Chapter 80 The Truth

Eighty memorial tablets stood on the table, their inscriptions clear.

'Shoushui Camp soldier Chen Sanbao.'

'Shoushui Camp soldier Ma Jinzhong.'

'Shoushui Camp soldier...'

Old Liu muttered to himself, "These are all from the Shoushui Camp? They're not among the seven families of术士 (shushi – Daoist sorcerers)! Who are they...?"

Old Liu looked at me in horror. I only said one thing: "The jianghu is the human heart."

"The jianghu is the human heart" was what Gui Da had told me.

Is the jianghu dangerous? Does the jianghu have bottomless abysses, or towering peaks? Does it have wolves, insects, tigers, and leopards, or ghosts and demons? It has none of these. The jianghu only has people.

Without the human heart, there would be no jianghu, and even less fighting. Otherwise, Zhuangzi wouldn't have said, "The human heart is more treacherous than mountains and rivers, and harder to know than the heavens."

The Shoushui Camp was not the Shoushui Camp of the seven families of shushi. The seven people alone couldn't have created Fish Basket Village. So where did the ordinary soldiers in the Shoushui Camp go back then?

They were buried on this ship, trapped in the hold by the memorial tablets.

None of the ancestors of the seven families of shushi were innocent!

Without the combined efforts of the seven families, how could so many navy soldiers have been ambushed and killed?

I didn't have time to explain the cause and effect to Old Liu. I activated a spell again, pointing at the hold from a distance: "Come, souls!"

The spells to seal ghosts weren't particularly profound, just using cinnabar to seal the souls! I could break the spell without getting close. As I spoke, the red paint on the tablets shattered, and the ghosts of the soldiers appeared in the hold.

More than eighty vengeful spirits crowded into the hold, all raising their heads and howling to the sky. Their rolling resentment, in their hoarse cries, soared to the clouds like smoke.

"Shut up!" I said in a deep voice, stomping on the ground. A scimitar-shaped wave of true energy broke through the deck and slammed into the hold.

The ghosts, who had been roaring angrily, instantly fell silent. But the look in their eyes made the resentment on the ship even thicker.

I said in a deep voice, "Your enemies are dead. I have no interest in your grudges. I need you to help me sail this ship. Once we arrive, I'll set you free. Those who agree, take a step forward!"

I had already noticed that each of the ghosts was bound by a white thread. They couldn't leave the hold because of that thread.

The people who killed these soldiers had used them as enslaved ghosts to power the warship. Without breaking the seal, they couldn't leave the hold.

"Why should we listen to you!" As soon as one fierce ghost raised its head, I sent a hidden weapon whistling out. The three-inch-long flying knife erupted with red light as it pierced the ghost's forehead, splitting the memorial tablet behind him in two.

The ghost hadn't expected me to attack without warning. Until the blade pierced its forehead, its eyes were filled with horror.

Before the fear in its eyes could fade, the ghost exploded into phosphorescent flames.

I looked coldly into the hold: "Who else is not convinced?"

Finally, a ghost spoke, "We can obey your orders, but you have to guarantee..."

Before it could finish, my flying knife shot out again, and that ghost exploded on the spot.

I said again: "I'm not in the mood to bargain with anyone. Are you sailing the ship or not?"

"We'll sail the ship!" The ghosts in the hold were finally afraid.

Ghosts are like people. People fear death, and ghosts fear being reduced to ashes. People will take an inch and demand a mile, and ghosts will bully the weak and fear the strong.

I didn't have time to waste with a group of vengeful spirits. If I negotiated with them, they would take advantage of my urgency and endlessly raise the stakes. Using lethal force was my only choice.

I snorted coldly, "Old Qu, you mixed cinnabar into your gun sand, right? Keep an eye on them for me. If anyone disobeys, blast them to pieces. When we get there, tell the Yin soldiers outside to let them go."

Ordinary muskets are most effective at harming ghosts with their bursts of flame. Adding cinnabar to the gun sand would be enough to pose a fatal threat to wronged souls below the level of a great ghost.

After Old Qu came up with his old hunting rifle, I said in a deep voice, "In a moment, when we go into the water, you only need to hold off the ghosts for five minutes. After five minutes, don't worry about whether we live or die. Find a way to escape on your own!"

Old Qu's eyes were bloodshot. "You want to abandon me? I've lost everything. Can't I even get revenge?"

I said in a deep voice, "You can't go into the water! Don't come. Only by helping us hold off the pursuers will we have a chance to enter the underground palace. If you can't hold them off, there's no point in seeking revenge."

"If we all die in the water, at least one person can recover our bodies! You can have our corpses. Just don't let us become water ghosts for eternity!"

I patted Old Qu on the shoulder, turned around, and walked towards the bow of the ship. "Split up. Leave one person to send messages to Old Qu. The rest of you, tie the cauldrons and prepare to go into the water."

Each of the shushi took out ropes and tied the ghost cauldrons securely to their bodies.

I also used the Soul-Chasing Cord to secure a ghost cauldron. "Order the ship to move forward at full speed. Stop the ship in the center of the river at that area of water ahead."

The place I was referring to didn't have any obvious markers. It was an extremely calm area of water. The huge waves churning across half the river seemed to have nothing to do with it.

It might be where we started the battle, or it might be a trap.