Lang Jiuchuan had never expected that this outing would yield such a tremendous windfall. She turned the Seven-Star Vajra Pagoda over and over, examining it carefully. When Ou Luozhong and the others pressed for an explanation, she simply explained everything to them in the warm pavilion.

“This pagoda was originally a dharma instrument, but someone used it to drive and refine ghost malevolence, transforming it into a yin instrument. The ghost mother-and-child pair that wreaked havoc in your residence today were refined using this very object.”

The two men’s expressions shifted drastically. “Someone actually refines ghost malevolence?”

“Naturally. The world is vast and nothing is beyond it — one kind of grain nourishes a hundred kinds of people, and those with wicked hearts are plentiful indeed. Some in the evil path, seeking to forge demonic and sinister killing instruments, will employ every foul and underhanded method imaginable, and refining ghost malevolence is among them. That ghost mother-and-child pair — perhaps they were innocent and good-natured souls at the start. Captured and refined into a great malevolent ghost, if properly controlled, that evil practitioner could have caused tremendous harm. Many people would have died at their hands.”

“Does that mean the evil practitioner directed them to come harm the Ou Family?” Ou Luozhong asked, frowning.

Lang Jiuchuan shook her head. “Control is a prerequisite for commanding ghosts. Without control, one suffers retaliation.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means being bitten back by the very creature one has raised.” Lang Jiuchuan tapped the Vajra Pagoda. “This object could, by its nature, anchor and nurture souls. Yet the person in question used it to cultivate ghost malevolence — using the dharma instrument to nourish and strengthen the ghosts. If his cultivation had been formidable enough, he could have used the pagoda to reversely suppress them, preventing them from daring to turn against their master. But the more ghost souls the malevolent ghosts devoured, the stronger they would become — strong enough that their master could no longer control them. To put it plainly, the servants grew too powerful and overpowered the master.”

Stated this way, the two men understood immediately. The master had been outclassed by his own servants, who then turned the tables.

“Every powerful instrument has a spirit-soul attached to it — that is what makes it truly one’s own. This Vajra Pagoda no longer has a spirit-soul, which suggests only one thing: that master was devoured by the ghost mother-and-child malevolence in return.”

Even a sacred vessel depends on whose hands wield it. In the hands of someone with sufficiently powerful cultivation, it will manifest its greatest efficacy. But to possess such a treasure and still suffer retaliation — that speaks only to the insufficiency of that person’s cultivation.

Perhaps there was one more element at play: he had used the sacred vessel in a misdirected manner and suffered the retaliation of the instrument’s soul.

Once the instrument’s soul turns against its master, even if his cultivation were sufficient, the ghost malevolence he had nurtured would seize the opportunity and strike a decisive blow.

In sum, that person had outsmarted himself and brought ruin upon himself.

“Something so icy and bone-chilling to the touch is actually a Daoist sacred instrument?” Ou Luozhong was somewhat awed.

“That is because it still bears the lingering aura of those two ghost malevolences. They had devoured ten thousand ghosts — the extreme malevolent energy is very heavy.”

Ning Dasun asked, “Then how did it come to appear in the Ou Family’s residence? Surely some Daoist who carried it must have visited your household at some point?”

Lang Jiuchuan also looked toward Ou Luozhong. The circumstances of this object’s arrival were peculiar, and she too wanted to understand.

“Not that I know of.”

“Think carefully. After all, given how Miaomiao’s condition was, is it possible you invited an itinerant Daoist to come look at her, but have since forgotten?” Ning Dasun reminded him.

Ou Luozhong furrowed his brows in thought, then shook his head after a long moment: “Truly, I cannot recall…”

“There was someone.” A longtime elderly servant standing to one side suddenly spoke up. “About a year ago, at roughly this same time of year — the master was not in the residence at the time. Old servant recalls you had gone to Xuzhou to attend the funeral of a close friend. At that time, an itinerant Daoist arrived, calling himself the Immortal of Nine Brows. He said there was a yin entity lingering in the residence that would not depart. The mistress invited him in, and he stayed for about half a period of five days. Then that immortal figure suddenly vanished.”

Ou Luozhong let out a sound of recollection and slapped his knee. “There was indeed such a thing! My wife mentioned that the man had some ability, but at the time I was grieving the early death of my close friend and never met him, so I paid it no mind.”

“Could he have died here?” Ning Dasun gazed toward the stretch of lake where the mist was rising — it looked rather eerie.

Ou Luozhong felt a chill creep down his spine. “That can’t be, can it?”

He looked toward Lang Jiuchuan — quickly say it isn’t so!

“If he had died here, a body would have floated up. How could the household not have known?” Lang Jiuchuan nearly rolled her eyes. Did people have no common sense?

“Ah, right.” Ning Dasun laughed with embarrassment. “I am just a military man with no head for such things. Please don’t take offense, father-in-law.”

Ou Luozhong shot him an exasperated glare but let out a breath of relief. As long as he hadn’t died here, all was well — otherwise, the thought of a dead ghost lingering about would have kept him sleepless night and day, forcing him to send someone down to fish up a corpse.

“Not dead here, yet this object ended up beneath this water pavilion. How strange.”

Lang Jiuchuan shook her head. “It is not a coincidence, either. This water pavilion was built upon an exceptionally auspicious feng shui site. The five elemental energies circulate here, and the wind rises with the water — concealing a dharma instrument in this location would also serve to nourish the instrument itself. The better it is cultivated, the greater its use. He simply lacked the fortune; he could not maintain control over the ghost malevolence.”

“If it was the ghost malevolence that killed him, then where is the body?” Ning Dasun remained puzzled.

Wonderful — the conversation had looped back to where it began.

Ou Luozhong shot him several venomous glances. So fixated — would he not rest until a body was found?

Lang Jiuchuan gazed outward. “If he died unjustly, there would be resentful energy. I can see no resentful energy anywhere in this residence, so he absolutely did not die here. As for how he died, there is no answer.”

What did she care how he died? The man was thoroughly dead regardless, and the Vajra Pagoda was now an ownerless object — she had obtained it, making her its fated owner!

“If this was a year ago, that ghost malevolence pair had already been lurking and lying dormant in my residence — why did they only cause trouble now?” Ou Luozhong was thoroughly baffled.

“Ghosts have their own path. Ghost entities cultivate — some cultivate to great completion by devouring departed souls to strengthen themselves and become a regional Ghost King. Others seize a human body and then cultivate the ghost path through a living person’s form, becoming a true ghost cultivator. If they succeed in attaining the Way and pass the tribulation, they become a Ghost Immortal — deathless and imperishable.”

“The mother ghost had almost certainly set her sights on your daughter early on, but did not immediately seize her body. My guess is that her cultivation was insufficient at the time. As time passed, she had an unexpected windfall — the Old General’s daughter was also with child. Cultivating the ghost path alone is inferior to cultivating it together as mother and child — and so she waited until today.” Lang Jiuchuan spread both hands. “This is as far as my analysis can go. Whether it is truly so, you may ask me, but I cannot go and ask them now — after all, I’ve already shattered them beyond all remnant soul.”

The casual, understated tone of that delivery made both Ning Dasun and Ou Luozhong’s scalps prickle. This young girl carried more killing presence than those ghost malevolences.

“Everything from today’s affair has been resolved — save for the matter of your esteemed daughter.” Lang Jiuchuan held up the Vajra Pagoda and addressed Ou Luozhong. “For my services in purging the malevolent ghost from your daughter-in-law and her child, would it be agreeable if this object were to serve as payment?”

Ou Luozhong immediately said, “Such a sinister object was never part of the Ou Family’s possessions to begin with — you are welcome to take it. We are ordinary people and would never dare to keep it. But this cannot count as payment — there is still a separate remuneration to be given.”

Ning Dasun asked curiously, “Will you also refine malevolent ghosts with this pagoda?”

Ou Luozhong’s face darkened. You blundering military man — what do you know about speaking properly? Is this young girl part of some evil path?

Lang Jiuchuan shook her head. “My life is precious to me, and survival is no easy matter — I would not dare commit such wicked acts that invite heavenly retribution. Old General, please set your mind at ease. On the contrary, I intend to use this to sustain my own life and keep myself protected.”

Nurturing the soul equated to sustaining her life. Anchoring the soul equated to protection. How could she dare to defile it even the slightest?