Chapter 511: Seeking Help
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Yang Guang..."
Wu Lu wanted to advise Yang Guang but all of a sudden, she saw something.
From upstairs, a pair of charred hands started to climb down towards them.
"Quickly go!"
Yang Guang shook Wu Lu off and pushed her away. "We'll split up!"
Even the sunlight outside could not provide them with any sense of security against the ghost.
"Let's go!"
Wu Lu was tearing up as she fled with Xiu Wen.
"How? How?"
Wu Lu wanted to jog slowly at first. Slowly, the jog became a sprint and with a slip, she fell to the ground and her tears were flowing out. "I will die soon! I don't want to end up like Bai Ling!"
"Don't worry Wu Lu, I will protect you!"
Xiu Wen pulled her from the ground. "Let's move quickly!"
"Thank you! Thank you, Xiu Wen!"
In that instant, Lu Xia's impression in Wu Lu's mind started to fade away and was slowly being replaced by Xiu Wen's smiling face.
"Driver! Stop the car!"
The two of them ran to the main road. Wu Lu's heart was about to jump out of her chest as she quickly hailed a cab.
"Where are the two of you going?"
"We're going to... The Ma Paranormal Detective Corporation, where Ma Wencai is!"
Wu Lu was at lost and could only recall what Yang Guang had once mentioned. "That detective... Yang Guang was already preparing to hire him for his services. We shall look for him and ask him to bring Yang Guang and the camera back from the apartment."
"The Ma Paranormal Detective Corporation? Alright!"
The driver stepped on the pedal and as the cab drove away, Wu Lu heaved a sigh of relief.
...
Within the Ma Detective Corporation, Fang Yuan had specially requested for a greenhouse so that he could attempt growing the plants he had brought out from the Ghost Garden.
He was now watering a green sunflower.
Being 20 years old, Fang Yuan had a graceful demeanour and the act of him watering the plants would give one a sense of serenity.
"Although its properties are weakened, at least I am able to grow them in the outside world now..."
Fang Yuan nodded in satisfaction as he gazed at a tomato with a human face engraved on it. Even though he was skilled in botany, the difficulty of growing plants out of their natural habitat was still great for Fang Yuan.
"The good thing is that I've finally succeeded... I have retained their properties and even altered their appearances so that they become more adapted to the outside world. At least normal people wouldn't get a shock when they see them!"
These plants had weird shapes at most, but they were not too shocking. Even Ma Xiaoling and Ma Wencai would occasionally come in to take a look at the plants.
"Unfortunately, there is a restriction on supernatural powers in this realm. Even for me, after becoming 10 times more powerful than the average human, I am unable to progress any further!"
Fang Yuan sighed.
The restriction on his stats was one of his biggest discoveries of this realm.
"The abnormal Purple Eye Realm, the restrictions on the stats window and the presence of ghosts are all related to each other... This realm is completely infiltrated by a high dimension energy from the Demonic Heart Realm! It is at least as high of a dimension as the being which robbed the dream dao from Da Qian!"
Only such a being had the ability to temporarily restrict lower-levelled beings of their stats and abilities.
"Furthermore... This form of energy is of a higher quality as compared to dream elemental force! Because of this, the ghosts here seems to be indestructible! They are harder to deal with as compared to Demon Spirits!"
"The mutated source of which this energy comes from might be related to the hallucination I experienced when entering the realm!"
Fang Yuan took a quick glance at his own stats:
"Name: Fang Yuan (Tantai Mieming)
Essence: 10.0 (100)
Spirit: 10.0 (100)
Magic: 10.0 (100)
Profession: Exorcist
Technique: Exorcism (Peak), Pharmacy (Peak), Eagle Claw Grappling Technique (Peak)
Skill: [Medicine (Level 3)], [Botany (Level 6)], [Fiery Golden Eyes (Level 1)], [Spirit Sealing Body (1st Grade)]"
'Spirit Sealing Body (1st Grade): Your body is a weapon which is able to seal evil ghosts. You will able to seal any ghost that you come into contact with into your body! You have activated the 1st Grade, and the capacity for sealing evil ghosts: 1! You can choose to release the ghost!'
"15 years of living in seclusion and this is all I've got."
Exorcism and Pharmacy were secret techniques of the Tantai Family. Having the peak level of these techniques meant that even the elders in the Tantai family who specialised in these areas might not be better than Fang Yuan at it.
As for the Eagle Claw Grappling Technique, Fang Yuan had developed it based on his own martial arts experience, combining it with the grappling techniques of this realm to create a whole new technique.
With his physical abilities 10 times stronger than the average human, he could well be regarded as the superman of this realm!
"Unfortunately, with my abilities, I am still only able to exorcise the low-levelled ghosts. It seems like it is time for me to improve my Spirit Sealing Body, huh?"
Fang Yuan placed the watering can down and seemed a little vexed.
To speak the truth, even though Ma Wencai's reputation had gone up and even though there were many more cases now, paranormal cases were still the minority.
Ma Xiaoling grew up with the natural gift of the Yin Yang Eye. With Fang Yuan's guidance, she became an elite exorcist and most of the time, she could accomplish the task on her own without Fang Yuan's help.
The few times which she needed Fang Yuan's help were the few times which benefited Fang Yuan a lot. These were the times Fang Yuan could conduct his research, confirm his predictions and collect data.
"Ghosts which appear in the form of spirits are the low-levelled ghosts and I can exorcise them directly. Of course, this would not mean that they are killed off immediately. Because of the fact that ghosts are indestructible, in another 10 years up to a hundred years, they will be recreated. Even so, I will still need to do my best to exorcise them with the help of the exorcism technique and the concoctions from the Tantai Family."
According to Fang Yuan's own observations, he had classified ghosts into 4 levels, namely Spirit, Murderous, Strange and Wuyin[1]!
The Spirit Level represented the lowest-levelled ghosts. They would appear and kill humans in the spirit form. However, they were not able to split themselves into more than a single entity and were bounded by many other restrictions.
The Murderous Level would be a level higher. Ghosts in this level would be able to turn invisible or split themselves up. They would be able to alter a human's memories as well and if a normal human were to encounter a ghost at the Murderous Level, they would only be played to death!
The Strange Level would represent an even more terrorising presence. Ghosts at this level would be able to kill a human in many different ways. If such a ghost were to hear a person's name, the person would be cursed and doomed. The ghost would warp time and space in an attempt to alter reality or even kill the person in their dreams! It would be able to kill the person while tricking the person into thinking that he or she was still alive!
However, ghosts from both the Murderous Level or Strange Level would come from a source. Even if the source might reside in another space or dimension, as long the source existed, there would be hope in dealing with these ghosts!
The final level would be the Wuyin Level. Ghosts at this level would leave the entire realm in despair! There was no way in dealing with these ghosts! No way to get rid of them! Furthermore, they do not come from any source! This would mean that there was no solution to wipe out these ghosts! These ghosts would be the curse of an entire realm!
In Fang Yuan's memories, only the cursed bronze door of the Tantai Family might be able to match up to the level of such a ghost!
"A normal human would already stand little chance against a normal Spirit Level ghost and exorcists would already have to be careful. In encountering a Murderous Level ghost, even the Tantai Family will have to take it seriously. For a ghost of the Strange Level, anyone will have to avoid them at all costs..."
As for the Wuyin Level, even Fang Yuan could not be certain if ghosts of such level existed. This was only his prediction. However, if a ghost of such a level would appear, it would mean the destruction of an entire realm!
"According to the Tantai Family, 1 in 5 blood-related descendants of the Tantai Family will have an awakened ability to become a normal exorcist. His ability will allow him to deal with a Spirit Level ghost. Against a Murderous Level curse, a few elite exorcists will have to combine forces and even so, the outcome of the exorcism will still be uncertain. Only the most powerful of exorcists will stand a chance against the paranormal beings of the Strange Level! Unfortunately, most of them will end up dying against such a powerful paranormal presence!"
Fang Yuan knew that his abilities were already much more powerful than any exorcist of the Tantai Family. However, he still felt that he was too weak to resolve the problem of the bronze door.
"Indeed... The only way is to increase my cultivation of my Spirit Sealing Body!"
He sighed once more as he realised that this was the plan the realm had for him. He was the realm's final hope!
"Eh?"
Suddenly, Fang Yuan looked towards the office. "Finally, a troubling case!"
...
In the office, Ma Xiaoling was tending to Wu Lu and Xiu Wen.
"Please have a cup of coffee!"
A tall and sweet-looking girl in a pink apron carried two cups of coffee into the office before knocking on the table. "Father... We have clients!"
"Mmm..."
Behind the table, Ma Wencai raised his head from the newspapers and wiped the saliva off his lips before yawning. "It's two students? Didn't I tell you that I, the Great Detective Ma Wencai, will not attend to these normal cases?!"
"Father!"
Ma Xiaoling playfully chopped Ma Wencai's head with her hand before turning around to smile. "Please don't mind him. I'm Detective Ma's assistant and you can call me Xiaoling. Now... Let us begin!"
She took her apron off, revealing a white suit inside. Unfazed, Ma Xiaoling took her notebook out.
"Are you guys... up to it?"
Wu Lu started to sweat profusely. Why did Ma Wencai resemble Li Yuan so much? Both of them didn't seem too reliable.
"Don't worry, we are professional. Please ignore my father! In the corporation, he is the weakest among us."
Ma Xiaoling smiled.
"Ring!"
At this point in time, Fang Yuan opened the door. "Why didn't you call me?"
"These two clients claimed to have been pestered by a ghost!"
Ma Xiaoling appeared serious as Ma Wencai felt a chill going down his spine.
Ma Wencai knew Fang Yuan's abilities. The fact that Ma Xiaoling required Fang Yuan's help this time meant that this case was an important one.
"This time might be a real ghost and a curse! I was about to look for you!"
Ma Xiaoling passed the photograph to Fang Yuan.
"Mmm..."
Fang Yuan scanned through the photograph quickly before tossing it on the table and stretching his leg out.
"You..."
Initially, Wu Lu was full of anticipation. Seeing how Fang Yuan reacted, Wu Lu became infuriated. "What kind of attitude is this?"
"Sigh... If a normal person is unable to detect it, so be it. Xiaoling, you have the ability of the Yin Yang Eye and have already been my apprentice for so long. How can you not detect anything?"
Fang Yuan gave a look of disappointment.
"What should I be looking out for?"
Xiaoling looked at the photograph, confused.
"The photograph... There's one more person!"
[1]: Wuyin means 'Without a reason or cause'.