Chapter 44: What Drives an Obsession

"Jerk! Psychopath! Punk! Unacceptable!"

That night, Feng Xue, who was clearly already fast asleep, heard a stream of furious scolding echoing in his ears. However, perhaps due to the fact that all her memories originated from some well-bred young lady of high society, the ghost's vocabulary was truly limited. Coupled with her soft and gentle Wu accent, it actually sounded rather pleasant.

Unlike the previous few times, this time Feng Xue snapped awake from the ghost's dream almost instantly. This was not because he had developed a resistance or possessed quick reflexes, but simply because the spiritual pact of the Ghost-Control Mantra contained a clause forbidding the ghost from harming its master.

Entering dreams was permitted, but memory-shielding and the like were beyond her capabilities.

Giving a vigorous stretch, Feng Xue propped himself up from the ground, which still felt somewhat chilly, and saw Mo Ying still sitting on a large boulder in that clipping-through-walls posture, pointing at him and cursing vehemently.

Feng Xue grinned and suddenly stood up.

As if startled by this movement—having been thoroughly exhausted earlier outside (referring to the ghost-control process)—Mo Ying tumbled backward right off the boulder. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she scrambled up from the ground in a fluster, stammering:

"D-Don't come closer! This is a dreamscape, and I'm in charge here! Even if you're my master, you can't control me! Watch it or I'll make you... make you have a nightmare!"

Listening to Mo Ying's completely toothless threat, Feng Xue couldn't help but chuckle. He tried to activate the Ghost-Control Mantra, only to find that with his fragile spiritual soul, he seemed unable to channel vital energy within a dream. Yet he didn't mind at all; instead, he took another two steps forward and smiled, saying:

"You went to all that trouble to drag me in here, just to give me a nightmare?"

"Who... who went to all that trouble to drag you in! Obviously you came in by yourself! That's right, you came in by yourself, this time and the last time too! I couldn't care less about pulling you in!"

Mo Ying continued to back away, offering a feeble explanation. Feng Xue, however, wore a disbelieving expression as he said:

"I actually have the ability to voluntarily enter your dreamscape?"

"It's because you gave off way too much vital energy! Your vital energy leaked in by itself, and your consciousness came along with it! I didn't want this either! I've been trying so hard not to absorb it, but it just keeps coming in! What can I do about it? Why don't you stay further away from me before you go to sleep next time?"

Mo Ying looked on the verge of tears. She was just minding her own business inside the painting, so how on earth did she end up running into someone like this?

"Spontaneous?" Feng Xue recalled the contents of the Ghost-Control Mantra and harbored no doubts. After all, according to the secret manual, during the process of a spirit ghost absorbing its master's mana and vital energy, it would gradually achieve a communion of hearts with the master. Ordinary Xuan cultivators nurturing ghosts would feed them bit by bit with incense and offerings, but his supply over the past day or two probably met the standard of several or even a dozen years for others!

"Looking at it this way, I really do possess the innate constitution for raising ghosts?" Feng Xue laughed self-deprecatingly, but seeing the spirit ghost's guarded expression, he couldn't help letting out a sigh. Although under the Ghost-Control Mantra a master could forcibly command a ghost whether it was willing or not, according to the manual, a cooperative ghost was always better than an uncooperative one.

Realizing that even ghosts needed to be handled with a mix of grace and severity, he finally put away that unsettling smile and turned serious. This abrupt shift in demeanor slightly startled Mo Ying, and the next moment she heard Feng Xue say:

"Whether you like it or not, you are now my bound ghost. You must help me when I need you to do things. In exchange, I will provide you with vital energy and mana, allowing you to grow faster—"

"I don't want your mana and vital energy!" Mo Ying immediately shook her head. Hearing this, Feng Xue raised an eyebrow:

"I'm talking to you nicely and now you're pushing your luck, aren't you?"

"N-No, it's not like that!" Seeing Feng Xue's expression turn grim, Mo Ying shrank back slightly, hurriedly adding in a panicky tone:

"I-I just don't want to go out! Helping you cast illusions and things like that is fine!"

"?" A trace of doubt arose in Feng Xue's mind, and he began to recall the introduction of this spirit ghost's background provided by the owner of Ink Rain Pavilion. According to the proprietor, even after shedding her obsession and entering reincarnation, this spirit ghost had lingered for over a hundred years without anyone offering sacrifices to her. This meant the spirit ghost had transcended even "wish power," sustaining her existence purely on the obsession inherited from her original self.

Thinking along these lines, she probably lacked the usual spirit ghosts' craving for vital energy and cultivation. If that was the case, he would likely have to target her obsession.

Yet what was this ghost's obsession? Not wanting to come out? Was she a shut-in?

Recalling the various details since acquiring Mo Ying, and remembering how a single sentence earlier had driven her to blushing fury, a flash of inspiration struck Feng Xue. Adopting a mischievous, bratty expression, he said:

"Illusions? With that clumsy clipping trick of yours, what kind of help could you possibly be?"

"Y-You, don't look down on me!" Mo Ying glared, raising her voice to a volume she hadn't even used when she was being cornered step-by-step by Feng Xue, issuing a fierce protest.

Inwardly, Feng Xue chuckled, thinking, "Got her," while his expression grew even more disdainful:

"Look down on you? I'm ignoring you! You can't even blend into the environment yourself, and you still have the nerve to call it an illusion! Who couldn't spot you at a glance? Small fry! Total small fry!"

Just as Feng Xue was getting into character, Mo Ying gave a start, her tear ducts bursting on the spot—

"Wuwuwu! I want to get in too! But I just can't blend in, what am I supposed to do?! I don't even know how to paint, and that idiot Bai Li is only half-baked either; I can't learn anything following her methods! Wuwuwu!"

A massive torrent of tears, combined with the ink-wash style scenery of this realm, gave the surreal impression that everything was about to dissolve and blur. The sturdy, wind-sheltered giant boulder beneath her seemed to sprout moss, the elegant river behind her instantly brimmed with floating duckweed, and even her delicate face seemed smudged with a smear of ink—leaving Feng Xue completely dumbfounded.

"Is she really this fragile?"

The thought had just surfaced when Feng Xue immediately realized that this was very likely the core obsession binding this spirit ghost.

Although obsession was the fundamental basis for a ghost's survival, once the Ghost-Control Mantra was completed, the spirit ghost was bound to the master. It mattered little if the original obsession faded—or rather, only by shedding the original obsession could a spirit ghost truly be said to have no remaining weaknesses—after all, that obsession was merely inherited from her past life.

"Could this fellow's obsession be learning how to paint?"

Thinking of the spirit ghost prototype mentioned by the shopkeeper—the daughter of a former imperial chancellor—based on the countless melodramatic plots he had read before transmigrating, perhaps her true obsession was actually "freedom"...

Wait...

A spirit body attached to an imperfect landscape painting?

Did that young lady really love her own painting that much?

Yet she had broken free of her obsession and reincarnated within a few months! On the contrary, this spirit ghost was obsessed with turning herself into an ink blot visible to ordinary people...

So, when she said "I want to blend in too" earlier, it wasn't just a simple complaint, but her obsession?

Did that young lady want to enter the external world symbolized by the realm within the painting?

In other words...

Could this ghost's obsession be inherited from her past life, a desire to go to the illusory, free world inside the painting? Or was it simply... to enter the painting and merge completely with it?

Various thoughts surfaced in Feng Xue's mind as he furrowed his brow. Although the possibilities seemed numerous, any of them could be approached through the same topic—

"How about this? I'll help you find learning materials for ink-wash painting, and you help me do things?"

"Gk!" The abruptly halted crying was punctuated by a strange sound. Mo Ying stopped rubbing her eyes, peered through the gap between her fingers with those beautiful eyes, and across the large boulder, spoke weakly:

"Really?"