"Let me help him." Wang Chunmei told her father. He looked at me for another moment and slowly nodded his head.

"Fine." He told her. "Do what you will." He turned back to me, crossing his arms tightly on his chest. "Don't you let anything happen to my girl."

He mother turned to protest as Wang Chunmei pulled out of her grasp. "Don't worry mom, I'll be fine. Xiao Yong is right. We have to help the boy."

"Master Ge will keep up safe." I added, daring to believe the words myself.

"Be careful!" Yelled her parents as we started back up the mountain.

As we trekked up the road towards the gravesite, Wang Chunmei broke the silence. "Tell me about him. Tell me about the boy."

I looked at her, unsure of what to add.

"I feel bad for him, ya know?" She continued, "I don't hate him. I think he just wants to be loved"

I repeated what I'd told her parents, about the boy's mother, how he was sick and she'd left him. "She thought the forest would hold his spirit so they could still be together." Wang Chunmei stared at her feet as we walked. The return trip didn't feel nearly as long as it had the first time.

When we reached the peak and trekked off the road into the forest valley, we found the boy's corpse lying still where it had fallen. The amulet was dug into the dead skin where it'd hit. Past the body was Master Ge, still pointing his copper sword and keeping the rope aflame with jabs and dips of his free hand. The red boy looked almost peaceful surrounded by the fire.

Master Ge saw us coming and called out. ""You're a kind girl." He raised his chin at the ghost, "Talk with him."

She steeled herself with a full body shiver and stepped towards the red boy.

"Mommy!" Xiao Hai shouted, his voice calling as if from far away. His eye brightened at her. The voice that had pitched waves of pain through me only an hour ago was now sweet and innocent.

Wang Chunmei nodded, her eyes filling with tears. Master Ge and I exchanged a look. He shook his head to tell me it was fine. "It's controlled for now. It can't hurt her." He said.

I watched on, hand clenched around Zhao Laohei's sword hilt.

Wang Chunmei approached the child and reached her hand past the flaming rope. The fire split to let her pass, but when her hand found the spirit's they passed through one another. She gave a small yelp and pulled her hand back.

"Mommy!" He sobbed, real sorrow pulling at his eaten face. "I'm sorry I died! I have to go away, but I don't want to! I love you mommy!"

His crimson color paled before us, losing the blood color and fading enough that I could see the trees through him.

Wang Chunmei gave a cry, "Xiao Hai, I am so sorry! Your mommy truly loves you..."

A smile appeared on the child's face and his good eye closed. The paling red disappeared further. We stood and watched as the boy faded, faded, and then vanished. The flaming rope fell lamely to the ground and began to smoke. Master Ge stepped forward with an amulet in his hand. He waved in a gesture that lit it on fire. Murmuring over it briefly, Master Ge cast the paper amulet into the air. It fell into the circle where the boy had been.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Where he is going will not be safe. This amulet will light the way for him, burning a path to the next life. It's the best protection I can offer the poor soul."

I nodded. The image of a lone boy wandering through blackness stung into my mind.

Wang Chunmei dropped to her knees outside the now smoldering rope. I walked to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "He's gone now. It's done."

She looked up at me with red puffy eyes and sniffled. "He didn't deserve all of this. That poor boy, if I have a son I will name him Xiao Hai." A tear trickled down her cheek.

She got up in silence and began to climb the hill up to the road.

"What do we do with the body?" I asked Master Ge. Wang Chunmei had stepped over it like it was nothing.

"It's already begun to turn, see the white growing on its skin?" Master Ge pointed with his sword. "We'll have to burn it. Gather some branches. We can do it now."

I scoured the area for fallen sticks while Master Ge rummaged for the proper amulets. I recognized one, but the other was foreign to me. "What does that one do?" I asked, placing the sticks into a pile.

"It's a soul comforting amulet. This will give solace to the boy's life soul, keeping him from being led astray. It will help his reincarnation along." Master Ge said. He bent down and began placing the sticks into a small pyramid. When he was finished he put away the copper sword and stooped to pick up the decaying body. I watched in silence as he placed it atop the pyramid of sticks and lit the pile with a wave of his hand.

Within moments Xiao Hai's body was lost in fire.

We stayed until the flames had run their course. Gingerly picking from the pile of ashes, Master Ge withdrew two small bones. Holding them carefully despite the heat, the old man scooped a small hole into the sand beside the pyre.

"The spring rains will wash these bones away and clear this area of his undead air. When that is done, Xiao Hai will be able to reincarnate into a new body, a healthy body."

I nodded and gave a silent prayer for Xiao Hai.

We walked up the hill in silence and returned to the road. Now walking at Master Ge's pace, we slowly moved back to the gathering of adults at the base of the mountain. The afternoon sun was beginning to fall behind the western mountains. When the crowd of people came into sight and rushed to meet us, Master Ge assuaged them. "It is done. We have sent him away. You are safe now, but be warned! Stay away from that valley. If you recall his spirit, I will not be here to help you again."

The crowd gave a spattering of applause and began to disperse at once. The Wang family swarmed over Master Ge. Wang Chunmei's mother offered the old master payment, while her father inquired about the blessing. Master Ge returned the latter with a scowl, but faced her mother and said, "I came here not for money. Save the funds for your daughter's recuperation. She is a kind girl and will live an excellent life."

I turned away from them and found Zhao Jie standing by his father. We waited, making pointless conversation until Master Ge had rid himself of the Wang family.

The sun was almost gone by the time we arrived home. The adults went into the house where our mothers were cooking. Zhao Jie, Zhao Yuan, Shang Haoming and I stayed in the yard. Now out of supervised earshot, I told them everything.

"What a poor boy" Zhao Yuan said. "His mom is the worst!"

"Birds, huh." Zhao Jie added. "What a way to go."

"Xiao Yong," Master Ge's voice called, "Come here."

I gave a start and shot the boys a glance. I ran inside and found Master Ge smiling. "I almost forgot. Liu Chunan asked me to deliver a message to you."

A bubble of happiness filled my chest. "What did he say?"

"He says to practice hard because he'll be coming to check on your progress."

"When?" I almost shouted.

The old man smiled and leaned back in his chair. "Oh I don't know, maybe August, maybe over the summer."

I grinned at him. "It's been so long." I said. "I miss him."

"He also asked me to teach you something."

"Oh?" My mother pitched in from across the room. "More fighting techniques?" She giggled.

Master Ge shook his head, "Nothing that fancy I'm afraid. You see Xiao Yong, I'm very good at three things: making paper amulets, crafting medicine, and removing incantations." He looked at me with that wise old smile. "Which one would you choose?"

I hesitated, biting my lip in thought. Master Ge added, "Now of course I won't be able to stick around until you master it, but I can give you the basics."

"Amulets!" I said at once, remembering how cool I would look holding the peach wood sword and decorated in protective amulets.

His smile widened. "I thought so. Well then, there are three kinds of amulets I can teach you: safety amulets for protection, Yang amulets to suppress any unearthly spirit, or soul binding amulets to capture them." He paused to let me consider.

I ticked off the amulets in my head. "I've already got treasures for protection." I thought. "That makes safety and suppression ones useless!"

"Soul binding sounds neat." I said, still balancing my thoughts. "That way if I encounter one, I can just catch it."

The old man chortled. "You're smart like your godfather." He slapped his leg. "It's settled then, I'll teach you how to make a soul binding amulet tomorrow. Bring your brain, young man. These amulets can get pretty complicated. "

"Complicated?" I thought, "Cutting paper into strips and drawing things isn't complicated!" I nodded at him and smiled.

"I can do it." I said, "I bet it'll be easy!"

It was not easy.