The Tale Never Ends Chapter 111

I smacked my lips with surprise and relief! Yuan Chongxi was not only idling and enjoying his food; he had quietly worked his magic when the culprit fled away! The three bones on the tray were arranged to resemble the sign of Li (South in Yi Jing terminology) from the Manifested Bagua Signs! The sign itself represented the direction of South; the culprit must be fleeing south now, I realized! Yuan Chongxi's keenness whenever he was eating had yet to let us down!

Behind me, Lin Feng was smiling too, obviously thinking the very same thing too.

“What will we find due South?” I asked the woman still holding the tray of bones. The woman pondered for seconds. “There's a small town not far from here if you ride South. The journey on horse will take about an hour.” I nodded and muttered a curt “thanks” and she replied with a bow, “Don't mention it. And urm…” I was about to leave after thanking her but her hesitation made me turned quickly. She pulled some notes out from the sheaves of money she was holding. “The lamb leg is only 50 yuan a piece. You've overpaid,” she muttered. But I made no attempt to take the money. “Keep the change,” I said, “We've caused you much trouble tonight. Consider it a token of our apology.” I turned and left, leaving her still stammering “B-but… I, I…” in my wake.

Yuan Chongxi got up and followed just behind me, handing me the unfinished lamb's leg. I took a bite of meat and handed the leg to Lin Feng who also followed suit. “Wait,” I said suddenly, “We're short of one person.” Edelweiss appeared at once, scurrying towards me. “I have asked everyone to withdraw, Young Master,” she reported, “We are ready to go now.” Yuan Chongxi peered at Edelweiss and chuckled, casting a thoughtful glance at Lin Feng who handed the leg to her. Edelweiss held the roasted lamb's leg with confused and perplexed looks before she promptly took another bite herself…

We got on our steeds and began riding southwards while the rest of the girls had been sent back to Aunt Ulan's encampment.

We rode through the entrance of the little town which functioned as the county seat of the vicinity at a little more than eight in the evening. Despite its relatively modest size compared to most cities and towns, this was a proper settlement with brick and mortar buildings rather than the Mongolian yurts commonly found elsewhere. Nevertheless, at only 8 pm, the whole town was eerily silent and dark as if a blanket of fear and despair had been draped over it. There was only one building with lights still blazing in the carpet of darkness across the vista of gloom: a white three-storeyed building illuminated like a lighthouse in a sea of shadows.

Yet even with its radiant lights that beckoned from afar, the building looked hardly inviting. There was something sinister and creepy about that building that we observed was the hospital of this town. With my Spirit Sight, I surveyed the surroundings and trained my sights ultimately on the strange building. This was no ordinary hospital, I realized! Like an iron pen, every shred of Qi that entered the hospital could never come out. A deathly aura hung about the entire structure of the hospital; a prison where souls of the dead were condemned to incarceration.

It was usual for hospitals, being places of deaths, to have souls wandering about, hence substantiating the common beliefs and superst.i.tions that gave hospitals their pallid and macabre facade. This was also further reinforced by the frequent occurrences of paranormal incidents in hospitals. But unlike most hospitals, the hospital before us was acutely different; a magical barrier or enchantment of some sort must be present, keeping the souls of the dead from leaving the hospital, hence the even more cadaverous ambiance that lingered around it like the fetid decay of corpses. This must be where our quarry was hiding himself.

“Heh heh heh! ‘Auspicious' location!” Yuan Chongxi remarked suddenly, giggling ominously, “The living may enter but the dead are kept within. Do they even have so much s.p.a.ce for everyone?” Lin Feng quipped as well, “We might have to relief the head of this hospital from duty, it seems!” Edelweiss' mouth fell open, puzzled by what we were saying.

We dismounted and walked to the entrance of the hospital. The grated doors were shut and there were several beat-up old vans parked in front of the main entrance of the hospital inside. Everything seemed normal on the surface. But I could detect the stench of rotting corpses from the rickety vehicles. These must be the vehicles used to transport the corpses which our culprit used for himself to operate under different disguises! The doors of the entrance swung opened to admit us and my eyes first caught sight of the photos of the physicians and doctors as well as the head of the hospital stationed there. Immediately I found him! Above the words “Director of the Hospital” was the same narrow face with gloomy eyes and sharp ears; the culprit that we had been pursuing! There was a name beneath the photo: Ha'ri Naohai. We traded dark looks and nodded grimly. Yuan Chongxi crept over to me, “The nurses at the reception are all corpses. I don't think anything here is normal.” My head nod quietly and we walked over to the reception as casually as we could. I tapped on the gla.s.s window of the reception cubicle.

Behind the gla.s.s window was a middle-aged nurse. She raised her head to see who it was and asked if I was here to report any sickness. Ignoring her question, I said brusquely, “Tell your head that Murong s.h.i.+yan is here to meet him!” The nurse was stunned to hear my name. Behind me, Lin Feng cracked his whip, brandis.h.i.+ng it like a ferocious serpent. The deafening crack of his whip shuddered the entire corridor that the spirits wandering nearby began howling and wailing in fear. Realizing that who we were, the nurse immediately collapsed back into her chair and was dead.

The soul must have left behind its physical body to report our arrival to this Ha'ri Naohai, I surmised. Yuan Chongxi came over to me again. This time, he was holding his luopan. “The geography of the feng shui around here has been forcibly altered. Can you use your Spirit Sight to see if there is anything wrong in each direction? If I'm right, there must be something that the culprit is using to work as the cornerstones of the barrier to block all Qi from exfiltrating. We might be able to break the spell if you can find anything.”

I began looking around, but found nothing out of the ordinary. I informed Yuan Chongxi of my findings and he began shaking his head, raking his mind for other ways. “But I thought it is technically impossible for one to forcibly alter the feng shui of an area?” “Be that as it may, nothing is impossible. I'm suspecting that the culprit must have used some evil methods to bend the geography of the feng shui around here to his will. You mentioned that you saw nothing that hindered Qi from flowing out of here… I think…”

But a piercing croak broke the silence before Yuan Chongxi could finish. “Remarkable indeed! You found me!” Ha'ri Naohai appeared at the end of the corridor, walking towards us. “I was still thinking about how should I subdue you. Yet here you are, darkening my doorstep at your own accord!” He remarked proudly, “Surrender yourselves at once!”

“Surrender? Why should we?” I remarked, slightly irritated. “Of course you should. You are now in my domain! Everything here is under my dominion!” He roared with laughter. “I guess you're thinking of forcibly withdrawing our souls from our physical bodies to keep us here, are you not? You are reported to have used an evil spell to turn souls of innocent people into vengeful spirits that serve your bidding, or are you also one of the products of this heinous witchcraft?” The information seemed to catch him off-guard that there was an evident moment of hesitation in his demeanor. But quickly, he regained his composure. “Smart! That should be expected of one who possessed the Spirit Sight!”

Unlike our previous encounter, the Ha'ri Naohai before us now was a true human. What we encountered at the caravan campsite earlier was a vengeful spirit in his image, although what we were speaking to now, was the Ha'rii Naohai who had truly returned to his physical body. Zhang Zhigui had mentioned that the Order of Pain controlled their spectral slaves to take over the physical bodies of their victims. Being able to leave and re-enter his physical body at will, Ha'ri Naohai's method seemed similar to the diabolical contrivances of the Order of Pain. He must also be one of them, although I had yet to determine the actual spell that he used to corrupt the souls of innocent people.

Without allowing me time to think through my options, the culprit snickered in his raspy, ghoulish voice again. The entire hospital began shuddering as more ghosts began howling and shrieking, slowly aggrandizing into a bedlam of sinister hubbub that resounded across the entire ghost town. Dark, gesticulating fumes began emerging from the crevices of the floor under our feet and slowly encircled us. The vengeful spirits under his command, I reflected. Ha'ri Naohai walked lackadaisically towards us and giggled wickedly. “Slowly, I will have your souls refined into usable resources… Heh heh heh…” But before he could finish, the vengeful spirits that surrounded instantly vanished! He had no idea; I had used my Spirit Gourd and had his spectral sentinels all drawn into my Gourd!