The Mystic Lucky Baby is Five and a Half Years Old - Chapter 25

“Jinxed ghost?”

Yu Shanhe couldn’t make out what that black shadow really was, but Niannian could.

In her eyes, what had jumped out of Yan Li’s body wasn’t just a dark shaped entity, but a ghost: green-faced, fanged, and dressed in tattered rags. The ghost radiated a suffocating aura of misfortune and malice. Just looking at it filled the heart with disgust.

That slash earlier hadn’t completely destroyed the jinxed ghost’s soul, Niannian had deliberately held back, leaving it weak but alive.

Before, when its power had been at its peak, the yin energy and magnetic field it carried were strong enough to affect the living. That was why Yu Shanhe, an ordinary human, had been able to see a shadow. But now that it was weakened, Yu Shanhe couldn’t see anything.

Yan Li, meanwhile, was still on the floor, convulsing from the curse’s backlash. She was dazed and pale, but her life wasn’t in danger.

Niannian pointed her peachwood sword at the ghost on the ground, exuding an air of confidence and authority far beyond her years.

With a tone completely at odds with her cute, childlike appearance, she asked coldly, “Speak. Why did you try to hurt my daddy?”

The jinxed ghost was tall and broad-shouldered, but now he’s curled up like a quail, the sword tip pressed to his throat, trembling uncontrollably.

Ghosts feared righteous energy more than anything else. And this tiny girl, though young, was overflowing with it.

He had no idea who she’d been in her past life, but her whole body gleamed with golden light, so bright that his ghostly eyes could barely stand it. Against someone like her, even a high-ranking ghost general would steer clear, let alone a low-level wretch like him.

“I… I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” the ghost stammered. “I just… I was just living inside that woman’s body…”

He glanced around subtly, looking for a way out. But the more he searched, the more he despaired. There was no escape, not from this deceptively cute little monster.

“You’re lying!” Niannian puffed her cheeks, glaring. “You’re a jinxed ghost. Master said your kind is the worst, always hurting people on purpose!”

“Tell me! Why did you try to harm my daddy?” Her little mouth jutted out stubbornly. She didn’t believe a word he said.

Jinxed ghosts were cowardly, cruel, and petty. They brought bad luck wherever they went, not for gain, not for survival, but purely because it made them feel better when others suffered.

Her Master said that even among ghosts, they were the most despised, both in the spirit world and the human one. They hurt others for no reason, a kind of twisted comfort that says, “If you’re miserable, then I’m happy.”

“I… I…” The ghost stammered, unable to explain himself.

Niannian tilted her head, remembering what her Third Senior Brother had taught her, “Even ghosts have rights. They have the right to remain silent, and you must respect their choices.”

When a ghost refused to speak, there was no need to press further. A kind and wise child should be understanding even toward ghosts.

At times like these, she knew what to do. Respect. Understand. Exorcise.

“I get it,” she said sweetly. “You don’t want to talk, right?”

“I… If I don’t want to talk… can I not?” Maybe it was because her tone was gentler now, but the ghost thought he had a chance. He even dared to bargain.

“Of course you can!” Niannian nodded eagerly, her voice soft and sugar-sweet.

The ghost’s eyes darted around. “Ha! Kids were kids. No matter how strong she is, she is still gullible. If I play along for just a bit longer, maybe I could slip away.”

What he didn’t know was that Niannian’s smile came straight from her Third Senior Brother’s teachings, “You must smile, you must be gentle. When a ghost faces its end, let it feel one last trace of warmth from this world before it fades. That’s what a truly kind child does.”

So Niannian smiled, bright as a little sun, face innocent and radiant, and then promptly raised her peachwood sword and brought it down without hesitation.

The ghost, “??? HEAVENS ABOVE! SHE’S GOING TO KILL ME!”

He couldn’t believe it. This soft, chubby little girl, who looked like she wouldn’t hurt a fly, was a total executioner!

No hesitation. No mercy. No warning.

Her smile was still there, pure and angelic, but to him, she looked no different from one of those grinning serial killers in horror movies.

With his last shred of strength, the jinxed ghost barely dodged the strike.

Niannian didn’t seem disappointed. She simply raised her sword again, ready to attack. 

Facing complete obliteration, the ghost broke. “Mercy, young lady! Spare me! Please! I’ll tell you everything!” He cried. “Everything! I swear!”

“Oh?” Niannian lowered her sword slightly, giving him a puzzled look. Since he seemed willing to talk, she paused. “Okay, Uncle Jinxed Ghost-Who-Keeps-Changing-His-Mind,” she said, blinking up at him. “What do you want to say?”

“I really didn’t mean to hurt your father!” The ghost babbled. “Someone told me that if I stayed close to that woman, if I possessed her body, I could transfer my bad luck away faster. Once I did that, I could reincarnate sooner…”

Trembling, he spilled everything he knew. He had once been a wandering ghost in a remote mountain village. Because of his cursed nature, other ghosts avoided him, the ghost messengers spat at him, and humans, driven by instinct, steered clear of wherever he lingered.

He was utterly alone.

Until one day, a man in a black robe appeared before him. Jinxed ghosts had to wait until their misfortune naturally dissipated before they could reincarnate. But the black-robed man told him he had a way to speed up the process, maybe even help him steal a little good fortune and get reborn into a wealthy family next life.

He had been desperate. So, he followed the man without question. Then the man sealed him inside Yan Li’s body. He didn’t have to do anything, just stay with her. And, just as the man had promised, the longer he followed her around, the more his misfortune faded, little by little, day by day.

After two years, most of it was already gone.

If Niannian hadn’t exposed him and forced him out of Yan Li’s body today, in another year or two he might’ve been free. That was all he knew. He had never seen the man’s face, nor learned anything about him.

When he finished, he looked at Niannian with pitiful eyes, as though he might cry any second. “Please, young lady,” he whimpered, “I told you everything… can you let me go now?”

Niannian blinked, confused. Looking at the ugly, fanged ghost pretending to be pitiful, she didn’t feel a shred of sympathy. “Huh? Did I ever say I’d let you go?”

And with that, she pulled a gourd out of her little shoulder bag. She waved her hand and the jinxed ghost’s body was instantly drawn toward it, sucked in completely within seconds. The gourd sealed itself shut.

The jinxed ghost, right before vanishing, “??? This kid… was a devil. Absolutely a devil!”