The Pacification of Ghosts - Chapter Two: The Color Ghost Seeks Medical Treatment in the Pleasure Quarter

In the entertainment district of a prosperous city, a peculiar incident was unfolding. The most renowned courtesan house had sent urgent word to all the doctors in the city—their most beautiful courtesan was afflicted with a mysterious illness that no physician could diagnose.

When Zhong Kui arrived to investigate the supernatural disturbances in the area, he found the pleasure quarter in chaos. Not from violence or fear, but from an obsessive fascination that was spreading like a disease.

"Lord Zhong Kui," the madame of the house pleaded, "something unnatural has taken hold here. Our best courtesan, Jade Phoenix, has been acting strangely. She claims to be sick, but she glows with health. Yet every doctor who examines her becomes... entranced."

Zhong Kui's divine sight immediately revealed the truth. A Color Ghost (色鬼)—a spirit obsessed with beauty and desire—had not possessed the courtesan but had instead manifested beside her as an invisible companion, feeding off the desire she inspired in others.

The ghost appeared as a shimmering, ever-shifting form of impossible beauty, changing its appearance to match each viewer's deepest aesthetic desires. To men, it appeared as various idealized women; to women, it showed what they wished they could be.

"Interesting," Han Yuan observed, using a special talisman to see the spirit. "This ghost isn't possessing anyone directly. It's more like a parasite, feeding on the emotions the courtesan naturally evokes."

What made this case unusual was that the Color Ghost claimed to be the one who was sick and needed treatment. Through the courtesan, who could hear its voice, it spoke to Zhong Kui:

"Great Judge, I am dying! Not from any physical ailment, but from an overdose of empty desire. I've fed on shallow lust for so long that I've forgotten what genuine love feels like. I'm poisoned by the very thing I consume!"

This was unprecedented—a ghost seeking medical treatment for a spiritual ailment caused by its own nature.

The Color Ghost's "illness" was affecting everyone in the pleasure quarter:

• Patrons were becoming obsessed not with the courtesans but with an idealized beauty that didn't exist
• The courtesans themselves were growing increasingly insecure, sensing they could never match the invisible standard
• Even the servants and musicians were affected, creating art and music that expressed longing for something unattainable

"It's like a plague of impossible desire," Fu Qu noted with disgust. "Everyone wants something that doesn't exist."

Zhong Kui summoned an unusual physician—not a doctor of the body but a Buddhist monk who specialized in diseases of the spirit. Master Empty-Mind arrived, took one look at the situation, and laughed.

"The cure is simple but painful," he declared. "The Color Ghost must experience true, selfless love—not desire, not passion, but genuine caring for another's wellbeing without any thought of return."

The Color Ghost recoiled. "That's not love! Love is desire, passion, the burning need to possess and be possessed!"

"No," Master Empty-Mind corrected, "that is attachment. Love is letting go."

The treatment was unique: the Color Ghost would be bound to observe, not feed, as acts of genuine love unfolded in the pleasure quarter. But such acts were rare in a place built on transaction and illusion.

Then Jade Phoenix surprised everyone. She offered to help the ghost by showing it something real—her love for her younger sister, whom she was supporting through her work. It wasn't romantic love but familial sacrifice.

"I do this work not from love of pleasure but from love of family," she explained. "Every client I entertain, every smile I fake, is for her education, her future."

Watching this genuine sacrifice, the Color Ghost began to change. Its shimmering, shifting form started to stabilize. For the first time, it saw beauty not in physical appearance or desire but in the act of selfless giving.

But the transformation was painful. The ghost writhed as if burning, screaming that real love hurt more than any emptiness. Its diet of shallow desire had left it unable to digest genuine emotion without agony.

"This is your cure," Zhong Kui told it firmly. "You can choose—continue feeding on empty desire until you fade into nothing, or endure the pain of transformation into something more substantial."

As the Color Ghost struggled with its transformation, its pain attracted other spirits. Ghosts of those who had died from broken hearts, unrequited love, or obsessive desire began gathering in the pleasure quarter.

These weren't evil spirits, but they were dangerous in their collective misery. Their combined presence threatened to turn the entire district into a vortex of romantic despair.

"We have a crisis," Han Yuan reported. "If all these love-sick ghosts gather here, they could create a spiritual plague that makes everyone in the city unable to feel genuine affection."

The Color Ghost faced a choice: remain in its painful transformation and help pacify the other ghosts, or flee and let the situation deteriorate.

Surprisingly, it chose to stay. "If I must suffer to understand real love," it declared, "then let my suffering have meaning. I'll help these other lost souls understand what I'm learning."

With Zhong Kui's guidance, the Color Ghost became a counselor to the other lovesick spirits, teaching them the difference between desire and love, between attachment and affection.

By dawn, many of the ghosts had dispersed, finding peace in understanding. The Color Ghost itself had transformed into a Guardian of Genuine Affection, helping to protect real love from the corruption of empty desire.

But as Zhong Kui prepared to leave, Jade Phoenix delivered a warning: "Lord Zhong Kui, there are rumors of a more serious problem. Someone called Jia Zai-xing is selling 'absolute life pills' that promise immortality. But those who take them... they're neither living nor dead."

This would lead to the next case—the mystery of the "absolute life pills" and their terrible consequences.

Continue reading: Chapter Three: Jia Zai-xing's Fatal Absolute Life Pills