Chapter 59

Chapter 59: Earthquake Part I

Listening to the sounds, the lunch caused indigestion.

The senior students were better off. Over the years, they had traveled to other provinces for tasks, and since this licensing exam came with a mission, their mental preparation was already done. They didn't show much on their faces despite the provocation from Xiang University.

But the junior students weren’t the same.

Liu Tianran and a few others gritted their teeth in anger. At the lunch table, Mingyue noticed the train attendants serving fruits. The senior students didn’t want any, and they were already full of anger.

As one of the parties involved in the midday conflict, Mingyue’s table was also full of heated opinions. The five of them from two rooms were getting more and more upset as they spoke.

"How can they forget who helped them and only remember when they were beaten?"

Jin Yuanbao flipped his tablet to show the others the search results, which displayed an old message page showing how Fengling had sent faculty members to help Xiang University build their spirit academy and improve their puppet arts back in the earlier years:

"Look at this, in the 70s when Xiang University was establishing their spirit academy, we, as a sister school, helped them so much!"

"We sent people and resources, and what about now?"

"They only remember the exam where they beat our school, but forget that we gave them a hand!"

"Who are these people?"

The class leader, usually calm and composed, nodded in agreement:

"Indeed, the puppet arts, which Xiang University is now famous for across the country, were actually perfected in the 80s with Fengling's help."

An Xueru, who hadn’t caught up, asked, “Puppet arts?”

“What’s that? Isn’t Xiang University known for practicing corpse driving?”

Practicing corpse driving.

The rest of the group fell silent.

The two boys who had spoken first burst into laughter.

Jin Yuanbao tapped the tablet and chuckled:

“An Xueru, corpse driving isn’t something that can be mass-produced.”

“It’s a highly demanding skill.”The surroundings were all familiar faces. An Xueru had been hanging out with Mingyue for a long time, and her thick skin had developed over time. She no longer felt embarrassed and continued asking:

"Isn't it corpse driving?"

"But, isn't Xiang University known for being good at controlling ghosts?"

"Corpse driving isn't puppet arts, or at least not entirely," Mingyue said, biting the edge of her teacup, the dried rose touching her lips as it swirled in the water.

"Puppet arts is a Yin-Yang technique developed on the foundation of the ancient corpse driving skill."

"The purpose is somewhat similar. Both involve commanding and directing spirits from the underworld."

"However, how much you can 'command,' depends on the individual."

Bai Linlang also put down her teacup, "So when you say Fengling was involved in improving it, what does that mean?"

The two boys didn’t respond. Mingyue gave them a glance and took over:

"It’s probably referring to when the government called for the nationwide construction of spirit academies, and Fengling helped Xiang University back then."

"Our academy is the oldest spirit academy in China, even older than the Imperial University. Its reputation is widespread."

"In the early years of the 20th century, the founders gradually established the Fengling School—otherwise, in 1937 during the great purge, so many vengeful spirits would have caused havoc, and without Fengling Academy, Nanjing might have been destroyed."

"By this reasoning, our academy is one of the founding institutions."

Bai Linlang nodded, but didn’t say anything else.

Mingyue shot the two boys a gloomy look: if you're going to throw out a topic without answering, you'd better watch out.

The two boys smiled: anyway, you’re answering it.

An Xueru wasn't from a prestigious family, and her background was similar to Zhou Jingren's. However, she had two relatives working in related fields, so her knowledge wasn’t as vast as Mingyue’s and Jin Yuanbao's:

"So, is puppet arts Xiang University's specialty?"

Mingyue choked on the term, "Fatty, we call it a unique skill, okay?""Yes."

An Xueru became upset again: "Then what about us?"

"What is Fengling's unique skill?"

"We are the Ghost-Slaying Academy with a century-long reputation."

As soon as these words were said, Bai Linlang stopped drinking her water, and Yan Jun also paused from flipping through the test book. The few of them exchanged glances, all somewhat confused.

Mingyue: "……"

Mingyue rubbed her face: "I’m going to report you guys to King Yama when I get back. How do you not know this?"

An Xueru urged her: "Hurry up and tell us!"

"Making it seem like we are just average and easy-going."

"Now that we're about to enter Fengdu, it’s making me anxious."

Mingyue was extremely surprised: "Are you guys serious?!"

"The eight-god curse that's commonly used in the industry now was proposed by our Fengling."

"You didn’t know that?"

The others: "……"

Mingyue pulled out a Cleanse the Mouth Charm and demonstrated: "We’re the real deal, okay?"

"An academy’s requirements can extend its influence across the entire industry and become an industry standard."

"That’s what being strong is, okay? Not some obscure and niche technique like Xiang University’s."

"Fengling is the foundation."

"Do you think other schools would let undergraduates practice the eight-god curse?"

"Only our Fengling would do that."

Fengling Academy: …

Fengling Academy: sigh don’t know what to say anymore, let me just give you a cross.Yan Jun was amused by Mingyue: "It sounds like Fengling is like Shaolin Wudang, while Xiang University and the like are more like Kongtong Kunlun."

Jin Yuanbao sized up Mingyue: "Ming-ge, I didn’t expect that from you."

"Didn't your family only move to Jinling in the past ten years?"

"You sure know a lot."

Mingyue snorted: "What’s wrong with that?"

"Our Ming family is at least a northern aristocratic family, though it did decline later."

Jin Yuanbao laughed: "I know your family is from northern Huaxia."

"But your family only moved to Jinling a little over ten years ago, yet you’re so knowledgeable, and your roots run so deep—your head of the family must be quite something."

Mingyue: "……"

Mingyue felt a surge of words rising in her chest but ultimately just smiled and said nothing.

Jin Yuanbao was quick-witted and adept at gathering information. Mingyue and he were not life-and-death friends, so there were certain things that were truly hard to speak about.

Ming Ye's knowledge was vast, and his methods were astonishing—so astonishing that sometimes it was difficult to judge his actions using social logic.

Mingyue had questioned Ming Ye’s knowledge before.

How was it so vast?

How could it be so vast?!

Ming Ye was only a 27-year-old young man.

Did his day have 48 hours?

Her brother’s brilliance in his youth was not merely because of being a natural prodigy.

Mingyue had known this since she was young.

Because in the Ming family’s ancestral hall, the first row was reserved for the spirit tablets of three people.

But how much reproach had this soul borne? Mingyue did not know.Ming Ye never spoke about it.

For Mingyue, who had worked so hard, stretching her neck and desperately trying to make a name for herself in the field of Yin and Yang, there were two main reasons: to restore the Ming family’s reputation, and to open a path in the Yin-Yang Dao to meet the people she wished to meet.

These were her obsessions, her emotional knots.

They were the courage that allowed her to face danger and charge forward.

But these were things she could not share with her friends here.

Perhaps Bai Linlang could be told a little—after all, they had the best relationship and had even shared life-and-death experiences while completing missions together.

Fengdu was nearing.

Many people stayed in the dining car after lunch. Mingyue and the others didn’t return to their cabin but sat in the well-lit dining car. They watched as the red text in the front of the car changed to indicate that Fengdu station was near. Outside the window, the mountains surrounded them, and the once blue sky suddenly turned gray. The train, like a long serpent, plunged into the mist, and visibility grew narrow. Damp, cold Yin energy pressed against the windows.

The people in the dining car: "……"

"Yikes—"

Everyone started to murmur, no longer bothered by the fact that they were from different schools, and began discussing openly.

"The Yin energy is so heavy. Didn’t they say Fengdu is at the boundary between Yin and Yang? Did I remember that wrong?"

"Yeah, I remember that too. Why is there only Yin energy and no Yang energy?"

"I guess it’s because the Underworld dropped an old ghost here—there was a precedent in previous licensing exams."

"People from Fengdu really have big hearts. If it were me, I’d have moved out years ago after something like this."

"Hey, say something more interesting. I heard the organizers bought a batch of Japanese Shikigami to act as NPCs this year!"

"Seriously? Oh, can I rob one and take it home?"

"……"

Mingyue’s fingers brushed against the window, feeling the chilling cold.

She remembered the train ride to Baoshan Hospital, where the Yin energy had been just as intense.

But this time, there were no ghostly figures in the rain.The Yin energy was even stronger than before.

This didn’t prove anything, Mingyue thought to herself with self-mockery. The headless rain indicated that the souls were light, not old ghosts.

An Xueru flipped through the exam booklet, complaining, “The window seal design is really annoying.”

“Can’t even feel the concentration of Yin energy.”

Bai Linlang took out her notes and started cross-checking:

“Do you think it could be the clinging wandering spirits?”

“Like the exam questions from the previous year?”

The others: “...What?”

Bai Linlang: “...”

Bai Linlang felt a bit speechless: “You really think you’re just here to be the helpers, huh?”

Jin Yuanbao whistled: “Bai Linlang, don’t take it too seriously.”

“We’re just external interns.”

Head of the Bai Department with a heart full of sunshine: “People need to have ideals!”

“Right? What if we study hard and pass?”

Jin Yuanbao scoffed, “You really underestimate us senior students.”

“Do you know how many spiritual institutes there are nationwide?”

“And aside from the senior students from various institutes, there are also those who haven’t passed in the past three years—they’ve already been working in the industry for years. Do you think they’re just air?”

“The senior students from Fengling are probably the strongest in the country at our level. They still need to prepare properly. Bai Linlang, do you really think the national joint exam is a standard exam?” Jin Yuanbao finally stopped grinning.

The head of the Bai Department didn’t say anything.

Mingyue nodded: “Yes, the licensing exam is a selective exam.”

“They only choose the top candidates, there are no score lines.”"So, Department Head, what is a clinging wandering spirit?"

Bai Linlang: "......"

Bai Linlang almost hurt her waist from Mingyue's sudden twist of the conversation.

She replied irritably: "It's a type of functional ghost. The main exam question from last year's test was full-range clinging."

"The real exam book says it's called a 'Jealous Ghost,' drifting along with the Yin energy, infecting everyone in the exam hall."

"Think about it, what would happen if every candidate was jealous of each other?"

Mingyue: "......"

Mingyue answered cautiously: "Would... they trip each other up?"

Bai Linlang glared at her: "Since when have you become so kind?"

"This is a practical interview. Of course, if everyone is jealous, they'll start pulling knives and fighting each other."

The group at the table simultaneously exclaimed, "Yooo~!"

"Where did they find such a large area of clinging ghosts? Damn."

"Isn't that why it's co-organized by the Underworld? In their domain, there are all sorts of ghosts, right?"

"Exactly, they have everything. Whatever you want, they've got it."

Mingyue didn't join in the teasing.

She was quietly processing the information she had, then spoke up:

"I also know that the licensing exam places a huge emphasis on individual combat strength. When we enter the arena, it will definitely be a solo mode, we won't be allowed to form teams."

"Didn't they say every year's exam questions are free to vary, depending on the 49 days near the Zhongyuan Festival, and how the Yin-Yang interactions can create strange phenomena? Right?"

Yan Jun nodded: "Yes, it's more difficult. The organizers won't reduce the difficulty."

"But if the difficulty isn't enough, they will definitely artificially increase it."

Mingyue: "No less, always more, sharp."

"Let's talk about some of the recent rumors we’ve gathered about Fengdu.""Just consider it a check-in."

There were about twenty minutes left before the train stopped. The group had their luggage nearby and wasn’t in a hurry, so they agreed to continue their discussion and took out their notebooks.

Bai Linlang: "......"

Bai Linlang was about to be driven mad by these contradictory people: "Didn't we say the focus is on participation?"

"Why is everyone taking notes now?"

The others smiled awkwardly. Mingyue put her arm around Bai Linlang's shoulder, about to comfort her with a few words, when suddenly, a harsh screech of brakes was heard. The train made an unexpected emergency stop, and everyone in the dining car was thrown forward or backward due to inertia—

Mingyue almost knocked her head into the teapot. The rose tea splashed out with a loud "bang" and drenched Yan Jun.

Yan Jun didn’t care about his clothes and asked Mingyue: "Are you okay?"

Mingyue rubbed her forehead where she had been bumped. While waving her hand to signal that she was fine, she leaned her face against the window and looked outside.

At that moment, everyone in the car, whether seated or standing, rushed to the windows to see what had happened.

"Damn," Mingyue’s face was squished against the glass. Due to the angle, she couldn’t see clearly, but she could still make out some details through her sideways gaze—

Thick gray mist surrounded the train. She couldn’t see the mountains or the trees on either side of the tracks.

The dining car had six carriages and was relatively close to the front. She vaguely saw a red line, a "fire line," suddenly burst into view on the ground, cutting across the tracks and blocking the high-speed train's path.

Her vision was blurry, the gray mist covering everything, except for that persistent red light.

Mingyue squinted: "It's the ground splitting."

"The one with the red light."

The others were also looking.

Bai Linlang whispered: "That was close! We almost went straight into it!"

"This is strange," An Xueru frowned. "Why didn’t the high-speed train’s navigation system alert us about the blocked road ahead?"

Jin Yuanbao said: "Maybe it’s because there are too many ghosts in Fengdu. People probably don't like it, hehe."

Yan Jun scolded: "Yuanbao, we're in someone else's territory. Show some respect!"Mingyue stared at the ground crack canyon and voiced her thoughts:

"That's not right."

"It's not that the navigation system failed to survey the route."

"The navigation system can only detect changes in the physical environment along the tracks."

"This is in the Yin-Yang realm, where the radio waves can’t reach."

"......"

Her words caused the others to fall silent.

"Why is this so unlucky?" Jin Yuanbao murmured quietly.

Yes, why such bad luck? The exam site was right ahead, but they were blocked in the middle of the road.

Mingyue thought to herself, and before she could respond, she heard a "knock-knock" sound from the window below.

From their vantage point outside the window, there was nothing visible except fog. The Yin energy was pressing so close it was almost merging with the train.

Mingyue: "......"

Mingyue turned around: "Did you hear that?"

The others looked confused: "What?"

Mingyue: "The sound of someone knocking on the window."

The others: "......"

"You're kidding, Mingyue. With this thick fog and desolate mountains, who the hell would knock on a high-speed train window?" An Xueru said.

Mingyue tilted her head: "Maybe it's the railway worker in charge of switching the tracks—" Before she could finish, another round of knocks echoed from the window.

"Knock-knock-knock."

"......"

Mingyue stared at the hand that knocked, which then retreated back into the gray mist, disappearing without a trace.The others quietly watched.

"......"

The five of them were silent for a moment.

Jin Yuanbao couldn't hold back and asked, "Why is that person's hand so black and dirty?"

Mingyue: "......"

"That's not just dirty."

As the second-in-line heir of a well-known funeral business in China, and having worked as a bathroom cleaner at the Ming family estate for five years, Mingyue was more than familiar with the dark thing from earlier. She opened her mouth and, after a moment's thought, decided to speak plainly:

"That's a corpse stain, my friends."