CHAPTER 39: CHAPTER 28: THE THIRD TAMING METHOD

Sang Que immediately sat down next to Sang Wan.

Sang Wan pointed to a notebook in front of him, a record of Yan Daozi’s trivial matters.

"This part records everything about this person called ’Xiao Yuqian.’ He was sinister, bullies the weak and fears the strong, and is very jealous. In life, he was a musician, skilled with the flute and drum, and had worked as a drum master in a theater troupe. He looked down on his father, a pig killer, but despite having an education, he ended up in the same lowly profession as his father."

"He imitated literati drinking tea, desired women but had his own shortcomings, looked down upon by prostitutes. He heard people say ’pig killing is among the lowly, but killing people ranks higher,’ and then began to murder young women, skinning them to make drums. These records don’t contain many major events, but they detail Xiao Yuqian’s lifestyle, special hobbies, quirks, etc."

Sang Que nodded, "This must be the things Yan Daozi noted about the Evil Spirit he’s controlling."

Sang Wan pointed to another notebook, "This notebook records the strange events Yan Daozi encountered in daily life. From his words, you can tell he’s stingy, lazy, timid, and indifferent, with little curiosity, always keeping himself aloof. But that’s not important, look at these sentences."

Sang Que squinted to look closer, reading aloud, "Tea is bitter, unlike wine."

Sang Wan turned a page, pointing again.

"Flute sound is jarring, can’t learn it."

Sang Wan turned another page, sliding his finger.

"No time to make drums... a warm bed is a hero’s grave, harmful... I didn’t like listening to opera before, but now force myself to watch a few, it’s interesting..."

Sang Que vaguely understood, opened his mouth but didn’t know how to summarize.

Sang Wan clarified directly, "Yan Daozi was imitating Xiao Yuqian’s behavior, learning to drink tea, listen to opera, blow the flute, make drums, ’appreciate’ women like him."

"You mean..." Sang Que’s eyes gradually brightened.

Sang Wan nodded, bringing another notebook for Sang Que to see, "At first he complained about how much he disliked Xiao Yuqian’s habits, but after about a month, he mentioned several times in his notes, ’lately, Xiao Sheng has become much quieter.’"

"In earlier entries, Yan Daozi mentioned flaying and blood rituals several times. I initially thought Yan Daozi used this to satisfy Xiao Yuqian and make him docile. But look here, Yan Daozi took his apprentice Ming Zhang from Wangshan City to Black Mountain Village, several times mentioning they hadn’t found an inn to stay before nightfall."

"Surely they’d encounter Evil Spirits, yet later Yan Daozi only wrote ’multiple dangers, fortunately no major issues,’ mentioning ’encountered Blood Robe Evil, Corpse Evil two or three times, eliminated,’ etc. He didn’t write about blood rituals, Xiao Sheng’s backlash, any of that."

"While on the road, any Evil Spirit encountered he ’eliminated,’ unlike before where he could only ’drive them away.’ Given Yan Daozi’s own character, he should have ’avoided,’ and he had the ability to do so, but he didn’t. Instead, like the bold Xiao Yuqian, he directly eliminated the Evil Spirits."

"This suggests he used Xiao Yuqian’s power without suffering backlash or performing blood rituals. The blood ritual at Black Mountain Village’s Corpse Nest was probably overstepping safe limits. Also, on the way to Black Mountain Village, he continued learning the flute, replacing his usual drink of wine with tea, no longer retreating from things he could handle boldly, aligning with Xiao Sheng’s nature."

Sang Que inexplicably excited, "So you’re saying... saying..."

"So you’re saying, the third method of taming Evil Spirits is to become like the Evil Spirit was in life."

"Yes! That’s exactly it!" Sang Que clenched his fist and hit his palm, eyes shining brightly.

In previous notes, Ming Zhang also mentioned that his master Yan Daozi was increasingly acting unlike before, with behavior resembling the Evil Spirit he was controlling in life.

Sang Que once thought it was a side effect of taming Evil Spirits, but it was actually intentional by Yan Daozi.

Why would a perfectly good person force himself to do things he doesn’t like unless there’s some ’benefit’ involved?

Sang Que also read a few books Yan Daozi carried with him tonight, which mentioned that after death, a spirit often clings to the desire to resurrect.

So, these Evil Spirits like to possess the bodies of the living. The earliest Yin Walkers arose because of this behavior of Evil Spirits.

Evil Spirits mostly follow fixed rules to kill, with low intelligence. A person dies and becomes a spirit with an added obsession, limited thinking ability, mostly acting out of instinct and nature.