Chapter 41

Chapter 41: I’ll Teach You to Scare People

“Woo… woo… woo…”

Someone was crying in the dead of night.

Gu Shi Yi sat on the bed and listened. Her eyelids twitched, but she didn’t move. Li Yan Er, perched by the window, opened her eyes and peered into the darkness.

“Shi Yi,” she murmured, “it’s here.”

Gu Shi Yi let out a long breath. “So it really won’t let anyone have a quiet night.”

And the more it pushed, the more it proved how valuable the thing she carried was. Which made sense. If that middle-aged man had any other way out, he would never have handed such a treasure to a mortal like her.

Gu Shi Yi stared at the doorway. The crying drew closer. It reached the door—and stopped.

Then the door, which should have been latched, creaked and slowly swung open from the outside. A cold wind rolled in. On the table, the tiny oil lamp’s flame wavered, shuddered, and went out.

Gu Shi Yi sighed again, half amused. If their world worked like Yan Er’s, she thought, she could set up a camera and shoot horror films without ever leaving the house. Fresh material every night.

She watched the open doorway. No one stood there.

Fine. Let it waste patience.

She could sit there until dawn if she had to.

Whatever lurked outside couldn’t. It didn’t come through the door. Instead, a white shadow flickered past the window. A pale claw shot in, nails black and absurdly long—straight for Li Yan Er.

Li Yan Er was a thin little spirit, barely worth mentioning. Going for her was pure show: a threat delivered right in front of Gu Shi Yi’s eyes.

A clever idea. Wrong target.

The moment the claw crossed the window frame, the peachwood sword beside Gu Shi Yi rose into the air by itself. It was the sword the old Daoist priest had left for his apprentice. Now it hummed, trembling as if impatient, and shot forward with a sharp whine.

Sizzle.

It pinned the back of the ghost’s hand and burned a black hole straight through.

A shriek tore the night. The claw vanished back out the window.

The peachwood sword didn’t chase. It circled the room, buzzing, as if daring the thing outside to try again.

Li Yan Er zipped behind Gu Shi Yi at once. “It’s a female ghost,” she whispered, voice tight. “And she’s strong.”

Gu Shi Yi nodded. “Stay behind me. If it turns ugly, you run first.”

Li Yan Er hid like smoke.

The peachwood sword suddenly streaked toward the door, a bright blur in the dark.

Sizzle.

Another shriek. Another burned claw.

Then the same claw crept in through the window again—and again.

Sizzle. Sizzle.

The female ghost was stubborn enough to qualify as a profession. Gu Shi Yi watched for a bit, then got bored and called out, “Hey. What are you doing out there—trying to barbecue yourself?”

That did it.

A razor-sharp howl exploded through the room. It wasn’t sound the way living people made sound—more like a needle shoved into the mind. Gu Shi Yi’s head rang. The very air seemed to shiver. Even the peachwood sword wobbled, lost its spirit, and clattered to the floor.

Gu Shi Yi steadied herself and nodded once. “Now we’re talking.”

She flicked her fingers, pulled the peachwood sword back into her hand, and braced.

At the doorway, black fog poured in—thick, heavy, wrong. Inside it drifted a figure in white, eyes bulging, tongue hanging long and red. The sight was grotesque enough for any ordinary person to wet themselves.

Gu Shi Yi didn’t even blink—until her gaze caught the slight swell of the ghost’s belly.

“Fuck,” she breathed. “A mother-and-child sha.”

Most ghosts, once dead, went straight with Ox-Head and Horse-Face to be judged and reincarnated. The ones who refused were the troublemakers—the ones whose resentment was too thick to swallow. Ordinary Underworld Constables couldn’t always handle those, so the Underworld Court sent specialized disciples down to the living world to capture them.

But the underworld had the same problem as any government office: there were never enough hands, and the work never ended. Some slipped through the net.

A resentful ghost that lingered too long could harden into a vengeful ghost. And if no one dragged it away in time, it would turn into sha—a dead end. Once a ghost became sha, it couldn’t reincarnate at all. If caught, it was erased on the spot.

Among sha, mother-and-child sha were the worst. A wronged mother, an unborn child that never saw daylight—two resentments bound together and fed by the same hatred.

Gu Shi Yi forced a bitter smile. “And judging by that belly… it’s probably a son. No wonder the Huang Family can’t produce sons. This thing is blocking their descendants’ fate.”

If the mother-and-child sha stayed here and cultivated longer, it wouldn’t just be unborn children that suffered. Living people would start dropping too.

Li Yan Er shivered behind Gu Shi Yi, buffeted by the cold wind. “Why didn’t we sense something this strong during the day?”

“They know how to hide,” Gu Shi Yi said grimly. “Otherwise the city’s Spirit Guards would’ve noticed, or some passing cultivator or Daoist would’ve dealt with them already. They’ve been squatting here, cultivating in secret. The only reason they showed their faces is because what I’m carrying is too tempting.”

She couldn’t decide whether Master Huang Liu was lucky—or she was simply cursed.

Gu Shi Yi dragged the edge of her finger along the peachwood sword and smeared her blood onto the blade. With her other hand, she gripped her talisman tight.

“I don’t know if I can handle this alone,” she muttered.

But fear wasn’t useful. If she couldn’t win, she’d make noise, wake the whole manor, drag in the Spirit Guards or any expert she could. Her job was simple: fight if she could, run if she couldn’t, and survive until dawn.

The female ghost drifted closer, a pale claw reaching out. The burned marks on her hand had already faded as if they’d never existed.

“Give it to me,” she rasped, voice like nails on glass.

Gu Shi Yi lifted the peachwood sword across her chest. “If you have the guts, come take it.”

The ghost’s lips curled. She lunged—both claws aimed straight for Gu Shi Yi’s chest, nails long and black, the intent obvious: tear her open.

Gu Shi Yi snorted and snapped the sword upward, catching both claws.

A scream split the air. Two sword-wide burn marks branded themselves into the ghost’s palms.

Gu Shi Yi grinned and taunted, “Come on. Try harder.”

The female ghost shrieked, hair whipping up like a storm. Her tongue shot out—thin, long, whip-fast—and wrapped around Gu Shi Yi’s waist.

Gu Shi Yi staggered, but she didn’t panic. She shifted the peachwood sword to her left hand, grabbed the slick tongue with her right, and slapped her talisman down.

Black smoke billowed. The tongue hissed and writhed. The ghost screamed, trying to yank it back, but Gu Shi Yi held on like she had a personal vendetta.

With a final, sizzling snap, the tongue burned clean through.

Gu Shi Yi yanked too hard and slammed the back of her head into the wall. Stars burst behind her eyes. The severed piece of tongue in her hand dissolved into smoke.

The female ghost clutched her mouth, eyes blazing with hatred. Then she shrieked and reached both hands toward her own belly.

Gu Shi Yi saw the motion and her scalp went cold. She tried the only thing she had left—talk.

“Hey, sister. Sister! Ghost sister, listen—it’s just a few moves. You can tell you can’t kill me quickly. If you make too much noise and draw people in, you’ll never be able to hide in this manor again. Why do this?”

For a heartbeat, the ghost paused.

Then her claws sank into her stomach.

With a wet rip, she tore her belly open. Flesh and blood splattered. Inside, something bloody and squirming wriggled like it had been waiting for an invitation.

A blood-shadow sprang out.

Gu Shi Yi barely caught a glimpse before it hit her—fast as a strike of lightning. She jerked her head aside and saved her throat by a hair.

The thing bit down on her shoulder instead.

Pain exploded through her. Gu Shi Yi grabbed it with both hands, but it clung like a leech, teeth sunk deep. Black smoke rose off its body, yet it refused to let go.

Grinding her teeth, Gu Shi Yi slapped her last exorcism talisman onto it.

Mother and child screamed together. Linked.

Gu Shi Yi used the moment to fling the child sha away and clamp a hand over her wound.

“It fucking hurts,” she hissed. “And it itches—damn it.”

Sha poison.

Her vision swam. Her breath came rough.

That little monster was too fast. One slip, and it would bite again. With poison in her, she might not make it to dawn.

She had to kill the small one first.

Gu Shi Yi let her legs go limp and collapsed to the floor, the peachwood sword dropping beside her. She kept her right hand on her bleeding shoulder. With her left, she forced her breath steady and pushed her inner power, trying to sweat the poison out. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead.

She stared at the pair with wide, fearful eyes and stammered, “D-don’t come closer…”

Then she reached into her clothes and pulled out the jade box.

“If you come any closer,” she rasped, “I’ll destroy it!”

It was the worst possible thing to do—and the best possible bait.

The moment the jade box appeared, both the mother and the child went wild. Their eyes flared red.

The child sha shrieked and leapt, spinning in the air like a hawk diving.

Gu Shi Yi screamed on purpose, snatched up the peachwood sword, and angled the tip upward.

Thunk.

The child sha impaled itself clean through, chest to back, a perfect, brutal skewer.

It writhed on the blade, tiny limbs twitching, wailing like an infant.

Gu Shi Yi didn’t hesitate. She slapped an exorcism talisman onto it.

The cries turned shrill. Black smoke poured off it.

Gu Shi Yi sneered. “Now you cry? Too late.”

She kept slapping it, over and over, like she was tenderizing meat. Each strike burned away another piece. The bloody lump shrank, thinning until only a smear clung to the sword.

Gu Shi Yi flicked her wrist, traced a quick sword-flower, and muttered an incantation. Fire flared along the blade.

The last trace of the child sha vanished into smoke.

The mother sha convulsed, rolling on the ground, screaming as if she were being torn apart. Her red pupils began to bleach white.

Gu Shi Yi didn’t wait to find out what came next. She lunged forward, slammed the mother sha down, and straddled her like a furious brawler.

Then she raised her hand and started slapping.

Smack. Smack. Smack.

Each blow tore black smoke from the ghost’s body. Each blow made her smaller.

Gu Shi Yi panted and cursed with every swing. “If you’d stayed put, we could’ve ignored each other. But no—you had to come out and scare people. I’ll teach you to scare people! I’ll teach you to scare people!”

Smack. Smack. Smack.

Her arm finally gave out. When she looked down, the mother sha was gone.

All that remained in her grasp was a strip of white cloth, limp as shed skin.

Gu Shi Yi sat there, heaving, breath ragged. It took her a long moment to remember where she was.

“Shi Yi!” Li Yan Er rushed over, eyes wide. “Are you okay?”

Gu Shi Yi waved her off, still breathing hard. “I’m fine. I won’t die. Right now… hand me a big beefy guy and I could still sleep.”

Once she forced her legs to obey again, she pushed herself up.

Li Yan Er suddenly pointed at the floor. “Shi Yi, look… what’s that?”