Chapter Three: The Female Ghost

I casually pulled out a yellow talisman and threw it at the female ghost before me. These talismans were not the ordinary ones people usually saw; the kind I could toss resembled playing cards, inscribed with special symbols in cinnabar ink. When confronting enemies, these card-like talismans could strike targets from a distance. However, their power was limited, only effective against minor spirits lacking any significant ghostly aura.

Missing with the first throw, I swiftly tried again—swish!

Rounding a corner, I spotted the restless female ghost drifting away. I launched another talisman card. Over the past month, aside from reading, listening to Chen Chuyi’s teachings, and practicing the art of drawing talismans, I had devoted myself to mastering this card-throwing technique. Though I couldn't claim true precision yet, this ghost was such a large target that it was impossible to miss.

A piercing scream erupted as my talisman struck her. The fleeing female ghost collapsed to the floor, but she didn’t linger. With a desperate struggle, she slipped straight into the restroom.

Without hesitation, I followed her inside. The restroom was empty.

As I rushed in, I saw her sprawled on the ground, writhing in pain. On her chest was a glaring black wound—the terrifying result of my talisman, which had struck her ghostly vein.

Standing beside her, I met her gaze. Her eyes were filled with pleading.

To be honest, that look softened my heart.

“I know you can see me. You must be a Yin-Yang Master, right?”

She spoke! I was slightly shocked—after all, it was my first time conversing with a female ghost, and she seemed little different from an ordinary person.

I nodded in response.

“I have one last request. Please, help me!”

Such a direct plea for help—Chen Chuyi had been right. These ghosts lingered instead of reporting to the Ghost City precisely because they still had unfulfilled wishes.

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Originally, I could have simply destroyed her soul, which would have spared me further trouble. But heaven cherishes all living things; we must show compassion toward these restless spirits. Their fate is already misfortunate enough.

“Speak,” I said.

Upon hearing my consent, the female ghost slowly sat upright and addressed me: “I used to work for the insurance company on this floor. One day, I accidentally caught the office director and the boss’s wife… in the act. I never expected them to—” She broke down, sobbing, then continued: those wretched people pushed her out the window, making it look like a suicide. Given the strange reputation of the building, no one questioned another death by jumping.

Listening, I truly felt sorry for this young woman, so new to society, yet encountering such tragedy.

I asked her for the names of the adulterous pair responsible for her death, then reached out to pull the talisman lodged deep in her chest. She recovered significantly.

“Come, I’ll take care of your issue. Once your wish is fulfilled, I’ll help you reincarnate.”

Grateful, she nodded, then dragged her wounded spirit toward a jar I had opened. It was specially designed for collecting spirits; once inside, she would fall into a deep sleep.

I held the faintly cold jar in my hand, then tucked it into the backpack slung over my shoulder.

Standing in the restroom, I suddenly felt the urge to pee.

But as I approached a restroom door, I sensed a surge of malevolent energy rushing toward me. Confused yet slightly excited and anxious, I wondered—could there be another ghost hidden inside?

I opened the door—and nearly died of fright!

A wave of murderous aura washed over me. I classified it as such because the instant it struck my face, I felt a threat of death, a suffocating sensation.

Chen Chuyi had warned me: yin energy chills, but murderous aura suffocates or kills. That’s the distinction. Since I had opened my spiritual path with willow leaves, I could see what lay before me.

---

It was a woman with snow-white hair, but her abdomen bore seven infant heads, each wailing pitifully—a sight that chilled my soul.

As I tried to retreat, the white-haired woman suddenly lifted her head, smirked coldly, and reached for my throat.

I didn’t know why ghosts favored grabbing necks, but I found myself immobilized, frozen as if encased in ice.

“Sister Zhang…”

Only then did I realize that everything I’d learned was useless in this moment, so I cried out for Sister Zhang.

Just as the white-haired ghost lunged for me, a flash of crimson light streaked by, followed by the crackling sound of talismans. Instantly, I was pulled back by a pair of soft, boneless hands—Zhang Keqing had intervened.

“I always said this building was strange. I never imagined it would breed such a thing,” Zhang Keqing remarked, standing beside me, holding a blackened peach wood sword in one hand and two yellow talismans in the other.

“Yin-Yang Master?”

The white-haired ghost glanced at me, then fixed her gaze on Zhang Keqing. Suddenly, she grinned.

Her grin nearly made me vomit.

She didn’t move her mouth when she spoke, but now that she smiled, I saw her mouth was not filled with teeth, but writhing, strip-like objects resembling human intestines—a terrifying sight.

As she spoke, her body, curled up in the corner of the restroom, gradually revealed itself. She was a tall woman, nearly six feet two, her long white hair swirling wildly with the yin energy. Her face, when closed, was still bearable; her body, though drifting, radiated a palpable, almost physical pressure.