Translator’s notes: End of book 4. Some iffy parts in this chapter. I think this book was written around 2006 or something like that. Sorry for the irregular updates. I’ll try my best to return to my previous posting schedule for the next book. Maybe a few days of break to prepare. Thank for reading up to this point!
*****
Ruan Zhan had rushed to learn the space-warping technique so he still needed to know his destination in order to teleport. Since he had never been to the public hospital, he could only pick the nearby hotel before walking over.
After turning invisible, they immediately found Wan Li. The latter was pacing worriedly, two unconscious people next to him.
“Looks like another close victory!” Wan Li looked Ruan Zhan over. “And Looks like you took quite the beating.”
“Less lip or I’ll turn you into a mute!”
Xiao Xia knew this was their weird way of expression friendship so she didn’t mind it. She just walked over to inspect Matsui Noriko. She saw a purple patch on her face as she lay unconscious.
“Wan Li! You hit a woman!”
Wan Li shook his head profoundly. “You aren’t aware of the interesting details involved. But it isn’t convenient to discuss here. We have to clean things up first.”
He walked over and pulled Matsui Iwane up. Only then did Ruan Zhan and Xiao Xia realize the old man’s eyes were open the entire time. However, his gaze was sluggish.
“What’s wrong with him?” Xiao Xia asked.
“No idea.” Wan Li relaxed his grip and Matsui Iwane lay back down. “I merely knocked him out. When he awoke, he became like this. Ah Zhan, take a look and see if he’s faking it. Based on my years of medical experience, I don’t think he is.”
Ruan Zhan walked over and put his hand over Matsui Iwane’s heart for a while. “It doesn’t seem like it. However, his breath is unsteady. Does it have something to do with him faking his illness?”
“That’s indeed the case.” Wan Li nodded. “He’s really an expert. He’s able to control his body’s condition and even fool medical instruments. However, his powers and abilities seem to have been completely drained. He was knocked out in a single blow. Then, his vitals all returned to normal.”
“Well, that explains it. This is also a form of backlash.” Ruan Zhan finally understood what was going on. “He violated the laws of the human body, and then reverted back to normal while he was unconscious. It’s impossible for this not to cause any damage.”
“So he’s suffering from brain damage…” Before Wan Li finished speaking, he heard a groan. It was Matsui Noriko, but the voice was male. This gave Xiao Xia a fright.
“Go deal with the rest first. I’ll handle things here.” Wan Li had a plan.
During their brief encounter, he had sensed this crossdresser was extremely weak. Therefore, he was going to use a mental attack to deal with the problems here.
Although Xiao Xia was extremely puzzled, she was pulled away by Ruan Zhan.
Cleaning up the aftermath was no simple task. The three of them were busy for over three hours before managing to finish up before dawn. Ruan Zhan and Xiao Xia used the space-warping technique to bring the three nurses and Matsui Shigenori’s corpse back. The corpse was returned to the morgue. The unconscious nurses were all sent to the admin building.
Ruan Zhan had already forced out the evil influence within them. However, since they had their yang energy absorbed and yin energy had invaded their bodies, along with the wounds suffered from struggling with Xiao Xia, they wouldn’t recover for a period of time. However, they ultimately retained their lives.
But how to explain why they were randomly attacked and moved to the admin building, and the various tools and the fetus beside them?1 Xiao Yu who had been on call was knocked unconscious and had fallen in front of the office door. They all ended up being hypnotized by Ruan Zhan to forget the little they knew, becoming completely unaware of the matter. Of course there was also Sis Wang’s partial memory.
Ruan Zhan almost collapsed after dealing with all this, but it had been necessary. He wasn’t trying to abuse his powers and control others. No one had the right to do something like that. But knowing these things would only bring them trouble and harm. It was better for them to be unaware.
Of course there was no perfect explanation for the events. It would remain an unresolved mystery in their minds. However, strange things happened every day in this world. It was fine for there to be one or two more cases!
After confirming Matsui Iwane had indeed lost his mind, Wan Li started threatening the frail “Matsui Noriko”. He mentioned the China’s laws and China’s magic arts, and vividly described the powerful Matsui Shigenori and his shikigami’s death as though he had been present. The sissy was scared into blurting out many secrets, resolving their remaining doubts. The next day, she took the soulless corpse and the mindless old man who could no longer do evil back to Japan.
After the matter, Wan Li would often brag that he should become an interrogator for the public security bureau.
The three grand victors hurried back to Xiaowang Village before dawn to act as good citizens. Luckily, no one asked about the wounds on Ruan Zhan’s face and body.
Once everything was settled three days later, Xiao Xia decided to hold a proper trial for the ghosts inside the tattered banner. The location was the flowerbed of the love motel in the middle of the night.
The love motel had been shut for a long time. No one had noticed the events of that night. Therefore, the place was completely deserted. Ruan Zhan just had to warp space, add a formation on the outside and no one would be any wiser!
Prior to this, they had already investigated this matter thoroughly.
There was no need to mention why the evil spirit had such a form and why it tried to harm others. Ruan Zhan had seen it first hand and explained it to the other two. As for Yang Mu You’s relationship with the Matsui family, everyone figured Ruan Zhan’s theory was very close to the truth. Furthermore, they guessed Kenji Ganmura had come to China to learn magic from him.
After Yang Mu You was defeated after resurrecting last time, they didn’t know who his current physical host was. What method was he using to preserve his life? But there was no doubt he had used these Japanese people, and they had been happy to be used by him. They had definitely not been unaware, but followed along for the sake of their supreme two-in-one shikigami.
Such a good seed was truly too rare. Therefore, their greed still forced them to come despite knowing they were being used. If they were resentful about it, they might have taken revenge on Yang Mu You in the future.
The Japanese were defeated and Yang Mu You failed to get revenge on Ruan Zhan. However, he had used Ruan Zhan to get rid of the Matsui family’s threat, and gotten some more information on the extent of his powers. Ultimately, he was still the biggest winner. If he had been secretly observing, he might even have noticed the spirit rebirth technique should be easier. It could be done by absorbing people’s yang energy without harming them.
The Matsui family felt their rebirth technique went against the heavens. There were extremely few who were able to use it. Those that could also wouldn’t use it to avoid death by aging. They would only use it if they died in battle. Therefore, members of their family all had normal lifespans. Currently, of the Matsui father and son, one was dead and the other mindless. Perhaps Yang Mu You was now the only one who still knew a flawed version of that technique in the world.
They knew this would benefit Yang Mu You, but had no choice. They couldn’t let the Japanese rampage around China at will before escaping unscathed.
As for Yang Mu You, Ruan Zhan just had Wan Li pretend to investigate a little and then pretend not to know anything. He had his own plans. There was no need to persist in this matter.
On the other hand, the Matsui family was the biggest loser this time. For the sake of an unformed shikigami, they ended up with one dead and one crippled. According to Matsui Noriko’s full confession, only the Matsui father and son had fully comprehended the profundities of the Yinyang Path. This meant that following this, the Matsui family would completely decline.
In the mountains, Xiao Xia had inadvertently injured the three Yuki-Onna via ambush and Ruan Zhan’s talismans. The three Yuki-Onna had been heavily injured, which meant Matsui Shigenori was as well. There had indeed been a little hut in the mountains that they had found in advance. They had hidden there to cast the spell. They had assumed the blizzard was the heavens helping them, but Xiao Xia ended up ruining their plans.
Seeing the Yuki-Onna unlikely to recover and the evil Japanese spirit’s root injured by Ruan Zhan, the Matsui father and son had despicably betrayed the contract and fed the Yuki-Onna to the evil spirit so it could recover. At the same time, the dead Matsui Shigenori and the evil spirit was placed into the tooth of Matsui Iwane’s own shikigami…the ghost hound.
His corpse was thrown into Xiaowang Village to cause a disturbance and trap their opponents. After arriving at the morgue, he used the sissy’s help to resurrect himself and absorb the nurses’ yang energy. He temporarily became a zombie and planned to truly resurrect in the future.
To help him recover faster without any ill effects, Matsui Iwane had been forced to transfer his own strength to his son. This included allowing him to inherit his shikigami. The process was called the “ghost inheritance technique” in the Yinyang Arts. This made Matsui Iwane unusually weak, giving Wan Li an opportunity. They had planned things out well, but didn’t expect Matsui Shigenori and the ghost hound to still lose to Ruan Zhan. Matsui Iwane had been too smart for his own good, and ended up with such an outcome!
“Shall we start, supreme justice?” Wan Li had been busy for half the day, and was actually covered in sweat on this winter day. “I don’t want to enter this house anymore. The load-bearing wall of the basement has a huge hole. Although it’ll be fine temporarily, it might collapse at any moment.”
“Is everything ready?”
“Yes.” Ruan Zhan pulled out a cable from the room and connected it to a TV and DVD player. He then put the tattered banner in an unobstructed place.
“Isn’t this a little perverse?” Now that the moment had come, Xiao Xia was a little hesitant.
She had hated the Japanese ghosts, but now they seemed a little pitiful.
“Hey, you’re the one who came up with this perverted method.” Wan Li said. “Are you saying we should let them go? Let me tell you, some people will never repent. What was the saying? They won’t shed tears until they see their coffin.”
Xiao Xia looked at Ruan Zhan.
He understood her very well. She had a soft heart. Although she could curse viciously, she often couldn’t bear to do the deed.
“Think of it this way.” He explained gently. “You’re a lawyer, so you should know many people who get sentenced are actually very kind. However, they must take responsibility for their actions. A life for a life, and debts must be repaid. Someone might have their own reasons in committing a crime, but it doesn’t give them an excuse to harm other people. Furthermore, these two, or rather three, souls did not turn good after dying, and showed no remorse at all. They must suffer a little, understand?”
Xiao Xia hesitated for a moment and finally nodded with a pale face. “That’s right. This is justice. I can pity them, but did they ever feel pity for their victims? If I let them off, what about those innocent couples that were harmed? Would Lazy Three agree to it?”
“Exactly. It isn’t good to use violence to deal with violence. However, whether one can deal with someone morally still depends on that person’s attitude, right?” Wan Li also spoke up to comfort her.
Xiao Xia gritted her teeth and finally nodded.
Seeing this, Run Zhan raised the tattered banner and in the blink of an eye, the faintly red metal banner’s surface projecting two black shadows.
“Release me!” A gloomy male voice roared.
It was Matsui Shigenori. His powers had been profound in life, and his spirit was also more ferocious than others in death.
“See? This is called unrepentant in death!” Wan Li harrumphed, turning on the TV and DVD player and inserting a disc. “Come, ghosts. Let big sis Yue Xiao Xia teach a class.” Wan Li laughed jokingly. “Perhaps student Matsui has already learned this before. He was unable to graduate and had to repeat the year. We’ll help our new student here catch up. Good thing you’re a spirit and can understand our language.”
Before he finished speaking, recordings of Japanese soldiers running rampant in China appeared on the TV screen.
Xiao Xia cleared her throat.
She had seen recordings of Japanese war criminals on trial. She wished she had been born then, and wished she had been a lawyer so she could speak up passionately for the many lives lost under the Japanese invaders. Unexpectedly, she was able to preside over such a trial today, although the accused were two Japanese spirits. However, they had also committed heavy sins and needed to be sentenced accordingly.
“What are your thoughts after seeing this?” She started to speak. “Are you very smug at having bullied Chinese people in the past!? It seems you don’t have the slightest hint of regret. But there’s a saying in China: momentary success or failure depends on power and advantage, but legacies are built upon emotion and reason. Unreasonable matters will never persist. Violence will never subdue a nation, especially a people has great as that of China. Therefore, you who run amok will incur lamentable outcomes. Take a look at this….” She pointed at the screen. A mushroom cloud burst forth. “This was a disaster for the Japanese back then. However, for the nations and people who had been invaded, it was a sort of blessing!”
She stopped speaking at this moment because the recording had its own narration. Then, the screen displayed Japan’s surrender and the trial of Tokyo. Matsui Shigenori suddenly fell silent at this, and watched dejectedly. The combined evil spirit started struggling desperately, making the banner vibrate.
He seemed unreconciled and frightened. He never expected his strong motherland to suffer such a tragic defeat. His emperor and the high military officials were put on trial like a bunch of villains!
The time for Xiao Xia’s trial was limited so the DVD had been cut and edited. It showed the tragic aftermath of Japan after being struck by the nuclear bombs. It then showed disgrace of their generals being put on trial as some pretended to be insane and others looked terrified. These were heavy blows to the two ghosts who had initially put on threatening appearances! Things slowly fell silent. Then, another mushroom cloud appeared on the screen.
“This one was made by us here in China. We’ve already become one of the five great permanent members of the United Nation’s Security Council!” Xiao Xia said proudly. “It’s impossible for you to understand this. It means we get two vetoes in any vote. That’s a huge amount of influence. It means…”
Wan Li coughed, afraid Xiao Xia was going to preach international politics at the two ghosts.
“Regardless, your Japan has put in a lot of effort in trying to become a member, but has never succeeded.”
“It’s because they didn’t placate China properly.” Wan Li added.
“Enough!” Matsui Shigenori cried out in anger, but his pride was now gone. The evil spirit was completely shocked by the information. He had been buried inside the wall all this time and had no idea of the massive changes the world had undergone. Savagery turned to frailty. The previously bullied was now standing tall and straight!
Everything it knew had turned to ash in an instant. There was nothing more severe than mental punishment. It made him despair even more.
But Xiao Xia ignored this and continued to speak: “Japanese people do have money now. You could say that if they wanted to, they could become a war machine within three months. But the question is, are you guys able to do it? Would your masters agree? Although China isn’t perfect yet, at least we can make our own decisions. We don’t need anyone’s permission or approval. The two of you…Ruan Zhan, what’s that saying you always use?” Xiao Xia asked.
“Death is just the beginning!”
“That’s right. For kindhearted people, death is just another sort of beginning. It’s just like the migration of plants, from one leaf to another. There will always be regrowth. However, for those filled with evil, death is just the start of their punishment. It is a just trial followed by an eternal sentence, forever atoning for sins. There are countless centuries waiting for you, inescapable unless you truly repent. Otherwise, even if you manage to reincarnate, it’ll probably be as a lower lifeform. It’ll make you feel like being completely destroyed is a wonderful blessing.” Xiao Xia concluded her speech to the silent spirits.
Then came all sorts of mental blows. There were recordings that denounced them repeatedly played until the sun was about to rise.
The two ghosts started stirring restlessly. Everyone knew ghosts weren’t able to bear the sunlight, but from the three people’s attitude and the position of the banner, they were clearly going to expose them to the sun.
Sunlight was a beautiful thing. The moment it rose above the horizon, it carried an incomparable splendor that seemed to illuminate every dark corner.
But for things that couldn’t stand the sunlight, it was the most terrifying thing. Its rays signified that their end had come.
“No, not like this. Please!” It wasn’t clear who was shouting anymore as two voices rang out with sobs and howls of despair.
The sun gradually approached and started getting bright. Within the garden of the love motel, tragic cries and sobs sounded continuously. In the end, Xiao Xia wasn’t able to stand it and covered her ears, hiding behind Wan Li.
“Spare us, we were wrong. Give us another chance! Ahh….”
The sun passed over the walls and gradually touched the tip of the tattered banner. The banner was made of metal and the two spirits cried out as if being burned. They might have been able to endure if they still held faith in their hearts.
“Only a woman could think of this. Putting ghosts out in the sun.” Wan Li teased Xiao Xia, also faintly unable to bear it. “That’s why they say never to provoke a woman!”
Ruan Zhan looked at Xiao Xia and saw she didn’t dare look or listen at all. He stepped up and put the banner away.
“Letting them go?” Wan Li asked.
“Says who? Turning them to ash is letting them off too lightly! Their spirit roots are thoroughly injured and they won’t be able to do evil anymore. Therefore, we should send them to where they belong.” He looked at the banner which had returned to its ordinary appearance. “There is still more suffering for them to come!”
“Really?”
“I don’t know what it’s like over there. However, that place definitely has its own laws. You forget, death is just a sort of beginning.”
Why would they not get rid of it…
Translator’s notes: End of book 4. Some iffy parts in this chapter. I think this book was written around 2006 or something like that. Sorry for the irregular updates. I’ll try my best to return to my previous posting schedule for the next book. Maybe a few days of break to prepare. Thank for reading up to this point!
*****
Ruan Zhan had rushed to learn the space-warping technique so he still needed to know his destination in order to teleport. Since he had never been to the public hospital, he could only pick the nearby hotel before walking over.
After turning invisible, they immediately found Wan Li. The latter was pacing worriedly, two unconscious people next to him.
“Looks like another close victory!” Wan Li looked Ruan Zhan over. “And Looks like you took quite the beating.”
“Less lip or I’ll turn you into a mute!”
Xiao Xia knew this was their weird way of expression friendship so she didn’t mind it. She just walked over to inspect Matsui Noriko. She saw a purple patch on her face as she lay unconscious.
“Wan Li! You hit a woman!”
Wan Li shook his head profoundly. “You aren’t aware of the interesting details involved. But it isn’t convenient to discuss here. We have to clean things up first.”
He walked over and pulled Matsui Iwane up. Only then did Ruan Zhan and Xiao Xia realize the old man’s eyes were open the entire time. However, his gaze was sluggish.
“What’s wrong with him?” Xiao Xia asked.
“No idea.” Wan Li relaxed his grip and Matsui Iwane lay back down. “I merely knocked him out. When he awoke, he became like this. Ah Zhan, take a look and see if he’s faking it. Based on my years of medical experience, I don’t think he is.”
Ruan Zhan walked over and put his hand over Matsui Iwane’s heart for a while. “It doesn’t seem like it. However, his breath is unsteady. Does it have something to do with him faking his illness?”
“That’s indeed the case.” Wan Li nodded. “He’s really an expert. He’s able to control his body’s condition and even fool medical instruments. However, his powers and abilities seem to have been completely drained. He was knocked out in a single blow. Then, his vitals all returned to normal.”
“Well, that explains it. This is also a form of backlash.” Ruan Zhan finally understood what was going on. “He violated the laws of the human body, and then reverted back to normal while he was unconscious. It’s impossible for this not to cause any damage.”
“So he’s suffering from brain damage…” Before Wan Li finished speaking, he heard a groan. It was Matsui Noriko, but the voice was male. This gave Xiao Xia a fright.
“Go deal with the rest first. I’ll handle things here.” Wan Li had a plan.
During their brief encounter, he had sensed this crossdresser was extremely weak. Therefore, he was going to use a mental attack to deal with the problems here.
Although Xiao Xia was extremely puzzled, she was pulled away by Ruan Zhan.
Cleaning up the aftermath was no simple task. The three of them were busy for over three hours before managing to finish up before dawn. Ruan Zhan and Xiao Xia used the space-warping technique to bring the three nurses and Matsui Shigenori’s corpse back. The corpse was returned to the morgue. The unconscious nurses were all sent to the admin building.
Ruan Zhan had already forced out the evil influence within them. However, since they had their yang energy absorbed and yin energy had invaded their bodies, along with the wounds suffered from struggling with Xiao Xia, they wouldn’t recover for a period of time. However, they ultimately retained their lives.
But how to explain why they were randomly attacked and moved to the admin building, and the various tools and the fetus beside them?1 Xiao Yu who had been on call was knocked unconscious and had fallen in front of the office door. They all ended up being hypnotized by Ruan Zhan to forget the little they knew, becoming completely unaware of the matter. Of course there was also Sis Wang’s partial memory.
Ruan Zhan almost collapsed after dealing with all this, but it had been necessary. He wasn’t trying to abuse his powers and control others. No one had the right to do something like that. But knowing these things would only bring them trouble and harm. It was better for them to be unaware.
Of course there was no perfect explanation for the events. It would remain an unresolved mystery in their minds. However, strange things happened every day in this world. It was fine for there to be one or two more cases!
After confirming Matsui Iwane had indeed lost his mind, Wan Li started threatening the frail “Matsui Noriko”. He mentioned the China’s laws and China’s magic arts, and vividly described the powerful Matsui Shigenori and his shikigami’s death as though he had been present. The sissy was scared into blurting out many secrets, resolving their remaining doubts. The next day, she took the soulless corpse and the mindless old man who could no longer do evil back to Japan.
After the matter, Wan Li would often brag that he should become an interrogator for the public security bureau.
The three grand victors hurried back to Xiaowang Village before dawn to act as good citizens. Luckily, no one asked about the wounds on Ruan Zhan’s face and body.
Once everything was settled three days later, Xiao Xia decided to hold a proper trial for the ghosts inside the tattered banner. The location was the flowerbed of the love motel in the middle of the night.
The love motel had been shut for a long time. No one had noticed the events of that night. Therefore, the place was completely deserted. Ruan Zhan just had to warp space, add a formation on the outside and no one would be any wiser!
Prior to this, they had already investigated this matter thoroughly.
There was no need to mention why the evil spirit had such a form and why it tried to harm others. Ruan Zhan had seen it first hand and explained it to the other two. As for Yang Mu You’s relationship with the Matsui family, everyone figured Ruan Zhan’s theory was very close to the truth. Furthermore, they guessed Kenji Ganmura had come to China to learn magic from him.
After Yang Mu You was defeated after resurrecting last time, they didn’t know who his current physical host was. What method was he using to preserve his life? But there was no doubt he had used these Japanese people, and they had been happy to be used by him. They had definitely not been unaware, but followed along for the sake of their supreme two-in-one shikigami.
Such a good seed was truly too rare. Therefore, their greed still forced them to come despite knowing they were being used. If they were resentful about it, they might have taken revenge on Yang Mu You in the future.
The Japanese were defeated and Yang Mu You failed to get revenge on Ruan Zhan. However, he had used Ruan Zhan to get rid of the Matsui family’s threat, and gotten some more information on the extent of his powers. Ultimately, he was still the biggest winner. If he had been secretly observing, he might even have noticed the spirit rebirth technique should be easier. It could be done by absorbing people’s yang energy without harming them.
The Matsui family felt their rebirth technique went against the heavens. There were extremely few who were able to use it. Those that could also wouldn’t use it to avoid death by aging. They would only use it if they died in battle. Therefore, members of their family all had normal lifespans. Currently, of the Matsui father and son, one was dead and the other mindless. Perhaps Yang Mu You was now the only one who still knew a flawed version of that technique in the world.
They knew this would benefit Yang Mu You, but had no choice. They couldn’t let the Japanese rampage around China at will before escaping unscathed.
As for Yang Mu You, Ruan Zhan just had Wan Li pretend to investigate a little and then pretend not to know anything. He had his own plans. There was no need to persist in this matter.
On the other hand, the Matsui family was the biggest loser this time. For the sake of an unformed shikigami, they ended up with one dead and one crippled. According to Matsui Noriko’s full confession, only the Matsui father and son had fully comprehended the profundities of the Yinyang Path. This meant that following this, the Matsui family would completely decline.
In the mountains, Xiao Xia had inadvertently injured the three Yuki-Onna via ambush and Ruan Zhan’s talismans. The three Yuki-Onna had been heavily injured, which meant Matsui Shigenori was as well. There had indeed been a little hut in the mountains that they had found in advance. They had hidden there to cast the spell. They had assumed the blizzard was the heavens helping them, but Xiao Xia ended up ruining their plans.
Seeing the Yuki-Onna unlikely to recover and the evil Japanese spirit’s root injured by Ruan Zhan, the Matsui father and son had despicably betrayed the contract and fed the Yuki-Onna to the evil spirit so it could recover. At the same time, the dead Matsui Shigenori and the evil spirit was placed into the tooth of Matsui Iwane’s own shikigami…the ghost hound.
His corpse was thrown into Xiaowang Village to cause a disturbance and trap their opponents. After arriving at the morgue, he used the sissy’s help to resurrect himself and absorb the nurses’ yang energy. He temporarily became a zombie and planned to truly resurrect in the future.
To help him recover faster without any ill effects, Matsui Iwane had been forced to transfer his own strength to his son. This included allowing him to inherit his shikigami. The process was called the “ghost inheritance technique” in the Yinyang Arts. This made Matsui Iwane unusually weak, giving Wan Li an opportunity. They had planned things out well, but didn’t expect Matsui Shigenori and the ghost hound to still lose to Ruan Zhan. Matsui Iwane had been too smart for his own good, and ended up with such an outcome!
“Shall we start, supreme justice?” Wan Li had been busy for half the day, and was actually covered in sweat on this winter day. “I don’t want to enter this house anymore. The load-bearing wall of the basement has a huge hole. Although it’ll be fine temporarily, it might collapse at any moment.”
“Is everything ready?”
“Yes.” Ruan Zhan pulled out a cable from the room and connected it to a TV and DVD player. He then put the tattered banner in an unobstructed place.
“Isn’t this a little perverse?” Now that the moment had come, Xiao Xia was a little hesitant.
She had hated the Japanese ghosts, but now they seemed a little pitiful.
“Hey, you’re the one who came up with this perverted method.” Wan Li said. “Are you saying we should let them go? Let me tell you, some people will never repent. What was the saying? They won’t shed tears until they see their coffin.”
Xiao Xia looked at Ruan Zhan.
He understood her very well. She had a soft heart. Although she could curse viciously, she often couldn’t bear to do the deed.
“Think of it this way.” He explained gently. “You’re a lawyer, so you should know many people who get sentenced are actually very kind. However, they must take responsibility for their actions. A life for a life, and debts must be repaid. Someone might have their own reasons in committing a crime, but it doesn’t give them an excuse to harm other people. Furthermore, these two, or rather three, souls did not turn good after dying, and showed no remorse at all. They must suffer a little, understand?”
Xiao Xia hesitated for a moment and finally nodded with a pale face. “That’s right. This is justice. I can pity them, but did they ever feel pity for their victims? If I let them off, what about those innocent couples that were harmed? Would Lazy Three agree to it?”
“Exactly. It isn’t good to use violence to deal with violence. However, whether one can deal with someone morally still depends on that person’s attitude, right?” Wan Li also spoke up to comfort her.
Xiao Xia gritted her teeth and finally nodded.
Seeing this, Run Zhan raised the tattered banner and in the blink of an eye, the faintly red metal banner’s surface projecting two black shadows.
“Release me!” A gloomy male voice roared.
It was Matsui Shigenori. His powers had been profound in life, and his spirit was also more ferocious than others in death.
“See? This is called unrepentant in death!” Wan Li harrumphed, turning on the TV and DVD player and inserting a disc. “Come, ghosts. Let big sis Yue Xiao Xia teach a class.” Wan Li laughed jokingly. “Perhaps student Matsui has already learned this before. He was unable to graduate and had to repeat the year. We’ll help our new student here catch up. Good thing you’re a spirit and can understand our language.”
Before he finished speaking, recordings of Japanese soldiers running rampant in China appeared on the TV screen.
Xiao Xia cleared her throat.
She had seen recordings of Japanese war criminals on trial. She wished she had been born then, and wished she had been a lawyer so she could speak up passionately for the many lives lost under the Japanese invaders. Unexpectedly, she was able to preside over such a trial today, although the accused were two Japanese spirits. However, they had also committed heavy sins and needed to be sentenced accordingly.
“What are your thoughts after seeing this?” She started to speak. “Are you very smug at having bullied Chinese people in the past!? It seems you don’t have the slightest hint of regret. But there’s a saying in China: momentary success or failure depends on power and advantage, but legacies are built upon emotion and reason. Unreasonable matters will never persist. Violence will never subdue a nation, especially a people has great as that of China. Therefore, you who run amok will incur lamentable outcomes. Take a look at this….” She pointed at the screen. A mushroom cloud burst forth. “This was a disaster for the Japanese back then. However, for the nations and people who had been invaded, it was a sort of blessing!”
She stopped speaking at this moment because the recording had its own narration. Then, the screen displayed Japan’s surrender and the trial of Tokyo. Matsui Shigenori suddenly fell silent at this, and watched dejectedly. The combined evil spirit started struggling desperately, making the banner vibrate.
He seemed unreconciled and frightened. He never expected his strong motherland to suffer such a tragic defeat. His emperor and the high military officials were put on trial like a bunch of villains!
The time for Xiao Xia’s trial was limited so the DVD had been cut and edited. It showed the tragic aftermath of Japan after being struck by the nuclear bombs. It then showed disgrace of their generals being put on trial as some pretended to be insane and others looked terrified. These were heavy blows to the two ghosts who had initially put on threatening appearances! Things slowly fell silent. Then, another mushroom cloud appeared on the screen.
“This one was made by us here in China. We’ve already become one of the five great permanent members of the United Nation’s Security Council!” Xiao Xia said proudly. “It’s impossible for you to understand this. It means we get two vetoes in any vote. That’s a huge amount of influence. It means…”
Wan Li coughed, afraid Xiao Xia was going to preach international politics at the two ghosts.
“Regardless, your Japan has put in a lot of effort in trying to become a member, but has never succeeded.”
“It’s because they didn’t placate China properly.” Wan Li added.
“Enough!” Matsui Shigenori cried out in anger, but his pride was now gone. The evil spirit was completely shocked by the information. He had been buried inside the wall all this time and had no idea of the massive changes the world had undergone. Savagery turned to frailty. The previously bullied was now standing tall and straight!
Everything it knew had turned to ash in an instant. There was nothing more severe than mental punishment. It made him despair even more.
But Xiao Xia ignored this and continued to speak: “Japanese people do have money now. You could say that if they wanted to, they could become a war machine within three months. But the question is, are you guys able to do it? Would your masters agree? Although China isn’t perfect yet, at least we can make our own decisions. We don’t need anyone’s permission or approval. The two of you…Ruan Zhan, what’s that saying you always use?” Xiao Xia asked.
“Death is just the beginning!”
“That’s right. For kindhearted people, death is just another sort of beginning. It’s just like the migration of plants, from one leaf to another. There will always be regrowth. However, for those filled with evil, death is just the start of their punishment. It is a just trial followed by an eternal sentence, forever atoning for sins. There are countless centuries waiting for you, inescapable unless you truly repent. Otherwise, even if you manage to reincarnate, it’ll probably be as a lower lifeform. It’ll make you feel like being completely destroyed is a wonderful blessing.” Xiao Xia concluded her speech to the silent spirits.
Then came all sorts of mental blows. There were recordings that denounced them repeatedly played until the sun was about to rise.
The two ghosts started stirring restlessly. Everyone knew ghosts weren’t able to bear the sunlight, but from the three people’s attitude and the position of the banner, they were clearly going to expose them to the sun.
Sunlight was a beautiful thing. The moment it rose above the horizon, it carried an incomparable splendor that seemed to illuminate every dark corner.
But for things that couldn’t stand the sunlight, it was the most terrifying thing. Its rays signified that their end had come.
“No, not like this. Please!” It wasn’t clear who was shouting anymore as two voices rang out with sobs and howls of despair.
The sun gradually approached and started getting bright. Within the garden of the love motel, tragic cries and sobs sounded continuously. In the end, Xiao Xia wasn’t able to stand it and covered her ears, hiding behind Wan Li.
“Spare us, we were wrong. Give us another chance! Ahh….”
The sun passed over the walls and gradually touched the tip of the tattered banner. The banner was made of metal and the two spirits cried out as if being burned. They might have been able to endure if they still held faith in their hearts.
“Only a woman could think of this. Putting ghosts out in the sun.” Wan Li teased Xiao Xia, also faintly unable to bear it. “That’s why they say never to provoke a woman!”
Ruan Zhan looked at Xiao Xia and saw she didn’t dare look or listen at all. He stepped up and put the banner away.
“Letting them go?” Wan Li asked.
“Says who? Turning them to ash is letting them off too lightly! Their spirit roots are thoroughly injured and they won’t be able to do evil anymore. Therefore, we should send them to where they belong.” He looked at the banner which had returned to its ordinary appearance. “There is still more suffering for them to come!”
“Really?”
“I don’t know what it’s like over there. However, that place definitely has its own laws. You forget, death is just a sort of beginning.”
Why would they not get rid of it…