Chapter 4: Waking Up to a Ghost

With the experience of the first day, the following days went much smoother. I used those disgusting bat eyes to wash my own during the day, and at night I continued the grueling work at the chaotic graveyard mounds.

In the meantime, my master taught me a talisman called the Six Ding Body Protection Mantra.

This talisman could summon the Six Ding God to fend off and protect against ghosts when the master was not by my side, a contingency plan for emergencies.

By the afternoon of the seventh day, I finally got rid of those disgusting bat eyes. After wiping my eyes for the last time, I threw them away, never wanting to touch those disgusting things again in my life.

My master told me that my Yin-Yang Eyes had now opened and I could see things that ordinary people couldn't.

Curious, I looked all around but saw nothing; everything was still just the broken furnishings of the decrepit Taoist Temple.

My master laughed and said that ghosts and demons don't dare to come out during the day, except for some with high mana that aren't afraid of sunlight.

As night fell, I carried a lantern under my arm and headed towards the chaotic burial mounds, feeling somewhat fearful now that I had opened my Yin-Yang Eyes. So, I recited the courage mantra.

I clenched my left fist, extending the index finger and thumb flat together, while my right fist was loosely clenched with the tips of the index finger, thumb, and middle finger lightly touching each other, chanting in my mind that all directions were free from obstacles, cultivating a clear and empty state of mind.

Observing the chaotic graveyard mounds, I let out a sigh of relief. The ghostly green flames tirelessly drifted about, and the scattered small mounds quietly sat there as they always had. Apart from the occasional hoot of an owl, there was nothing else.

Given that these chaotic burial mounds were supposed to be a paradise for wandering spirits and wild ghosts, I shouldn't have seen nothing at all, and couldn't help but wonder if somehow I had failed in opening my eyes.

I picked up the hoe I had placed there earlier and walked deeper into the chaotic graveyard mounds.

After taking seven or eight steps, I suddenly felt a chill on the back of my neck, and I couldn't help feeling puzzled. There was no wind tonight, so where did this chill come from? It seemed somewhat unreasonable.

After another seven or eight steps, another chill blew down the back of my neck. I whirled around abruptly, coming face-to-face with a "ghost" in an up-close encounter. I cried out and retreated a few steps, then focused my gaze; a "ghost" wearing a floral long shirt, with a protruding forehead, blue face, yellow teeth, and white lips, was standing there sneering at me.

It grabbed its own head and, with a snap, forcibly tore it off, shook it a few times at me, then threw it my way.

Suddenly filled with a courage I didn't know I had, I stepped back, launched a kick in mid-air, and with a whoosh, it disappeared from sight, as if it had never existed, accompanied by its screams.

"Young man, well done," came an unexpected voice at my ear.

I was startled and turned to see a white-haired, pale-faced old man in green clothes "standing" not far away.

Seeming to notice my fear, the green-clothed elder floated back a few steps and told me not to be afraid, assuring me that he meant me no harm.

He said that when his remains were buried, he had noticed the bat blood on my eyelids and knew I must be opening my Yin-Yang Eyes. He had not hurried to be reincarnated after being laid to rest, instead he had waited here, just to thank me in person.

He explained that he was also a Taoist practitioner when he was alive, and that twenty years ago, he perished here together with a Golden Armor Copper Corpse that had become quite powerful due to the weather. Since his meritorious virtues hadn't been fulfilled, he failed to ascend to immortality, and with his bones exposed in the wilderness, he could not be reincarnated, thus becoming a wandering ghost, aimlessly roaming the chaotic graveyard mounds every day.

The zombie I had encountered previously had been detected by it the day the coffin was broken, but it, being a wandering soul with all its mana lost, could only watch helplessly.

It also said that the zombie grew at an astonishing rate, becoming a Golden Armor Copper Corpse within a mere ten years, perhaps because it had fortuitously consumed the blood of someone born at a Yin Time in a year, month, and day dominated by Yin, auspicious for those of pure Yin constitution. Luckily, it was I, who came here to brave the horror, that drew it away and destroyed it, or else, in a thousand years, it might become a Drought Demon, wreaking havoc—a too horrible fate to contemplate.

In casual conversation, it even read my fortune, saying that I was destined for greatness, but would later face a great calamity, concerning my life and possessions.

Before I could ask what this calamity was, it said no more and just stared steadfastly behind me.

About half a minute later, the sound of chains clashing came from behind me.

I turned around and was terrified out of my wits.

Two figures, one in black and one in white, were dragging long iron chains and step by step, approached me. The one in white had a complexion pale as powder, wore a tall hat inscribed with the words "Peace under Heaven", and had a bright red tongue hanging straight down to his chest, swaying as he walked. In his left hand, he held a white Wailing Stick and wore a smile on his face; the one in black was as dark as charcoal, wore a tall hat inscribed with the words "Currently Capturing You", with a bright red tongue also swaying side to side, in his right hand he held a black Wailing Stick, and his face was stern.

May Ren Gao protect me; may Ding Chou guard me; may Ren He guide me; may Ding You preserve me; may Ren Can guard my soul; may Ding Si nurture my spirit; under the shield of Tai Yin, with the door of the Earthly House, the gate of Heaven, walking the steps of Yu, Xuan Nu the True Person, sitting and lying in the hall of light. Hide and conceal oneself, hurry like an order to be followed without delay.

"No! That's Lord Wuchang..." Before it could stop me, I had finished reciting the Six Ding Body Protection Mantra.

By then, Black and White Impermanence had already stood before me. Black Impermanence glanced at me and said, "When a Ghost Agent is on the job, bystanders should not meddle. Don't mention your invocation of the Six Ding God, even if the Heavenly King himself came, it would be of no use."

If it weren't for your life not yet being due, I would bring you back with me as well.

White Impermanence hee-heed at me and pointed at the ghost cultivating the Tao: If it were not for its merits in its previous life, we wouldn't have bothered to come here ourselves but just sent a lesser ghost to take care of it. Step aside now, let us help it to reincarnate.

It bowed to Black and White Impermanence and then disappeared, following the two Ghost Agents, toward that dim realm—the Underworld.

Before leaving, White Impermanence left me with a piece of advice: now that I have embarked on this path, I should do good deeds and build up my virtues to complete my merit at an early date, to be spared the suffering of reincarnation.

I do not know if it was the wandering ghosts and wild spirits that were frightened by Black and White Impermanence or the effect of the Six Ding Body Protection Mantra that I had recited, but for several hours after that, I did not see a shadow of a ghost.

At dawn, I finally completed the task my master had given to me. It took eight days, but I buried every skeleton that had been scattered outside.

Dragging my tired body back to the temple, I ate some of the porridge my master had prepared for me and recounted the night's events to him without omitting a single word.

My master said that the blue-faced one I encountered earlier was a trickster ghost that liked to play pranks on people, often following behind them to blow cold air down their necks.

The ghost that had cultivated the Tao in its previous life must have been a fellow disciple, judging from the fortune it told me, which was very likely accurate. My master said he also discerned that I would face a great peril in the future, but he couldn't see what it was or how to resolve it, so he had not told me to avoid worrying me.

As for those two whom I met later, they were the famous Black and White Impermanence of the Netherworld, a partnership always moving together. White Impermanence, named Xie Bi'an, was responsible for souls of the virtuous; Black Impermanence, named Fan Wujiu, was responsible for souls of the wicked. My master said they were renowned for their impartiality; had I encountered a lesser ghost taking souls and offended it, by now I would probably have already been reporting to the Underworld.

The thought gave me a chill. It seemed I must think carefully before acting in the future…