Spirit Hunters of Maoshan Sect

Zhou Jingru nervously looked around, “Are there any spirits around here?”

“Not a spirit . Come over here . ”

Ye Shaoyang held her hand and dragged her more than five hundred meters away . They finally settled down on a rock, “You can sit here . Not under the tree . That is a tree demon . ”

“Tree…demon?” Zhou Jingru’s eyes widened, “What is that?”

“That tree became a demon . Any living being can become a demon . Not just animals . Even plants and insects . However, a plant is rooted to the ground . Unless it achieves the level of a supreme demon, it can’t actually move around . So, it is much easier to handle . ”

Zhou Jingru turned back and took a good look at the tree . It looked just like any normal tree, albeit much bigger in size . She asked doubtfully, “How can a tree like this become a demon?”

Ye Shaoyang explained, “This tree grew at the point of most Yin of this hill . It is the spot that absorbs the most Yin Qi . Have you noticed the graves nearby? The tree probably absorbed the corpse Qi from the graves . It cultivated through this method for years . So, it must have become quite powerful .

“I sensed the dense demon Qi and corpse Qi when I arrived here just now . The demon Qi came from the tree, and the corpse Qi came from underneath the graves . So, there might be some undead down there . Let’s just wait here until the female spirit appears . We’ll think about the rest later . ”

These words frightened Zhou Jingru . She squeezed herself closer to Ye Shaoyang .

“Scared?”

“Umm…A little . ” Zhou Jingru turned her head to check, “I keep worrying that something might appear from behind me . Like a ghost’s hand might suddenly tap my shoulder . ”

Ye Shaoyang thought about it . Then, he took out three little purple flags from his backpack . He put up the flags around the rock and used cinnabar to connect the flags, forming a triangle . He dust off his hands, “All done . This formation can hold down any demon that tries to attack us . Now, you can stop worrying about an ambush . ”

Zhou Jingru nodded and smiled . She started to loosen up, as she felt more secure . The duo sat side by side on the rock, as they waited for the female spirit to appear . Suddenly, Zhou Jingru let out a sigh, “I’ve never thought that someday, I would sit on a hill in the middle of the night with someone and wait for a spirit to appear . I guess that no one would even believe me if I tried to tell them this story . ”

Then, she turned to look at Ye Shaoyang . Her eyes shone like pearls under the moonlight . It was indeed an attractive look, “Brother Shaoyang, will the couple from just now really forget each other after their reincarnation? It seems rather sad when I think about it . ”

Ye Shaoyang smiled, “What’s there to be sad about? Everyone needs to go through the River of the Past and drink the Mengpo Soup after death . No matter what path they walk to enter reincarnation, it will always result in a new beginning . ”

[TL note: Mengpo Soup - Spirits must drink this soup to erase all the memories of their current life before they enter reincarnation . ]

Zhou Jingru replied, “I know but once a person reincarnates, they will forget all about the love of their life . Then, they will meet and love another stranger . . . that’s sad . ”

Ye Shaoyang explained, “Let me put it this way . Let’s say you meet a guy you love very much in this life, and after death, you might not want to forget him . But have you thought about this before? Maybe in your past life, you also had another lover you loved and didn’t want to forget either? Yet, you drank the Mengpo Soup and forgot all about him . Then, you reincarnated and fell in love with this man in your current life… .

“From the perspective of a spirit, you might have fallen in love countless times . And maybe you have even reincarnated as a man before and fallen in love with a woman before too! If you could suddenly recall all these memories, would you still feel sure about which memory you wouldn’t want to forget?”

This perspective left Zhou Jingru speechless, “That sounds really scary . So, do you mean that all those stories about lovers in love with each other in many, many lives are all lies?”

“Well, my words previous were all just hypothetical . Let’s just say both you and your love did not commit any sins in your lives, and you can reincarnate as humans in your next lives . If both of you can wait for each other and want to be with each other, of course, that could happen . However, with so many couples that can’t wait to separate from each other even when they are still alive, many wouldn’t want to be with each other in their next lives . If you are really in love with each other, you can be together for as many lives as you want . Till divorce do they part . ”

“I see, I understand now!” Zhou Jingru happily smiled in relief, “Then, I want to be with my family even in the next life . And you, Brother Shaoyang . I want to be your friend in my next life too . ”

Ye Shaoyang bitterly smiled, “I’m not even sure I’ll have a next life . We’ll see how it goes . ”

Zhou Jingru raised her eyebrows, “What do you mean?”

Ye Shaoyang shook his head, “Nothing . Don’t ask any further . This is a heavenly secret . I can’t reveal anything now . ”

They waited for an hour, yet the female spirit still had not appeared . Zhou Jingru currently felt exhausted, so she innocently rested her head on his shoulder and hugged his arm to sleep . This was a first for Ye Shaoyang . He could not help but feel a little nervous . His body stiffened, and he silently lowered his head . He noticed how lovely she looked in her sleep . Yet, in his mind, Rui Lengyu’s face continuously appeared . He secretly wished that Rui Lengyu was the one in Zhou Jingru’s place . However, Ye Shaoyang could not sleep . He knew that a tree demon stood nearby and probably some undead too . He sat still for another hour . Suddenly, he heard noises, the sound of tree branches colliding against each other . The noise had an extraordinarily clear quality since their surroundings were perfectly silent . Even Zhou Jingru heard the noise, and it immediately woke her up . The duo looked in the direction of the noise .

The huge pagoda treetop intensely shook . From afar, it looked like a monster shaking its tail . It formed a spooky sight .

“The female spirit!” Zhou Jingru whispered as softly as she could . A feminine figure appeared behind the tree and walked around it to reach the front . It was a teenage girl in modern attire, she had a head of short hair and a petite figure . She sat down on the rock under the tree . Then, she picked up some tree branches and started to knit them .

Ye Shaoyang said, “See? That rock you wanted to sit on a while ago is her seat . ”

Zhou Jingru asked, “What is she doing?”

“We’ll find out . ”

The girl took about ten minutes to knit the branches into a rope . Then, she stood up and searched the ground, looking for something . Soon, she picked up a twig . She rested the rope on top of it and tied a knot . Then, she stood up on the rock, as her hands held the rope . She hesitated about her next move .

“Oh my! She’s going to commit suicide!” Zhou Jingru realized the girl’s intention . Zhou Jingru covered her mouth with her hands, as she asked in horror, “Isn’t she a spirit? How does a dead person kill oneself?”

“This is only an Illusion of Death . This is the last moment before she died . This scene will keep repeating itself every day at the same time . I don’t know why either . ”

Zhou Jingru asked, “Since this is an illusion, is there anything we can do?”

“An Illusion of Death can only be seen near the corpse of the dead . Her corpse must be nearby . We have to find it . ”

“But there’s a tree demon here . How do we do it?”

Ye Shaoyang replied with a wave of his hands, “Of course, we have to kill it first . Then, we will search for the corpse . Even without this female spirit appearing here, I would still kill this tree demon anyway . ”

He stored away the flags and the cinnabar strings, “These items are only effective against less powerful beings . I can’t leave you alone here . Just follow me and be smart if anything goes wrong . ”

Zhou Jingru nodded and walked behind him . They walked toward the tree . By now, the girl had already put her head in the noose . She proceeded to kick the rock away . Then, her body hung in the air . Suddenly, a silver light flashed across her body . It was like she had suddenly woken up and realized what she was doing . She struggled, while her hand reached into her pocket . She pulled out a small object and attempted to cut the rope with it .