Chapter 185: May You Come to a Miserable End

He had once thought himself unafraid, yet at that moment he was trembling so violently that his whole body shook. Worse still, not long after the eerie cry rang out, a mass of blue light appeared in the graveyard.

When Tianling saw the blue radiance in the cemetery, not only did he shiver all over, but he also felt a sudden warmth between his legs, and a stream of hot liquid leaked out of him uncontrollably.

After the blue light flashed in the graveyard, it finally took on the shape of a human figure. At the mere sight of that figure, Tianling was so terrified that he lost control of himself, for he knew who it was.

Though some distance away and though it was the dead of night, the figure formed from blue light was wrapped in a faint glow, making it clearly visible to Tianling.

The figure that had suddenly appeared was none other than the first wife of Master Zhang’s household, who had been dead for sixteen years.

After manifesting, the spirit of the first wife hovered half a foot above the ground, with a long strip of flesh dangling from her mouth.

Seeing such a horrifically gruesome sight, Tianling, who had never before encountered a malevolent spirit, was all the more terrified. A person dead for sixteen years appearing before him again, and in such a dreadful form, how could one not be shaken to the core?

Yet when the first wife revealed her spirit form, Yin Mao, who was in the graveyard, was not afraid.

Upon seeing her, he first froze, then, without time to think further, he swung the peach-wood sword with the thunderbolt mark in his right hand and hurled it straight at her spirit.

A scream rang out.

The instant she appeared, the first wife was struck by Yin Mao’s flying sword. The thunderstruck peach-wood blade pierced her spirit body, and with a shriek, she fell to the ground.

Seeing this, Yin Mao did not hesitate in the slightest. He flung out the final talisman Zhou Qing had left him and directly destroyed the fallen first wife.

“I have lived in seclusion in the tomb house and harmed no one. Why must you destroy me? Taoist priest, may you die a miserable death!”

As the spirit of the first wife dissipated, she spoke these words with cold, resentful hatred, and then vanished from heaven and earth.

Hearing such words from the evil spirit before its dissolution, a bad feeling rose in Yin Mao’s heart.

He felt as though he might have slain the wrong apparition. That first wife had looked fierce and terrifying, yet she had only been a blue evil spirit, entirely unlike what he had imagined.

Over the past ten years, he had also destroyed blue evil spirits before, but the spirit causing havoc in the Zhang residence did not seem, in his eyes, to be an ordinary one.

And when he combined that with the spirit’s final words, he became even more convinced that he might have killed the wrong ghost.

But the situation had been far too dangerous. A blue evil spirit had suddenly risen from a mound of earth; if he had not acted first, he might have been badly injured by it.

Thus, without much thought, he had struck down that spirit on the spot. Yet after destroying it, another feeling arose within him.

“Master Yin, you are truly formidable. I had thought Zhang Zhiming was lying to me, but it seems you really do possess extraordinary powers.”

Just as Yin Mao stood in the graveyard, full of doubt, Tianling ran over and showered him with praise.

Those words pulled Yin Mao back to reality. He let out a soft sigh. After staring at the earth mound a few more times, he lit a torch, and the two of them went down the mountain together.

On the way down, he roughly reflected on the evil spirit that had appeared in the graveyard just now, on what it had said, and on what Zhang Zhiming had told them that day at the Zhang residence.

“Did you see clearly the evil spirit from before? Was it Zhang Zhiming’s first wife?”

“Yes. The evil spirit you just destroyed was indeed Zhang Zhiming’s first wife. Although she had been dead for sixteen years, apart from looking somewhat more dreadful, she had not changed much at all.”

After confirming the spirit’s identity once more through Tianling’s words, Yin Mao finally let out a long sigh and no longer wished to think about the matter.

Master Zhang had asked him to take action so that he might eliminate the evil spirit troubling his household, and the spirit he had mentioned was precisely his own first wife.

Just now, he had destroyed the first wife of the Zhang family, who had been dead for sixteen years; that could be considered the completion of Master Zhang’s request. As for the details in between, dwelling on them now was of little use.

Putting aside the stray thoughts in his mind, Yin Mao carried the torch and hurried down the mountain in high spirits. Before long, he and Tianling had returned to the Zhang residence.

In a guest room within the Zhang residence, Zhang Zhiming placed a bag of money on the wooden table beside where Yin Mao was seated and said, “I have troubled Master Yin with this matter. This is the reward we previously agreed upon.”

Taking the bag of silver in his hand and weighing it, Yin Mao tucked it into the cosmos pouch at his side.

“Master Zhang, you said the trouble in your household was caused by your first wife, who passed away sixteen years ago. As your brother-in-law said just now, the evil spirit your first wife became has already vanished from this world. So the matter between us is settled.”

“Yes. Since Master Yin has removed the evil spirit of my legitimate wife, this affair ends here.”

After making everything clear with Zhang Zhiming in the room, Yin Mao rose to take his leave.

Just before stepping out of the door, he suddenly stopped, turned back to look at Zhang Zhiming, and said with a smile, “Master Zhang, you believed this household matter on nothing more than what your brother-in-law said a moment ago?”

“Haha, Master Yin, what sort of words are those? How could I not know your abilities? Your work puts me at ease. I have not the slightest doubt about what you did.”

“Good, very good.”

A strange, eerie smile appeared on Yin Mao’s face. He said “good” twice in succession, then stepped out of the Zhang residence and headed home.

After Yin Mao left, Zhang Zhiming went to the doorway and gazed into the pitch-black night for a long while, muttering to himself, “It seems he saw through it. I cannot let this spread. I must…”

While Zhang Zhiming stood staring into the night and murmuring to himself, a young woman in her early twenties appeared at the doorway holding a lantern.

“Master, it’s so late. Why aren’t you asleep yet? Could it be that you bear to leave me, Xi’er, alone in an empty room?”

The woman stood at the doorway, glanced at Zhang Zhiming, set the lantern down beside the door, and immediately slipped into his arms.

“My little darling, in this bitter cold, why aren’t you lying warm in bed? What brings you here?” Zhang Zhiming wrapped an arm around her, lightly traced the bridge of her delicate nose with his finger, and said, “Very well, my business is finished. Let us go rest.”

The young woman who had appeared was once the renowned courtesan of the city’s Willow Spring House. Half a year earlier, Zhang Zhiming had redeemed her from that establishment and kept her constantly by his side.

Yet he had never taken her as a concubine, because standing in the way was the Second Madam, who ruled the Zhang household with an iron hand.

“Master, now that the Second Madam is dead, when will you marry me? Do you know how many cold looks I have suffered in this house over the past half year, living without proper standing and without rightful recognition? They, they…”