Heaven-Subduing Scripture

In the moonlight, Li Daoxuan realized he had overlooked many details.

Next to the other villagers, Wang Chunsheng had a ruddy face, a clear mind, more the breath of the living — yet his body was strangely light.

When Li Daoxuan had dragged him in flight, it had not been the least bit laborious.

And yet he was a tall, somewhat stout fellow.

Wang Chunsheng himself was bewildered. He looked at Li Daoxuan, a plea in his eyes. ”I’m not — Daoist, I truly am not — don’t listen to his nonsense…”

But Li Daoxuan quietly stepped back, putting distance between them.

The yellow-robed Daoist gave a cold laugh and asked Wang Chunsheng, ”Do you remember when you entered this village?”

”I certainly do! Last night I went into the mountains for herbs, lost track of time, and wandered in here by mistake!”

Wang Chunsheng cried at once.

”Heh. And what did you do last night?”

”I was walking the street when I met Master Chen. He invited me to the wedding. I’m a bit greedy for a cup, so I went along — and then I met the little Daoist!”

A light flashed in Li Daoxuan’s eyes, and he sighed inwardly — the yellow-robed Daoist spoke true; Wang Chunsheng was indeed the problem.

He asked, ”Brother Wang, we only met tonight. You went to the wedding last night?”

”Right, I—”

Wang Chunsheng froze in place. His gaze went vacant, his pupils dilated, a flicker of pain crossing his face.

”Right… I went to the wedding last night. Why did I attend it again tonight? What happened in between?”

He clutched his head; wisps of black qi began to rise from his body.

”I can’t remember. I can’t remember…”

Li Daoxuan pinched another Five-Thunder Talisman — but the yellow-robed Daoist stepped forward, blocking him.

”You are already dead — last night!”

The yellow-robed Daoist’s voice was like a great bell, solemn and unfathomable, carrying an ineffable resonance of the Dao, echoing long in the shrine.

Wang Chunsheng sank to his knees, head bowed, eyes unseen, his voice low and hoarse.

”Yes… I am dead. Last night. I rushed to save the bride, and they turned to evil ghosts and devoured me whole…”

Wang Chunsheng looked up; blood welled from his body, his eye sockets hollow — his eyes were gone.

”They ate my heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys — and still not enough, they gouged out my eyes. I died so miserably, so miserably!”

His grievance boiled; he lunged at the yellow-robed Daoist.

”By the command of the Supreme, I redeem your lone soul; all ghosts and sprites, the four births partake of grace — swiftly, swiftly, as the law commands — contain!”

The yellow-robed Daoist produced a black jar from nowhere, chanted, pinched the seal, and pointed at Wang Chunsheng.

”Vile thing — into my jar, at once!”

This copy lacks the author’s permission, while the author’s official page contains the chapter for readers.

In the next breath, Wang Chunsheng’s body dissolved into countless streams of black mist, sucked into the little jar.

The yellow-robed Daoist closed the lid; it trembled ceaselessly, as if some force within kept battering against it.

But the yellow-robed Daoist, practiced and unruffled, drew a talisman and slapped it across the jar’s mouth; at once the jar fell silent.

The whole process flowed like clouds and water; the yellow-robed Daoist was calm and composed, without the slightest fluster.

Li Daoxuan leaned in, gazing at the black jar in wonder — and caught a faint whiff of urine.

As if sensing Li Daoxuan’s gaze, the yellow-robed Daoist chuckled. ”Came in a hurry, grabbed the chamber pot by mistake. Make do.”

Li Daoxuan was speechless, and mourned for Brother Wang — to suffer such inhumane treatment even after death.

”Daoist, what is the strangeness of this village, and why… were you in the coffin?”

Having witnessed the other’s astonishing Daoist arts, Li Daoxuan resolved to latch onto this thigh — chat a while, build some favor.

The yellow-robed Daoist pointed at the jar. ”The evil ghosts in this village are, like the one in this jar, all earth-bound spirits.”

”Earth-bound spirits?”

Li Daoxuan recalled the Heaven-Subduing Demon Scripture had mentioned those three words, but his experience was limited, and he knew not their meaning.

The yellow-robed Daoist sighed. ”Earth-bound spirits are rather pitiable. They are those who, after death, do not know they have died, and day after day repeat what they did before death, reliving that last day. Once awakened by another, they turn into evil ghosts.”

Li Daoxuan cried, ”You mean — the entire village’s people are earth-bound spirits?”

He remembered the wedding scene: when Wang Chunsheng went to save the bride and said ”report to the authorities,” it was at those words the villagers became evil ghosts.

The yellow-robed Daoist nodded, glanced at Li Daoxuan, and said, ”Since we’ve nothing better to do, this Daoist shall tell you the village’s tale, that you may broaden a young Daoist’s horizons.”

Li Daoxuan said at once, ”I am all ears.”

As if by sleight of hand, a wine gourd appeared in the yellow-robed Daoist’s hand. He took a pull of strong liquor and began.

”In the fifth year of Wude, this was still a peaceful little village, called Li Family Village.

”Deep in the mountains, it was far from war — peaceful and settled. The village had a spirit-woman who knew a little Daoist craft, and kept the mountain ghosts and spirits from troubling them. Life was quiet.

”Until one day, a plague suddenly broke out in the village.

”Many died. Some tried to flee for a doctor, but Liu Heita had risen with the Turks, seized the two prefectures of Hong and Ding, and stood against the Li-Tang. Hearing of the pestilence, and to keep it from reaching his army, he sent troops to surround the place — then one night set fire, and burned the whole village to ash!”

Li Daoxuan asked, puzzled, ”But why would the village hold a wedding?”

The yellow-robed Daoist gave a cold laugh. ”You truly think that plague arose on its own?”

Before Li Daoxuan could speak, he went on. ”See those red lanterns outside? That is in truth a great yin-gathering formation, laid by a skilled hand to draw in the yin energy of the three mountains, meaning to nurture a mighty ghost from it!”

”Raise a ghost?”

”This Daoist sensed something wrong the moment I entered — clear traces of formation here. Later I came to this shrine and took in the old ghost in this coffin. He told me that right after the plague broke, a wandering Daoist entered their village.

”That wandering Daoist told them that to be saved, they must hold a wedding, using joy to drive out the pestilence — and he named the bride: none but the Chen family’s young lady, for she was born in the yin hour of a yin day, yin month, yin year, most beloved of the plague god.”

At this the yellow-robed Daoist sneered. ”Bah, ’joy against pestilence.’ That wandering Daoist had his eye on the Chen girl. A woman of such a birth, dying with grievance, turns easily to a vengeful ghost — and with years of the yin-gathering formation’s nourishment, enough to raise a Red Robe!”

”A Red Robe?”

Li Daoxuan was puzzled.

”When a person dies with deep grievance, they may become an evil ghost — a ghost that bears malice. Not too great a threat; an ordinary man with a hardy fate and strong yang fire can weather it. But when an evil ghost advances further, to a vengeful ghost — that grows tricky.

”Before a vengeful ghost, even the hardest fate dies without question; even a cultivator faces no small danger. And among vengeful ghosts, the fiercest is the Red Robe. Should a Red Robe be born, tsk — within a hundred li, expect no living thing to stir.”

Li Daoxuan recalled the bride’s red wedding robe, dark-red as blood, and a chill ran through him.

So he had brushed past such a fearsome Red Robe vengeful ghost?

”You saw the bride — she is the Chen girl. Forced into that wedding, her heart full of grievance. On the wedding night, Liu Heita’s men burned the village; not a villager survived, and all became earth-bound spirits, attending the wedding day after day.

”And the Chen girl, bound by the formation, must wed each night. Each repetition deepens her grievance. By now, surely her grievance fills the heavens — she has become a Red Robe vengeful ghost!”

A killing intent flashed in the yellow-robed Daoist’s eyes. ”The Red Robe is raised at last. That wandering Daoist must be coming back to harvest his crop — else once she breaks free, he’ll find her no easy thing to subdue.”