Chapter 10: Cutting Flesh to Bind the Spirit
*contains some gore that may be nauseating, maybe don’t read while you’re eating.*
Ghosts Know What I Experienced
Author: Mo Chen Huan
If you’re not reading this Spicy chicken translations . Word press . Com, you’re
Translator: Aeryn
Editor: ReluctantEditornot reading this with full experience with page jumps, informational images and links.
Chapter 10
The sentence was just dropped when a sharp fist like a knife charged at the zombie-like woman. Even so, the woman’s face didn’t change at all underneath the heavy makeup for the dead. Her pitch-black eyes rolled twice as she moved to the side with stiff movements. Who would’ve expected Xi Jia to suddenly change halfway, and a punch landed on the little boy’s face.
A man hitting a child. If this was the outside world, it would absolutely be condemned by society. However, just now, Xi Jia put half his strength into the fist, landing on the boy’s left eye, but no blood flowed.
Xi Jia retrieved his fist, looking down at the boy. He saw the boy’s left eye socket sink in, and his big eyeball fell out halfway. His head creaked when he raised his head, feeling wronged, “Big brother, why did you hit me…..”
Xi Jia didn’t hesitate anymore, and sent another fist over. The woman immediately took the boy and ran towards the back. Xi Jia chased after. From who knows where, a burst of heavy black fog floated over, blocking his view.
The whole world became pitch black. This wasn’t the 7th floor hallway, and not the apartment’s doorway. This was an unfamiliar space. Xi Jia vigilantly observed his surroundings. It was completely empty with the gloomy black qi congesting every nook and cranny. The space was exceptionally unusual. Xi Jia walked for a long time but seemed to remain in his original spot, walking in a circle with the black qi shrouding the area.
“Ghosts hit the wall?”1
Song Song popped its small head out from Xi Jia’s pocket, cautiously looking all around. Wu Xiang Qing Li was constantly shaking in Song Song’s paws as if acknowledging Xi Jia’s conjecture.
Xi Jia looked down towards Wu Xiang Qing Li, “I don’t know any spells, can you help me point to a direction?”
Wu Xiang Qing Li trembled for a moment, then suddenly flew and headed towards a direction. Xi Jia followed behind it, walking straight ahead. Gradually, the black fog became denser and darker. Xi Jia didn’t doubt Wu Xiang Qing Li’s guidance at all even though the fog was getting denser with each step in that direction.
He walked for five more minutes. To be honest, Xi Jia already couldn’t see Wu Xiang Qing Li through the dense black fog, and could only follow when Wu Xiang Qing Li pulled him. Suddenly, he heard a trembling voice. Xi Jia walked towards the direction of the sound. The moment he stepped out, heaven and earth suddenly became open and clear. The thick fog dispersed in a flash.
In the spacious area, the old daoist was wearing a gray daoist robe and a nine fold scarf on his head, and looked at the sky in horror.2 He crazily waved his shabby horsetail whisk, frightened, sitting and getting up from the ground again and again. He repeated in fear, “I only scammed some money. I didn’t hurt anyone, didn’t hurt anyone…”
While roaring towards the air, the old daoist pulled out a variety of talismans from his bag. His talismans flew into the air and burst into flames. It was marvelous, but matching with a face filled with horror, he looked like an old swindler, traveling around the country and selling his trade.
Xi Jia wrinkled his brows.
Although this daoist was a swindler, but just leaving him here also wouldn’t do. Xi Jia moved forward to talk to the other party. The old daoist didn’t seem to see or hear him talk at all, completely immersed in his own world.
After several futile attempts, Xi Jia turned to leave without hesitation. Wu Xiang Qing Li continued to pull him forward, slowly leaving the old daoist. Soon, the voice of the old daoist could no longer be heard.
This time, Xi Jia walked for a longer length of time. In the darkness, Xi Jia opened his cell phone. Very obviously, there’s no signal. The screen was completely frozen, even the time did not move.
Walking for roughly half an hour, all of a sudden, a peal of laughter from far away could be heard. A harmonious family of five appeared in front of Xi Jia.
Two seven or eight year old children were in the room running around and playing. The place wasn’t particularly large. A middle aged wife was in the kitchen cooking, and her husband was in the living room reading the newspaper. An old and white haired old man sat on the sofa, playing games with the two little grandchildren.
This scene emerged too abruptly. Xi Jia slowly pursed his lips, looking at the husband and wife.
One hour earlier, this husband and wife pair were fighting with fists downstairs, cursing the other to quickly die. Now, they appeared to be a fine example of a married couple with loving affection, possessing a happy family and a blessed life.
The wife put the food onto the table. The children climbed onto the chairs while cheering, “Time to eat!” The wife feigned anger, “Not washing your hands before eating?” The two children helplessly ran to the bathroom again to wash their hands.
The family of five sat in a circle around the dining table, happily eating the food.
Xi Jia was watching the scene of them laughing and chatting from the side. After a long time, he picked up Wu Xiang Qing Li, and tightly held it against his chest, “You can help me completely block the yin energy so I can’t see any ghosts, right?”
Weng!3
An invisible force shook from the eighteen sides of the bronze die. When Xi Jia opened his eyes again, he didn’t see the warm house anymore. A man and a woman were talking to the air. The woman rebuked the nonexistent son, “Why didn’t you do well on last week’s test?” The man also faced the air, saying, “Tomorrow, I’ll take dad to the hospital and see.”
Softly sighing, Xi Jia put Wu Xiang Qing Li into his pocket again. In a flash, the room, the grandfather, and the grandchildren appeared once again. The grandchildren’s figures were weak as if it would collapse and fall apart in the next second. But the grandfather’s figure, on the contrary, became more and more solid.
Not staying much longer, Xi Jia went to find the mother and child pair. Just as he turned his body to leave, in the family of five, the grandfather gratefully nodded at him before quickly turning around to listen to his son and daughter-in-law chatter away.
Finding the old daoist only took ten minutes. Finding the husband and wife took approximately half an hour. However, finding the mother and child seemed to take forever.
Next, Xi Jia walked through the black fog for a very long time. He didn’t know the specific time, but it was at least an hour. This whole time, he was constantly looking for the rich yin energy. Even Wu Xiang Qing Li pointed in the wrong direction again and again, not finding the right path.
Walking for who knows how long, Xi Jia suddenly heard faint footsteps. He cautiously checked behind. He clenched his fingers into a fist as the blood red yin energy swirled around his fingers.
The sound became closer and closer.
Through the black fog, Xi Jia couldn’t see the other person clearly at all. When the sounds were right in front of him, Xi Jia suddenly sent out a punch. The other person unexpectedly dodged.
The person went one step closer, pleasantly surprised, “Xi Jia? I finally found you!”
Xi Jia was startled, “Pei Yu? It’s really you?” As he said this, he fished out Wu Xiang Qing Li from his pocket, directly smashing it at Pei Yu’s body.
Pei Yu avoided it with horror across his face, “What are you doing!?”
Xi Jia indifferently said, “If you really are Pei Yu and not a ghost, why did you avoid Wu Xiang Qing Li?”
Pei Yu angrily said, “Smashing Wu Xiang Qing Li on a malicious ghost’s body could send the soul flying and scattering, who knows what would happen if you smash it on a person’s body! That is Hell King Ye’s Wu Xiang Qing Li, how could you wantonly use it, ah! Quickly put it away. If it really smashed into me and I got injured, you come pay me!”
Xi Jia, “……” He pondered for a moment and shook Wu Xiang Qing Li in front of Pei Yu.
Pei Yu retreated in fear. Xi Jia heaved a sigh, “En, I’ve determined you are not a ghost. You can come back.”
Pei Yu, “……Quickly put Wu Xiang Qing Li away first!”
Xi Jia expressionlessly, “It’s put away, don’t be afraid, come back.”
Only then did Pei Yu reluctantly come back.
From Pei Yu’s narration, Xi Jia realized that he had been in this ghost wall space for three hours. More than half an hour ago, Pei Yu rode a military plane, flew to S City’s military airport, and then quickly rushed to the neighborhood.
Seeing the soaring yin energy in the distance, this time, Pei Yu also did not dare to be stingy. He took out one of his precious magic weapons to suppress the yin energy within the range of the neighborhood so it didn’t spread. Then, he ran into the building to look for Xi Jia.
Pei Yu felt extremely wronged, “I came running to save you, and you still tried to smash me with Wu Xiang Qing Li!”
Xi Jia helplessly said, “……I was just worried that you were also a ghost wall illusion made by the malicious ghost. When I was walking through the yin energy, I also saw my father that died several years ago, and even the mother that I’ve never seen before also appeared.”
Pei Yu became serious, “So that little boy is a ghost? Are you sure?”
Xi Jia replied, “Have you seen anyone’s eyeball falling out when hit, was still able to talk, and not even bleed a bit? I actually didn’t use a lot of strength, so it’s impossible to be beaten to that state. His body was fragile like tofu. A light bump and an eyeball just fell out.”
The two continued to walk forward within the black qi.
This time, with Pei Yu around, Xi Jia no longer needed the ghost hunting magic weapon, Wu Xiang Qing Li, to blindly look for a direction.
Pei Yu pulled out a small and exquisite compass from his Qiankun bag. This compass was half a size smaller than the one he used before. In the heaven pool at the center, there’s a blood red pin needle and a jet-black magnetic needle. The two needles in the pool were trembling intensely. When the needle head lined up with the Heaven Center Cross Line, Pei Yu said soon afterwards, “Go this way.”4
They walked very slowly, but step by step, they walked out of the area with the strongest yin energy. When Pei Yu used the compass for the 19th time, Xi Jia heard the familiar thumping sounds of pounding.
The two looked at each other, and quickly walked forward.
The thick fog retreated and the lights shined down. In the dining room not far away, a little boy whose left eye was completely hanging out sat obediently by a table, quietly waiting to eat. Xi Jia walked into the kitchen. He hadn’t opened his mouth to speak yet when he saw the young women slowly remove the bandages on her right arm.
Since the first time he saw this woman, Xi Jia noticed that her right arm was wrapped in bandages, hanging around her neck.
With the bandages removed, the bandages that were originally snow white became covered with unsightly bloodstains, and foul pus flowed onto the bandages. When tearing away the last bandage, the pus stuck onto the bandage, and also peeled off some flesh.
When Pei Yu saw this scene, despite seeing and experiencing many things, he felt nauseous and turned around to retch.
Xi Jia widened his eyes, staring at the woman’s right arm.
On the right arm, below the wrist, it completely disappeared as if someone skinned and chopped it off. Like butchering a pig, the living person’s hand was chopped off. The surface of the wound wasn’t intact at all, like it was cut again and again, not immediately making a clean break. Now, on the cut surface, the filthy pus and blackened blood converged together. White maggots wriggled in the wound.
The woman picked up a dark green knife. Her zombie makeup face was completely expressionless. She looked indifferently at her own right arm, and then brought the knife down.
As if it wasn’t her body at all, Xi Jia stared blankly at the woman who was actually cutting her own flesh!
The knife was extremely sharp, cutting through the flesh and bone.
The woman cut nine pieces of flesh, and put them in a bowl. Her right arm was now missing another chunk. Fresh blood flowed all over the kitchen. It was as if she didn’t feel pain or weakness. A dark green ray of light appeared on her wound, and the blood slowly stopped.
Xi Jia and Pei Yu watched the woman walk in front of them, and placed the bowl of human flesh in front of the little boy. The little boy’s eyes shined as he excitedly grabbed the meat and stuffed it into his mouth.
Xi Jia stepped forward and pushed the bowl of meat to the ground. The little boy resembled a devil, and immediately couched on the ground to bite at the meat. With each bite of meat, the women’s face became whiter, her hair fell bit by bit, and looked even more like a zombie.
Looking at this scene, Xi Jia turned to face Pei Yu, “She’s human, the boy is the ghost!”
Saying this, Xi Jia raised his fist, directly rushing to smash the back of the little boy’s head. Right when he was about to reach the boy’s hair, a slender hand grabbed his wrist, preventing his movements.
Xi Jia looked over. Within the rich yin energy, a handsome and cold Celestial Master wearing black also looked down towards him. His face exposed his surprise. He didn’t expect Xi Jia to be here. After a moment, Ye Jingzhi knitted his brows, “He is indeed a ghost, but he is now using his own corporeal body. Even if you dismembered him into ten thousand pieces, it wouldn’t kill him, because there’s someone…cutting flesh to bind the spirit.”
The Author has something to say:
Mirror: ……appeared, wasn’t easy.
Translator’s Notes: onomatopoeias are a weakpoint of mine, like what’s the English equivalent? My brain can’t remember. Leaving it in pinyin makes more sense sometimes….
1 鬼打墙: lit. Ghost hit the wall, means to go around in circles. I’ve shortened it to ghost wall later on when it’s used in conjunction with another word. It can also be called a ghost labyrinth. ↵
2 九梁巾 Nine fold scarf: or literally nine beam towel/cloth, it’s actually a hat with nine lines and folds on it.
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↵
3 嗡 Weng is a buzzing/humming/droning/vibrating sound, and I had it as vzzt at one point. WXQL’s not a
. Humming is the closest in this context in this chapter. Aiiiyaaaa I’m so indecisive, so I’m leaving it in pinyin. ↵
4 罗盘 Luopan Compass/天池 Heavenly Pool/海底线 Heaven Center Cross Line: Luopan is a Fengshui compass. Rather than pointing towards the north magnetic pole like a typical compass, luopan points to the south magnetic pole. There’s various versions from simple to very complex, and can come with or without the square base. 天池 or lit. Heaven Pool/Pond is the center of the compass. Also called 海底 or seabed, therefore the Heaven Center Cross Line is also called the 海底线 or literally seabed line. They’re red threads or wires that cross at a 90 degree angle over the compass. ↵
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