Chapter 12
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Yuyeon the Ghost Hunter (2)
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Yuyeon couldn't help but want to shout "Hah!" at this ghost, who was far beneath her in cultivation—specifically, two whole sub-realms below, between the Entrance Stage Early Phase and Entrance Stage Great Completion.
For reference, in the sub-realm divisions of all cultivation stages, Great Completion signified preparation to challenge the next stage, effectively equivalent to Late Phase. Thus, Yuyeon at Entrance Stage Great Completion was, in terms of minor realm differences, on par with Late Entrance Stage.
In any case, the ghost's insolence was infuriating, but since she had provoked it first and still had questions, she decided against needlessly antagonizing it and simply revealed herself.
The ghost was slightly taken aback. He had imagined her as some grand, terrifying figure tormenting him with mystical arts amid that overwhelming presence, born of fear.
But when a delicate young girl, young enough to be his daughter, stepped out lightly, he couldn't hide his bewilderment.
"First, let me apologize. It's my first time seeing a ghost, so I was a bit rude."
Yuyeon truly hadn't expected a ghost to be so... human. It was as if he were just a person without a body—his soul infused with ghostly qi, playing the role so convincingly that an ordinary person would mistake him for nothing more than someone pale with bad skin.
In fact, the ghost's true nature exploited exactly that misconception, and Yuyeon had unwittingly pierced straight to the core of it.
"N-No, Senior, no need to apologize. If anything, I should apologize for my rudeness."
Conversely, the ghost bowed slightly, unsure how to respond. It wasn't because she looked like a little girl.
In this world, high cultivation meant "Senior." And high cultivation was measured by one's mastery over life itself. So the ghost didn't underestimate her just because she appeared young.
This ghost had been a peddler in life, with no eye for martial arts or Immortal Cultivation. But upon becoming a ghost, he gained spiritual sense and Spiritual Vision.
Thus, he saw not her youthful form, but the vast spiritual energy flowing from her.
His meager spiritual sense and Spiritual Vision couldn't fully grasp her spiritual energy, let alone discern that it had formed meridians and a Spiritual Body.
Even so, he keenly felt the gulf in their levels.
He knew little of Immortal Cultivation's ways but had gleaned bits of the Jianghu martial world from popular tales. Seeing a human brimming with such immense energy, he could only revere her.
Though her appearance was very young, her energy dwarfed his own, so he assumed she was some profound master who had reverted to youthful vigor—a famed "returning-to-youth elder."
For these reasons, the ignorant peddler ghost presumed Yuyeon was advanced in years. Yet her actions and looks evoked a blooming young girl, easing his wariness a bit.
Moreover, he never dreamed she was blind. Her closed eyes? He fantasized they signaled some supreme master's inner sight. And it wasn't entirely delusion—just not inner sight.
"Why does a Senior like you cross the mountain in the dead of night?"
"Because I travel far paths, day and night, over mountains."
"Far paths? Then meeting me was pure coincidence?"
"Yes. Just your bad luck."
"Oh no, bad luck? Meeting you has broadened my horizons—pure fortune.
But if you're on a long journey, no need to waste precious time on a lowly thing like me.
Where might you be headed? I was a peddler before death. Just give the word, and I'll point the way."
Yuyeon gave a faint smile at this sudden game of twenty questions, finding the pathetic ghost's shallow schemes laughably transparent.
"You don't seem to cultivate the Ghost Dao. How did you become a ghost?"
She discerned this because he lacked even a trace of spiritual energy. Someone must have turned him into one.
This was Yuyeon's first time answering a question with another. The peddler ghost was perceptive enough to know she was dodging, so he replied obsequiously, as he had in life.
"As expected of a profound expert. You see right through a wretch like me. Truth is, I suffered an injustice and was forcibly made into a ghost."
Yuyeon was inwardly startled but, accustomed to keeping her eyes closed, betrayed no expression. After all, eyes conveyed most emotions.
"I'm not that profound, but if you share your story, I'll listen."
Her polite tone aside, the vast cultivation gap made it a command to the ghost.
"Truth is, I'm a Corpse Ghost, Senior."
Yuyeon was mildly surprised. A Corpse Ghost was a ghost bound to a tiger, emerging when called.
Corpse Ghosts were infamous in folklore, dreaded by the masses, featured in many tales and miscellanies. Yuyeon knew of them.
One oddity: Corpse Ghosts clung to tigers, manifesting on summons—not stationed randomly like this.
As curiosity stirred, the peddler ghost preemptively explained, fearing repercussions less than her.
"I am a Corpse Ghost, but not a true one. It's complicated to explain, and I'm clueless about this stuff... Heh heh, sorry."
This pitiful lesser ghost tried explaining as best he could, but his own ignorance muddled it.
Yet Yuyeon grasped the sequence of events from this alone. More precisely, she realized.
"Why stand here?"
"...Because the one who made me this way ordered it. He said not to let villagers pass."
Confirming her suspicions, Yuyeon's mind clicked pieces into place—relief on one hand, fury toward the ghost-maker on the other.
"Why did he make you a Corpse Ghost? What other orders did he give? Why obey?"
Her slight irritation prompted rapid-fire questions; the perceptive ghost answered cautiously, one by one.
"He didn't explain, so I don't know. My other order was... to drag captured people to a designated spot."
Yuyeon guessed the peddler ghost was honest but not fully candid. Likely, he'd already committed murders; the baleful aura clinging to him stemmed from karmic sin from the start.
"No reason I must obey? I just must."
A foolish yet utterly honest answer. Subjugated ghosts simply obeyed, devoid of reason.
Subduing a strong-willed Orthodox Dao cultivator or yao as a ghost required breaking their will, countermeasures against soul backlash.
But taming ordinary souls was this easy.
Yuyeon asked the final crucial question.
"What's the name of the one who subjugated you?"
She had no intent to seek him out for a Dao duel yet, but if fate crossed their paths, she'd give him a lesson.
"My master is..."
Had Yuyeon known of subjugation beforehand, she'd have asked more carefully.
But relying on patchy Immortal Cultivation knowledge and intuitive Dao insights to navigate the world, this error was no fault.
There existed the concept of backlash. To mortals, a reared beast turning on its owner; to cultivators, a summoned being—or spell—rebelling.
Especially sensitive: willingly triggering backlash.
Casually uttering the master's name was definite backlash.
And backlash demanded countermeasures—unforgivable.
This misalignment wasn't Yuyeon's fault for prompting the name, nor the Corpse Ghost's for speaking it.
In truth, stationed to block passage, he already bore the order: "Monitor so no one passes."
Yuyeon wouldn't leave him to it, so from the moment they met, conflict was fated.
As Yuyeon stepped back two paces from the backlash-stricken Corpse Ghost, its energy shifted.
"Guh... Aaaagh!"
Its pallid, dark skin tore crimson; its frame swelled slightly. Its already ferocious aura intensified. Ghostly qi comprising its form rampaged to eliminate the backlash source.
Yuyeon didn't know the change stemmed from backlash but realized something had gone wrong.
Before the Corpse Ghost could act, she seized the initiative.
Unfavorable at range, she closed in first, swinging her left hand sideways in a light sweep—a mere check. Yet the ghost's ethereal body reeled heavily.
Spiritual Bodies infused spiritual energy into sinews; she'd expected to strike ghosts directly, but this exceeded, bolstering her confidence. She swiftly converted spiritual energy to Spiritual Body power, limbs surging with strength.
Fists and palm strikes together called "fist-palm," but deeper inner force and higher realms favored palms over fists—the best outlet for inner power.
Ignorant of martial principles, Yuyeon instinctively knew palms channeled power best and exploited it well.
The Corpse Ghost recovered balance and lunged, but Yuyeon slipped in with prepared footwork.
Though disinterested in martial arts and rarely observing, she'd once seen Namgung Humyeong demonstrate stepping in a duel.
Her keen senses couldn't perfectly replicate without practice, but she'd pre-calculated the initial step, mimicking it admirably.
Her right foot extended, forefoot anchoring like a pillar, pivoting smoothly to sidestep the Corpse Ghost.
Then heel dropped, rooting the right foot; she raised her prepared right hand. She'd pre-circulated spiritual energy to shoulder and elbow acupoints, following with a palm strike.
Kicking off the pillar foot from her step, she stamped her left, tilting her torso to empower the strike.
Thwack! The palm hit the Corpse Ghost's back; sheer force bulged its front, shredding its clothes. Merciless, Yuyeon unleashed prepared inner power through its meridians.
Her arm trembled like a torrent unleashed; fierce spiritual energy surged from her palm.
No flame or light, but explosive in effect—it severed the ghost's waist, residual force shattering several trees.
A roar rose with dust. The Corpse Ghost's sundered halves crumbled, ghostly qi peeling away, freeing the forcibly tethered soul to the Ninth Heaven.
Though shrouded in ghostly qi, the soul was damaged by her palm but would dissipate naturally soon anyway.
The peddler's soul wished to thank Yuyeon before fading.
But with ghostly qi dispersed, he lost Ghost Dao ties, becoming a mere lost soul without means to convey will—merely bobbing playfully before her in gratitude.
Yuyeon watched briefly, wanting to pray for his peace as at the shrine. This time, sincerely.
From death to now, he'd been a tool in others' schemes; this was true release. Truly pitiable.
As she clasped hands to pray, focusing her mind,
sudden enlightenment struck.
Yuyeon realized why she'd condensed a Ghost Dao Heart.
Rare even for her extreme aptitudes, she immersed fully. But enlightenment was beyond Entrance Stage; she couldn't fully assimilate, returning to reality.
Before her bobbed a soul, seemingly prostrating. Mere clumps, it couldn't bow, but the peddler's will expressed profound gratitude.
Even this ignorant soul felt it: Yuyeon's sincere wish for his afterlife.
(Not "And may you be reborn a girl!")
Though both ignorant of Immortal Cultivation, in this moment—one a ghost cultivator, one formerly—they knew what to do.
"May you be reborn in paradise. In your next life, find what you desire... and never abandon it. I pray."
⟨ Heavenly Ascension ⟩
From her clasped hands, her soul force blazed skyward like flame. The night sky's wandering light resembled lanterns or white-tailed comets.
A faint trail linked her to the heavens. Then, despite the night, the sky visibly changed. Clouds parted, revealing azure expanse.
The Heavenly Dao permitted it.
Now beyond her aid, the soul escaped the underworld's domain. Thus, the peddler's spirit returned to heaven.
It ascended the path she'd forged.