Spirit Hunters of Maoshan Sect

Ye Shaoyang observed that Xiao Ma had fallen into an even deeper state of sleep . As such, normal methods would not be able to bring him back . So, Ye Shaoyang immediately cut his middle finger and dabbed some blood onto Xiao Ma’s forehead . Then, he chanted a Soul Guiding Incantation and pressed hard onto Xiao Ma’s dantian—a point below the belly button . Xiao Ma jolted up and opened his eyes . Then, he grabbed onto Ye Shaoyang and screamed, “Help me Little Ye!”

“It’s okay; you’re awake, you’re awake . ”

Xiao Ma looked at the painting he was in and let out a sigh of relief . He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “That really scared me . I almost fell down into the valley . ”

Ye Shaoyang looked up at the painting and saw that it had already returned to its original state . The cliff was complete and tall, while the pavilion also stood straight . After Xiao Ma recovered, he told them that the experience this time was quite similar to the previous one . Without him noticing, he had appeared at the bottom of the hill and began to walk up to the pavilion . At the beginning, there was a cool breeze and the view was fantastic, but suddenly, the earth began to shake .

“Even though I was in a dream, I still had my survival instincts . But the funny thing was, there was a wall of air that trapped me in the pavilion . I couldn’t get out . After that, the ground began to break apart . Good thing you woke me up before I fell and died! I’m forever grateful to you Little Ye . Please let me become a beautiful girl to serve you in the next life . ”

Ye Shaoyang replied with annoyance, “You really are unafraid of death, aren’t you? You just came back from hell, and you’re already joking around . ”

Xiao Ma grinned and said, “Why should I be scared when I’ve got you?”

Ye Shaoyang thought, How could my first friend be such a scoundrel?

After Old Guo listened to their conversation, he seemed worried and said, “Shaoyang, this is a very troubling matter . ”

Ye Shaoyang nodded and said, “Yes it is, this specter can take a person’s soul and drag them into paintings . It is even able to change the scenery of a paintings and use it to kill someone . This means that this specter is quite powerful . But not only that, when it brought Xiao Ma into the painting, I was right beside him . However, I didn’t even notice anything strange … this guy is really something else . ”

Then, Ye Shaoyang turned his attention to Xiao Ma and said, “If the first time was a coincidence, how would you explain this second time? This specter must have something against you, so try to remember what has happened recently . Have you done anything strange lately?”

Xiao Ma furrowed his brows and asked, “Is using a binocular to look at the girls in their dorms considered a strange thing?”

“Can you be a bit f*cking serious? That specter doesn’t even care if I’m right beside you . This specter will just try to take your life when you’re asleep . If you’re not afraid of dying, then I won’t care about you either . ”

When Xiao Ma heard these words, he began to panic and really thought about it hard . But even after some time, he was still unsure and said, “I really don’t think I did anything recently … maybe it’s something I did in the past? Can you give me some hints?”

Ye Shaoyang crossed his arms and said, “If I knew the reason, why would I ask you?” But when Ye Shaoyang thought about it more carefully, he recalled that many people would often offend a spirit unintentionally . However, if they lacked any leads, it would be very difficult for them to track this specter . After he pondered for awhile, Ye Shaoyang turned to Old Guo and asked, “Are there any spirit reporters in Stone City?”

“You want to hire one? I know a very trustworthy one . ”

After they paid their bills, the three of them went to Ye Shaoyang’s room . In the lift, Xiao Ma curiously asked, “What’s a spirit reporter?”

“The underworld typically sends spirits to hold posts in the mortal world . These spirits would roam a specific area and be responsible for guiding the new spirits to the underworld . Due to their prolonged stay in specific areas, they often know about all the supernatural events or beings in the vicinity . They are like the paparazzi of the modern world, so we often call them spirit reporters . ”

When they arrive at his room, Ye Shaoyang removed the things from the table and pulled out an eight-trigram mirror . Then, he placed it on the table . He drew three vertical lines on the mirror with cinnabar ink, and he also lit up a candle on the left and right side of the mirror . After that, he took out a blank talisman paper and passed it to Old Guo, who write down the name of the spirit reporter . Ye Shaoyang proceeded to burn that piece of talisman paper with the candle . As it burned, the smoke pervaded the eight-trigram mirror to form the shape of a person . It was a middle-aged man in a tuxedo!

“What a fashionable spirit,” Ye Shaoyang sarcastically mumbled .

“Even we need to keep up with the times,” the spirit smiled and replied . Then, the spirit sized Ye Shaoyang up and said, “New sorcerer, which sect are you from?”

Old Guo quickly came forward and spoke respectfully, “This is my junior, he is an inner disciple of Maoshan Sect, and a Heavenly Master ranked sorcerer . He has some questions to ask you, Mr . Zhang . ”

These words shocked Mr . Zhang; he quickly cupped his hands in respect and said, “A Heavenly Master at such a young age, you seem to be a lot younger than Dao Feng when he descended the mountain . ”

“You know my senior Dao Feng?”

Mr . Zhang took out a small booklet from his pocket and flipped to a specific page . Then, he answered, “2nd of October, 1996, he looked for me and asked about a green-haired zombie in the south . He owes me 20 sticks of incense and a stack of hell notes . Please help me remind him when you see him . ”

Ye Shaoyang smiled and said, “After we finish, I’ll also pay what he owed you . ”

Mr . Zhang laughed and said, “Since you are his junior, I’ll accept your payment . So, what do you want to ask?”

Ye Shaoyang gathered his thoughts and said, “There is this evil being . I’m not even sure what it is, but I suspect it is a specter . It is able to bring people’s souls into paintings; it can even change the scenery and use it to destroy someone’s soul . Do you know anything about this, Mr . Zhang?”

Mr . Zhang pulled out an abacus and started to count . After a while, he said, “30 sticks of incense and 15 stacks of hell notes . ”

“No problem,” Ye Shaoyang joyfully replied and snapped his fingers .

Mr . Zhang smiled in satisfaction and said, “He is a specter, but there is no information about when he was created, his name, or where he came from . As for why he came to Stone City… no information on that either . ”

Mr . Zhang’s answer almost made Ye Shaoyang choke, “What kind of information is that? Are you just trying to cheat us?”

Mr . Zhang replied patiently, “I took up this post during the Qing dynasty . At that time, this specter already existed . He never mixed with any other spirit, and he never reported to me . He also never harmed anyone, so there is no reason for me to deal with him . ”

Ye Shaoyang’s eyes widened, and he asked, “He never harmed anyone?”

“Never . Your senior Dao Feng even worked with him once . The only thing I can tell you is that he is a person from a painting . ”

“A person from a painting … . ” Ye Shaoyang immediately understood why the specter was able to go into different paintings . It was quite normal for specters to form from paintings due to some strange coincidence, or maybe a very masterful painter drew it . The people in these paintings often came to life and walked out from the painting . For example, Yan Ruyi from Liaozhai Zhiyi was a person from a painting .

Anger did not usually fill any of these specters, so they did not cause any problems . They usually existed just to train and cultivate their abilities . That was also why this matter puzzled Ye Shaoyang . Why would a specter that never harmed anyone continually try to kill Xiao Ma?

Then, Ye Shaoyang asked, “How do I look for him then?”

Mr . Zhang replied, “He has a lair in Donghua Mountain, but he never stays there . From what I’ve heard, he usually wanders around . Whenever he finds a beautiful painting, he would go into it . ”

“There is one more clue, and I’ll tell it to you for free . Three years ago, he became very close to a female student that studied in a university in this city . But after the girl died, he also vanished for a while . ”

Then, Ye Shaoyang asked, “Which university was it?”

“Stone City University of Technology . ”

This answer shocked Xiao Ma, and he asked, “The girl who died, was her name Chen Lin?”

Mr . Zhang began to calculate on his abacus and said, “This is an unrelated question . If you want to know the answer, please pay another 10 stacks of hell notes . ”

Ye Shaoyang bitterly replied, “Fine . ”

This deal satisfied Mr . Zhang even more, and he said, “Yes, her name was Chen Lin . ”

Xiao Ma’s jaw dropped in shock . He reached into his pocket for his wallet and took out a photo of a girl . Then, he mumbled, “This is her … . ”