Chapter 10

A certain British bloke who was very good at solving cases once said a famous line to his best mate: “When you have eliminated all impossible factors, whatever remains, no matter how unbelievable, must be the truth.”

Gu Shuge very rigorously used the process of elimination, arrived at the truth, and felt especially moved.

Shen Juan was a very gentle person. Gu Shuge had never seen her make any particularly dramatic movements. Even when plotting against competitors in the business world, her posture remained elegant. But for Gu Shuge’s sake, she had already prepared herself to fight evil ghosts.

Gu Shuge thought that apparently, even the living environment for ghosts was this difficult now. She also had to learn more skills. She could not drag Shen Juan down. If she could avoid troubling Sister, then she should avoid troubling her. Shen Juan was very busy. Such a large group needed her to manage it alone, so Gu Shuge should not become a burden to her.

Thinking this, Gu Shuge moved a little closer to Shen Juan and leaned her head over the book. Fortunately, Shen Juan could not see her, so her line of sight was not blocked.

Shen Juan read very quickly, and Gu Shuge’s learning ability was strong. Unexpectedly, she was able to keep up with her pace.

With a learning mindset, the miserable scenes described in the book no longer seemed so frightening. The person who had written this book was probably somewhat mischievous. The writing was witty, the wording concise, and the explanations of certain basic concepts were simple, clear, and easy to understand.

A soul was the spiritual essence that left the body after a person died, carrying human thoughts and emotions. Once the soul left the body, it would descend to the Yellow Springs, where the merits, faults, good deeds, and evil deeds of its lifetime would be judged, rewards and punishments weighed, and the destination of its next reincarnation determined.

And a dead soul that lingered in the human world was a ghost.

According to the book, there were generally only two situations in which a dead soul became a ghost.

The first was more common: it was formed from obsession. Simply put, the deceased had a powerful obsession, and that obsession condensed into a soul-body, causing them to remain in the human world. After losing the physical body, the soul became drifting and rootless, its consciousness weak. Those with slightly poorer willpower might even be directly controlled by inner demons. On top of that, having lost their life, they would definitely carry tremendous resentment. If resentment accumulated and could not be regulated, within two or three days, a ghost would be controlled by evil thoughts and become an evil ghost.

If an evil ghost harmed the life of a mortal, it would become a fierce ghost.

Once it became a fierce ghost and carried karmic debt, only one path remained: being beaten until its soul scattered completely by monks, Daoists, or messengers from hell. It could no longer enter reincarnation.

Seeing this, Gu Shuge understood why, outside the temple, she had produced so many wicked thoughts. After becoming a ghost, evil thoughts and inner demons naturally arose.

She just did not know whether Shen Juan had made her thoughts clear again, or whether it was the effect of that amulet pouch.

From the moment Shen Juan took the amulet pouch from her remains, Gu Shuge had guessed that this pouch was definitely extraordinary. Then today, out of all the famous temples in Yanjing, Shen Juan had chosen none of them and instead traveled such a long distance to Guangping Temple, hidden deep in the mountains and forests. Gu Shuge guessed that the amulet pouch probably had some connection to Guangping Temple. Perhaps someone from the temple had given it to her.

Continuing to read, the other situation in which a dead soul became a ghost was when the soul was imprisoned by a magical artifact and could not descend to the Yellow Springs, thus becoming a ghost. In ancient times, spiritual energy in the human world had been abundant, cultivators were everywhere, and all sorts of magical artifacts could often be seen. Artifacts that imprisoned soul-bodies were only a very ordinary kind. But later, spiritual energy dispersed, mortals could no longer cultivate, and magical artifacts gradually grew fewer as well. By now, they had not appeared in the world for many years.

After reading about both situations, Gu Shuge matched them against herself. She felt she should belong to the former. Her obsession with Shen Juan was very deep. If obsession bailiantales.com could be measured by longing, then her obsession over these four years could fill the entire Pacific Ocean.

Although when she truly faced Shen Juan, she actually did not even dare meet her eyes.

Still, it should also have something to do with that amulet pouch. Thinking back, yesterday at the accident scene, when her remains were carried into the ambulance, a force had drawn her to follow her body. After Shen Juan took the amulet pouch away, that force had appeared again, driving her to follow Shen Juan.

Combining those two situations, she probably had not been drawn by her remains, nor had she been drawn by Shen Juan. Instead, some mysterious force had driven her to stay close to the amulet pouch.

Gu Shuge’s logic was very clear. Her ability to think through problems had always been strong. Once she connected certain things she had previously overlooked, everything linked together.

While thinking, she continued reading the book.

After Shen Juan finished reading one page, she turned to the next. The book was arranged in vertical columns, read from right to left, following the writing and reading habits of ancient people. Gu Shuge had read more than half a page when, suddenly, she froze.

The three words “Soul-Returning Art” entered her sight. The hand Shen Juan used to hold the book also trembled. Gu Shuge clearly sensed that even Shen Juan’s breathing stopped for two seconds.

If her soul could return, then she could become human again, and… she would no longer have to worry that she might never see Shen Juan again. Gu Shuge’s heartbeat quickened. She hurriedly steadied herself and kept reading.

The Soul-Returning Art was a secret technique of the Buddha Heart Sect. During the Wei dynasty, there had been a prince of the Xiao imperial clan who liked to travel around doing good deeds. Once, when he left the capital to provide [Read on BaiLianTales]disaster relief, he encountered a child whose soul had left the body, turning the child into a walking corpse. Prince Xiao used this Soul-Returning Art to summon the child’s soul back, thereby accumulating great merit.

As for how a member of the imperial clan had known this secret art, that was unknown.

But the Soul-Returning Art had been passed down from then on.

What followed was a list of necessary conditions for performing the Soul-Returning Art. Gu Shuge read the next line and immediately felt as if a basin of cold water had been dumped over her head.

The first condition was that the remains had to be intact.

Her remains were definitely not intact. With such a violent impact, the internal organs inside her body had certainly been damaged, and the condition of her brain was not good either.

The hope that had just ignited was extinguished in an instant. After dying, Gu Shuge had never imagined she could return to life. The surprise she felt upon seeing the Soul-Returning Art had practically lit up her entire sky. But that surprise did not last even three minutes before it dimmed and declared itself shattered.

Gu Shuge looked toward Shen Juan in disappointment, wanting to seek comfort. Shen Juan’s expression was very heavy, but she still continued reading downward and did not give up.

Gu Shuge pressed her lips together and learned from Shen Juan’s example, placing her disappointment behind her as she continued reading the contents below.

The requirements for the Soul-Returning Art were extremely harsh. First, the remains had to be intact. Then the soul had to be intact. Neither could be damaged. Next, the time since separation from the body could not exceed twelve shichen, which was twenty-four hours. After that, [bailiantales.com]one had to light a soul-returning lamp, recite a soul-returning incantation, summon the soul back, attach it to the physical body, and finally nourish the body with spiritual energy to stabilize its foundation.

She failed more than just the first condition. The requirement that the soul must not have left the body for more than twelve shichen also did not fit. She had died at noon yesterday. Even without calculating carefully, she knew it had long since exceeded twelve shichen. Moreover, this book did not record how to make the soul-returning lamp or how to recite the soul-returning incantation. As for the final step of using spiritual energy to nourish the body, as a modern person, she had only ever seen spiritual energy in movies and novels. In real life, she had never heard of it at all.

Putting everything together, other than having an intact soul, she could not satisfy a single condition. Gu Shuge was not so disappointed anymore. It was the same logic as how, during an exam, someone who scored ninety-five would be calmer than someone who scored ninety-nine.

When the gap was too large, one did not even dare think about it. Naturally, there was no question of regret or no regret.

“Xiao Ge.”

Gu Shuge reflexively sat up straight and looked at Shen Juan.

Shen Juan could not accurately find her position the way she had last night. Her gaze searched through the air, as if trying to find where she was.

Before Shen Juan spoke, Gu Shuge opened her mouth first and comforted her. “It’s all right. We can still think of another way.”

Of course, Shen Juan could not hear her voice. She paused for three seconds, then said the same thing as Gu Shuge. “There must be another way that can work. We can’t give up.”

Gu Shuge could not help laughing and nodded. “Mm!”

After they comforted and encouraged each other, they continued reading.

This book covered a messy variety of things, a little like a collection of folk ghost stories. It touched on everything a little, but never explained anything in great detail. Most things were only skimmed over in a few careless sentences.

After discussing the Soul-Returning Art, it began introducing how to communicate with the dead.

Shen Juan read for five hours, carefully going over every sentence and repeatedly pondering it. At eleven thirty, when she stopped, she had just finished reading the entire book.

She hid the book in a drawer. Then she opened the yellow cloth bag she had brought back from Guangping Temple and took out incense, candles, talisman papers, and several Buddhist scriptures. That cloth bag was especially large, stuffed so full that it bulged.

Gu Shuge even suspected Shen Juan had bought one of everything the temple could possibly find. After taking out small items like incense, candles, and talisman papers, she also took out two bronze candlesticks and a small incense burner.

Gu Shuge looked at Shen Juan and pressed her lips together in a small smile. She stuck her head into the cloth bag, wanting to see what else was inside. Unfortunately, the inside of the bag was too dark, and she could not see clearly, so she pulled her head back out.

Shen Juan searched through the several Buddhist scriptures and took out one of them. Gu Shuge glanced at it. It was The Original Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva. The Original Vows Sutra spoke of cause and effect, karmic retribution, and urged people to abandon evil and do good. It could cleanse inner demons and awaken the consciousness of the dead.

At a glance, Gu Shuge knew that Shen Juan wanted to try making her appear.

She took a deep breath and grew nervous.

This was their first time doing something like this. In the past, she had not even heard of it. Gu Shuge was very afraid it would not succeed. She worried that if she was too nervous, she would fail to cooperate properly with Shen Juan, so she advised herself to relax.

She inhaled and exhaled through several rounds, finally reducing her nervousness somewhat.

“I can feel that you’re here,” Shen Juan suddenly said.

She had accurately found Gu Shuge’s position and looked straight over. Gu Shuge glanced at the clock on the wall. The hour hand and minute hand were both pointing exactly at twelve.

Shen Juan smiled. Her smile was gentle and peaceful. “You’re still here. That’s wonderful.”

Because of this smile and this sentence, the nervousness Gu Shuge had just eased returned again, even worse than before. Like a robot whose parts had all rusted, she nodded stiffly. “I think it’s wonderful too. I can still see you.”

The moment she finished speaking, she hurriedly covered her own mouth. The second half of the sentence revealed too much of what was in her heart. The moment she got nervous, she let it slip.

She hurriedly stared closely at Shen Juan’s face. Only when she saw that Shen Juan’s expression had not changed at all did she let out a breath of relief. Good. Shen Juan could not hear. She was so smart. If she heard words that revealed Gu Shuge’s feelings [read the original at bailiantales.com]so clearly, she would definitely understand the meaning beneath them at once. If Shen Juan knew what Gu Shuge felt, how troubled would she be?

Shen Juan had no idea that Gu Shuge had thought so much in an instant. The time when she could sense Gu Shuge’s existence did not last long, so she seized the moment and got down to business. “Stand there and don’t move. I want to try and see if I can see you.”

Gu Shuge also grew serious and nodded. “All right.” Then she sat very properly, silently praying in her heart for the blessings of bodhisattvas and gods.

The ritual that followed was not complicated. In fact, it was unexpectedly simple.

Shen Juan lit the incense and candles, placing them respectively into the candlesticks and incense burner. Then she faced east and recited a passage from the Original Vows Sutra. After that, she lit the manifestation talisman. Just as the talisman paper was about to burn out, she faced Gu Shuge’s direction and said, “Appear.”

Time seemed to stop. Shen Juan and Gu Shuge both remained motionless, looking toward where the other was.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds…

A minute passed.

Nothing changed.

Gu Shuge did not appear.

They had failed.

Gu Shuge was disappointed, and her shoulders drooped slightly. But she did not lose heart. After being down for a while, she pulled herself together and recalled whether there had been any part of Shen Juan’s steps that differed from the description in the book. After all, this was the first time. It would be normal to make a mistake in some detail because of unfamiliarity. But after thinking through the entire process, she found nothing. Every step Shen Juan had taken had been very precise.

Compared to Gu Shuge’s disappointment, Shen Juan’s expression did not change at all. There was no disappointment and no frustration, only a slight heaviness. She focused her attention on the incense burner, picked it up, and looked at it. After thinking for a while, she pulled out the three sticks of incense, poured the incense ash onto the floor, then smoothed the surface of the ash with her hand.

Watching her movements, Gu Shuge very quickly understood her intention.

According to the method in that book, a ghost could write in incense ash!