[Spirit Supervision Bureau App- Private Anonymous Forum]
[Public Section]
[[Bounty] – Looking for answers related to demon spirits. No useless wastes. Message me privately if interested. One question in exchange for anything.]
-1L: [First! Damn, what an arrogant tone. Is this a question or a challenge?]
-2L: [Watching intently from the sidelines…]
-3L: [This is someone from the Nether Path, right? I’m new, just asking, are all people from the Nether Path this arrogant?]
-4L: [Replying to the comment above, People from the Nether Path are indeed very arrogant. I’ve dealt with them a few times before. Their eyes are on top of their heads ~~~]
-5L: [? Does the above have a problem? You’ve only lived a few years and think you’ve seen the whole world. Is putting others down like this really interesting???]
-6L: [Isn’t the main post enough to show the problem? “No useless wastes.” Can’t you see how arrogant that is?]
…
The Spirit Supervision Bureau anonymous forum has long been open to various families and sects that cooperate with the Spirit Supervision Bureau. It is used by spirit masters to exchange experiences and trade items, jokingly referred to as the spirit masters’ own black market dark web.
But what is not widely known is that each profession is like a mountain. Nether Path spirit masters and Spirit Path spirit masters have very little overlap in their studies and work. Although they share the same founding ancestor and could barely be considered one family, the two paths are like two disobedient brothers in the family, always at odds.
People from both sides believe their own path is superior, looking down on each other and exchanging sarcastic remarks and insults. Although they don’t see each other in real life, bickering and arguing on the forum were extremely common.
Today, the wording of this new forum post was a bit sharp, successfully provoking another conflict. Nether Path and Spirit Path spirit masters took sides in the comments, building floors of insults towards each other and causing great chaos. In just half an hour, it was pushed to the number one hot post of the day.
It seems the struggle between heirs has always been like this and the two paths had to fight for superiority and inferiority. In an instant, the thread veered off in a completely different direction, and no one paid attention to the poster’s question anymore. All the commenters just wanted to stomp their rivals into the ground and see who the real useless ones were.
Half an hour later, amidst this chaos, a serious person finally entered the thread.
…
-367L: [@OP, messaged you privately. Accept the private chat request in the backend. My ID is: AAA Pillar Sister Yue.]
…
-397L: [Wait? Did I scroll too fast and misread? Someone actually answered the question seriously??]
-400L: [Wait, wait, wait… AAA Pillar Sister Yue… is that the AAA Pillar Sister Yue I’m thinking of?]
-405L: [Ahhh, big sister, why are you being nice to an OP of this kind?!]
-411L: [What’s wrong? Is this person that awesome?]
-412L: [Laughing. Nether Path people are just ignorant.]
-413L: [Bastard, you also accept my private chat request. Come SOLO. I’ll curse your family registration book flying.]
-414L: [Bring it on! Who’s afraid of whom?!]
…
The forum was ablaze with conflict, but Fu Sang, the poster, knew nothing of the war he had provoked.
He didn’t like to wait idly for the rabbit. After posting, he turned off notifications and lay down in his chair to sleep. After his pleasant afternoon nap, he opened the Spirit Supervision Bureau forum again, and his backend was already flooded with red notification dots.
Opening it, there wasn’t a single useful message. Instead, the hundreds of replies were full of arguing and pulling hair.
Finally finding someone who answered the question seriously, Fu Sang lazily clicked on the private chat request, found that Sister Yue, and added her to his whitelist.
The other party seemed to have been waiting for his approval. As soon as the chat window was established, her message popped up.
AAA Pillar Sister Yue: [Hello, this is Chen Wuyue from Bu Wangzhou, Spirit Path spirit master.]
.: [Nether Path, Fu Sang.]
AAA Pillar Sister Yue: [Okay [forwarded link], I came because of the bounty post. One question in exchange for anything? What do you want to ask?]
.: [Basic concepts of spirit beasts, how they are formed, differences from underworld spirits, and the various types of abilities they possess, especially space-domain abilities. There’s no time for idle chatter, so it would be best to organize it into a document and email it to me. For this question, I exchange anything…if it’s a service, anything within normal limits is fine. If it’s to trade an item, its value can fluctuate by 10% above or below the equivalent value.”
Fu Sang didn’t like to waste time and liked to explain things clearly and thoroughly in one go. It just so happened that the other party was also a straightforward person.
AAA Pillar Sister Yue: [No problem. Leave me a contact, I’ll send a PDF to your email within three days. I want to trade for a service. I’ll mention it after you confirm the document is fine and useful.]
.: [ok]
Fu Sang sent his email address, then tossed his phone aside and began to ponder about the person on the other end.
Bu Wangzhou, Chen Wuyue.
He didn’t know much about the Spirit Path, but he had heard of the name, Bu Wangzhou.
Unlike the family-owned business model of the Nether Path, the Spirit Path passes on knowledge and skills by establishing sects and taking on disciples.
This Bu Wangzhou is quite famous among the major and minor Spirit Path sects, but this “fame” didn’t seem to come from the sect’s own strength and heritage.
Fu Sang didn’t know more, and he couldn’t be bothered to find out. After all, he was just asking a question; there was no need for a detailed background check. For a one-time transaction, there was no need to dig too deep.
Fu Sang yawned and changed to a more comfortable position in his recliner.
This was already the fourth day since he had returned from Yongfu.
He spent the first day at home recuperating and sleeping, the second day opening the shop, organizing goods, and cleaning, and the third day sorting out the task summary document for that waste Zhuge Buzhi so he could take it back to the family and report. It was only on the fourth day that he finally had time to properly review the details of this case.
In essence, the matter of Mitou Village was actually quite basic…it’s just a couple of little ghosts causing trouble. What made the actual handling more convoluted was the interference of a cat demon and a magical artifact. The cat and the artifact worked together, ultimately creating a matryoshka doll structure of domains within domains, which caused a few minor troubles at the beginning of the investigation.
Now that the magical artifact was in hand, he could study it slowly, but the cat demon had run away, leaving Fu Sang unable to find the answers to his questions.
There is an information barrier between the Nether Path and the Spirit Path. He couldn’t access their materials on his own. To know about demon-spirits, he had to post on the forum and ask a Spirit Path person.
Under what circumstances would a life transform into a demon? What is the difference between them and underworld spirit? Besides spatial abilities, do they have other abilities? Are these abilities innate or learned?
Since a cat demon and the little ghosts could coexist peacefully and even help each other, could this prove that demons and underworld spirits, two seemingly unrelated things, could also coexist on the same plane?
Fu Sang’s curiosity about the above wasn’t because he was hungry for knowledge. He just wanted to ensure that the next time he encountered a similar situation, he wouldn’t have to take unnecessary detours or make many unnecessary assumptions due to the information gap.
It was troublesome and exhausting.
After being lost in thought for a moment, Fu Sang seemed to think of something. He reached out and pulled the bone ruler from under the clutter on the counter beside him.
He had left this thing aside after bringing it back two days ago and hadn’t paid it any attention. Now that he was thinking about it, there should still be one more step between him and this magical artifact that hadn’t been completed.
He played with the bone ruler in his hand for a while, then raised an eyebrow slightly, as if he had made some decision. He pulled a folding knife from his pocket and flipped it open.
There was still an unhealed scar on his palm. It was the one he had cut to allow the little ghosts and the black cat to smoothly enter the small domain while in Mitou Village. Now, he used the blade to cut the wound open again. Blood beads instantly welled up, adding a more vivid color to the dark red scar.
Looking at the blood, Fu Sang, in a good mood, grasped the bone ruler with his injured hand and slowly slid his hand downward along it.
As he moved, the entire ivory-white ruler was covered in a thick layer of blood.
A series of clattering sounds came from the inner room of the shop. Qi Changying, dragging the chain around his ankle, pushed aside the curtain and ran out.
Fu Sang saw that he was frowning slightly, holding the Klotski puzzle Fu Sang had long grown tired of in one hand, while the wound on his other hand was still dripping blood.
“Fu Sang…”
Fu Sang saw Qi Changying hurrying toward him and calling his name, his gray-white eyes filled with worry.
Worried about what?
Worried about whom?
Fu Sang didn’t know why he was asking himself these questions.
It was truly inexplicable.
The hand holding the magical artifact through the blood seemed to be getting hotter and hotter.
His consciousness felt as if it was violently dragged into an abyss by a large hand. His senses instantly shut down, and his soul fell out of his body, plunging into some distant dream layer.
Fu Sang had experienced similar things twice before, so he was already very familiar with these feelings and knew exactly what would happen next.
He also knew who he would become.
“…Ah Li!”
Someone called from not far behind him.
It was a voice Fu Sang knew all too well.
But Su Li in the dream did not turn around.
He was standing in front of some wild grass, looking down at his own palm, somewhat lost in thought.
It stubg there, as if someone was slicing the flesh of his palm with a knife.
“What’s wrong, Ah Li?”
The person behind ran closer, and a flash of bright red fabric entered his peripheral vision.
Arriving with that color was a faint fragrance, similar to lilies.
It was very pleasant.
“This thing bites.”
Su Li was not moved by that color or that scent.
He stared at the wild grass in front of him.
The grass had serrated leaves. Looking closely, one could see tiny, dense fuzz on the leaves.
As he said this, as if determined to prove it wrong, Su Li reached out again, grabbed the grass by its stem and leaves, and yanked it out.
In contrast, the skin that touched the grass burned with another wave of searing pain.
“Hey, what are you doing… Throw it away!”
Qi Changying grabbed Su Li’s wrist, snatched the grass from his hand with lightning speed, and threw it far away. He also hissed, quickly shaking his own hand, as if stung badly.
“This is nettle. It’s more common in the northwest. It’s understandable you haven’t seen it before. It really does ‘bite.’ It will hurt for a long time if you touch it. Remember what it looks like. Don’t go near it again, and don’t try to compete with it.”
Saying this, as if finding it amusing, Qi Changying chuckled softly:
“Look at you, with such a temper. It bites you, so you pull it out. And with your bare hands. In the end, you only hurt yourself.”
“None of your business. Are you that bored?” Su Li’s voice was icy cold.
“Alright, alright, I won’t bother you.” Qi Changying laughed again.
But Fu Sang couldn’t see his expression, because Su Li kept his head tilted and eyes downcast, staring at the arrogant grass beside him. Fu Sang didn’t know what he was looking at.
“It hurts a lot, doesn’t it?” Qi Changying asked after a moment of silence.
“No.”
“Come, let’s go get some medicine from the army medic. They have excellent ointment there. It will feel much better after you apply it.”
“I said it doesn’t hurt. Are you deaf? Go away. Stop meddling in my affairs. Don’t bother me.”
“Alright, it doesn’t hurt, and you’re not afraid of pain. It’s me who is in pain. Will you accompany me to see the medic?”
Qi Changying went along with Su Li’s words, smiling as he took Su Li’s wrist and led him away from the wild grass.
It was a clear, cloudless blue day.
As far as the eye could see was the vast grassland. A military camp was stationed not far away. Soldiers in armor stood in formation patrolling outside the tents. Seeing Qi Changying, they all stopped to salute, calling out in unison, “Young General.”
After being reluctantly dragged for a distance, Su Li finally shifted his gaze from the distant sky and grassland to Qi Changying, who was nearby.
Qi Changying was holding his wrist, walking in front of him, so Su Li could only see his back.
There was no battle today, so the young man wasn’t wearing armor, only a close-fitting red outfit with narrow sleeves, a brown-black leather belt and wrist guards. His long hair was tied in a high ponytail that hung down behind his head, swaying gently as he walked.
Sunlight fell on him, casting a faint glow over his hair.
The soldiers addressed him as “Young General,” not “Commander-in-Chief.”
This meant that the Qi Changying before him was not yet eighteen years old.
The military medic’s tent smelled strongly of blood and medicine, which Su Li disliked, so he sat on a rock not far from the tent and waited.
Qi Changying quickly returned with the ointment.
He handed the small jar of ointment to Su Li: “Here. Apply plenty of it, so it heals faster.”
“No need.” Su Li refused, not even extending his hand.
Qi Changying seemed to sigh with a hint of a smile.
The next moment, he knelt on one knee before Su Li, opened the small jar, took out some ointment, and pulled up Su Li’s hand that had grabbed the nettle, carefully applying the ointment to his palm and fingertips.
The ointment was cool and refreshing. As it was spread on his skin, it noticeably eased the pain.
“Qi Changying, can’t you understand what I’m saying? Am I not speaking human language?! I said it doesn’t hurt! I don’t need medicine! Can you just get lost!!”
The ointment should have felt soothing, but for some reason, Su Li suddenly became annoyed and spoke with a harsh tone.
He tried to pull his hand from Qi Changying’s grip, but Qi Changying anticipated his move, firmly holding his fingers and preventing him from escaping.
“I’m the one who hurts. It hurts to see you like this.”
Qi Changying didn’t mind his bad temper at all. After carefully applying the ointment all over his hand, he looked up at Su Li, a little helpless:
“Look at you, kid. When will you stop being so stubborn? I don’t even know what you’re being stubborn about.”
“You…”
“Saying one thing and meaning another isn’t a good habit.”
Knowing that Su Li wouldn’t say anything nice next, Qi Changying gently interrupted him:
“Ah Li, don’t say the opposite of what you mean.”
…
“Dingling!”
A bell sound pulled Fu Sang out of the dream.
He took a deep breath, raised his hand to shield his eyes, casting the sunshine and smiling face of the dream back to a thousand years ago.
“Welcome…”
After pausing for a moment to recover, Fu Sang, his voice a little hoarse, greeted lazily.
The ghost was gently holding his wrist. The touch was icy cold.
Fu Sang ignored him, not even looking, and deliberately pulled his hand free from there.
“Hey, Sangzi.”
Da Shuangxi squeezed through the half-open door, her head full of hair rollers.
She pulled over a plastic stool from the side, sat down across from Fu Sang, propped her elbows on the counter, cupped her face in her hands, and got straight to the point:
“I need a favor.”
“Say it.” Fu Sang ran his fingers through his hair, sitting up from the recliner with dark circles under his eyes.
“I need to go home for a while. During that time, can you go to my place every day to feed the cat and clean the litter box?”
Fu Sang raised an eyebrow slightly. He didn’t agree nor refuse, only asking: “How many days?”
“Not long. I’m just going to a funeral and then I’ll be back. About three or four days.”
Normally, it wouldn’t be appropriate to ask further, but Fu Sang didn’t care about appropriateness.
He asked whatever he wanted:
“Whose funeral?”
“Sign…”
Speaking of this, Da Shuangxi sighed a little.
…
Chen Binglong had been in a good mood these past two days.
He had been quite unlucky some time ago, losing a lot of money at the gambling tables and was temporarily short on funds.
He couldn’t think of anywhere else to get money. While he was worrying, he suddenly remembered a place.
About thirty years ago, he spent some time in Yongfu.
There was a rather backward little village in the mountains there, full of foolish people. He used a few tricks, and they treated him like a living god.
There, even if he just lay around doing nothing all day, money would flow to him like water.
He spent part of the money he scammed back then.
The other part…gold and jade jewelry that was hard to carry and exchange…he buried under the corner of the temple wall.
He should have dug these things up and taken them when he left, but some things went wrong at that time. Specifically, being young and naive, he wanted to practice a black-market method he’d heard about, so he dug out a child’s organs to sell. But while he was doing it, he was seen by two other little girls.
He killed one of the girls, but the other ran into the mountains. The mountain paths were hard to navigate in the middle of the night, so he never caught her in the end.
Chen Binglong was still a young man at that time. He couldn’t handle the burden of his secret, and was terrified that the girl who got away would spill everything. In his panic, he didn’t stop at one thing, and simply decided to set the girl’s house on fire in the middle of the night, wanting to solidify the story of the “mountain god’s punishment” for her family.
Who would have thought that the summer night that year was especially dry and windy? A single spark set off the fire, and soon the entire village was engulfed in flames.
Chen Binglong was completely panicked.
He scrambled back up the mountain, hastily disposed of the disemboweled child’s body, cleaned up the scene as best he could, and then fled with his cash and his accomplice.
He was so panicked and in such a hurry when he left that he completely forgot about the gold and jade buried under the wall. By the time he remembered, he was already in the next province. He didn’t dare go back to get them, so he could only slap his thigh in frustration.
No matter how low someone’s moral standards were, committing a bad deed would make them feel guilty for a while, and Chen Binglong was no exception.
Over the years, he traveled far and wide, made a few good friends, and with his shrewdness, earned a lot of money. Life should have been quite comfortable, but unfortunately, he got hooked on gambling in his middle age.
Once a person falls for the gambling table, their wallet is like a ripped pocket; no amount of money can stay in it.
Chen Binglong was now trapped in this predicament.
People were chasing after him for debts. He had no money and wanted to borrow some, but he had to maintain his respectable image and couldn’t bring himself to ask his respectable friends for help. After much agonizing, he decided to go back to Mitou Village.
He didn’t know how that big fire had ended back then, how many people had died, or whether his tricks from those days had been exposed. And he didn’t know if someone would recognize him and hold him accountable this time.
With too many concerns, he didn’t dare enter the village at all, so he went straight up the mountain via the path on the other side.
But as soon as he went up, it was as if he had walked into a maze. Everything from thirty years ago ensnared him like an unending nightmare. He was scared and anxious day after day, hiding like a wild rat in the temple that had earned him his first pot of gold thirty years ago. He didn’t know when the vengeful spirits would come to claim his life, so he could only count the days, living one day at a time.
Fortunately, heaven never seals off all paths. He, Chen Binglong, was born with great fortune. Not only was his mind quick and good at finding ways to make money, but he was also lucky. No matter what predicament he falls into, he is always able to meet a benefactor.
So what if it’s a dark and eerie place? So what if those ghost kids are powerful? In the end, weren’t there capable people who rescued him from the ghost nest for free?
It was just a pity that the gold and jade he had buried back then were gone. But that wasn’t a big problem.
There was a rich old man in Shanghai among his old friends. He heard that he had recently bought another plot of land and wanted to invite him to have a look at the feng shui.
This old man was very generous and genuinely treated him as a friend. He was always thinking of him when something good came up. Just doing this one job would let him stay home for ten days or half a month without going out.
Feeling quite pleased with himself, Chen Binglong contacted Old Man Guan immediately after leaving Yongfu.
When Old Man Guan heard he was free, he immediately invited him to Shanghai, saying that it had been a long time since they’d seen each other and he wanted to have a meal and catch up.
Chen Binglong naturally agreed.
He packed his bags, used his last bit of money to book a plane ticket, took a shower, and sat comfortably on the sofa watching TV.
The sofa was cramped, and the TV was small.
He used to have a big house, but it had been sold to pay off debts, so now he could only live in a dim and cramped rental apartment.
Looking at the peeling paint on the walls and smelling the moldy odor seeping from the corners of the rental, Chen Binglong’s good mood dwindled.
It was a winter night, and it was still a bit cold inside. He casually grabbed a towel blanket and wrapped it around himself.
Extreme hardship will be followed by good fortune; heaven never seals off all paths; the boat will naturally straighten when it reaches the bridge.
He recited these words in his mind.
Once he got through this rough patch, he would definitely move into a spacious house and never suffer like this again!
Everything would be alright again once he went to Shanghai tomorrow!
As his self-motivation ended, the TV started broadcasting today’s news, and the male anchor’s emotionless voice made him drowsy.
Just as he was drifting off, the TV suddenly filled with static noise, jolting him awake.
At that moment, his phone, lying nearby, suddenly started ringing.
At first, Chen Binglong thought someone was calling him. But as he became fully alert, he suddenly noticed something was wrong.
“On every street and pathway,
On everyone’s lips,
The first thing we say is,
Congratulations, Congratulations.”
Although the song playing from the phone was the same one, its style was slightly different from the version Chen Binglong used for blessings.
A very retro female voice, accompanied by a simple guitar accompaniment, sang slowly…
“Congratulations, congratulations to you, ah!
Congratulations, congratulations to you!”
Chen Binglong didn’t know what went wrong, whether it was a problem with his phone or something else, but the tune and the sound quality gave him goosebumps.
He hurried to grab his phone, saw there was indeed an incoming call, and immediately swiped to answer: “Hello?”
But no one answered on the other end.
After a brief pause, only the female voice continued singing through the earpiece:
“Winter has come to an end,
that is really good news…”
“Fuck!” Chen Binglong cursed loudly and threw the phone away.
He thought he could escape the song that way, but the next moment, the static on the TV screen suddenly stopped. The TV, the speakers, the doorbell… every device that could make a sound, all played the same tune:
“A warm spring breeze is blowing to wake up the earth…”
“…Big brother.” Chen Binglong’s vision suddenly went dark, and he felt something cold covering his eyes.
The girl’s sweet voice sounded in his ear:
“Guess who I am?”
“…”
Horrifying memories slowly resurfaced.
The nightmare he thought had ended was now gripping him again.
Chen Binglong couldn’t stop shaking.
He wanted to scream, opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Later, the hand covering his eyes slowly withdrew, and Chen Binglong’s eyes widened. He saw a small face, disfigured by burns, peering down at him from above his head.
The girl’s eyes, with the black pupils almost filling her entire eyeballs, stared at him with a dark unfocused gaze:
“Why did you lie to me?”
“Mmyya!!!”
A sudden sharp pain struck his abdomen.
Chen Binglong froze in place, slowly lowering his head like a puppet.
Blood had flowed all over the floor without him realizing it.
He saw a head burrowing out from his abdomen.
A little boy poked his head out.
Half of his skull was destroyed, his remaining eye bulging out. Covered in fat and blood, with half an intestine dangling from his mouth, he was clinging to the edges of Chen Binglong’s belly, struggling to crawl out.
As if sensing his gaze, the little boy looked up at him, “giggling” as he chewed.
Chen Binglong didn’t know if this was an illusion or reality.
He staggered backward a few steps and collapsed to the ground, unable to control his body.
“Big brother, you have to apologize to me.”
The song continued.
With a cheerful melody, the little boy crawled out of his stomach, gorging himself on the wound in his abdomen. The girl was very quiet, doing nothing, just kneeling beside him, telling him over and over:
“You have to apologize to us.”
“Okay, okay… I’m…”
Chen Binglong opened his mouth, but his throat felt blocked.
He retched twice, then suddenly coughed violently…he spat out a large mouthful of incense ash.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
Incense ash came out of Chen Binglong’s nose and mouth, mixed with tears and saliva into a disgusting, mud-like substance.
His voice was faint, almost a whisper.
He wanted to close his eyes, but his eyelids seemed stuck, unable to shut no matter how hard he tried.
He could only keep his eyes wide open, watching the cruel and terrifying scene before him, facing the people he couldn’t face, to atone for a sin he could never fully repay.
“Myaa hehe!!”
The little boy chewed his internal organs into a pulp.
The girl sat there, quietly smiling as she watched her mischievous little brother.
“…I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I was wrong, please let me go!!!!”
As if finally breaking free of some constraint, Chen Binglong shouted out.
He was like a half-dead mouse caught in a trap, helplessly kicking his legs, wailing and screaming with his last shred of survival instinct.
Seeing him like this, the little girl smiled softly.
The song flowing from all directions in the room reached its final line.
“…The first thing we say is,
Congratulations, congratulations…
Congratulations, congratulations to you, ah!
Congratulations, congratulations to you…!
As it reached the last half-line, the song came to a brief pause.
At that moment, the world seemed to fall silent.
And when the final “congratulations to you” was finally sung, overlapping with it was the little girl’s soft voice:
“I don’t forgive you.”
Author’s Note:
The song is the 1945 original version of “Gong Xi Gong Xi” sung by Yao Min and Yao Li.
YouTube link to song: Gong Xi Gong Xi
