Chapter 468: A Feather

"Brother Su, the people in this temple are getting fewer and fewer."

"In a few years, it will be lively again."

"I don't know how many years that will take."

"Quiet is also good..."

The two ghosts talked downstairs.

But they didn't expect that the night wind blew the clouds away to reveal the moon, and a bit of moonlight and yin energy caused the three people who were passing by the attic on their way to the latrine to hear their conversation.

Turning their heads to look, there was no one beside them.

The old man was silent for a moment, then immediately began to curse loudly:

"Where did you dog things come from! Making trouble here!

"Believe it or not, I'll hack you to death!? I'll dig up your graves! Feed your bones to the dogs!

"Get out of here!

"Dog-born..."

While cursing, the old man used extremely filthy words, and while cursing, he walked away quickly.

The two ghosts were left stunned in place, looking at each other.

One of the ghosts clearly had a bad look on his face.

Until the old man walked far away, the other ghost smiled and sighed:

"Alas, don't blame them. The legends of the world are like this. We were also human once. When we encountered such things while we were alive, it was the same."

"That cursing was too ugly!"

"He just treated us as evil ghosts who wanted to harm them, so he wanted to show that he was not easy to provoke. Don't blame him, don't blame him," the Su-surnamed ghost said. "Eh? Brother Mo, you say, isn't this the same as when we misunderstood that young gentleman back then and wrote poems in the attic to insult him?"

"This... is also true."

The Mo-surnamed ghost then fell silent.

However, just at this moment, a voice came from upstairs:

"Sure enough, there are humans who are worse than monsters, and there are monsters who are wiser than humans. In this day and age, it's hard to say who is good and who is evil, human or ghost."

Hearing the voice, the two ghosts looked up instantly.

With a puff, both disappeared.

Not long after, the two ghosts, just like back then, quietly floated out from the floor to look.

Compared to back then, they were much thinner and more ethereal.

But they saw two Daoists, a man and a woman, upstairs. The male Daoist sat on the long couch, and the female Daoist sat cross-legged on a black blanket on the ground. A fox and a cat were squatting on the ground, staring at them.

The two ghosts should have been afraid, but seeing Lin Jue, they felt a bit familiar.

Especially since the man was bowing to them: "Brother Su, Brother Mo, it's been many years, why are you still here?"

"You... you are..."

"Young gentleman? The young gentleman's appearance is almost the same as back then!"

"It's rare that you two still remember me," Lin Jue said. "Passing by the old place, I came back to visit. I didn't expect to meet old friends again. It is truly an unexpected joy, and I am filled with emotion."

"It really is the young gentleman..."

"Gentleman! We..."

The two ghosts looked at him, then looked past him at the wall behind him. The poems they had written back then were still faintly visible, and they couldn't help but show a look of shame.

"A misunderstanding, who can be blamed? There is no need to talk about those things," Lin Jue asked. "I'm just curious, didn't I inform your relatives back then? They also came to this temple and took your bones back for burial, didn't they? Why didn't you two follow the bones and leave, but instead stayed here for so many years?"

"It's a long story..."

The two looked at each other and spoke briefly:

"Back then, after the gentleman left, we didn't recognize the gentleman's good intentions and only treated the gentleman as a greedy and untrustworthy person. We regretted misjudging the person and cursed day and night in the attic, making it known to all passersby. Later, we learned of the gentleman's painstaking efforts and felt remorse and self-blame. We ruined the gentleman's reputation and had no face to face the gentleman, and even less could we just leave lightly..."

The Mo-surnamed ghost said.

"Let me say it," the Su-surnamed ghost took over. "Brother Mo felt that a righteous person like the gentleman, who is also from Huizhou, would definitely come back to see in the future. Fortunately, we two have been ghosts for a long time and have some cultivation, so Brother Mo and I sacrificed our cultivation and forcibly stayed here, waiting for the gentleman, wanting to apologize to the gentleman in person. Otherwise, we could not rest in peace."

But they didn't expect that this wait would be nearly twenty years.

"Twenty years..."

Lin Jue was also a bit dazed for a moment.

Just because of a little apology in his heart?

No wonder there is a saying in the world that there are many stubborn people among ghosts.

No wonder this Su-surnamed ghost could send bones for thousands of miles, from the border to Huizhou.

At this moment, he was even more sighing—

If we talk about what happened back then, it really can't be blamed on anyone. If we have to blame someone, one side didn't act perfectly, and the other side lacked a little patience. But actually, there is no need. It is enough to say it was a twist of fate and a wonderful coincidence.

Actually, their speculation was also correct. Lin Jue himself intended to come back to see. The reason he didn't come back was that on Langtou Mountain, he heard from Master that their families had already come to the temple and determined to take their bones back, so he had set his mind at ease.

Who would have thought that this would delay them for nearly twenty years.

How could ordinary people imagine that there are ghosts who, just because of an apology in person, would wait for so many days and months.

"You two are truly rare righteous people in the world," Lin Jue said while sighing. "There is nothing to apologize for. The three people downstairs misunderstood you, and you can still forgive them. Counting it, the fate between us is even more wonderful and interesting. I even received your silver help, so there is even less to apologize for. It's just that fate plays tricks on people."

"We tarnished the gentleman's reputation!" The Su-surnamed ghost was full of remorse, as if in his eyes this was a huge matter. "The gentleman can scold us as much as he wants!"

"Please be magnanimous, gentleman!" The Mo-surnamed ghost also bowed deeply.

"It was a matter as light as a feather, but your integrity made it weigh a thousand jin," Lin Jue said. "Since that's the case, you two should leave this place as soon as possible and return to your hometown."

"How can we go back..."

"Back then we should have gone back with the bones, but now the bones are not here, and our souls have nowhere to rely on. Being able to stay in this attic for a while without being worn away by time is already not easy. We simply cannot leave this attic easily, and I'm afraid it will be very difficult to go back."

But he heard the Daoist say freely: "What is difficult about this? I will send you two back!"

"Gentleman?"

Both ghosts felt strange and looked at Lin Jue.

Only to see Lin Jue open his mouth slightly—

"Hoo~"

A breath of Immortal Qi was exhaled and landed on them.

Just this one breath, the two ghosts' originally weak and ethereal souls immediately solidified, and it seemed they had Immortal Qi to protect their bodies, not afraid of wind, rain, or the scorching sun.

"You two can go back now."

"This..."

The two ghosts still looked at Lin Jue in surprise.

"After leaving here, I have studied the Dao for many years, and now I have become an Immortal," Lin Jue said with a smile. "Let the fate of back then end here."

Saying this, he bowed respectfully to them:

"Thank you for the silver money you gave me back then!"

"Thank you, gentleman, for bringing the letter and collecting the bones back then!"

"Thank you, gentleman, for helping again today!"

Both sides were very solemn and bowed to each other. One side still stayed upstairs, showing a smile, while the other side let out a heavy sigh of relief, the knot in their hearts was untied, and they sank down from the wooden floor of the attic.

Lin Jue looked down through the window.

Xiao Shimei also leaned over.

Only to see the two arrive downstairs, dust off their robes, look back to salute them, and then walk out of the courtyard.

The three people had just come out of the latrine and saw two guests appear out of thin air in the courtyard. One felt curious, two felt vigilant, and before they could do anything, they saw the two guests move forward, actually passing through the courtyard wall like nothingness and disappearing.

"These two..."

Little Xiao Shimei turned her head to look at Shixiong.

"This is the integrity cultivated during the prosperous age of the Great Jiang," Lin Jue said to her. "Such righteous people are rarely seen in the world now."

Little Xiao Shimei nodded, her expression calm.

She lowered her head to look at the colorful cat, wanting to lecture it, but saw the cat with its two ears closed, staring at her with an innocent face.

Little Xiao Shimei had to withdraw her gaze and point to the wall:

"Then these poems..."

"It's quite good to leave them here."

"I think so too."

The next morning, it was good weather.

Breakfast was wild vegetable porridge, without a few grains of coarse grain, and there was no pickled radish or fermented bean curd.

However, both of them ate it clean.

After breakfast, Lin Jue put all the small silver and copper coins he had on him into the temple's merit box, and then said goodbye to the old monk.

"The Dharma Master asked us before if we encountered ghosts last night. At this time, I will answer the Dharma Master: we did encounter them," Lin Jue bowed to the old monk. "However, after a conversation with the two of them, I have persuaded them to leave this place and return to their hometown. From now on, there should be no more ghosts in the attic."

"Really?"

"Naturally."

Lin Jue looked at this old monk, and the more he looked, the more familiar he became.

In a daze, it was as if he saw the slightly chubby monk who scooped porridge and rice for him back then. One was middle-aged, one was elderly, and the two faces gradually overlapped.

"Thank you, Dharma Master, for letting me stay. I will say goodbye now."

Lin Jue bowed again, then turned and left this place.

The old monk frowned and looked at him, then turned around and looked at the attic behind him, also inexplicably feeling it was familiar.

When did the story of the haunted attic spread?

He naturally wouldn't forget.

At the same time, Lin Jue walked slowly in the mountains, taking a nap in the bamboo forest, sleeping in the mottled sun, truly like an Immortal.

Suddenly, he heard voices on the road below.

The voices were actually quite familiar.

Listening carefully, he realized it was the three people from last night.

It was noon now, the sun was quite big, they had gained courage, were bored by the side of the road, and started talking about the ghost story in the temple attic.

That year's event, the young scholar who dared to drink back demons and ghosts halfway, the agreement to bring letters and collect bones, was originally a beautiful story. Later, the ghost cursed loudly in the attic and wrote poems to curse, making it known to everyone. Then later, the remorse of the ghost in the attic turned the beautiful story into a strange event. For more than ten years, it had been talked about on this road.

It was just that no one should know that the young scholar from back then had come back for a visit more than ten years later.

"Xiao Shimei, you go back to the capital. Your Ziyun is still waiting for you," Lin Jue said. "I want to go to Zhong Mountain first to visit the Daoist Xuanming and ask him about some things."

"Good!"

The light and shadow in the bamboo forest were mottled, just like the mountain road that year. Xiao Shimei turned into a white swan.

A clear breeze blew, waves rose all over the mountain, and the swan and the sparrow also rose with the wind, along the green bamboo mountain, and soon went far away.

There was mist falling from the sky, gathering into white clouds under the Daoist's feet, carrying one person and one fox, flying towards the edge of the sky. ===== CHAPTER 469 =====