Ghost Messenger's Case - The Tale of a Soul Leaving the Body

Chapter 11

At this moment, the Night Demon suddenly said again, "Qu Ming, I was originally Cheng Lang's reincarnation. It turns out that the old man Mingyun deliberately led me to investigate in the wrong direction. You are two different people. Originally, this matter had nothing to do with you. However, now that I know your true identity, and you insist on acting as a ghost messenger to ruin my plans, I have no choice but to get rid of you first."

"Absolutely not! Do you even know who he is?"

"It is precisely because I know this that I am even more determined to eliminate him."

I don't know why, but their talking made me really sleepy.

Mei Shuixing seemed to sense something, and she said anxiously, "You must not fall asleep."

"Why do I feel like sleeping?"

“Listen to me, you…”

I didn't hear the rest of what they were saying; I went straight to sleep.

The water was so clear. I scooped up a mouthful and drank it. A sweet female voice next to me said, "Brother Xun, shall we go play over there?"

When I looked back, a pretty girl was smiling at me.

"Looking for Brother?" I was still wondering, but I said, "Okay." I took the girl's hand and ran to a sea of flowers. There were all kinds of flowers blooming there. Among them, some of the most beautiful flowers were bright red, as big as bowls, with two layers and many petals. Each petal had the face of a beautiful woman on it. The girl said, "Looking for Brother, what kind of flower is that? It's so beautiful."

“That’s a Danyan flower,” I said, casually picking one and placing it in the girl’s hair.

“You finally remember.” A clear, cold female voice suddenly came from beside me. I turned around and saw a beautiful woman in white, whom I had never seen before, standing in front of me. The girl beside me and the sea of flowers had all disappeared.

"Who are you?" I asked, puzzled.

"Ren Xun, do you dare say you don't know me?"

“Ren Xun?” I suddenly came to my senses and said, “No, I am Qu Ming, not Ren Xun.”

"Then how do you know about the Danyan Flower? We cultivated it together."

"This..." I was completely baffled, when suddenly I heard a commotion around me saying, "Wrong, wrong, his time hasn't come yet, he can't return to his place."

"But he's been cursed with the 'Western Paradise Curse,' meaning he'll die the moment he steps into the Demon Realm."

"That won't work either."

Then the people and things around me kept disappearing and changing. Sometimes I would wear a gorgeous ancient costume and frolic with the woman in white in a place full of flowers. Sometimes I would drink with Huan Ji, and we would look at each other and laugh. But all of this was fleeting.

Finally, I was able to calm down for a long time and realized that I had come to a bamboo forest. There were two familiar people in the forest—my grandfather and Bai Qingyi—playing chess. I couldn't help but go up to them and say, "Grandpa, what are you doing here?"

Grandpa glared at me and said, "That's the question I should be asking you. Why did you come up here before the appointed time?"

"What?"

Bai Qingyi smiled and said, "You can't blame him for that; he's currently going through a calamity."

"Ah, Ming," Grandpa sighed, "I told you long ago that you need to concentrate and focus your mind so that others won't have a chance to take advantage of you. Why did you end up like this?"

I asked, puzzled, "What's wrong with me?"

Bai Qingyi said, "Go back quickly, your days in the mortal realm are not over yet."

I smiled wryly and said, "I don't understand a word you're saying."

They looked at each other, and the grandfather said, "You don't know what your situation is like right now."

I nodded and asked, "What's wrong with me?"

"You..." Grandpa got angry.

Bai Qingyi said, "It's no wonder. We've all seen the Night Demon's 'Western Heaven Curse' before."

I said urgently, "What are you talking about? I don't understand."

Grandpa said, "You child, let me tell you, you are now under the 'Western Paradise Curse.' If you don't recover your soul in a short time, you will die."

"What? Shouldn't I be on the road to the underworld right now? Why am I here?"

"Don't ask so many questions. Go back quickly, or it will be too late. Otherwise, your trip to this world will have been in vain."

"But how am I going to get back?"

They exchanged a glance, and Grandpa said, "Calm your mind, and you can go back naturally."

I sat cross-legged, concentrating my mind and calming my breath. After a long time, I suddenly felt myself floating up, and after a long time, I finally landed back on my physical body.

Chapter Seventeen: Returning to the Body

I jumped up excitedly. Hey, this floor feels so soft and springy! I opened my eyes and found myself in a very luxurious room that seemed quite familiar—am I dreaming again?

Suddenly, a joyful voice rang out: "Ah Xiao, you're finally awake."

Wait a minute, "Ah Xiao?" I rushed to the mirror and looked at myself. I couldn't help but scream. This wasn't me. I had actually entered Sima Xiao's body. And the person speaking was Ah Xiao's mother. I had jumped up from the big bed where Sima Xiao slept.

At this moment, her mother came to me, hugged me tightly, and cried bitterly: "Xiao, you're finally awake! Do you know how worried your father and I were?"

I finally managed to break free from her embrace and stammered, "I...I want to sleep a little longer, you go out first." Then, without another word, I pushed her out.

“What, no, no… Ah Xiao, don’t scare Mommy. Don’t sleep anymore, Mommy is afraid you won’t wake up again.” She looked panicked and anxious.

I closed the door, and in my heart I could only say to her, "I'm sorry."

Just as I was about to calm myself down again, a spirit suddenly appeared in front of my bed, staring at me. It was Sima Xiao.

He asked me, "Who are you, and why are you inside my body?"

“I…I…” I said on a whim, “I am Sima Xiao.”

"What? You're talking nonsense. I am Sima Xiao."

"Then why am I inside your body?"

"This... could it be that you are my lost soul?" he wondered.

"What lost soul? What are you talking about? Why did you leave your body?"

He looked at me for a long while before speaking, "I don't know either. I only know that one day I woke up with a terrible headache, took some medicine and went to sleep. When I woke up in the afternoon, I discovered... I discovered..."

"What did you find?" I asked eagerly, curious.

"I discovered myself."

"You yourself?" I didn't understand what he meant.

"Yes, it was a soul exactly like mine, but floating in mid-air. He said he was one of my three souls, and that I was about to be separated from my body. My soul would scatter and drift away. I was terrified and screamed, 'I don't want to be separated from my body! I don't want to be separated from my body!' Then I seemed to fall asleep again, searching for my lost soul in my dream. Then one day, someone told me that my soul had been reunited and that I should return to my body. But when I woke up, I found you. Are you my soul?"

I thought to myself, "Could this be the medicinal power of the Soul-Separating Tea, capable of separating a person's three souls?"

Seeing that he was still looking at me intently, I felt a little guilty and said, "No, I'm not. I came to the wrong place. I'll return your body to you right away."

"Then who are you?"

"You'll find out later," I said dismissively, while secretly gathering my inner energy. In no time, I had left his body, and as I expected, he immediately became one with me. The last thing I saw was his parents rushing in and embracing him.

When I landed on a human body again, I didn't dare to open my eyes for a moment, but then I heard Mei Shuixing say happily, "You're finally back."

I smiled wryly and said, "Am I still inside your body?"

"You'll be able to go back into your body soon."

"What, really?"

"Look."

I opened my eyes and saw that the scenery around me was completely different from the beautiful scenery I had seen when I first entered the Demon Realm. Now it was a barren landscape, devoid of any vegetation, and there were many animal and human corpses scattered all around.

Then I saw Cheng Lang (that is, my body) holding a flute, the very flute the Night Demon had. They both created crescent-shaped symbols in mid-air, one blue and one green, pushing against each other. The Night Demon's face showed pain and sorrow. Suddenly, Cheng Lang put the bamboo flute to his lips and began to play. A series of light and bright melodies flowed out, invigorating my spirit. The Night Demon cried out and fell to the ground. Finally, the light from his crescent symbol disappeared. In a blur, I felt Cheng Lang's soul enter the Night Demon's body. I only managed to hear one sentence: "You can go back now."

"What?" I didn't ask aloud, but I felt a powerful force surge through me, and I was back in my familiar body.

Cheng Lang (Night Demon) came up to us and said, "We've finally succeeded. Thank you so much."

I smiled wryly and said, "I felt like I died just now. I couldn't help you at all, so there's no need to thank me."

"No, if you hadn't lent me your body, I wouldn't have been able to fight the Night Demon."

I muttered to myself, "It's not like I wanted to lend it to you." But I said aloud, "Hehe, it's nothing. Do you know what happened just now?"

"Are you asking why you fell asleep just now?"

"Yes."

“Actually, as soon as you said the scenery here was beautiful, we already knew something was wrong. The scenery you are seeing now is the real one. Just now, you were under the influence of the Night Demon’s ‘Western Paradise Curse,’ which made you see the terrible scenery as a beautiful one, as if you had arrived at the Western Paradise. Then you would have gradually lost consciousness. Fortunately, you regained your senses in time, otherwise, you would have been in grave danger.”

"Oh, I see." I nodded, secretly cursing the Night Demon for being so vicious.

Mei Shuixing asked Cheng Lang, "Now you've merged with the Night Demon again."

“Yes, there is a strange force that binds us together.”

Mei Shuixing nodded and said, "It seems that Elder Mingyun's prophecy was correct; you will be the future King of the Demon Realm."

Cheng Lang remained silent, lost in thought.

I asked, "Why are you all together now? Are you Cheng Lang or Night Demon?"

Cheng Lang suddenly smiled at me and said, "I am the Flute-Playing Messenger."

I was startled and exclaimed, "What?"

"Don't worry, I said I'll be the real Piper from now on, no longer the Night Demon in disguise."

"Is the Night Demon dead?"

"No, I sealed it inside his body."

I then asked, "Doesn't that mean there's evil in your body too?"

He chuckled and said, "Actually, each of us has both good and evil within us, and there is light and darkness in the universe, let alone me. Besides, we are all one person."

I couldn't help but ask again, "Then why did you split up in the first place?"

Mei Shuixing suddenly said, "That's because the blood of the demon race and the immortal race flowing in their veins is irreconcilable. Now that they are together, they have found a way to reconcile them."

“Huan Ji is right,” Cheng Lang nodded in agreement.

But I still couldn't understand what they were talking about—oh well, it's his business, none of my concern.

I looked at him and asked curiously, "I remember you and Night Demon were equally powerful, how did you defeat him?"