Chapter 29
The Lifetaker Copper Coins That Cannot be Spent
The mountain wind blew gently, fluttering the clothes.
Alighting on the grass and flowers, the dancing butterflies in the air looked like maiden dresses, appearing very lively.
Outside Deyun Monastery, three small hitching posts lined up. Yu Qi’an, Li Chu, and little Yue’er rested their chin on their left hands as they looked blankly together at the construction work inside.
The day was rather happy; the second day was fulfilling; the third day… it got a little boring.
It was only little Yue’er who maintained an excitable look as she asked from time to time what was being done here and what was being done there.
Of course, eighty percent of the questions were those she had asked yesterday.
At times, she remembered that she had asked this question yesterday, but still, she had to ask it again.
Because she could not remember what the answer was.
The days of Deyun Monastery were like this, passing by idly like the white clouds on the mountainside.
And Li Xinyi’s arrival broke the peace.
Her dress today was very eye-catching. It was rose-red in color, with her left shoulder sloping open, revealing her fair shoulders and half of her deep collarbone. Her chest was perked up, her slim waist emphasizing her shapely curves at a glance.
Her pair of long, fair legs loomed about at the open fork of her dress skirt.
Her long hair was tied up high. Her pair of beautiful eyes glimmered and locked onto Li Chu’s slothful figure from a distance.
As she approached, the bricklayers at the front courtyard were all mesmerized, but they were not scolded as the foreman was also entranced.
When she got closer, Li Xinyi saw little Yue’er sitting beside Li Chu.
The girl’s delicate face and bright eyes caused anxiety to appear in her eyes, as if she was up against a great foe.
And when her eyes fell on the girl’s chest.
The tension suddenly receded by a good two-thirds.
After all, men since time memorial love mountains and not flat plains.
…
“Daoist Yu, Daoist Li,” Li Xinyi greeted them.
Li Chu looked at Li Xinyi puffing her chest up high as she walked over and took a specific glance there.
‘Hmm.’
‘Sure enough, there was a mole.’
And this unabashed gaze was naturally caught by Li Xinyi’s eyes.
She smiled.
‘Heh, men.’
After some mind games unknown to either side, she clarified the main purpose of her coming here today.
In short, the Vengeful Spirit case was not yet over.
“I came to look for you the day before yesterday, and you were not around back then. Something happened during that time.”
It happened the day after the exorcism in Lower Liu Village, before Li Xinyi had returned to the Hangzhou magistrate office.
Two constables had bought some baked flatbread on their way to the office in the morning. After one of the constables held the flatbread, and just as he turned around, he suddenly dropped dead.
He died so suddenly without warning that his death shocked the other constable silly. The latter yelled for a good while for someone to report it to the magistrate before remembering he himself was an official.
When the body was brought to the magistrate office for inspection, it had made the coroner doubt everything he had known thus far.
It was because there was nothing wrong with the body, and the constable was strong and free of diseases. Neither he was poisoned, nor he had any trauma. And he had no mood swings at all.
A normal, living person had died just like that.
So it could only be explained as a mysterious case.
Just when Zhou Dafu was in a bind, something caught his attention.
The hawker who sold the flatbread had handed all of the money he had taken from the constable to the magistrate office, saying that he dared not take a dead man’s money.
It was just a few copper coins, no big deal, and normally Zhou Dafu would not have bothered with it. But just when he was stumped, he stared at the copper coins for a good while.
And that, he suddenly caught something wrong.
Normal copper coins had ‘Heluo Currency’ written on it, but one of the copper coins had ‘Underworld Currency’ written on it. This was unprecedented.
So he immediately referred the case to Li Xinyi.
Li Xinyi reported the matter to the Imperial Administration Bureau, and the news she got was the ‘Underworld Currency’ was the copper coins used by the Ghost Realm.
A Ghost Realm in the mortal plane, legend had it that it was a realm founded by countless ghosts that remained in the mortal world. It was an existence both incorporeal and corporeal. Since the ancient times of old to now, it would bring great devastation every time it appeared.
Things had just gotten serious.
Zhou Dafu went to check where did this constable get this Ghost Realm copper coin from. He would have remained ignorant if he did not check, but when he did, he had the shock of his life.
It turned out that this copper coin had something to do with the first two Vengeful Spirit cases.
During the massacre of Lower Liu Village, the dead constable had gone to collect the bodies. He was the one who found the little girl’s body by the foothills.
And this copper coin was held in the hand of the little girl.
The coin fell onto the ground as he was putting the body away, and he picked it up without even looking closely. At that time, another colleague had told him that he would receive karmic retribution for taking advantage of the dead.
But he had been greedy since young, so he laughed it off as payment for helping to collect the girl’s body.
Later on, he used the copper coin to buy the flatbread, and just as he spent the coin, his life was forfeit.
Zhou Dafu had been a Chief Constable for many years, so he had the needed instincts.
He then went to check the body of Mrs. Xue.
After Mrs. Xue killed herself that day, her body was collected by the Xue family. Zhou Dafu had brought his men to pry open her casket and found that her mouth did contain a copper coin.
It was the same ‘Underworld Currency’.
As he connected the dots, the hidden lines in the dark finally surfaced.
Why were cases of the supposedly rare Vengeful Spirit manifestations appearing one after another in Yuhang Town?
A powerful ghost must have been behind it!
Although this case had not been fully resolved, this thoroughly proved his innocence, that he did not fail in his duty, and did not make any false reports of mysterious cases.
‘It was not that I lied, but I was targeted, okay?’
Zhou Dafu could finally heave a sigh of relief.
And it was Li Xinyi’s turn to be frustrated.
She asked her master again and determined that this copper coin was one of the tricks available to the ghosts, called the ‘Lifetaker Money.”
It was an extremely vicious technique designed to enthrall those with grievances and use this money to take their lives away. The deceased would then transform into Vengeful Spirits upon their death.
And as for that constable’s death, it was a totally accidental one as he had used someone else’s Lifetaker Money and paid with his life instead. Fortunately, he bore no resentment in his previous life, so it was not enough for him to turn into a Vengeful Spirit.
Li Xinyi realized that this place had the big case she was looking forward to, and if she could solve it, it would definitely be a great achievement.
At the same time, she was also worried that she was not capable enough to resolve this case herself. After all, she had almost died dealing with a Vengeful Spirit earlier on.
So that was why she had come to seek Li Chu’s help the day before.
Unfortunately for her, Li Chu was not around that day, so she had to think of a way herself.
After sorting through the previous Vengeful Spirit cases, she found that the ghost behind this should have a way to perceive resentment.
Whenever there was a potent resentment in the air, it would enthrall the victim to sell his or her life to it in exchange for the opportunity to turn into a Vengeful Spirit to seek revenge.
Someone must die before a Vengeful Spirit would appear.
So she asked Zhou Dafu and his constables to keep a sharp eye all day and night, and as soon as there was someone dying or going missing in Yuhang County, it must be reported immediately.
And sure enough, within two days, the news of a new death came.
…
When she talked about this, the people of Deyun Monastery gathered around as if they were listening to a storyteller.
After listening to that, little Yue’er shrank her shoulders in fear as she whispered, “You will die if you pick up someone else’s money?”
Yu Qi’an quickly patted the little girl on the shoulder as he comforted her. “Yue’er, no need to fear. We only pick them up and not spend them, so there’s nothing to fear.”
If little Yue’er was to be afraid to pick up money after listening to this, then it would be a big loss. She was now the key figure in revitalizing Deyun Monastery after all!
Li Xinyi looked at the young Daoist Priest’s handsome side profile. “Could you help me?”
Li Chu was a little bored doing nothing these few days, so he did not think much and nodded directly. “Okay.”
The smile on the lady’s face bloomed like a flower.
She immediately added, “The bounty will be paid according to previous arrangement, and if we can find out the true culprit, we can increase the bounty paid.”
Li Chu nodded indifferently.
With little Yue’er as a stable source of income, he really did not care too much about the unstable bounties from the magistrate office.
Earning money is troublesome and sure isn’t as convenient as picking up money on the ground.
The reason he agreed to help this time, half of it was just out of the justice in his heart wanting to protect the tranquility of Yuhang Town.
Yeah, at least half of it.
“Alright, let’s go inspect the dead now.” Li Xinyi quickly got up.
“Where to?” Li Chu asked.
Li Xinyi replied, “The House of Blossoming Spring.”