Gui Yuanzi screamed as the peach wood sword opened a long gash across his borrowed face. A flap of decaying flesh hung from his cheek and flapped with every move. Across the room Master Ge was walking half circles around the giant snake’s bloody snout. The snake feigned another rush and the copper sword was raised flat side out.

Master Liu swung another slash that nicked the zombie’s shoulder. Gui Yuanzi closed the distance between himself and his opponent and released a hideous growl into Master Liu’s face before pushing off of the old man’s chest and hurtling towards the rear wall.

Master Liu steadied himself and rushed after the undead monster.

The tusks jutting from Gui Yuanzi’s zombifying face had nearly doubled in size. His speed was increasing every minute, but his decaying face looked black and wizened.

I realized I was holding my breath and let it out with an anxious grunt. Zhou Tong made a similar sound beside me.

Gui Yuanzi braced himself on the far wall and loosed another shriek. He swung an empty hand as if to claw Master Liu and then jumped into the darkness behind the snake. Master Liu moved to follow and then stopped. I watched his expression falter in confusion and then harden in disgust. What came out of the shadows was no longer Gui Yuanzi.

The empty hand it had swung moments ago was now host to five blade-like black fingernails. The hand wielding them had also turned a dark mottled gray black color. The arms were decorated with some kind of scale-like armor that gleamed when the flashlight hit it. The blackening face was twisted into an expression of loathing that was made all the more terrifying by a series of thorn-like protrusions coming from his neck and shoulders. Gui Yuanzi was truly a monster and looking at him filled my belly with ice.

Master Liu maintained a look of disgust, but managed to dodge the coming assault with ease. His old body moved with surprising grace as he stepped back, ducked, and spun away from the tearing claws.

"Are all zombies like this?" I asked Zhou Tong, unable to take my eyes off the monstrosity before us.

Zhou Tong’s mouth was hanging open. It took him a moment to find his tongue. When he finally did, he said, "I’m an academic!” His voice shaking, “But God I hope not..”

I nodded and watched the battles rage on.

Master Ge seemed to have had enough of the large reptile bashing its bloody snout into the wall. With two sweeping movements he dodged it and followed the large body as it once again flung into the corner of the room. My flashlight picked up the reflection of several small amulets as they were launched from his outstretched fingers. Master Ge bowed his torso deeply while his free hand moved in a ritualistic flourish. The amulets, which had landed in something of a line from one wall to the next, connected to one another with a bright purple flash. A wall of deep purple flames roared to life between them, separating Master Ge from the massive snake that was hissing in pain and fear.

“He won!” Zhou Tong shouted in triumph. “Now about the zombie..” In seconds his face dropped back to worry.

I marveled at the purple fire and wondered at Master Ge’s power. "Is Master Ge stronger than Master Liu? He trapped the snake so much faster than Master Liu’s handled the zombie..” I said to no one in particular.

I didn’t speak over a whisper, but it seemed everyone heard me. Master Ge barked laughter from where he stood. Gui Yuanzi, now charging a tight lipped Master Liu screamed out, “How dare you compare me to that snake spirit!”

Master Liu spun out of the zombie’s charge and planted a yellow amulet on its chest as it passed. Once the sword was safely between the two of them, Master Liu laughed, "Careful that ego doesn’t weigh down your body." He nodded at the amulet that was now burning a hole where the zombie’s diaphragm should have been.

Gui Yuanzi opened a mouth filled with hideous tusks and released a cloud of black gas, "You can’t win!"

The zombie moved with footwork that seemed familiar. Just as my mind was making the connection, the undead creature finished its rite of Taoism. A wind gusted from the monster towards Master Liu. Master Liu cast a handful of amulets into the wind and stepped quickly to the side. The amulets caught in the air and burst into flames.

Master Ge cried out in surprise, "Master Liu, that’s witchcraft! Your amulets wont do a thing against it!"

Gui Yuanzi smiled in the dim light and made a gesture that looked like he was blowing a kiss. The paper amulets that touched the iron cage and the ones imprisoning the snake hissed and crumpled into ashes. The snake let out a horrible screech of pain and smashed its head into the ground. Master Ge jumped back in confusion.

Master Liu’s eyes darted around the room and came back to Gui Yuanzi, "You bastard! You’re using the snake’s Yin air to fuel your curse!"

Gui Yuanzi wore a hurt expression, "You think I would do such a thing?” He touched his chest where the amulet had burned a hole in it as if to say “Who me?” The expression returned to a hideous grin, “I’m only using a little bit of its anima!”

Master Liu let out what could only be a growl and slammed one foot onto the ground. “Rise!” He shouted.

I watched the peach wood sword in his hand burst into flames from the hilt to the point. No light accompanied the fire, and I knew that the others wouldn’t be able to see it. “Lucky eyes.” I thought, and clenched my fists in front of me. “Get him!”

Master Liu, now wearing a look of concentrated loathing, took out an amulet and brought it to his lips. I couldn’t hear, but he murmured an incantation and then shouted towards the ceiling, "Spirit! Heed my order! Take the body!"

Master Liu’s eyes fell from the ceiling to Gui Yuanzi, burning with black fire. The thing that was no longer Master Liu was back.

Gui Yuanzi took a hesitant step back. Through a mouth thick with tusks and poisonous gas the zombie uttered in a trembling voice, "An evil spirit? You invited an evil spirit instead of Taoist? Don’t you want to fight me with your majestic Yin air? You don’t want to hurt the snake spirit, do you?"

The Master Liu thing began to laugh. Its cold laughter washed over the room and seemed to suck the energy out of our headlamps. “A zombie that can speak!” Its unnatural voice rumbled. “Liu Chunan, you always bring me the nicest things!"

Zhou Tong looked at Master Liu in shock, "That’s not..."

“No my friend, that’s not Master Liu any more. It’s a green spirit.” Master Ge said. He’d left the crumpled snake in its corner and moved over to us.

“What’s a green spirit?” Zhou Tong and I asked in unison.

"There are several ranks of spirits capable of affecting our realm, green heart, white cloth, yellow page, black shadow, red spirit, green spirit. Most can’t inhabit this world for long without a suitable host. It seems our friend has some explaining to do.” He nodded towards the Master Liu thing.

“Is he- is the green spirit the king of ghosts?” I asked the men next to me. All of our eyes were glued to the two figures before us. I could feel pulses of energy emanating from them and riding the floor into my shoes. Whatever was going on between the undead in front of us was creating a surreal humming noise that felt like it was coming from the air itself.

Master Ge smiled a little and spoke over the otherworldly thrum, "The most powerful ghost is a 魃,” using that title again, “Bah.” It doesn’t have to rely on a host because it creates its own entity. After that is the green spirit, a presence that can fill space in a host’s very soul. I’m surprised, they usually use their hosts for reincarnation”

“It’s in his soul?” I asked, raising my voice to be heard. The idea flipped my guts around.

Master Ge nodded gravely. “I hope he knows what he’s doing. That spirit could ride him to reincarnation’s door.”

“What would happen if it did?” I asked, thinking back to the last time I saw this version of Master Liu.

Zhou Tong read the expression on Master Ge’s face and answered for him, "Master Liu will die."

"No!" I scream. Using my numb foot to push off the wall, I started towards the spirit that was driving my godfather. Zhou Tong’s strong hand closed around my upper arm, "Stay here!” He shouted, “You can’t help him now."

The Master Liu thing stood opposite of Gui Yuanzi. The energized thrum seemed to pulse louder.

Master Ge called to them, “ Liu Chunan, what do you mean to do?” He sounded angry.

The black eyes turned away from Gui Yuanzi and fell onto our party of three. Master Liu’s voice came from a face that was no longer his own, "Don't worry Lao Ge, this spirit won’t hurt me!"

With a deep throated rumble, the Master Liu thing’s voice came back in a sickly choked laugh. It was still looking at us when it said, "Liu Chunan, did you call me here to chat?” The last word came out as a scream that would linger in my nightmares for years. “I want a taste of the zombie!” His head lilted towards Gui Yuanzi again. “And there are snakes about,” he took in a long breath through Master Liu’s nose. “Two snakes.. and a girl whose soul will soon be black as night!” The black eyes widened unnaturally. “Interesting!"

Gui Yuanzi pointed a rotting finger at the Master Liu thing and shouted, "Green spirit? You can’t hurt me! Your Yin air is the same as mine! We are kin!” The undead voice was tinged with uncertainty.

The Master Liu thing smiled so widely that I could almost count his teeth. He uttered a sharp barking “Ha!” and then rushed towards the zombie with the flaming sword raised high.

Gui Yuanzi let out a shriek of surprise and pushed his hand forward, recreating the ritual movements that created the wind. The gust that followed was just as powerful, but it washed over the Master Liu thing as if it were nothing. The flames on the sword danced in the wind as it came down on Gui Yuanzi’s outstretched forearm.

The wind cut out with a resounding thwump sound just as Gui Yuanzi’s severed arm hit the floor. The scales that had grown on it clacked against the stone. It rolled towards us, smoldering from the flaming sword. Gui Yuanzi let out a choked wail of pain.

My mouth dropped open in surprise and I half shouted, "He’s so powerful!"

Gui Yuanzi gripped the stump of his right arm and growled at the Master Liu thing, "That’s not Yang fire! How can a man of Taoism use Yin fire?”

Master Liu’s face shaped into a smile that wasn’t his. "Liu Chunan is a man of Taoism, I am not.” He swung the sword again and Gui Yuanzi stumbled backwards. “In fact any man could use Yin power,” Another swing, another stumbling retreat. “If he were so inclined. A simple snip snip,” The Master Liu Thing made a scissors cutting gesture with his free hand, “And the souls are torn from one another.” He raised the scissors hand to his chin and thought out loud, “I suppose any human could do what we do..” Then the Master Liu thing smiled again and stepped towards the injured zombie.

Master Ge stood in open mouth shock. "I can’t believe it. He’s right."

Gui Yuanzi gave another screech and rolled to the left, regaining his feet. “You may have invited a greater power here to beat me, but even if you do,” He rushed to the iron cage and reached his hand towards the bars. “You’ll never leave this place!”

As he moved, the Master Liu thing pulled another amulet from nowhere and cast it lazily towards the cage. It connected just before Gui Yuanzi and exploded the moment he touched the iron bar. The smoking, one-armed monster rag-dolled across the room, screaming in pain.

He landed in a heap, different parts of him burning or melting. Stumbling once more to his feet, Gui Yuanzi leapt into the darkness behind the cage, where he’d come from at the start of this horrible battle.

The Master Liu thing walked after him, taking slow and careful steps. The spirit that was controlling my godfather was humming a low, somehow terrifying tune as it paced after the undead nightmare. Through the song, Master Liu’s voice came to us as if he were speaking inside our heads, "Take care of You Xiaoqing. She is the key to ending this."

I started after Master Liu, but Zhou Tong stopped me once more. "What can you do?" He asked.

"I don't..” I started, “I have to do something, he’s my master!” I told him.

Across the room, what had been Master Liu disappeared into the shadows.