Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 303 Fireworks
Ran Qing decided to enter the dream.

This is not a difficult or profound technique. In the final moments of a middle-aged woman's life, when she is about to pass away, her consciousness is scattered, and there is almost no resistance to entering a dream at such a time.

Just as Ran Qing began setting up the altar, Mo Li suddenly reached out and grabbed him.

Their eyes met, and Mo Li hesitated for a moment, his gaze shifting slightly.

"...Are you really going to see it?"

Mo Li's tone carried a hint of unease and hesitation.

Ran Qing squinted at her and said, "Are you worried that I'll see something I shouldn't see?"

Meeting Ran Qing's gaze, Mo Li took a deep breath and nodded: "Do you still remember the female ghost on Longchang Street, and the warning Liu Fang, the corpse-driving Taoist, gave you?"

"You mustn't know who the leader of this group of ghost breeders is. Once you know, they can find you very quickly..."

Mo Li pointed to the middle-aged woman slumped in the chair and said, "Of the people who went to find the Ghost King's Coffin with me ten years ago, only Uncle Ran is still alive."

“I don’t know what happened to the dead, but Uncle Ran, the only living one, knows almost nothing about this group of ghost breeders and their leader.”

"On the contrary, the already deceased Meng Laoqi fled from the countryside to the city, proving that he knew something was harming him... He might even have known about the ghost breeder, but he still died in the end."

As Mo Li spoke, his tone gradually became more resolute.

She looked intently at Ran Qing and said, "You should think this through. So far, those ghost breeders don't know you, and you don't know them either."

“In this situation, you can also leave at any time, abandon things in Zangke, and hide outside to seek refuge.”

"But once you enter this woman's dream and see things you shouldn't see, and are targeted by the ghost keeper... then you'll have no way out."

At the last moment, Mo Li tried to stop Ran Qing.

Stop Ran Qing from doing anything dangerous.

She said softly, "In the end, you don't have any irreconcilable hatred for those ghost breeders... there's no need to fight them to the death."

Mo Li, speaking softly, seemed to plead with Ran Qing, hoping she would give up.

Over the past month, Mo Li has offered this advice several times.

Her overt and covert persuasion was all aimed at urging Ran Qing to leave Zangke and follow her south to another province, so as not to get involved in this mess.

Ran Qing was stunned at that moment.

Looking at the girl earnestly trying to persuade her, Ran Qing seemed to see the shadow of another person in Mo Li.

—The shadow of her mother.

When they were raising Ran Qing's spirit tablet, Aunt Liu repeatedly and hesitantly tried to persuade him to give up.

It's been a month since Aunt Liu passed away, not a long time, but Ran Qing feels like several years have passed.

In the past month or so, so much has happened to Ran Qing, more dramatic than the entire past ten years of his life combined.

Now I'm hearing the same familiar advice again.

Ran Qing was momentarily dazed, then sighed, "We have a grudge against each other..."

Just like back then, he ignored his sixth aunt's advice and insisted on stepping into the path of Yin and Yang.

At this moment, Ran Qing also ignored the advice of her sixth aunt's daughter.

He said softly, "Your mother's death, the death of my friend Li Hongye's family, and the wishes of the past masters of the Yin-Yang sect... these are all grudges."

The deaths of Aunt Liu and Li Hongye are inextricably linked to this group of ghost breeders.

The Ghost King's Coffin, which the successive masters of the Yin-Yang Path have been searching for, is only one step away from being found. This is the last wish that Ran Qing promised to fulfill for her sixth aunt.

Ran Qing had too many reasons not to back down.

Even though he was afraid, and he understood Mo Li's worries, he couldn't back down here. According to Ran Qing's estimate, the vat of dead faces in the Yin-Yang walkers' vat would be full with just one or two more, or at most three.

The technique of refining ghosts in this vat is just one step away from completion.

Once the ghost-refining process in the vat is successful, the ritual performed by three generations—from Auntie Shen to Auntie Liu, and then to Ran Qing—will be completed, and the path to the Ghost King's coffin will open for Ran Qing.

Once the coffin of the Ghost King is found, all the past masters of the Yin-Yang Path will find peace.

At this point, Ran Qing had to determine the purpose of the ghost-raisers, whether they also coveted the Ghost King's Coffin, and how far they had progressed and whether they would block his path.

Even if she were targeted by a ghost-raising person, Ran Qing wouldn't be afraid.

He was just one step away from the finish line, racing against the ghost keeper, and his advantage lay in that.

Moreover, after finding the Ghost King's Coffin, the ancestors of the spirit mediums were laid to rest, and the cause and effect were clarified. Ran Qing was also able to return and settle scores with these ghost-raising people.

If this hard-won clue is lost here, who knows how long it will be before we have another chance to get to the truth.

If you're afraid because your enemy is terrifying, then what's the point of seeking revenge?

Ran Qing's gaze was firm.

Looking at Ran Qing like this, Mo Li silently let go of her hand and sighed.

"You guy..."

“The self-destructive tendency is a bit too strong,” the last murmured sentence was almost a whisper.

Long Zongshu coughed and quickly walked a few steps away, as if he hadn't heard anything.

Ran Qing had already walked far away and didn't hear anything.

He picked up the canvas bag from the ground and began to set up a simple altar, intending to perform a ritual and enter the dream of the middle-aged woman in the chair.

Seeing the middle-aged woman's miserable state, he didn't delve into whether Mo Li had truly made a mistake or was deliberately trying to silence her.

He wasn't as resolute as he appeared; he also had moments of wavering and fear.

But upon closer reflection, my past life was nothing but a mess, a dark and gloomy existence, like a rat struggling to survive in a gutter.

Even if you manage to get into a good university and struggle your way to a comfortable material life, what's the point of such a life?

The arrival of his sixth aunt was the brightest and warmest ray of light in his life, briefly illuminating the darkest corners of his existence.

How could he turn his back on this light?

For this, even at the cost of one's life...

Yes! Even at the cost of our lives!

Ran Qing's eyes finally burned with unwavering determination.

He couldn't avoid those ghost breeders; on the contrary, he had to actively walk towards them!
It's better to die a glorious death than to live a miserable, wretched life!
Ran Qing clearly applied a mixture of goat's blood and incense ash to the middle-aged woman's forehead and the corners of her eyes several times.

Finally, he helped the limp woman to the ground and lay down beside her.

The two lay side by side, took off their shoes, and a red string connected their little toes.

As the woman's breathing grew increasingly dry and her gaze became more unfocused, Ran Qing, whose eyes were now open, also gradually developed a dull and unfocused look.

In the end, the eyes of the two people lying side by side on the ground became almost identical.

The same dilated pupils, the same whites of the eyes.

Vaguely, Ran Qing saw some images...

(End of this chapter)