I Failed to Reform the Protagonist [Transmigration] - Chapter 16

Pei Jing walked straight toward the flickering red figure in the mist.

The wind grew more violent. The ghost infants, who had been giggling moments ago, suddenly opened their mouths and began to wail as a sudden flash of blood-light erupted. Their voices were thin but incredibly sharp, sounding like the screeching of cats.

As Pei Jing drew closer, he discovered that the mouths of these ghost infants were completely empty; it looked as if their tongues had been ripped out.

With the infants crying, the women behind them grew agitated. Their bloodshot eyes stared at Pei Jing with murderous resentment, and their hands, hidden within their sleeves, twitched restlessly.

Pei Jing didn’t want to waste time with these mindless evil spirits; they lacked any intelligence and were of no use to him.

He unsheathed the Lingchen Sword. The moment the blade emerged, a flash of freezing, snow-white light pierced through the thick fog, causing the group of low-level spirits to shriek in agony.

The pale-green faces of several female ghosts turned ghostly white. Letting out ear-splitting screams, they lunged forward with outstretched claws to kill Pei Jing. However, as soon as they came within a meter of him, they were shredded by the snow-white sword shadows. In an instant, a thousand blades reduced them to a pool of thick blood that flowed beneath Pei Jing’s feet.

The group of ghost infants instinctively sensed danger and cried even louder. Their mouths stretched wide, revealing the blackened stumps of their tongues.

Pei Jing said coldly, “Get lost.”

He released his spiritual pressure, and immediately, none of the evil spirits dared to act out. The demonic wind gradually died down, and the group of ghost infants sobbed, holding hands as their forms dissipated into the thick mist.

Pei Jing sheathed his sword and looked thoughtfully at the blood-water slowly sinking into the earth.

The junior disciple couldn’t see any of this; the fog was too heavy, and Pei Jing had set up a barrier. All the disciple knew, sitting by the campfire, was that within a minute of Pei Jing walking over, the eerie laughter and the wind had vanished.

When Pei Jing returned, the disciple who had nearly lost his soul from fright was moved to tears. He looked at Pei Jing as if he were a savior. “You… you’re way too amazing!”

Pei Jing acted embarrassed. “No, no. They were just a group of mindless ghosts. They ran away once I gave them a little scare.”

The disciple sighed with genuine emotion. “It’s all thanks to you! Otherwise, I really think we would have died here.”

Pei Jing found it hilarious. I bet you’re the only one who thinks that.

Strangely enough, after the ghost infants were chased away, the fog in the forest thinned out. The moonlight became clear and bright, illuminating the forest paths perfectly.

“While the light is good, let’s head down the mountain,” Pei Jing suggested. “I only scared them off just now. They might come back.”

Hearing that the ghosts might return, the disciple scrambled up from the ground. “Let’s go, let’s go! I can’t stay here another second.”

Pei Jing thought for a moment and looked at Chu Junyu. “What do you think?”

Chu Junyu stood up. “Let’s go.”

Wood Village

At the end of the mountain path sat a stone marker engraved with three words: Wood Village. A village actually existed here. Beside the stone was a withered tree, shaped like a twisted human figure.

It was the middle of the night. The crows were silent. The junior disciple, trembling with fear, stayed close to Pei Jing. “Should we find somewhere else?”

“This is the only village for miles,” Pei Jing replied. “You can sleep in the fields if you want. Just don’t blame me if something crawls out of the dirt at midnight and I don’t come to save you.”

The disciple chose to be as quiet as a mouse.

Most villagers were asleep. Pei Jing knocked on several doors and called out, but no one answered. Finally, a light flickered on. An old man angrily opened a window and shouted, “What’s all the racket for?!”

Pei Jing was blinded for a moment by a flash of white light. He blocked it with his sleeve and realized it was a reflection from a mirror on the wall.

The old man barked, “What are you doing?!”

Pei Jing stepped forward sincerely. “Elder, we are disciples of the Yunlan Sect. We went into the mountains to gather herbs but got separated from our seniors. We got lost and only just made it out. My friend is exhausted; could you possibly put us up for the night?”

The old man squinted. “Yunlan Sect?”

“Yes, yes.” Pei Jing pulled out a jade pendant with the words Yun Xiao on it and lied through his teeth. “See? We really are from Yunlan.”

The old man was illiterate; seeing characters on the jade was enough for him. Despite his temper, he was a good man. Seeing that Pei Jing looked honest, he opened the door and let them stay in the woodshed.

“It just so happens I’m heading into the city tomorrow to sell wood. I’ll take you back then.”

Pei Jing asked, “Elder, are there any children missing around here?”

The old man froze while laying out a quilt. “There are barely even any women in this village. Where would children come from?”

“Why is that?”

The old man said gloomily, “It’s a desolate place with too many strange occurrences. If I were a young lady, I wouldn’t want to marry into this place either.” He warned them to stay quiet and left.

The Vanishing Brides

The next day, the old man drove a bullock cart into the city. Pei Jing learned the junior disciple’s name was Xu Jing.

Once they reached the city, Pei Jing sat at a tea stall and spoke with the proprietress. After some flattery, he asked about the old man.

“He’s the unluckiest man in town,” she sighed. “His wife died in childbirth. Then his eldest son’s wife died of a cold a month after giving birth. The eldest son was so heartbroken he got crushed by a tree while working. Then his grandson died in the middle of the night in the fields—a very eerie death.”

“What about his second son?” Pei Jing asked.

“He’ll never get a wife,” she whispered. “He tried twice. Both times, while the bridal procession was crossing the Yunlan Mountains, the bride vanished. The porters didn’t even notice the sedan chair was empty until they reached the house. Now, no woman dares take that road.”

Pei Jing realized: So, the ghosts I saw last night were the missing brides?

The Mirror’s Secret

Pei Jing decided to use Xu Jing as bait. He dressed the boy up in women’s clothing and rouge—making him look more terrifying than a ghost—and sent him into the forest to lure out the monster.

However, they ran into the old man again, who was out cutting wood at night. The old man explained that the ghosts never harmed him, which was why he dared to open his door at night.

Pei Jing then asked about the mirrors in the old man’s house.

“It was my grandson,” the old man wept. “He was a slow child, but one day he insisted on buying a heap of mirrors. He put them everywhere.”

The old man recounted how a blind monk (who Pei Jing realized was Wu Sheng, a famous “Saint” from the Five Elites) had once blessed the boy, giving him the ability to see things others couldn’t. The night the boy died, he had begged his grandfather to stay, saying he saw a “woman in red on the roof.”

Pei Jing went to the boy’s old room. He found a mirror on every wall facing the doors and windows.

He flew up to the roof. There, fixed to the rafters, was another mirror.

But this mirror had been smashed.