Chapter 325 - Crying Soul (1/2)
His hand hanging over the bamboo basket, Chen Ge slowly turned around. Starting from several days ago, he had discovered the changes to his body. Even if he had only three to four hours of sleep, he would still wake up refreshed the next morning, his senses were extra sensitive in the dark, and his mind turned agile. The only drawback was the sudden chill that gripped his body. It would not be alleviated even if he wore thick layers.
“Looks like you’ve noticed it.” The old lady raised her arm to reveal the row of red pieces of string that were tied around her wrist. Each string was attached to a small jade pearl. “Of course, a living person will not be able to digest the Specters’ favors. A few years after the village massacre, probably due to my constant interactions with ghosts, weird things started happening to my body, the most obvious being the drop in body temperature. No matter the season, my body rarely feels warmed.”
Chen Ge had the condition the old lady described, but there was a small difference between them. Chen Ge held the basket that carried Ah Qing’s children and returned to the small room. “Granny, you noticed the drop in your body temperature a few years after dealing with the Specters?”
“To be accurate, it was ten years later, and at the time, I was just like you; I didn’t pay it much attention.” The old woman sounded kind. “Your condition is still light, so you must have started interacting with them several years ago, right?”
“Several years?” Chen Ge’s eyes twitched, and after some hesitation, he told the truth. “I saw my first baleful Specter several weeks ago.”
The room became silent. The old lady stuttered, probably due to old age, “Sev… several weeks ago?”
“In any case, it’s less than a month.” Chen Ge touched the back of his hand, and it did feel colder than normal.
“I live in a haunted village and thus interact with ghosts often; the noticeable changes occurred a few years later. You only saw Specters several weeks ago, so how come the body temperature changed so soon?” There was confusion in the old lady’s voice. “Did you garner the attention of many ghosts at the same time?”
“Not really.” Chen Ge counted in his heart. “Those directly related to me are like ten.”
The old lady was silent as she processed this message.
“Probably it has to do with my home. I live inside a Haunted House, so you can consider them my housemates.” Chen Ge turned to look at his shadow. “Right, there’s also a Red Specter hiding in my shadow; she sticks close to me.”
The old lady did not speak. Using her own arm as support, she nudged backward like she was trying to get away from Chen Ge. Noticing the changes to the old lady’s behavior, Chen Ge was unsettled. “Granny, how did you resolve the problem? If the issue isn’t solved, what will happen in the future?”
“Our situations are not the same; I don’t think I can help you.” The old lady removed a piece of string from her wrist. “Extended exposure to ghosts will gather Yin energy inside the body. The bead on this string is made from Heat Jade. The people rear the jade, and the jade rears the people. If you wear this long enough, the Heat Jade will balance the Yin and Yang energies in your body. Other than that, you’ll need to go to crowded palaces and absorb the sunlight.”
“I’ll remember that.” Chen Ge nodded. There would be crowds at New Century Park in the morning, and the number of visitors would only increase.
“Be careful, my legs became like this because I didn’t pay close attention to this.” The old lady tied the string back on her wrist. “Actually, I planned to give you several jade beads, but based on your situation, even if I give you all of my Heat Jades, it won’t be useful. The key now lies in you.” She looked at the row of babies on the wooden bed. “There is a difference between humans and ghosts; make sure that line is still there.”