Chapter 20: Nightmare? Courage Unleashed?

“What kind of ability is it?” Xu Ye had already witnessed in the medical bureau that the Ghost Consort could cause objects to rot with a mere touch, so the notion that ghosts possessed supernatural powers was not entirely surprising to him.

“The Ghost Consort, Yan, she can plunge all living beings within dozens of miles into a deep slumber filled with nightmares. When you think you’ve awakened, you only fall into yet another nightmare, each one more terrifying than the last, unending, until your mind collapses from exhaustion and you die.” The Iron Mask did not keep him guessing, but explained directly.

“To awaken the Martial Courage, the required condition is to recite passages from the Six Oaths in the Classic of Documents while experiencing extreme terror.”

At this, Iron Mask retrieved a scroll from a nearby shelf and handed it to Xu Ye.

“Reciting texts while tempering your courage—such a method of cultivation is certainly unique,” Xu Ye remarked, now grasping the essence of how to awaken the Martial Courage.

“Brother Xiao Ye, if you’re not ready, we can choose another day,” Iron Mask said, noticing the flicker in Xu Ye’s gaze and assuming he was intimidated by the Ghost Consort. He patted his shoulder reassuringly.

“Brother Iron Mask, there’s no time like the present. Let’s do it today,” Xu Ye replied, gripping the scroll tightly and flashing him a smile.

“Now that’s true mettle.” Iron Mask nodded in approval, but then reminded him, “I should let you know, there’s only one chance to awaken your courage—if you stop halfway, you can never try again. Even if you recite just a single character, it counts as a success; there is no failure. However, the difference between reciting a single character and a line or an entire passage is vast. The more you recite, the greater the benefit you receive, and the brighter your martial future will be.”

Xu Ye nodded, “I understand.”

To put it simply, in his own mind, awakening the Martial Courage was like booting up a computer, and reciting the Six Oaths was like installing hardware. The better the hardware, the more you could achieve in the future.

“Since you’ve made up your mind, then go ahead. No one can help you with this step—it’s all up to you.” Seeing Xu Ye’s resolve, Iron Mask said no more, only waved him on with a smile.

Xu Ye nodded in return, then, cradling the scroll, lowered his head to read as he stepped into the room where the Ghost Consort was confined.

“I didn’t expect the boy not to be frightened by the Ghost Consort. Could he truly have the talent for a Confucian martial cultivator?” Watching Xu Ye’s light-footed stride, a trace of surprise crept onto Iron Mask’s face.

He was an old hand in the Mingzi Battalion, having overseen the awakening of courage for at least eighty or a hundred new recruits. Yet this was the first time he’d seen a newcomer maintain composure in front of the Ghost Consort.

“It’s too soon to tell,” Iron Mask muttered, shaking his head. “The Ghost Consort’s nightmares draw one into layer upon layer of terror, and brute courage alone can’t get you through.”

Clang!

As he spoke, the stone door to the Ghost Consort’s cell slammed shut, and Xu Ye’s figure vanished from his sight.

…

“I wonder if I’m considered brave or cowardly,” Xu Ye mused, holding the scroll in the pitch-dark room, gazing calmly ahead as a shadow slowly approached him.

Meanwhile, the ancient seal script carved into the walls began to glow, one character after another, suffusing the room with a sacred golden radiance.

In the budding light, the silhouette of the Ghost Consort gradually came into clearer focus under Xu Ye’s gaze.

“Take horror movies like ‘Ju-On’—after watching them, I’d be too scared to sleep all night. But once I started working, when faced with truly horrifying or bloody scenes, the instinct for fear was still there. Yet the more afraid I was, the calmer I became, as if fear itself fueled me. It was the same back in the Xu family.”

“Is this… an occupational hazard?” Xu Ye muttered. At that moment, the Ghost Consort was already standing before him, no more than two meters away.

“Still the same.” Though a chill was creeping up his spine, Xu Ye did not panic. If anything, his focus sharpened.

“Would the young master… like to see… my face…?” A remarkably pleasant, ethereal woman’s voice suddenly rang out in the darkness. It was incongruously pure for such a sinister place, but it could only be the Ghost Consort standing before Xu Ye.

“The king says: Alas! People of the Six Affairs, I swear to tell you.”

Xu Ye looked straight at the Ghost Consort and began to recite the opening passage of the Six Oaths—‘The Oath of Gan.’

He had no interest in bantering with a ghost.

As a retired enthusiast of classical literature, he had memorized most of the Classic of Poetry, so he didn’t even need to open the scroll.

As he recited the first line, the Ghost Consort swept the hair from her face with pale hands, revealing the innocent features of a young maiden, still touched with childishness.

It was not a face of great beauty, but it inspired a helpless, protective tenderness.

But in the blink of an eye, that face cracked like porcelain, blood seeping from the fissures as the Ghost Consort let out a shrill, piercing scream.

In an instant, hands stretched from the cracks in her face, tearing it apart completely as sharp-toothed, big-headed infants crawled out one after another.

To Xu Ye’s eyes, the Ghost Consort’s head had become a tree in full bloom, except each flower was a monstrous, grotesque infant.

At the crown of the tree, a rotund, big-headed infant with a mouth full of fangs peered down hungrily at Xu Ye, fetid drool dripping to the floor at his feet.

“The House of Hou defied the five elements, abandoned the three norms. So Heaven destroyed their fate. Now I, in awe, carry out Heaven’s punishment.”

Though his eyes lingered on the Ghost Consort, Xu Ye’s recitation never faltered.

His voice, calm to the point of eeriness, was in stark contrast to his body’s bristling terror, as if spoken by a detached observer.

He could clearly see, as he recited the second line, golden threads of light weaving from all directions toward him, finally brushing against his skin like a gentle breeze, filling him with sudden strength.

“The left is invulnerable on the left; you defy the mandate—”

Roar!

Before Xu Ye could savor the sensation, his words were drowned by the furious howls of the ghostly infant.

Boom!

The monstrous infant leaped from the Ghost Consort’s body, jaws gaping, fangs bared, as if to swallow Xu Ye whole.