The Heartless Mage Chapter 02

The old man was a traditionalist so his mannerism was very meek. The “Lord Gu” that he mentioned was actually a commander that brought his soldiers in to conquer the county two months again. Before Commander Gu’s arrival, the county was under the ownership of Brigadier Ding, which the old man referred to as Lord Ding.

The old man didn’t actually work for Lord Gu, but it was the old man’s third son that was working under Lord Gu. The Wen County was a bountiful and extravagant place and there was a train station that was newly built here that goes to Tian’jin and Bei’jing. Since Lord Gu now owns this important piece of land, he is more than satisfied and planned to settle down in this place. After being convinced by other people, he decided to buy that large and spacious estate— even though he said he bought it, in reality, he stole the place. The estate was made up of three separate courtyards, and to the east and west there were two smaller buildings and there was a garden in the back. For this estate, he only gave the landlord one gold ingot. The landlord was afraid of him so he took the gold ingot and fled with his family to some place and nobody knows where. After a few happy days of moving into the estate, weird events began to take place.

“I saw it with my own eyes.” The old man guided Wu’xin and Yue’ya through the main streets and past small alley ways. His face was perpetually ghostly pale, “I’m so old already, I’m not joking around.”

Wu’xin walked to his side, “What did you see?”

The old man lowered his voice, and began to sweat cold sweat under the harsh sun: “A female with long hair perching motionlessly on the ceiling beam.”

Wu’xin turned around and did a quick scan. Seeing that Yue’ya was following him closely, he stopped worrying and continued to ask, “What else?”

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The old man looked like he was about to faint with his eyes half closed. He raised three fingers up and said, “Three died in the household already” he sighed heavily, “it’s unbearable to look at their corpse.”

“What did Lord Gu say about this?”

The old man put his hand down, “The freakin’ Lord Gu moved into the Army Command Headquarter and left my third brother behind to watch the house. You’d think I’ll leave my third brother to die? So I took his place. Little master, I don’t want to hide things from you, every single time the day goes dark, I would sit outside the door for the whole night, I would pull an all-nighter… I’m 67 already…”

With that said, the old man stopped in his steps. Wu’xin looked ahead and saw a four-sectioned courtyard decorated with green tiles and shingles in front of him. There were two soldiers standing guard in front of the court yard’s door entrance; they must be part of Lord Gu’s army. The old man went forward to interact with the two soldiers, and during this window of time, Yue’Er pulled onto Wu’xin’s sleeves. Gritting her teeth, she fiercely spoke under her breath, “You fool, being poor must have muddled your wits, how could you even think of messing with the Chief! Before they let us in, let’s run away!

Wu’xin looked at her baffled, “You don’t want to eat good food anymore?”

Yue’ya always thought her life was bad, and now that she has encountered a monk that is fixated on hunting ghosts, she felt even more worried to death.

She has never seen ghosts before, but she believes in their existence and fears them. Wu’xin rashly took on this errand. If he was killed by a ghost, it is naturally not good, but if he wasn’t killed by a ghost and also failed to catch a ghost, it is still not good. Over these years, there have been several waves of soldiers arriving at various places. Yue’ya has seen a lot of soldiers, but she has never met a cannon fodder who is reasonable. Master Gu is a commander of thousands of people and is called the “King of Cannon Fodder”. Who knows how arrogant he can be; maybe he eats people alive!

Yue’ya didn’t want Wu’xin to be slaughtered by ghosts or soldiers, and would rather starve than let him take risks. However, before she can even voice out the pros and cons, the door guards have already approved of their entry.

Wu’xin followed the old man into the courtyard. When he had the chance, he turned his head back to smile at Yue’ya one more time. Yue’ya had admitted her fate, but she ignored him.

The courtyard was completely decorated with green tiles and was extremely tidy. The music of bamboo instruments traveled out of the main room. The combination of the playing of wind and string instruments and singing created a good atmosphere. An adjutant stepped forward and lifted the curtain. Immediately, the old man bowed his waist to ninety degrees to show his respect and remained bent over as he made his way inside. However, after a few words, the music came to a stop. The old man peeped out his old face from the entrance and waved at Wu’xin repeatedly. Wu’xin, as if he was afraid that Yue’ya would escape, he pulled her through the door together with him.

The windows inside were bright and clean, and the furniture were luxurious. It was slightly similar to a small mansion; completely unaligned with the style of the army headquarters. Wu’xin looked forward and saw a large and charismatic officer sitting on a large armchair. This officer has thick eyebrows, big eyes and a tall nose. He sat with his legs spread apart and, on each of his leg, sat a beautiful girl. Facing Wu’xin, he tilted his chin upward, and asked loudly, “Are you a ghost hunting mage?”

Wu’xin’s face turned serious: “Are you Lord Gu?”

The officer nodded his head: “Yes, it’s me, what’s the matter?”

Sternly, he continued asking: “Have you ever have seen a ghost before?”

The officer shook his head: “I’ve never seen it before, but I’ve heard others speak of them!”

Wu’xin lowered his eyelids and noticed that there was a small tea table in front of Lord Gu, and the table was full of small snacks. He swallowed his saliva without batting an eyelid, and his voice became more soft, “Lord Gu has a strong murderous aura so even ghosts are afraid of you!”

The officer immediately looked up and laughed, revealing his big, neat white teeth: “You are very accurate in saying that. I’ve battled the world with swords and guns. I have taken countless of lives!”

Wu’xin can tell that Lord Gu is a difficult person to work with, so he began to think seriously. After a moment of silence, he continued, “Lord Gu has strong “vital energy” and a murderous aura. If you want the evil ghosts to be expelled, Lord Gu must go back to the house with me! “

The officer stopped laughing. He looked at Wu’xin and asked: “Huh? I, the Commander, have to do actual work?”

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He replied sternly, “Yes, Lord Gu is the cream of the crop. In order to draw out evil spirits without being hurt by them, having Lord Gu will be absolutely essential.”

Immediately, he looked into the officer’s eyes: “Could it be that Lord Gu is scared?”

The officer sneered and he stared back: “Nonsense! Even if there is a dead ghost, I will kill it again!” Then he pushed the girls away and stood up: “Are we departing right now?”

Wu’xin replied: “Right now!”

Lord Gu took a step forward, only to realize Wu’xin was still hiding Yue’ya behind his back. In all fairness, Yue’ya’s hair and face was covered in dust and dirt, so there was nothing worth looking at. However, she was curvy, which was rather noteworthy when people saw her. Lord Gu thought that since Wu’xin was a monk, he would not openly bring a girl around on the streets, so it didn’t make sense to him.  He smiled and asked, “Oh, who is this fair lady?”

Wu’xin dragged Yue’ya behind his back, “My sister.”

Lord Gu exited the headquarter’s gate on the back of piebald horse, while Wu’xin and Yue’ya shared a bay horse, and followed closely behind. Surrounded by Lord Gu’s guards, Yue’ya’s hung her head in low spirits. In her mind, she thought about how she had no paths to retreat back into anymore so she should just give in and follow the stupid monk. Even if there was no stupid monk, I will starve to my death after eating the remaining cornbread.

After a while, the prideful army of people returned to the black gate. The old man followed all the way, and then stepped forward to unlock the door. The guard pushed open the two black-lacquered doors, and only heard a jerky creak. The sun was shining brightly outside of the house, but on the inside, the house seemed to be a shade darker. Although it was also decorated in red and willow green, the lack of people made the bright scenery seem out of place.

Lord Gu held his head high and was the first to cross through the doors. Wu’xin followed by his side, walked and whispered to Yue’ya: “Stay behind me. If I walk, you walk; if I stop, you stop.”

In front of the many soldiers, Yue’ya didn’t dare to say much, and nodded as she followed right behind Wu’xin. As for Lord Gu, he raised his hand to point ahead and said, “In less than a month, three people died in this household; two girls and a boy half their age. They did not have a good death. They were torn to pieces by something. The only thing that was whole was their head. As a result, one of my mistresses was so scared, she turned crazy.”

After going through the first two yards, the gate of the third yard was closed. The old man came forward up again to open the big lock. As soon as the courtyard door, Yue’ya felt a chill on her back and a cold shiver that travelled out from her heart. She peeked at the reaction of the guards around her. The guards were all young men, but a few of them also frowned.

After the old man opened the door, he retreated back. Lord Gu walked into the courtyard casually and said to Wu’xin, “Master, take a look. If you have seen enough, go and take a look across the courtyard. Behind there is a big garden!”

Without a word, Wu’xin turned around and pushed Yue’ya into the crowd of guards, then took out the handkerchief and blindfolded his eyes again. Lord Gu stood at the door and watched him walk slowly along the edges of the four-sided corridor. Suddenly, Wu’xin squatted down and slapped his palm to the ground.

Then he got up and walked forward again, and he slapped patted a pillar with his palm.

Lord Gu changed his expression slightly, but said nothing. Wu’xin stopped in his tracks and patted the corridor’s handrail with his palm. Raising his hand to take off the handkerchief, he turned and looked at Lord Gu and asked, “Am I right?”

Lord Gu stepped forward while one of his hand pressed on the pistol holster at his waist. He scuffed the bottom of his riding boots against the ground that Wu’xin had patted. He raised his head and said, “Master, if no one told you about this in advance, you definitely have a few tricks up your sleeves. Those three people have indeed died in those three places. If you look at the gaps between the bricks, you can see the dried dark blood!”

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Wu’xin walked slowly to the southeast corner, and there was a water well in the southeast corner. There was a short railing surrounding the raised walls of the well and there was a new small iron bucket thrown nearby. There are many rules behind digging a well in the courtyard. As far as Feng Shui is concerned, there was nothing wrong with this well. He grabbed onto the sides of the well and stuck his head into the well. The bystanders watched him go in deeper and deeper until at the end, even his shoulders were inside the well. Yue’ya was afraid that he would fall in and was about to step forward to grab his back but unexpectedly, Lord Gu took a step first and ran straight to him. Before Lord Gu could remind him, he slowly raised his head out of the well. He spat in the well.

As soon as he turned around, he sat on the edge of the well and he faced forward to speak,  “When the three of them were dying, they were tortured, but they were unable to move nor talk. First, they were skinned, then deboned, then their eyes and heart were dug out. Every bad thing that could be done, were done on them.”

Lord Gu squatted down in front of him, and asked in a sneaky whisper: “Master, are you certain…Is it really a ghost?”

Inadvertently ignored him, and continued to say, “Even more powerful than ghosts, it is a ghoul. Ghosts are invisible, but ghouls have a physical form.”

Although Lord Gu takes pride in being fierce, but upon hearing of this, he became a bit scared, “Anyway, I know that when people die, they become ghosts, but I have not heard of becoming ghouls. What are they?”

Wu’xin replied, “Humans three immortal spirits and seven mortal forms. These three spirits and seven forms make up the life in people. When a person dies, it’s like a lamp extinguishing. When the three spirits and seven forms dissipate, the love and hatred in one’s life will also disappear. Lord Gu, the soul is inherently immortal, but if your three spirits were added to my seven forms, the new resulting soul will have nothing to do with you or me. Therefore, most of the millions of people in the world don’t know about their past life but only the present life. In order for the soul to not dissipate after death, the person must have had very persistent obsession. So they still have a complete soul and they do become part of a new life and reincarnate. This results in the creation of a ghost.”

Lord Gu blinked his eyes: “Oh, it’s also not easy to be a ghost!”

Wu’xin nodded his head with deep approval: “It is true that it is easy to be a ghost for a while, but it is impossible to be a ghost for a lifetime without perseverance.”

Lord Gu followed him and nodded: “Continue on, what should I do if I get in trouble with a ghost?” He smiled without a warning, and while smiling, he turned to the side to pat the walls of the well.  “Let’s eat lunch first, and then talk about it when we’re full. The solution is not in your hands, it’s in my hands.”

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