Le Chemin des Fantômes Lésés, Partie 1 Le Chemin des Fantômes Lésés

Chapitre 18

"This is the back mountain of the perverted academy! The territory of the perverted principal! Who would want to come here except for fools like us who have been deceived!"

In other words, it was only because that poor "high-level psychic" was afraid of this place and would rather die than come here that he made this request.

—End of Chapter One—

Chapter Two: Special Training Results

"...Maybe he also graduated from this school..."

"Most likely," Lou Lifan said, "but although my second sister really likes this place..."

"Your second sister likes it here!?"

"To be precise, all three older sisters like it. They are probably the only three students in the world who share a mutual appreciation with the principal of this school."

"In other words..."

"If the principal is a once-in-a-millennium psychopath, then they're once-in-a-century moderate psychopaths," Lou Lifan said decisively. "So it's perfectly normal that they like it here. However, although she likes it here, it's really far from my home, and she's too lazy to go out, so she forced this chore on me! She said if I didn't agree, she'd come and visit me in person..."

"Huh?" Is that older sister really that scary?

"So I had to say yes... damn it..."

"So... this so-called hellish special training..."

"Since we're going to work, why not bring you along to help? Otherwise, how can we justify all the hard work you put into training us!"

"It's okay if we don't train..."

"Shut up!" Lou Lifan reached out and grabbed his neck, his eyes fierce and sharp. "I don't want to be in danger because of you! Do you hear me! Idiot!"

"I...I'm sorry!"

As the two chatted, the distorted space around them returned to normal, but it felt even more eerie. The half-moon and several small stars that had been in the sky had completely disappeared.

The surrounding air temperature seemed to drop suddenly, and Pei Linhai felt a chill all over his body, the hairs on his body standing on end. This wasn't real cold, but a premonition. Not all of his omnipotent abilities were useful, such as premonition. He only possessed a certain degree of premonition, which he could only sense when there was unusual danger. In this respect, he was much worse than Tian Jin, but still much better than someone who had no premonition at all.

"It seems... there's something..."

"Hmm?" Lou Lifan frowned. He didn't sense anything, nothing at all. His senses seemed to have suddenly gone numb, completely unresponsive. The ghosts from before had also vanished without a trace, as if they knew something dangerous was about to appear, and had disappeared without a trace.

"Li...Li Fan, at least tell me what's going on this time..." He'd been in complete disarray since arriving here, not understanding a thing! What kind of ghost were they trying to exorcise? Why were they doing it? What had that ghost done? What abilities did it have? How many were there? What was its nature?...

"I don't know." The answer was concise and to the point.

"What!"

"My second sister only said that there are ghosts running rampant here, occupying the territory of other ghosts. The other ghosts used their centuries of cultivation to ask the spiritual master for help, hoping to drive these guys away and give them some peace and quiet."

"that's all?"

"that's all."

Pei Linhai was speechless. This was the first time he'd ever heard of such a thing; it turned out that even the ghost world had its share of thugs stealing territory…

“Don’t find it unbelievable. Ghosts are also transformed from the spirits of people after they die, so of course they have human characteristics.” Lou Lifan said, then kicked him again. “Give me the exorcism stick.”

Pei Linhai rummaged through all the tools he had frantically rummaged through earlier and found something that looked like the handle of some kind of tool. It was completely black, and when he held it, it emitted a dim blue light. But when he placed it in Lou Lifan's hand, it emitted a faint green light.

Lou Lifan closed his eyes, calming himself down. Suddenly, the exorcism staff in his hand emitted a light like an incandescent bulb with a snap, rapidly extending from the handle to both sides, transforming into a beam staff about two meters long.

The moment the beam baton touched the surrounding air, it began to emit an astonishing shriek, a sound like the heart-wrenching screams of a ghost. The echoing sound reverberated through the woods surrounding the graveyard.

"I haven't told you yet, but you probably already know what it's for."

"I...don't know..." her voice was soft.

Several veins bulged on Lou Lifan's forehead: "You really are a newbie! You don't even know this!"

"All I know is that exorcism sticks are used to drive away ghosts..."

Lou Lifan's hands began to tremble, but he struggled to suppress the urge to kill him with a single blow, constantly reminding himself that now was not the time to kill, never, never, never...

“This is called spiritual perception,” he replied, though annoyed, as it was part of his professional ethics as a psychic. “When spiritual perception becomes paralyzed, you can use something else to sense your surroundings. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an exorcism wand; anything can be used, as long as it’s a sacred relic.” (Sacred relic: an exorcism tool that has been baptized)

"A peach wood sword would also work?"

"right."

Pei Linhai then realized that the peach wood sword that had been in Lou Lifan's hand was gone.

"Hey? Li Fan? Where's that peach wood sword? Where did you throw it?"

"broken."

"...!?"

Lou Lifan calmly replied, "I seem to have forgotten to tell you that my spiritual power contains a portion of destructive ability, so any sacred artifact that passes through my spiritual power will be destroyed. That peach wood sword just now turned into wood chips."

"..." If it has a destructive effect on "sacred artifacts," then it's probably about the same for people...

"The vibration I just emitted is similar to a sound wave. Once emitted, it will not return unless reflected. Only something with a spiritual wave can reflect it, so I can shield myself from all other interference and only receive a response from something with a spiritual wave."

Simply put, it's an inspiration radar.

“I send out vibration probes, and the intensity of the echoing vibrations is the quantity of ‘those things’.”

Pei Linhai looked around and saw that the once pitch-black forest was now lit up with lights, one, two, three... The dark forest gradually became brightly lit, but anyone who would think that was a real light would be a fool.

The reverberation gradually faded, and faint, eerie mooing sounds emanated from the area where the vibrations had just reverberated. Pei Linhai involuntarily moved a little closer to Lou Lifan.

Lou Lifan withdrew his power, and just as he had said, the exorcism staff turned to dust and fell to the ground. Pei Linhai then understood why Lou Lifan had asked him to prepare so many tools; it turned out that everything was disposable for him, and without backup supplies, he was doomed…

Countless blurry shadows drifted and shifted through the woods, and the somber mooing came from their mouths.

“A ghost…” Pei Linhai’s voice began to tremble again.

"..." I'm not afraid of monsters, I'm not afraid of ghosts, I'm not afraid of shikigami or demon kings... but I'm terrified of the weakest of all demons and spirits, the Yin spirits... It's truly speechless!

However, Lou Lifan decided to address this issue later when they returned; he didn't have the time or energy for it now. He had thought this time would be easier, which was why he brought him along, but unexpectedly… Lou Lifan had no other requests, only hoping that his son wouldn't hold him back again! He needed to focus entirely on personally resolving the problems before him!

"Bring out the dog's blood!"

Pei Linhai picked out a thermos from the pile of things.

"...That looks like my thermos."

"But I can't find any other..."

"..."When you get back, you're dead... "Sprinkle it around us, forming a circle."

Upon opening the bottle, a pungent, fishy stench wafted out. Pei Linhai, bending over, drew a circle about two meters in radius around their position, using the blood as the center. Dog blood is considered "impure," and as a relatively "pure" and fragile form of spirit compared to demonic creatures, it possesses immense destructive power. What they were creating was a very simple barrier; as long as one remained within this circle, unless it was a thousand-year-old vengeful spirit, it would be absolutely impossible to breach it.

The blurry, dark shadows mooed and walked heavily toward them. As they drew closer, they could see clearly that those light-like things were actually the eyes of those ghosts.

Seeing Pei Linhai's deathly pale face, Lou Lifan didn't want to say anything more, nor did he bother to call him again. He went to rummage through the pile of items, found a Bible, took a flashlight out of his pocket, sat cross-legged on the ground, and opened the first page.

"The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram..."

"...What is this?" Pei Linhai asked blankly.

"The New Testament—the Gospel of Matthew. Don't tell me you don't even know this, or the old lady in the Covenant class will definitely cry!"

The ghosts drew closer, their mooing mingled with hissing sounds, rows of gleaming teeth reflecting the darkness.

“No, I mean,” Pei Linhai swallowed hard, “what’s the point of chanting this now? This thing gives birth to that thing, and that thing gives birth to that thing… It’s not an exorcism spell…”

Li Fan took a deep breath, reminding himself for the hundredth time tonight that this was not the time to get angry, and then slowly said, "The teacher should have mentioned in the Covenant class that the original language of the Bible itself has the same power as sacred objects, and can be equated with high-level incantations... Do you understand?"

"...The teacher didn't cover this in the Covenant class..."

"Idiot!!" Lou Lifan was furious, but after thinking for a moment, he finally calmed down. "Right, this was something my teacher, Saint Covenant, told me in middle school."

Peilin was silent.

“The spells in the Bible are quite effective and have a wide range of applications, making them suitable for use in situations like this. However,” Lou Lifan frowned, “because they are too verbose, requiring at least one complete reading each time, they often end up being defeated before they even have a chance to defeat the opponent.”

However, with the melodramatic elements as a barrier, he has ample time to finish reading. This is the advantage of combining Chinese and Western elements; both sides operate without interference, each displaying its own power without conflict.

"How many chapters are in this passage you're reading?"

Chapter 28.

"..." He'll die after he finishes reading it!

"There's nothing I can do. My English isn't good enough. I can only manage to read the Gospel of Matthew."

"..." So you also have things you're not good at...

“And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; begat Asa;…”

Lou Lifan wasn't in a hurry, reading slowly, while Pei Linhai squatted beside him, idly drawing circles. Wasn't this supposed to be special training for him? Why did it turn out like this? So boring…so boring…

“…and teaching all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen!”

After reading the last sentence, Lou Lifan closed the book, shut his eyes, and let the voice come from the deepest part of his chest—"I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen!"

A shockwave emanated from his body in a wave-like pattern, stirring up dust on the ground and creating terrifying gusts of wind in the air. Pei Linhai's clothes fluttered in the wind, and the ghosts affected by the shockwave let out sharp cries, falling to the ground one by one, motionless.

Lou Lifan threw down his book and sneered, "Too simple. I really don't know which idiot came up with such a stupid method."

Pei Linhai didn't agree with him, because the goosebumps that had been standing on end earlier hadn't subsided; in fact, they were getting worse. It wasn't just an ordinary premonition of terror, but rather…

He stood up and walked out of the circle. Pei Linhai shouted, "Li Fan! Watch out!"

Lou Lifan turned around, but one of his feet had already stepped outside the circle, while the other lay outside. The closest ghost to him chuckled, then suddenly stretched out a skeletal claw, grabbed Lou Lifan's out-of-circle foot, and forcefully dragged him out. The ghosts that had just been "defeated" by the scriptures nimbly scrambled to their feet and pounced on the unsuspecting Lou Lifan, burying him in the pile of ghosts in the blink of an eye.

"Hehehehe..."

"Hehehehe..."

"Hehehehe..."

The ghostly figures collectively let out chilling laughs, and the pile of ghostly figures surrounding Lou Lifan continued to grow taller. As they tightened their restraints on Lou Lifan, their terrifyingly bright eyes on their dark bodies stared at Pei Linhai. Pei Linhai knew that the laughter was directed at him. But he was almost unable to react, staring blankly at the ever-growing pile of ghostly figures, unsure of what to do.

What on earth happened? Why did it turn out like this? Li Fan, Li Fan, he's been trapped inside, is he going to die...?

No—that's impossible!

"You bunch of bastards! Give him back to me—"

A flash of dark blue light streaked across Pei Linhai's body as he gathered two nearly black light wheels in his hands. With a shout, the light wheels flew out of his hands and crashed towards the pile of souls formed by the Yin spirits.

Unfortunately, he forgot that he was still standing inside that ridiculously created barrier. When the light wheel flew to the edge of the blood circle, it made a loud hissing sound, as if it had been blocked by a wall, its power greatly reduced. When it crashed into the pile of souls, only a few screams were heard in a small area, without causing any real damage. Lou Lifan's attack method was Western-style, so it was unaffected by the ridiculous barrier, but Pei Linhai's ability, used in desperation, was Chinese-style, and naturally, it would be greatly affected by the ridiculous barrier.

Enraged, Pei Linhai didn't linger in the circle any longer and took two steps out.

The moment he stepped out of the barrier, a swarm of vengeful spirits rushed towards him. He stretched out his hands, and the almost black halo reappeared on them. But unlike before, it was no longer confined to his hands; instead, crackling with electricity, it enveloped his entire body from his hands to his elbows. The vengeful spirits, unable to stop their momentum, only had time to let out a wail before being sucked in.