repeatedly, besides those Live Impermanences, it was rare.
Could he be… sick?
Spirits could get sick, but most relied on their own spiritual power to recover, the underworld lacking proper medical facilities.
‘Master, please have mercy, I just wandered off again, my time hasn’t come yet,‘ Xie Zhi pleaded.
Lai Jun looked him over and nodded, ‘Fine, I’ll be kind, come with me.’
Xie Zhi: ‘?’
Did they have different definitions of “kindness?”
Not letting him go back to his body, not taking him to the underworld, where was he being taken?
Lai Jun wasn’t taking him to the underworld. He dragged him towards Chengde Medical Clinic, under the shade of the scholar trees.
Before even entering, they saw a familiar figure live streaming at the consultation table inside. Wu Heng.
Xie Zhi: ‘!!!’
That’s his idea of kindness?! Leading him into the lion’s den?!
That damned bully, still a bastard after death!
Lai Jun floated in and sat on Wu Heng’s consultation table, smugly, ‘You gave me work, and now I’m returning the favor! This soul keeps wandering off, how about a couple of needles?’
Wu Heng thought, was this even the same?
What he gave were legitimate merit points, this, on the other hand, was more work.
He looked at the trembling soul, amused. “You dare come here again?”
Xie Zhi on the other end exclaimed, ‘That’s… that’s me!’ To be precise, that was the face she saw in the mirror every day, it felt strange seeing her “own” body floating around like that.
“…So that’s… the soul that was in our daughter’s body,” Mother Xie stared at the screen in disbelief.
A young man, seventeen or eighteen, his soul bearing the scars of incompatibility, they had never seen him before, yet his expression, his mannerisms, strangely familiar.
The couple, looking at Xie Zhi, then at the young man on the screen, their hearts heavy, couldn’t imagine a male soul inhabiting their daughter’s body for fourteen years.
All those years, nurturing and caring for her, only to realize they were raising a stranger. Anger and resentment burned within them.
[Another ghost. I’m used to it now.]
[They can see it because they’re involved and related, we can’t.]
[I want to see what that pervert looks like! I bet he did disgusting things while in Xie Zhi’s body.]
[I’m scared. My son also changed after a high fever. Could it be the same?]
[+1. My father too. Could he be someone else now?]
Xie Zhi, not daring to look at Wu Heng, “I’m a living soul! You can’t harm me! I want to go back to my body!”
Seeing Wu Heng’s silence, he shouted angrily, ‘This is none of your business, you shaman doc… ah—’
Lai Jun slapped him across the face, grinning. ‘Whose business, you said? Repeat that for me!’
An Yin messenger’s slap carried spiritual power, Xie Zhi’s head spinning.
He almost forgot, Yin messengers weren’t like polite human police officers. A bully in life, even more unrestrained in death.
Xie Zhi, clutching his face, whimpered, ‘My business… I mean, m-my… ah! Why another slap?!’
Su Da Yi, pretending to be asleep in its dog bed, almost burst out laughing, ‘Hahaha, “none of your business,” are all humans this stupid?’
It glanced at the two little snakes staring at it cautiously from a corner, then closed its eyes again.
Lai Jun was furious, this soul dared insult his benefactor right in front of him, and he had even been planning to let Wu Heng treat him, being a kind Yin messenger wasn’t appreciated.
He really wanted to slap him again!
The Xie parents, watching, also wanted to slap him, how could he be so stupid? They raised him for fourteen years!
Xie Zhi, subdued now, looked at Wu Heng. ‘The underworld can’t detain living souls. My time hasn’t come. You’ll lose merit points for capturing the wrong soul!’
A living soul, not yet dead, first mistake.
And wrongly capturing one might result in the body being buried alive. Second mistake.
All his fault if anything went wrong.
Lai Jun’s face darkened, those were his merit points… this kid was holding him hostage.
His kindness had backfired.
Wu Heng chuckled. ‘You know quite a bit. The underworld might not be able to detain you, but our eighteen villages can.’
Wu Heng watched, satisfied, as Xie Zhi’s expression changed. He took a piece of yellow paper, his fingers moving deftly, creating a three-dimensional pyramid, poked a hole in it with a burning incense stick snatched from Su Da Yi’s offering, and handed it to Lai Jun. ‘Put him in there and leave it on the Nuo God Temple’s altar.’
The villagers of the eighteen villages revered the Nuo gods, so the gods had jurisdiction over them!
And the Nuo gods could punish even the living.
Xie Zhi’s face paled, he struggled, ‘Wu Heng, you idiot, you fool, this is none of your business! Damn that Yin messenger, I’ll curse him even if he hits me again! I won’t go to the temple! I won’t!’
There were many legends in these remote villages about the Nuo gods, righteous deities, both protectors and punishers.
The villagers often used these stories to teach children about right and wrong.
“Hey, what are you doing?! What are you doing to our son?!” Father Xie shouted angrily, his voice threatening, “Don’t forget, we’re very close to Chengde Medical Clinic!”
Father Xie immediately added, seeing this, “Don’t worry, Doctor Wu, I have friends in your province, I’ll send someone to protect your clinic. We’re coming too!”
[What are they saying? Are they threatening him?]
[I’m laughing so hard, you’re close, so what? I can fly there in an instant and take care of you two, do you think your numbers are greater than Wu Heng’s Protection Squad’s?]
[Harassing a doctor? If you scare him off, who’s going to cure our strange illnesses?!]
Father Xie, his voice indignant, said, “Doctor Wu, you don’t even have a medical license! I haven’t reported you yet, just because we’re from the same town. Disciplining children is our business! How can you send him to the Nuo God Temple?!”
Wu Heng smiled, “I can ask the village chief of Wu Wa village to accompany him.”
Father Xie: “…”
Outsiders couldn’t interfere in family matters, but the village chief could.
Although collectively called the Eighteen Villages, they were always competing with each other, but now, their hopes of boosting tourism rested on Wu Heng. The village chief of Wu Wa would definitely intervene, it made perfect sense.
Mother Xie collapsed on the ground, wailing, “What are you doing?! Sending my son’s soul to the Nuo God Temple?! When will he even return?!”
Wu Heng said, “How long he did wrong, is how long he needs to repent.”
Father and Mother Xie felt a chill.
A soul could only be separated from its body for seven days. Any longer, and the body would decay, the only solution was to keep it alive artificially in a hospital, like a vegetative state, until its return.
But that cost money. Fourteen years, how much would that be?!
There was another, cheaper, option, pull the plug, but… that was their only child!
It was out of love for their only son, trapped in this remote, impoverished village, that they resorted to such a drastic measure, a soul swap, so he could experience life in the city.
“Wu Heng, I’ll destroy your clinic, you little beast!” Father Xie shouted, grabbing a hoe.
Xie Zhi, stunned, so they did love their child, their anger and worry genuine. But their love wasn’t for her.
She felt… something, and her mother placed a hand on her shoulder, gently stroking her hair, her eyes welling up.
[Hahaha, detention at the Nuo God Temple? Does it involve a sewing machine?]
[Everyone needs a bit of faith, even if I’m an atheist.]
[This has nothing to do with Wu Heng. It’s the village chief, the family elder. Village chiefs used to have great power, deciding many things.]
[If Xie Zhi hadn’t connected, that pervert would have gotten away with it. Good deeds are rewarded.]
‘Alright,’ Lai Jun, holding the pyramid, grinned, and deftly lassoed Xie Zhi, his soul-snatching rope, the struggling soul pulled inside, the soul-swapping bell falling to the ground.
Escorting this soul wasn’t an underworld task, but it earned merit.
Lai Jun wondered, merit or promotion, which was more important.
