My Little Ghost

Volume 1.1.1 — The Transgression

“Dad must have been informed of whatever’s going on now, seeing as they were already warning me a few seconds before I sensed the killing intent earlier. He said something about an immortal’s core being stolen,” Bai Bing Wen tells them, taking out a few weapons from his space ring.

“What? An immortal? How is that even possible?” Bai Zhang Wei asks, tying his long hair in a messy bun. He takes a few clothes out of his space ring and whispers a few enchantments before the clothes on him changed. He’s now wearing a fitted long-sleeved shirt and skinny jeans with a pair of black boots on.

“Of course,” Bai Bing Wen retorts, giving their eldest brother a stinkeye. He’s known how meticulous his Zhang-gege is about clothes whenever he’s in his female form.

“Gege, why are you wasting your spiritual energy on changing your clothes?” Bai Li Jie mumbles almost to himself.

“And what? The two of you can waste your talents in pranking me? You can’t tell me to change my clothes right in front of you, two, while I’m in my female body.”

“Check the windows, Zhang-gege,” Bai Bing Wen says, cutting the pointless argument short.“Jie-gege, check great-grandfather’s drawers and see if you can find anything we can use to communicate with anyone.”

“Where are you going?” Bai Zhang Wei asks, a bad premonition raising in his throat.

“You think I could just stay here and do nothing?” Bai Bing Wen activates the emergency array on the paper talisman his great-grandfather has given him while his two brothers are occupied enough. “Keep Jie-gege safe. I’ll be back in no time.”

“Bai Bing Wen!” Bai Zhang Wei exclaims as they helplessly stare at Bai Bing Wen who’s now finishing up another layer of protective formation. Now, anyone with a killing intent can no longer sense any spiritual aura inside this chamber. And no one can also get out as long as the people inside are in a safe condition. Only ninth level cultivators and immortals can break the array.

“Xiao Bing, come here. Please. Before you leave. Please, let me lend you this small weapon that uncle Qing Yuan gave me last night. Please,” Bai Li Jie almost begs, tears glistening his golden eyes.

“I can’t accept it anymore, gege,” Bai Bing Wen tells him with a gentle smile. He kneels right in front of his brother, a few spaces away from the protective array. “If you touch the space outside the array, everything around you would explode and collapse. It’s built to leave only the two of you safe.”

“No. This is safe. I promise.” Bai Li Jie takes off the necklace hanging on his neck. A small black amulet is hanging in the center, its color and form looking dead and useless. “It’s inactive. Unless you are at the brink of death.”

Surprisingly, it slides on without a problem, reaching Bai Bing Wen’s knees. Bai Bing Wen can only give an awkward smile while picking it up after Bai Li Jie throws it across the array’s protective line. “Okay. Thank... you?” Bai Bing Wen dumbly tells him, seeing a faint golden glow sparkling inside the amulet as soon as he touches it. He feels a bit of his spiritual force being sucked into the amulet, surprising him.

“It would take you to the future if something drastic happens. Just make sure you get killed by a spiritual energy-infused weapon, and then mumble a few enchantments of protective formations. The highest one you can remember. Give the amulet a command to send you to the future to preserve your magic core. I promise, you’ll be safer there and we’ll look for you. Just... about two years ahead into the future. You get me? And then make sure you get home as soon as you open your eyes. Okay? At least they wouldn’t get a hold of your body when you get sucked into a different time realm...”

Both Bai Bing Wen and Bai Zhang Wei almost roll their eyes at the word ‘future’, if not for the gravity of their situation. They just let their brother ramble on as a way to keep him calm. They’ve known how much Bai Li Jie believed all those stories by their great-grandfather about traveling into the future and only Ling Mao is stupid enough to actually agree with him.

“Okay. That’s... that’s really helpful,” Bai Bing Wen says before taking a few jade talismans out of his storage rings and placing them outside the protective array to set traps.

“I know, right? Uncle Hao Ran is really such a convenient uncle. He made that. He’s a level eight cultivator, after all.”

Bai Bing Wen takes one last look around before looking back at Bai Zhang Wei, who’s already seething in both anger and worry. “I’ll be fine. I’m talented, remember?”

“These cultivators are powerful enough to bypass the safety of the school’s portal. You don’t get to say something like this to me when you had us locked in here. You’re scared, too,” Bai Zhang Wei says through gritted teeth.

“I’ll be careful. I promise. I’ll be back in no time.”

“Bai Bing Wen! Get your arse back here! Bai! Bing! Wen! I’ll get you one month of detention, you stubborn i***t!”

As Bai Bing Wen walks out of the headmaster’s chamber, he sways his sword in practiced movements and stares ahead. While Bai Zhang Wei’s screams fade in the background, the sound of thudding rocks, exploding talismans, clanging swords, and clashing spiritual forces are becoming louder. He takes a deep, steadying breath, leaning his back against the closest wall, and looking over at where nine robed and masked cultivators are surrounding his great-grandfather. The headmaster is not in a losing battle, but the cultivators surrounding him are most likely to be on higher levels than Bai Bing Wen because he cannot detect them. He takes one subtle step closer and feels the suffocating oppression as he gets near the scene of battle.

When he notices the master cultivators and professors lying around, either lifeless or unconscious, Bai Bing Wen feels the beats of his heart getting stronger and stronger. Who are these people and why are they going through such trouble just to get him? This doesn’t seem like they’re only after one core when they all look powerful enough to get in a bottleneck match with an immortal. For all he knows, they could even be at the eighth or ninth level. These cultivators don’t seem like they’re from this world.

Thinking of this, he prepares a few of the best level six weapons he packed yesterday to help his great-grandfather. He contains his aura and tames his spiritual force, walking silently towards them. But just as he raises a small talisman to conceal himself...

“Bai Bing Wen...”

An unfamiliar gruff voice whispers in his head, making Bai Bing Wen pause his steps in horror. “Mental Ventriloquism? How...” he mumbles to himself.

Only immortal cultivators can perform ventriloquism and even then, not everyone gets so much spiritual energy to use for this. The only immortal that Bai Bing Wen knows of in this realm is his great-grandfather and this voice doesn’t sound like someone he knows or someone who’s here to help them.

“I see you.”

Bai Bing Wen turns to look behind him, only to see the same empty space he’s left close to the wall.

“Where are you keeping the phoenix, Bai Bing Wen?”

“Who are you? Show yourself, you coward,” Bai Bing Wen answers, releasing his aura. He searches for any spiritual fluctuation around him but detects nothing. This means either the owner of this voice is really an immortal or he’s being tricked into thinking that. But seeing that no loose spiritual force is around him, he knows that he’s not under a spell. There is an immortal, a strong one at that, who’s watching his every move right now and has every power to kill him in a snap. This really... doesn’t seem to be a case of a few strong clans going after his core.

“The phoenix, Bai Bing Wen. Surrender the mage and I shall consider leaving your corpse intact after I take your core.”

The voice keeps ringing in his head and he’s only a few more words away from collapsing. The cultivation level of this person speaking to him is starting to show signs of superiority, making him feel oppressed. The hand holding his sword starts wobbling, and soon, his knees are giving out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, you do, all right. Seeing as you’ve been holding the only essence of him that we can sense on your chest. No matter which realm the two of you go to, you can never escape me, Bai Bing Wen. Now, the mage...” Another cultivator in white complicated robes this time, apparates right in front of him, holding him down with his strong spiritual aura. Bai Bing Wen has never felt so much killing intent from an immortal before, and being in this situation makes him realize that the aura alone being used to oppress him is enough to end his life. He’s barely managing to keep his eyes open while he endures the pain. He vaguely remembers the immortal having a head of gradient white long hair with solid blue ends and eyes that are burning with blue flames. “Where is—”

Bai Bing Wen feels a short relief when he hears an explosion, distracting the man in white robes. A painful screech rings in his head, followed by a loud thud. He feels his back hitting the hard ground by taking an uninvited spiritual force against the protective layer of his core. He takes a sixth level defensive talisman and throws it blindly towards the general direction of where he’s last seen the mysterious immortal.

“You fool,” he hears the man say with his cold voice inside his head.

Bai Bing Wen feels another wave of oppression, making his body heavy and disabling his movements. A burning sensation crawls from the tips of his fingers and toes, going towards where the central focus of his core is. It’s scalds his insides with a terrible burn until he almost loses his consciousness due to pain. He closes his eyes hard, preparing for the worst. When he opens them, his father is already caressing his head and calling out to him with a worried voice. His mother is standing protectively right in front of the immortal cultivator with a level nine weapon in her hand.

“Mom,” Bai Bing Wen croaks, trying his hardest to lift a hand.

A burst of spiritual aura from an immortal cultivator is released around them, wrapping Bai Bing Wen with warmth.

“How...” he asks quietly, looking up at his father.

“Your mother is an immortal,” his father answers with tears in his eyes. “She’s been concealing her true cultivation level to protect us. Don’t worry so much. We got you.”

A brief memory of the conversation he’s had with his mother flashes before his eyes and at this, he realizes that the one with a talented core that Central University was trying to protect before must be his mother. Despite being at the brink of losing his consciousness, he feels a surge of pride rising in his chest. He probably inherited his talent not from the Bai clan’s side of talented cultivators but from this side of his family. His mother—an immortal—has blessed him with this gift.

“Why are you crying, dad?” Bai Bing Wen asks, frowning as he feels his core slowly cracking from inside his body. “Dad, what’s going on?”

His father can only sob a little harder this time, pressing a few acupoints on his body to try and lessen the pain. “Hang in there, Xiao Bing. My Xiao Bing.”

“Dad?” Bai Bing Wen calls out, but almost no sound is coming out of his mouth. He feels a few drops of thick liquid oozing out of his eyes, nose, and ears. His father is now crying a bit harder, trying to wipe everything off. When Bai Bing Wen realizes that his father is wiping off his blood, he tries to assess his own body and notices that his spiritual force is slowly leaving, and his core is disappearing, too. He remembers the innocence in his Jie-gege’s eyes while talking about preserving his body by sending his soul to the future and all the crazy ideas he’s been hearing from him. He remembers his Zhang-gege’s angry eyes, trying to stop him from doing anything dangerous. He should have listened more to his brothers. He should have loved them more, made them feel less worried about him. Then he shouldn’t have to see the crying face of his father who’s already bawling his eyes out as he calls out for his son. He shouldn’t have to see his mother holding a level nine weapon, fighting for her life and her family. This...

This is all happening because Bai Bing Wen chose not to listen.

With the few remaining spiritual energy inside his core, Bai Bing Wen releases his aura for the last time, lifting his numbing hand. He holds the black jade amulet around his neck and, just like what his brother has told him, mumbles a few protective enchantments to preserve his souls and spirits. He infuses it with his spiritual energy, feeling the last drops of force leaving him. His eyes turn a beautiful glowing color, staring up at his father. And as the lights in his golden eyes fade gradually, the golden sparkle inside the amulet around his neck starts growing faster. In the last few seconds of his life that he’s supposed to see the most unforgettable memories, he sees a slide show of someone else’s life instead and his father’s voice calling out to his name, slowly changes to a voice completely unfamiliar to him.

When he opens his eyes again, it’s a different world he’s waking up to.

Qilin: A mythical hooved chimerical creature known in Chinese and other East Asian cultures, said to appear with the imminent birth or death of a sage or illustrious ruler

Formation: When a cultivator leaves a mark of his spiritual energy in specific spots, creating a continuous area of effect within the pattern

Array: Pre-arranged formation that can be activated or deactivated using spiritual energy

Shishu: A form of address from a disciple to a Martial brother of one’s cultivation master

Starflame: Cultivators give names to their swords, this is Bai Bing Wen’s

Ventriloquism: A cultivator’s skill / talking through their minds by using a lot of spiritual energy