Chapter 168: No Way Back on This Journey (18)
The dormitory area had turned into chaos.
The screams, cries for help, and heart-wrenching warnings blended together, creating an overwhelming sense of panic.
The young Yan Shixun moved swiftly, cutting through the hallway and carving a bloody path. He tossed the students, who were being chased by the evil spirits, into the nearby rooms as if they were nothing more than sacks of grain. He then locked the doors, drew a protective symbol, and coldly continued walking forward.
He was efficient, without uttering a single word.
The students who had been saved didn’t immediately grasp what had happened. They only heard the sound of a door slamming shut, and in the corner of their vision, they saw a tall figure flash past.
The students looked at each other, their faces showing confusion and lingering fear.
After a while, the students, who had just barely escaped death at the hands of the evil spirits, finally snapped out of their terrified state.
One of them hesitated before speaking: “Was that person… from our dorm building?”
The question acted like a trigger, slowly bringing everyone’s memory to the surface.
“I think so. I remember seeing him pass by the Finance Building before?”
“Yeah, he must be the one. I saw him at the Coffin Lecture Hall during the freshman orientation.”
“Wait, a freshman?”
“Holy crap! We have someone like that in our dorm building? I had no idea!”
“Too bad he left so quickly. Otherwise, I would definitely have thanked him in person—he’s a lifesaver!”
……
The young Yan Shixun didn’t care about how others perceived him, nor was he interested in their discussions.
Some students, still shaken by fear after being rescued from the clutches of the evil spirits, tried to struggle in his grip as he pulled them away.
But Yan Shixun didn’t hesitate. He kicked open the door of a nearby dormitory, threw them inside, locked the door, and turned to leave.
It was all done in one fluid motion.
As effortlessly as a production line.
The students, who had just barely survived the evil spirits’ pursuit, watched in stunned silence.
Student: ? Is this even human? I was running for my life, and this guy handles them like it’s nothing?
Others, upon seeing Yan Shixun’s strikingly handsome face, vaguely recalled his identity and were startled into calling his name.
“Yan Shixun??! Aren’t you from the Finance Department? What are you doing here…?”
Before the question could be finished, Yan Shixun pushed the student into a nearby dormitory.
The student stood, stunned, in front of the door, not knowing how to react to the sound of the door slamming shut in his face.
Zhang Wubing, who was walking alongside Yan Shixun, took the responsibility of explaining to the confused students, assuring them that Yan Shixun was there to help and wasn’t affiliated with the evil spirits.
Earlier, a student had been so scared that he attacked everyone nearby indiscriminately. The knife in his hand had scratched Yan Shixun’s skin, which made him frown in displeasure, his gaze turning dangerously cold.
Zhang Wubing almost had a heart attack at that moment.
So, in the following moments, Zhang Wubing made sure to clarify their identities before the student could escalate his struggle further.
“Hey! We’re from the Finance Department. We saw you needed help, so we came over.”
“Don’t be afraid. We’re here to help! We’re human, students from the Finance Department, not ghosts!”
Zhang Wubing spoke urgently, his throat dry, feeling like his voice was about to burn out.
Fortunately, growing up in the Zhang family, Zhang Wubing had often accompanied his elders to social events, so he knew how to earn people’s trust and make a good impression.
Add to that, Zhang Wubing had an innocent yet sincere face, so the students, upon hearing his words, slowly began to trust him. Even though the young Yan Shixun remained expressionless and cold, they no longer feared him as they had before. Instead, they were deeply grateful and thanked Yan Shixun.
The young Yan Shixun: Tsk.
What a hassle.
Yan Shixun hadn’t planned on letting anyone thank him. In fact, he disliked forming connections with people for no reason.
If it hadn’t been for the bizarre events of the night and the horrific scenes of ghosts everywhere that had made him uncomfortable, he wouldn’t have cared. He knew that if he didn’t act, these people would die at the hands of the evil spirits.
Thinking about it like this, the young Yan Shixun’s mind lingered on his “future self.”
To him, the beginning of all this had to do with his “future self.”
The first hint of something being wrong came when he returned to his dorm and felt an instinctive unease.
His future self had appeared in his dorm room and was flipping through Zhang Wubing’s movie magazine. There were also traces of someone having walked through the room, but the talisman on the door hadn’t been disturbed…
The young Yan Shixun didn’t know what would happen in the future, but he understood himself well and knew what he wanted.
He was certain he would never become someone who used evil spirits to kill—especially not in such a massive and tragic scene.
So, after ruling out all other options that didn’t align with his character, only one possibility seemed most likely.
This confirmed his previous guess—something had happened in the Underworld.
As a result, the cycle of reincarnation, which was governed by the Underworld, and its function of receiving souls after death, had temporarily stopped.
At the moment, the impact seemed not too severe.
However, once time passed, all the souls of the deceased would have nowhere to go, and they would wander aimlessly among the living. As they accumulated more and more, they would begin to affect the lives of ordinary people…
Yan Shixun’s heart grew heavy, and his previous dissatisfaction with his future self shifted into serious contemplation.
In an instant, he thought of the coffin-shaped lecture hall on campus.
Other students were unaware of the origin of the lecture hall. They simply believed, due to rumors online, that the area beneath the hall, which had once been a mass grave, was now built to suppress the ghosts.
But from the very first day of enrollment, Yan Shixun had known the true purpose of the coffin-shaped lecture hall. It was meant to provide a resting place for the unidentifiable remains of the dead, preventing their souls from continuing to wander aimlessly in the world.
Binhai University had a long history, and many progressive individuals had died on its campus over a century ago.
Their bodies were discarded haphazardly on the campus, piled into a small mound. No one dared risk retrieving them for burial.
Exposed to the sun, battered by wind and rain, eaten by wild dogs, and scavenged by refugees…
Even later, when the university administration risked it all and argued vehemently, they eventually succeeded in negotiations, collecting and burying those remains.
But by then, it was too late.
The wandering, unwilling souls roamed the Binhai University campus, and even after death, they wished to finish things they hadn’t accomplished in life because of their lingering attachments.
Decades ago, when the existence of these souls began severely affecting the school’s daily operations and life, Binhai University hired Haiyun Temple to build the coffin-shaped lecture hall. This was done so the wandering souls could finally rest in peace.
The three trees in front of the lecture hall symbolized the incense of three sticks, a means to provide the souls with the life force and spiritual energy of the campus, allowing them to be satisfied and move on to reincarnation.
When Yan Shixun entered school, Li Chengyun had stood in front of the lecture hall, gazing up at it for a long time. His slender form seemed to float in the wind like an immortal about to ascend.
Then, he slowly lowered his head and bowed deeply to the lecture hall.
Li Chengyun told Yan Shixun that among the bodies buried there, there were evil people, progressive individuals, and even Taoists from Haiyun Temple.
One of his senior brothers had died there.
But because the bodies were fragmented, with most of them only having half an arm or dried bones, they couldn’t be distinguished from one another. So, the school at the time had no choice but to bury them all together.
Under the lecture hall, there were not only righteous people but also some very vicious ones.
Now, Yan Shixun recalled Li Chengyun’s words.
He realized that since the ghostly energy nourished all the souls that died in Binhai University, the souls under the lecture hall would also be affected by this energy and reappear on campus.
Some of these souls, driven by their grudges and anger, might continue to cause harm, endangering other people on campus.
It seemed that he had to find his future self and figure out what exactly had happened.
Yan Shixun’s eyes grew cold as he thought this.
He had to stop the situation before the ghostly energy caused any more severe consequences. He couldn’t allow the souls that had been suppressed under the lecture hall to be affected.
He couldn’t disturb the souls who had sacrificed their lives for their ideals, nor could he let the evil ghosts escape and continue their misdeeds.
Moreover, the souls of those who had lost their lives due to suffering or accidents on campus should not share the same fate as the evil ghosts, being devoured by the blood sea, never to see the light of day again.
Just imagining that scene made Yan Shixun seethe with anger.
So, his strength became more violent, and all the evil ghosts blocking his way were reduced to ashes without even a scream, burned away in golden light.
The students nearby who witnessed this were shaking with fear.
Who said that freshmen were harmless? This one was a vicious god, terrifying!
The students, on the verge of tears, became more docile than ever in Yan Shixun’s presence, and they obediently rushed into the nearby dormitory, afraid that he might lash out at them as well.
With a “bang!” the dormitory door slammed shut and locked.
Yan Shixun’s long fingers slid over the scratches on his hand, leaving traces of blood. He then swiftly and skillfully drew a symbol on the door with the blood.
Completing it in one smooth motion.
In the moment the final stroke was made, the talisman glowed with golden light, and the intricate patterns activated.
No malicious spirit dared to come near.
“Bro-Brother Yan,” Zhang Wubing’s trembling voice broke through Yan Shixun’s thoughts.
He shakily raised his hand and pointed toward the stairs nearby. “Brother Yan, look… is that… is that a person?”
The young Yan Shixun hadn’t paid much attention at first, his mind spinning constantly as he turned his head absentmindedly in the direction Zhang Wubing pointed.
But the next moment, Yan Shixun’s sharp, narrow eyes widened bit by bit.
On the staircase leading to the next floor, an arm dangled limply over the edge—completely still.
It looked like… it was already dead.
The arm wore an ordinary piece of clothing. Though from Yan Shixun’s angle he could only see part of it, he immediately recognized the color and pattern, quickly matching it in his memory to the person who had worn it.
—Just a few hours ago, the owner of this clothing had been sitting in the same classroom with him. When he and Zhang Wubing had left, this person was still laughing and chatting energetically about games with his friends, full of life and vitality.
That voice had caught Yan Shixun’s attention then, prompting him to glance over casually—and that was enough for him to remember the classmate’s face and clothes.
Now, that person lay on the stairs, unmoving, all signs of life gone.
Without hesitation, the young Yan Shixun took the stairs three at a time, rushing upward to check on the person’s condition.
But as the full body came into view, Yan Shixun froze.
His steps slowed involuntarily.
Because—
This person… was beyond saving.
He lay face down, collapsed across the stairs, one arm stretched forward desperately, as if trying to escape whatever was behind him.
But during his attempted escape, he had still been caught.
Blood had pooled into a lake, cascading down the stairs like a crimson waterfall.
A massive amount of blood had gushed from his lower body, spattering the white walls beside the stairs in
every direction.
Zhang Wubing had never imagined that a person could contain so much blood.
This man… only his upper body remained on the stairs.
He had been severed at the waist.
And his legs—no one knew where they had gone.
Yan Shixun stood still, silently lowering his long lashes as he stared at the lifeless body on the floor.
Only the slow clenching of his fist at his side revealed even the slightest trace of emotion.
Zhang Wubing couldn’t stop the tremors wracking his entire body. His lips quivered so violently that he could barely form words.
He opened his mouth a few times before finally managing to suppress the sour lump in his throat and the sobs threatening to rise. Choking back tears, he asked Yan Shixun, “Brother Yan… he, he…”
Zhang Wubing had wanted to ask if the man could be saved.
But he knew very well—no one could survive being cut in half.
He also wanted to ask, was this person truly dead?
But the answer lay plainly in front of him, impossible to deny.
Due to his own fragile constitution, Zhang Wubing had been battling death since childhood. Every morning he opened his eyes and found himself still alive, he sincerely gave thanks for life and cherished it deeply.
He had imagined his own death many times—envisioned the scene, his own funeral, his grieving family and friends…
But he had never imagined having to witness someone else’s death with his own eyes.
And in such a horrific manner.
Trusting Yan Shixun deeply, Zhang Wubing instinctively sought from him a comforting answer—something to let him escape reality. He wanted Yan Shixun to tell him this was all fake, that the person was still alive, that there was still hope.
But logic cruelly mocked him: Don’t be stupid. You saw it yourself, didn’t you?
A person… once dead, was simply dead.
—“Living people are fragile.”
Zhang Wubing shook like a leaf, his mind a complete mess, unable to think clearly.
But Yan Shixun’s gaze remained fixed on the corpse, scrutinizing every small detail, missing nothing.
Then, his tall figure paused.
Yan Shixun swiftly crouched down, reaching a hand toward the person’s temple.
At the same time, he silently began reciting the Golden Light Incantation, driving away all lingering ghostly energy nearby.
The moment his fingers touched the corpse, it was as if a fog that had been clouding his vision was suddenly lifted by an invisible hand. All the blood and grime that had concealed the truth was wiped clean.
The truth was revealed.
The air above the staircase rippled with a strange distortion. Blood gushed and surged from the upper floors, gradually pooling into a sea of blood that flowed down the stairs, drenching everything in ghostly energy.
Even the corpse lying on the stairs was completely engulfed.
In an instant, that corpse vanished into the sea of blood!
The tip of Yan Shixun’s outstretched finger touched nothing but air.
He swiftly lifted his gaze, his eyes sharp as blades.
Beside him, Zhang Wubing, who had been holding back tears, was also stunned.
“B-Bro-Brother Y-Y-Yan, he… he disappeared?”
Zhang Wubing was so shocked he couldn’t even find his tongue.
A flash of realization struck. A sudden sense of clarity came over Yan Shixun.
He immediately understood—this wasn’t real.
The world he was in was entirely constructed from ghost energy.
The dormitory building, the campus, the students, even the corpse before him… all of it.
Most likely, only he and Zhang Wubing were real, living people in this place.
The students he had just saved were nothing more than souls that had entered this ghost-built realm.
If that was the case, then anyone other than him and Zhang Wubing—even if killed by evil spirits—would simply wake up with splitting headaches once freed from the ghostly realm.
Their souls would remember the pain of death.
But for most people, it would just feel like they had experienced an overwhelmingly vivid dream.
Yan Shixun slowly stood up. The loose strands of hair on his forehead fell over his eyes, casting a shadow that hid his expression.
Trembling, Zhang Wubing asked a question, but received nothing in return except a cold, sideways glance from Yan Shixun.
Yan Shixun let out a low, clear laugh, distinct even amidst the lingering noise.
He lifted his hand, gently brushed back the loose hair from his forehead, revealing his bright eyes.
“Let’s go, Zhang Wubing.”
Yan Shixun spoke indifferently and took long strides, heading down the stairs first.
Zhang Wubing jogged after him. “Where are we going?”
His face was filled with confusion. “Aren’t we saving the others? There should still be a lot of people in the dormitory area.”
“And what about that guy just now? Why did his corpse disappear?”
A hint of hope rose in Zhang Wubing’s chest. “Could it be… he’s not dead?”
The young Yan Shixun scoffed coldly. “Shut up, Zhang Wubing.”
“You ask too many questions. You’re noisy.”
Zhang Wubing shut his mouth immediately.
But from Yan Shixun’s expression, he still managed to read the answer he was hoping for with practiced ease.
That guy wasn’t dead.
That was great!
Zhang Wubing was so happy he couldn’t stop grinning. He was so overjoyed he felt like jumping in place twice.
He had initially wanted to excitedly grab Yan Shixun’s arm, but the cold glare that came his way made him freeze. He scratched his nose awkwardly and, in the end, didn’t have the guts to approach.
Even so, following beside Yan Shixun, his smile refused to fade. He even walked with a spring in his step, bouncing slightly as he moved.
Seeing others rescued made him even happier than ensuring his own safety.
Yan Shixun noticed Zhang Wubing’s behavior and couldn’t help but let a faint smile flicker in his eyes.
Silly kid.
He thought indifferently to himself, then quickly pushed the sentiment to the back of his mind.
Yan Shixun walked down the stairs and headed directly for the dormitory entrance. Every evil spirit that tried to block his path was crushed beneath his feet and turned to dust.
Like a blade unsheathed—sharp and unstoppable.
However, he no longer focused his efforts on saving people.
Once he realized that this world wasn’t real, Yan Shixun knew he had to find the root of it all to truly solve the problem.
Otherwise, in a school of ten thousand students, he was the only one who could exorcise ghosts.
Even if he wore himself out in a continuous battle, exhausted himself to death, it would be nothing more than a drop in the ocean—it would never fix the real problem.
—Unless he found the place where the ghostly energy was at its strongest.
Like a spring, where all the water flowed from a single source.
Trying to splash away the water with a cup from the pool was futile. Only by plugging the spring and destroying the source could everything return to normal.
And only then could all the students trapped in the ghostly realm be saved.
The young Yan Shixun wore a grim expression, his face taut. Wherever he walked, the wind stirred in his wake.
A student standing guard at the entrance of the dormitory building was startled and reached out to stop him. “Classmate, you can’t go outside. There are ghosts out th—”
But Yan Shixun’s slender hand caught his wrist firmly.
He raised his eyes slightly. The cold look in them made the student tremble, thinking he was about to get punched. His knees nearly buckled.
Yet Yan Shixun simply pulled a few remaining yellow talismans from his pocket and slapped them into the student’s hands. “Guard this place.”
As the words fell, Yan Shixun had already swept past like a gust of wind.
The student stood frozen, holding the stack of talismans, staring blankly at Yan Shixun’s retreating figure, unsure how to react.
Zhang Wubing came running after him and flashed the student a sincere, friendly smile. “Hang in there, buddy. We’re off to fight monsters, you hold the fort.”
He even made a fist with his hand in encouragement. “The homeland’s counting on you.”
The student: “???”
Are you seriously mentally ill? Have you played so many games you can’t tell fantasy from reality anymore? This is not the time to play hero!
Seeing that Yan Shixun was about to step off the platform and into the blood sea outside, the student panicked and shouted, “Don’t—!”
But in the next moment, his eyes flew wide in astonishment.
Yan Shixun formed a seal with both hands. The ground beneath his feet rippled with a golden glow. Characters surfaced in the light, rising and sinking, intricate and ancient patterns appearing as the talisman activated.
The ground he stood on turned solid.
The malevolent ghosts that had crept forward, eager to drag him down, were caught off guard and engulfed by the golden light.
They didn’t even have time to scream before they were reduced to ash in an instant.
The student stared, dumbfounded.
Yan Shixun tilted his head slightly, his cold and calm gaze settling on Zhang Wubing. “Are you staying here? Or coming with me?”
“Coming, coming!” Zhang Wubing happily jumped down the steps, jogging along the path Yan Shixun had already laid out, and quickly reached his side.
Yan Shixun gave the stunned student a single nod, then turned and strode forward with long steps.
His eyes remained fixed ahead, his posture upright like a pine or bamboo. He didn’t spare a glance at the ghosts beneath his feet.
Wherever he passed, the ghosts howled and trembled as they disintegrated into ash.
Like Moses parting the sea, a path was instantly cleared.
The ghosts retreated. All evil dared not approach.
Every student who witnessed this scene was left in a daze.
Their eyes followed Yan Shixun’s figure, halting whatever they were doing, momentarily forgetting where they even were.
In front of every dormitory building, the student guards unconsciously stood at attention, holding their breath at this mysterious and extraordinary sight.
The entire space fell silent.
Yan Shixun listened intently, his slender fingers moving nonstop, calculating the place in the school where the ghostly energy was most concentrated and where it originated.
He stepped onto the tree-lined avenue.
In that moment, the divination gave a clear answer.
—“You” are waiting at the end of this road.
Yan Shixun paused slightly, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
It seemed that his future self knew exactly what was going on and had found the crucial location one step ahead of him.
He raised his gaze and looked toward the direction the divination pointed.
It was the Chemistry Department’s experimental building.
The Chemistry Department…?
A hint of doubt flickered in Yan Shixun’s heart.
Then, he resumed his stride and walked toward the lab building.
“Hello, future me.”
Yan Shixun let out a low chuckle, causing a ripple across his chest. “It’s about time you tell me the truth.”
…
At that very moment, within the experimental building, Yan Shixun came to a stop. He turned slightly to glance behind him, his dark green coat slicing through the air in a sharp arc.
His gaze seemed to pierce through walls and glass, landing directly on a patch of darkness outside.
A faint smile appeared in those long, beautiful eyes.
Beside him, Ye Li raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”
“He’s here,” Yan Shixun said softly.
He had known all along that his younger self would eventually unravel the strands of ghostly energy, uncover the truth, and make sense of everything before him.
And then, he would find this place.
Yan Shixun was well aware of his own cautious nature. He understood that if it were him, even if the words came from “himself,” he wouldn’t believe them easily. In fact, he might grow even more suspicious about the authenticity of everything.
Only by allowing his past self to discover the truth independently could he ensure that version of himself would stand on the same side—not become an enemy.
Now, everything had gone exactly as planned.
The younger Yan Shixun was on his way.
A smile curled at the corner of Yan Shixun’s lips. “Hello, past me.”
“Long time no see.”
His deep, magnetic voice drifted through the air.
…
“What do you mean, they’ve lost contact?”
When he received the call from the scene, the official in charge looked completely bewildered. “Are you saying all the Taoists went missing after entering the campus?”
A chill swept through the official’s heart, so intense that he didn’t even realize he was trembling.
Though Haiyun Temple was a major Taoist temple with many priests, normally, during joint operations with special departments, just one or two Taoists were enough to control the situation and exorcise evil spirits.
But because this incident involved the Yin path, Haiyun Temple dared not take it lightly. They sent seven Taoists at once, including Taoist Song Yi, to Binhai University, aiming to stop the ghostly energy in time and minimize the impact on the school’s staff and students.
This level of deployment was already considered grand.
The official had fully believed that with those Taoists present—plus Mr. Yan already being at Binhai University—the situation would soon be brought under control.
Before receiving this call, he hadn’t even been that worried about Binhai University. Most of his attention had been on the guest traveling along the highway, because with only one Lu Xingxing involved, he felt utterly uneasy.
But the call from the scene shattered his comforting assumptions.
Being very aware of the Taoists’ strength, the official now deeply understood why Haiyun Temple was so wary of the Yin path.
This was no longer something humans could resist…
How could mortal bodies possibly contend with ghosts, deities, and the heavens?
If the heavens were determined to let evil spirits run rampant in the human world, then what could he possibly do?
A wave of helplessness even surged within the official’s heart. He had never felt so powerless.
Taoist Ma, standing nearby, noticed the official’s strange state. He quickly drew a talisman with his finger, chanted a calming spell, and pressed his hand onto the official’s shoulder.
“Don’t let the ghostly energy affect you,” Taoist Ma said firmly. “The special department still needs your leadership. Many lives are waiting for your rescue orders.”
“If even you don’t believe they can be saved, how can they still have hope?”
Taoist Ma cast a wary glance around, aware that this was the result of ghostly energy leaking and spreading.
Their time was running out.
Every second delayed meant the ghostly energy would reach farther. It had to be dealt with as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, those affected by it—just like the official now—would crumble mentally and lose all hope.
—Human beings were the most intelligent of all living things. Heaven favored them.
Because humans had the power to change the world by their own will!
If people lost hope, then it was no different from surrendering to death.
The surrounding Taoists also noticed the expressions on the official and others’ faces. Their expressions turned solemn. Nodding to Taoist Ma, they flicked their robes and headed off in all directions.
They had always been the Taoists chasing down the Yin path. They were far more experienced in dealing with ghostly energy than most.
Now that they knew the Yin path was here, then…
They would find the death gate that led into it—and enter it willingly!
No one catches tiger cubs without venturing into the tiger’s den.
The eight Taoists wore firm expressions, their stances upright like pine trees.
Taoist Ma clasped his hands and bowed deeply to the backs of the departing Taoists, then slowly straightened up and began softly chanting a spirit-calming incantation.
The mystical syllables scattered clearly into the air, rippling out like invisible waves of water, enveloping all the workers remaining on the highway.
The despair and exhaustion on their faces gradually faded, replaced with renewed clarity and energy.
The official in charge also came to his senses.
“Sir,” Taoist Ma said calmly, “Let’s each do our jobs. If we unite our efforts, then there’s no despair we can’t overcome.”
The official stood stunned for a moment, then smiled and nodded with renewed determination.
“Alright!”
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