A Professional Avenger

Anyhow, Lin Yuetian rushed back to LinJia Village.

Proven by facts during the journey, it was now known that the Jade Ghost was able to freely move and follow him everywhere. That being said, it could also be surmised that if he wanted to acquire Lin Yuetian’s body as the new vessel, he had to kill the soul occupying the body first. And to kill the person, the means available to him was by terrorizing the target to weaken their Yang energy and put out the Three Fires on their head and shoulder.

Therefore, the highly mobile Jade Ghost created various haunting operations. Lin Yuetian was brought to experience a series of the typical case in classic horror movies along the way, such as:

• I’m boarding a cab but a bloody man bleeding from 7 orifices suddenly appeared in the back seat;
• The tap in the hotel I stayed in is pouring out bloody water instead;
• I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a pair of eyes staring at me on the ceiling; etc.

Unfortunately for the ghosts, Lin Yuetian responded by calmly pushing the taxi door open, turning off the faucet, and going to sleep in another room.

Along the way, the System also gradually changed from screaming in panic at first into a calm and composed one. Now he’s utterly convinced that Lin Yuetian indeed, was not afraid of ghosts.

As their trip continued and approached their destination, LinJia Village, the appearance of the Jade Ghost surprisingly became scarcer.

“He might be afraid.” Lin Yuetian boldly declared him as.

[“Big Brother, I think you get too carried away.”] The System retorted.

[“Do not be so judgemental toward supernatural ghosts, okay?”]

***

LinJia Village was a backward village located in an enclosed space. The village was small and had a dingy atmosphere. At dusk, it was especially gloomy. Each household had a memorial tablet or a statue displayed. At a glance, there were no children or young adults in the village. The people in sight are mostly old.

When Lin Yuetian arrived at the village, he went straight to find the village head who gave the Original Owner a sealed jade pendant in the first place.

The Village Head was very old. He was basking in the sun in his small yard when Lin Yuetian found him. Seeing Lin Yuetian, a junior in his village, he was visibly surprised. With a wrinkled face, he blurted out,

“Young man, what is the matter? Have you buried the jade pendant? …No, hold on, how could your Yang becomes thin?”

Lin Yuetian knew that the Village Head probably knew something as he heard his remark, so he didn’t hesitate to tell the old man about the unfortunate situation that happened to the Original Owner directly. He told him everything from the beginning when the jade pendant got broken until his coming back trip here. The more the Village Head listened to his story, the more distorted his expression became, and the more frightened he was.

“How could you smash the jade pendant?! The Jade Ghost will continue to grow stronger, and one day he will be able to kill you directly!  At the time he successfully possesses your body and returns to the world of the living, no one will be able to deal with him from then on. And later when he uses your body to enter the underworld he may become a Ghost King. At that time, the consequences will be unimaginable!”

“Just what exactly is that jade pendant?”

Lin Yuetian paid no heed to the consequences of the so-called Ghost King’s appearance later, his focus was only on how to deal with the current Jade Ghost.

The village head heaved a deep sigh and looked as if he had aged a lot in an instant.

“Fate…maybe this is fate. I thought, this matter could finally be ended in my generation. This is my fault. It seems that my life has no good fate…Forget it, so be it, Young man, I will tell you.”

***

The Village Head began telling Lin Yuetian a story, quite a lengthy one.

In this world, Ghosts do exist. Since there were Ghosts, then the counterpart that’s Ghost Exorcists who could fight and eliminate Ghosts and Demons existed as well. The ancestor of LinJia Village from which the Original Owner and the other villagers descended was such an Exorcist. The name of this ancestor was Lin Jiazheng. This Lin Tianshi^[1]Celestial Master/Taoist Master had a junior brother in the same Taoism Practice named Lin Jiayang.

After the two brothers completed their study in Taoism under the same teacher, they began their career of exorcising Ghosts and Demons together. The two of them had a good relationship. Unfortunately, Lin Jiayang later went astray. To further enhance his attainments in Taoism he started practicing the forbidden arts of ghost refining, even going as far as refining living people into ghosts for his own use.

Lin Jiayang later met with the still-human Jade Ghost. At that time, the Jade Ghost was a human who worked as a hired killer. At the request of the two Lin brothers’ enemies, he came to assassinate the Lin Brothers. However, he was taken down by Lin Jiazheng instead. And when the human-Jade Ghost was under the Lin Brothers’ custody, Lin Jiayang took advantage of him.

[“That Jade Ghost is actually your comrade in arms!”] Upon hearing the Jade Ghost’s past identity, the System suddenly went excited.

“I have no shortage of peers, from west to east, from ancient times to the present.” Lin Yuetian replied calmly. “Having the same occupation is nothing new.”^[2]What LYT said originally is 多他一个不多，少他一个不少: one more of him is not much, one less of him is not less— an idiom from Dream Of the Red Chamber, meaning someone or thing … Continue reading

To sum up, what happened to the human-Jade Ghost was that Lin Jiayang took advantage of him after his failed assassination attempt, turning the human killer into a ghost and later sealing him into a jade pendant intended for a Weapon. However, the two brothers had been together for so long, and his little action couldn’t be concealed from his senior brother.

Lin Jiazheng soon found out what his junior brother had done. He couldn’t believe that his martial sibling would resort to atrocious means for power. Lin Jiazheng wanted to save his junior brother back to the right path, unfortunately, Lin Jiayang who was already obsessed with taking the short cut refused to listen. The two brothers turned their faces and had a big fight. In the end, Lin Jiazheng narrowly won their fight and was able to grab the jade pendant.

But after all, he couldn’t bear to get rid of his junior brother even when the said man had fallen into the wrong path. The Lin Brothers ended up parting ways, and Lin Jiazheng who was discouraged went to settle down in this small village from then on.

***

[“What a classic story of brothers turning against each other,”] the System had been listening to the story with gusto.

[“From Sleeping in the same bed having different dreams into Roommates.”] ^[3]he is commenting about BL tropes, from Lin Jiazheng and Lin Jiayang who have different views in life despite being close brothers, and later about the jade ghost and the Original LYT who lived in the … Continue reading

“I understand,” Lin Yuetian was also listening carefully.

What they inferred from the Village Head’s story was totally different. The System who came from Shounen-ai Department in the Company definitely used the BL tinted glass to see things, though he felt it was a bit weird to describe the Lin Brothers’ case of Sleeping in the same bed while having different dreams,^[4]it is a CN proverb, 同床异梦: same bed, different dreams—meaning even if some people are together they have their own thought Lin Yuetian was understanding enough not to nitpick about his System’s unique thinking.

He gave a nod to the Village Head and continued to ask, “But this should be the end of the matter. What happened in the past is a long-gone conclusion. Let’s get to the point right now — do you have a way to deal with that Jade Ghost?”

The Village Head shook his head. “The method of past Taoist Masters has long been lost after so many generations. To begin with,  Taoist Masters and exorcism are things outside public knowledge. In LinJia Village, only the Village Head in every generation will know about the existence of that Jade Ghost. I am already this old, and yet there are no young people in the village who are willing to stay. There is no new Village Head. At first, I wanted to bring the jade pendant to be buried in my coffin, but I was still unsure about it…”

“…However, fate said something else. At the beginning of this year, the descendants of Lin Jiayang came here and said we should mend our connection. I chatted with one of their current family members, Lin Tongzhao, and found out that they are still active in Taoism-related business, so I decided to give the jade pendant to him to be buried. I’m too old to go on a trip. Among the juniors only you are the most obedient and conscientious. Your horoscope is also the most suitable, you have the characters of Extreme Yin^[5]People with extreme Yin characters in their Feng Shui are often sensitive to the supernatural, but also coincidentally have a strong peach blossom or romance but rotten luck in that. So I asked you in my place…”

“…Who knew, that the Jade Ghost has long been able to communicate since long ago, but just pretending to be harmless to relax my vigilance. Worse of it, who knew that you will end up being charmed by him and break the jade pendant!”

“That is to say, you gave the jade pendant to me so that I’d deliver it to the descendants of Lin Jiayang’s family? Since they are still working in the Taoism business, their Taoism arts may haven’t been lost, and their ghost refining skill may likely be preserved?” Lin Yuetian grabbed the key points and directly asked for confirmation while ignoring the Village Head’s conflicted feelings about the Original Owner’s action.

The Village Head nodded silently.

Lin Yuetian also nodded at him and smiled. “I understand.”

[“Again, just what do you understand about…”]

The System no longer has the energy to guess or correct upon which direction Lin Yuetian might “understand” this time.

“Alright, let’s proceed to our next destination, Lin Tingzhao, the current generation of Lin Jiayang’s lineage.” Lin Yuetian smiled softly. “I have a plan in mind.”

***

Lin Yuetian wasted no time and promptly executed his next action, visiting Lin Tongzhao’s residence.

During this journey, the Jade Ghost didn’t make an appearance even once. Only one time when Lin Yuetian had just finished taking a bath, he found a trail of words in the bathroom mirror written with blood:

hIS dEsCenDanTs cAn’T dO aNyThiNg AbOuT mE eItHer

“He really got scared.” Lin Yuetian deduced.

“You see, he could do shit so he goes furious on his own.”

[“Have you ever considered that his words might be the truth?”] The System was somewhat feeling indignant for the Jade ghost.

Lin Yuetian listened to his System and obediently pondered for another moment.

After a while he said in a heavy voice, “That Jade Ghost…he…, so, has he been peeping at me taking bath?”

[“…”]

The System refused to continue the conversation.

[“You really have no talent for telling jokes! Even Tom and Jerry can’t save you! I’m freezing to death here. Thanks for the cold joke,  Mr. Refrigerator!”]

***