Chapter 15: Reckless Killing Karma

Tu Shanju arrived at the villa district earlier than Xu Jiangshan and his team, but instead of going to the Tang residence, she headed for a small villa located in the southwest corner.

This villa was the smallest in the neighborhood—only two stories high—but it had a large yard filled with red roses. At first glance, it was clear that the homeowner knew how to enjoy life.

Tu Shanju shifted her gaze from the flowers to the female ghost standing at the villa’s gate.

The ghost was completely naked, her body covered in knife wounds—ghastly and shocking to look at.

Cheng Xiujuan stared fixedly at the black gate before her and her own scorched hands.
“Damn it. Why is this happening? He’s the last one. Just one more kill and our revenge is complete. Why?! Why?! Du Ming, you deserve to die! I’m going to kill you! Ah!!!”

She lunged at the gate again.

But just getting near it made her whole body tremble as if she were being scorched by flames.

Yet she had completely lost her reason. Her eyes were filled with nothing but hatred. Even if it meant her soul being shattered, she was determined to kill that beast in human form today.

Tu Shanju frowned as she looked at the black gate and the surrounding fence, a cold glint flashing in her eyes.

Cheng Xiujuan’s hands were about to be melted by pure yang blood—black dog’s blood—so Tu Shanju stepped forward and yanked her back.

The moment she was pulled back, Cheng Xiujuan snapped her head around to glare at Tu Shanju.

Tu Shanju didn’t speak. She lowered her head and gently brushed the ghost’s hands, which were still aflame. Instantly, the black fire disappeared and her hands returned to normal.

To be honest, Cheng Xiujuan was surprised.

It wasn’t that she didn’t know someone was behind her—Xiao Liu had warned her already.

But she thought the girl was simply admiring the roses and wouldn’t interfere.

She didn’t harm innocents, so she didn’t pay it any mind.

It was only when she was pulled back that she realized—

This girl was someone from the metaphysics world.

What surprised her even more was that this girl had actually helped her.

“Why did you help me? Aren’t you metaphysicists supposed to capture ghosts on sight?”
In her understanding, that was the duty of those in the mystical arts.

That’s why, after killing Lin Fenglan and Tang Wen, she had rushed here to kill Du Ming. She thought she had to finish her vengeance before they could stop her.

Tu Shanju didn’t answer her question.

Instead, she pulled a bone-cutting knife from her bag.
“Want to buy a knife on credit?”

Cheng Xiujuan didn’t react right away.

But someone—or something—did.
They told her: the girl in front of her was a Knife-Borrower.

If you bought her knife, she would help you.

“Deal!” Cheng Xiujuan didn’t have time to think. Time was short, and even the slimmest chance was worth grabbing.

“The transaction is initially accepted. I won’t involve myself in the killing—but this gate, leave it to me.”

Tu Shanju then told Cheng Xiujuan to step back a couple of paces to avoid getting hurt.

Cheng Xiujuan didn’t know what she planned to do but followed her instructions anyway.

Just as she stepped back for the second time, she watched Tu Shanju spin into a roundhouse kick.

Boom—
One of the heavy wooden gates flew off its hinges.

With another kick, the second one followed.
A loud “Duang!” rang through the air.

Cheng Xiujuan’s jaw dropped.

And suddenly, from her ghostly form came voices that weren’t hers—

“Whoa!”

“She’s so cool!”

“I’m in love!”

Tu Shanju: “…”

By the time Xu Jiangshan and the others arrived at the Du family’s villa, they saw Cheng Xiujuan standing in the courtyard—

But the two grand villa gates had completely vanished.

Behind her bloomed blood-red roses, and on her pale, ghostly body were grotesque, brutal wounds.

This was how she had died: tortured to death.

At this moment, she had a man by the throat, nearly suffocating him.

The man looked to be in his forties or fifties, dressed in a white lab coat.

It was obvious he was a doctor.

When Du Ming saw people arrive, he immediately reached out toward them, gasping,
“Help… me…”

“Let him go!” Chen Rang instantly threw out a talisman and whipped out his demon-whip made of hemp snake skin, lashing it toward the ghost.

Cheng Xiujuan didn’t even turn around. A golden light erupted from her body, shielding her from head to toe.

The whip struck the golden light and was immediately repelled.

The force caused Chen Rang’s arm to tremble violently.

“This… this is our Lüshan Sect’s divine light? How is this possible?” he muttered in disbelief.

Xu Jiangshan and Lin Xiuer were equally stunned.

A fierce ghost protected by divine light?

Unprecedented.

Lin Xiuer asked,
“Elder Xu, what’s going on? Was she in our line of work when she was alive?”

Xu Jiangshan shook his head firmly.
“No. But I have no idea why she has divine light shielding her.”

“So what do we do now? Are we just going to stand here and let her kill someone in front of us?” Chen Rang stared hard at Du Ming, who was still trapped in Cheng Xiujuan’s grip.

Xu Jiangshan was silent for a moment, then took two steps forward and spoke directly to Cheng Xiujuan:
“When a person dies, their light goes out and their soul returns to the Underworld. Even if you were wronged, you must follow the order of Yin and Yang, respect the laws of Heaven and Earth. Do not kill again. Do not create reckless karma.”

Upon hearing this, Cheng Xiujuan moved.

She loosened her grip slightly, allowing Du Ming to draw a weak breath.
Then she turned to face the three of them, her face twisted with hate.

“Heh… reckless karma? Do you even know what he’s done?”

The three remained silent.

Cheng Xiujuan sneered,
“Look at that spotless white coat of his. But his heart? It’s pitch black.”

She turned back, her grip tightening again.
“Du Ming. Owner and doctor of Huizhongkang Clinic. Secretly involved in organ trafficking and human smuggling.”

“Xiao Liu was brought to this clinic. Her corneas and both kidneys were removed. She died from massive blood loss.”

“Xiao Ba—her heart was harvested. Xiao Eleven—her bone marrow was drained dry. Xiao Twenty-One…”

“You tell me—who’s the real one committing reckless slaughter?”

“Oh, and by the way… did you ever ask why I killed that entertainment exec, Tang Wen?
He was just a small manager at a media company. What did he have to do with any of this?”

“He lured fresh-faced girls under the guise of casting calls, then sold them to underground nightclubs overseas. In less than a month, nine out of ten were dead.”

“Do I have a lot of wounds? The ones on those girls were only worse.”

“You talk about souls returning to the Underworld—but do you think those girls even had souls left to return?”

Cheng Xiujuan tilted her head and glanced at the wall of crimson roses, the air around her thick with growing resentment.

She tightened her grip again, watching Du Ming writhe in agony.
“Du Ming… what a fitting name. Pretending to be deaf and blind while knowingly doing evil.”

“When you planted every one of these red roses… did you ever think of the bloody organs you ripped out with your own hands?”

“When you sipped tea in this garden, did you ever notice the scent of blood in the air?”

“When you smeared the gates and fences with black dog’s blood, were you not filled with guilt and fear?”

At this point, Du Ming’s consciousness had completely faded.
Blood was seeping from his seven orifices, and his eyes were filled with terror and pain.
“I was wrong… please… I beg you… just this once…”

“You want me to spare you? Did you ever spare them?
Did you ever show mercy to the ones who died at your hands?!”

As Cheng Xiujuan screamed, every wound on her body split open again, blood dripping down onto the crushed rose petals beneath her feet.

Xu Jiangshan and the others, who had been silent until now, looked on in horror—

Because from every open wound on Cheng Xiujuan’s body…
a pair of blood-red eyes began to emerge.