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墨書 Inktalez
"Please wait a moment." I quickly interrupted it before it could continue.
When it mentioned seeing another Wandering Soul, I was genuinely startled. From what it said, it implied that the other soul had an impact on it. If I were unaware of the rules, I wouldn't have been so surprised, but my understanding of the Spirit World made this situation seem quite unbelievable.
In the Spirit World, two unfamiliar souls do not interact unless they are special Spirit Gods, like Yin Chai, Road Ghosts, or malevolent spirits. Another possibility is that a ghost from the Ghost Festival might come to "scout" and then flee; such ghosts also do not casually engage with other souls unless they retain memories from their past lives and feel a familiarity with the Spirit God they encounter.
I am someone who likes to analyze things step by step. This approach helps me develop a complete concept for handling situations later on. When something happens, I first need to know what possibilities exist. After considering all conceivable scenarios, I gain a sense of confidence that everything that follows is within my control. This confidence often sharpens my thoughts and allows me to handle tasks more adeptly.
After pondering for a moment, I looked at it and said, "Sorry, please continue."
It paused for a moment, clearly unsure of what I meant, but didn’t dwell on it and continued: "Because I am a New Soul, very few can see me. However, it can see me, and its aura is the same as mine, so I know it is also a soul. I even think it might be a Yin Chai..." After saying this, it fell silent again.
I couldn't understand why it spoke so hesitantly, but this was not good for me. The Call of Souls required my effort to maintain; if it continued speaking in such a fragmented manner, I would undoubtedly be exhausted. After waiting for two minutes without any further words from it, I quickly said, "Either you come out yourself or I can't hold on much longer."
Sayo suddenly interjected, "Are you running low on Chakra?" I shot her a glare but remained silent. The soul nodded and replied, "I can."
I dismissed the Soul Calling Array and immediately felt much lighter. Wiping the fine sweat from my forehead, I waited for it to voluntarily present itself.
Before long, it appeared in its original position. This time, there was no hesitation; it explained everything clearly in one breath.
After evading Yin Chai, it saw a Corpse being buried and thus fulfilled its wish to leave. However, with no one to guide or perform rites for it, it couldn't find the way out and ended up sitting by the roadside waiting until it encountered the other soul it mentioned. That soul actually recognized it...
Ordinarily, mere acquaintances wouldn’t lead to conversation; after death, many consciousnesses and memories gradually fade away—even memories of loved ones. If a person's memories in life were like a bucket of water, then after death those memories would shrink to the size of a small glass ball. Moreover, this tiny memory must be sustained by mental energy; otherwise, not even a drop would remain.
The reason this soul recognized it was that this soul turned out to be its father. Its father had passed away when he was in his thirties. After more than thirty years apart, they met again in spirit form—not by chance but by design; one could even say that his father specifically came to find him.
What it told me next about why its father hadn’t reincarnated further reshaped my understanding of the Spirit World. Its father couldn’t reincarnate now or even in ten years because they were bound by a cyclical karmic connection—four lifetimes of Reincarnation as father and son. This meant that in this life it was the son; in the next life, it would be the father. Therefore, after the father's death, he needed to wait until his son passed away and reincarnated into life before he could reincarnate as his son again. This sounded incredible but was indeed true. Later on, I called my master to confirm this; he mentioned that he had once asked a spirit medium about such karmic cycles and had indeed heard of this particular fate.
As the saying goes, children are a debt; one must repay it, and without debt, there is no connection. The extent of the debt between them is beyond my understanding. Now, focusing on the matter at hand, since it is a father seeking his child's soul, it is only natural for him to take it away. But why does he keep seeking help from Sayo?
Just as he was about to explain why he didn't leave directly, he slowly began to fade from my sight. He couldn't maintain a physical presence to converse with me for long, just as I couldn't communicate through Call of Souls for an extended period; he too was reaching his limit.
Without the Yin-Yang Eye, I could no longer see him. Noticing my sudden confusion, Sayo questioned why I had stopped asking. To her, as long as the soul did not possess a physical object, she would be able to see it. I replied, "I can’t see him anymore; you can ask the remaining questions." She eagerly asked what I wanted to know. I said, "Just ask him why he has been searching for you."
From that point on, I became a spectator, watching Sayo converse with a patch of air. Her expressions changed rapidly—one moment surprised, the next sorrowful. This bizarre scene reminded me of Aunt Wang from the Underworld; she would also use exaggerated gestures to communicate with Spirit Gods. However, Sayo didn’t sit solemnly like Aunt Wang; instead, she spoke to herself like someone unhinged. The scene was particularly comical, and I almost wished to record it but refrained.
Since I could only hear Sayo's voice and not that of the soul—most of which was spoken by the soul—I remained unclear about what was happening.
After Sayo finished her questioning, I asked her what had transpired. She explained, "The soul said that the reason it asked me for money was due to a transaction condition with Yin Chai. It needed money to persuade Yin Chai to take it down below. However, now that the Ghost Festival has passed, Yin Chai has already taken those souls back. When he first asked me, it was already the last deadline. But I only burned a little for him; it wasn't enough. Later on, when I burned a lot of Joss Paper for him, Yin Chai and the others had already left along with his father. That's why he's so anxious now; he can't go back anymore. No matter how much Joss Paper he gets now, it's useless. He feels helpless blaming me and knows I can't help him, so he's been sighing in my room."
I suddenly understood. My master had mentioned that Yin Chai could also be influenced by money like humans, but I had never encountered this before. After this experience, I truly witnessed it firsthand: his attempt to escape from Yin Chai and avoid reincarnation was his own doing. Therefore, Yin Chai would not intervene in this matter. However, the cost of this karma seemed quite high—not only did he sever his own reincarnation path but also affected his father's reincarnation journey. This was something he found very hard to accept.
Seeing that I didn’t respond, Sayo asked again, "What should we do? He’s so pitiful; can you send him where he needs to go?" I replied, "If it were before the Ghost Festival, I might have had a way, but now it's impossible because his deliberate evasion of Yin Chai is his fault. Even if I pointed him towards the underworld, he'd be turned away at the gates. The only solution is to find Yin Chai and let him bring money for passage himself. There are no other options available—at least none that I can provide."
Sayo stepped forward and asked, "Can you find Yin Chai?" I countered with a question: "You have the Yin-Yang Eye; have you seen Yin Chai?"
She pondered for a moment and replied earnestly, "I don’t even know what Yin Chai looks like; even if I saw one, I wouldn’t recognize them! Besides, if I could find Yin Chai myself, why would they need my help?"
I said, "Actually finding Yin Chai is quite simple; we just need to wait at places where someone is about to pass away. We can bring more Joss Paper for them so they can have a conversation with Yin Chai."
Upon hearing this, Sayo's furrowed brow relaxed as she said she'd be right back before turning and darting into her bedroom. I knew she must be going to get Joss Paper.
Sure enough, within seconds she returned carrying two bundles of Joss Paper—each weighing at least five or six pounds—and tossed them onto the floor saying, "Is this enough? If not, I'll go buy more." I quickly responded, "That's plenty! We don't need that much; half a bundle will suffice. By the way, are all of you who have the Yin-Yang Eye this single-minded?" She replied confidently, "Since heaven has given me this ability, it must be for me to accomplish certain tasks. I'm aware of this principle and thus give my all in this regard—not like you Daoists who know so much and can do many things. Besides seeing and burning Joss Paper for them, there's nothing else I can do." After saying this she glanced at me as if seeking validation for her actions.
I smiled approvingly and said, "You may not be able to do as much as we can, but you are putting in your utmost effort. You have turned a bit of heaven's expectation into a strong sense of responsibility, which is truly commendable."
Sayo chuckled lightly, grabbed a black plastic bag, and stuffed half a bundle of paper inside. "Let's go burn some Joss Paper," she said. I replied, "Do you know where to burn it?" While packing the Elephant Lamp, she said, "I asked around; we can burn it at that little park we went to before." With that, she walked over to the door to change her shoes. It was already past midnight.
I said, "Do you want to be kicked out of that park by the staff again? There's no need to go there; it's simple. Let's go to the rooftop. I have a way to ensure it receives the Joss Paper we burn for it."
Once on the rooftop, I marked a spot with Grave Soil and left an opening to place the Elephant Lamp beside it. I tied a money-drawing knot with red string so that it could fully receive the money we burned for it. After burning the Joss Paper and finishing everything, Sayo muttered to herself, "That was indeed simple..." I thought she must have seen the soul collect all the Joss Paper. I said, "Alright, let's head down and look for places where someone might be passing away." Sayo blurted out, "The funeral home?" I was once again taken aback by her bluntness and replied irritably, "Only those who have already passed are sent to the funeral home. To find places where someone is about to pass away, we naturally need to go to a hospital—specifically a large hospital with many patients. Do you understand now?" She nodded obediently and said, "Okay, I'll follow your lead." I raised my hand to check the time; it was already past one in the morning. Due to our earlier Call of Souls, we were starting to feel a bit tired. However, seeing Sayo looking so energetic made me suppress my urge to go back and sleep. I told her, "Let's go to the hospital now and wait for an opportunity. But since I don't have Yin-Yang Eye, I can't see anything, so you'll have to keep watch."
She nodded vigorously and said, "No problem; leave it to me," tightly clutching the box containing the Elephant Lamp.
After about three minutes, just as I was about to fall asleep, she shook me awake. Thinking something had arrived, I sat up abruptly and asked, "Is it here?" Sayo replied, "No, I just wanted to ask what Yin Chai looks like."
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