Chapter 94

Zong Nan, Zong Nan.

What a terrible name-Nan(Unlucky), Nan, Nan-just hearing it sounds unlucky. Take her name for example: not only does it sound good, it even has “Fei” (to fly) in it. Maybe that means one day she’ll soar to the skies, become someone important. Now that’s auspicious.

She was full of longing, when suddenly a throbbing pain shot through her head. Her heart felt hollow and empty, as if she had forgotten something… But what had she forgotten? She couldn’t recall.

She struggled to get up from the ground, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t rise. The pain in her head only intensified, so much that she rolled on the ground, clawing at her throat, screaming aloud.

Zong Nan walked over and placed a pale palm on her forehead. The slap made her head spin, and she let out a wail, glaring at him with a gloomy expression, curling up and backing away, refusing to let him get close.

Zong Nan: “…”

Little Monk Liao Yuan tried to comfort her from the side: “Shizhu Gu, don’t be afraid. My Shifu means you no harm.”

Gu Feiyin glanced at the little monk, finding him strangely familiar, but couldn’t recall where she had seen him before. Of course, she was now a ghost, and these two monks looked dangerous as hell. Who knows if the words they spoke were just trying to trick her?

The look of distrust from Sis Gu stung little Monk Liao Yuan’s heart, and he nervously clutched at his Shifu: “Shifu, Shifu, what’s wrong with Sis Gu? She doesn’t even seem to recognize me.”

Zong Nan paused in thought, then said helplessly, “She must’ve been struck silly by the thunder.”

Little Monk: “…”

Gu Feiyin was so angry she let out a howl. As if she were stupid! She was far from it. After all, what ghost would approach a monk on purpose?

Zong Nan’s brow furrowed. He tapped his meditation staff on the ground and began to mutter the Diamond Sutra again. Gu Feiyin was so terrified her beautiful ghostly face went pale. Even though her whole body ached, she couldn’t help but roll further away, wanting to escape the battlefield. This monk was way too much-always chanting scriptures at the drop of a hat. If he had the guts, why not just face her head-on!

But the soul-scattering fear she expected didn’t come. Instead, the pain in her body eased a little. She was stunned. What was this Handsome Monk up to? Was he trying to fatten her up before killing her? Suspicion filled her mind, but her body was drawn into his meditation staff, scaring her half to death. She screamed, trying to run, but couldn’t get away. Her mind grew fuzzier and fuzzier, until at last, she couldn’t fight it anymore and fainted. Right before losing consciousness, she cursed a bit: this Handsome Monk may look pretty, but who would’ve thought he’d be so ruthless and cruel. Terrifying…

Zong Nan, seeing Gu Feiyin lying safely inside the meditation staff, finally said, “Let’s go. We’ll head down the mountain first.”

Little Monk Liao Yuan was still anxious. “Shifu, is Sis Gu really okay locked up in there?”

Zong Nan replied, “Don’t worry. This is Gu Feiyin’s second time going into qi deviation. If not for the heaven thunder subduing her, she would’ve already gone mad, turning into a Malevolent Ghost that only knows how to kill. I sealed her in the meditation staff for now, using Buddhist arts to stabilize her soul.”

Little Monk Liao Yuan gave a sudden “Oh, I see!” But he was still confused. The first time she was struck by thunder, she’d only forgotten her past life, and now she was forgetting even more. She seemed even more off than before-her soul was unstable. “Is Sis Gu’s soul about to scatter? Was it because she killed three people just now?”

“It was the recent events that triggered her. No matter how gentle the heaven thunder is, it’s still heaven thunder. Ordinary people can’t endure it. Gu Feiyin’s obsession runs too deep-for her, that’s not a good thing.”

…Huh? Little Monk Liao Yuan scratched his head, puzzled. The heaven thunder he knew could never be called gentle. When it struck, it could blast apart a tree thick enough for several people to circle, or kill a person in an instant. He’d always thought Sis Gu being struck meant she should have been scattered, but she was just lucky enough to survive.

Zong Nan lowered his gaze to the meditation staff in his hand. “She’s suffering this time, and it’s all because of me.”

The little monk nodded deeply. “This is the second time Sis Gu has saved me.” He clutched his injured arm. “I don’t want anything to happen to Sis Gu. What will she do in the future?”

Zong Nan shook his head, saying nothing more.

From that day on, Gu Feiyin really did live inside Zong Nan’s meditation staff. At first, she was scared to death, thinking these two monks were some kind of evil cultists who wanted to use her to practice demonic arts. She racked her brains for a way to escape. But strangely enough, nothing bad happened to her in there, and even the pain in her body eased a lot. How weird.

Since the Handsome Monk hadn’t shown any murderous intent yet, she decided to stay put. As a ghost, her greatest skill was adapting to circumstances. As the saying goes, “A wise man submits to circumstances”-and a ghost in a meditation staff had no choice but to bow her head. She figured, enduring a little humiliation for the sake of survival wasn’t so bad-nothing was more important than her little ghostly life.

She did her best to shrink her presence, not daring to let out even a wisp of Resentment Energy, spending her days lying low inside the staff, peeking around. Little Monk finally got to see again just how much his Sis Gu loved life and feared death. No matter how she changed, that part never did.

Of course, sometimes, when his Shifu wasn’t around, she would secretly talk to him. At first, it was just to get close to him, and after a few tries, she even offered him money, promising to let him choose any gold, silver, or jewels he wanted, a life of riches and glory, if only he’d secretly let her go.

“……”

No, you sound so stingy, I can tell you’re lying! God knows how many times he’s already been fooled! 🙂

He just ignored it and turned around to complain to his Shifu: “Shifu, Shifu, this Shizhu tried to bribe me to let her go! Luckily, I have enough self-control and didn’t fall for it!”

Zong Nan replied with an “oh”, then turned to look at the staff. The staff: “……”

The staff propped against the wall suddenly started bouncing, bounce, bounce, bounce, and actually hid itself under the table.

Little monk: “……”

Zong Nan: “……”

You could say it was a true cowardly ghost. 🙂

……

Zong Nan’s daily routine was extremely punctual. He would get up at five in the morning to do early prayers, muttering a string of sutras. The little monk would follow by his side, so sleepy his eyelids kept drooping. After the morning prayers, they would sweep the courtyard, and only then would they have a little plain porridge and some vegetables.

Gu Feiyin, hiding inside the staff, spent most of her time covering her ears, afraid that if she wasn’t careful, the chanting would scatter her soul. But she didn’t know what was up with those sutras-no matter how she tried to block them out, the sound would pierce straight through her eardrums, appearing crystal clear in her mind.

She was on edge for a long time, only to realize that the sutras didn’t really affect her much; her soul was just fine. With a huge sigh of relief, she then cursed out both the big and little monks together, and while she was at it, gave that Goddamn Heaven a scolding, too-her luck was just too rotten, how did she end up getting caught by monks?

Even though the little monk said his Shifu was helping her, she didn’t really believe it. If he was really helping her, why not just let her go? Why keep her locked up?

“Shifu said your soul is unstable. You have to recover before you can come out.”

“Then when will I be recovered?”

“…I’ll have to ask Shifu.”

But he asked Zong Nan, and Zong Nan didn’t give him a clear answer-because even Zong Nan himself had no idea whether Gu Feiyin could be fully cured. He found that keeping Gu Feiyin in his staff for so long had only temporarily stabilized her condition. If she was to truly recover, they’d have to find another way.

Gu Feiyin was bored every day, stuck in that little staff with nowhere to go. Mostly, she just watched the big and little monks chant sutras, or tagged along when the Handsome Monk went out.

She discovered that the Handsome Monk wasn’t exactly without desires. Besides explaining sutras to the villagers every day, he would also take on jobs-like reciting sutras at someone’s funeral, or helping to exorcise unclean things from someone’s house.

Gu Feiyin tagged along to watch the excitement a few times, saw a lot, and also noticed the little monk collecting quite a bit of incense money. Hmph, this Handsome Monk was just another worldly mortal!

The only downside was, the Handsome Monk would say to her, “You mustn’t move the staff.”

She’d hop around. Oh?

“You scared people again today.” He had only let go of the staff for a moment, and she’d hopped and jumped, scaring a child into tears. Afterward, she’d put on an innocent face and say, how was she supposed to know kids were so fragile? She was just walking around a bit and that scared them. After all, she was a ghost-being abnormal was normal, wasn’t it?

“Then let me out. Once I’m gone, your staff won’t move anymore, and it won’t scare anyone.”

As she spoke, she bounced around the room, the staff striking the ground with a series of clangs.

Zong Nan lowered his gaze and smiled, saying, “You little ghost, you’re not afraid of me anymore?”

…Afraid, of course she was still afraid, especially after seeing the Handsome Monk recite a little ghost’s soul to pieces. Her fear was no small thing.

But what choice did she have? For the sake of her own little life, she had to try, right? If she just gave up, it would only show her life was worth nothing.

Thinking this, her spirits instantly plummeted. Zong Nan only saw his staff droop with a thud, lying motionless on the table.

Zong Nan shook his head helplessly and picked up his brush to continue copying sutras.

He thought Gu Feiyin had given up on escaping. Who would have guessed that that very night, his staff vanished-she’d climbed out the window and run away, hopping desperately towards the mountains. Even after being struck by lightning and losing her memory, her sense of danger hadn’t dulled at all. She just didn’t trust people much, or maybe her prejudice against monks was too deep, thinking every single one wanted her dead.

Zong Nan had no choice but to follow her up the mountain. In her current state, Gu Feiyin couldn’t get far, especially since his staff had been handed down to him by his Shifu, and after so many years together, it was already linked to his heart and mind.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before he found his staff buried in the dirt of a field planted with crops-Gu Feiyin, having found herself weak after only a few steps, unable to bounce any further, was afraid that if she hid just anywhere, someone might pick her up. So she came up with a clever idea and planted herself straight into the ground!

Now that was a good plan-no one would find her until the crops were harvested. After all, it was a hiding spot she’d selected with her clever little brain. She was a pro at hide-and-seek, heh heh.

Zong Nan: “…………”

He rubbed his forehead, looking at his muddy, dirty staff. In that moment, the staff probably felt wronged, too.

Of course, Gu Feiyin, upon being found, didn’t say a word the whole night. Dug out of the dirt by the Handsome Monk, she had to admit, this Handsome Monk really was something!