Chapter 138
Xie Xubai realized that his role in the play was somewhat special, the kind that might not even pass censorship if posted online, and it took him some time to process it.
He didn't speak, and the vengeful spirit waited beside him, silently shedding tears.
At first, it could remain quiet, curled up in the corner, blood and tears falling in a steady stream, which it caught with its outstretched palms to prevent them from soiling the floor.
After a while, Xie Xubai's silence seemed to have gone on for too long. Finally, it couldn't hold back any longer, rushed up and grabbed Xie Xubai's clothes, shedding tears of blood and wailing, "Really, you can eat me right now! As long as they die! I beg you!"
Fearing Xie Xubai would disagree, he hastily and desperately offered his head into the other's mouth.
But Xie Xubai was not the evil spirit he knew, nor did he have the gaping maw that the other party had imagined. The vengeful spirit's thrust almost pushed him out.
Xie Xubai snapped out of his daze and quickly reached out to block the vengeful spirit's head.
He keenly sensed something strange about the other person's behavior, so he used his mental power to investigate.
As expected, the young master's soul had lost one of its three souls and three spirits. Although he was in adult form, his mind was comparable to, or even less than, that of a six-year-old child.
Xie Xubai looked at the young master's face. The latter was so agitated that he gradually lost his human form, revealing his true appearance as a bloody mess.
There was a dark hole in his forehead, the skin and flesh shattered by the radiation shock—it was a bullet hole.
His body was covered in charred marks, his injuries resembling the gnarled roots of an old tree. Blackish-red polyps grew out of the cracks, trembling constantly with the urgent pleas of the vengeful spirit, making him look extremely terrifying.
Killing someone is just a matter of beheading them, but the person who harmed him also set a fire.
When the young master met Xie Xubai's gaze, his tears flowed even faster, forming blood-red puddles on the floor. He was both pained and bewildered: "Why won't you eat me? Is it because I don't taste good?"
In the young master's eyes, he was of course dead.
Lu Jiu was ambitious and ruthless. He used his family's power to climb the social ladder and colluded with his rivals to plot the death of his parents.
After much agonizing reflection, he feigned compliance with Lü Jiu, biding his time and patiently gathering enough evidence to submit to the authorities. However, he was discovered by Lü Jiu's accomplice and shot dead.
Fearing exposure, the villains, in a fit of madness, set fire to the place before fleeing. Servants and members of the collateral branches of the family who hadn't managed to evacuate perished in the flames.
He hated it! He really hated it!
The young master remembered the moment he closed his eyes in resentment, when the jade Buddha pendant on his chest suddenly heated up. It was as if some unseen being heard his bitter cry and gave him a second chance.
When he opened his eyes again, he had actually returned to the past, only as a vengeful spirit, retaining the appearance of someone who had died tragically.
He saw his past body, a soulless shell, frozen in place with unfocused pupils. He approached with delight, only to find that he could only touch it, unable to return to his senses.
It was at this moment that Xie Xubai appeared.
What exactly is the being that can save him—a god, a Buddha, or a malevolent spirit? The young master doesn't really know.
He couldn't touch anything in the house except his own body, like a ghost wandering in the world, forgotten and ignored.
He knew he had no leverage to persuade a stranger to help him take revenge, so in desperation, he offered himself up.
But what can he do if Xie Xubai doesn't want it?
The young master's face was deathly pale, his breathing rapid. Despair consumed him, and the resentment emanating from his body grew heavier and heavier, solidifying like black mist, showing a tendency to transform into a vengeful ghost.
But it suddenly woke up and felt something warm touching it. When it turned around, it saw a palm covered in golden light, with clear lines, distinct and long knuckles.
When he looked up again, Xie Xubai was staring intently at him, or rather, at the hideous wounds.
Then, a golden glow, like a gentle breeze sweeping across the willow-lined banks in warm spring, covered his wound.
The suffocating pain suddenly subsided.
Dog Ping An was doused with sulfuric acid before dying, leaving him covered in wounds that persisted even after the dungeon ended. Although Ping An kept shaking his head to say he wasn't in pain and felt nothing, Xie Xubai was deeply distressed and kept searching for a way to treat him.
Later, he discovered that the enhanced mental power could directly affect the soul.
"I can't completely bring you back to life, but a temporary return to your soul shouldn't be a problem," Xie Xubai said gently. "Would you like to see your family?"
In an instant, new flesh and blood suddenly grew from the dark, pupil-less eye sockets of the vengeful spirit.
Those were very clear eyes, facing Xie Xubai, their eyes completely red.
He sobbed softly, his body restored to its original, harmless state, no longer shedding blood or tears, and choked out, "I miss you."
Xie Xubai used his mental power to help the young master regain his soul and transfer control of his body to someone else.
The young master practically rushed out of the bedroom door.
He bumped into the maid as he went out. The maid cried out, startled by his fierce, bloodshot eyes.
The young master caught them and pressed them for directions, asking where the master and mistress were. The servants quickly pointed out the way.
The former rushed out again without stopping, and finally found his mother in the garden, who was having afternoon tea with other ladies. With red eyes, he rushed over and cried out, "Mother—!"
After a bout of crying and shouting that shattered her usual composure, the young master's mother looked utterly astonished.
Seeing her son looking so anxious and as if he had suffered a great injustice, she felt a pang of heartache. Ignoring her sisters beside her, she picked up a handkerchief and wiped her son's tears, saying, "Tell me, who bullied you? I'll have your cousin send someone to break his legs!"
On one side, a mother and son shared a deep bond; on the other, Xie Xubai floated in the air as a spirit.
He twirled the golden light between his fingers, his eyes growing ever deeper.
Thinking back to the last time he was in character, he only released a little bit of his mental energy and the entire space collapsed. This time, however, he could use it directly without any hindrance. Xie Xubai immediately realized that something was wrong.
Despite the similarities, he quickly distinguished that what he was using was indeed mental energy, but not his own physical power.
This can be understood as a cultivator transmigrating into the body of another cultivator from the same sect. Because their cultivation methods are of the same origin and almost identical, they can easily utilize the cultivation level of this new body.
The key point is that the new identity one assumes is not simply about cultivation level.
Yan Shuo guided Xie Xubai onto the path to godhood. He was able to adapt to his current identity from scratch and master the power skillfully, which speaks volumes about his identity.
Now, Xie Xubai can "hear" thoughts coming from all directions as long as he closes his eyes and calms his mind.
Yes, thoughts.
It's no longer about vaguely perceiving someone's emotions, but about getting a concrete, translatable feeling.
The mansion he was in was located in the city's most bustling downtown area. This city also boasts the largest maritime trading port in the country, where cargo ships from the north and south dock. The loading and unloading of goods at the docks, and the sweat dripping from the workers' brows, are as ceaseless as the dazzling lights of this city that never sleeps.
On the same street, there were restaurants, casinos, opera houses, hotels, and all sorts of other establishments. Merchants and peddlers came and went, and horse-drawn carriages and rickshaws flowed endlessly. Heroes from all walks of life came to visit.
This is a place where wealth and power converge, and people's greed, resentment, and jealousy seem to be amplified infinitely in this atmosphere of extravagance and debauchery.
Therefore, the inner thoughts that Xie Xubai could hear were extremely complex.
[Damn it, I lost again! Those bastards didn't leave me a single penny! I have to find a way to win it back, but I don't have any capital... Right, the old man must still have some money at home! If not, I'll force him to borrow it!]
Someone died on the next street again. What bad luck! Luckily I dodged quickly, or my clothes would have gotten dirty.
[The alley is full of beggars, why isn't anyone doing anything about them? What if some kind of venereal disease spreads...? Damn it, why are those kids staring at me? Are they planning to steal my money? Hurry, hurry!]
[What are you so smug about? One day I'll slaughter you all and gouge your eyes out!]
I can't let Lijuan know I'm keeping a mistress, or it'll cause a huge uproar.
...
The overwhelming evil thoughts in people caused Xie Xubai a splitting headache due to the negative emotions they brought.
At any given moment in the same location, only a few good thoughts may arise, but amidst the surging tide of evil thoughts, they are like a small boat, easily capsized by the giant waves.
Xie Xubai wanted to block out his senses, but listening to people's voices was an innate instinct of his new identity, and he couldn't completely eliminate it.
In that instant, he finally understood the malice the system was inflicting on him.
He wanted to save the world and restore justice, so the system pulled him into the game, making him realize that his best friend, whom he wanted to save, was actually an unforgivable scoundrel, and that the people he loved had endless desires and were so filthy.
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