The Scum Is A ***

"How is he?" Shu Mu asked when Cheng Sheng came in. "… Fei Yin." He muttered when he saw him.

Fei Yin nodded at them. "Who's this?" he asked and frowned when he saw another unfamiliar person, Ho Ting. "… and what happened to him?" he added when he recognized Xi Ming.

"Sorry. I was wrong earlier. I meant two patients." Cheng Sheng told Fei Yin.

Qie Shi ignored these lovebirds and gave Shu Mu and Xiao Le snacks he brought. He also gave some to Xi Xing but Xi Xing is worried of Xi Ming's condition..

"He is the one whom you fought against with yesterday." Cheng Sheng explained to Fei Yin. "How is his condition?" he asked Shu Mu.

"His injuries are recovering faster. Thanks to your shimei." Shu Mu answered, referring to You Rou.

"You-shimei is also a doctor now?" Fei Yin was surprised.

"… I'll tell you everything after you have fully recovered." Cheng Sheng told Fei Yin.

Fei Yin nodded in agreement. He realized that many things have changed. His memories stopped five years ago during their battle against Wu Ran… no. He hasn't participated in the battle at all! He thought as his brows knitted. Then, where was he?

"Ugh…" he grunted when he felt his head ached.

"Yin?!" Cheng Sheng exclaimed and dropped everything on his hands when he heard Fei Yin's voice.

"Sheng… I…" Fei Yin muttered through his gnashed teeth. "I'll go back for now… I seem to forgot many things…" he said with knitted brows.

Cheng Sheng's pupils shrank. "Go… go back inside for now. Don't be so reckless and go out again!" he told him as he pushed Fei Yin back inside Bai Tan's space.

Shu Mu, Xiao Le, Xi Xing and Qie Shi stared at them in shock. Then, they watched Fei Yin disappeared along with Bai Tan who turned invisible again. Cheng Sheng weakly fell back on his seat. His eyes are empty.

"Cheng Sheng…" they called.

Cheng Sheng shook his head, indicating for them to speak no further. "I… his soul is still incomplete." He clenched his fists. "Time… I need more time." He muttered. "Therefore, I should distract myself while I wait." He said and looked at Ho Ting.

Everyone immediately understood.

"Cheng-shixiong, the spirit servant yesterday that possessed Ho Ting… he's that strong?" Xiao Le asked, changing the subject.

"En. After all, Ling Yun and I didn't notice that there are two souls inside his body…" Cheng Sheng answered and looked at Ho Ting. "That spirit servant must be close to full possession." He frowned.

"'full possession'?" they asked.

Cheng Sheng nodded. "This is one way for the spirits or ghosts to live if they can't find any object to act as a medium. They would possess a human – a living human." He spoke. "They can possess a human, well, if it was already dead. After they possess the corpse, that's what we call 'reviving from the dead'. We will think that the dead lived again but actually, there was already a different soul housing that body… that corpse." He explained.

"Oh!" they understood.

"Then, what if they would possess a living being?" Xiao Le asked. For example, Ho Ting.

"Since there was an already existing soul inside the body, the two souls would fight for the possession of the body." Cheng Sheng answered. "If it is the usual, the original soul of the body would be stronger since it was already 'connected' to the body. But, since I and Ling Yun couldn't see that there are two souls and could only see one in Ho Ting's body, furthermore, we found out it wasn't Ho Ting after I and da shixiong fought against 'Ho Ting', then this new soul – the one that should be the spirit servant, is stronger than Ho Ting's soul thus he overpowered Ho Ting and took control of his body." He explained.

"Then… what would happen to Ho Ting now?" Shu Mu's brows knitted.

"That depends to the extent of the damage in his soul." Cheng Sheng answered. "It will depend on how spiritually strong he is." He added.

"But, if that strong soul – the spirit servant, was already expelled, then, Ho Ting should have also taken the damage, right?" Qie Shi asked. "Not to mention, you also said that Ho Ting should have felt the aftereffects of that other soul leaving his body." He added.

Cheng Sheng nodded, confirming his words. "As it should be." He spoke. "Although they have initially fought for the possession of the body, but after Ho Ting was defeated, now they should be coexisting – whether it was peacefully or not, only them know but I am leaning to the latter. Thus, Ho Ting, as the one left, will bear the effect of the other soul leaving his body, as well as after 'mixing' with his soul, adding to the fact that the other soul was forcefully removed from his body." He explained.

They all fell silent. They can't help but pity this Ho Ting. How to say it… he was very unlucky?

"Now that I think more about it, Ho Ting's case also can be called similar to Xi Ming…" Cheng Sheng muttered as he glanced at Xi Ming.

Xi Xing was startled. "Really?!" he was surprised. "How?" he asked.

"Although Ho Ting was possessed, but still he was controlled by a spirit thus the Spirit Tracing Bells 'rung'." Cheng Sheng spoke. "But, have you ever thought that it might just be an ordinary spirit that is possessing him?" he asked.

They all started. "That's right… it can also be that case!" they exclaimed.

"But, it wasn't." Cheng Sheng told them. "Because if it was a spirit, it should have turned to a demon after possessing Ho Ting." He looked at them. "Not only did it have a malicious intention, but it also harmed Ho Ting by damaging Ho Ting's soul… harming his life." He explained.

"Oh! Then… it is really a spirit servant?" they said.

Cheng Sheng nodded. "There's also one more reason why I thought it was a spirit servant." He spoke. "Da shixiong touched the blade. Of course, he could have done it to stop the blade from harming me." He said. "But, when da shixiong touched that blade, I saw that the blade 'shuddered'." He told them.

They didn't speak since they were too distracted of the fight yesterday.

"It 'shuddered'… and after the blade was shattered, the spirit servant disappeared. It 'died'." Cheng Sheng continued.

"Could it be that the blade is the spirit servant's medium?" Xiao Le asked.

"No… wait. Blade… the sword…" Shu Mu looked at Cheng Sheng. "Could it be… that spirit servant possessing Ho Ting is actually a sword spirit?!" they exclaimed.

Cheng Sheng smiled. "Yes." he nodded. "The more glaring fact is that I didn't see a thread of life from the spirit servant. Thus, I concluded that it shouldn't have a master. And since I noticed that it is connected to the blade… I guessed that it was also a sword spirit like xiao Bao and xiao Ling." He explained.

Their mouths fell open in shock.

"If it was a sword spirit, then it doesn't have a master?" Xi Xing asked. "Or, Ho Ting is actually its master?" he added.

"Since it harmed Ho Ting, then Ho Ting couldn't actually be its master." Cheng Sheng spoke. "Remember, sword spirits are pure beings so they couldn't harm their master." He added.

"Then… if its master isn't Ho Ting… the sword spirit… who owns its body, the sword?" Shu Mu asked.

"This, we have to ask Ho Ting when he wakes up." Cheng Sheng answered. "You also have seen it. He was using the long sword like us but then when he fought against Er Zi… and also me, he used a different sword." He said. "Since that sword is intended to kill me, then it definitely is our enemy. The owner of that sword is our enemy who wanted to kill me." He explained.

They all nodded in agreement.

"Such a pity that the sword broke and the sword spirit was gone. Or else, we could've interrogated it." Xiao Le sighed. "But, what's more important is Cheng-shixiong's life! If we hadn't captured one, then we can capture another again!" he said.

"Yes." they agreed.

"Cheng Sheng." Xi Xing called. "What do you mean earlier that Xi Ming is similar to Ho Ting?" he asked.

"Right." Cheng Sheng muttered when he remembered. "Since it was sword spirit that possessed Ho Ting, don't you think Xi Ming's case is similar to Ho Ting's?" he asked. "They are both mentally disturbed through a spirit tool!" he told them.

Their eyes widened in shock.

"That's right… you said earlier that the Spirit Tracing Bells can mentally, and worse, spiritually, affect us." Shu Mu said when he recalled.

"Although I set up this function to sympathize with the sword spirits, but I didn't expect for me to smash my foot." Cheng Sheng wryly smiled. "I'm sorry, Xi Xing. I didn't mean to harm Xi Ming." He apologized.