Chapter 31

“Nourish the soul with blood; nourish the flesh with blood.”

These eight words entered Shen Juan’s eyes.

She hurriedly read on.

The book said: “Blood connects the meridians and can build body and soul. Among the five elements, blood belongs to fire. Using blood to nourish the soul can solidify the soul’s substance; using blood to nourish the flesh allows rebirth through fire…”

Shen Juan was reading intently when a sheet of white paper landed with a smack, covering the book.

Shen Juan was startled. She lifted her head and looked, but there was nothing in front of her. She frowned and said, “No making trouble.”

After saying that, she went to lift the paper, but a force pressed it down. The force was extremely small. For it to try to stop her was like an ant trying to shake a tree, yet it was very stubborn and refused to give way.

Shen Juan was intelligent. Almost instantly, she saw the deeper meaning behind Gu Shuge’s actions and said, “You moved a sheet of paper over to stop me. Does that mean you already knew about this method?”

She thought of the night Xiao Ge had become able to touch her blood. The amount of time she could be sensed had sharply increased that night. At the time, Shen Juan had still wondered what the reason was. Now that she recalled it, she understood. Xiao Ge had licked her wound that day. She had drunk her blood.

So the method of feeding a little ghost had appeared long ago. Shen Juan had simply failed to notice it.

“Does my blood taste good?” Shen Juan asked.

The white paper trembled slightly.

“Do you still want to drink it?” Shen Juan asked again.

The white paper trembled a little more. Shen Juan sensed the longing and restraint in the little ghost’s emotions.

She smiled, then asked, “How about I keep raising you?”

The emotions in front of her immediately turned into many wave lines. Then the quill floated over from the desk and drew an enormous cross on the white paper covering the book.

Shen Juan revealed a look of disappointment and asked, “You don’t want me to raise you?”

Without the slightest hesitation, another cross appeared on the white paper. Perhaps because she saw that Shen Juan was sad, the person then wrote crookedly, “I want you to raise me. I want to stay. I don’t want to reincarnate.”

Gu Shuge crouched in front of her and lifted her head to look at her.

It took her five minutes to write one line of words. When Shen Juan saw her write that she wanted Shen Juan to raise her and wanted to stay, a smile appeared by her lips. But when she saw “I don’t want to reincarnate,” that smile stiffened a little.

She looked at the empty space before her and said, “But the monk said you would reincarnate into a good family, with a wealthy fate, and you wouldn’t suffer. Aren’t you willing?”

Gu Shuge did not feel tempted at all. [unauthorized copy]No matter how good her next life was, what meaning would it have without Shen Juan? She wrote, “I can’t bear to leave this place.”

A smile appeared in Shen Juan’s eyes. “But after drinking Meng Po’s soup, you won’t remember this place.” She paused for a while, then gathered her courage and added, “And you won’t remember me either.”

If Shen Juan was gone, then she was gone. What did remembering or not remembering have to do with it? Just thinking of a life without Shen Juan felt terrifying to Gu Shuge. She felt that Shen Juan was a little hateful. Why did she keep describing the benefits of the next life to her? Did she not want to raise her anymore?

As soon as Gu Shuge thought this, she caught sight of the tall piles of various ancient texts stacked on the desk from the corner of her eye and began feeling guilty again. If Shen Juan did not want to raise her, she would not be here reading these obscure, difficult scriptures.

“I won’t go. I want to stay. I’ll stay with you, all right?” Gu Shuge slowly wrote. Although she was only a drifting, faint little ghost, she could still accompany Shen Juan and keep her from being bored.

Warmth appeared in Shen Juan’s eyes. She said, “All right. Then I’ll use blood to raise you, and you’ll be able to accompany me even better.”

Gu Shuge’s eyes immediately widened. Shen Juan had actually tricked her. She instantly drew an enormous cross on the paper, drawing it with absolute determination.

Such a soft-hearted person—even after becoming a ghost, she had not become the slightest bit more selfish. Thinking of her death, Shen Juan felt another wave of grief and anger. With Xiao Ge’s temperament, how could she possibly offend or hurt anyone? What kind of hatred would make someone try to kill her again and again, and even trample on her corpse?

After receiving no response from Shen Juan, Gu Shuge wrote on the paper again, “Let’s look for another way.”

Shen Juan could only agree. “All right.”

Gu Shuge wrote again, “Close the book.”

Shen Juan did as she said, closed the book, placed it into the pile they had already read, then chose another book to read. Only then was Gu bailiantales.com Shuge satisfied. She sat to one side and stared at her, guarding against Shen Juan taking that book back to read again.

Shen Juan read for another two hours and did not speak the entire time. She flipped through one book after another and copied down some things, but nothing seemed particularly useful. Gu Shuge was reading too. She did not read slowly, but she flipped pages very slowly. By the time Shen Juan finished three books, Gu Shuge could roughly finish one.

Near midnight, Shen Juan suddenly said, “The books on the desk are almost finished. Go upstairs and take a look. Find a new batch.” These books were quite miscellaneous. The ones moved to the desk for reading had all been selected—some based on the titles, others based on the contents of the first few pages. Having Gu Shuge choose meant letting her browse the book titles and see which books were related to what they were searching for.

Gu Shuge drew a check mark on the paper. After she finished drawing, Shen Juan glanced at her watch from the corner of her eye. It had just reached midnight. She sensed Gu Shuge’s presence, an outline clearer than in previous nights.

The little ghost stood up and obediently went to look for books.

After Shen Juan confirmed that she had gone far away, she immediately pulled out the book that had recorded “nourishing the soul with blood” from the pile, flipped to the page from earlier, finished reading it, memorized the important contents, then closed it and put it back.

The entire process took less than five minutes.

Using blood to nourish the soul was an evil method. It involved slaughtering the innocent without restraint, collecting blood, and pouring it over a yin ghost. First, the soul was nourished, then the body. By consuming the lives of tens of millions of innocent people, one could forge a physical body. What was raised in this way would be a yin demon.

Shen Juan was disappointed. This method clearly would not work. But as she continued reading, she saw that the book also said all yin ghosts craved blood. Feeding them fresh blood could stabilize the soul-body, and if combined with spiritual energy to dissolve the yin malevolence, it would allow them to form a tangible body.

It mentioned spiritual energy again. What exactly was spiritual energy, and how was one supposed to absorb it?

Shen Juan was thinking when Gu Shuge returned.

The moment she came back, she grabbed the quill and began painstakingly recording on the paper which floor, which [unauthorized copy]shelves, and which positions held books that mentioned cultivation-related matters, so Shen Juan could follow the map and find them.

She had no idea that while she was away, Shen Juan had already mastered the method of “nourishing the soul with blood.”

On the first night, they stayed busy until after five in the morning. On one hand, time truly was tight. On the other, Shen Juan was recording how long Gu Shuge could be sensed now.

It had already reached five hours. Over these two days, the increase in time had become very large. If this continued, it would not take long before Shen Juan could sense Gu Shuge’s presence even during the day.

Discovering this encouraged both of them greatly.

The sutra library had a resting room. Shen Juan had people replace the bedding with clean bedding and used it as a temporary bedroom. A little after five, she went to sleep.

Gu Shuge was not tired at all and did not need to rest, so she continued reading.

As she read, she suddenly thought of how last time, she had wanted to call the evil thought out and ask whether it had noticed if she had offended anyone before. But after taking that trip to Guangping Temple, she had forgotten.

She did not know how the police investigation was progressing. She guessed it was probably not going too smoothly. If the evil thought could help think about it, that would give them another clue.

Gu Shuge glanced out the window. The sky had already begun to lighten. Morning light was faint, and the bright moon had sunk. She put down the book, turned to glance toward the resting room, and quietly walked out the door.

Some monks had already gotten up. Buddhist chanting lingered in the temple and entered Gu Shuge’s ears, making her state of mind clear and calm. She walked along a small path outside the sutra library. Not far away was a bamboo grove. Thin bamboo leaves were piled with white snow, which fell from time to time with a soft smack. The sound was faint, and accompanied by the Buddhist chants, it unexpectedly carried a sense of Zen.

Gu Shuge felt a little regretful. If she were still [unauthorized copy]human, at this moment, she would likely be able to feel the crisp, cold air among the bamboo grove.

After walking about ten steps into the bamboo grove, her head began to ache violently. She looked back. The distance was not too far. She could ensure that if anything unexpected happened, she could immediately return to Shen Juan’s side.

She did not go any farther and stopped.

After several seconds, the evil thought emerged in her mind.

Gu Shuge did not delay and asked it directly, “Do you remember whether I ever offended anyone?” She definitely knew the culprit.

Scrutinizing the people she knew one by one and guessing which among them might be the killer felt extremely eerie. Yet unfortunately, she had found nothing.

“No,” the evil thought answered. Today, it was unexpectedly very calm.

Gu Shuge was somewhat surprised.