"To the southeast of Hanshui City lies a small hamlet named Baishui Village. There lived a married couple; the husband was named Liu San. One morning, Liu San woke up and found it rather strange that his wife hadn't woken him as she usually did."
"Calling out for his wife inside the house yielded no answer, so he began searching around, only to ultimately discover her drowned in a washbasin."
"The coroner found no signs of struggle on the wife's body, as though she had willingly drowned herself in the basin. Utterly baffled, he reported it up the chain. Following an investigation, the yamen concluded it was the work of a drowned ghost."
"A so-called drowned ghost is born when someone drowns with lingering resentment and happens to encounter a surge of yin energy at the moment of death, forming a spirit that haunts the mortal realm."
"Drowned ghosts typically inhabit rivers, lakes, and seas. As it happens, there is a cold pool near Baishui Village. Its water is excessively frigid—mortals who drink from it over a long period fall ill. Its yin energy is exceptionally heavy, making it an ideal dwelling for a drowned ghost."
"A senior brother in the late Golden Core stage happened to pass by on his way back to our sect. Hearing about this, he went to the Cold Pool to investigate and had his living corpse dive in to capture the drowned ghost."
"However, that drowned ghost possesses formidable strength—at the very least, it's at the half-step Nascent Soul stage, and could even be in the early Nascent Soul stage."
"With so many ghost incidents in Hanshui City, the forces the yamen and the sect can mobilize are stretched thin. There simply isn't any surplus manpower to deal with this drowned ghost."
"So, do you want to take this mission?"
Zhao Po, having picked up a mission brief, summarized it concisely and looked to Lu Yang's trio.
Meng Jingzhou felt that a mere drowned ghost lacked any challenge. "Sounds pretty easy. Got anything more challenging?"
"There's one about a female ghost taking a groom for a nether marriage..."
"Let's stick with the drowned ghost," Meng Jingzhou hastily cut him off.
What a joke. In his current state, either the female ghost would find him repulsive and refuse to show her face at all, or she'd find him repulsive and slap him to death on the spot.
"Alright then, let's head out." Before departing, Zhao Po handed each of the three a talisman.
"What kind of talisman is this?"
"A Soul Expelling and Scattering Talisman, specially crafted by our sect. It's issued to every disciple sent to resolve the ghost disasters. The sect discovered that ghosts are difficult to eliminate completely. Even if you bring down a vengeful ghost or beat it until it's weakened, without the proper methods, finishing it off is tough. So the sect collaborated with the yamen's talisman masters and ghost-catching Daoists to produce these overnight."
Disciples of the Corpse Driving Sect were all corpse drivers who cultivated yin-attribute arts. Their attribute was too close to that of vengeful ghosts; they could defeat them, but killing them was another matter.
"Once we defeat the drowned ghost, we can activate this talisman to finish it off!"
"Your sect is quite thorough," Lu Yang chuckled as he stowed away the Soul Expelling and Scattering Talisman. In truth, it wasn't particularly necessary for them.
With Meng Jingzhou around—a natural bane of ghosts—he could burn any vengeful ghost to ashes.
Whether it was Pure Yang True Fire or Three-Flavor True Fire, both were lethal banes to vengeful ghosts.
The Cold Pool was located diagonally across from the Corpse Driving Sect, separated by the entire expanse of Hanshui City. The group left the sect and cut straight through the city, passing the Try Again Barbecue Shop, which was still in its soft opening phase.
Hanshui City remained bustling, with crowds of people bustling about. The plague of vengeful ghosts hadn't had much impact on the city's prosperity.
For one, Hanshui City was densely populated, with abundant yang energy, so vengeful ghosts dared not rashly enter or cause havoc here.
Secondly, going home wasn't necessarily any safer; a mere door couldn't keep out a malicious ghost, making crowded outdoor areas far safer by comparison.
Following the location described in the mission, the four people and one corpse passed through Baishui Village and arrived at the Cold Pool.
Standing by the water's edge, the four could already feel the biting chill emanating from it.
Surrounded by mountains on three sides, the Cold Pool received no sunlight all year round. The surrounding area was covered in lush vegetation, among which several ancient locust trees were especially conspicuous.
Under these multiple factors, the pool's water had become bitterly cold.
The water was clear, yet one could not see the bottom, making it impossible to locate the drowned ghost.
"How strange. Why aren't there any fish at all?" Meng Jingzhou wondered aloud. Reason dictated that a place like this should have plenty of fish; it wouldn't even be surprising to find big fish weighing eighty or a hundred jin.
Yet the reality was that not a single fish swam in the pool—not even fingerlings.
"Did the ghost eat them? Do ghosts even eat fish?"
Lu Yang pushed aside the endlessly questioning Meng Jingzhou and squatted down to inspect the pool. "Never mind whether it eats fish or not. We can ask after we catch it. The problem right now is how we get down there. Is any of us good at swimming to lure the vengeful ghost out?"
The four looked at each other in dismay. Lu Yang had a Sword Spiritual Root, Meng Jingzhou had a Bachelor Spiritual Root, Man Gu was of the Ancient Barbarian race, and Zhao Po was a corpse driver. None of them were proficient in water.
"I'll do it. I'll have the living corpse go down!"
Zhao Po lit three sticks of incense and bowed three times to the living corpse. After absorbing the smoke from the incense, a touch of color returned to the living corpse's pale skin, and a spark of vitality appeared in its hollow eyes.
The living corpse leapt into the Cold Pool. Ripples stirred across the placid water—evidently, the living corpse had found the drowned ghost and was locked in combat.
A ghost's power stemmed from a living being's inner fear and the fragility of their soul, neither of which had the slightest effect on a living corpse.
Cold sweat broke out on Zhao Po's forehead, his teeth chattering. He could synchronize with the living corpse's senses, feeling just how formidable the vengeful ghost it faced was, and his pressure multiplied.
"Brother Zhao?" Lu Yang asked with concern.
"The intelligence is wrong! The drowned ghost down there isn't at the half-step Nascent Soul or early Nascent Soul stage—it's at the mid Nascent Soul stage!"
"The living corpse also saw a female corpse down there. It must be the wife who drowned in Baishui Village!"
"The living corpse is luring the drowned ghost out! Get ready!" Zhao Po shouted.
Hearing this, Lu Yang's trio swiftly assumed combat stances, ready to unleash a barrage of ferocious attacks the moment the drowned ghost surfaced.
*Bang—!*
The water's surface exploded, and a figure leapt out.
"Three-Flavor True Fire!"
"Pure Yang True Fire!"
"Domineering Barbarian King Fist!"
The three unleashed their attacks simultaneously. Just as they were about to strike the figure, Zhao Po yelled in a panic to stop them.
"Stop, stop, stop! That's not the drowned ghost, that's my living corpse!"
The three hurriedly redirected their attacks. The strikes missed, slamming into the cliffs; massive boulders tumbled down with a deafening rumble.
Zhao Po's eyelid twitched violently at the sight. In what world did those attacks look like the power of the Golden Core stage?
"Where's the drowned ghost?" Lu Yang asked, puzzled.
Zhao Po gave an awkward smile. "Earlier, when I yelled for everyone to get ready, my voice was too loud. The drowned ghost heard me, realized there was an ambush, and fled back down."
"That complicates things. Now that it knows there's an ambush, it definitely won't take the bait," Man Gu said with a troubled expression, at a loss for what to do.
"How about using a storage ring to drain the water dry?" Meng Jingzhou suggested.
Zhao Po shook his head. "That won't work. This cold pool has already become the drowned ghost's domain. A storage ring can't absorb something that has an owner."
Lu Yang smiled confidently. "Leave this to me. It's the perfect chance to show you all the supreme art I've been diligently practicing for days!"
"What kind of crooked, wicked spell did you learn this time?" Meng Jingzhou asked curiously.
"This divine ability is illustrious and renowned. You'll know it the moment you see it!" Lu Yang put on a profoundly mysterious air, piquing Meng Jingzhou's curiosity even further and making him itch with anticipation.
"Hurry up and show me."
Lu Yang paced along the edge of the pool, channeling his dharmic powers to whip up a breeze beneath his robes, sending them billowing in a manner reminiscent of an immortal ascending to transcendence.
"Listen up, vengeful ghost down there! This humble Daoist offers you one chance. If you still refuse to come out, don't blame this humble Daoist for resorting to drastic measures!"
The pool remained dead silent and still.
Lu Yang had already guessed the drowned ghost wouldn't respond. Turning his palm over, he pressed it toward the water's surface and then yanked it upward. The pool's water formed a waterspout, drawing entirely into his palm and exposing the drowned ghost lurking at the very bottom.
Lu Yang turned back and flicked his sleeve with supreme nonchalance. "Guessed it yet? This is the art I've practiced diligently for days: Palm—"
Zhao Po stared wide-eyed, completely stunned, speechless for a long moment. "Th-This is the legendary Universe in the Sleeve!"
With a flick of his sleeve, the pool's water had been sucked inside and vanished. If this wasn't Universe in the Sleeve, what else could it be?
"...Right, what I used is indeed Universe in the Sleeve!"
Chapter 424