Chapter Eighty-Five: The Dark-Absorbing Art

I stayed behind, but Wei Seven left. He had just received a call: Yingzi was having stomach pain. The two of them had been together for some time, and that morning she had even been feeling nauseous. It seemed possible she was pregnant, and now this pain in her belly over the phone was truly worrying. He had to go back and take care of her. I wanted to go back with him, but the woman clutched my arm and begged me to stay, asking me to help keep watch and see what would happen that night no matter what.

With no other choice, I asked Wei Seven to stop by my place and see whether Wang Ying had changed in any way. By that point, I still refused to believe that Wang Ying had simply gone like this.

After Wei Seven left, I remained alone in Forty-Mile Town. During our conversation, I learned that the woman’s surname was Cui, and her given name was Mei, so I simply called her Sister Cui. She treated me very well, but her daughter still had not come downstairs.

That afternoon, I got a call from Wei Seven. He said Yingzi’s stomach pain had become severe and that she was bleeding. In a sorrowful voice, he told me the child had been miscarried before it had even formed. He was heartbroken, and so was I. I told him not to come over and that I could manage alone.

By then, I was no longer the same as before. The Crimson Dragon Abyss and the Palm Thunder were both top-grade magical implements, especially the Palm Thunder, which could deal not only with ghosts, but with living people as well. Thinking of how Master Flying Cloud had given me such powerful tools, I truly ought to thank him properly. Yet for some reason, he always felt strange to me, as though his depths could not be measured.

Because Yingzi had miscarried, Wei Seven was busy and did not even have the heart to ask how Wang Ying was doing. Still, he told me he had gone to my house and seen that Wang Ying was still lying in bed, unchanged in any way. My heart sank. I had a dim feeling that Wang Ying was really about to leave me like this.

Time passed slowly. The sky darkened little by little. Sister Cui said her husband would be home tonight, but by after ten he still had not returned. When I saw the hands of the clock point to ten, I began to grow tense. At this hour, ghosts usually became active. In the past, I had always carried out these tasks together with Wei Seven; tonight, alone, I had no confidence at all.

Seeing that it was getting late, Cui Mei’s own expression also turned anxious. In a low voice, she said to me, "Master Wang, let’s put out the light. Something’s bound to happen soon."

I said, all right.

So Cui Mei extinguished the lamp, and the two of us sat in the pitch-black night, waiting. Minute by minute, time crawled onward. Sure enough, there was movement upstairs.

First came the sound of a door opening. Then Yueyue appeared, coming downstairs in her pajamas. When Cui Mei wanted to rush up and say something, I stopped her. I signaled for her not to move, and we followed behind to see what would happen.

After coming downstairs, Yueyue did not look around, nor did she turn on a light. She went straight to the door, opened it, and walked out. The weather was fine tonight, and the moon in the sky was bright. Yueyue stepped outside barefoot.

Cui Mei’s home was in town. It was not a villa district, just a two-story house built on land they had bought themselves. Not far to the east was a small stream, and beyond the stream lay a cemetery. Under the moonlight, the graveyard was veiled in damp mist, a sight that sent a chill of fear through anyone who saw it.

Yueyue, as though no one else existed, walked alone and barefoot ahead, not even turning her head once. Cui Mei and I followed behind her, yet it was as if she could not see us at all.

"Sister Cui, was she like this last night too?" I asked quietly.

"She was like this last night, and the night before as well. Right now she doesn’t recognize me at all. Even if I wanted to hold her back, I couldn’t. Could she be under some evil spell?" Cui Mei asked as she walked.

From the present situation, it was very possible she had been afflicted by something sinister, that is, possessed by a ghost. But what was she doing running to the cemetery in the middle of the night?

The moon was bright, and the things around us became fairly clear. Cui Mei and I followed her over. On a midsummer night, beside the countryside, it should not have been especially quiet. Frogs in the fields, owls, even cicadas in the trees ought to have been making noise. Yet now it was deathly silent. Only the wind through the crops made a rustling sound, making the night even more still and more terrifying.

Yueyue slipped into the cemetery. Cui Mei and I hurried after her.

"Sister Cui, why not put shoes on her? There are thorns and all sorts of things in the graveyard!" I said.

"Do you think I don’t want to? But there’s no way. As soon as night falls, she seems like a completely different person. When I go up to call her, she ignores me at all. Her strength is even greater than mine, and I can’t do anything about her. Luckily, her father is coming back tonight, so he can help me keep an eye on her."

While Cui Mei and I were speaking in low voices, Yueyue began wandering among the grave mounds, head bowed as she looked at each one in turn, as if searching for something.

In front of a tall grave mound, Yueyue sat down. She faced east, toward the western side of the grave, and extended both hands toward it, palms turned to the stone stele, sitting quietly as if she were practicing some ancient art.

"Master Wang, she has been doing this every night for the past few nights. She comes at a little after eleven and leaves around two in the morning, one grave mound each night," Cui Mei explained in a low voice.

Could it be... absorbing yin energy?

That seemed unlikely. My second uncle had once told me that in the world of yin and yang, there was a technique called the Great Yin Absorption Art. Its method was this: at night, during the hour of deepest yin, the practitioner would sit in meditation atop the grave mound of the dead, drawing in the yin energy of the corpse within by borrowing the night’s own yin qi. Once mastered, the practitioner’s own yin energy would grow heavy, and they could seize a person’s soul at any time. My second uncle had also said this skill was incredibly formidable, though he had never seen it himself, only heard of it.

Most important of all, those who cultivated the Great Yin Absorption Art were not ordinary people, but Pure Yin Envoys. As for what a Pure Yin Envoy was, my second uncle had not told me. When I pressed him, he only smiled and said these were all legends, and that no one even knew whether such a sorcery existed in this world.

This was only my guess; I did not dare say for certain what Yueyue was doing. Was she really cultivating that technique? If she truly was practicing the Great Yin Absorption Art, then that would mean she was a being of utmost yin.

Yueyue sat there, motionless. Her hands were very close to the stele, and I could not tell what she was doing. If only I had yin and yang sight.

"Master Wang, may we go over and take a look?" I did not know whether this decision was right, but I still decided to approach and see. If that girl was truly practicing the Great Yin Absorption Art, then I had to stop her.

Naturally, Cui Mei wanted to go over. Her own daughter acting this way made her worried and heartbroken. The two of us crept forward on tiptoe.

Yueyue sat there with her eyes lightly closed, both hands pressed against the stele, her fingers bent like eagle claws. A faint hissing sound drifted over, as though air were leaking out.

"Yueyue, Yueyue, what are you doing?" Cui Mei grew anxious when she saw her daughter like this.

Yueyue did not move, as if petrified. Under the moonlight, her face was ghastly pale. The corners of her mouth twitched slightly, and the muscles in her face trembled faintly, shocking me deeply. No matter whether she was practicing the Great Yin Seizure Art or something else, one thing was certain: she really was drawing something from this grave. It showed that she was no ordinary person.

"Yueyue, Yueyue." Cui Mei reached out to pull her, but I quickly caught her hand.

I led Cui Mei back out. "Sister Cui, we can’t disturb her now. She’s absorbing yin energy. If we interrupt her, who knows what consequences there might be? Let her continue. In any case, we absolutely cannot let her come here again tomorrow night."

I still did not know exactly what Yueyue was doing. But for now, it was best not to stop her. I could not be sure whether she was doing this of her own accord or being controlled by something else. If she were possessed by a ghost and I acted rashly, I might very well injure her, and that would not be worth it.

"Master Wang, think of something! You have to cure my daughter. Her father and I have only this one precious girl, and we do not want anything to happen to her," Cui Mei said with a face full of misery.

"Don’t worry, Sister Cui. I’ll definitely handle this matter. I just haven’t figured out what’s going on yet, so I can’t stop her for the moment. I’m afraid of hurting her." I spoke honestly. My heart was in turmoil. If I went over to stop her, I feared I might injure her; if I did not, and she truly was drawing yin energy from the dead to cultivate the Great Yin Absorption Art, then what?

After much thought, I still decided to put Yueyue’s safety first and let her continue for one night. I estimated she would not complete the Great Yin Absorption Art so quickly. Tomorrow, I had to discuss this matter with Wei Seven. This could very likely be a major affair, and it might even draw down a great calamity. If her cultivation of this technique were to succeed, as my second uncle had said, it would become an unimaginable disaster. Thinking of this, I nearly rushed forward to stop her on the spot.