Spirit Medium

Li Banfeng stood atop the awning, quietly observing the battle. Regardless of its quality, it was still a fight. Lightbulb's performance was passable. After all, he was only a first-tier Oil Cultivator. Managing to protect himself against this rolled-up sleeping mat proved he had made some degree of progress during his time in Puluo Province. As for Tangyuan, Lightbulb had mentioned earlier that she was a fourth-tier cultivator. Her "fourth tier" was a bit abstract... It could be understood this way: Tangyuan simply wasn't suited for direct combat; she excelled at surveillance, wiretapping, espionage, and the like. Take the espionage skills she had demonstrated back at Xiaoyaowu—truly... on par with her fighting ability. As for Mingxing, he was injured, so there was no judging his combat prowess for now—though his act of playing dead was convincing enough. The sleeping mat lunged again, and Tangyuan was once more unable to dodge in time. Li Banfeng kicked the mat away. Tangyuan shouted to Lightbulb, "Master Seven is covering us! Grab Mingxing and pull back from the battlefield for now!" Li Banfeng buried his face in his hands. In a situation like this, please don't drag my name into it. Restraint. Must practice restraint. Don't look down on them. Don't mock them. You can't judge the Dark Star Bureau's overall combat strength solely through these three. The screech of brakes sounded in the distance. Another team member had joined the fray. First to arrive was Zhong'er, Qin Minghui. This young man didn't have high cultivation either, but his combat awareness was solid. He fired several shots first, and upon realizing the pistol did limited damage to the sleeping mat, he immediately switched tactics. He slashed open the sleeping mat with a dagger. Enraged, the mat charged at Zhong'er. Zhong'er stabbed it again, but the blade wedged into the mat and wouldn't come free. Zhong'er remained calm. He instantly abandoned the dagger, scooped up a broken roof tile from the ground to use as a blade, and carved another slash into the mat. This habit of picking up whatever weapon lay at hand was unmistakable: he was a Martial Cultivator. The two slashes didn't seem to impair the mat's combat prowess, but Zhong'er successfully drew its attention, giving Mingxing a window to withdraw. Lightbulb yelled, "It's got oil on it! Zhong'er, look for a chance to set it ablaze!" Zhong'er glanced around. Near this residential building slated for demolition, piles of debris lay scattered everywhere. "We can't use fire!" Zhong'er called back. "Setting it on fire might not even subdue it, and it could start a conflagration!" Li Banfeng watched Zhong'er for a moment and gave a slight nod. Another screech of brakes rang out. A woman with a tall, upright posture, slightly dusky skin, and striking, handsome features dashed beneath the residential building. Lightbulb gasped in relief, "Sister Mijian, you're here!" Mijian said composedly, "Pin it down." Together, Zhong'er and Lightbulb held the mat in check. Mijian wetted her fingertips with her tongue and traced two damp marks across the mat. The sleeping mat collapsed to the ground, thrashed for a few moments, and went still. Li Banfeng cast an approving glance. This woman named Mijian was a Binding Cultivator in her late twenties, an agent with some real experience. Her combat capability was actually respectable! Mijian assigned tasks to everyone: "Tangyuan, you, Zhong'er, and Mingxing guard the anomaly here and wait for backup! Lightbulb, come upstairs with me to evacuate the trapped residents!" Li Banfeng buried his face in his hands once more. Combat ability was passable; command ability was severely lacking. Zhong'er raised an objection: "We can't yet be certain this sleeping mat is a newland anomaly." Mijian froze for a second. "What else could it be?" Zhong'er pointed at the label on the mat. "This sleeping mat was manufactured in March of this year. The odds of it mutating into a dark-energy anomaly in such a short time are very low." Mijian considered this for a moment. "It could be a spirit medium's battle spirit. I overlooked that." She overlooked it. An oversight like this could easily cost lives. "Spirit medium" was the Outer States' term for a nightmare cultivator. This roll of sleeping mat was likely a nightmare cultivator's ghost servant. Subduing the mat did not mark the end of the battle; charging recklessly into the residential building would very likely expose them to an ambush by the nightmare cultivator. Li Banfeng looked back at Zhong'er. So far, he was the only one who had made the right call. As the highest-ranking officer present, Mijian immediately adjusted the plan: "Lightbulb and Mingxing will stay here to guard the battle spirit! Zhong'er, you and Tangyuan come with me upstairs to apprehend the spirit medium!" The new plan simply brought one more person upstairs. That was also sound—one more pair of hands meant one more defense against an ambush. Before they could even enter the stairwell, a flowerpot flew down from a third-floor balcony, hurtling straight at Mijian. Mijian was agile enough to dodge the pot, but the cactus inside leapt out and stuck Mingxing with a face full of thorns. Mingxing howled in pain and collapsed to the ground, unable to get up. Lightbulb moved to help him, but a clothes-drying rack came sailing down from above, its hooks clawing toward his head. Zhong'er tried to step in and support Lightbulb, only for a mop to drop from above and thrash him mercilessly. Tangyuan desperately wanted to join the fight, but she couldn't find an opening to strike. While chaos raged below, a man climbed out of a side window on the third floor, a rope tied around his waist, preparing to drop to the ground. Li Banfeng leaped to the windowsill, grabbed the man by the collar, tied him up with his own rope, and tossed him back into the room. "It's dangerous outside," he cautioned. "Wait here a moment." This man was the nightmare cultivator. The mop, flowerpot, clothes rack downstairs—and the sleeping mat before them—were all his ghost servants. He was clearly a tenant of the building, but why had he sent his ghost servants to attack fellow residents? Was he deliberately giving himself away? Li Banfeng had already guessed the reason, but as for the Dark Star Bureau's true strength, he still couldn't fathom it. Down below, utter chaos reigned. Lightbulb was scurrying in every direction, Mingxing lay sprawled on the ground, Tangyuan was still looking for an opening, and Mijian and Zhong'er were locked in a back-and-forth struggle against a swarm of ghost servants. A spittoon flew down from above, ready to enter the fray. Li Banfeng reached out, snatched it out of the air, and leaped into the third-floor apartment. The spittoon was also a ghost servant; if it could fight, it could also untie the nightmare cultivator's ropes. Sure enough, the nightmare cultivator was attempting another escape. Just as he reached the doorway, Li Banfeng yanked him back, tied him up once more, jammed the spittoon over his head, and set the Tang dao to stand watch over him. Downstairs, the battle was not over. Besieged by the flowerpot and clothes rack, Mijian suffered minor injuries; her focus slipped slightly, and the binding on the sleeping mat loosened with it. The sleeping mat stood up again. Among this gaggle of ghost servants, the sleeping mat was more than one tier higher. If it broke completely free, the battle could tip in an entirely different direction. Better not let it tip. Li Banfeng simply couldn't bear to watch any longer. He stepped into the midst of the group. Holding the Hanxue pendulum, he gave each ghost servant a swipe. Every single one froze motionless. The Hanxue pendulum could injure deceased spirits, and Li Banfeng struck swift and mercilessly. The blow heavily wounded the spirits, naturally rendering them immobile. Under normal circumstances, Li Banfeng wouldn't even have needed the pendulum. With his current cultivation, a casual stamp of Treading Ten Thousand Rivers would have shattered the souls of these ghost servants into dust. But if he used Treading Ten Thousand Rivers now, the security officers wouldn't be spared either. Seeing Li Banfeng effortlessly subdue all the battle spirits, Mijian stared at him in astonishment. "Who are you?" "This is our bureau's..." Tangyuan started to introduce him, but didn't know how to phrase it. During missions, security team members usually addressed one another only by codenames, as per security protocol. Of course, Chen Changrui didn't usually fuss over this; if someone called him Captain Chen during a mission, he'd answer. But Li the Seventh's identity was different. Exposing his title and name in the middle of a mission was clearly inappropriate. While Tangyuan was agonizing over this, Li Banfeng urged them along: "Cut the idle chatter. Get upstairs and arrest the nightmare cultivator. He's on the third floor, the apartment throwing things out. Don't go to the wrong door." Mijian nodded and was about to delegate roles when Li Banfeng said, "No need for assignments. Leave this one behind." He meant Mingxing. Mingxing was still lying on the ground. Li Banfeng walked over and said, "Get up first. Open your eyes. Don't be afraid. You wait here and keep an eye on these ghost servants. If they move, shout at the top of your lungs. Understood?" Mingxing sat up on the ground and nodded. Mijian lingered where she stood. Li Banfeng looked back. "What are you waiting for? Get upstairs!" The others hurried up the stairs. Li Banfeng leapt through the window ahead of them, untied the nightmare cultivator's ropes, and pulled the spittoon off his head. "They'll be here in a moment. Fight them with everything you've got. If you win, I'll let you go!" After giving the nightmare cultivator a few instructions, Li Banfeng stood by the window and watched the battle unfold between the man and the Dark Star Bureau agents. The nightmare cultivator's cultivation wasn't high, and he only had one ghost servant left. Even under such extremely adverse conditions, it took the security officers over ten minutes of fighting to subdue him. The one who subdued him was Lightbulb. He used the Oil Pouring technique, filling the nightmare cultivator's nose and mouth with grease until the man suffocated into unconsciousness. Lightbulb's technique caught Mijian's attention. "I remember you didn't know dark-energy arts before. When did you learn this? Did you report it to the bureau?" The Oil Pouring technique had been learned by Lightbulb in Puluo Province. Since he served as Li Banfeng's informant on the inside, Li Banfeng naturally hadn't treated him poorly, gathering several books related to Oil Cultivators from the Lu and He family archives for him. Those books contained no fully formed techniques, only scattered descriptions. But Lightbulb had been diligent, synthesizing and fumbling his way through until he finally mastered it. Yet he dared not speak of this openly, so he had never reported it to the bureau. Now that Mijian had spotted it, Lightbulb grew exceedingly nervous. Mijian pressed, "Did you report it to the bureau or not?" Lightbulb had a sudden flash of wit and looked to Li Banfeng. "I reported it to Director Li." Everyone turned their gaze toward Li Banfeng. "Yes, he reported it to me," Li Banfeng nodded. The Dark Star Bureau was absurdly strict—even learning a technique required an official report. Mijian looked at Li Banfeng, still unable to place his identity. Li Banfeng had only just arrived, and only mid-level management and above in the Dark Star Bureau had met him. Zhong'er asked, "You're from Puluo Province, aren't you?" "How did you know?" "'Nightmare cultivator' is the term used in Puluo Province. Here, we call them spirit mediums." Li Banfeng didn't deny it. Backup from the Dark Star Bureau hadn't arrived yet, and Mingxing had contacted the police outside to begin evacuating the residents. Taking advantage of the lull, Li Banfeng asked them a question: "Why do you think this spirit medium attacked the residents in this building?" This battle had left Li Banfeng thoroughly baffled—he simply couldn't comprehend the true combat capability of these security officers. Perhaps it was due to the sudden nature of the situation and the officers' lack of preparation. Li Banfeng believed that in terms of knowledge, at least, their qualifications ought to be rock-solid, as the Outer States genuinely did a better job summarizing the characteristics of the various pathways than Puluo Province. As the highest-ranking officer, Mijian was first to analyze: "This spirit medium wanted to draw attention through a violent incident. That isn't uncommon among illegal dark adepts." Zhong'er disagreed with her view: "If he wanted attention, he wouldn't commit the crime in such an out-of-the-way location. His battle spirits are all possessed household items; he could easily have rolled up the sleeping mat and struck in a densely populated area to orchestrate a far more sensational incident." Mijian argued, "You're overlooking something. In a crowded place, he'd have little chance of escaping." Zhong'er said, "Judging by the current situation, this spirit medium didn't immediately flee the scene after the attack. Moreover, with his abilities, he could easily have escalated the incident further. Yet there was only one death. Explaining this purely as creating a violent spectacle doesn't hold up logically." Mijian was left speechless. Mingxing chimed in next: "This spirit medium must have lived in this building for a long time. While using his dark abilities, he was accidentally discovered by the deceased. To silence the witness, he had his battle spirit attack the victim." Zhong'er retorted, "If it were to silence a witness, the spirit medium should have immediately withdrawn the battle spirit after succeeding. He wouldn't have left it lingering at the stairwell entrance. That theory doesn't hold either." Mingxing ran out of words. Tangyuan ventured a bold hypothesis: "Leaving the battle spirit at the entrance might have been intentional, meant to draw us into action! He could be a member of a dark adept organization, and his target might have been the Dark Star Bureau all along! Their extraction team could arrive at any moment—we might be in grave danger right now!" Hearing this analysis, everyone grew tense. Mijian picked up her phone. "We must report this to Captain Chen immediately!" Li Banfeng shook his head. "Don't be in such a rush." Mijian paused, unsure whether she should obey this deputy director's instructions. Zhong'er also disagreed with Tangyuan's theory: "If their goal was to take us down, our fight with the battle spirits downstairs was the prime opportunity. Back then, we had no spare strength to resist more enemies. When we charged upstairs to engage the spirit medium, that was another prime opportunity to strike. Yet from start to finish, not a single ambush appeared. Repeatedly passing up optimal tactical moments makes no sense." Tangyuan wanted to argue further with Zhong'er, but seeing that Li the Seventh remained silent, she held her tongue. To be honest, Tangyuan's pride was stinging. She wasn't suited for combat; everyone knew that, and she didn't force the issue. But losing to a junior colleague in case analysis was something she found hard to swallow—especially in front of Li the Seventh. Mingxing wasn't convinced either. He scoffed, "None of our theories make sense to you, then? Fine, give us a reasonable one." Zhong'er laid out his thoughts: "I don't think it's that complicated. The cause of all this is likely that the spirit medium engaged in out-of-tier manipulation." At this point, Zhong'er pointedly glanced at Li the Seventh. "Out-of-tier manipulation is very common among spirit mediums. In Puluo Province, this behavior is referred to as 'a small horse pulling a big cart.'" Mijian blinked. Zhong'er's grasp of lore genuinely surprised her. There were numerous dark adept classes and an immense body of knowledge involved; Mijian normally paid little attention to spirit mediums, but when Zhong'er mentioned out-of-tier manipulation, faint recollections surfaced. Seeing Mingxing's half-comprehending look, Zhong'er explained further: "Nearly all spirit mediums engage in out-of-tier manipulation. A second-tier medium might command a third-tier or even higher-tier battle spirit. Because battle spirits are deceased souls, although they retain their cultivation tier, their actual combat strength is heavily diminished. A third-tier battle spirit might possess only first-tier combat strength, so for a second-tier medium, commanding a third-tier battle spirit is perfectly normal. "However, that roll of sleeping mat we encountered downstairs—judging solely by its speed and lethality—had already reached third-tier combat strength. Its actual tier might well be fifth or above. Under such circumstances, if the spirit medium is only second tier, the small horse can't pull the big cart. The out-of-tier manipulation fails, and the battle spirit goes berserk." Lightbulb agreed with Zhong'er's assessment: "That sleeping mat must have lost control. Once berserk, it beat that old lady to death. I've seen that sort of thing happen in Puluo Province too." Mingxing asked, "If the battle spirit went berserk and killed someone, why didn't the spirit medium run away?" Zhong'er said, "Because a battle spirit retains traces of its medium. If the battle spirit is captured, testing can confirm the medium's identity. Before Lightbulb and Mingxing arrived, the spirit medium was still looking for a chance to recall the battle spirit to clear his own suspicion. He achieved some success—according to Lightbulb, the spirit didn't initially attack targets more than ten meters away. That was the remnant of the medium's control. "However, once Lightbulb and Mingxing arrived and engaged the spirit, the medium prioritized self-preservation and abandoned control. After some time, the battle spirit lost control completely once more and began actively attacking Lightbulb and Senior Sister Tangyuan. "From the medium's perspective, he still harbored a sliver of hope: if the battle spirit were completely destroyed by us as a dark-energy anomaly, dead men would tell no tales. But Senior Sister Mijian captured it alive. With no other choice, the medium had to release his other battle spirits to buy himself a chance to flee." Hearing Zhong'er's analysis, Mijian gave a thumbs-up. "Good lad! No wonder Captain Chen thinks so highly of you. You really did your homework!" "Don't embarrass me. If Director Li hadn't lent a hand, that spirit medium probably would have escaped long ago." As he spoke, Zhong'er kept looking at Li the Seventh, eager for his approval. Li the Seventh gave him a slight nod. Zhong'er's eyes gleamed with unmistakable pride. Tangyuan looked at Zhong'er, then at Li the Seventh. She lowered her head, biting her lip tightly. After waiting a while longer, Captain Chen Changrui arrived. Upon learning the general course of events, he had men escort the spirit medium back to the bureau and ordered the others to preserve the scene. The mission had gone reasonably well, so Chen Changrui praised the team. Mijian shook her head. "I came in such a hurry, without any preparation. If Director Li hadn't arrived with backup, who knows what would have become of this operation." Chen Changrui paused. "Which Director Li are you talking about?" Mijian thought for a moment. "The one from Puluo Province." "Where is he?" Chen Changrui looked around. Mingxing offered from the side, "Director Li said he was heading back first." Chen Changrui scanned the area again. "Where did Lightbulb go?" Mingxing said, "Director Li said he doesn't know how to drive, so he had Lightbulb drive for him." Chen Changrui blinked in confusion. "If he doesn't know how to drive, how did he drive the car here in the first place?" "Maybe he hired a designated driver." Mingxing couldn't offer a better explanation. Chen Changrui noticed Tangyuan standing in the corner, her face a portrait of bewilderment and dejection. "How did Tangyuan perform this time?" Chen Changrui asked Mijian. Mijian raised her brows and remained silent. ... On the road, Li Banfeng asked Lightbulb, "Did you know all that lore Zhong'er was talking about?" Lightbulb shook his head. "A hundred sects under heaven, ten thousand disciplines across the world, so many paths and rules—who dares claim to know them all? I don't know much about nightmare cultivators myself. Zhong'er just got lucky today; he happened to have researched them and showed off in front of you. If it were a different pathway, he might not have known a thing." Li Banfeng asked, "Is that knowledge mandatory for security officers?" "By regulation, yes, we're supposed to master it. There are exams every quarter." "What happens if you fail the exam?" "A fine." "And then?" "Nothing else. You just take it again next quarter." Li Banfeng asked further, "What's the punishment if you learn a technique without reporting it?" Lightbulb jolted. "That's a huge penalty! I could be demoted from regular staff to probationary, disqualified from commendations or awards for three years, and any chance of promotion would be dead in the water." Li Banfeng sorted through his thoughts for quite some time, yet he still couldn't wrap his head around the Dark Star Bureau's management logic. Once they reached his residence, Li Banfeng instructed Lightbulb, "After they interrogate that nightmare cultivator, get me a copy of the confession." ... Stepping into the companion dwelling, Li Banfeng recounted the battle to the gramophone. Hearing it, the gramophone was utterly puzzled. "Husband, the way you describe it, the Outer States' combat strength is truly pathetic." Li Banfeng nodded. "Not only is their fighting strength weak, but the Dark Star Bureau doesn't even want them to get stronger. If Puluo Province ever invaded the Outer States one day, I really don't know what they'd use to hold them off." "This humble servant has heard that the Outer States possess a kind of bomb capable of leveling an entire city in a single strike. Does such a thing really exist?" "It does," Li Banfeng nodded. "It's called a nuclear weapon. But in a moment of life and death, will they even get the chance to fire it?" "This humble servant feels the Outer States must have other tricks up their sleeves, hidden too deeply for Husband to discover." "What kind of tricks could they have?" Li Banfeng held the gramophone close and fell asleep. ... The next day, Li Banfeng put on a black jacket, one of the Dark Star Bureau's uniform options. The bureau's uniform also included a suit, but Li Banfeng didn't care for the Outer States' cut of suits, and during daily work, the bureau's personnel rarely wore them anyway. He had given his fedora to Chu the Second. His wardrobe held new ones, but he chose not to wear one. Even without the fedora shading his face, seeing Li Banfeng's features clearly remained far from easy. To be precise, his face was right before your eyes, yet the impression of him in your mind was eternally blurred. The Dark Star Bureau had prepared a private office for Li the Seventh. Li Banfeng opened the office computer system and casually browsed official documents. Lightbulb knocked and entered. "Master Seven, here's the confession you asked for." Lightbulb had other duties; after setting down the transcript, he left promptly. Li Banfeng took the confession and flipped through it. The circumstances were essentially consistent with Zhong'er's assessment: the suspect apprehended last night was a third-tier spirit medium who had forcibly commanded the soul of a sixth-tier Wanderer, causing the spirit to lose control and murder a neighbor in the same building. A sixth-tier journey cultivator. Where did he acquire a deceased soul of that tier? According to the confession, this spirit medium's deceased souls had all been purchased on the black market. In Puluo Province, Li Banfeng had never heard of nightmare cultivators buying and selling ghost servants. Yet according to this transcript, every single one of this spirit medium's ghost servants had been bought. What sort of place was the Outer States' black market, anyway? Li Banfeng checked the directory and summoned Tangyuan. Entering the office, Tangyuan closed the door, clutched a notebook in hand, and stood across from the desk with her head hung low. Li Banfeng pointed to a chair. "Sit." Tangyuan sat on the chair, perched on only the front third of the seat, her back stiffly upright, her head buried low, cheeks faintly flushed. "Master Seven, did you call me here because of last night?" Li Banfeng was taken aback. "Last night?" Tangyuan bit her lip. "No good at martial arts, no good at book smarts—I can't even hold a candle to Zhong'er, who just joined. Master Seven, do you despise me terribly?" "Not at all..." "You don't need to comfort me. Captain Chen once said I'm not cut out for the security team, but I refused to accept that. I always felt I could do something useful... "Master Seven, I know I embarrassed myself last night. You can scold me, or hit me twice if you like. Or give me another cup of laxative—I'll endure it right in front of you without a word! "Just please don't transfer me away. Don't make me leave the security team..." Her voice trembled as she spoke. Li Banfeng handed Tangyuan a tissue. "I called you here to ask: how do I get to the black market?" ... 11:58 PM, Yiping Road, Flower Lake District, the Cultural Palace. Li Banfeng entered the cinema on the first floor of the Cultural Palace. The film had just begun, and admission required no ticket. *Clatter! Clack!* He pulled down a hard wooden seat in the back row and sat down to watch the movie first. The screen showed an erotic romance that could never be shown in a legitimate cinema. According to the black market's rules, pills were for sale tonight. Watching the contrived, coy acting and the evasive camera angles, Li Banfeng couldn't help reminiscing about *Blood Gun Detective*. In terms of artistic depth, the Outer States still lagged considerably behind Puluo Province. After about ten minutes of watching, a man carrying a snack vendor box slung over his shoulder approached Li Banfeng and asked, "Sir, care for a snack?" If one wanted to buy pills here, the proper answer was to buy water—specifically pure water. Yet Li Banfeng's answer was: "I want to buy a pack of tissues." The vendor asked, "A large pack or a small one?" Li Banfeng replied, "A pack of sixteen sheets." These cant phrases had all been taught to Li Banfeng by Tangyuan. The vendor took out a pack of tissues, handed it to Li Banfeng, and Li Banfeng paid two yuan. Once the snack vendor walked away, Li Banfeng turned the tissue pack over and saw three digits written on the back: "205." Carrying the tissues, Li Banfeng headed upstairs and knocked on the door of private room 205. Tonight, most private rooms on the second floor dealt in pills, but a few conducted special business. Room 205 was one of those special rooms. Even through the closed door, Li Banfeng could smell a chilling, spectral aura. The door opened. A woman in her early thirties with a cigarette between her lips asked, "Here to buy paper?" Li Banfeng handed her the tissue pack. The woman checked the tissues and ushered him inside. "Looking to buy one who can fight, or one who can sleep with you?" Li Banfeng frowned. "I'm a respectable man." The woman chuckled. "Aiyo, who said you weren't? But tell me, which nightmare cultivator hasn't slept with their ghost servants?" "Nightmare cultivator," "ghost servant." She was using Puluo Province terminology. "I'll find you one who can fight and sleep with you. See if she suits your taste, eh?" The room was hung with a dozen curtains. The woman pulled aside one of the drapes, revealing a young lady behind it. The woman introduced her: "She's a newcomer. Hasn't been touched by anyone else yet. When she was alive, she had a seventh-tier cultivation. As for fighting, that goes without saying. As for sleeping, well, that depends on your liking." A seventh-tier deceased spirit with roughly fifth-tier combat prowess—a spirit of this caliber actually showed up on the black market? Li Banfeng stared at the girl for a moment, his brow suddenly twitching. She wore a dark green gown and held a handful of locust leaves, her entire body engulfed in green flames that coiled softly around the leaves. Why did she look so familiar? He seemed to have seen this young lady before.