The Tale of the Ghost Eyes Chapter 94 The Dark Daytime (6)

He raised a wizened hand to stop me, "Don't be foolish." He said, finally looking up from the unconscious girl. "You misunderstand. I only meant that you've wasted this jade."

He reached down gingerly and plucked the red ribbon necklace off of her. Holding the brilliant gemstone he said, "I curved this by hand and infused my supernatural air into it. When you wore it, it collected Yang air from your body, changing it slowly into supernatural air within the stone. The longer you wear the stone, the greater your supernatural air. The spirits you've encountered were afraid of you because of this, but now…" He trailed off. "You've given it to someone under the influence of a foul spirit, marring its effect."

I didn't give a damn about the stone, only the girl wearing it. "Master Liu! It's only a stone, is Zhao Yuan going to be okay?"

His eyes sparkled in a peculiar smile. "You're a kind boy." He said quietly. "Don't worry, son. She may have been chilled, but she will be fine. Your stone will have drawn her souls back to her, no matter how far they could've gone."

I loosed a sigh of relief and watched the sleeping girl breathe for a full minute. "So…" I finally asked, "I broke it?"

The old man continued to smile and shook his head. "Only sullied it my dear boy.. From now on you need to wash it every day with water purified by amulet ashes. After forty nine days, the jade will be cleansed."

"What amulet's ashes do I use?" I asked. He gazed at me for a moment and then gestured to the expelling amulet pasted on Zhao Yuan's blanket.

"That one."

Outside the house, Zhao Yuan's family sat and waited with mine. I helped Master Liu up and we walked outside to speak with them. He gave them her prognosis and assigned them to safeguard the house with amulets, treat her bedroom with ashes, and prepare a ginger brew to feed her when she wakes.

"Why her, Master Liu? Zhao Laohei asked looking tired and scared, "Why did it come after my daughter? She had nothing to do with any of this."

Master Liu shook his head and said, "I am not sure. We'll know more after we catch it."

Zhao Yuan awoke the next afternoon. The chill had fled her body and she claimed to remember none of what happened. Zhao Jie and I gave her a brief version, careful not to mention anything too graphic.

She looked horrified nonetheless. "I was possessed?" She finally asked.

We nodded in unison.

Before Zhao Yuan could say more, Master Liu cut in, "Don't speak Zhao Yuan, you need to rest. The spirit didn't pursue you by accident and it may return if we can't catch it in time."

Zhao Laohei darted a nervous look at Master Liu. "Don't worry." Master Liu assuaged him. "I'm here. Even if he returns this very moment, he wouldn't be able to make it through the door."

Everyone sat down for a light lunch when Sima Jie arrived. His clothes were stained and discheveled and there was a sheen of sweat on his head. The long flowing strands of white hair that clung to his mostly bald head were stuck at odd angles in the moisture.

"What is it?" Master Liu asked with real concern in his voice, "Was there trouble?"

Zhao Laohei immediately offered the man his seat and went about making him a cup of tea.

Sima Jie accepted the tea gratefully and drank it down in two loud gulps. "Food," The older man managed, "Please, I need food. Something warm, please. It was desperately cold for a moment there."

The table fell silent. All eyes were on Sima Jie.

Zhao Laohei darted to the counter to prepare something.

"What do you mean cold?" Master Liu asked in a low voice. "Your abilities are…"

Sima Jie shook his head and coughed a laugh, saying, "I didn't catch it. It didn't catch me either. But I followed it for some time."

Everyone leaned in. "Were we right?" Master Liu asked, "Was it a demon or spirit emboldened by the dark day?"

Sima Jie nodded, "Yes. It's the only explanation for a shadow spirit to become red in such short time."

The old man's eyes roamed over everyone before landing on Zhao Yuan. He smiled a grandfatherly smile and chuckled. "Looks like you're feeling better."

We finished our lunch over niceties, speaking no more about the spirit. Later, my family returned to my house. I went with Master Liu and Sima Jie.

Master Liu led the way, guiding our troop far to the south of where we needed to be to get home. As the daylight sailed overhead, we came to the South Mountain. There was a small stream leading to a row of houses cropping up out of red soil. Behind the terrace was a softly sloping hill that tapered into a valley called the Falling Dragon Col. It was said that an old dragon fell into the col many years ago and the fossilized remains of a dragon footprint deep at the bottom proved so. Some legends said the dragon left the col after a brief rest. Others thought the dragon was too old to fly, so it died down there.

"We used to make sketches of the dragon footprint when we were younger." I told Master Liu. "Do you think it's really down there?"

He didn't answer. Sima Jie led the way, and we walked across the South Mountain. We sloped slowly into the Falling Dragon Col.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"Is this Falling Dragon Col, isn't it?" Sima Jie returned.

I nodded.

"The frozen spirit came here and then disappeared. You've got the eyes for it. Have a look around. Tell me if you see any traces of our cool friend. And give us time to rest so we can deal with this catastrophe." Then old man returned.

"What catastrophe?" I asked, "Nothing's happened yet…"

Sima Jie smiled and said, "You'll find out in time. If I tell you now, it won't be one."

I look at him puzzled. The old man smiled back mischievously.

We walked along the stream that ran down the bottom of the valley and looked into the chasm below. That part of the Taihang Mountains wasn't the prettiest area, but it was very high. The mountain wind flew around us in wailing gusts.

Deep into the col we came across a grand stone. The part that had been washed clean and stood out of the ground was at least seven meters high. Standing in front of it, Sima Jie pointed, and then gave a tremendous leap before scrambling up to the top. I watched him in awe.

"This is where I tracked the spirit to. It was here I thought it found me, but it appears I was wrong." He told us.

Master Liu guided me to the top of the stone to join Sima Jie. When all three of us were atop the massive rock, Master Liu pointed out a vague outline that may have been a footprint. "Senior fellow apprentice, do you think these footprints are real? I've explored once before, but I never could tell. There's no record of anything like this."

Sima Jie gave smile and poked at Master Liu with his winkled hands, "Junior fellow apprentice, if you think it's true, then it must be. Use your intuition, and make it clear."

Master Liu nodded and said, "Thank you for your guidance."

"What's guidance?" I asked. Half of what Master Sima said made absolutely no sense to me.

Master Liu rapped me on the head with his knuckles, "True or not true, look around! Is there any trace of the frozen ghost?"

I huffed angrily and I looked around, there wasn't anything of note.

We stood on the Falling Dragon stone for a moment. Sima Jie spoke in a deep serious tone that didn't suit him, "If the legend is true and the demon or spirit has the bones of a dragon, did it become a dragon and call on the dark daytime with its new power?"

Master Liu's face hardened in response, "If it had that opportunity, it could bring down tremendous disaster. If it's not evil, we may be able to talk it down, convince it to follow the path of Taoism."

Sima Jie's bald head bobbed in agreement.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "We're here for a frozen red ghost! What is this about demons and dragons? What does that have to do with anything?"

The col picked up my voice and echoed, "Anything…anything…anything…"

Chapter end