Chapter 100 - Parting Bridge

After breakfast, Ting Ting took Yang Tian around the city. With a beauty by his side, his mood was completely different than yesterday. The two passed by several famous landmarks and Yang Tian immediately adopted the role of being her photographer.

Ting Ting brought Yang Tian to a large bridge that crossed a river that flowed through the city. She had many cute posed at her disposal so Yang Tian didn't feel to bothered to take her picture. After a couple of pictures, someone came up and tapped on Yang Tian's back:

- Young man, I advise that you and your girlfriend not take a picture here.

Turning around, Yang Tian spotted an old lady with a cane. She was looking at him with a sorrowful face. Yang Tian couldn't help but be curious and asked:

- Elder, why did you say that? This place looks very scenic.

The elder sighed:

- You don't feel that anything is strange? This place is so scenic and there are even places specially designed for you to take pictures. Yet there are no couples here taking pictures.

Initially Yang Tian didn't paid any attention to this but as he heard the elder said that, he suddenly realized that it was very strange indeed.

- So can you tell me the reason?

- Alright, call your girlfriend over and I'll the story to both of you.

Yang Tian waved and called Ting Ting over. The two accompanied the elder to a small tea-house underneath the bridge. The elder poured tea for everyone then looked towards the bridge. Her old eyes had flashes of sorrowful looks.

- This bridge was constructed long ago, no one knew when it was built. After constant repairs and upgrades, it became pretty like this. However the reason for its fame doesn't lie there.

- From what I've heard, more than 200 years ago there was a civil war that took place in the city. Corpses strewn the street and one couldn't walk a few meters without running into a body. At that time, a couple of lover couldn't take the situation and tried to crossed the bridge to escape.

- They were unlucky and was caught by the rebels half way on the bridge. The man's feelings for the woman didn't pass this trial and he left her for dead and escaped alone. No mattered how she cried for help, he never looked back. In the end, the desperate woman committed suicide by jumping off the bridge.

- Before she jumped, she curse that anyone that was in love would never attain happiness.

Ting Ting heard that and looked at Yang Tian worriedly. However he didn't take any of this to heart.

- Elder, this is only a legend in the end. There's no proof of this.

- When I was young, I didn't believe in any of this. However after I took a picture with my boyfriend on the bridge, he got into a traffic accident several days after. Several years later, I met another man and that person got drunk and fell off this very bridge.

- Don't you feel that it's strange? The bridge has such high railings, how could someone accidentally fall over them? It must be that female ghost forcing him to jumped. Not only that, I've met many other couples that ran into similar situation. You can search for it online, stories like mine are not rare.

- Because of this, other than its original name, people also called it the Parting Bridge. That's because any couple that set foot on the bridge, they would only have one conclusion - They would part with their lover.

Yang Tian heard the entire story and frowned in contemplation. Something that had happened multiple of times cannot just be coincidences. Could it be...

- Elder, please tell me, after that woman jumped, did they ever find her corpse?

- I don't think so. I've heard that they've tried to find the corpse to no avail.

- So that's how it was. I understand. Thank you elder, I can handle this. Think of it as gratitude for a good story.

Yang Tian stood up and pulled Ting Ting away to the surprised of the elder. Ting Ting was pulled by him and quickly got up and left. The two walked for a good distance before Yang Tian let go of her hands:

- Do you believe in ghosts?

Being asked such a surprising question, Ting Ting couldn't help but be taken aback. However she soon understood Yang Tian's intention:

- You mean that this bridge is haunted by the ghost of that young woman?

- That's right. If my prediction is correct, after all those years, she had been tainted by the baleful qi and turned into a vengeful spirit.

Ting Ting looked at Yang Tian with a strange look. After a while she put her hand on his forehead:

- You've watched way too many horror movies.

 

Hearing her words, Yang Tian knew that she didn't believe him:

- Alright then let us go investigate this matter.

Although there was a bridge, some tourists still liked to crossed river by boats so there was a dock by the river. Yang Tian brought Ting Ting along and rented a small boat along with six helpers. He also bought some specialized tool to brought up some stuff from the bottom of the river.

After the boat got to the middle of the river, the captain asked Yang Tian:

- You hired so many people. Do you want to fish up something big from under the river? 

Yang Tian shook his head:

- It's not big, just a bit awkward to retrieve so I need many people to help.

The captain didn't asked further. As long as Yang Tian paid well, he can hire as many people as he wanted.

Yang Tian's spiritual sense began to spread out. A Nascent Soul level spiritual sense quickly enveloped the entire river. Even things that were deep under the water didn't escape its grasp. Every tree, every leaf, even particle dusts were within Yang Tian's notice. He pointed to the port side:

- Go forward that way 15 meters.

Ting Ting didn't say anything. She just waited to see what exactly Yang Tian was going to do. Yang Tian pointed under the water:

- Let's dive down, there's large and hard clump of soil underneath this position. It's buried underneath more large rock so it'll take a bit of effort to dig up.

Everyone was perplexed but they did the job nevertheless. Yang Tian had already paid so they only needed to follow his instruction. Hauling up a few rocks didn't take too long and after 30 minutes, a clump of soil was brought on board. The captain was astonished and looked at Yang Tian:

- How did you know there was a chunk of of soil like this underwater? Is it some sort of family treasure?

Yang Tian chuckled, this person's imagination was very colorful indeed.

- You really want to know. It's fine, we'll know after we break the soil open. It's mostly clay so you need to be careful and not break the object inside.

They began using tools to peel off layers of clay. The object soon revealed itself to be a skeleton. Although they were a bit unsettled by this, they continued until all the clay was peeled off and the bones washed. A complete set of skeleton appeared and judging from the frame and certain characteristic, they could tell that this belonged to a woman. When they were all looking at Yang Tian for answers, Ting Ting spoke up:

 

- Yang Tian, are you saying that this is the remains of that young woman?

- That's right.

Everyone quickly asked:

- Whose skeleton is this? Can you tell us?

- Have you heard of the legends of this bridge?

Everyone was taken aback and tried to remember. One person spoke out loud:

- You mean that this is the bones of the girl who died 200 years ago? Impossible.

- Why don't you ask her then?

As Yang Tian said that, a shadow emerged from the skeleton bearing the appearance of a woman. She had furious expression and seemingly wanted to charge in at him. However something was retraining her and she couldn't even move. Yang Tian had already bound her earlier. If not these people wouldn't be able to go anywhere near her let alone bring her remains up.

Everyone saw the woman appearing and retreated back in fright. Ting Ting looked distraught and held on to Yang Tian's hands tightly while closing her eyes.

Yang Tian looked at the young woman's spirit and sighed:

- Choosing a wrong person is a very sad thing. However you shouldn't hurt other people because of this. You've bear this pain for so long, let me release you.

A wisp of blue light emanated from Yang Tian's body and flew to the spirit. Her face slowly turned to normal as a smile bloomed on her face. She turned and bowed to Yang Tian before disappearing.

Before everyone understood what happened, the spirit was gone. Yang Tian gave them ten thousand Euro and said:

- Give her a good burial. If not, I won't be responsible if she comes back and haunts you.

The men hastily nodded. Yang Tian was only scaring them since the young woman has already left this world. Yang Tian and Ting Ting returned to shore to continue with their adventure. However Ting Ting didn't seem to be in the mood.

In the end, Yang Tian decided to get something to eat and she brought him to small restaurant. He heard that when a woman was in a bad mood, just put some food in her and it will be ok. This was one of Li Pan's teachings and although Yang Tian didn't believe him too much, he had no other solution.

As their food was served, Ting Ting was still not very animated. However after talking with Yang Tian a bit, she finally managed to eat some of the food. Her mood improved drastically after that. Yang Tian couldn't helped but praised:

- Panzi, I didn't think that within all your bullshit teachings, there are still some useful stuff.

Ting Ting was now feeling much better and asked Yang Tian:

- Yang Ting, tell me. If we were in the same situation as that couple, would you have left me behind to save yourself?

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