Chapter 7: The Ghost That Does Not Harm Others
Before he became Seokheon, his previous physical body, Dubaek, had been a classmate of Seocheon-gi’s for eight years, and the two had been close. However, after that, Seocheon-gi had wandered the jianghu, so they could not meet again. When Old Daoist Seo passed away and the Seo family held the funeral, Dubaek met Seocheon-gi once more. After that, nearly a year had passed until now without meeting again.
Seokheon knew well that he was the true heir to Old Daoist Seo’s legacy, and because he knew his Daoist arts were marvelous, after the funeral he had tactfully refused the family’s invitations. Though they came to pester him, he maintained an attitude of neither listening nor responding.
“Elder Brother Seo, it has been a long time. Have you been well?”
Seokheon was startled but quickly composed himself.
Seocheon-gi was slightly awkward but soon hid the past, smiling as he spoke.
“Junior Brother Du, I have been roaming the jianghu these past few years. My days spent at home have been few. Meanwhile, you trained in seclusion, so you should be of great help.”
Seokheon could tell that Seocheon-gi had some matter, so he said, “If it is alright, Elder Brother Seo, come inside and have some tea.”
Seocheon-gi let out a sigh of relief and said he would be delighted.
The two entered a small courtyard. Because Seocheon-gi was a relatively close acquaintance and also knew the place well, Seokheon led him to sit by a stone table in a corner of the courtyard, then went into the kitchen, brewed a pot of tea, and returned.
Once they had filled their cups, Seokheon said with a smile, “Elder Brother Seo, your fame in the jianghu is resplendent. Even this Daoist, who has not left the house and listens to nothing outside the window, has heard of it.”
“You flatter me. It is merely jianghu friends giving me face.”
Seocheon-gi spoke words of modesty, yet the proud expression on his face did not diminish in the slightest.
“Is it not so? I have often heard of the great feat where Elder Brother Seo pursued the ‘Bunjebi’ Hangju for two nights and six days in a tavern, finally executing that dark evildoer.”
As if scratching an itch, Seocheon-gi suddenly grew excited and retold a story that Seokheon had heard many times; yet, told from the perspective of someone who had been there at the time, it had a rather novel flavor.
Seokheon deliberately led the conversation. The two chatted boisterously about Seocheon-gi’s wanderings in the jianghu. When they came to the part where Seocheon-gi had spoken of a few more guests in Haanbu this time, he wore an awkward expression and hesitated for a long time. Seeing Seokheon simply smiling and drinking his tea, he finally opened his mouth.
“Junior Brother Du, this elder brother has come this time because there is a request. If the matter succeeds, I will surely repay you.”
Seokheon smiled and said, “Oh, if it is something Elder Brother Seo cannot do, how could a Daoist like me accomplish it?”
Seocheon-gi laughed. “What you learned from the Ancestor is a great skill. This matter is perfectly suited for you.”
And before Seokheon could answer, he continued, “When I returned home this time, the friends who accompanied me are also friends from the jianghu. After returning, I ran into that detestable wretch of the Seongbuk Ha family. He followed me around all day and constantly provoked me. Junior Brother, you don’t know how detestable that Ha Mun-hwi is. Otherwise, since our two families are both under the same roof and conspired unofficially in business, the clan elders forbade us from fighting each other. If only we could fight, I would surely give him a harsh lesson.
“The Ha family are the original great protectors of Haanbu in the jianghu. The great faction Sowuru, famous in Gangnam and Hoenam, exerts its influence in Haanbu. The Ha family is said to be an elder house from when Sowuru was founded. However, because they have never produced a supreme expert—an expert of Post-Heaven Greater Circulation—they have gradually weakened. The Seo family, after rising to prominence in the jianghu, quickly attached themselves to Sowuru. Because the Seo family has many first-rate experts, Sowuru has also entrusted the salt trade of this region to the Ha and Seo families.
Taking a sip of tea and catching his breath, seeing that Seokheon was continuing to listen with a smile, he went on.
“But these past few days, that bastard Ha Mun-hwi has been determined to provoke me. When I grew heated, I made a bet. Whoever loses must say to the other, three times, ‘I was wrong. I am not human.’ And pay a thousand nyang of silver personally. The money is not important. I only worry about losing face before Pilgyeong.
“Our bet is this: in three days, we will go to the ghost house in Gokchangha, Seongbuk, each taking two men, and spend the night. Whoever gets scared and runs out of the house first loses. Junior Brother Du, I know your Daoist arts are marvelous. You are most capable against spirits like this. Moreover, this house’s ghost has never harmed anyone. Usually it just scares people in the house, that is all. At most, it frightens them into fainting. Junior Brother Du, whether I win or lose, after this matter I will give you a reward of five hundred nyang of silver.”
“Oh, Elder Brother Seo, so there is a ghost there. I had heard some rumors of it now and then.”
Seokheon was slightly excited upon hearing there was a ghost. In these two lifetimes combined, this was the first time he would encounter a ghost. He knew about cultivation, but ghosts were something strange. He could often hear of and encounter demons and monsters, but this was new. Old Daoist Seo’s education of Dubaek had always taken fundamentals as the core; subduing ghosts and slaying evil were trivial matters only, so until now, he had never taken Dubaek to actually exorcise a ghost.
Of course, excitement was excitement. He had to investigate the various rumors about this ghost clearly so that he could analyze its strength fairly accurately. If, in his excitement, he went to subdue the ghost and instead ended up being eliminated by it, that joke would become a spectacular disaster.
Seocheon-gi was delighted to see Seokheon showing signs of assent and immediately replied, “That house burned down thirteen years ago; more than half of it was consumed. It is said that many people died in the fire then. Because too many died, no one was willing to buy the land and rebuild. Seven years ago, when things gradually calmed, a rich merchant from Juseong bought that land and the adjacent land and tried to build a large house. But within a few days of renovating and moving in, a ghost began to wail. He invited several groups of monks and Daoists, but they could not drive it away; rather, the more rituals they performed, the worse it became. The people of the merchant household fainted from shock in the middle of the night and slept in the streets the next day. The merchant truly had no recourse and reluctantly moved elsewhere. After that, the large house changed owners several times, and all moved out in fright. Gradually its name spread, and no one dared buy it, so it fell into ruin there.
He paused, then continued, “These past few years, beggars and bold people have come to live there, but without exception they were either frightened away or lost their minds. In any case, I have never heard of this ghost killing anyone.”
According to Seokheon’s judgment over the years, this ghost was likely between the Nourishing Soul Stage and the Robust Soul Stage. First, because no memorial rites had been held for it. If they had, it could not startle people. Second, because it had not harmed people. This meant it did not need blood nourishment. This indicated that its cultivation had merely reached the level where it could simply absorb yang energy. Therefore, perhaps there was a place in the area of Gokchangha where yin energy had formed, and encountering the attachments of those who had died in the fire, it became a yin ghost. However, because this was near a prefecture city with a large population, the yin land could not be called high quality. The yin ghost that formed there would not possess a heaven-defying growth speed.
This was merely a preliminary conjecture. Seokheon asked Seocheon-gi several questions, mainly to judge whether the ghost’s obsession was strong or weak, fierce or benevolent. Finally, Seokheon said to Seocheon-gi, “Elder Brother Seo, this matter has arisen suddenly, so I must think it over further,” and told him not to speak hastily.
“Let us do it this way. At this time tomorrow, I will give you a definite answer. Even if I do not come in person, I will send you a talisman so that you are prepared for any eventuality.”
Seeing Seokheon standing firm, Seocheon-gi found it difficult to press further and had no choice but to agree to the time for the next day and return home. Seokheon also went out after tidying up.
In the afternoon, Seokheon inquired at various bustling places in the city for news and asked his neighbors. He was able to basically confirm the matters regarding the ghost that Seocheon-gi had spoken of, so he felt relieved. At night, after settling his mind and finishing his cultivation, he inspected the talismans on his person and rushed to the winding reaches of Gokchangha in Seongbuk to personally survey the surroundings of the house. Then, opening the Celestial Eye with a talisman, he observed the flow of yin energy; as he had judged, it belonged to the category of not-very-good yin energy quality.
However, Seokheon did not enter the house. In any case, since he had now decided to go with Seocheon-gi, going now and going later would make no difference.
As soon as the hour of the Snake arrived the next day, Seocheon-gi quickly came looking for him. Seokheon did not put on airs either and immediately gave a positive answer. Seocheon-gi was so overjoyed that after returning that day, he sent two hundred nyang of silver. Thus, he absolutely kept his word. As he had said, whether he won or lost, it was no small sum of money.
After receiving the silver, Seokheon calculated that even without selling the courtyard, it seemed sufficient for the silver needed for cultivation at his current stage. However, when he went out later, the courtyard would also stand empty, so he had to sell it. It was merely that having more capital, he was waiting for a better price.
And according to Old Daoist Seo’s experience, even if all the meridians throughout the body were opened and one reached the Post-Heaven realm, one still had to replenish qi with large quantities of food ingredients every day. Even upon entering the Soul’s Emergence Stage, one could not reach the true pioneering stage. It was merely that one could endure more than ten times longer than ordinary people and go without eating for about half a year, as long as one had not reached the Qi Inhalation Stage. Therefore, though he could replenish his energy by inhaling the wild air while traveling outside in the future, it was best to carry silver on his person for urgent use.