Divine Level Witch Doctor

The ghost was sizing up the nearby anatomy building, her face filled with fascination and curiosity.

When she heard Zhao Yuan speak, she turned her head, her expression still one of utter confusion. She even spread her hands in a helpless gesture, as if to say, ’What was all that gibberish? I didn’t understand a single word.’

Zhao Yuan felt awkward and couldn’t help but rant internally, ’What damn country is this ghost from? She can’t even understand Chinese! But looking at how she’s dressed, she doesn’t seem to be from Japan or South Korea...’

Grumbling aside, the job still had to be done. Even if the ghost couldn’t understand him, he had to send her back. Otherwise, if she remained in the mortal realm, there was no telling what kind of trouble might arise.

It was only at this moment that Zhao Yuan realized just how dangerous it had been to so rashly come here and summon a ghost.

Luckily, while the ghost he’d summoned this time was high-level and powerful, her personality was relatively docile, even a little adorably clueless. If he’d summoned a terrifying Fierce Ghost or Evil Ghost, he would have been in huge trouble!

Zhao Yuan felt a pang of residual fear. He silently vowed to himself that he wouldn’t be trying to summon ghosts so recklessly again.

As he mulled this over, he got to work. First, he walked over and pinched out the candle flame with his fingers.

There was a specific way to do this. A candle lit for soul-calling could not be blown out, as that would expel one’s Yang Qi for the ghost to absorb. This was purely detrimental to the caster, with no benefits whatsoever, so the flame had to be pinched out by hand.

Next, he used his foot to scuff away the Soul-Calling Talisman Array he had drawn on the ground.

During this process, the ghost gestured to him more than once, indicating that she wanted to take a tour of the anatomy building—he had no idea why that place interested her so much. But Zhao Yuan was busy with the ghost-sending ritual and had no time for her, just saying offhandedly, ”If you want to go, go ahead. I’m busy over here.”

He wasn’t sure if the ghost had understood him. She took a few steps toward the anatomy building but quickly returned to his side, either reluctant to leave him or for some other reason.

Zhao Yuan quickly drew a new Rune Array on the ground.

This was an Array for sending ghosts away.

Once it was drawn, Zhao Yuan stood in the center of the Array, closed his eyes, and began to chant the ghost-sending Spell recorded in the Sheepskin Book.

The ghost tilted her head and stared at him, her gaze filled with curiosity and confusion.

The seconds ticked by.

Finally, Zhao Yuan finished chanting the complex and obscure Spell and opened his eyes.

The ghost was gone.

’She’s gone? Phew, thank goodness.’ Zhao Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, raising a hand to wipe away the cold sweat on his forehead, though he wasn’t sure if it was from exertion or fear.

Just then, a bone-chilling coldness struck him from behind.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zhao Yuan saw a hand pierce through his chest and appear before him.

’Holy shit, you’ve got to be kidding me.’ Every hair on Zhao Yuan’s body stood on end. He whipped around to see the ghost standing right behind him, pressing her lips together to hide a snicker.

Great. She was treating his ghost-sending ritual like a game of hide-and-seek!

Zhao Yuan was speechless and utterly confused.

’Why can’t the ritual send this ghost away? That shouldn’t be possible! Did I mess up one of the steps?’

He opened the Sheepskin Book again and carefully reread the method for sending off ghosts several times. After committing it to memory, he tried again, but every attempt ended in failure.

Zhao Yuan refused to accept this. To keep his mind calm, he took a stick of Soul-Stabilizing Incense from his Storage Ring Space, lit it, and stuck it in the muddy ground, preparing to try sending the ghost away once more.

The ghost was very interested in the Soul-Stabilizing Incense. She circled it a few times before simply squatting down beside it and continuously inhaling its fragrance.

’Ghosts can breathe?’ Zhao Yuan was surprised, but on second thought, it probably wasn’t breathing. It was more likely some kind of Technique for consuming the essence of incense.

’No wonder this ghost has a higher Ghost Spirit Level and is stronger than Ying Ji’s. She’s mastered a method for consuming incense!’

This made things even more peculiar for Zhao Yuan. ’Could it be that people actually built a statue and a temple for this ghost? Otherwise, just relying on her descendants burning incense and paper offerings during Qing Ming or on the anniversary of her death, it would be impossible to cultivate such a Technique. Even if she could, the limited offerings wouldn’t allow her to build up this much power.’

’If this ghost really had a temple and statue dedicated to her, she must have been very famous when she was alive! She might even have a place in the history books.’

Unfortunately, the language barrier made it impossible for Zhao Yuan to communicate with her.

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Zhao Yuan. ’That’s right! If we can’t talk, we can write! She can’t read the ancient Witch Priest script in the Sheepskin Book, but surely she can understand normal Chinese characters, right?’

He picked up a branch from the ground and scrawled a line of text: ”May I ask your name? Why is the ghost-sending ritual unable to send you away?”

Since the ghost was wearing traditional-style clothing, he had deliberately written in traditional characters.

But the ghost just squatted beside the line of text and shook her head as she looked at it.

’She can’t read it?’ Zhao Yuan frowned. ’That shouldn’t be right. Even ancient people from Japan or South Korea should be able to understand some Chinese characters, shouldn’t they?’

Judging by the ghost’s expression, she wasn’t faking it. Though his mind was reeling with questions, Zhao Yuan had no choice but to drop it. He refocused his mind and went back to the ghost-sending ritual.

However, even with the aid of the Soul-Stabilizing Incense, his attempt to send the ghost away ended in failure yet again.

After struggling for more than two hours, with the time approaching 5 a.m., Zhao Yuan could only accept the reality of the situation. He sighed. ’It looks like my ghost-sending ritual is useless on her. I’ll just have to wait until dawn and ask Ying Ji for help. Thankfully, this ghost doesn’t seem like a Fierce Ghost, so leaving her here for a little while probably won’t cause any trouble.’

After erasing the Rune Array on the ground, Zhao Yuan got up and started walking toward his dorm.

To his surprise, the ghost began to follow him, matching his every step.

’What’s going on? Is she latched onto me now?’ Zhao Yuan froze for a second, then recalled something written in the Sheepskin Book: a ghost brought forth by the Summon Ghost Technique, if not properly sent away, would either linger at the summoning location or would cling to the caster.

’Looks like this ghost is the latter.’

Being followed by a ghost was a little unsettling, but the one silver lining was that she wasn’t an Evil Ghost.

Back in the dorm, his three roommates were still fast asleep. The ghost, who seemed to be seeing a men’s dormitory for the first time, appeared a bit shy and awkward.

Zhao Yuan found this rather amusing. A shy ghost wasn’t something you saw every day.

’I just wonder if my roommates can see her,’ he thought. ’If they can, how am I supposed to explain this?’

Lying in his bed, Zhao Yuan felt a headache coming on.