Xiangguo Temple (4)

Since the door couldn't be closed tightly, it wasn't locked. He slipped inside and found that the interior, much like the exterior, was incredibly well-kept despite being dilapidated. He couldn't even find a clipped fingernail or a shaved strand of hair. He took a sleepwear garment from the clothing chest and tore off a fastening ribbon. Although he didn't have anything that fell directly from the person's body, having something this close-fitting would do. He then took out a piece of cinnabar from his sleeve pocket and wrote a string of twisted characters on the strip of cloth. The characters were not in Chinese, nor any known language; they looked like a tangled ball of hemp, exuding a chaotic and blurred intent. He hid the cloth strip under the bed. This way, if Guan Yi entered this room, he would be trapped by the Evil-Trapping Array he had set up for a period of time. Coupled with the talismans he left on every monks' dorm, as soon as he returned to his room to set up the final altar, he could form the Azure Nether Grand Array and pull the entire Xiangguo Temple into the Intermediate Realm. When that time came, he could force that ghost to release Guan Yi and submit to him.

However, since Guan Yi already knew he was here to catch ghosts, he was probably already on guard against him. Once the sunlight faded and the monks entered meditation, there would be movement. He had to return to his room and set up the altar as soon as possible.

Right at this moment, he heard a rustling sound, with muffled articulation and no intonation, as if someone were chanting sutras.

Did someone return?

He turned around, pushed the door open to leave the room, but suddenly stopped in his tracks.

The scenery outside the door had completely changed. What he saw were no longer the few locust trees, but a few persimmon trees laden with bright red fruits, stretching their heavy branches in the last afterglow of the dusk. The original monks' quarters had transformed into dwellings built over the water, with distant green mountains embracing them from both sides. Mist slanted across the mountainsides, and twilight crows swept past like a dark cloud.

This scenery, as if from another lifetime, made Tan Yangzi's heart fiercely clench.

Although the Green and Red Impermanences were Underworld Emissaries, they often had to walk in the Human Realm. Therefore, they needed a physical body they could "wear" in the mortal world. They would choose fetuses that had already died in the womb and whose Life Souls had departed, entering them to be born into the world as infants. Initially, they wouldn't remember their identities as ghost emissaries of Hell, growing up just like ordinary people until around the age of eighteen, when they would start recalling their true identities and gain the ability to leave their bodies and return to Hell at any time. The physical body would age and become less useful, at which point they would discard it and seek a new one.

In this lifetime, before he turned eighteen, Tan Yangzi had lived in the tranquil, rarely-visited Daoist temple in Zishang Mountain. In those eighteen years, every time he walked out of the small room he shared with his senior brother, this was the exact scenery he saw. Plucking one of those lantern-like red persimmons from the tree, tearing a small opening in the skin and sucking hard, the flesh would fill his mouth—a sweet, rich, and chewy taste that he never tired of.

That was already more than eighty years ago.

At this thought, it was as if that clear, sweet taste lingered in his mouth, evoking a faint sense of nostalgia in his heart.

Was this... an array?

Had the Thorn-Heart Ghost made its move ahead of time?

Normally, evil ghosts were extremely weak when they forcibly came to the Human Realm. Especially during the day when yang energy was at its peak, they had to hide within human bodies, only able to detach after sunset. But the sky wasn't even dark yet—could it already make a move?

Tan Yangzi looked down at himself. His originally tall and straight body seemed to have become much shorter and thinner, and his blue-patterned Daoist robe had turned into a blue cloth short shirt. He reached behind his back, only to find the Karma-Severing Sword was gone too.

He had turned into his fifteen-year-old self.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar male voice, carrying the distinct hoarseness of a boy's voice-changing period, "Little Yangzi, thinking about persimmons again?"

His heart gave a slight tremble as he saw a youth around sixteen or seventeen years old turn the corner of the house, wearing familiar blue short clothes and carrying two buckets of water on a shoulder pole. He had refined features but a very athletic and tall physique, and his smile held a hint of shyness.

That was his senior brother Tan Zhenzi, who grew up with him. If he were still alive, he would probably be approaching a hundred years old by now, much like himself. Tan Zhenzi didn't possess his talent for Daoist cultivation, but if their master had passed his unique Art of Longevity to him, perhaps he would also have white hair and a youthful face like him, maintaining the young appearance of someone in their twenties.

Only, that youth didn't even live to see his twentieth year.

A Green Impermanence like Tan Yangzi would remember the events of countless years after recovering their memories at eighteen, so they often appeared somewhat cold and unfeeling. But upon seeing this person who was so incredibly important during his eighteen years as a simple mortal youth, his mind still buzzed loudly.

Tan Zhen carefully set down the shoulder pole and poured the water into the water vat, glancing back at him. "What are you standing around foolishly for? Hurry up and change into your Daoist robe, Master wants to see us in a bit!"

Tan Yangzi still remembered this day. This was the day their master, Jing Xu Zhenren, returned from his travels, calculated that he would face a life-and-death tribulation and didn't have much time left, and decided to pass on his mantle and his unique mental cultivation method to his senior brother. After dark, their master would call his sixteen disciples before him and tell them that from then on, for any matters concerning the temple, they should ask Tan Zhen first before coming to him.

Tan Zhen was the third disciple of Master Jing Xuzi. He wasn't the head disciple like the eldest senior brother, nor was he as talented as Tan Yangzi, but their master had chosen him nonetheless. At the time, several disciples were dissatisfied, but Tan Yangzi had always been very supportive.

At least, he appeared to be very supportive.

Only the young Tan Yangzi himself knew that saying he wasn't the least bit jealous was a lie. He was only a year younger than Tan Zhen, but he was smarter and more talented, and his daily cultivation efforts were frighteningly intense. Whenever their master tested their newly taught martial arts, his moves were always flawless. Yet, the mediocre Tan Zhen was always more favored by their master and more liked by the other disciples. It was simply because Tan Zhen had an amiable and considerate temperament, was respectful to his superiors, and friendly to his juniors; whereas he was a person of few words who liked quiet, forever unable to learn how to smile with that blend of shyness and sincerity like Tan Zhen. He always looked so serious that the newly joined junior brothers were somewhat afraid of him, and even his master seemed slightly wary of him.

Tan Zhen was gentle to everyone and took exceptionally good care of Tan Yangzi. Therefore, even though he was dissatisfied, he couldn't express it and had to suppress it, putting on an act of being very happy for him. Yet, deep inside, in a place he didn't even want to admit to himself, he was secretly hoping that one day Tan Zhen would make a mistake. Towards Senior Brother Tan Zhen, he was both dependent on him and slightly envious of him; such a complex state of mind could never be seen from his reticent exterior.

"You're already dead," Tan Yangzi looked at him and said in a steady tone tinged with a hint of pity.

Tan Zhen was taken aback and spat at him playfully, "Tch, have you lost your mind? Why are you cursing me for no reason?"

Tan Yangzi, however, suddenly smiled, though the smile was somewhat cold. "I've stayed in this temple for half a day, and this is the only far-fetched thing you could dig out of me?"

Tan Zhen seemed to understand what he was saying even less, but his expression grew more concerned. "You don't have a fever, do you?" he asked, rubbing his hands on his clothes as he walked towards him.

Right at that moment, Tan Yangzi suddenly reached his hand to his empty back and pulled violently, abruptly slashing out a vast ray of azure light from the void, cleaving down like a rushing meteor. Tan Zhen's footsteps halted abruptly, his eyes widening in disbelief.

Then, a thin trail of blood seeped from his forehead, trickling down past the corner of his eye, as if he were weeping tears of blood. The trail of blood grew longer, and the blood gushing out increased, until finally, he split open from the top of his head like a bamboo stalk cleft by a sharp blade. Without the support and encasement of bones and muscles, his brains, blood vessels, and internal organs splattered to the ground with a wet thud. The vertical cross-section was so neat that it possessed a sickening aesthetic, and the blood soaked the earth beneath their feet like a river.

Tan Yangzi's face and body were splattered with a considerable amount of blood. His indifferent expression made him look as terrifying as a murderous demon who didn't blink at taking lives.

A junior brother had just walked into the courtyard and happened to witness the horrifying scene of his beloved Tan Zhenzi being cleaved in half by the always gloomy Tan Yangzi. He immediately started screaming. His screams drew more people, even including their master.

His most respected master, whom he treated like a father. Unlike Tan Zhen and most of the other disciples who had been sent to the temple by their families to practice the Art of Longevity, he had been casually discarded in a mountain hollow the moment he was born. If his master hadn't picked him up, he would have likely died long ago.

Of course, it was only after he recovered his memories that he learned he had simply attached himself to an egg in the womb of an unmarried aristocratic lady, one that was originally meant to be aborted. After his unexpected birth, the master of the house had ordered servants to throw him into a mountain ditch to die. Because the Green and Red Impermanences strictly needed to find dead fetuses whose Life Souls had already departed or never existed in the first place to possess, their births were usually unwanted. Being abandoned right after birth was perfectly normal for them, and they wouldn't die so easily.

But for him as a child, ignorant of these karmic causes, he always harbored a faint sense of inferiority. He believed there must be something wrong with him, that he wasn't worthy of being liked, which was why he had been thrown away right after birth. Therefore, even if he had been picked up by someone, there was still the risk of being thrown away again. This fear would accompany them constantly, right up until the day they recovered their memories.

Hence, the young Tan Yangzi possessed an abnormal obsession and yearning for his master's affection.

At this moment, influenced by his surroundings, Tan Yangzi's state of mind seemed to have suddenly reverted to when he was fifteen. The instant he saw his master, a surge of panic—like a child caught committing a crime by his father—welled up in his heart, as if he really had killed Tan Zhen.

His fellow disciples looked at him with the terrified expressions of seeing a ghost, while his master was utterly dumbfounded, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. After a long while, his master finally roared in fury, "You vile creature! What have you done?!"

This roar, however, suddenly made Tan Yangzi calm down again. He tightened his grip on the bronze sword in his hand and coldly shouted into the air, "I've already seen through you, aren't you going to show yourself?!"

Seeing his behavior, everyone assumed he was possessed by an evil spirit, actually ruthlessly striking down Tan Zhen, who had the best relationship with him. Those carrying swords unsheathed them one after another, pointing them at Tan Yangzi in fear and trepidation. First Senior Brother Tan Yi cautiously took a step forward and shouted coldly, "Tan Yang, put down the sword in your hand!"

Seeing those fellow disciples he had once lived with day and night staring at him with expressions mixing fear, anger, and disgust, even though he knew it was the Thorn-Heart Ghost's Illusion Spell, Tan Yangzi still felt a bit uneasy and restless. He had originally thought that killing Tan Zhen would break the spell, but now it seemed the core of the array wasn't on Tan Zhen.

Did he have to kill all these people?

Even if it was just an illusion, the slight sensation of resistance when the sharp blade sliced through flesh and bone, Tan Zhen's disbelieving eyes, the scattered organs, and the blood covering the ground were all so real. Even if he was an Impermanence ghost who had lived for countless years, seeing the family he had once considered his everything as a child die by his own hands still brought an uncontrollable sense of guilt and pain that gnawed at his sanity.

Perhaps this was what the Thorn-Heart Ghost wanted. Even if Underworld Emissaries like them were strong-willed, being exposed to such a powerful and realistic illusion for a long time would inevitably affect them. Just like now, he was already beginning to feel a faint, looming sense of doubt.

He doubted whether he had truly just woken up and gone mad, believing himself to be an Impermanence ghost who had lived for a millennium, believing his fellow disciples were illusions conjured by ghosts, and taking this opportunity to murder Senior Brother Tan Zhen, whom he had always secretly envied.

"Tan Yang! Don't you recognize me anymore?" The one speaking was Second Senior Brother Tan Yu, who had taken great care of him when he was young. Ignoring the eldest senior brother's attempts to stop him, he carefully walked towards Tan Yangzi. He held no weapon in his hands; instead, he spread them out in front of him, gesturing to Tan Yangzi that he meant no harm. "Tan Yang, where did the sword in your hand come from? Put it down first, can we talk this out slowly?"

Tan Yangzi looked at Tan Yu, hesitation rising in his heart. Was Tan Yu the true form of the Thorn-Heart Ghost? Tan Yu's calm and soothing gaze, those slender, beautiful hands like a woman's, and that clear, spring-like voice—they were all things he had greatly admired when he was young. In truth, compared to Tan Zhen, he liked Tan Yu more, to the point that his affection vaguely surpassed the admiration one would have for an older brother. However, after he grew a bit older, Tan Yu no longer teased and coaxed him as often as when he was little, even becoming somewhat distant, whereas his relationship with Tan Zhen only grew better and better. It was probably because the older Tan Yangzi got, the more reticent he became, and his countenance grew more gloomy and cold, making him unpredictable.

He had once accidentally overheard Senior Brother Tan Yu chatting with the eldest senior brother. Somehow, the topic had shifted to him. Tan Yu said that sometimes he felt "Little Yangzi" was getting weirder and weirder, that he couldn't see what he was thinking, and that sometimes the sudden, cold stares he gave were rather creepy. The eldest senior brother had laughed mockingly from the side, "It's not just you. Out of all the disciples, everyone thinks he's weird. Think about it, even his biological parents didn't want him and threw him in a mountain ditch. That proves there's definitely something wrong with him." Tan Yu didn't defend him; instead, he added, "He's quite nice to me, but to be honest, sometimes the way he looks at me, and the way he smiles at me, is pretty disgusting." The eldest senior brother burst into laughter. "Maybe he really has a fondness for men and has his eyes on you. Better lock your door tight at night!"

He still remembered feeling as if he had swallowed a bitter and astringent persimmon that day. It was stuck in his throat, unable to go down or come back up. For that entire night, he couldn't sleep, tossing and turning, his eyes feeling sour and stinging. From then on, he never took the initiative to speak to Senior Brother Tan Yu again.

It was really strange. This was clearly an old event from eighty years ago, yet in this illusion, it suddenly became as real and clear as a memory from yesterday. This Thorn-Heart Ghost was truly formidable; it was worthy of being the vicious ghost capable of drawing out the inner darkness of a high monk like Guan Yi.

However, ghosts in Hell with such abilities seemed to be increasing in number, and he didn't know the reason why.

Looking at Tan Yu's cautious face, an emotion of reluctance surged in Tan Yangzi's heart. He bit his tongue hard, telling himself not to be bewitched by the illusion, and raised his sword to thrust at Tan Yu. Only, this time, Tan Yu seemed prepared; he immediately bent backward and rolled on the ground to dodge. The eldest senior brother immediately brandished his sword and charged forward, and the other disciples also swarmed up, intending to take him down. However, Tan Yangzi's skills were far above theirs. With a few swings of his sword, two junior brothers were already dead or injured. Tan Yangzi's fifteen-year-old face was covered in blood, possessing a chilling calmness and ruthlessness.

"Tan Yang! Are you crazy?! They are your junior brothers!" Seeing another junior brother kicked flying by Tan Yangzi, already dead by the time he landed, the eldest senior brother's eyes turned red. Seeing his eldest senior brother shed tears, Tan Yangzi's heart fiercely clenched again. But he couldn't stop. He had to break free from this illusion as quickly as possible.

But to his alarm, he felt his strength rapidly draining away, and even the sword in his hand felt heavy. It seemed that not only his appearance, but even his cultivation base was slowly regressing back to the level of a fifteen-year-old.

"Enough! Vile creature!" Suddenly, an overbearing palm force descended from mid-air. Tan Yang raised his sword to block it, but was shocked to realize he couldn't withstand it, and the sword immediately flew out of his hand. It turned out that Master Jing Xuzi had personally made a move.

Although Jing Xuzi was already in his seventies back then, his face still looked as youthful as a twenty-year-old's because he cultivated the Art of Longevity, which extended life and restored youth. If he didn't encounter heavenly tribulations, living to be two or three hundred years old wouldn't be a problem at all. Now, his cultivation had reached a state of perfection. Even the usual Tan Yangzi would have to exert some effort to deal with him, let alone the current fifteen-year-old Tan Yangzi whose power was greatly reduced by the illusion. He only felt his true qi flow backward, a metallic sweetness surged up his throat, and he opened his mouth to spit out a mouthful of blood.

Tan Yangzi hadn't expected the illusion to have such a huge impact on him; he had underestimated this Thorn-Heart Ghost. He lay sprawled on the ground, his body unable to move as if it no longer obeyed his commands. He used all his strength just to lift his head, seeing his master's cold face, which faintly carried a trace of disgust.

An indescribable dull ache spread from the bottom of his heart. He forced himself to ignore this ache, his gaze sweeping over the fellow disciples who carefully surrounded him as if he were a monster. "Do you think you can trap me like this?"

"He's crazy, he's completely gone mad."

"Could he be possessed?"

"He was perfectly fine this morning, how could he turn out like this?"

His master's hands were clenched tightly into fists, a flash of murderous intent crossing his eyes. He was about to raise his hand when Tan Yu stopped him. "Master, it seems Little Yangzi has been possessed by an evil spirit. Perhaps he completely couldn't control himself when he committed such a terrible crime. For now, it's best we first find a way to exorcise the evil entity from his body before deciding his punishment."

Jing Xuzi pondered for a moment before slowly loosening his grip. He said coldly, "Tie him up and throw him into the woodshed. We will deal with him after I prepare the exorcism array."

The Karma-Severing Sword that Tan Yangzi had originally been clutching disappeared without a trace the moment it left his hand. At the same time, Tan Yangzi felt his dantian completely empty, and the divine powers belonging to the Green Impermanence had vanished from his veins. He was trapped in the body of his fifteen-year-old self like this, only able to watch helplessly as his eldest senior brother tied him up so tightly he couldn't move a single finger. He was hauled onto a shoulder like a sack of grain and finally tossed into the woodshed filled with firewood and straw. The eldest senior brother looked at him with eyes full of hatred and alienation, as if he were no longer his Seventh Junior Brother, but a murderous monster who killed without blinking.

The door slammed shut, and only then did Tan Yangzi slowly let out a breath. He felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

What was going on? Why was he being affected so greatly? His memories of the first eighteen years of his life as Tan Yangzi shouldn't have such a powerful influence on him, right? Moreover, this illusion was far too real; even the physical sensation of being bound by this thick hemp rope right now felt exactly the same as reality. Usually, no matter how realistic the illusions created by ghosts and monsters were, there would always be some flaws in the details. But this illusion not only matched the details in his memory, even the people he had long forgotten had appeared.

Although he didn't want to admit it, Tan Yangzi slightly regretted not applying for a new Red Impermanence partner from his superiors...

However, he wasn't exactly in a desperate situation yet. The Thorn-Heart Ghost hadn't dealt a lethal blow to him thus far, indicating that it still lacked the ability to eliminate him within the illusion. If it attacked rashly, it might instead jolt him awake. As long as he dragged out the time, the illusion would become more fragile, and eventually, there would come a time when he could spot its flaws.

But when two days and two nights passed, he began to panic a little.

The passage of time in an illusion was different from reality. Two days in the illusion could be merely an instant in reality, or it could mean a very, very long time had already passed.

He wondered if Yan Fei was getting anxious...

Over these two days, only Senior Brother Tan Yu would bring him food and water at regular intervals, patiently trying to feed him spoonful by spoonful, but he consistently refused to eat anything. Tan Yu tried talking to him, urging him to eat, but he maintained his silence. He knew the Thorn-Heart Ghost's powers this time were stronger than any he had encountered before. If he opened his mouth to converse with these people in the illusion, or even ate the food here, the Thorn-Heart Ghost would invade the depths of his mind even faster. If it managed to unearth memories with an even greater impact on him, he would truly be in danger.

Yet even without saying a word, he noticed that his memories of the past eighty years were becoming increasingly blurred, while his memories of the first fifteen years were growing clearer. Time flowed slower and slower, and the surrounding scenery, bathed in shifting light and shadow, became increasingly realistic and believable. His self-doubt was also growing uncontrollably—doubting the past eighty-plus years, and even his thousands of years of existence and memories as the Green Impermanence before that.

Accompanying the intensifying doubt was an intensifying panic.

Because if all of this was true, and his memories as the Green Impermanence were false, then it meant he had killed Tan Zhen, the senior brother who had taken care of him like a younger brother. It meant he had also cold-bloodedly killed two junior brothers right in front of his master, and he had even tried to kill Tan Yu...

At dawn on the third day, the door suddenly opened. Thinking the so-called exorcism array was ready, Tan Yangzi raised his exhausted, bloodshot eyes, only to be stunned.

The newcomer's smile was concealed in the faint radiance of the morning sun. Wearing a crimson robe and carrying an oiled paper umbrella tied with a copper bell—it was Yan Fei.