Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Xue Zhao advanced a few steps and recognized the teenager kneeling in the rain as none other than Xiu Jixin.

He appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen years old, his clothes torn in several places, particularly across his back.

Beneath the ragged fabric, numerous bloody, whip-like lacerations marred his skin, leaving scarcely any untouched.

Blood mingled with the rain, gradually staining the ground crimson.

Xue Zhao watched, horrified, wanting to draw closer, but found herself unable to advance further.

Suddenly, another voice echoed in her dream, seemingly from an upper floor.

The distance must have been considerable, yet the words were remarkably clear.

"He injured Xiao Qi so severely; he deserved punishment. But now you've wounded him like this again…"

Another voice responded, "His situation is unique; I had no other recourse."

Their conversation revealed that Xiu Jixin had clashed with another apprentice. His temper was volatile and quick to ignite; he had even beaten someone half to death over a mere disagreement.

Upon learning of this, Xiu Jixin's master had whipped him with an iron whip as chastisement and ordered him to kneel in the rain all night in reflection.

"Sigh, if only I had known… I never should have taken him in."

"Don't speak like that. He possesses extraordinary talent and is a promising individual. If he can successfully refine his character, he is destined for greatness."

"But he was born with an ominous aura… If he fails to overcome it, I fear he will become a scourge."

"What then? We should still try our best and not give up easily."

Soon, the dreamscape continued to shift, moving forward in time.

As an apprentice, Xiu Jixin possessed extraordinary talent, far exceeding his peers.

However, the Heavenly Masters and other apprentices were all aware of his unique nature. They usually dared not provoke him, often giving him a wide berth when they met.

Beyond essential interactions, Xiu Jixin had no companions.

He seemed indifferent to this, and when he became old enough to undertake missions, he would venture out alone.

Yet, due to his peculiar constitution, even ghosts dared not approach him, fleeing as soon as they caught a whiff of his aura from a distance.

Ghosts are exceptionally sensitive to malevolent energy. Even if Xiu Jixin used talismans or other means to conceal his aura—rendering it undetectable by humans, other creatures, or even a compass—ghosts could still sense a faint anomaly.

Ghosts unafraid of innate malevolent energy were rare, and those too weak to react quickly were not worth the effort of capturing.

Consequently, despite Xiu Jixin's formidable power, for a considerable period, he failed to capture a single ghost.

Either they detected his aura and fled far away, escaping to territories governed by other Heavenly Masters—a fate even earth-bound ghosts shared.

Or they were simply too weak, and before Xiu Jixin could even make a move, the malevolent energy itself would disperse their souls.

When Heavenly Masters capture ghosts, they typically bring them back for spiritual salvation, rarely resorting to direct annihilation.

After all, ghosts were once human, and some had endured immense suffering before death. They ought to be handled with peaceful means; otherwise, it would invite karmic retribution.

Without bringing the ghost back, the mission remained incomplete.

Unable to complete tasks and lacking assistance from companions, Xiu Jixin gradually began to explore an alternative method.

—Using suitable humans as bait to set traps.

This approach proved highly effective, and he even devised formations to ensure the bait's safety.

However, when the elders discovered his methods, they naturally forbade them.

Predictably, Xiu Jixin was once again severely punished.

Xue Zhao found him covered in injuries, locked in the basement for three days and three nights.

Xiu Jixin's master, one of the elders, explained that Xiu Jixin was emotionally detached from others and excessively aggressive. He believed that only such severe punishment could be effective when Xiu Jixin erred.

Subsequently, Xiu Jixin did abandon his previous ghost-catching techniques, but he became even more unrestrained.

He often neglected tasks, and even when he accepted them, he rarely completed them, his actions dictated solely by his mood and luck.

Upon encountering powerful ghosts, regardless of their location, he would sometimes kill them outright if he found them bothersome.

This behavior led to continuous punishment, causing others to deliberately avoid him even more.

In her dreams, Xue Zhao most frequently saw Xiu Jixin alone, or silently tending to his injuries.

No one, not even ghosts, willingly approached him.

His overwhelming malevolent energy also caused ordinary people to instinctively recoil, sensing his powerful aura.

During this period, he had not yet reached adulthood.

Xue Zhao overheard the familiar conversation again. One voice remarked, "What do you think we should do? I'm afraid he's a lost cause!"

Another voice replied, "Well... on the bright side, a lost cause is better than his ferocity growing stronger."

"But his strength is also increasing daily... I had hoped that after a few years of training, he would become the head elder, but now..."

"Don't look so far ahead; let's try other methods."

Since Xiu Jixin always preferred solitude, they forcibly assigned him companions to complete tasks together.

Initially, things proceeded somewhat smoothly. Although others were wary of him, the elders' orders ensured they at least feigned cooperation.

Within the team, Xiu Jixin remained taciturn and gloomy, never initiating interaction with anyone.

After some time, little progress was made. In fact, the team often failed to complete tasks due to Xiu Jixin's peculiar behavior.

Other team members harbored numerous complaints and were reluctant to collaborate with him.

They all knew he possessed an ominous aura from birth and had accumulated negative karma from killing many ghosts. They feared becoming entangled in any karmic repercussions with him.

After another period, a new turning point emerged from a different matter.

In the dream sequence, Xue Zhao witnessed the elders assigning Xiu Jixin's team a mission: to capture a fierce ghost in a specific location and protect the humans there.

Upon reaching their destination, the fierce ghost had not yet appeared, but one of the humans they were protecting was on the verge of death.

That individual had been critically ill for a long time, and due to their unique condition, even before truly dying, the ghostly energy surrounding them was already intensely strong. Upon death, they would undoubtedly transform into a second fierce ghost.

Newly born fierce ghosts are difficult to capture, and the team was understaffed, likely lacking the resources to contend with an additional threat.

Although Xiu Jixin wasn't worried, he found it too much of a bother.

So, he killed the person directly, just before they drew their last breath.

According to his later account, the person was going to die anyway; he merely hastened it by a second.

Piercing the heart with a peach wood dagger, combined with activated array energy, would prevent a malevolent spirit from forming.

However, this was still considered murder, and even malevolent spirits could not be dealt with arbitrarily without the permission of the sect elders.

That time, Xiu Jixin received the harshest punishment.

Again, he was covered in blood, bound by iron chains, and appeared to be on his last breath, eyes closed.

The elder facing him, looking on with a mixture of anger and disappointment, exclaimed, "How could you do such a thing! Are you truly not afraid of death?"

Xiu Jixin opened his eyes, his dark pupils lifting.

The elder inexplicably felt a chill down his spine and genuinely considered killing him on the spot.

He quickly suppressed the thought, turned, and left the cell.

This was a dream generated from the memory of an item spirit, and that elder, who was Xiu Jixin's master, was most likely the item spirit. At that moment, Xue Zhao could clearly perceive his thoughts.

Leaving the cell, he went to find another elder.

"I truly can't manage him... We should just expel him."

"You... really? But what if..."

"Keeping him will only lead to disaster; it's better to cut ties with him sooner!"

To expel Xiu Jixin from the sect, the other elders deliberated once more.

Some also suggested that keeping him locked up and guarded would be the safest option.

However, the duty of a Heavenly Master is to capture and guide spirits; a human should not be treated this way.

If they were to act, it would have to wait until Xiu Jixin died and became a malevolent spirit, or until another unforeseen event forced their hand.

And so, Xiu Jixin was expelled from the Heavenly Master sect.

On the day he left, his injuries hadn't healed yet, his face was somewhat pale, and he departed alone with downcast eyes.

From then on, the scenes in the dream began to diminish, either because they no longer paid attention to Xiu Jixin or couldn't trace his whereabouts.

Not long after, the owner of the memory died unexpectedly in a car crash.

Perhaps because it was an accidental death, Xue Zhao saw the elder's soul emerge and immediately leave the body, trying to find a place to hide.

However, he then ran into Xiu Jixin in a deserted alley.

The soul turned to flee but was trapped by an invisible air wall.

The malevolent energy was too strong, and the newborn soul couldn't withstand it. The elder fell to the ground, crying and screaming in agony.

Xiu Jixin ignored him, slowly stepped closer, and watched the soul dissipate bit by bit.

However, as he was once a Heavenly Master elder, he desperately tried to preserve a trace of his soul, hiding it in a talisman tucked into Xiu Jixin's sleeve, thus becoming an item spirit.

After that, due to the soul's extreme weakness, the elder was rarely lucid.

He dared not let Xiu Jixin notice, and the talisman, carelessly discarded in the compartment, further cut off any contact with the outside world.

In a shadowy corner, Xue Zhao overheard the human-faced talisman muttering curses: "He must be the one who brought about my demise… That menace! That jinx! And he even deliberately tried to eradicate me!"

Suddenly, the dreamscape began to unravel, rewinding.

Xue Zhao found himself back in the initial rainy night, then moved even further back in time.

A younger Xiu Jixin fared no better; he was either ostracized or embroiled in fights, always ending up disciplined.

He had grown up within the Heavenly Master sect but seemed to form no close bonds with anyone, only officially becoming an apprentice at the age of twelve.

As in the first part of the dream, he was always solitary and spoke little.

Going back even further, perhaps to when he was five or six, he had somehow ended up begging on the streets and was coincidentally discovered by the elder.

The elder brought him home, and upon inquiry, discovered he was actually eight, though he appeared younger due to malnutrition.

Despite his tender age, he displayed remarkable talent. The elder, curious about his origins, sent people to investigate.

"Only later did I learn," a voice gently recounted, "that his mother died in childbirth, and his father, blaming him, subjected him to constant beatings and scoldings before also meeting an unexpected end."

"So, you're saying he's a harbinger of misfortune?"

Xue Zhao bowed his head, feeling as though he couldn't breathe. "But…"

He sensed something was amiss but couldn't articulate a rebuttal.

Before arriving on this plane for his mission, Xue Zhao was merely a plant, devoid of human interaction, and thus understood little.

Xiu Jixin had indeed made some mistakes in the past, but seeing him injured or perpetually alone always tugged at Xue Zhao's heart.

Moreover, he had never once harmed Xue Zhao…

Xue Zhao vaguely realized that, for a long time, he was likely the first to genuinely approach Xiu Jixin, whether among humans or spirits.

Even his master, whenever he spoke of him, did so with evident displeasure. Other elders, though sometimes gentler in their words, were equally unwilling to take him under their wing.

"No wonder he couldn't be reformed. What a pity. If only he could have been straightened out even a little…"

"I did my best. If I hadn't brought him back, he would have starved to death on the streets long ago."

The voice faded, growing softer and softer.

The dream scene dissolved, and the talisman floated before Xue Zhao. "I am dying. Take care of yourself."

No sooner had the words been uttered than the entire talisman dissolved into smoke, vanishing completely.

Immediately afterward, Xue Zhao awoke.

He opened his eyes, his breathing slightly ragged.

The room was lit, and outside the window, the sky was dark; it was already night.

Xiu Jixin sat nearby, his gaze quietly fixed on Xue Zhao, eyes downcast.

Xue Zhao slowly sat up, clutching the blanket, and saw that Xiu Jixin held a talisman torn in half.

The talisman was familiar; just as in the dream, it slowly dissolved into smoke.

Xiu Jixin's expression was cold, his state seemingly abnormal, with a faint, wispy black energy emanating from between his brows.

He softly asked, "You know, don't you?"

He had still been careless, never imagining that wisp of remnant soul could hide within the talisman for so long.

It was merely a coincidence that the Day of Seven Killings amplified the ghostly energy, and his brief instability of consciousness allowed the remnant soul to seize its chance.

Xiu Jixin had also witnessed most of the dream through the talisman's permeation.

Xue Zhao was innocent and timid; upon learning his true nature, she would most likely be afraid, perhaps even wish to flee from him.

Author's note:

Xue Bao: (T ^ T)