The sight that greeted them on the other side of the door could have come straight out of a design magazine if it weren't for the heavy pall of resentment.  It hung so thickly in the air that it swallowed up the diffuse light that should have been shining in the tall windows from the overcast sky outside. Even a mortal with no training and no spiritual eye whatsoever would have been able to tell that something was amiss here.

The heavy dimness that filled the air was in sharp contrast to the rest of what Wei Yaling and Ma Qianle could see from the entryway.  Even if the condo hadn't been a penthouse far beyond the means of most city dwellers, it would have been obvious the residents had money from the furnishings.  The home was immaculately — suspiciously —  clean.  If not for the photos of a seemingly happy couple scattered around the walls, it could have been a model showroom for all the signs of human habitation.  It certainly didn't look like a place where someone had died recently

From the entryway, Ma Qianle could see into an open living room, but any detail was swallowed up by the oppressive aura of the place.  To the right was a small hallway, similarly shrouded.  [Can you see anything in there?  All I've got is shapes in the gloom.] he asked Wei Yaling.  He used a minor spell that allowed him to communicate directly mind to mind — a handy trick in a situation like this, where speaking aloud could prove to be incredibly dangerous.

Wei Yaling shook her head.  [I can't see any more than you can.  This should be related to whatever is blocking us from figuring out what exactly happened here remotely.]  She scowled as if offended by the very concept of her sight being hampered.  [It shouldn't be able to obstruct me like this.  I don't like it.]

Ma Qianle shifted uneasily.  [Should we back out and call in reinforcements?]  He looked around warily, hypervigilant for any sign of spirits coming to cause trouble.  Though he appeared more or less calm outwardly, inside he was more than a little afraid.  He had learned from his other trainers that Wei Yaling, in spite of her typically carefree and joking attitude, was a fairly senior Impermanent, well respected for her skill in quelling vicious ghosts.  If she was concerned about what they might find here, what hope did he, a barely trained newbie on his first official assignment, have of making any difference?

Wei Yaling considered his question for a moment, before finally coming to a decision.  [Not yet.  We don't know enough about the situation here.  I don't like the idea of going into this with just the two of us, but I like the idea of dragging even more people in unprepared even less.  We need more information.] She gestured down the hallway, where two closed doors were visible. [The resentment seems a bit lighter over there.  You check those two rooms and I'll scout ahead into the living room.  Be careful, if anything happens yell and get the hell out.]

[Got it.]  Ma Qianle nodded and turned towards the hall.  The two split up and, after taking a moment to review any spells he might need, he stepped up to the first door.  He placed a hand on it and closed his eyes, extending his senses to check the other side as he had been taught.  Once he mastered the skill, he would be able to visualize what lay on the other side of the door with perfect detail, down to the smallest specks of dust, but for now he was only barely able to get a vague sense of the space beyond.

Finally determining that there shouldn't be anything too dangerous, he quietly eased the door open.  This room turned out to be a small western style bathroom with just a toilet and sink.  A quick look around revealed that there was nothing remarkable about the room so he moved on to the second door.  This room was larger, and the strain of fighting against the heavy resentment to extend his senses so far brought beads of sweat to his forehead.  Still, he repeated his first success and opened this door as well.

This room appeared to be a study, with a large desk and bookcases lining the walls.  The obsessive tidiness from before was evident here as well, with each book and piece of paper neatly organized.  There wasn't even a single paper clip out of place.  'Whoever lives here must be some kind of maniac,' Ma Qianle thought to himself.  'Who still uses paper files in this age?'  He'd never seen such blatant perfectionism.

He had just finished his initial sweep of the room and was about to start a more in depth search for anything that could provide a hint as to what happened here when suddenly a call rang out in his mind.  [In here!]

Ma Qianle tossed aside the folder of papers he was looking through and dashed out of the room towards the direction Wei Yaling had gone.  He soon found that, like the bathroom, the living area followed western architectural trends.  What appeared to be a living room when seen from the entryway proved to be a large open area that combined living, dining, and kitchen into one space.  He could not see where Wei Yaling was through the obscuring pall, but as he drew close he could see evidence of her passage everywhere, a chaos of strewn decor and rummaged-through cabinets marring the perfection of the room.  

[Where are you?] he sent.  He stood ready in the middle of the space, one hand raised in readiness and the other still clutching the defensive talisman he had yet to put away.

[In the kitchen,] Wei Yaling replied.  Ma Qianle rounded the counter that divided the space and found her crouching behind it, out of view of the rest of the room.  [I found our dead guy.]

She was examining a body that lay sprawled prone on the kitchen floor.  It was a man, stripped naked.  Beyond that, Ma Qianle couldn't tell.  Assuming he was the man in the photos that dotted the home, he had once been good looking in the hyper-masculine way that some women went crazy for, but there was no way of knowing that now.  He was a swollen, misshapen mess.  Every inch of skin had been beaten until he resembled a punching bag that had lost half its filling.  What looked like cigarette burns littered his back, and blood pooled under his face where his nose had been broken.

This was the first actual corpse Ma Qianle had seen.  The echoes and vengeful ghosts he had encountered thus far may have beaten this man out in terms of pure gore, but in the end they had only been remnants.  The thought that this was the corporeal body of what had been a living, breathing human a scant few hours ago was difficult to come to terms with.

All of this, of course, went completely over Wei Yaling's head.  [Are you going to come take a closer look or just stand there looking sick?]  she asked.

Ma Qianle swallowed hard and then came to kneel alongside her.  [This kind of beating...what kind of ghost does this?  It looks like he wasn't even able to fight back.] he asked Wei Yaling.  Steeling himself, he reached out to turn the corpse over onto its back.  The second he touched it, he felt as if an electric shock passed through him, and he found himself momentarily frozen.

"Look out!" Wei Yaling shouted, abandoning the mind speech.  She pulled Ma Qianle aside just in time for him to feel something rush past his ear.  He turned, and behind him was the spectre of the dead man.

"So, are you the boytoy my slut of a wife has been seeing?  I'll teach you not to lay hands on what's mine!"  The spectre swung at Ma Qianle again and this time he dodged on his own.  Before he had the chance to retaliate, however, Wei Yaling stepped in, barking out a rapid incantation.  The spirit dissipated instantly, as quickly as it had appeared.

"You ok?"  Wei Yaling asked while she pulled Ma Qianle up from the ground.

"Yeah," Ma Qianle replied.  "Shit, that startled me!  Where the hell did that thing even come from?"

Wei Yaling nudged the corpse with a foot.  "That wasn't a proper vengeful ghost, just a remnant that was tainted by all the resentment hanging around here.  Our dead friend here must have been convinced his wife was cheating on him, so when another man turned up…"  She turned her attention back to Ma Qianle.  "Did you find anything in either of those two rooms?  I didn't find anything suspicious here aside from the corpse."

Ma Qianle shook his head.  "I didn't have time to fully search the study, but nothing seemed any more off than the rest of this place on first glance."

"There probably wasn't anything, then.  Which just leaves one door left."  Wei Yaling indicated one final closed door that led off of the dining portion of the large room.  "I tried sensing what's on the other side but whatever it is that's messing with my perception blocked me.  You actually might have more success, as a mortal."

Ma Qianle tentatively approached the door.  They hadn't found anything in the rest of the condo, so it could only mean that whatever was the source of all of this must be here.  For the third time that morning, he placed his palm lightly against the door and closed his eyes, letting his perception spread.

Where the first two times he'd done this had been a struggle, fighting not only his own lack of skill but the influence of the resentment, this time Ma Qianle got an instant response.  His eyes flew open as he jerked his hand away from the door as if burned, and he backed away hastily.  Wei Yaling shot him a look.

Ma Qianle rubbed his hands together fiercely, trying to dispel the biting chill from his palm.  He looked back at Wei Yaling, as serious as he had ever been.

"It's here."