Chapter Seventeen: Love Is a Ray of Light

Chen Jin saw it clearly: it was indeed a greenish hue, and in the midst of the gray, misty, cotton-like vapors, it shone all the more brightly, standing out in stark relief.

That streak of green seemed to breathe vigorous life into him; he was growing more solid, the vaporous mist fading away. After Chen Jin had recited a small section of the "Scripture of Spiritual Salvation," the apparition took shape.

It was a stout, short middle-aged man, clad in the attire typical of the Lan family. Streaks of white graced his temples, and his face bore the marks of hardship—a man who had long stooped to toil in the fields.

The ancestral shrine’s lanterns burned for him, their ghostly green flames blazing ever brighter as Lan Gaoda’s spirit manifested, like venomous emerald serpents coiled within the hall.

The Lan family members, collapsed at the shrine’s threshold, stared in speechless shock. They saw—saw that within the spectral green flames stood a figure, his eerie face and not-so-tall stature familiar to them; his body now lay in the courtyard outside.

“Gh—gh—ghost…” Each Lan family member stammered, none immune to fear, and more than one had lost control of their bowels. The terror of ghosts does not diminish with age.

Chen Jin paid no mind to the commotion behind him, focusing solely on the two spirits before him.

One ghost’s expression was peaceful; the other’s was contorted in rage.

The peaceful one was the spirit who had led Chen Jin to the Lan family; the fierce one was Lan Gaoda himself.

“Lan Gaoda! What grievance do you harbor?” Chen Jin fixed his gaze on him.

“It was her! Zhang Chunlan killed me!” Lan Gaoda snarled, his ferocious face twisted as he lunged toward his wife.

“Don’t be reckless—don’t let your soul scatter, or you’ll end up like me, unable to reincarnate,” the other ghost said, grabbing Lan Gaoda’s shoulder. With that grip, Lan Gaoda could not move forward a single inch, left to howl like a trapped beast.

Chen Jin turned his attention to Zhang Chunlan, Lan Gaoda’s wife.

She was utterly lost, standing frozen in place.

The others, though seized by panic, had heard the wrathful cry from the depths of the soul and now stared in disbelief at Zhang Chunlan.

“Do you know witchcraft?” Chen Jin asked her.

Zhang Chunlan remained stupefied, unable to answer.

“Do you practice witchcraft?” Chen Jin repeated.

Still, Zhang Chunlan was dumbstruck.

“It’s her! Her and her lover, they killed me!” Lan Gaoda shouted again.

So, she had an accomplice.

And a lover, no less. Now Chen Jin understood why Lan Gaoda’s spirit shone with that green light.

Since ancient times, green has symbolized…

Ah, apologies to the Azure Emperor, no offense, none intended…

Chen Jin remembered that song: Love is a ray of light, green enough to make you panic…

“Who is her lover?” Chen Jin asked Lan Gaoda.

“It’s Lei Dazhu! The lover is Lei Dazhu!” Lan Gaoda screamed, the force behind the name greater than when he shouted Zhang Chunlan’s.

Chen Jin was surprised, for that name belonged to his own junior apprentice.

“Are you certain?” Chen Jin wondered if he’d misheard.

“It’s him. I discovered their affair yesterday, and by nightfall, they killed me,” Lan Gaoda roared.

It seemed that, as a ghost, Lan Gaoda’s voice had only grown stronger; he could howl himself hoarse without a problem.

“My apprentice?” Chen Jin asked again.

He had to be sure—names can repeat, and he doubted his apprentice would know ghost-summoning witchcraft. Chen Jin had seen no trace of cultivation in him, though he couldn’t rule out hidden depths. If he were truly spiritually advanced, he would not have retreated earlier, nor would his affair have been exposed.

“It’s him.” Lan Gaoda howled again.

“Very well. I’ll bring him here and see you get justice,” Chen Jin nodded.

He had little affection for Lei Dazhu and certainly no intention of protecting him.

By now, Chen Jin had already earned the reputation he sought; after today, news of his ability to summon and banish ghosts would spread through Wenma County and the neighboring villages. A few more deeds for the public good, and when Ge Hong arrived, he would have his credentials.

Though his ambition was fulfilled, Lei Dazhu could not be let off—being the proverbial “neighbor’s Wang” was unforgivable, in any era…

After all, the moral boundary stands firm!

“Keep an eye on her,” Chen Jin instructed the Lan family, who had just regained their senses at the gate.

“Yes… yes!” They dared not refuse, cowed by Chen Jin and the two spirits in the shrine.

Zhang Chunlan, too, seemed resigned, sitting listlessly on the ground.

Her children with Lan Gaoda were among the crowd, lost and bewildered—torn between father and mother, unable to choose, they could only stand or sit in silence.

“I’ll go bring Lei—”

Chen Jin was about to say he would fetch Lei Dazhu, when he saw the man standing at the small gate between the front and back courtyards.

“It was not Chunlan’s fault. I orchestrated everything. After she married Lan Gaoda, she kept to propriety, never overstepped; Lan Gaoda slandered her,” Lei Dazhu declared, his voice strong.

“He’s dead,” Chen Jin said, pointing to Lan Gaoda’s ghost.

“I did it,” Lei Dazhu confessed, without a hint of denial.

“You’re frank, my apprentice. Do you realize that seducing another’s wife and murdering her husband defies all ethics? Have you forgotten the rites our master taught you?” Chen Jin took the moral high ground and rebuked him.

There was surely a story between Lei Dazhu and Zhang Chunlan, perhaps childhood sweethearts torn apart by family circumstances.

In some eras, such love might be celebrated as a quest for freedom and romance—but they had killed Lan Gaoda, so theirs was the tale of Ximen Qing, Wu Dalang, and Pan Jinlian.

“I’ve known Chunlan since childhood, only—”

Lei Dazhu began his tragic tale, but Chen Jin cut him off mercilessly, and Lan Gaoda, in the shrine, gnashed his teeth; were it not for the other ghost restraining him, he would have leapt out to fight Lei Dazhu.

“If you did it, then you’ll come with me to the authorities and turn yourself in,” Chen Jin said coldly.

“I’m here to take Chunlan away. Chunlan, come with me, let’s go to the Central Plains together,” Lei Dazhu replied, refusing Chen Jin outright.

“Oh? Then I’ll have to escort you to the authorities myself,” Chen Jin sneered, stepping forward in three strides to stand before Lei Dazhu.

Chen Jin reached out and grabbed Lei Dazhu.

But Lei Dazhu neither dodged nor resisted, letting Chen Jin’s hand seize him.

With a dull sound—

Lei Dazhu’s body shattered like ragged cloth, and a surge of dark, purple-black vapor burst forth.

…