Volume 5 - CH 8

Location: Taiwan

Time: 10:48 pm

After the Beast of Scroll left, I suddenly had a question. Senior’s work has been easily and perfectly completed, then… what about mine?

I was supposed to have a job which is completely different from senior’s, but since the problem regarding the Beast of Scroll had already been settled, then what is my job? I do not recall senior telling me anything regarding my job, I only knew my job was coincidentally in this place, and it was entrusted by Miss Hong.

At the same time while I was thinking of it, I suddenly saw an eyeball appearing outside the corner of the broken hole due to senior kicking the Beast of Scroll… What… what… what is that thing—!

I didn’t think it was my imagination. But in the middle of the night, inside a high-rise construction site, how could it be possible to see an eyeball?

It was more reasonable to say there was garbage stuck in that place.

“What thing?” I don’t know why, but senior’s reaction was one step slower than my thoughts.

Just as he was about to turn around, following the eyeball, I saw a black object flying out of the hole and headed directly towards my chest, a fatal blow—

“Chu!” I heard senior’s cry but, within half a second, his voice broke off. I felt dizzy, turned towards another direction, and my mouth started foaming. I considered myself lucky since I didn’t throw up today’s dinner along with the foam.

I felt like… I was falling… Wait a minute, falling? The term was very supernatural!

After a small signboard and a metal rack flew past in front of my eyes, almost cutting my head in half, I suddenly realized the seriousness of the matter— I was being knocked out of the window by the eye’s black object, and was falling down from the building.

I’m filled with admiration that up until now, I could still think calmly without screaming. Indeed, the long period of training was not fake, even in this kind of situation I could calmly face it… not!

“Whoaaaaahhhhh——!” My cries disappeared with the wind.

Something is holding onto my leg! There’s a cold strange sticky thing holding onto my leg!

I dared not look, I dared not look, I dared not look— but then again, I’ve said this before: humans are the very prying type of animal. So although I obviously knew I shouldn’t look at it, my pair of eyes would still look across.

I can understand the protagonist in horror movies, why their fates are so rough, because curiosity would cause one to die thousands of times.

“Ghost——!” Looking across, I saw a human… no, it wasn’t a human. The thing I was seeing was obviously a ghost firmly grasping onto my right leg and not letting go. Its head was half dismembered, the eyeballs looked like it would fall out at any moment, was the exact one that I saw.

It’s smiling! It’s really smiling! During the strong wind and heavy rain, I was knocked off the building by a ghost, and it was holding onto my thigh while smiling.

He’s a pervert!

Then, I realized something; although the building was really tall,but why haven’t I fallen to the ground yet?!

While I was thinking, I probably fell to the ground, but I could feel a very soft thing cushioning my back. Unexpectedly, it didn’t move, and the feeling was like jumping into a cotton ball.

Uh, in the past, people who had played with this before when they were young should be able to know what I was describing.

… Wait a minute, how did a cotton ball appear in a construction site?

“Splitting Earth, Wind and Water’s poetic singing, twenty-five flower rotation.” At the same time the voice resounded, with me in the center, a faintly glowing halo circled around me. It was only then when I realized it wasn’t a cotton ball, but a super large flower. I guess it wasn’t a man-eating flower.

A huge white flower and a bunch of small flowers became a cushion, absorbing the momentum. I bounced on top of the petal a few times, and it absorbed the force, so I didn’t receive even a scratch. Everything was like a fairy fantasy version of a cute forest.

When I came back to my senses after being chaotically bounced about and seeing stars, it was only then that I saw senior standing on the bottom of the big flower and small flowers. Below his feet was a square array, exactly the same array was on the bottom of the flowers, “Chu, come down, hurry!”

I saw that the ghost bounced towards the other side of the petal, and this was my chance to get away. Without saying anything more, I immediately rolled and scrambled as I got down from the petal.

I never thought senior knew how to use such a dreamy and cute array, this caused more shock compared to being held onto by the ghost!

“Next time you fall and don’t mind being swallowed by killer whales, I won’t use flowers anymore.” Senior’s palms, which were originally forming a circle, clasped his hands together as soon as he saw I had reached the ground. The white flower turned into a man eating flower, and with a bang, all the petals curled up and swallowed the ghost.

“Don’t do that, I think petals are the best, thank you.” I deeply believe he would definitely take out killer whales. Definitely! No doubt!

Because he is senior.

The bloated white flower issued pew sound, and it spat out a small rock, “Looks like that’s not its original body.” Senior gripped both his hands, the big flower and small flowers evaporated and disappeared without a trace, “Next is your job, I won’t intervene.”

I’m begging you, if you want to help then help until the end, boss.

Looking at senior who snorting once and walked to one side, he was obviously waiting to watch a good show while enjoying the wind. I had a very, no, extremely bad premonition.

Sure enough, going out during typhoon would definitely cause bad things to happen.

I believe in this now.

The radio said that during typhoon, it’s best not to go outdoors to avoid being hit by signboards or being blown away by the storm.

And now, I deeply felt that not listening to the broadcaster’s advice, “it’ll only get worse,” is very persuasive. During huge typhoons, one really shouldn’t go out. Otherwise one would suffer his life’s biggest threat.

The surrounding was very quiet, it was probably due to senior’s barrier. Other than the beginning when I fell down and felt the wind and rain, it was now completely quiet. I couldn’t even hear a single sound.

My nerves were completely tense.

Since the ghost eaten by the flower earlier was not the genuine one, then where on earth is the real one?

Other than that, I was very curious of what I’ve heard earlier. It was rather different compared to the incantations and arrays senior normally uses. The words spoken earlier felt a little like a song, short sentences of a song, neat, and gives off a rather elegant feeling.

“That is the Elfin Hundred Sentenced Song, it has been handed down for a very long time. I heard about it and thought it was interesting; the ancient Guardian Elves, together with the Eastern Alchemist Circle, created it. A short sentence of the song vibrating the natural subtle spirits allowing one to manipulate it. In the end, the Eastern Alchemist Circle died off, a long time had passed to the point where their offspring had all forgotten about it. Thus, only a few Elves who retained it, has knowledge of the complete lyrics.” Senior folded his arms, and very kind heartedly explained to me, “In the Robe’s special courses there’s such as course. However, even for the Black Robe’s course, it’s only up until the 44th sentence, and the rest are said to be missing. After all, the small portion of the Elves, who lived for for a long time, are reluctant to come forward to deal with other races.”

After he said that, I remembered he seemed to have said something about twenty-five.

“Let me think about it, according to your level, learning the first few sentences shouldn’t be a problem.” Holding his chin, senior slightly tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, “Even a child could use the first few sentences…”

I’m sorry my strength is so weak like a little kid’s. Even a mouse is much stronger than me, I really don’t know what I should say to refute it.

Red eyes glanced at me for half a second, “I’m referring to the Elfin children, this song was originally designed to be this way. The first part is for children to protect themselves, the middle part is for the matured Elves for advanced usage, and the last part is for the powerful Elves. The higher level the Elf is, the more he would be able to sing, and so it was so easily lost.” Senior threw a i-don’t-know-if-it’s-considered-as-comforting words. But listening to it, I felt better, at least losing to Elfin children wasn’t as bad.

“Since it’s a song Elves use, it consists of plants, animals, phenomena and the like of the natural world, such as wind, fire, water, earth, light, shadow, sound and similar phenomena. Other than that, if one could simulate the formation the same time he is using it, he would be able to increase the power.” Raising both his hands, senior looked at me, “The basic rhythm of the song is making a circle with your palms where your fingertips are touching, a song sentence with power goes through your hands and spirit when they resonate with one another. Then, it’ll become the entity you imagined.” Senior used his hands to form a circle, his forefinger facing his other forefinger, his thumb facing his other thumb. His palm facing out, and the back of his hand facing him — the same pose I saw him doing earlier.

“The water’s singing, the sound of wind, and the wind starting to dance, a crazy waterjet.” As soon as the last word was said, I saw a transparent liquid instantaneously flying past, and at one side, a steel frame was cut into two.

If all Elfin children had this kind of strength… I’ll admit it then. They would be a super high class dangerous killer kid, alright!?

I doubtfully formed a circle with my hands and looked, and through the circle, at the other end, what I saw wasn’t an Elfin array, but…

“Whoa—!” I forcefully took a very big step back.

Appearing not too far behind my hands, was the ghost’s real body who didn’t get eaten earlier.

What senior chanted; something about fragrance, was completely forgotten. Who would remember about some damn romantic song when a ghost is staring at you!

This time it should be senior’s turn to fight, right?

“Do your best.” Senior, who was said to be my guide in the past, coolly threw the three words at me.

Save me!

But then again, I felt the ghost in front of me looked rather familiar. That damn look, I seemed to have seen it before somewhere.

Fractured skull and rotten brain, eyes and teeth turning into a bunch of paste and rotting on his face. I didn’t notice earlier but now I can clearly see it, his hands and legs were all broken, rather like a marionette… That entire look isn’t it the standard look for dead person who jumped off a building!?

I understood it now, it was actually very similar to a corpse of someone who jumped off a building. In the past I had seen ghosts who also looked like this a few times, no wonder I felt it was so familiar. Jumping down would all end up looking like that, I probably could even distinguish the height he jumped down from.

“You’re people sent by Asia City Construction Group…” The ghost gloomily spoke in a very low and hoarse voice, but also a very standard voice: “You are also people from that group of unscrupulous businessmen… you must be nothing good…”

Since he already opened his mouth he should be easier to deal with. A ghost who talks would always be better than those who couldn’t, because I could at least communicate with it. I am most afraid of the type of things who couldn’t communicate and suddenly takes a bite at you. One wouldn’t even get the chance to talk to it, and could only start screaming for help. I silently stood a little closer to senior. If something happened, I could I turn back and look for help immediately.

“Mister, we’re only passing-by, you’re mistaken.” The ghost took half a step forward, I took another step back.

“Hmph, you think I would be afraid of you because of this…”

It was very obvious the ghost wasn’t willing to sit down, drink tea, and calmly have a nice talk.

If I deduce according to the common sense of manhuas and the appearance of this ghost, from the plot recycled so many times and my speculation, I could only guess one of the most likely possibilities, “Mister, did you fall from this building and died?” The rotten reason that would appear in each and every movie that builds protests against supernatural event. If it’s not suicide, then he was murdered, there’s no other reasons. But I’ve never seen one who was punished by the heavens or destroyed by the Earth, maybe I would be able to see it using this method.

“Nonsense, how could I have bungee jumped here and died?!”

I got scolded by a ghost, I actually got scolded by a ghost!

A cold laugher could be heard coming from behind; senior’s laughter.

Being scolded by a ghost was bad enough, but you still had to laugh at me. The ghosts nowadays are really difficult to get along with, I had well-intentions by interviewing him but I was scolded, so rude, “I’m sorry, because both ways of dying looked rather similar, if you wanted to bungee jump and die, I won’t have any comment.” No matter what, I better apologize first, but the ghost didn’t look pleased, “I would like to ask if you had something to do with this place always having problems.”

“Hmph. It’s to give those unscrupulous businessmen a lesson!”

Looks like it has something to do with him. So this is actually my job.

“I used to be someone living here, this place and house was mine, but one day, this group of unscrupulous businessmen suddenly came to my house and said they wanted to buy the deed of my land. I didn’t agree to it. I don’t know what they did in the dark, but in one short month my work, stocks were gone, and I owned a huge debt. Also, everyday there would be weird people coming to ask for payments of my debt, splashing paint, throwing paper money, and even smashing the walls. My wife and kids were always in fear, and in the end they left me and went back to her parent’s house. That kind of situation caused me to have no other choice but to sell my land to them.”

Following the norm, the ghost started to tell his sad past when he was still alive, “After selling my land, the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. By accident, I heard the delinquents who came to ask for the return of my debt drinking at a roadside stall until they got drunk saying it was those unscrupulous businessmen who ordered them. I really couldn’t accept this matter, so I went around to look for relevant work units to petition for a protest. But I don’t know what benefits the work units received from them, even after protesting a few times, nothing was done. But it was fine, since it came down to this, let us all die together. So I jumped down from here and died horribly, let’s see who would dare to live in this haunted place where someone had died before.”

Nn, sure enough, it was an extremely conventional kind of story, so conventional that I’ve continuously seen similar themes dozens of times in different shows. Now, as long as I watched the beginning, I could probably guess the ending already, “Are you done?”

The ghost nodded.

“Alright, according to the convention of the story, you should ascend to heaven.” But how do I get him to ascend to heaven? I put my hands into my pocket, and then took out an explosive charm.

“What are you trying to do!?” The ghost immediately became alert.

“Allowing you to become a Buddha.” Following the norm, I added a sentence filled with conscience, “Ah, you don’t have to worry, ascending to heaven would allow you to have a more relaxed life.” Probably… since I’ve never ascended to heaven, I didn’t know if it allowed one to have a more relaxed life.

“Chu, if you’re planning to use explosive charm, he would most probably have his soul broken to bits and turn into dust.” Probably because he couldn’t continue watch anymore, senior, who was standing behind, gave a direct conclusion.

“Is that so!?” I was shocked. I thought the worst that could happen was blasting him down to hell.

Senior nodded.

Then what should I do?

“You actually wanted my soul to be blasted to bits!” After shouting; I didn’t even have to say it, the ghost used a few seconds to completely turn into a haunting ferocious ghost. Sinister wind immediately blew and a bright light appeared, “You guys really are people from the unscrupulous businessmen! All of you must die!”

That’s… it’s a complete misunderstanding…

“Chu, the Elfin hundred sentence song’s hand gesture.” I turned around, and senior was already very far behind, sitting on top of a stack of steel frame while folding his arms, looking extremely relaxed. His situation was entirely compared to the dangerous situation in front of me.

I quickly formed a circle with my hands, and in front of my eyes, I saw that ghost freaking out, rushing towards me. His eyes and brain dangling on his face looked very disgusting.

“Light forming a circle, light and shadow intertwined, unrestrained violent light shield.”

“Light forming a circle, light and shadow intertwined, unrestrained violent light shield.” I followed senior and finished chanting. A very small and shiny item suddenly spread out in a circle from my hand, and then I heard a very crisp bang.

The ghost was bounced off a distance away.

“Look, it’s very easy right.” Senior’s voice came from behind, “Maybe you might have talent in this area…” He put down his hands, playing with his red hair that landed in front of his face.

I think so, too. Since the chanted sentences were fixed, it was impossible for a human bomb or what-not to appear.

“Then, I just have to keep bouncing him off until he ascends to heaven by himself?” I don’t think a shield would be able to deal with a resentful ghost.

“Of course not.” Senior directly gave me an affirmation.

I guess he also shouldn’t guide me for the entire job, or else it would be better if he was the one who accepted the job.

Nn, think… think… I need to calm down and think of a countermeasure.

“I curse all of you to die horribly!” The ferocious ghost’s brain spurt out together with his emotion. If it was daytime instead of nighttime, I probably would have vomited on the spot, but because it wasn’t too bright, the disgusting effect was mostly obscured.

Without him cursing me, I think I wouldn’t have a good death either — speculating according to the bad luck I’ve had until now.

But before my horrible death… “You yourself didn’t have a good death so you are not qualified to curse my death.” To be cursed this way by a ghost who died horribly by jumping off a building, made me feel extremely unwilling.

“What did you say!”

“Chu, don’t casually argue with a ghost. It feels like you’re degrading yourself.”

After senior said that, I was shocked because I didn’t know when I actually started bickering with the ghost.

Strange, I seem to be more emotional tonight. In fact, I probably knew the reason. It probably had something to do with something that happened a very long time ago.

“Uncle, it would be better if you hurry up and ascend to heaven. Even if you stay here, there would be a day where someone would come and get rid of you.” I took out a paper charm, it was something Andy gave me not too long ago, but haven’t tried using it yet, “At least I would be more lenient, and I wouldn’t make you feel burdened.” Uh, talking like this, it seem to be like some kind of lines from an advertisement… forget it.

“What the hell are you saying!? If that bunch of unscrupulous businessmen doesn’t give me compensation, I would stay here and curse them until all of them die!” The second evolution of a ferocious ghost roared, without giving any chance for discussion.

“I’ll kill both of you first, to serve as a warning!”

I had a memory. A memory of a very long time ago.

Before we came to live here, we used to live in a rather antique building.

I don’t remember where it was, but there was a vague memory. I probably lived there for a short period of time when I was very young. However, it was neither father’s relatives’ place nor our old home.

I only remembered we just left our old home, couldn’t find a house ,and someone provided this place… And we lived there for half a year.

It was a very old house, in the mountains, a vine swing on the old tree slowly swinging with squeak-creak sound. Until I remembered it, a very long period of time has passed, but no one could remember where that place was.

It was something everyone thought of as a small insignificant memory.

When I saw this suicidal uncle, for some reason the impression of the house, the old tree, and the swing suddenly became clear, because in that place there was someone who was similar to him.

“Sound of the sky paid with life, together with me towards the Southeast setting sun, together with me towards the Northwest dark town, seal styled cursed mark.” I took out a charm and slammed it on the ground. A white light suddenly went into the ground and split out into four different directions. It then fixed itself and drew out a line of light. Just when the ferocious ghost was about to move, the line of light started writhing, drawing out a rectangle.

“It’s a success!” I’m so touched! The thing Andy taught me actually succeeded!

But I only remember this, what do I do next?

“Looks like Andy taught you many interesting stuff.” Senior jumped down from where he was previously sitting, and slowly walked towards me, “This is a basic defence array, able to seal off the enemy’s movements.”

The ferocious ghost uncle was sealed in the middle of the light of the rectangle, unable to move.

I had a I-got-lucky kind of feeling.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t force him to ascend to heaven, I would just shoot him.” Narrowing his eyes, senior coldly look at the uncle who was still struggling, “How are you going to dispose of him? This is your job, so I’ll let you decide.”

That’s… I also knew this is my job. The problem was I want him to ascend to heaven, but I didn’t know how to do it.

“You’re very insistent in him ascending to heaven, but he isn’t listening to you.”

I also knew he wasn’t listening to me.

“Ah, uncle, can’t you just obediently ascend to heaven?” I turned towards him, and started negotiating with the ferocious ghost who was still struggling.

“No way!”

“Negotiation failed, then you can just go to hell.” Such stubbornness.

“Hey, hey, wait a minute, normally shouldn’t you start persuading me to obediently ascend to heaven!?”

Why was it that even the ferocious ghost uncle also uses thess kind of lines?

“I did nicely advise you, but you didn’t want to listen.” Then, of course, I’m not to be blamed. I looked towards senior, other than not knowing how one ascends to heaven, I also don’t know how to send someone to hell. I currently only knew how to blast his soul to pieces. But because of my conscience and humanitarian considerations, unless it was really necessary, I better not use this method.

“Sending him to hell is actually pretty simple.” Senior took out a red charm from his pocket and passed it to me, “Just give him the final blow and he’s going to go down.”

The uncle who was constrained suddenly tensed up.

“I’ll listen… we should discuss this nicely.”