Spirit Reaper - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Go in Peace (Part 2)—”Your Feelings, I Finally Understand…”

“Qi Yishu, I represent the Underworld. I am here to take Xu Huixin back to where she belongs.”

“If you persist in stopping me, I truly will not show mercy.”

Wuyi stood with a tense face and a distant tone, looking every bit the part of a high-level immortal master. But internally, she was frantically screaming for help in her mind.

“Qin An! Qin An! My techniques only work on ghosts, not humans! This Xu Huixin can’t be harmed or destroyed, so am I just supposed to run around like a gopher in a whack-a-mole game?”

“You really are a blockhead,” Qin An’s voice echoed with a hint of disdain. “Do you see the bell in her hand? That is the key to her controlling Xu Huixin’s mind and those two ‘cannon fodder’ ghosts from earlier. Find a way to snatch it. I will help you crush it, and then Xu Huixin will regain her senses.”

Snatch the bell… snatch the bell… Wuyi thought. Can’t the bell just grow legs and run to me? With Xu Huixin blocking the way, how am I supposed to grab it?

“I don’t care if you’re from the Underworld or the Heavens! I will not let you take her away!”

Before Wuyi could devise a plan, Qi Yishu rang the bell again. “A sacrifice of blood for ghostly power—Huixin, attack!”

At the command, Xu Huixin floated high into the air, enveloped in thick, pitch-black ghostly energy. She tilted her head with a jagged, eerie smile, and countless tentacles made of matted hair lashed out from behind her toward Wuyi.

“Soul-Summoning Banner! Protect me!” Wuyi manifested the banner once more. It spun at high speed, orbiting her to prevent the hair tentacles from getting close.

“Qi Yishu, aren’t you afraid I’ll destroy Xu Huixin if you keep using her like this?” Wuyi tried to lower Qi Yishu’s guard through conversation, slowly inching closer.

“If you could actually destroy her, you wouldn’t have been so pathetic last time,” Qi Yishu laughed. “Your little ‘Red Entity’ friend got hit pretty hard by that lightning, didn’t she?”

“You knew all that?!”

It clicked. Qi Yishu had been nourishing Xu Huixin with her own blood. Their hearts and minds were linked; nothing that happened around Xu Huixin escaped her notice.

“How else do you think you found me so easily?” Qi Yishu sneered. “If you hadn’t stuck your nose in this, everything would have proceeded in secret. Is the world not better off with fewer scumbags? Why stop me? Are you on their side?”

Qi Yishu pointed at the groaning Ren Zha, who was beginning to wake up on the floor.

“I don’t take sides. I follow the facts,” Wuyi stated. “And you have done wrong. Don’t make it worse!”

Finding her opening, Wuyi lunged and tackled Qi Yishu to the ground. Having trained for years, pinning a civilian like Qi Yishu was easy work.

“Let me go! Huixin, save me!” Qi Yishu tried to ring the bell, but Wuyi was faster, wrenching it from her grasp.

“Ah—! Give it back! I can’t be without the bell!” Qi Yishu’s eyes turned blood-red. Wuyi felt a sudden surge of unnatural strength from the woman beneath her and quickly pushed off to create distance.

“Qin An! I got the bell!”

“Excellent. I’ll teach you the incantation. Recite it to shatter it. ‘As I wish, by my heart, demons and ghosts, Yin-Yang transformation—BREAK!'”

“…”

“Are you sure about this incantation?”

“Stop talking! If you don’t want to die at the hands of this pair, do as I say!”

Though skeptical of the “As I wish” wording, Wuyi trusted Qin An. She gripped the bronze bell tight and began: “As I wish, by my heart…”

“Stop! If you drive us to a dead end today, then none of us will have a good ending!”

Qi Yishu’s scream cut Wuyi off. Wuyi looked over to see that Qi Yishu had somehow grabbed a knife, taken Ren Zha hostage, and was backing toward the window.

“Are you crazy? If you kill him, your life is over!” Wuyi tried to move forward, but the blade pressed against Ren Zha’s neck stopped her.

“Crazy? Ha! I am crazy! The moment I saw this scum prospering while Huixin was dead, the moment I saw her bullies face no consequences, the ‘Qi Yishu’ you knew died with her! Why should they commit crimes and get off scot-free? Someone gave me this chance—why wouldn’t I use it? Let her go? Forgive myself? Easy for you to say! You haven’t lived through it!”

As Qi Yishu grew more hysterical, Xu Huixin began to weep mournfully beside her.

“Let me go… I was wrong…” Ren Zha’s voice trembled, his features distorted by terror.

“Let you go? You’re the one who deserves to die most!”

Wuyi finished the chant: “…Demons and ghosts, Yin-Yang transformation—BREAK!”

The bronze bell in her hand instantly dissolved into fine dust. Simultaneously, Xu Huixin let out a harrowing shriek.

“Ah—!”

“Huixin!” Qi Yishu coughed up a mouthful of blood. Seeing Xu Huixin collapse, her gaze turned even more vicious. “You forced my hand!”

She lunged to drive the knife into Ren Zha’s throat. But in a desperate burst of survival instinct, Ren Zha found the strength to dodge, nearly breaking free from her hold.

“Calm down!” Wuyi ran to pull them apart, but just as she got within arm’s reach, Qi Yishu dragged Ren Zha with her and tumbled out of the window.

“NO!!”

Wuyi’s heart stopped. Her legs gave out, and she knelt on the floor, whispering to herself. “Qin An… I can’t fix this. I’m so useless. I shouldn’t have been so impulsive… I really am a calamity… two more lives on my conscience. Just like my mother…”

Tears blurred the concrete floor. Wuyi buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

“Are you a child? So fond of crying?” A sudden wave of coolness wrapped around her. Wuyi looked up through teary eyes to see Qin An’s weary but gentle gaze. “I don’t want a crybaby for an Emissary.”

“I… I’m… sorry…” Wuyi hiccuped.

“Enough, you look ugly when you cry.” Qin An wiped the tears from Wuyi’s face and pointed toward the window. “They’re fine. Look.”

Wuyi peered over. Xu Huixin had somehow caught the falling pair and brought them back safely. She tossed Ren Zha back into the room like a sack of trash and gently placed Qi Yishu on the floor. Her eyes were clear now, devoid of the previous madness.

“I have regained my senses. Take me away, Lord Emissary,” Xu Huixin said. “It is time to settle the sins I’ve committed over the years.”

“No! You can’t!” Qi Yishu shook her head frantically, hugging Xu Huixin. “You haven’t seen them pay the price yet! Please don’t go…”

Xu Huixin sighed and gently pried her away. “Yishu, the Master is right. The past is gone. Don’t pursue it anymore. I am grateful for your devotion, but Yishu, I want you to live for yourself. It was my own poor judgment that threw me into that vortex. I’ve made peace with it now. Ren Zha and the others will get what’s coming to them eventually. So, Yishu…” she leaned in for one last hug, “thank you. But please, let yourself go. Don’t live for me anymore. I understand your feelings now. If fate allows, we’ll meet in the next life.”

“Okay… okay…” Qi Yishu sobbed, trembling. “I promise.”

Wuyi coughed twice, hesitant to break the moment. “Um, time’s up. Xu Huixin, it’s time to go.”

“Yes.” Xu Huixin stood up. “Lord, before I go, there is one thing I hope you can help me with. I want you to erase all of Yishu’s memories of me. Only by forgetting me can she truly start a new life. I will take full responsibility for the crimes we committed while I was under control. Please, spare her.”

Wuyi looked at Qin An and whispered, “That’s up to you. I just work for you.”

Qin An chuckled, taking Wuyi’s hand—the one still clutching her sleeve—and addressed Xu Huixin. “Erasing memories is possible. But she must still bear the karmic consequences for the acts she committed while controlling you. That is something neither you nor I can change.”

“As long as her memory is cleared, I am satisfied,” Xu Huixin nodded with a bitter smile. She looked at Qi Yishu one last time and waved a hand, knocking her unconscious. “It is done. Take me.”

Wuyi nodded and held up her jade pendant. “By the Emissary’s decree, Black and White Guards of the Eleventh Yama’s Hall, hear me! Come forth!”

The wind howled as two figures emerged from the black mist. They bowed to Qin An and Wuyi.

“Take her back to the Underworld and process her normally,” Wuyi instructed. Seeing Xu Huixin’s nervousness, she added softly, “These are the Black and White Guards. Don’t worry, just follow them.”

“Thank you again,” Xu Huixin bowed deeply.

“Go in peace,” Wuyi said. “I’ll clean up the mess in the mortal world. Have a good next life.”