Jin Xiao Yi Tan - Volume 1 Chapter 7

The rain had finally stopped, after a consecutive week of pouring.

I had been living at Jiuye’s house for almost two months now, and within this time period, I had found a concurrent job at a well-known literature website, in charge of providing manuscripts for their special column. I couldn’t really be considered an ‘author’, just someone who wrote articles purely out of interest.

What led to this, was when I wrote the stories I had heard from Jiuye, as well as my own experiences down on a moment’s whim and posted them online. I didn’t expect my audience to increase that much, and the editors of that website decided to contact me.

Just like this, I started my days of living in Jiuye’s house, as well as writing manuscripts.

My mother had called over a few times, inquiring about my business trip, and when I was going to return. I kept on stalling, not daring to tell the truth.

There were actually a couple of times I packed my bags and got ready to leave, as I was really embarrassed for bothering Jiuye so much. But Ah Bao pulled on my clothes refusing to let go, wailing as he said, if I was gone, he would be scared, he didn’t want to be left alone with Jiuye.

Heh, this child. For some reason, Ah Bao was still incredibly terrified of Jiuye, and always hid from him whenever he was home. He loved to stick by my side.

Jiuye smiled, handing me a set of keys, “Xiao Mo, if you are used to staying here, just stay behind. You can treat this as your own home, so just stay for as long as you want.”

I was almost touched, about to thank him, but then that guy said, “It’s not bad having someone around to clean the house and cook meals for you every day.”

Black lines fell down my face, and I glared speechlessly at him.

That’s right, all this while I’d been providing three meals a day, and did the household duties. Although I didn’t do them very well, it could be more or less considered passable.

After living in the college dormitories for four years, my ability to provide for myself was quite alright. And compared to me, that guy Jiuye was a complete young master, his capabilities of doing housework almost a zero. There was once I tried to get him to fry an egg, and he almost exploded the kitchen.

It was a miracle that he was able to live peacefully by himself in this big house before this, that he hadn’t starved himself to death, or burned the house down.

“Xiao Mo, I want fried rice with beef and celery, and a creamy borscht.”

Jiuye flipped through the ‘Cook’s Collection of Recipes for Beginners’, pointing at one of the pictures in it, with an air of ordering at a restaurant from a menu.

My mouth pursed, wanting to tell him that it was hard to buy celery in this kind of season, but Ah Bao cheered, excitedly hugging my hand, “I want to eat fried rice with beef and celery! I want to eat it! I want to eat it!”

“Alright, alright! I get it! Stop shaking me!”

I took my hand out of that kid’s chest, holding my forehead helplessly.

But, looking at both of their content expressions, I was honestly quite happy.

To tell the truth, I actually… Couldn’t bear to leave this place, and felt that if I left, these two with the inability to take care of themselves would probably die of starvation.

Thinking about this, I couldn’t help but smile mockingly at myself. I then continued to write my manuscript and went out to buy the ingredients after that.

By the time I came home with a bag of vegetables, someone had come to visit.

That was a fat middle-aged man with a bald head, wearing a cotton garment with a sort of logo printed on it, with a coarse golden necklace on his neck. There was a conspicuous square-shaped gold ring on his finger, the car keys to a BMW in his hand, with a strong air of a nouveau riche.

The man was talking to Jiuye agitatedly, spittle flying everywhere.

Jiuye sat before him indifferently, calmly drinking his tea, quietly listening. Seeing me return, he waved at me, saying, “Xiao Mo, you’re back. Come here and have a listen.”

“Uh, listen to what?”

I put down the vegetables in my hands, walking over bemusedly.

The man looked at me distrustfully, frowning. He said roughly, “Who is he?”

Jiuye smiled, replying, “My assistant.”

“Oh? Your assistant?”

I sat down beside Jiuye, and Jiuye introduced, “This is the owner of Taifu Estates, Wang Taifu.”

“Oh, n-nice to meet you… Mr Wang.”

My smile was a little rigid, looking at Jiuye with a face full of question marks.

Jiuye drank a mouthful of tea, saying slowly and unhurriedly, “Mr. Wang has chanced upon a bit of trouble, so he’s come to have a little consultation.”

“Not to consult! To dispose of!”

Wang Taifu became stirred up, raising his voice, “I’ll give you however amount of money you want! You have to help me settle this problem, or I’ll make sure you won’t get to live as well as you do now, I’ll have your bad name go down in history!”

Jiuye remained unmoved, blandly holding his cup of fragrant tea in his hand, his signature lukewarm smile on his face. He said slowly, “Mr. Wang, from the moment you stepped into the house till now, it has been an entire two hours. All I have been hearing are your complaints and anger, and yet I have not heard a single actual word of what you wish of me.

“If you are still unable to clearly express what you wish for me to do, then forgive me for being unable to help you. Even if you were introduced by an acquaintance, I will not accept your case.”

Those sharp words left Wang Taifu speechless and no room to save the situation, and after a while, his agitated emotions finally eased a little.

He grabbed the edge of the table, gulping down the already-cold tea. Wiping his mouth, he said, “Okay, I’ll say it now, listen carefully.”

I thought he would start a long-winded explanation, but who knew he only said one sentence to say.

He said, “One of the constructed buildings in my business, is haunted.”

With that, he said no more.

I couldn’t help but ask, “How is it haunted? What happened exactly?”

“I haven’t seen the specifics of the situation, all of it was heard from the staff.”

Wang Taifu recalled, “That building is almost finished being constructed, the irrigation complete, and we capped the roof, with only the inner walls left to work with. We planned to finish building it by the end of the year, but around a month ago, strange things started happening at the construction site.

“Some say they saw a ghost at night, and some heard terrifying shouts. The walls that were newly built would topple over for some reason, the lighting failing momentarily, and we couldn’t fix them, which made us incapable of construction at night. In the end, there was even a constructor who fell from the scaffold, and his entire body became paralyzed. Up to this day, his wife is still trying to file a lawsuit at me, sigh…”

He sighed heavily, then continued, “Most of the workers are currently on strike, saying that that building is unclean, problematic, and if this goes on any longer, they might even discontinue working, without caring for their pay.

“With the deadline for the building’s completion nearing soon, I really don’t know what to do. A waste of one working day is a huge waste of a huge amount of money! I came here today, is to ask you for help, I beg you!”

As he said, Wang Taifu lowered his attitude, his tone softening as well.

When Jiuye agreed to help him take a look, only did he release a small sigh of relief.

After Wang Taifu had left, Jiuye turned to glance at me, smiling, “How about it, want to come along?”

I smiled too, saying these two words, “Of course.”

*

At four in the afternoon, we arrived at the construction site at the west city district.

This area seemed to be planned for a shopping mall, its space wide and extensive, with a total of seven floors.

The entire building had already been more or less built, but there wasn’t a single worker on site, all the building materials piled up in the corner with no one looking after them, the dust on the ground flying everywhere along the wind.

Under the brilliant sun, this lead-grey cement building was quite lifeless in contrast.

Jiuye took one round around the building surrounded by scaffolds, then entered through the lowest floor.

I followed from behind, and the moment I stepped in, I was chilled to the bone.

It was more than five degrees colder inside, and I shrunk my neck, saying, “It’s cold.”

Jiuye walked by the walls, walking incredibly slowly, almost stopping every step he took. He held something that looked like a small hourglass in his hands, and as he walked, he would scatter the white sands within the hourglass onto the floor. Following his footsteps, there was a circle of white sand in every corner of the walls.

I squatted to scrutinize them, saying in amazement, “Ah, is this salt? What are you scattering salt for?”

Jiuye just smiled, saying secretively, “Just wait and you’ll find out.”

Saying this, he stuffed the empty hourglass into my hand.

Around half an hour later, the sky gradually dimmed.

The still incomplete building became darker, and the lights were out, with no other ways of illuminating. Jiuye and I took out the flashlights we had prepared earlier, and under the slightly wobbling light, everything before us was a dark area, the intense stifling atmosphere making me almost unable to breathe.

“Mm, it’s almost time. Xiao Mo, come have a look.”

Jiuye shone his flashlight around the corners of the walls.

Under the light, I realized with some astonishment, the white sand that had been scattered earlier had actually been turned as black as toner, giving out a prickling sulfur smell.

“How did the salt turn black?” I asked.

Jiuye said, “The salt grains can absorb evil miasma. It turned black within half an hour, looks like there really is something wrong with this building, and the problem really isn’t small.”

“Oh? What kind of problem is that?” I couldn’t help but ask.

Jiuye deliberately lowered his voice, saying a strange sentence.

He said, “There is something, right here.”

I suddenly felt my back chill, goosebumps all over my skin.

“What, afraid?”

I swallowed, shaking my head. Trying to act calm, I said, “N-no way!”

Jiuye smiled, asking, “Xiao Mo, are you willing to become my assistant? I need your agreement on this.”

I bit my lip, nodding, “Mm, okay.”

Jiuye did not say just how I was to help him, only slowly moving forwards. I blindly followed suit, from the first floor till the second, then from the second to the third. On every floor, Jiuye inspected one round of each corner, inspecting really closely.

I didn’t dare interrupt him, and didn’t speak.

When every floor was finished being inspected, and we came down from the seventh floor, Jiuye said, “Xiao Mo, wait here for a moment, I’ll go make a call.”

“Huh? Make a call? W-where are you going to make a call?”

“The signal’s pretty bad here, I’ll go outside.”

“I’ll come with you!”

I pulled on his arm, unable to conceal my nervousness and apprehension.

“Hm? Come along with me? Why?” Jiuye raised his eyebrows.

“I, I…” I scratched my head awkwardly.

“I’ll be back soon, don’t walk off, wait here for me.”

“B-but… I…”

I was about to say, ‘I’m a little scared’, but those words wouldn’t get out of my mouth.

Jiuye pressed down on my shoulders, looking intently into my eyes. He warned seriously, “Xiao Mo, listen carefully. Wait here for me, do not take a single step away from here. Remember, no matter what happens, no matter what you see, absolutely, do not, take a single step away from here. Understood?”

Looking at his solemn and serious look, I became very nervous. Nodding my head, I said, “O-oh, okay… I understand.” With that, I then pulled on him uneasily, “C-come back quickly.”

Jiuye patted me, smiling with unclear implications, then turned to leave.

I stood there, looking on as his back slowly entered the darkness, and vanished from my line of sight.

This guy, was he really going to make a phone call? Why would he pick such a time to do this?

For some reason, I had some doubts in my heart, feeling that there was something wrong about all this. But I couldn’t find a reason to stop him. Until now, I could only wait for him to quickly make his phone call.

I gripped my flashlight tightly, standing on the sixth floor, unmoving. The surroundings were a pitch black. I couldn’t see a single thing, couldn’t hear a single thing, just my increasingly ill at ease breathing in this deathly stillness.

I was actually not afraid of the dark, nor did I lack the courage, but it was because Jiuye had said, there was something here. I didn’t know what that was, or where that thing was hiding, so I felt scared, unable to help myself my flashing my light at every four corners surrounding me.

That little wobbly light swept over the darkness, and, I a-actually shone it on a silhouette!

Clearly, that small silhouette was not my own, and Jiuye was already gone. With no one else around, why… Why was there an extra silhouette on the wall?

Fuck! Was there something wrong with my vision?

I rubbed at my eyes, hard, then looked again.

The black silhouette was still on the wall!

I could clearly see the silhouette of the head and limbs, which was on the wall about ten meters away from me. It was facing me, as if it was staring at me.

My mind buzzed, and I became absolutely horrified, instantly wanting to run away. But then thinking about what Jiuye had reminded me, that no matter what I couldn’t leave, I gritted my teeth, and stood there bracing myself.

B-but, if I’m not moving, that black silhouette is still moving!

Someone save me! Just what the heck is that?

I complained endlessly in my heart, looking on as the silhouette slowly moved closer to me.

As it neared, the silhouette became larger, as if it had swiftly grown from a ten-year-old to about three times my size!

Seeing the black thing grow up till the ceiling, I could help but shout with a trembling voice, “Ah Ye, are you back yet? Ah Ye, Ah Ye, help me!”

Just when I cried for help, that black form broke out of the ceiling, letting out an ear-piercing and sharp roar, pouncing at me, a huge black shadow crashing over my head.

“Wahhhhhh!” I covered my head in fright, the flashlight dropping onto the ground.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Three crisp sounds broke through the air, a strong wind blowing past my ear. Three pieces of red paper flew swiftly to stick on that silhouette’s forehead, chest, and abdomen.

In an instant, the black thing couldn’t keep its form, scattering into a mass of black smoke. But the black smoke seemed to be enveloping something, rolling and twisting ceaselessly.

The paper burned up, and the thing inside the black smoke screamed.

I sat there vacantly, looking at those flames, startled.

“You have been dead for a long time, why are you still lingering around the human world?”

A deep and familiar voice raised from my back.

Jiuye slowly walked out of the darkness, glancing at that lump of struggling black smoke that was in flames, asking blandly, “Why did you not reincarnate?”

The black smoke did not answer, just roaring incessantly, and suddenly jumped up from the ground, tunneling through the walls at the side, instantly vanishing.

And at the same time it vanished, I heard something clang, like something had been dropped.

Sure enough, right after the black smoke had escaped, there was a metal about the size of a fist left behind.

Jiuye walked over, picking it up.

I pressed my wildly-thumping heart, and after sitting there blankly for a while, I suddenly understood.

Jiuye reached out a hand to me, asking, “Xiao Mo, are you alright?”

I did not take it. Sitting there, my face stiffened, “You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”

“Hm? What?”

Jiuye blinked, smiling nonchalantly.

I raised my voice, “You didn’t make a phone call earlier. You deliberately left me alone, turning me into bait, to lead that thing out, isn’t that right!”

The more I said, the angrier I got, roaring out the last part.

Jiuye looked at me, not denying it.

“Y-you, y-you’ve gone too far!”

I jumped up angrily, and unexpectedly, I had sat too long, my legs had gone numb. I stumbled into Jiuye’s chest.

Jiuye held me up, smiling, “But, I asked for your permission. I asked if you were willing to become my assistant, I said I needed your agreement on this, and you agreed unhesitatingly, did you not?”

“W-what? That counts? Y-you, you… You bastard!”

I was so angered my mind went blank, but couldn’t find a single sentence to rebuke him. I could only glare at him with gritted teeth, and moreover… Moreover, I had to raise my head slightly…

This bastard was taller than me, damn it!

An amused light flashed across Jiuye’s eyes, those thin lips slightly lifted, and once again gave that familiar, seemingly harmless and gentle smile.

He reached out a hand to mess up my hair, saying indifferently, “Let’s go home.”

With that, he turned to leave.

“Hey! Hey! W-wait for me! Wait for me!” I quickened my footsteps, crying miserably, “Please! Don’t leave me alone here!”

Jiuye turned his head, chuckling softly.

*

Afternoon the next day, Wang Taifu came yet again.

As a result of staying up overnight to work on my draft, when I walked down from the second floor with a yawn, Jiuye was already sitting right before him. Wang Taifu had switched to wearing another branded suit, and it was unclear on if it was out of anxiousness or something else entirely, but his face was dripping with sweat, his bare head shining with glossiness.

He rubbed his palms, asking urgently, “Er… Have you done something about the situation?”

Jiuye crossed a pair of long legs, leaning against the sofa. Lowering his head to take a sip of tea, he asked instead, “Mr. Wang, did you do something that you did not inform me?”

“A-Ah? Wh-What do you mean, something?” Wang Taifu froze.

Jiuye put down his cup, and said, “I went to have a look yesterday, and there was a ghost on your construction site. Ghosts are spirits that wander this world, unwilling to leave. They will not bring any harm to humans, but that ghost was trapped by a soul-binding spell. As it could not free itself, it could only bear the torture day after day, at last eroding away.”

“E-Eroding away? What does that mean?” Wang Taifu asked.

Jiuye said, “To put it in the simplest terms, it transformed from an ordinary ghost, into a wraith.”

Hearing them speak, I went over to have a sit.

Pertaining to that black smoke, Jiuye had explained to me in the aftermath, that was the malicious miasma the wraith produced as it eroded away, and that thing struggling and twisting within the black smoke was that human spirit.

But why had the wraith gotten bound to the construction site?

Wang Taifu’s eyes shifted around aimlessly, twisting his sweaty hands together. He opened his mouth a few times but did not say anything, looking like he wanted to speak, but couldn’t.

Jiuye drank a mouthful of tea, saying languidly, “Mr Wang, I have a principle for accepting requests, and that is the client has to inform everything they know of the situation, or else—”

“I’ll tell! I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you everything!”

Wang Taifu raised his head, frantically cutting off Jiuye’s words. He licked his lips, saying, “Yes, that’s right, I asked someone to do something, before this.”

Pausing for a while, he then said, “That was a year before, we hadn’t started on the construction site yet, and the lands were still empty. I had my eye on this piece of land, and so had another estate dealer. To snatch the land, I found someone to do a ritual, to play out a little scheme I thought up. Sure enough, that person was chased away when he discovered that this place was haunted, and immediately gave up on that place…”

“So, that person you found is the one that used the soul-binding spell, restraining a spirit that should have entered the reincarnation cycle to this piece of land, is that right?”

The expression Jiuye used to look at him was particularly sharp.

Wang Taifu wiped away the sweat on his forehead, nodding.

I smiled coldly, saying bluntly, “Back then, you benefitted through ill-gotten means, and now you’ve harmed yourself instead, it really is karmic retribution. You’re reaping what you sowed.”

“Yes, yes yes, I was in the wrong, it’s my fault.”

Wang Taifu accompanied this with a fake smile, saying, “Look, I’ve already paid the price for this, so… So can you, help me get rid of that wraith?”

Jiuye drank his tea, silent.

Wang Taifu said again, “To tell you the truth, I’ve tried finding the person that I hired before this, but for some reason, I couldn’t find him no matter how hard I tried. The number I tried calling was busy, and wouldn’t connect at all. With no choice, I was forced to come to you for help. Please.”

With that said, he bowed his head, imploring so much he seemed almost ready to kneel.

Jiuye asked, “Who was that person you previously hired?”

Wang Taifu shook his head, “I found him through another’s recommendation, so I am not very clear on that person’s details. I only know that he has the surname Bai, we all call him Mr. Bai.”

Jiuye frowned slightly, not saying anything.

And my heart started, upon hearing this.

The surname Bai? Mr Bai? I recalled back on the incident with Six Ears, Fang Caiyun had said, the person who had gifted that painting to her boyfriend also had the surname Bai. Could it be that those two with the surname Bai were the same person?

Mind whirling, I was also reminded by that case with the hungry ghost, of the white-clothed man standing out the window.

Imperceptibly, there seemed to be some kind of connection between these three cases.

After a long while, Jiuye finally said unhurriedly, “What that Mr. Bai used was the Peachwood Soul-Binding Spell, which is a spell that shackles a spirit, involving putting six peachwood nails in different corners of a space. With peachwood exorcism, and the Yang qi being too extensive, the spirit could not approach the peachwood nails and ended up wandering near the Soul-Binding Circle. Continuously, day after day, until it gradually eroded, turning into a wraith.”

“The only way of expelling a wraith is to cut off its soul, but spirits that have had their souls cut will be thoroughly annihilated, never to be reincarnated, ever again, so—”

Jiuye’s eyes stared penetratively at Wang Taifu, saying, “So do you know, just what a despicable and cruel thing you have done?”

Cold sweat rolled unceasingly down Wang Taifu’s face, and he said very carefully, “I’m sorry I’m sorry, I didn’t know things would turn out like this, I was wrong, this is my fault… Uh, um… On the fact that I’ve already repented… will you help me expel that wraith?”

Jiuye was silent for while, “That spirit has already been eroded to grave levels. There is nothing to be done now, other than cutting off its soul.”

“Oh! Is that so! T-that’s great, that’s great! H-Haha! I’ll trouble you with that then, don’t worry, after the deed is done, I’ll definitely recompense you greatly! Recompense you greatly! Hahaha!”

Wang Taifu immediately released a sigh of relief, and couldn’t help but leave with a smile, leave in a great mood.

And Jiuye sat there, eyes closed in deep thought, silent for a long time.

Ah Bao walked over, pulling on my sleeve.

I rubbed his head, saying, “Go play by yourself for a while, I’ll get breakfast ready in a moment.”

Ah Bao nodded obediently, and walked away with a box of chocolate balls I had given him.

I turned to see Jiuye take out a metal from his pocket.

“Is that the thing the spirit left behind yesterday?” I asked, “What is it?”

“A tiger tally.” Jiuye handed the object over to me.

This heavy and blackened piece of copper was shaped like a tiger.

I knew that a tiger tally was a symbol of the military, a mark of authorization for emperors and commanders in ancient times.

Usually, a tiger tally would be separated in half, where one half would be left behind in the imperial household, and the other half would be handed on to the commander. When the two pieces were put together in whole, one would have absolute command over the army.

The piece in my hand was only one half of the tiger tally, and at the back of the tiger was etched an inscription of a few indistinct characters.

After scrutinizing it for a while, I could finally discern the characters. It read: Bestowed upon my official Zhao Yinfei.

“Zhao Yinfei? That spirit that was bound to that construction site was called Zhao Yinfei?” I muttered, saying in amazement, “It’s actually someone from the ancient times? He must have been dead for a few hundred years then…”

“Mm, most probably.” Jiuye nodded.

“Why has he been lingering around for these past few hundred years, unwilling to leave?”

“The most common reason why a spirit is unwilling to leave is due to its regrets. They have too deep an attachment upon this world, and so are unable to enter the reincarnation cycle.”

I asked, “If a soul is cut off, it will be thoroughly annihilated, forever fading away, no longer able to reincarnate, is that right?”

“Yes.”

I gripped the tiger tally tightly in my palms, and after pondering for a few seconds, I said, “Ah Ye, before you cut off its soul, can you give me just a bit of time?”

“What are you planning to do?” Jiuye looked at me.

I said, “I want to find out, just who was Zhao Yinfei.”

Jiuye smiled, asking, “Is there a need to find out something that will perish in the end?“

I looked at the tiger tally in my hands, saying firmly, “There is. I want to know, just what sort of regret would make someone who died a few hundred years ago unable to let go. I hope, that before he is annihilated, he’ll be able to undo his preoccupation.”

Jiuye was silent for a long while, and said indifferently, “Do what you want then.”

*

I started personally investigating this person, ‘Zhao Yinfei’.

The first thing I thought of was obviously the internet, but the name immediately yielded countless results when I entered it into the search bar. There were just too many people with the same surname, and after a careful process of filtering, the name ‘Zhao Yinfei’ couldn’t be found. Looks like this high-ranking military officer hadn’t had his reputation go down in history.

If that was so, things would be a little more troublesome, since there were historical military officers in the thousands to the ten thousands, I didn’t even know which dynasty this person was born in, just from where was I supposed to start searching?

For an entire day, I sat before the screen of the laptop, refreshing page after page of results, hunting for information, until my head spun. I had to close my aching eyes, rubbing my temples tiredly.

Jiuye walked over, sighing, “Really, whatever should I do with you.”

With that, he handed me a thick tome that was kind of like a book that didn’t look like a book, a diary that didn’t look like a diary.

This tome looked ages old, but was surprisingly bound by still-white binding, and on the motley indigo cover were four characters written in regular script with a brush, “Jing Lan County Annals.”

Jiuye said, “I took a trip to the city library earlier and found the annals in the archives. There’s a mention of Zhao Yinfei in it, take a look.”

“Oh? So you were searching too? Hehe, you, saying what you don’t mean.”

I laughed up my sleeve, blinking at him teasingly.

Jiuye said exasperatedly, “Isn’t it all because of you? You don’t find anything, and I probably won’t even have dinner to eat tonight.”

“Uh, please. I really wonder if one day I’m not here anymore, will you actually starve to death?”

I took the annals from his hand, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and carefully flipped through each of the old and yellowed pages, asking, “Where does it say?”

Jiuye flipped a few pages for me, pointing, “Here.”

I hurriedly lowered my head, earnestly reading through it.

But due to it being too old of a period, and added on to the fact that it hadn’t been preserved perfectly, some of the characters were seriously ruined, the entire text disjointed. It was extremely hard to read, but by the time I was finished reading, those faded ink marks gave me a huge onslaught of emotions.

According to the text, during a harmonious and prosperous period, the Liao Empire tried to do a large-scale invasion on the central plains of China. General Zhao Yinfei defended the county town named ‘Jing Lan’ with his life. He stubbornly resisted while leading his army, fighting fiercely and courageously, and no matter how many time the Liao Empire tried to invade, they could not break through the town gates, thus protecting the safety of more than a few thousand citizens. Zhao Yinfei, in turn, received the citizen’s reverence and high esteem.

But, the Liao Empire did not give up because of this. They understood that if they could get rid of Zhao Yinfei, they could break through the town gates. They came up with a plan to send a spy into the town, spreading rumors that the Liao Empire had been intending to retreat, but Zhao Yinfei had continuously sent declarations of war to force them to fight.

The moment the word spread, the town fell into disorder. The people were convinced that the rumors were true, one after another, believing that General Zhao Yinfei had brought disaster upon them, painting this hero that had protected Jing Lan County into a villain, even setting a pitfall by the gates and luring Zhao Yinfei into it.

Having received the disdain of every person in town, Zhao Yingfei bore a blackened name, and was stoned to death by the very people he had wanted to protect with all his heart, and after dying his corpse hung up on the town gates.

When the Liao Empire saw Zhao Yinfei was dead, they immediately attacked, easily breaking the gates open. Jing Lan fell into enemy hands.

The day the town fell, General Zhao Yingfei’s corpse that had been beaten black and blue was still hung high up on the town gates, watching all this, unable to die contentedly.

Finished reading all of this, I gripped my fist tightly, unable to calm my heart down for a long while.

“How could they… this is just too much!”

I clenched my teeth with grief and indignation, yelling, “Those ignorant masses can’t be saved!”

Jiuye sighed, “I have verified the accounts written in the annals a little. According to the preserved data in the history archive library, the town we are in right now is called Miyun Town, but in the ancient times, it was a county called Jing Lan. The west city district where Wang Taifu has his construction site is exactly where the Jing Lan town gates were.”

“The town gates?” I froze, and said immediately, “The town gates where the annals said Zhao Yingfei fought and died, are talking about the city gates in the west city district?”

“Mm, I think so.” Jiuye nodded.

Ah, no wonder… No wonder Zhao Yingfei’s ghost would linger around there even after a few hundred thousand years…

No wonder he was still unwilling to leave to the very end…

I think, that I can finally understand.

That smear of regret and unwillingness left on your heart, inspiring yet tragic.

*

On that night, Jiuye and I once again arrived at the construction site in the west city district.

Zhao Yingfei’s ghost appeared. It had already been completely eroded, degenerated into a wraith.

Looking at that mass of black smoke, I felt some kind of unspoken sorrow. Jiuye used red paper to seal him to the wall, then took out a peachwood sword. As he was about to cut down, I halted him.

“Wait, I want to show him something.”

I grabbed Jiuye’s hand that held the sword.

Jiuye said, “There’s no use, a wraith is a wraith because it has lost the rationality that a human is supposed to have. He won’t be able to understand what you are saying.”

“But… I want to try.”

I took something out from my bag, slowly walking towards that mass of black smoke.

“Hey, don’t get too close.” Jiuye pulled me.

I stood there, raising the object in my hands.

It was a small gravestone, something I had found in the history archives, eight vermillion characters carved into it— An everlasting illustrious name, to the common people.

“General Zhao! Do you see this? This gravestone was carved for you, by one of the citizens that year in Jing Lan County!”

I said loudly to the black mass of smoke, “Not everyone misunderstood you, there was still someone who regarded you as a hero! There were still people who remembered you! The one that carved this gravestone, the one that wrote the ‘Jing Lan County Annals’, and those countless subordinates and soldiers that supported, respected you, you will forever be their hero! You’ll be forever living in their hearts! Never forgotten!”

The words fell, and that twisted mass of black smoke, surprisingly slowly stopped its screams.

“An everlasting illustrious name, to the common people!”

I recited the eight characters on the gravestone, taking one step forward, saying loudly “General Zhao, your brilliance will not be overlooked! It will forever be engraved on history’s books, remembered in our hearts!”

I couldn’t force down the stirring of my heart filled with indignance, the hand holding the gravestone shaking slightly.

The black smoke before my eyes started dispersing, the miasma gradually fading out.

Just when the black smoke started dispersing, I saw about five steps away, a person. It was an ancient general, with a red cap and full-body armor.

The armor was rusted and full of stains and spots, but his posture was still upright, heroic and valiant.

“General Zhao? Were you able to hear me?”

Zhao Yingfei’s ghost did not speak, just that after a long, long silence, two quiet drops of tears rolled down a blurry-looking face filled with wounds.

H-He had heard me! He had heard my words!

I tried to step forward, but a cold wind blew past, and Zhao Yingfei’s silhouetted was already gone just like that, ashes fluttering onto the floor.

“Wh-what happened?”

I turned to Jiuye bewilderedly.

Jiuye put the peachwood sword away, sighing, “He chose to cut it off himself.”

“Cut it off himself? T-then he’s now…”

“Annihilated, completely gone.”

I stared blankly at him, asking, “That means… Zhao Yingfei’s soul is already gone, no longer able to return to the reincarnation cycle, right?”

“Yes.” Jiuye nodded.

I suddenly couldn’t speak. Although I knew it would end like this, it still hurt, warm tears suddenly flowing out of my eyes.

Glancing at the ashes fluttering piece by piece to the wind, I choked softly these words—

An everlasting illustrious name, to the common people.