Chapter 159 - 158: Merit Golden Light

Chapter 159: Chapter 158: Merit Golden Light

"What are you, crazy? It’s the middle of the night!" The man’s eyes were filled with terror. "There’s no such thing as ghosts in this world!"

Ning Hong also thought it was impossible. ’I must be hallucinating because I miss Da Bao so much.’

She wiped her tears and looked at Gu Qingyin. "Tell me."

Gu Qingyin smiled. "I’m not sure about the specifics myself. It’s better if she tells you herself."

Hearing this, Huo Yunjing’s lips curled into a slight smile, and he snapped his fingers.

Instantly, invisible ghost energy radiated outward, enveloping the entire room and transforming it into a Ghost Realm.

And the two humans within the Ghost Realm could now, naturally, see the two ghosts.

Huo Yunjing was floating right beside the man. His sudden appearance made the man jump, and after a short scream, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted.

Huo Yunjing spoke coldly, "Useless."

’He only knows how to yell at his wife and can’t handle the slightest pressure. If that’s not useless, what is?’

As for Ning Hong, the moment she saw Da Bao, tears streamed down her face once more.

"It’s not a hallucination... Da Bao is really back." She raised a hand, wanting to touch her daughter, but flinched and pulled it back at the last second. Covering her face, she sobbed, "Da Bao! I’m sorry! Mommy is so, so sorry!"

Da Bao’s expression darkened, but her words softened it slightly. "Mom, I don’t blame you. I know we didn’t have any money and you had to raise my little brother. It was hard for you both."

This only made Ning Hong more heartbroken. Shaking her head, she said in anguish, "No, that’s not it! We had money! People online donated so much money to us..."

At this, Gu Qingyin’s expression changed. "Then where is the money?"

"The money..." Ning Hong looked up, staring blankly at Da Bao’s deathly pale face as guilt consumed her. "Da Bao’s father took it to pay off his gambling debts!"

"My medical money... was used to pay off gambling debts?" Da Bao couldn’t accept it, subconsciously trying to make excuses for them. "It’s fine... My illness couldn’t be cured anyway..."

"There was hope! There was hope for a cure!" Ning Hong cried. "The specialist from the Capital City told us there was a newly developed drug we could try, though the results weren’t guaranteed."

"Your father and I wanted to buy it at first. We found a way to fundraise online and quickly raised enough money. We were about to go to the hospital to make the payment."

"But on the way to the hospital, some men took your father. They threatened to cut off his hands and feet if he didn’t pay them back."

Ning Hong closed her eyes in anguish. "Your father was terrified, so he used your medical money to pay off the debt."

"Da Bao, Mommy is useless. I’m so sorry. Please try to understand your father and me. Even with the new drug, there was no guarantee your illness could be cured, but we still have your little brother to raise."

"If your father lost his hands and feet, this family would be finished! Your little brother and I would starve to death!"

Gu Qingyin listened with a frown. For a moment, she couldn’t distinguish right from wrong. ’Perhaps this can’t be judged in terms of right and wrong,’ she thought. ’It’s just a choice made after weighing the consequences.’

Ning Hong’s choice had been to give up on Da Bao, choosing her newborn son and a future that wouldn’t be quite so difficult.

"So you just left me in the hospital, abandoning me completely." Da Bao’s eyes were dark, not at all like a child’s. "You could have taken me home and explained things. I’m a good girl. I would have listened."

Yin Qi surged from Da Bao’s body. Her soul body, once translucent, grew murky. She roared, "Why did you throw me away? Why didn’t... you... WANT... ME?!"

’Oh no! The shock has made her turn dark!’

Gu Qingyin flicked her wrist, sending a talisman flying. Da Bao was instantly frozen in place, unable to move.

’Good thing I was prepared for this.’

Da Bao clearly had a lingering obsession. ’How could the soul of a ghost with such an obsession be so pure? Unless she had suppressed it so deeply that she was just waiting for a chance to either explode or resolve it.’

That chance was this conversation with her parents. But clearly, her mother’s answer wasn’t what Da Bao wanted to hear, so she erupted.

Before, even as a ghost soul, Da Bao had looked much as she did when she was gravely ill. But now, she was brimming with sinister Yin Qi, looking as if she might pounce and devour someone at any moment.

Ning Hong couldn’t accept it. Shaking her head and backing away, she muttered, "No... you’re not Da Bao. You’re not my daughter."

Hearing this made Da Bao even angrier. Her body was immobile, but her mouth wasn’t. She let out a roar at Ning Hong.

Ning Hong was scared out of her wits. She scrambled to the door and put her hand on the knob, but then she jolted. Little Treasure was still in the room!

Without a moment’s hesitation, Ning Hong turned and ran toward the bedroom.

Seeing this, Da Bao shrieked even louder as tears of blood streamed from her eyes.

"You’d risk your life for your son! But what about me? I’m your own flesh and blood too!" Da Bao’s voice was tragic and mournful, thick with resentment. "Is it because I’m a girl? Does a girl’s life not matter?"

"If you didn’t want me, why did you even give birth to me?!"

Cradling Little Treasure, Ning Hong cowered by the bed, trembling and murmuring apologies through her tears.

Da Bao had vented her rage, but tears of blood still streamed from her eyes.

In truth, they weren’t tears, but an external manifestation of her resentment. Da Bao’s resentment was breeding faster and faster; in turn, her sanity was slipping away.

"Da Bao." Gu Qingyin started, but she couldn’t think of what to say to comfort her.

’I never believed anyone could truly feel another’s pain,’ she thought. ’So-called empathy is only partial. How could two completely different people, with different experiences and thoughts, ever have the exact same feelings?’

’Any comfort I could offer would just be my own presumptuous projection.’

"Da Bao." Gu Qingyin skipped the platitudes and spoke softly. "How about I help you reincarnate? In your next life, you will definitely have a mommy and a daddy who love you very, very much. Don’t ruin your next life for people who aren’t worth it, okay?"

Da Bao’s face was twisted in a snarl. Her blood-red eyes stared at Gu Qingyin, and her voice was hollow and grim. "Next life?"

Gu Qingyin nodded. "Let them go. We’ll find you a new mommy and daddy."

Da Bao asked resentfully, "They abandoned their own child. Shouldn’t they be punished?"

Gu Qingyin nodded. "They will be. While they’re alive, the law will punish them. Karma will punish them. And when they die and arrive in the Underworld, the Judge will punish them."

"You’re still a child. Just leave punishing them to the adults," Gu Qingyin said, her voice gentle. "Be a good girl. Go and reincarnate. In your next life, you can be a happy, healthy child, free from suffering."

As she finished speaking, specks of golden light drifted from Gu Qingyin’s body and merged into Da Bao’s soul body.

Da Bao stood in a daze. "So warm..."

The Yin Qi covering her body was like ice and snow under a golden sun, melting away in an instant.

In just a few seconds, Da Bao’s soul body had returned to its translucent state. The tears of blood on her face were gone, and her large eyes were bright and clear. She was a beautiful little girl once more.

"Miss..." Da Bao found she could move again. She gave a deep bow. "Thank you."

Gu Qingyin patted her on the head and smiled. "Go and reincarnate."

Da Bao stood up straight, looked up at Gu Qingyin, and smiled. Her figure vanished in a soft white light.

After Da Bao was gone, Huo Yunjing muttered to himself, heartbroken, "All that golden light of merit, so hard to accumulate..."

’Even I’ve never gotten any!’