Several monks herded me back like driving ducks. I glanced back at the temple and nearly knelt before it, ready to shave my head and become a monk.
Under such stars and such a night, free from worldly attachments, I could have entered the monastic life, certain to attain my purest soul.
Yet the Buddha said all things require fate, and in the end, my ties were too many to sever, preventing me from embracing the emptiness of monasticism.
Back in the small courtyard, Tsering at the gate saw me and then the startled Jade Corpse, his gaze distant and unfocused.
I could almost swear this young monk had fallen for the Jade Corpse.
I recalled a line of love poetry: *”For as many years as Namtso Lake waited for me, I have waited for you.”* From Tsering’s eyes, I seemed to read the same sentiment.
Close the door, time to sleep. I told Xu Jun about my encounter, and he grew even more despondent.
The next day, at nine o’clock, the door was pushed open. Xu Jun’s entire family and I were taken to the temple. Tsering had specially prepared an umbrella for me, which I quickly opened to shield the Jade Corpse from the sun.
It was the first time we had stepped out during the day, and I noticed how radiant the people here were—rarely any with gray hair. A small stream wound through the middle, flanked by houses mostly built of stone and wood, painted in vibrant colors.
Some had white and yellow khata scarves wrapped around the trees in front of their homes, fluttering in the wind, a testament to their untroubled souls.
We met a group of lamas and monastic disciples. Xu Jun and Liu Yunxin knelt before them in tearful gratitude, begging the lamas to save their son.
Xu Xiaokang trembled in fear at the sight of the Buddha statue.
*”The one who will save you isn’t me, but him,”* Deji pointed at me. *”Better take you to see the spirit medium.”*
Liu Yunxin, hearing the master’s words, shot me a disbelieving look, biting her lip in silence—likely worried that offending me would make me refuse to help.
Xu Xiaokang burst into tears. Tiny, densely packed heads began emerging from his eyes again. He stared at Deji, mouth gaping as if to bite.
Deji abruptly turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the boy. Xu Xiaokang’s body convulsed, and he stumbled back several steps, too terrified to move. A formidable lama indeed.
The stone pillars in the temple bore the weight of centuries, exuding the scent of time. The air was thick with incense, and walking through, I felt utterly unclean.
Little Rascal vanished the moment we entered the temple—off to see someone, no doubt. Just as I wondered, his voice rang out. Peeking from a room was his head, alongside his fair, plump pig brother, who snorted twice at me.
The Jade Corpse froze in fear the moment she stepped inside.
Deji led me to a door. *”Go in.”* I thanked him repeatedly and pushed the door open. A white gauze curtain hung inside, behind which lay a figure. When I stepped closer, I saw it was Xie Lingyu, deep in sleep.
Unharmed, her pallid complexion had improved significantly.
A bronze mirror lay on the bedside. I picked it up and looked. I remembered once when Xie Lingyu gazed into a mirror, seeing only bones. But now, her reflection showed a delicate, lovely face—she was growing healthier. Overjoyed, I reached out to touch her, but the faint, intangible sensation reminded me she was but a ghost.
Xu Jun and Liu Yunxin glanced around, hopeful yet fearful.
*”Where is everyone?”* Xu Jun asked.
*”Am I not a person?”* came a voice. They turned toward it but saw nothing—only a fair little piglet sitting on a table piled with yellowed books.
Beside the books was a basket filled with prepared naan-like food.
The couple dropped to their knees. *”So you really are the Great Pig Immortal!”*
They couldn’t see the piglet’s companion—a ghost with pig ears, to be precise. This pig-eared ghost wore glasses and held an old fountain pen, seemingly writing a book. He looked at me and said, *”You’ve finally arrived!”* Munching snacks as he wrote, he seemed utterly content.
Xu Xiaokang, starving, caught the scent and broke free from Liu Yunxin’s grip, snatching two pieces of dry naan and scarfing them down.
Xu Jun and Liu Yunxin were horrified.
The pig-eared ghost watched the boy eat happily. *”Thirteen hungry ghosts inside you. But little ones, did you think my food was free for the taking?”* Xu Xiaokang coughed violently, then vomited. Two hungry ghosts fled his body but were instantly obliterated by the temple’s flowing divine light before they could escape.
Xu Xiaokang dared not eat another bite.
*”Who are you?”* I asked. *”Do I know you? Or do you know me? Why say ‘you’ve finally arrived’?”*
The pig-eared ghost set down his reading glasses and stood, revealing chains of special material shackled to his feet, sealed with esoteric spells—impossible to break.
Clearly, he was trapped here. The temple, perhaps pitying his loneliness, had given him the little piglet—who, for some reason, had wandered out and been caught by the wrinkled old woman.
Instead of answering, the ghost clanked around, the long chains allowing him free movement indoors.
*”I’ve been writing a book lately. Its title is *The Last Feng Shui Master*,”* he said jokingly, gazing out the window.
A lone white cloud drifted in the sky, coming from afar and bound for distant lands.
*”What does this have to do with me?”* I asked, puzzled.
*”I was thinking—everything has an ending. So do stories. So do I. Now that you’re here, I can finally write mine.”* He spoke as if we’d known each other for ages. Silence fell again.
I didn’t know what to say.
The oil lamp inside flickered weakly, as if about to die.
*”Who are you, really?”* I pressed.
Still evasive, he replied, *”No matter where you are, or where I am—we’ll meet again. Isn’t that fate?”*
*”Could you ask the Great Immortal if there’s a way to save my son?”* Xu Jun, hearing the voice but unable to see the ghost, pleaded with me.
*”Alright.”* I agreed. *”Help the child first.”*
*”I’m not the one saving him. You are.”* The pig-eared ghost’s tone was gentle. *”Got a cigarette?”*
I quickly lit one for him. *”You smoke too,”* he added. I lit another for myself. Amid the swirling smoke, he puffed away like a worldly, middle-aged man.
*”Just a few hungry ghosts. Take the boy to where he was cursed, hang him up, and beat them out with the sole of a layered shoe. Simple.”* He sounded impatient. *”I only know the method—you’re the one who has to do it.”*
In the time it took to smoke a cigarette, he’d solved the problem of Xu Xiaokang’s hungry ghosts. I nodded, memorizing the method.
*”Alright, out you go.”* The ghost dismissed them. Xu Jun hurriedly carried his son outside.
*”You okay?”* The ghost ignored me for now, walking up to the Jade Corpse instead. He smiled at her.
She shook her head, turned around, and farted at him—probably because she found him ugly.
The pig-eared ghost burst into laughter, utterly unoffended, even delighted.
*”She doesn’t know any better. Don’t mind her,”* I said quickly.
He waved it off. *”Why’d you come to me? I’ll answer three questions.”*
*”Three things. First, where can I find the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart plant? Second, what’s Xie Lingyu’s true origin? Third, what’s the connection between Guo Qiqi and the bronze jar?”* No longer doubting his abilities—he’d diagnosed Xu Xiaokang’s issue instantly—I laid out my questions.
*”…”* The ghost fell silent. *”Xie Lingyu isn’t an ordinary ghost. She was once a spirit fox, reincarnated as a human in the late Qing Dynasty to endure her final love tribulation. But something went wrong—her soul became a ghost, and her body turned into the Jade Corpse.”*
*”You mean she was originally a fox spirit? But she reincarnated into a human body…”* It sounded too fantastical to believe.
*”Then why did her soul re-enter the cycle?”*
*”Because her love tribulation wasn’t truly resolved. So she can never be human or fox again.”* He didn’t hold back, laying it all out.
*”How does one resolve a love tribulation?”*
*”There are countless forms of love, so countless ways to resolve it. I don’t know.”* He shook his head. *”Don’t ask more about Xie Lingyu. You’ll learn the ending in time.”*
*”As for Guo Qiqi, she’s from the Guo family of Hedong. She approached you for the bronze jar you carry. What’s its secret?”* He paused.
*”Go on…”*
Seeing his hesitation, I lit another cigarette for him.
He took it and sighed. *”All I know is that it contains tears—whose, I don’t know. Their purpose, I don’t know either. The jar existed before I was born, so I’ve no clue. But after my birth, I know everything. Because I’m the world’s smartest pig-eared ghost—peerless, unmatched, never to be seen again in a thousand years…”* Pride radiated from his face.
*”When were you born?”*
*”The late Tang Dynasty. I once met the great feng shui master Yang Junsong.”*
*”You’ve answered two questions. So where is the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart?”*
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage