baiyuyi 30: Unsolicited Exposition

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Chapter 30: Unsolicited Exposition

Nestled behind the storefronts on the main street, accessible only by a narrow alleyway you could only just get a moped through, Yuan Chenglei was experiencing the very odd experience of drinking tea from plastic camping cups with a bald, large-framed man in an eerie abandoned apartment building’s front lot.

It was strange that the man, who had the build of a body-building foreigner, somehow managed to give off a heart-warming impression as he struggled to drink the hot tea, blowing on it many times in an attempt to cool it down.

After the man had managed to take a sip, he gave a contented sigh and a happy smile, as if an old granny sipping tea on the veranda, before turning to Yuan Chenglei.

“This little friend, may I ask, why is it that you are so frightened about ghosts? If we delve into the origins of your fear, perhaps we can make it so you aren’t afraid of ghosts?” the man asked.

The man was clearly trying to be helpful, but Yuan Chenglei felt quite perplexed when faced with such a question.

Why was he so frightened with ghosts?

Rather than that, what Yuan Chenglei wanted to know was, why are others not afraid of ghosts?

Honestly, Yuan Chenglei was starting to feel like he was the only sane person, if everyone else thought ghosts were normal beings that should not be feared!

Don’t even talk about becoming a cultivator and gaining resistances against ghosts or whatever – even his normie friends make fun of him all the time for being scared of ghosts – although that’s mostly because they don’t believe ghosts don’t exist.

If ghosts existing are common sense among cultivators, then how in the heck are cultivators not even wary of ghosts, let alone scared of them?

Does becoming a cultivator dull the survival instincts or something?

Don’t tell me becoming a cultivator comes with a proton pack beginner’s package or something, because if that’s the case, I didn’t get anything!

The polaroid camera totally doesn’t count.

Yuan Chenglei sighed, feeling like there was no justice in the world as he said, “Isn’t it natural to be afraid of ghosts? They are malicious beings!”

The bald man chuckled as he gave a slight nod in acquiescence.

“It’s true that ghosts are malicious beings, but there are so many beings that are malicious in this world. As a cultivator, it would be a waste of time to be scared of every thing that threatens your life, so what is one more threat of ghosts? Little friend, there are many people who would tell you that they’d be more wary of people than of ghosts!”

Yuan Chenglei made a face.

Jeez, everyone always tries to use that philosophical question on him, but Yuan Chenglei, this coward, 100% feels like there’s something wrong with people who aren’t scared of ghosts!

This bald man, however, wasn’t making fun of him like his friends usually did, so Yuan Chenglei didn’t feel as stuffy in his heart.

If you’re a Chinese person talking about ghosts, then you were usually talking about hungry ghosts, right? Or vengeful ghosts.

At any rate, ghosts are beings that only existed for a single obsession.

They were beings that weren’t able to be reasoned with, right?

So not only were ghosts non-physical entities that could easily bypass a locked door, mess with someone’s mind, and were, in general, maliciously minded, they were also completely unreasonable!

Sure, there were certainly human beings who couldn’t be reasoned with, but there was always a chance to avoid violence if you talked to them.

And if that didn’t work, you could at least hit them or something.

How is one supposed to avoid the violence of a ghost bent on violence?

If a ghost insists on haunting you, even if you have a resistance to its occult powers, isn’t it practically impossible to get rid of one peacefully?

As for himself, Yuan Chenglei couldn’t even stand the mere sight of a ghost, so a persistent ghost was 100%, completely objectionable!

Thinking those kinds of thoughts, Yuan Chenglei retorted, “How is it possible to rank ghosts with humans? Humans may have evil in their hearts, but aren’t ghosts only the evil in people’s hearts? Furthermore, they are no longer limited to the conventional rules of the world, so how much more dangerous would their malice be?”

The bald man, Ouyang Cain, was a bit startled by Yuan Chenglei’s answer.

It was true that, currently, young cultivators were underestimating ghosts too much, so he had thought he’d humor this little cultivator in hopes of instilling the correct amount of wariness into him, but this little cultivator has actually already thought so much about the dangers of ghosts!

There was no need to worry about this little cultivator becoming overconfident and forgetting that ghosts possess many little tricks that can still catch a young cultivator who has not reached the Fourth Stage unawares and overpower them.

Although, this little cultivator’s fear of ghosts was a little TOO much … still.

If more little cultivators bothered to seriously consider the threats ghosts posed, perhaps there would be fewer of them who would die preventable deaths at the hands of ghosts.

Aiyaa… how many young ghost hunters with great potential had their lives cut short due to carelessness?

Ghosts could indeed be considered a culmination of the animalistic desires and evils of a human. This was why they were fearsome foes for the mundane and young cultivators.

Not only was there was no chance to reason with them, they were often brutal, losing compassion and morality towards others through their death.

The only way they could be controlled was through brute force!

So then, why was it that current cultivators have lost even their wariness of ghosts?

Understanding that Yuan Chenglei was really completely clueless about things, the bald man organized his thoughts as he attempted to explain the current state of the cultivation world and ghosts.

“It’s true that, without advancing through the first minor realm of the Fourth Stage and becoming able to refine true qi to shield against mental attacks or penetrate through illusions, cultivators would do well to be wary against ghosts. However, although it’s true that ghosts have lost much of their sense of self and become only the remaining evils and obsessions of a human being, it’s because of that fact that the majority of ghosts have also lost their cunning.”

After recounting the reality of the situation, the bald man looked over at Yuan Chenglei.

… … A completely blank face.

The bald man resisted the urge to chuckle at Yuan Chenglei’s obvious confusion and continued his explanation.

“Almost all of the ghosts you could easily find have lost their sense of self and can only see their goals and obsessions. Much like a horse with blinders on, they are unable to adjust to major changes in the situation. Even trickster ghosts cannot be considered fully intelligent, and they are only capable of a few small tricks that are easily dealt with if you are aware. For cultivators, even if you are unable to fight directly against ghosts, there are many ways to manage your interactions with them that are well known.”

Yuan Chenglei was somewhat stunned.

“That… no matter how many times the ghosts have seen these methods, they will fall for them every time?” he asked.

“That’s correct. There are very, very few ghosts who have retained the intelligence to learn from their mistakes, so even a few small tricks can deal with them easily,” the bald man explained seriously.

Yuan Chenglei felt a slight sour feeling in his heart.

So it wasn’t because cultivators were immune to ghost attacks or something, everyone already knew how to deal with ghosts, so that’s why they were unafraid!

But … Laoban, if that’s the case, please give me a crash course in ghost busting first, before sending me out on a task like this!

Laoban, I understand that you’re definitely a master who likes teaching with ‘tough love,’ but … you can be a little gentler, okay? I wouldn’t hold it against you, okay?

The bald man paused a moment before saying, “This little cultivator, are you a free cultivator? You seem very unused to the idea of ghosts, but you seem to have done very well for yourself all this while.”

Ouyang Cain had some slight ulterior motives in asking this question.

It would be good to indoctrinate another Ghost Hunter into their Organization!

Sure, this little cultivator was a little bit behind the geniuses and talents in cultivation level for his age, but with a little polishing, he could do pretty well…

Since he was currently complaining against Laoban in his heart, Yuan Chenglei struggled with the answer … but realistically, he’d be an idiot to seriously hold this matter against Laoban, so he replied in a manner that wouldn’t ruin his master’s reputation.

“I do have a master, but I have not been cultivating very long, so it can’t be helped that I have a lot to learn. I have also just learned about the existence of ghosts recently.”

Ouyang Cain was a little disappointed, but if that master was able to help this little cultivator reach this sort of level within even a decade, then this Ouyang Cain must give way to his superiority.

Yuan Chenglei was completely uninterested in correcting the bald man’s misconceptions, so Ouyang Cain could only make his own assumptions.

“I see. So that is why your master wants you to overcome your fears before he teaches you techniques to deal with them. If you have lived for a long time with the fear of ghosts in your heart, it would be difficult for you to perform any techniques when faced with ghosts, correct?”

When he heard that, a lot of Yuan Chenglei’s grievances went away and he could only agree that he was likely to panic and run instead of face a ghost with any sort of normal frame of mind.

As for Ouyang Cain, he was only slightly disappointed, since it was clear this little cultivator’s master was not a Ghost Hunter, but that was simply how the world turns.

He wasn’t an aggressive man to begin with, so he let go of his faint aspirations of taking Yuan Chenglei in easily.

However, Ouyang Cain was known to be a very generous man among Ghost Hunters, and capable of talking the ear off a young cultivator with his kind intentions.

Since Yuan Chenglei had caught his interest, how could he let him go without some advice?

And Yuan Chenglei himself accidentally opened the floodgates with an innocent question.

“To think that a ghost loses its sense of self … so that means a ghost is most likely just a fragment of a person’s soul, right?”

Yuan Chenglei was only asking out of an idle curiosity.

After all, his understandings of ghosts all came out of movies and comics, and like his understanding of the cultivation world, there was probably a lot of fiction mixed in with the truth.

He was surprised to hear the bald man laugh and just say, “Hahaha, well, I wonder. It’s difficult to be certain of such metaphysical concepts, isn’t it?”

“… …”

Well, okay, so maybe he was expecting too much, but …. so much for unraveling the universe’s mysteries once you become a cultivator. Yuan Chenglei couldn’t help but feel a little bit disappointed.

But perhaps his disappointment was too soon…

Ouyang Cain continued his explanation.

“To be honest, cultivators in the past have long thought that they understood the composition of the soul, and that it could be easily divided into a yin portion and yang potion, the kui and the shen. In death, the yang shen is sent for judgment while the yin kui returned to the earth. Ghosts, therefore, are thought to be the yin kui lingering, forming the ghost due to unreasonable resentment detaining the yin kui on this earth.”

“However, just who was it that determined this to be true, and how was such a thing determined? Even cultivators have their own limits in understanding, and even enlightenment is being questioned if it’s truly the highest level of understanding of the universe these days. How much is death and the soul truly understood? Although cultivators have been perfecting the melding of mind, spirit, and body in order to prevent their separation towards death, the soul is still largely not understood.”

“The only thing that is truly understood is that a ghost is the remnant of a person who has died, and that a ghost is only able to process thoughts and emotions centering around desires or obsessions, and has often lost its true sense of self and intelligence.”

“Of course, there are exceptions. Although this type of ghost also exists in the west, there are also quite a few western ghosts that have retained their awareness even in death. They are almost like normal people, although immaterial and having lost much of their abilities. If we analyze the types of people those ghosts usually come from, they are all very powerful humans among those that the west call ‘wizards’ and hold large amounts of the magic power the west prefers to cultivate in their own ways.”

“So one could say that this ‘magic power’ can help preserve one’s sense of self when becoming a ghost, but these types of ghosts often lose their living counterparts’ abilities, and are limited only to a few basic ghosts’ abilities, even losing the mental attacking capabilities of hungry ghosts. Compared to a cultivating ghost or a normal high-level ghost, they would lose easily in a straight fight. Although, certainly, against a normal high-level ghost, their intelligence could tip the balance…”

“… Well, as for cultivating ghosts and high-level ghosts, they are very rare, and very difficult to appear normally in the world. Of course, normal cultivators, even those of higher stages, could have a tough time against those, but …”

“… and so there are people who specialize in techniques for hunting ghosts, but as you might expect, the temperance of qi is slightly different from normal cultivators, so unless you wish to specialize in hunting ghosts, cultivators are fairly limited in directly fighting against ghosts before the cultivation of true qi…”

Yuan Chenglei realized his mistake pretty quickly. He wasn’t really interested in becoming an expert on ghosts… and just what was this man?

He suddenly realized that, although they had been talking philosophy on ghosts, they hadn’t introduced themselves yet!

But even if he wanted to introduce himself, Yuan Chenglei couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

Explanation after explanation tumbled out of the bald man’s mouth and, as if it couldn’t take it anymore, a figure shot out from the pendant on the chain around the man’s neck in a glint of cold light.

“Cain, you talking, will take all day!”

A pretty female ghost complained to Ouyang Cain in broken Chinese.

Ouyang Cain, who was still in mid-explanation, paused a moment before adopting a slightly wronged expression behind his sunglasses.

“Sisi, it’s so rare to come across a little friend who’s actually interested in ghosts!”

The female ghost rolled her eyes.

What do you mean, interested in ghosts? You’re just talking his ear off!

She gave up on the unreasonable man and turned to Yuan Chenglei.

“Cain, will talk forever, so be careful,” the female ghost said to warn Yuan Chenglei, but …

“Oh, I had forgotten, this little friend was terrified of ghosts,” Ouyang Cain said, looking at poor Yuan Chenglei, who had simply passed out in fear while frozen, seated in place.

Sisi, the female ghost, blinked innocently, feeling very insulted.

How was she terrifying? She was a pretty cultivating ghost who had already cultivated enough to return to her original appearance, and she wasn’t even drooling blood or having blank eye sockets. Okay, so she couldn’t recreate her feet yet, but how is that enough to make one pass straight out?

Hmph!

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<a/n: Ghost spirits are one thing that made me kinda of …eh about ccg. Something about splicing souls together to create a new being is kind of … … eergh. I get that there’s a difference in perceptions of the components of the soul in the Chinese occult, so there’s some parts of the soul that are to be respected and others that don’t need to be, but I don’t like treating this topic so lightly, so ghosts are going to be handled according to my own tastes instead.
As for my own personal beliefs on the matter, well, I believe in things past our comprehension existing, but ghosts…? I don’t believe that the soul lingers in this world after death, but phenomenon attributed to ghosts can be real.
In other words, I am uninterested in uncovering and understanding the supernatural occurrences in the real world, so my ghost theories in this story are all 100% theories of fiction~.>