Chapter Ninety-Three: The Reappearance of the Yin-Absorbing Art

By the time we arrived at Clear Spring Temple on Floating-Leg Mountain, it was already noon.

In the meditation room, I met Master Cloudwalker. He was still as vigorous and full of life as ever, sturdy and robust in bearing.

We sat on reed mats while a young monk brought in pu-erh tea. The three of us faced one another across the low table. Wei Seven poured a cup first for Master Cloudwalker, then for the two of us in turn.

Just as I lifted my cup to drink, Master Cloudwalker took a small box from behind him, opened it, and handed me a red pill.

"Da Chuan, take it. It will be good for your body."

It was a purplish-red pill, somewhat like a ripe ginseng fruit. Cool to the touch, but exuding a strange and elegant fragrance.

"Master, this is..."

"Take it. I refined it myself. It will help your recovery."

"Master, is Yue Yue all right?" I swallowed the pill with a mouthful of tea.

"This child is different from ordinary people. She was born with a ghost heart, and then absorbed far too much yin energy. Let her stay with me for a while. I have already spoken to her family. When the yin energy in her body has fully dissipated, they can take her home."

Master Cloudwalker sipped his tea and spoke in a flat tone. Then he added, "Zhao Wuji deserves a thousand deaths. I have already had him cast into the dungeon. He will never rise again in this life."

Only then did I finally set my mind at ease. No matter what, after such a terrible loss, at least Yue Yue had been saved. As for Old Zhao, he deserved to die a miserable death; he had brought it upon himself. For him, this was the best outcome by far.

"Master, why did Yue Yue need to practice that yin-absorbing art? What is her connection to Zhao Old Scoundrel? And why did Zhao Old Scoundrel rush over from the Underworld to protect her?" I poured out all the questions in my heart.

"I told you before. The King of the Underworld wants to counterattack the human world, so he is cultivating every force worth cultivating."

"Master, I have the feeling Wang Ying was abducted by the King of the Underworld."

"Yes. That seems to be the case. The King of the Underworld abducted your beloved in order to blackmail you. You are a rare one, born with an utterly yin constitution, so you must take care of yourself." Master Cloudwalker said with some concern.

I nodded and agreed, but in my heart another thought had already taken root: I had to go to the Underworld. I had to rescue Wang Ying. No matter what it took, I would bring her back.

"Master, when can we go to the Underworld again?" I asked, growing anxious.

Master Cloudwalker took a sip of tea. "My days are numbered. The time I died and came back was only so I could live to see you destroy the King of the Underworld with my own eyes. But now the time is not yet ripe, so we must wait. Wait until your body has recovered, and wait until we find the boundary between the Underworld and the human realm."

"Then how long will that take?" I was terribly anxious, as though I could already see Wang Ying living in that gray world, enduring an inhuman existence.

"This cannot be rushed. When you two return, continue refining your spells and magical implements. Once the opportunity matures, we will strike the Underworld at once. I suspect it will not be long now." Seeing how anxious I was, Master Cloudwalker comforted me.

It seemed there was nothing else for it. Wei Seven and I left.

In the days after we returned, I missed Wang Ying every single day. Shangguan Wan'er was quite good to me, tending to me as though she were my own little sister. My body recovered quickly, and it was all thanks to her.

One afternoon, I was resting beneath the shade of a tree in the courtyard when Shangguan Wan'er came out carrying a plate of watermelon. The moment she handed it to me, she cried out.

"Sis—what's wrong?" I turned to look at her.

"Look, look at your hand." Wan'er tossed aside the tray in her hand and grabbed my wrist.

This little girl was always startling at the smallest thing. It was only a red blotch on my wrist! In truth, it could not even really be called a blotch. It was probably the scar left from the day my weapon clashed with Zhao Old Scoundrel's. The scab had fallen away, leaving this patch of scar tissue, which at first glance looked just like a blood stain.

"Brother, the color of this mark is exactly the same as the blood mark on Zi Yi's wrist. It's only the shape that's different. His is dragon-shaped; yours looks like... a mouse? A turtle? Neither, really." Shangguan Wan'er said, still holding my wrist.

I smiled bitterly. "Wan'er, you miss Zi Yi too, don't you?"

At that moment, the two of us were like people cast adrift at opposite ends of the world, each carrying someone in our hearts, yet neither knowing where that person had gone.

"You just go on missing your wife. I don't miss him at all, hmph! He never even comes to see me." As she spoke, her voice grew slightly choked, and she went into the house.

I knew she was missing Zi Yi, of course. But her Zi Yi was far harder to find than my Wang Ying. At the very least, I knew Wang Ying was somewhere in this world, or else in the Underworld. But her? There was not a single clue. No one knew where Zi Yi was. After more than two thousand years, who knew what he had been reborn as.

The front gate creaked open, and Wei Seven walked in, his brows tightly furrowed, a rolled cigarette between his lips, puffing away with sharp little draws.

"Da Chuan, something big has happened."

"What big thing could make you look so grim?" I had never seen him like this before. "Did Yingzi get pregnant again?"

Wei Seven shot me a glare. "Where are you going with that? I just got a call from Shang Xiaoyun."

"Heh, what's the matter? Trying to keep one foot on two boats?"

I was unbearably bored, so I made a joke at his expense.

Wei Seven hurled the cigarette butt hard to the ground. "Your Uncle Seven isn't that kind of man. Ever since I got together with Yingzi, I've turned over a new leaf."

"If you're not keeping two boats afloat, why are you so worked up?"

"Shang Xiaoyun just called and said that in the new neighborhood where she moved, several people died last night on the square while out cooling off. Seven or eight, maybe. And a young couple out for some late-night fun had their hearts ripped out."

I hurriedly sat up. "How could something like that happen? There hasn't been any news about it!"

"Things like that are never reported. The local authorities suppress them. But from what Shang Xiaoyun described, the way those people died was extremely strange. They were fine one moment, then suddenly collapsed the next, and after that they stopped breathing... I suspect their souls were sucked away."

Impossible. What kind of thing could suck away seven or eight souls at once? And rip out their hearts, too. Could it be... that yin-absorbing art? No, how could that be? Yue Yue was with Master Cloudwalker, under his care. She should be fine. Could someone else have mastered that yin-absorbing art? If so, then this would be truly disastrous.

"Uncle Seven, let's go take a look together. See whether it was the soul-devouring art that took their souls. If they really were sucked dry, then we'll hurry and consult Master Cloudwalker about countermeasures." I said.

"Shang Xiaoyun said the corpses had already been taken away by the police, along with the emergency responders and the coroner. Even if we go, we won't see them. I'm just worried that if the yin-absorbing art has truly reappeared in the world, then the whole human realm is going to suffer."

I put on my shoes, and without even changing my clothes, dragged Wei Seven out the door. "Let's find Yu Fang. Let her help us think of a way. No matter what, we have to see those bodies and confirm whether their souls were absorbed by the yin-absorbing art. Only then can we figure out what to do. Otherwise it'll be too late."

Wei Seven clicked his tongue, then dragged me into his Happy Prince.

At the Criminal Investigation Brigade, we met Yu Fang. The girl was still as spirited and heroic as ever, her bearing healthy and bright. People are people, and ghosts are ghosts; Yu Fang had a rosy vitality that Wang Ying and Shangguan Wan'er simply did not possess.

"Brother Wang, why, why have you come?" Seeing me, she grew a little excited, her full chest rising and falling. Then she glanced at Wei Seven before turning back to me. "What's wrong? Things not going well with your wife?"

"What do you mean?" Her first few words left me quite taken aback.

"Your face looks bad, and you've lost weight. Also, your hair's all sticking up like you've been mistreated." Yu Fang teased me with a hand over her mouth.

I didn't tell her about my recent situation, only said, "I heard there have been more murders in Liyuan Estate. Have you heard about it?"

"I have. Liyuan Estate isn't under our jurisdiction, but I did hear about it. Last night everyone was hanging out in the neighborhood garden, and then they died for no reason at all. Two of them even had their hearts ripped out." Yu Fang's account matched Shang Xiaoyun's exactly.

"Take us to see them. We suspect someone's soul was stolen." I said directly. Time was pressing; there was no room for delay.

"Again with ghosts?" Yu Fang's eyes showed a trace of fear.

"Not yet confirmed. Just help us get a look at the bodies as quickly as possible. If it really is as we suspect, there could be more deaths tonight."

Yu Fang took it extremely seriously. An hour later, the two of us saw the deceased in the morgue. Their expressions were peaceful, and there were no visible wounds. It was clear enough: their souls had indeed been taken.

Wei Seven looked at me in complete bewilderment. "Da Chuan, it really looks like someone has mastered the yin-absorbing art."