Yin and Yang - Chapter 5

Yin Zheng tapped Shen Qingwei’s forehead. Though they were slightly apart, Shen Qingwei nestled into her arms like a small bird, looking pitiful. “Senior Sister, I’m scared.”

“Of what?” Yin Zheng glanced at the Female Ghost before asking Shen Qingwei, “Did you get any results from the investigation?”

“No,” Shen Qingwei replied, her expression turning serious. She walked over to the Female Ghost, lifted her chin, and said, “The voice is gone. I couldn’t get anything out of her.”

Across the room, Hu Shengsheng collapsed to the ground with a thud. Yin Zheng moved to help him up, but Shen Qingwei grabbed her hand. “You go,” she told the Female Ghost.

The Female Ghost, hovering between them, thought: I’d rather faint too!

Ignoring the Female Ghost’s resentful glare, Shen Qingwei said to Yin Zheng, “She’s just an ordinary ghost. What’s so scary about her? The Heavenly Master Sect is so useless, aren’t they?”

“Don’t speak nonsense,” Yin Zheng retorted, glancing around. “This place has been converted into a Yin Dwelling. Where there’s a Yin Dwelling, there’s bound to be a Yin Lair. Our Yin-Yang Sect is naturally attuned to Yin energy, so we’re not afraid, but other Heavenly Masters might not be able to withstand it.”

Especially at 3 a.m., when the Earth Gate opens and the Yin Lair absorbs Yin energy, channeling it all into the Malevolent Spirit. This spirit is manageable now, but by 3 a.m., even Shen Qingwei might struggle. Knowing this urgency, Yin Zheng had rushed here.

Shen Qingwei nodded. “Then why don’t we subdue her right now?”

The Female Ghost stood beside them, her expression blank.

Yin Zheng glanced at Shen Qingwei. “Try it.”

Shen Qingwei frowned and casually pulled a talisman from her bag. The moment the talisman touched the Female Ghost, it instantly disintegrated into ashes. Far from subduing her, it couldn’t even get close!

“How is this possible?” Shen Qingwei asked, puzzled. Refusing to believe it, she threw another talisman, which also turned to ash. She raised her finger, about to bite it, when Yin Zheng grabbed her hand. “Don’t waste your energy,” Yin Zheng said. “She was created through dark magic.”

Malevolent Spirits created through dark magic lack consciousness. After absorbing Yin energy, they act solely on their master’s commands. The only way to deal with them is through forced subjugation, which would shatter their souls. The only alternative is to find the one who created the spirit, use their life force to break the seal, and then perform an exorcism. Yin Zheng wanted to investigate this matter thoroughly and uncover the person behind it, so forced subjugation was not an option for now.

Shen Qingwei nodded, finally understanding why the Heavenly Master Sect couldn’t handle this Malevolent Spirit. They had tried forced subjugation but couldn’t withstand the Yin Lair’s energy. Only the Yin-Yang Sect could endure such energy, which was why they had been asked to come.

“That’s strange, Senior Sister. She clearly understood what I said just now,” Shen Qingwei remarked, puzzled. She had asked the Female Ghost to move Hu Shengsheng, and the ghost had complied.

Yin Zheng explained, “It means she still retains a fragment of her consciousness.”

This was their breakthrough. Perhaps they could uncover something by examining her.

“Oh—then what should we do now, Senior Sister?”

After a moment’s thought, Yin Zheng told Shen Qingwei, “First, get him out of here.”

Shen Qingwei glanced at Hu Shengsheng, reluctantly propped him up, and opened the door. As the two worlds—the interior and the corridor—met, she tossed Hu Shengsheng onto the corridor floor and returned to the living room, where she saw Yin Zheng following the Female Ghost into the room.

“What time is it?”

Shen Qingwei glanced at her phone. “One o’clock.”

Yin Zheng crept into the room, with Shen Qingwei trailing leisurely behind. They watched as the Female Ghost resumed her earlier actions, hacking relentlessly with her cleaver. Flesh and blood flew everywhere, and crimson liquid streamed across the floor, saturating the room with a thick, acrid stench. Shen Qingwei instinctively grabbed Yin Zheng’s hand, her fingers slender and strong against Yin Zheng’s delicate skin. Yin Zheng looked over.

“Senior Sister, I’m scared,” Shen Qingwei murmured.

She was always like this.

Yin Zheng remembered when Shen Qingwei had first been immersed in the Yin Pool as a child. The little girl had clung to her hand, her eyes redder than a rabbit’s, her voice choked with sobs as she repeated, “Senior Sister, I’m scared.”

Back then, Yin Zheng had felt such heartache, wishing she could take Shen Qingwei’s place in the pool. But how had that timid little rabbit transformed into this cunning little fox?

Yin Zheng couldn’t understand. She let Shen Qingwei hold her hand.

Shen Qingwei glanced at Yin Zheng out of the corner of her eye. Her face was serene and cold, like the bright moon—composed and dignified. Even their Master had praised Yin Zheng as a rare talent, a once-in-a-century prodigy with a perfectly balanced yin-yang constitution, possessing both celestial bones and righteous spirit, making her the ideal candidate for the Yin-Yang Sect.

Yet for all her virtues, Senior Sister lacked any trace of emotion.

Completely devoted to slaying demons and exorcising evil, she showed no interest in romantic affairs. Shen Qingwei had dropped hints repeatedly, both directly and subtly. Surely her clever Senior Sister understood, yet she had never responded, not even once.

Shen Qingwei lowered her gaze. Yin Zheng, still holding her hand, called out, “Qingwei?”

She looked up. Yin Zheng was staring intently at her, her clear eyes reflecting Shen Qingwei’s tiny image, filled with nothing but her. Shen Qingwei’s heart trembled violently, her hand twitching. “What is it?”

“She’s gone out,” Yin Zheng said. “Let’s follow her.”

Shen Qingwei finally realized the Female Ghost had left. The room was now a gruesome scene of dismemberment: a girl’s body chopped into countless pieces, her head neatly severed and placed on the bedside table, staring directly at Shen Qingwei.

Those eyes fixed on her, blood staining the girl’s delicate hair and dripping rhythmically onto the floor. A wave of nausea washed over Shen Qingwei. She frowned, but before she could process what was happening, Yin Zheng pulled her out of the room. The scene outside abruptly shifted, as if they had suddenly entered another dimension. Shen Qingwei felt disoriented for a moment. She looked at Yin Zheng, who explained, “This is how she looked in life.”

True enough, the Female Ghost had transformed. No longer drenched in blood, she now wore a plain white nightgown, frantically searching through Shen Qingwei’s living room, rummaging through drawers and cabinets. As Shen Qingwei followed her, she noticed the ghost’s face was flushed crimson, tears streaming down her cheeks, her breath coming in ragged gasps, her chest heaving violently—was she… furious?

Yin Zheng looked puzzled, exchanging glances with Shen Qingwei for a few seconds. The Female Ghost brushed past them, darting into the kitchen. When she emerged, she held a long fruit knife, its blade gleaming sharply. The Female Ghost’s grinning face was reflected in the polished surface.

It was a bone-chilling smile, her mouth stretched wide, a guttural gurgling sound escaping her throat. Gripping the knife handle tightly, she slowly approached the door, reached out, and pushed it open.

The room was pitch-black, light seeping through the cracks. A man lay sound asleep on the bed. The woman stood behind him, fruit knife raised in her hand, her grip tightening. Suddenly, the blade flashed. The Female Ghost plunged the knife into the man’s body with brutal force! Blood would inevitably splatter everywhere.

A hand suddenly appeared before Shen Qingwei’s eyes, completely blocking her view. The fingers were slender and long, carrying a faint floral scent.

It was Yin Zheng.

Shen Qingwei glanced sideways, seeing Yin Zheng shielding her eyes while still peering into the room herself. A warmth stirred in her heart. But just then, Yin Zheng lowered her hand. The two figures on the bed were now locked in a violent struggle. The Female Ghost’s white dress was stained crimson anew. The injured man was clearly no match for her. She straddled his back, plunging the knife down again and again!

Seven stabs in total!

After finishing, the Female Ghost opened the door to her daughter’s room next door, aimed the still-bloody knife at her daughter’s chest, and delivered a fatal blow.

With her daughter dead, the Female Ghost grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the room. Expressionless, she returned to the kitchen, retrieved a cleaver, and began chopping meat repeatedly, reliving the same actions as before.

“Is this what happened?” Shen Qingwei frowned, stepping inside. The room was now the crime scene. Her gaze shifted from the Female Ghost to the surroundings: a bedside table, a lamp, a slightly cluttered coffee table, a sofa piled with dirty clothes, and crumpled tissues scattered on the floor. Yin Zheng nodded and took a few steps further into the room when a pill bottle suddenly rolled to her feet. She bent down to pick it up. The label had been torn off, but she could hear pills rattling inside.

It was a square, white bottle. Though the label was gone, a line of English letters remained etched at the bottom. The room was too dark for Yin Zheng to make out the letters clearly. Beside her, Shen Qingwei asked, “Could this be her medication?”

The case file mentioned that the female homeowner suffered from severe depression and required medication.

“Possibly,” Yin Zheng replied.

Just as she was about to open the medicine bottle, her hand suddenly went empty. The surrounding scenery twisted and shifted in an instant, and they were back. The room was exactly as they had left it, with the severed head still resting on the bedside table, its wide, staring eyes fixed on Shen Qingwei. Blood trickled from the corners of its eyes, making it look grotesque and terrifying.

Yin Zheng asked, “Is it three o’clock?”

Shen Qingwei nodded. “Yes.”

The Earth Gate had opened, explaining their sudden return. The Female Ghost, who had been chopping meat, froze mid-motion. An eerie silence filled the room. Shen Qingwei felt a gust of wind rush toward her, accompanied by a cleaver aimed directly at her forehead. Yin Zheng shoved her aside. “Watch out!”

Shen Qingwei was pushed against the doorframe as Yin Zheng’s waist flashed. The cleaver struck the door, leaving a blackened, cracked ring that dissolved into black water. The door was ruined!

What if that had hit me? A chill ran down Shen Qingwei’s spine.

Before she could catch her breath, the cleaver rose again, pursuing her. She immediately kicked it away. The cleaver smashed into the crystal chandelier overhead with a crash, shattering the glass. The room plunged into darkness, and Shen Qingwei momentarily lost focus. A bladed wind swept toward her from the front, and she was instantly pulled to the ground and rolled aside.

“Senior Sister,” Shen Qingwei whispered.

Yin Zheng pressed a finger to her lips. “Shh—”

Shen Qingwei remained still, nestled in Yin Zheng’s arms, ceasing her struggles. Yin Zheng held her close, listening intently for a few seconds. As the cleaver hurtled toward them, she swiftly drew her soft sword from her sleeve. A flash of light split the air, followed by the Female Ghost’s piercing shriek as she fled.

Yin Zheng immediately rose and pursued the ghost. Shen Qingwei scrambled to her feet and followed them into the corridor. The Female Ghost had already drifted to the innermost room, where she was pounding frantically on the door. Receiving no response, she moved on to the second room, hammering on that door as well.

Watching this scene unfold, Shen Qingwei suddenly felt something was amiss. Yin Zheng approached the Female Ghost, her expression growing increasingly desperate as she heard the relentless pounding. The ghost kept glancing back at Shen Qingwei’s position. Shen Qingwei looked around. There was nothing there.

Nothing there?

A realization struck Shen Qingwei. “Senior Sister!” she called out.

Yin Zheng turned, noticing Shen Qingwei’s grave expression. “What is it?” she asked.

“Hu Shengsheng is gone!” Shen Qingwei declared.

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