Ghosts Know What I Experienced
If you’re not reading this at Spicy chicken translations . Word press . Com, you’re
Translator: Aeryn
Editor: ReluctantEditornot reading this with full experience with page jumps, informational images and links.
Chapter 8
Being able to find the source of the problem doesn’t necessarily mean being able to find a way to resolve the problem.
Although Pei Yu was extremely unreliable, he was after all the only ghost hunting Celestial Master that he could find right now. In that case, Xi Jia told the other party what he just saw.
Pei Yu was stunned, “That mother and child are ghosts?”
Xi Jia lightly shook his head, “I’ve seen many ghosts. It’s difficult for ordinary people to see ghosts unless there’s a malicious ghost with strong resentment energy. It’s possible for them to have a form that normal people could see at night. They do not seem to be ghosts. That child has a body temperature. The woman’s body had a strong bloody smell though, but doesn’t seem like a ghost either.”
Pei Yu widened his eyes, “How could there be a strong bloody smell?! Unless……”
Xi Jia expressionlessly said, “Then, could it be that the family’s having chicken for lunch and was in the middle of letting out the chicken blood?”
Pei Yu, “……maybe.”
Chicken: So what did I even do wrong……
In the staircase, the two doors tightly closed, blocking all the presences from those two apartments. In the iron basin in the corner, the last spark within the burning paper money eventually became a dull grey.
After leaving the building, Pei Yu took out four peculiar black iron blocks from the small bag he was carrying. These iron blocks were like the spinning tops that many people played with when they were little. They were cone shaped with a hard, transparent black body. It appeared to be blood red underneath the sharp point. But when Pei Yu shook the spinning top iron blocks, the blood red color underneath the needle point gently shook. Xi Jia just noticed that the sharp point was simply a transparent container with a few drops of bright red blood inside.
Xi Jia looked at them a few more times with interest. However, Pei Yu proudly said, “You can also see that my bag is very stylish?”
Xi Jia was stunned by what he heard. His line of sight transferred from the black iron blocks to Pei Yu’s bag, then he just, “……”
Pei Yu smugly slapped the small dark green messenger bag, embroidered on the surface was a pattern of a black dragon. On the buckle to open the bag was a white cat’s eye gemstone. This was an extremely strange piece of a cat’s eye gemstone. When Xi Jia carefully looked at it, he discovered that it seemed to suddenly blink just like a real cat.
Pei Yu said, “I spent 88 points in order to buy this Qiankun bag from Tian Gong Zhai. It was put on the shelf just at the end of last month. There was only one, still I managed to snatch it. This is indeed this year’s most fashionable element. Whether it is the color or pattern, the most stylish bag within the circle is my Black Dragon Qiankun bag.1 What do you think?”
Xi Jia, “……like gay li gay qi.”2
Pei Yu, “What qi?”
Xi Jia smiled slightly, “Like a king’s hegemonic qi.”3
Pei Yu, “Of course.”
After getting a compliment, Charlatan Pei became more diligent in arranging the barrier.
He buried the four spinning tops in the four corners of the building in the north, south, east, and west. Only the blood colored tips were inserted into the soil. After the last one was inserted, Pei Yu pulled out a yellow talisman and started to chant quietly.
“World is all natural, filthy qi will disperse, black void within holes, dazzling bright Taiyuan. All directional celestial might, to make me natural. Mantra of Zhong Shan, beginning of jade scripts; Five Sacred Mountains pressing, Four Seas knows all. Demon King is powerless, serve, guard my pavilion; ominous filth to dissipate, Dao qi to survive. Urgently, by order of law!”4
“Set!”
The paper talisman spontaneously combusted in the air. Four lines of blood suddenly shot out from the four corners toward Pei Yu’s palm. He flipped his hand, capturing the four lines of blood that were linked together. Using his right hand to pinch, suddenly he clapped, and the four threads of blood were firmly pressed to the ground.
Those four threads seemed to have living consciousness, constantly struggling in Pei Yu’s hands. He suddenly bit his finger, pressing the bead of blood on his fingertip onto the point where the four threads of blood intersect.
Boom!
The bead of blood suppressed the four threads, and the four threads suppressed yin and evil.
Xi Jia looked up at the sky, and saw some sun shine through the clouds, illuminating the small neighborhood little by little. The yin energy that permeated over the neighborhood this entire time slowly subsided. The residents that were like zombies suddenly seem to have life energy. The chatting women smiled and laughed with each other, and the exercising elderly people had even more spirit.
Only the building in front of them remain covered by the rich black qi.
Pei Yu sucked on his finger. After waiting until his fingertip was no longer bleeding, he said, “Earlier, I could only isolate the yin energy in this building so it won’t scatter outside. My blood isn’t enough, I’m afraid I can’t suppress the yin energy here for long. I will go onto Tian Gong Zhai later, and order Hell King Ye’s Blood Drop.”5
Xi Jia blanked, “Blood Drop?”
Pei Yu explained, “Just now, I took Blood Drops to suppress the yin energy. Didn’t you see? I just took them out, ah, four Blood Drops. Did you see the blood at the sharp points? It’s my blood. Blood Drops’ baleful aura is strong. Even if I’m the owner of the blood, it wouldn’t want to listen to me. I could only use my blood to restrain it.”
Saying this, Pei Yu took out his cell phone and opened the “Ghosts Knows What I Experienced” official account. Then tapped into “Tian Gong Zhai” underneath the selection bar. When he pressed a button in the next moment, an online shop appeared in front of Xi Jia’s eyes.
Xi Jia, “……”
Pei Yu, “I’m searching for it, ah, Blood Drop……Here, look! Hell King Ye’s Blood Drop sales volume ranking is number two.”
Xi Jia looked carefully. Under the Blood Drop directory, the top sales was “Nan Yi – Blood Drop.” He originally still felt confused, how come the one ranked second’s Blood Drop sold more than the one ranked first? But after seeing the price of both, he immediately understood.
Nan Yi – Blood Drop: 8 points/1 quantity.
Ye Jingzhi – Blood Drop: 18 points/1 quantity.
It turns out that the people of the Xuanxue world also pays attention to bargains, ah!
……Not right, the important point is why’s there even an online shop!
There’s an official account. Never mind about the Modou Rankings. How come there’s even an online shop, just how much are you keeping up with the times!?
Pei Yu didn’t sense Xi Jia’s odd expression. His heart hurt, “This malicious ghost’s yin energy is stronger than any I’ve seen before. Buying Nan Yi’s Blood Drop is probably not too useful, it’s necessary to buy Hell King Ye’s. 18 points. For four, it’ll be 72 points, ah! It’s enough for me to kill ghosts for a month and a half.”
Pei Yu bragged to Xi Jia while ordering.
Casting aside those insignificant words that boasted how formidable and awesome Charlatan Pei was, Xi Jia finally heard something meaningful.
Everyday, the “Ghosts Know What I Experienced” official account would always send push notifications about the Xuanxue world’s daily news to its users. For example, last night, Xi Jia received a notification from them—
《 Shocking! Wu Xiang Qing Li Actually Changed Masters? Hell King Ye Sent a Token of Love! 》
After seeing this news, in the next moment, Xi Jia landed a slap across Charlatan Pei’s face.
The slap came too quickly. Charlatan Pei was in the middle of laughing foolishly and simply couldn’t dodge. After enduring the slap, Pei Yu wanted to get angry, but he saw Xi Jia raising his cell phone with an angry smile, “Did you write this article?”
Pei Yu suddenly wilted, laughing with a guilty conscience, “N-no…I just supply a draft, the article is definitely written by the people of ‘Ghosts Know.’”
Tapping open the article, the read count actually reached 100,000+, the likes reached up to 36,000. Countless people left comments below—
【 6666666, clickbait, I only follow “Ghosts Know.” 】6
【 Hi, I’m the person in charge of the U-beep shock department.7 The editor will come to work tomorrow. 】
【 Hell King Ye truly deserves to be called a moral model. Even caring about this kind of matter, and still lent Wu Xiang Qing Li away. Even if the mortal with a Body of Extreme Yin possesses it, what could they even do? That is Wu Xiang Qing Li, ah! Thinking about it is making me drool…… 】
【 Last comment, get on Q!8 Can that ungrateful mortal beat Hell King Ye? If he doesn’t dare return it, Hell King Ye can turn him into a point! 】
【 Young Daoist Ye really has a merciful heart, Amitabha. 】
Xi Jia who looked at these, “……”
There’s poison ah!9 Who’s an ungrateful mortal! Who’s a point!
Being in contact with Pei Yu in these two days, Xi Jia already knew that in their Xuanxue world, killing a malicious ghost could give them a point. If a malicious ghost had killed a person, then they could get two points. If it killed two people, it would be three points, so on and so forth.
However, malicious ghosts that have killed people were in the minority. After all, most of them would enter samsara after revenge. Also, many malicious ghosts’ magic power was too inadequate to kill people. So according to Pei Yu’s kind of ghost hunting Celestial Masters, they could only get at most a hundred points per month.
As for the Hell King Ye from the stars, he simply started the record. He didn’t count.
Aside from this, another method to get points was to give manuscripts to “Ghosts Know,” and providing goods for Tian Gong Zhai to sell.
Tian Gong Zhai’s the Xuanxue world’s famous sect of refining treasures. The founding grandmaster was the Craftsman God, Lu Ban.10 Their most famous treasure, Modou Rankings, was remodeled by using Lu Ban’s modou. Besides this, they also established a new refining method from Tian Gong Kai Wu by the 142nd generation grandmaster, Song Yingxing.11 Since then, the sect had been named Tian Gong Zhai.
Every year, Tian Gong Zhai would provide a large sum of money to “Ghosts Know,” and could be regarded as a major shareholder. Therefore, at the bottom of “Ghosts Know” official account’s page was a link to Tian Gong Zhai’s online shop’s address.
The people of the Xuanxue world weren’t short on money. They don’t all need the bills of the mundane world. The circulating money would slowly change into ghost hunting points. For example, Pei Yu put his own Blood Drops to be sold on Tian Gong Zhai. After selling, he would split the earnings 50/50 with Tian Gong Zhai.
“I heard that Nan Yi seems to split 60/40 with Tian Gong Zhai, and Hell King Ye is actually splitting 80/20. This is so unfair. Hell King Ye basically doesn’t lack any points, why does he just roll in point after point, more and more points, and I’m getting more and more poor? This kind of major capital monopoly, it’s practically a violation of the socialist core values!”
Xi Jia, “……” The existence of people of your kind was already enough to violate the socialist core values, alright!?
Not bothering to care about him, Xi Jia kept his head down, browsing through the page of “Ghosts Know” official account.
After sealing the yin energy in the building, Xi Jia and Pei Yu sat in the small garden nearby, observing any movement in the building. Of those two families, the family whose grandfather had passed away seemed to be away from home, probably went back to their hometown for the funeral. As for the family of the mother and child, they rarely went out.
In the evening, a woman took the little boy downstairs to throw away the trash.
Aside from the thick yin energy on their bodies that was almost thick enough to turn into a material existence, they seem like a pair of ordinary mother and child.
The next day, Pei Yu received the Blood Drops sent by express from Tian Gong Zhai, and immediately used Ye Jingzhi’s Blood Drops. This time, sure enough, Xi Jia saw something different. Ye Jingzhi’s four bloody threads didn’t gather into Pei Yu’s hands. The four threads sharply rose, rapidly flying up. Converging at the building’s seventh floor, they firmly locked the two households.
The yin energy was instantly pressed into the seventh floor. The yin energy screamed and wanted to escape, but once it bumped into the thread of blood, it was suddenly shocked by an invisible force and could only return.
The gap in strength could be seen.
Yet, Pei Yu’s face became even more dignified, “Even Hell King Ye’s Blood Drop couldn’t immediately catch that evil ghost. Xi Jia, I may have underestimated the strength of this ghost. I need to go to the capital to look for something important from my Martial Uncle and will be back quickly. This ghost isn’t ordinary, you should be careful. As a last resort, use Wu Xiang Qing Li to smash it. I won’t believe that it wouldn’t even be afraid of Wu Xiang Qing Li?”
Finished speaking, Pei Yu hurriedly left.
The bronze die in his clothes shook a couple times as if to remind Xi Jia, “If you have a problem, just throw me out, I will protect you.” Xi Jia helplessly smiled, he lowered his head to look at the bronze die, and said, “Pei Yu wanted me to throw you like a rock and you’re still that happy?”
Wu Xiang Qing Li suddenly paused. After a moment, it started to furiously shake.
Pei Yu that just walked out of the neighborhood suddenly shivered, “I could still catch a cold?”
Since the situation was serious enough to the point that even Pei Yu couldn’t do anything, Xi Jia reflected for a moment, and didn’t return home in the end. He grabbed a bag of cat food, carried his family’s Song Song, and sat by the building, quietly observing.
Deep into the night, the pretty young man stroked the kitten while feeding the little black cat with the palm of his hand. It was already past midnight and he was still sitting here. It’s as if he was guarding something or protecting someone.
However, Xi Jia didn’t wait for the malicious ghost to come out and wreak havoc.
At three in the morning, a haggard, thin, middle-aged woman led an old daoist in daoist robes, hurrying to the bottom of the building. The two also saw Xi Jia and looked at him in surprise. They didn’t seem to understand why this young man would sit here playing with a cat this late at night.
After looking at Xi Jia a few more times and determining that he wasn’t dangerous, the woman turned to face the old daoist, saying, “Master, I beg you, quickly take away the ghost! I can’t take it anymore, I beg you to hurry up and get rid of him! That old geezer died and it’s not calm at all, I want his soul to fly away and scatter!”
The Author has something to say:
Some figure of the Xuanxue world: Seeing Five Boxes of Green Pears, my saliva is about to fall……
Five Boxes of Green Pears: Baby will crush you to death!!!
Translator’s Notes: All the slang, yo.
Also, minor edit in chapter 6 and 7: changing Demon Gate to Hell Gate, because well, it’s literally the gateway to hell.
1 乾坤 Qiankun: universe, basically he’s got a space bag. ↵
2 gay里gay气, gay li gay qi: internet slang for eccentric/peculiar in a usually non-derogatory or humorous sense, but it sometimes can be derogatory. The yuri equivalent is 橘里橘气, citrus instead of gay. ↵
3 王霸之气 king’s hegemonic aura : another internet slang, originated from online gaming, basically the aura of dominance of a king/tyrant. ↵
4 天地自然,秽气分散,洞中玄虚,晃朗太元。八方威神,使我自然。中山神咒,元始玉文;按行五岳,四海知闻。魔王束手,侍卫我轩;凶秽消散,道炁常存。急急如律令!: an excerpt from 淨天地神咒 Heaven and Earth Cleansing Mantra/Incantation. Author used 4 seas instead of 8 in the original incantation. The Four Seas were bodies of water for each cardinal direction in ancient China. Could not find an English translation anywhere. I tried my best keeping it 4 words per part since it’s 4 Chinese characters per verse. I contemplated just leaving it in pinyin.
The last phrase (Urgently, by order of law!) will be a common occurance since it’s a phrase Daoists/Taoists use to end an incantation/ward off spirits. This was translated literally. ↵
5 血滴子 Blood Drop: also the flying guillotine, an ancient Chinese weapon. But since Pei Yu’s description is a drop of blood, I’m taking the literal translation. ↵
6 666666: cool/awesome. (Lol this also happens to be footnote 6) ↵
7 UC Shock Department, was censored: from my understanding they do clickbait articles, give “shocking!” article titles to grab attention and increase viewership. ↵
8 放Q get on Q: get or put on QQ, a Tencent messaging, chat, microblogging software. ↵
9 有毒 there’s poison: often said when people encounter something unfavorable. ↵
10 鲁班 Lu Ban: A Chinese carpenter, engineer, and inventor during the Zhou dynasty. Known as the father of Chinese carpentry. He invented the carpenter’s ink line marker (modou). More info. ↵
11 宋应星 Song Yingxing and 天工开物 Tian Gong Kai Wu: A Chinese scientist and encyclopedist during the late Ming Dynasty and author of Tian Gong Kai Wu, an illustrated technical encyclopedia that covered a wide range of technological methods, advances, and inventions of that time. English title is The Exploitation of the Works of Nature. More info. ↵