baiyuyi 31: One step forward…

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Chapter 31: One step forward…

Yuan Chenglei wasn’t out for a more than a few minutes before he came to.

The sight of something white, transparent, and clearly floating in thin air almost made him go right back out again.

Okay, he wasn’t a complete idiot and could tell that this ghost wasn’t the same as the ghost he had seen earlier at the apartment, so he’ll tolerate this somehow…

But he couldn’t help but be nervously tense as Sisi floated this way and that way, completely unsympathetic to his phobia.

Watching the ghost warily, Yuan Chenglei couldn’t help but notice she … was she mocking him?

What? Why? Because he passed out?

Sure, he was ashamed of straight up passing out in front of people, but a ghost appearing all of a sudden in front of you, all pale and white – what did you expect from a man who was scared of ghosts?!

It’s not like he could help it!

Somewhat faintly, Yuan Chenglei said, “So this ghost…”

“Sisi, name! Not ‘this ghost’!”

Th-the ghost is objecting to me… Yuan Chenglei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as the ghost glared fiercely at him, puffing her cheeks out.

Yuan Chenglei didn’t feel like making it a habit to irritate ghosts, so he obediently corrected his words.

“So … Sisi… seems to be maintaining her awareness…”

Ouyang Cain smiled.

It wasn’t that hard to notice, with Sisi pouting coquettishly when someone neglected to call her by her name.

“I did say that most ghosts lose their awareness and selves. Sisi, however, is a cultivating ghost,” Ouyang Cain explained, and at his side, Sisi placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest with a proud, “Ehen!”

“I-I see…”

Since Sisi didn’t look like a horror movie title ghost, without blood or blank eyes and her hair brushed neatly back, Yuan Chenglei could somewhat control his fears enough to remember to introduce himself.

“… By the way, this Senior, I’m Yuan Chenglei, a little cultivator.”

“Hahaha! Oh dear me, we haven’t introduced ourselves at all. I am Ouyang Cain, but you can also call me Ghost Scholar of the Ghost Hunter’s Organization.”

As the large, bald man laughed goodnaturedly, Yuan Chenglei couldn’t help but compare the title of ‘Scholar’ to the man’s big build.

Well, just from the conversation they had so far, Yuan Chenglei understood that the title wasn’t a misnomer, but still…

Furthermore, from the name, was the man a half? Well, with that build, he was most likely not a full-blooded Chinese man, but … well, with the sunglasses it was a little hard to tell, but the face looked mostly Chinese…

Eh-. This kind of scrutiny was probably on the rude side, so Yuan Chenglei calmed his curiosity.

Furthermore, that ghost floating around here and there was totally killing his normally inquisitive nature.

Even though her behavior was cute, she was still very much a ghost and emitting a chilly, scary aura. Yuan Chenglei was having a hard time feeling comfortable around her.

No, that wasn’t a ghost. She’s … you know, one of those fairy pets in mmo’s that float around behind you to gather your loot.

Sure, most of those fairy pets aren’t pale and transparent and …

Right, let’s stop thinking about it.

It’s just a fairy, it’s a fairy, it’s a fai … actually, given her personality, maybe he can just think of her as a puppy.

With his self-hypnosis, Yuan Chenglei could almost see a dog tail wagging as Sisi floated about the Ghost Scholar.

After a bit, Yuan Chenglei had regained some of his vigor and asked, “Are cultivating ghosts … common?”

He vaguely remembered Ghost Scholar saying something about them, but … right around that time this ghost appeared, so it can’t be helped that he got a little distracted.

“No. Cultivating ghosts are extremely rare, since without some sort of external stimulus, ghosts would rarely have the initiative or desire to cultivate. Furthermore, cultivating while a ghost is very difficult, since ghosts don’t have a dantian,” Ghost Scholar said, gently patting Sisi in the head as she clung to him.

Yuan Chenglei wasn’t sure how either of them was performing those actions, but … whatever.

I-if that’s the case, cultivating ghosts can be considered a separate type of being from normal ghosts, perhaps… maybe …

“So … it’s mostly sheer luck if a ghost can become a cultivating ghost?” Yuan Chenglei asked for clarification.

Ghost Scholar nodded.

“Yes. In Sisi’s case, she was caught by my ancestor long ago, and my family cultivated her. It’s only been within the last two generations that she’s regained her sense of self and can cultivate on her own.”

Ah. So this Ghost Scholar comes from a family of ghost cultivators; Yuan Chenglei wasn’t sure exactly what a ghost cultivator did or does, but he’d at least heard the term before.

But, he was also under the impression that ghost cultivators usually used evil means to cultivate their ghosts… But hang on.

“… What’s the point in a ghost cultivating? I mean, I understand it’s to get stronger, but for normal cultivators, the end goal, whether you reach it or not, is immortality, right? But a ghost…” Yuan Chenglei was confused.

Ghost Scholar smiled thinly.

“A ghost cultivates to reach enlightenment in order to pass on without negative karma. To be honest, as a living person, I am not able to understand the reason for doing so, and even a dead person does not understand the full truth of the matter, but once a ghost regains its sense of self, this seems to be their main goal.”

Sisi is nodded furiously but …Yup. This is definitely something he, Yuan Chenglei, didn’t understand at all.

Yuan Chenglei decided not to worry about the details. Anyway, cultivating, however they did it, was something that was beneficial to ghosts…

While he was thinking like that, Ghost Scholar couldn’t help but ruin that impression.

“Well, that’s the goal of a righteously cultivating goal, but ghosts aren’t usually beings on the path to righteousness anyway, so without someone guiding a cultivating ghost, most cultivating ghosts merely cultivate to sustain itself in this world and gain strength in order to fulfill its obsessions. Because of that, their cultivation methods can be a little … well, they end up stepping down the various paths of the Fallen. Unfortunately, there are also ghost cultivators who don’t care about the methods and will cultivate their ghosts through the fear and blood of the living.”

… … Okay, so, no. Yuan Chenglei couldn’t think of cultivating ghosts as a ‘good’ type of ghost after all!

As if sensing Yuan Chengelei’s panic, Ghost Scholar looked up and said, “Well, I don’t think you need to worry about it. Most ghosts don’t even think to cultivate properly, whether righteously or otherwise, so it wouldn’t be often that you see a cultivating ghost. And besides, although the majority of cultivating ghosts cultivate a Fallen path, there are also many human beings who cultivate Fallen paths instead of the path of a Daoist or a Buddhist.”

“…Even if you say that…”

It didn’t change the fact that Yuan Chenglei felt like he had the right to be terrified of ghosts, more than ever!

Well … he eyed Sisi warily.

Currently he was able to be stand being in the same place as a ghost, but he couldn’t help but feel this was an exception and wouldn’t easily happen again.

Honestly, if you consider it properly, this situation should be considered a ‘rare occurrence.’

And so, Yuan Chenglei mustered up all his courage to ask a single, final, very important question.

“Um … can I take a picture of Sisi?”

—

Later that evening, Laoban Song looked at the pictures Yuan Chenglei had taken.

“… I’m sure I told you to take pictures of 10 different ghosts?”

Yuan Chenglei scratched the side of his face sheepishly.

“That’s… she wasn’t satisfied with most of them, so…”

Hm…

Laoban made that kind of noncommittal sound as he flipped through the polaroids.

Laoban could tell that the subject of the pictures was a cultivating ghost at a glance, and it wasn’t just because of his insight and experience.

In the polaroid shots, the female ghost was clearly attempting to copy gravure poses.

This kind of behavior would be considered unusual for a ghost, at best.

It seems the ghost had even insisted on a few couples’ shots with a large bald man in sunglasses.

The man wasn’t completely unknown to Laoban.

Ghost Scholar? That talented young ghost hunter? Well… … another fortuitous encounter for Little Cheng, it seems.

“After meeting these two, your phobia has surely lessened by a little, correct?” Laoban Song asked.

“Well…” Yuan Chenglei was certain that, at the very least, he wouldn’t be so scared of Sisi anymore.

Seriously.

Seeing the answer on Yuan Chenglei’s face, Laoban nodded.

“Very good. Well then, just 9 more pictures to go.”

Yuan Chenglei’s feelings: “… …”

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