Find the Source

In the countryside, where news travels slow and gossip hides behind cupped hands, villagers half-whisper about mountain spirits and wandering ghosts as a matter of course—which living immortal reads fortunes true, which mountain god's temple answers prayers. He Zaiming had never believed a word of it. Country folk, he thought, unread and credulous; every last syllable of their tall tales was rot.

Tonight he had seen it with his own eyes. Belief was no longer a choice.

He Zaiming hovered over his son, bristling with needles, while keeping a wary eye on every move Zhu Shian made.

Before, he had only thought himself dull of mind, stiff of wrist, unable to read the currents of officialdom. Now he would add one more failing to the list: his mortal, vulgar eyes could not perceive the other sort of beings that threatened the living at every turn.

It was precisely because he could not see, could not understand, that terror gnawed at him all the sharper.

When the acupuncture time was up, Zhu Changming withdrew the needles. Zhu Shian felt the pulse, nodded. It was done.

"The child's fever's broken. Take him home." Zhu Changfang handed the baby to Lu Wen, who found him perfectly well, curled in his little quilt and fast asleep.

The child was well; He Zaiming and his wife could breathe again. But go home?

Lu Wen shuddered at the thought of a ghost in their house. What now?

Face what comes; fear was useless. Here stood someone who could handle it—what was there to dither over? He Zaiming did not hesitate to beg Zhu Shian's help.

He lowered himself and pleaded: "These days housing is tight. If we don't live in the County Party Committee Compound, it'll be given to someone else—and then they'll suffer too. Master Zhu, have mercy, root out this scourge once and for all. The whole county will be grateful to you beyond words."

Lu Wen, son in her arms, softened her voice and chimed in: "We're newcomers, we don't know the ways. But I can see the people of Zhen Shan County hold the Zhu Family in high regard. For their sake, please lend us your hand."

What hour was it, anyway?

Zhu Shian rose and walked toward the back courtyard. "It's too late tonight. We'll speak tomorrow. And you two aren't going home either, Feng-niang."

"Ai." Zhu Fengqin answered.

"Find them a guest room." Zhu Shian tossed the instruction over her shoulder.

"Right. Put them in the east wing of the front courtyard—that room's clean, tidied just the other day."

Zhu Shian paid no mind to such details. She nodded and went.

"Thank you, Master Zhu, for taking us in." Lu Wen's face brightened.

The instant Zhu Shian's foot crossed the threshold into the back courtyard, she leaned back on instinct and frowned down at Little White. "You're in my way."

Little White's tail twitched and crept closer, inch by inch, until it reached Zhu Shian's feet. Then the tip of the tail rose and pointed east. "There's a ghost outside the memorial arch. Won't leave."

"That's new. What ghost has the nerve to loiter at the gate of Sanqing Alley?"

"A fierce new ghost. A mean old man." Little White tattled. "He saw me. Opened his mouth wide to eat me."

Zhu Shian was skeptical. "Ghosts can't enter Sanqing Alley at all. If you don't go out, how could he eat you?"

Mid-sentence, Zhu Shian turned back.

In the main hall, Xu Zhong and Zhu Changfang, husband and wife, Zhu Changming, and He Zaiming's family of three had not yet left.

Zhu Changming watched her return. "Does the eldest young lady have instructions?"

Lu Wen clutched her son tight—was something wrong with her baby?

Zhu Shian waved a hand. "Your child's fine. I have my own errand to look into."

Zhu Changfang hurried to say, "It's still raining, cold and dark out. Where are you going?"

Something had just occurred to Zhu Shian. She glanced at He Zaiming and his wife as she walked. "There's a bold ghost outside Sanqing Alley who won't leave. I'm going to have a look."

Zhu Changfang followed, asking offhandedly, "Oh, did those two bring him?"

"Can't say for sure."

Zhu Changfang kept pace with Zhu Shian, lifting an umbrella to hold over her.

He Zaiming hesitated, then grabbed his own umbrella and gave chase.

Lu Wen tensed again. "Nothing will happen, will it?"

Zhu Changming's faith in the family head was absolute. "Don't worry. Look after your child. They'll be back shortly."

There were only three umbrellas in all. Zhu Changfang's and He Zaiming's had gone with them; Zhu Changming took his own and headed home.

Zhu Fengqin went to the wing-room cabinet for bedding. Coming out, she saw only Xu Zhong in the room, with Lu Wen sitting in a chair holding her baby. She said to Xu Zhong, "Changming's gone home, hasn't he? Where's Changfang? Why haven't you gone home yet?"

Xu Zhong said, "My wife walked the eldest young lady to the alley entrance. County Chief He chased after them too."

Zhu Fengqin stopped, bedding in her arms. "What's happening at the alley entrance?"

"They say there's a ghost at the mouth of the alley who won't leave."

A ghost? Well, Zhu Fengqin wasn't worried. She turned and called to Lu Wen: "Come, follow me to the room. You and the baby sleep first. Cold night—don't let the child suffer."

"Thank you, big sister." Lu Wen, baby in arms, hurried after her.

At the mouth of Sanqing Alley.

Zhu Shian stood inside the memorial arch. A few meters beyond it hovered a ghost of about fifty, dense with ghostly qi. Left unchecked, given time, he might well become a fierce wraith.

That ghost, at this very moment, was staring past Zhu Shian at He Zaiming behind her—wishing he could swallow him whole.

Zhu Shian said nothing. Zhu Changfang grew uneasy. "Eldest young lady, what are you looking at?"

Zhu Shian tipped her chin toward the ghost's position. "Looking at a ghost. Ten paces straight ahead of you."

Heavens. Zhu Changfang stepped back two paces on reflex, tilting the umbrella off Zhu Shian's head, then scrambled to right it.

Zhu Shian asked He Zaiming, "The ghost's glaring at you. Looks like an enemy of yours."

He Zaiming thought for a long moment. "I only came to Zhen Shan County at the start of the year. Many of my work plans haven't even started. I haven't offended anyone. I can't imagine what dead man would fixate on me as a sworn enemy."

"Then take a look."

Zhu Shian formed a hand seal, reached out, and tapped He Zaiming's spirit platform, briefly opening his yin-yang eyes.

He Zaiming blinked, blinked again, and looked once more. Where the archway had seemed empty, a figure now stood, staring at him with murderous intent.

No—that was no person.

Night rain still fell. The figure across the way held no umbrella, yet not a drop touched him; he was dry all over. His feet did not touch the ground—he floated.

He Zaiming felt his scalp explode. His hands and feet went numb with fright. He could not move.

"Master Zhu, I truly don't know him." He Zaiming's voice shook badly.

The moment He Zaiming spoke, he enraged the ghost across the way. Ghostly qi poured from the wraith's seven orifices and coiled around his whole body. He plunged headfirst at the archway—and was flung back by an invisible force. The ghost qi clinging to him sizzled like a drop of water on a red-hot Iron Wok, evaporating on contact.

"Ah!"

When the ghost lunged, He Zaiming threw up both hands to shield himself and stumbled backward.

Zhu Shian did not stir. A flicker of surprise crossed her mind—this new ghost, barely cold, was rather formidable. But a new ghost was still a new ghost.

"Eldest young lady, let me see." Seeing He Zaiming so terrified, Zhu Changfang's own courage rose. She'd look at this ghost herself and see what was so frightening.

Zhu Shian opened Zhu Changfang's yin-yang eyes. Zhu Changfang opened hers, saw the ghost opposite, and slapped her thigh. "Why, that's Lai Dahe!"

"Who?"

"Heh, the former county chief's old man. Don't you know what the county chief before you was named?"

Zhu Changfang tossed the question back at He Zaiming, then turned to Zhu Shian: "The Lais are on the brigade right next to Zhu Family Village. That close—we'd have known if someone in the Lai family died. On New Year's we went back to the village to worship the ancestors, and no one said a word."

Whether he died before or after the new year, it hadn't been long—Zhu Shian could tell at a glance from how weak the ghost's body was.

"What's the story with the Lais?"

The Lai family—now that was a tale.

Lai Dahe's eldest son, Zhen Shan County's former county chief Lai Futian, had been nothing but a junior high graduate. In '65, the year he finished middle school, he began teaching at the brigade headquarters.

In the next two unsettled years, by some means he became the county's leading figure, leading the county's rowdiest faction—beating this one, denouncing that one, day in, day out. Half the county's units had been wrecked by him. Countless people hated him.

Later, rumor had it Lai Futian was pushed up to vice county chief, then county chief, and swaggered in earnest. Common folk dared not cross him; everyone feared him. Until, at the start of the year, he was purged and removed. For nearly ten years, Lai Futian had lorded it over Zhen Shan County.

Zhu Changfang knew only the surface of it. He Zaiming knew more of the inside story. In those years, to seize power, Lai Futian had wielded both pen and fist with vicious cruelty—several rightist intellectuals sent down to the countryside had been beaten or hounded to death by him. Once arrested and purged, Lai Futian could not wriggle out of any of the evidence. After the trial, he quickly ate a bullet.

Once He Zaiming knew who the ghost was, he understood why the ghost hated him. But he felt wronged—Lai Futian had gotten what he deserved. What did it have to do with him?

Zhu Shian frowned. This Lai Dahe was a new ghost, dead only days. New ghosts could hardly leave the place where they died. How had he crossed the river and made his way to the County Town?

Zhu Shian stepped out from beneath the archway. Cold wind laced with cold rain struck her, and a chill, gloomy presence snapped her awake.

Not good!

How could there be yin qi outside Sanqing Alley?

Lai Dahe lunged; Zhu Shian kicked him aside. She turned, her expression grave, and stared northeast. There, where Yuntai Mountain met Wangyun Mountain, the unbroken stream of yin qi was pouring from.

Something must have happened there.

Zhu Shian looked back at this unusually fierce new ghost. No wonder!

Zhu Shian sighed. She was far too weak right now. Only because the Formation within Sanqing Alley shielded her had she failed to notice anything amiss outside.

In the past, this would never have happened.

Weakness was her sin!

Seeing Master Zhu kick Lai Dahe flying, He Zaiming took heart. He stepped carefully out of Sanqing Alley and said, "Lai Dahe, your family's business has nothing to do with me. Stop haunting my house. Be reborn and be done with it."

Lai Dahe let out a terrible ghostly wail: "You—you stole my son's office, took my son's house. My son's dead. I'll have your life!"

So unreasonable. He Zaiming had no idea how to reason with him. He glanced at Zhu Shian.

Zhu Shian gave a soft snort. She was no judge of the underworld. What sense was there in reasoning with a ghost?

Zhu Shian loosened the Soul-Calming Bell in her hand and shook it lightly. The bell's sound spread like a net, snaring Lai Dahe tight.

Lai Dahe, a new ghost, was not as fearsome as the previous Wang Erzhu. No Spirit Script needed—she could pin him down with the bell alone, frozen where he stood.

Zhu Shian took the umbrella from Zhu Changfang. "You go back with He Zaiming. I'm going out."

Zhu Changfang would never let her go alone. She snatched the umbrella back. "Where? I'm coming with you."

He Zaiming stepped forward. "I'll—"

Zhu Shian cut him off. "Enough. You'd only hold me back. Both of you, go back."

Zhu Shian took the umbrella from Zhu Changfang once more and hurried off.

"Hey, eldest young lady, wait for me!"

He Zaiming quickly held Zhu Changfang back. "Listen to Master Zhu. She's right—if we follow, we'll only slow her down. If something happens, she'd have to divide her attention to protect us."

Though He Zaiming was right, Zhu Changfang still couldn't stand the sight of him. She glared coldly. "If not for you, why would my family's eldest young lady have to go out in the rain in the middle of the night?"

He Zaiming had no defense.

Zhu Changfang snatched the umbrella from He Zaiming's hand and went home. He Zaiming raised a hand over his head and hurried after her. He'd nearly had his soul scared out of him tonight; he dared not stand alone outside the archway.

Zhu Shian skirted around the streets outside Sanqing Alley, crossing North Street onto the main avenue.

The main avenue was Zhen Shan County's longest and widest street. In the old days, merchants traveling the ancient tea-horse road north into western Sichuan would pass through it, reach its end, and depart via the mountain path to the northwest.

And to the northeast of the main avenue lay a Mountain Valley. The faint, drifting yin qi hovering over Zhen Shan County came from there.

Zhu Shian walked briskly along the wet street. At the avenue's far end, a distant bronze bell sounded from Wangyun Mountain.

Dong... dong... dong...

Peal after peal... unhurried, omnipresent. Zhu Shian looked up at the sky. The thin yin qi was driven away, swept clean.

The Mountain Valley's yin qi still streamed outward, but the yin qi in County Town had lost its grip.

The monks of Wangyun Temple did have some skill, after all.

Since the matter was no longer urgent, she would not brave the rain and charge alone into a Mountain Valley whose situation she did not know. Back first.

Zhu Shian walked back to Sanqing Alley. By the time she set the umbrella down at her door, the rain had stopped.