They All Say I Encountered A Ghost Chapter 43

Ning Tiance stayed at the Internet cafe past one without finding the job posting his s.h.i.+fu had spoken of. Angry and anxious, he left the smoke-filled Internet cafe and walked numbly through the streets.

The sect's elders attached great importance to this a.s.signment. Before Ning Tiance had left, they'd told him that if the fierce ghosts were too powerful, he must contact the sect.

As the Chief Disciple of the Maoshan Sect, Ning Tiance's heart was full of pride. After all, he was a disciple who could deal with a fierce ghost on his own. All his s.h.i.+di could only succeed in trapping a fierce ghost if many disciples formed an array together, while he could wield the sect's precious evil-dispelling sword.

The arrogant Ning Tiance hadn't expected that leaving the sect this time wouldn't go smoothly. He had actually made a mistake in receiving his first a.s.signment.

A not remotely cool wind blew in his face. H City wasn't as good as the Maoshan Sect. The environment was noisy, people's hearts were inconstant, and even the night wind was fickle.

He walked until four in the morning, when his s.h.i.+fu sent a message: Tiance, Madam Zhang, who entrusted this task to us, has told me that a ghost possessing a human body has already been dealt with. It only remains to transcend it. You have done well. This master is pleased.

Ning Tiance replied honestly: s.h.i.+fu, I didn't do it. I haven't received the a.s.signment yet.

Eh? What's going on? Someone got in ahead of us to deal with the ghost? But if there is such a master, why didn't they also transcend the ghost?

Sect Leader Ning could make nothing of this. He could only say: Go to the Farther Sh.o.r.e Estate, Building 4, Unit 4, Room 404 and have a look. It's a haunted abode. The building was built in a cursed spot, and because of the construction all the evil spirits were concentrated in 404. Only a truly gifted person would be able to survive living there. Anyone else will die and have their family broken up. I don't know how many evil ghosts have acc.u.mulated there over the years. This master will send the information to you. You must be careful.

With his s.h.i.+fu being so cautious, Ning Tiance naturally didn't dare to make light of the matter. First he found a public toilet to change into his ritual attire, then got a taxi to the Farther Sh.o.r.e Estate.

The dark energy of Room 404 of Building 4 was visible to the naked eye from outside the building. Ning Tiance took a deep breath, smeared his blood on the evil dispelling sword, then rushed in.

On the fourth floor, he saw a man who had been firmly tied up. The man had pushed open the door of 404 and was just struggling to get out.

Ning Tiance saw that this man was possessed. For some reason the master who had subdued him had only used rope to tie him up and hadn't left any magic.

He pointed his sword at the man's nose and said, "Quickly leave this body. I can transcend you, or else I'll destroy you."

"Ah... the blood... the blood... the blood..." The fierce ghost possessing the body saw the blood on the evil dispelling sword and was scared into rolling backwards like a zongzi. He huddled against the wall, trembling and staring pitifully at Ning Tiance. "M-master, go ahead and transcend me, I don't want to saw people's legs off anymore, boo-hoo..."

As he spoke he began to cry. How had the master who had subdued this ghost tortured him to bring him to such a state?

The ghost already had the idea of reincarnation. With such cooperation, Ning Tiance just recited an incantation and transcended him.

While the fierce ghost was transcending, Ning Tiance sensed some dark energy disperse in the master bedroom. He quietly pushed the door ajar and saw a man sleeping on the bed with his mouth hanging open. There was a chainsaw at the bedside.

When Ning Tiance took the chainsaw away, the man in the master bedroom still didn't wake. He put the chainsaw into the hands of the man who had been possessed. The man's head hadn't cleared yet; he was still in a daze. He answered whatever Ning Tiance asked.

He said that he was a carpenter, and the chainsaw was his tool. Ning Tiance told him to return home, and that when he woke he would have forgotten what had happened that night. The man dazedly left 404 and went home.

After the man who had been possessed left, Ning Tiance remained in 404, feeling the bone-chilling gloom of the apartment.

There were three rooms and a living room. A lucky idiot was sleeping in the master bedroom; in the second bedroom there was dark energy ready to take form. Fortunately, it was after five o'clock, and a ray of suns.h.i.+ne entered the room, slightly curbing the dark energy.

In the bathroom, kitchen, and other places, there were entirely unhidden fierce ghosts; yet the idiot in the master bedroom had still slept in this apartment all night.

Ning Tiance knew that he would not be able to stand up to the fierce ghosts in 404 by himself. He would have to ask for help from the sect. He waited until dawn for the heedless idiot to wake up.

The man could really sleep. He slept until eight in the morning. Ning Tiance hadn't slept all night; he was so tired he was leaning against the wall and dozing when he heard a cry of "my chainsaw!" Ning Tiance woke at once and stood in the middle of the living room with his hands behind his back, projecting an aura of mystery.

Then the man rushed out of the bedroom. His well-muscled upper body was bare. He looked stupidly at Ning Tiance and said, "Uh... you are..."

"You truly are fortunate." Ning Tiance snorted. "You dared to sleep in this apartment for a whole night. Leave quickly. If you stay in this apartment any longer, I don't know how you'll die."

After delivering his advice, Ning Tiance maintained the att.i.tude of a master and left 404 like the wind, not even seeing the man's appearance clearly. He only remembered his foolish-looking sleeping face.

If he didn't move out of 404 immediately, within three days he would start bleeding from the seven apertures of his face and die.

After returning to where he was staying, Ning Tiance was exhausted. He planned to sleep and then return to his sect. The a.s.signment had already been stolen by a master; there was no use in staying in H City. Besides, he had to return to the sect to ask for a.s.sistance in disposing of that ghost in 404, which had at least a century's acc.u.mulation of power.

But when he woke up, his s.h.i.+fu told Ning Tiance not to leave for the time being. He should go observe an abandoned school called Benevolence Middle School. They were very curious about this master who had taken the a.s.signment.

Sect Leader Ning told Ning Tiance that he must be careful and not enter Benevolence Middle School at night. There were more than twenty fierce ghosts sealed in there; Ning Tiance wouldn't be able to handle them on his own.

Ning Tiance was also very curious about this master. He didn't know what the person had done to scare the Leg-sawing Ghost into such a state. Keeping watch outside of Benevolence Middle School with its frightening resentful energy, he wondered who could keep so many fierce ghosts sealed in this school.

At midnight of the third day, a psychopomp bus stopped in front of the school gates. Ning Tiance knew that this bus was used to conduct ghosts into the underworld, but the fierce ghosts in Benevolence Middle School didn't want to go to the underworld, so why would it stop here?

To Ning Tiance's extreme surprise, a living person got off the bus, then said goodbye to the driver, saying he'd see him at two.

This was bad. The man was in danger.

As a disciple of the Maoshan Sect, it was his duty to guard righteousness and ward off evil. Even knowing he couldn't win, he couldn't stand by and watch an ordinary person be harmed.

Ning Tiance picked up his sword, gathered his courage, and rushed into the school. He may not be able to return to the Maoshan Sect, but even if he lost his life, he still had to save this person.

Ning Tiance raced the whole way to the third floor. Halfway up the stairs, he saw a red-clothed fierce ghost holding the man. He clapped his chest and his protective golden jade flew out, floating in the air and emitting a dazzling light. The golden jade was a precious weapon of his sect. He had cultivated with it since childhood, until it had melded with his life. If the jade splintered, his soul would be destroyed. Ning Tiance wouldn't have used it except in the most dangerous circ.u.mstances.

And this was the most dangerous moment!

Ning Tiance stabbed at the red-clothed ghost's chest, not expecting the man to step in front of the ghost and s.h.i.+eld her, blocking the sword.

"Get out of the way!" Ning Tiance knew the man had been misled by the fierce ghost. He believed that this was a poor girl, not realizing that the fierce ghost behind him was covered in blood, pointing her nails at his back. One slip, and the fierce ghost would dig out his heart and eat it.

At that moment, he finally noticed that this man was the idiot living in 404. He had a buzz-cut and actually looked pretty nice. His appearance was pleasant; he was sort of person who would always be asked for directions in the street.

He was just a little stupid. In order to protect a fierce ghost, he would actually fight with a Celestial Master, making him have used his golden jade in vain and letting the ghost get away.

Not only had the red-clothed fierce ghost run away, all the ghosts in the cla.s.sroom were also gone.

Ning Tiance was angry, but he also felt faintly lucky. If the red-clothed ghost hadn't been injured by someone before, his skills would have been inadequate to deal with her.

Who had hurt the fierce ghost? Could it have been the other master Madam Zhang had invited?

The man named Shen Jianguo went on and on at Ning Tiance, something about being a school teacher, something about not believing in feudal superst.i.tion. He had no idea what he had escaped.

He couldn't be called short, but Ning Tiance had grown up in Maoshan and cultivated daily, so his stature was taller.

Ning Tiance looked down at the man's fluffy buzz-cut, resisted the impulse to touch it, and thought to himself, A teacher? Does he teach the ghosts?

He hadn't expected to discover that he really did teach the ghosts!

But two days later, Ning Tiance once again encountered Shen Jianguo. This time, Shen Jianguo had been trapped in a ghost elevator.

A ghost possessing an object was hard to deal with, especially since this one could control the elevator. If he couldn't manage to subdue the ghost before the elevator dropped, then the force of the elevator dropping would kill him.

Hurriedly, Ning Tiance could only suggest that Shen Jianguo use virgin's urine to scare off the ghost long enough for him to arrive.

But instead...

Ah, recalling the events that happened afterwards shook Ning Tiance's Daoist's heart. He had spent many years steadfastly cultivating, but he couldn't match Shen Jianguo's single casual stab. He himself had been fighting with the ghost until his forces were almost exhausted. He believed he and Shen Jianguo would meet their ends in the elevator. Then Shen Jianguo s.n.a.t.c.hed his evil dispelling sword, and Ning Tiance watched wide-eyed as the elevator ghost stuck out its head and was immediately destroyed.

Using the evil-dispelling sword required a great deal of magic power. Ning Tiance had been cultivating since childhood. After over a decade of hard work, at eighteen, he had finally been able to use the sword. But Shen Jianguo...

Ning Tiance went numbly to the graveyard and sat in silence for a night. The next day he got on a train and left. There were too many capable people in the world, and he was only a disciple who hadn't completed his training yet. His abilities were too low. He had to return to his sect and cultivate in seclusion for a decade; only then could he complete his training.

Sitting dejectedly on the noisy train, smelling the instant noodles the people around him were eating in the middle of the night, Ning Tiance fell asleep with difficulty.

He didn't have his s.h.i.+fu's ability to sit motionless for seven days. After sitting for a little while, his legs were numb, and he needed to get up and move around. At the same, time he checked his phone.

Checking his phone, he saw Shen Jianguo's message. He said that he'd had a cla.s.s with his students today, and that he was accompanying a student wearing a bedplate on his back to sleep in a mortuary for the night.

He thought too highly of his luck. He could only be satisfied if he made trouble.

Ning Tiance got off hurriedly at the nearest station, desperately calling Shen Jianguo, but the other party was out of service range. Ning Tiance was so nervous he ran along the road. Only at daybreak did he finally hire a car at the nearby city.

In fact, Ning Tiance very clearly understood that after the whole night had pa.s.sed, Shen Jianguo would certainly be dead. But though he knew this, he still wanted to return. They had known each other for a short while. Even if he couldn't come in time, he still wanted to collect Shen Jianguo's body and perform a transcendence ritual for him, so at least he would know how he had died.

But when he reached the hospital, Shen Jianguo was idiotically drying a bedplate in the sun. He saw Ning Tiance and excitedly waved his hand at him.