Chapter Thirty-One: Soul Fiend of the Dead

Fu Yang looked a little disappointed. “So it’s not that powerful after all. And you kept saying my queen is a legendary ghost king…”

“A spirit and a physical body are separated by a boundary. If someone is strong enough, they can break through it. That night by the forest lake, I lost consciousness and was in danger. The ghostly energy bestowed upon you by your ghost queen burst from your crown and shattered half the skull of that troublesome ghost prince. Let me ask you, did it recover on the spot?”

Fu Yang wasn’t sure why Ah Huang’s thoughts suddenly jumped to this, but he recalled carefully and shook his head. “No.”

Ah Huang swung his fist energetically. “Exactly!”

But then he hugged his head with force. “Damn! Why am I getting excited? I’ve discovered the truth, but things have just gotten more complicated!”

He rubbed his hair so hard it turned into a messy nest, his expression wilting.

Fu Yang was speechless, grabbing his collar and shaking him hard. “Damn, are you possessed? You’re muttering to yourself and flailing around like a lunatic. What did you figure out? Explain it clearly.”

So Ah Huang shared his conjecture…

It turns out, after a person dies, their body and soul separate.

Under certain circumstances, both have a chance to become malevolent entities!

The body may turn into walking corpses or zombies, the soul could become a fierce ghost... but these are completely different. Usually, zombies are physical entities, fierce ghosts are spiritual.

Spiritual entities harm people mainly through illusions, deception, intimidation, and the more powerful ones attack the soul.

Physical entities simply kill, attacking the body.

The same logic applies when exorcists and Daoists hunt them down.

Except for some special cases or those with immense strength, it’s generally hard to break the boundary between spirit and flesh.

The water fiend corpse belongs to the former; the violent ghostly energy left in Fu Yang’s body by Dong Weike belongs to the latter!

But here’s the problem.

That night by the lake, Ah Huang fainted, and Fu Yang was about to be killed.

Dong Weike’s ghostly energy burst forth and shattered half the head of the ghost prince boy, yet it didn’t immediately regenerate. If it were a spiritual entity, visually it shouldn’t have manifested this way.

Recalling all the signs, Ah Huang could almost confirm: the ghost prince boy battling by the lake that night belonged to the physical category!

“Physical ghosts typically have no soul within. So, even if zombies are abnormally strong, they have no intellect, merely machines of slaughter! But the ghost prince of the forest isn’t like that—clearly a physical body, yet possessing intelligence. This means... it’s a very rare soul corpse demon!”

Soul corpse demon?

Just hearing the name chilled Fu Yang.

“Yes! Soul corpse demon,” Ah Huang nodded firmly.

“Only under extreme circumstances does such a malevolence arise. Of the three souls and seven spirits, two souls and six spirits depart the body and become fierce ghosts. The remaining one soul and one spirit stay within the corpse and undergo transformation, the powerful ones becoming something akin to a zombie! The soul and body train separately, and once they merge as one, forming a soul corpse demon, their strength rivals a ghost king!”

Fu Yang started to understand.

“So, you’re saying that the creature repelled by my queen’s ghostly energy by the lake was actually an intelligent zombie? The real ghost prince never appeared.”

“Exactly! That ghost prince’s soul must be hiding elsewhere, cultivating, releasing the zombified body first to test us.”

Fu Yang’s face changed.

He realized why Ah Huang had been so conflicted and anxious: just the body retaining one soul and one spirit nearly got them both killed. How powerful must the main body with two souls and six spirits be?

If they merge into a soul corpse demon, it would spell their doom!

“In the history known to Daoism, whenever a soul corpse demon appears, it’s a disaster of blood and carnage—countless deaths. The last one surfaced in the countryside of southern Sichuan, wiping out three villages and over five hundred people.”

Fu Yang’s eyes widened in terror.

He could hardly believe, in these peaceful times, something so horrifying could happen! It was practically a massacre.

And that was in the countryside—if a soul corpse demon appeared in the heart of a big city like River City...

He and Ah Huang exchanged a glance. Both shivered, feeling chilled to the bone.

“Damn! That’s terrifying. Good thing I didn’t drink water earlier, or I’d have wet myself now…”

“Shut up! Stop fooling around.”

Ah Huang spoke quietly, “Do you know? The condition for soul and body to unite into a soul corpse demon is the souls of seven yin women! When I saw the birth dates of the two previous victims at the police station—midnight of the seventh lunar month fifteenth—I felt uneasy. Today, I finally pieced it together. My master had mentioned yin women when talking about soul corpse demons.”

At this point, the cause and effect behind the River City University girls’ drowning case had become clear…

The university’s forest was once a mass grave during the war and a disordered burial ground in the republic era, haunted daily. Later, under the guidance of a mysterious expert, the forest and the lake were built to suppress the evil. But for unknown reasons, a terrifying ghost prince still arose!

This ghost prince had great fortune, both body and soul trained separately, becoming a formidable, malevolent entity.

To merge into one and become a soul corpse demon, it controlled the water fiend corpse to slaughter yin women and seize their souls.

Fu Yang and Ah Huang had been drawn into this by fate, unable to extricate themselves. It was a coincidence... or perhaps destiny!

Fu Yang glanced at Qin Mei, sleeping in the room, then thought of the lost dog and the innocent classmates who died. He clenched his fists, his gaze determined. “We can’t just sit and wait! It’s time to take the initiative.”

He pulled the still-confused Ah Huang to his feet. “You’re a skilled Daoist! Even as an ordinary person, I didn’t flinch or fear. What are you afraid of? We need to do two things now.”

“What two things?”

“First, tell Shan-shan’s side to hurry up, no more delays. No matter what, the day after tomorrow we need professional personnel and diving equipment ready! We need to check the bottom of the forest lake. Maybe the ghost prince boy’s body is down there.”

Ah Huang nodded.

“Right! If we destroy the body, it can’t merge into a soul corpse demon. That would greatly reduce the harm it can cause.”

“Second, I don’t know Daoist arts, but I can guess: to suppress a mass grave and burial ground combination this terrifying, simply building the forest and lake isn’t enough! That mysterious expert from the republic era likely left a sealing formation in the forest…”

With Fu Yang’s calm reasoning, Ah Huang’s eyes grew brighter, his whole demeanor revived.

“Exactly! A yin site of this caliber must have a Daoist formation sealing it. If we find it, attack from both ends, we can eradicate this malignant tumor!”

He grabbed Fu Yang’s shoulders excitedly. “Damn, you’re the ghost king’s man—meticulous and logical. I think you’d be great at Daoist cultivation. From now on, I won’t call you a pretty boy living off a woman anymore…”

“Screw you!”