The Pacification of Ghosts - Chapter Thirteen: The Reckless Ghost Escapes Through Wine

Following the Romantic Ghost's warning, Zhong Kui tracked the Reckless Ghost (冒失鬼) to a bustling wine shop on the main trade route. Unlike previous locations, this establishment was genuinely prosperous, filled with merchants and travelers.

"Something's wrong here," Han Yuan observed. "Watch the patrons—they're making increasingly risky decisions with each cup they drink."

Indeed, a merchant was betting his entire caravan on a dice game. A traveler was picking fights with men twice his size. A young scholar was burning his examination papers, declaring he'd become a bandit instead.

"The wine doesn't just intoxicate," Fu Qu realized. "It removes inhibition and judgment entirely."

The Reckless Ghost appeared as a constantly shifting blur of motion, never still, always on the verge of another impulsive action. It spoke in rapid bursts, starting sentences before finishing others.

"Welcome! Drink! Why think? Just do! Life's short! Death's shorter! Want something? Take it! Scared? Don't be! Jump first, look never!"

The ghost had died performing an unnecessary stunt to impress a crowd—jumping across a ravine he could have easily walked around. Now it spread its philosophy of thoughtless action to others.

"Planning is paralysis!" it preached to the drunken crowd. "Thinking is death! Only action is life!"

As Zhong Kui's team observed, the situation deteriorated rapidly. The reckless energy was contagious—even sober people were being swept up in the atmosphere of impulsiveness.

A normally cautious father suddenly decided to gamble his family's savings. A young woman impulsively agreed to marry a stranger she'd just met. A group of friends decided to rob a nearby temple "for adventure."

"This is spreading like a plague," Han Yuan said urgently. "If we don't stop it soon, the entire region will descend into chaos."

When Zhong Kui attempted to capture the Reckless Ghost, it did something unexpected—it dove into a wine jar. Not just hiding in it, but becoming one with the alcohol itself.

"Can't catch liquid!" it laughed, flowing from jar to jar. "Can't bind what won't stay still! Can't judge what won't stop moving!"

The ghost flowed through the wine shop's entire supply, contaminating every container. Wherever its essence touched, the wine became a potion of recklessness.

Fu Qu tried smashing the jars, but the ghost simply evaporated and reformed in other containers. "It's using the wine as both refuge and weapon!"

Zhong Kui realized direct confrontation was futile. Instead, he announced loudly: "What a coward this ghost is! It talks about recklessness but hides in wine jars. It preaches action but runs from consequences!"

The Reckless Ghost, true to its nature, couldn't resist the impulsive need to defend itself. It burst from the wine, fully manifested, shouting: "I'm no coward! I'll fight anyone! I'll—"

"You'll stop and think for once," Zhong Kui interrupted, quickly casting a Stillness Seal that froze the ghost mid-motion.

"No! Can't stop! Must move! Must act!" the ghost struggled against the binding.

Zhong Kui's punishment was poetic—he forced the Reckless Ghost to experience the consequences of every impulsive action it had inspired, but in slow motion, with full time to contemplate what would happen.

The ghost watched in horror as the merchant lost everything and his family starved. The young woman's impulsive marriage turned abusive. The temple robbers were caught and executed, their families disgraced.

"Stop! I don't want to see! I just wanted everyone to have fun, to be free!"

"Freedom without thought isn't liberation—it's destruction," Zhong Kui explained. "True freedom comes from choosing wisely, not from abandoning choice to impulse."

Rather than destroying the Reckless Ghost, Zhong Kui offered transformation: "Become the Ghost of Calculated Risk. Help people distinguish between brave action and foolish impulse. Teach the difference between seizing opportunities and creating disasters."

The ghost hesitated—its first real pause in existence. "But... thinking is so slow, so boring..."

"Thinking saves lives," Zhong Kui countered. "You can still promote action, but informed action. Help people be brave, not reckless."

The ghost ultimately accepted, though struggling with its new nature. It would take time to learn the balance between action and thought.

As the wine shop was cleansed, news arrived of the next challenge: "Lord Zhong Kui, a Crude Ghost is terrorizing people through their dreams, showing them visions so vulgar that they wake up spiritually polluted!"

Continue reading: Chapter Fourteen: The Crude Ghost Dies in Dreams