Chapter 127
Chapter 127
That evening, we gathered at the entrance of He Tao’s residential complex.
Song Xiaotian and Old Zhao Seven had both arrived. As soon as Song Xiaotian saw Old Zhao Seven, he immediately realized we had tricked him.
He pulled open my backpack, and when he saw the Yellow Paper inside, his expression froze.
“What’s this? Do we have to burn paper just to have dinner?”
Meng Yifan and I kept our heads down, remaining silent.
Old Zhao Seven chuckled. “They didn’t tell you what we’re doing tonight?”
Song Xiaotian snapped, “Dinner! I drove for hours just to have dinner!”
Old Zhao Seven replied, “There’s a Stigmatized Property in this complex. We’re going to perform a Soul Summoning for someone first, then we’ll go eat.”
Song Xiaotian: “…”
“Heh, Chen Mo, if I ever believe you again, I’m your son.”
With that, he turned to run.
Meng Yifan and I quickly grabbed him and pulled him back.
“Brother Tian, help us out! Two hundred thousand-that’s two hundred thousand yuan!”
“I’m not going! You two liars! Scammers!”
In the end, he went anyway, dragged into the complex by Meng Yifan and me against his will.
He looked utterly miserable, complaining the entire way about how we had deceived him. I told him that the person who died in this Stigmatized Property had been killed by Du Yuwei. Du Yuwei had started harming people.
“What…”
Song Xiaotian suddenly froze. “Why would she kill someone for no reason?”
Old Zhao Seven’s face remained grim. “Ghosts with lingering grievances who refuse to reincarnate will almost certainly harm people. I told you before-we shouldn’t have given the child back to her. If we did, something would happen. You didn’t listen.”
We didn’t dare respond, because we really were the ones who had returned the child.
But we had thought Du Yuwei just wanted a mother-son reunion. Besides, I had interacted with Du Yuwei and the child that night; I never expected the mother and son to suddenly start killing.
By the time we reached He Tao’s home, night had fallen. As soon as we stepped inside, we felt an unnaturally low temperature.
Wherever a Ghost has lingered, there will be yin energy. This yin energy is essentially a magnetic field, and such a field causes the surrounding temperature to drop.
“Seventh Master, don’t we need to invite Xiao Qing over for the Soul Summoning?” Meng Yifan asked.
Last time, when we performed the Soul Summoning for Li Xiumei, we had Xiao Qing come as the Spirit Medium for Li Xiumei to possess.
To summon He Tao’s Ghost today, we definitely needed a Spirit Medium as well.
Old Zhao Seven said, “Xiao Qing is a woman. This is a male ghost; we need a man to be the Spirit Medium.”
I asked, “Who’s going to be the Spirit Medium?”
Old Zhao Seven glanced at me. “You, of course.”
My eyes widened. “Just because I asked? Then I’ll stop asking. Why don’t you ask one of them?”
Old Zhao Seven didn’t waste words, slapping two Talismans directly onto my shoulders.
I knew my Yang Fire had been suppressed. The yin energy in the house felt like it had been magnified more than tenfold. It was already cool, but I suddenly felt like I was in the dead of winter, shivering uncontrollably.
“Success in Soul Summoning depends on probability,” Old Zhao Seven explained. “Either the Spirit Medium naturally has heavy yin energy, or they’ve been having a run of bad luck lately. Either will greatly increase the success rate.”
I argued, “Those two have had bad luck lately too!”
Old Zhao Seven countered, “You’ve had the worst luck, understand? Your yin energy is also heavy. You’ve had private contact with a ghost-did you think I didn’t know?”
I: “…”
He actually knew I had met with Du Yuwei in private…
Meng Yifan and Song Xiaotian stood to the side, gloating and relieved that they weren’t the ones serving as the Spirit Medium.
Since the Talismans were already on my shoulders, I didn’t say anything more.
I wanted to ask He Tao personally why Du Yuwei had killed him.
Soon, Old Zhao Seven finished setting up the Command Flags and candles.
Meng Yifan was in charge of burning the paper money, while Song Xiaotian held two Everlasting Lamps. Standing to the side, Song Xiaotian was responsible for guiding the Ghost, first by inviting him up and then by showing him the path to the underworld so that when he left later, he would go where he belonged.
If this house was going to be put up for sale, the Ghost lingering here definitely had to be sent away.
“Heavenly Net and Earthly Fiends, the deceased He Tao, aged twenty-one. At twenty-one, he met a violent end and entered the City of the Unjustly Dead. We pray for the Bright Lamp to lead the way and bring He Tao back…”
The Soul Summoning began. While Meng Yifan burned paper money in the Fire Basin, he called out He Tao’s name: “He Tao, come back. He Tao, come back quickly…”
Meng Yifan repeated the call several times, and the yin energy in the room suddenly began to intensify again.
I noticed that the flames of several candles had turned a pale green color, indicating that He Tao had arrived.
But strangely, my body didn’t feel any different. He Tao had come up, but he hadn’t possessed me.
I suddenly became a bit nervous. I was afraid that because He Tao had died a wrongful death, he might be resentful and attack us.
However, after a long while, there were no other changes in the house aside from the heavy yin energy.
“Seventh Master, He Tao hasn’t possessed me…”
After I spoke, Old Zhao Seven walked over to the candles and observed them for a while before beginning to calculate with his fingers.
After a long time, he frowned and said, “I’m afraid He Tao can’t come back.”
We were startled and hurriedly asked Old Zhao Seven why.
“All Three Souls are missing. His Heaven Soul has returned to the horizon, but both his Earth Soul and Human Soul are out of place. That is to say, the Earth Soul didn’t go to the underworld, and the Human Soul isn’t nearby. There is no response.”
Old Zhao Seven shook his head and sighed. “After Du Yuwei killed him, she took his Earth Soul and Human Soul. I expect she has already swallowed these two wisps of soul.”
We were dumbstruck. “Swallowed…”
Old Zhao Seven explained, “She is refining her own soul, just like a person needs to eat when they’re hungry. If they don’t eat, they’ll become weak. A Mother-Child Shade is an anomaly among ghosts; they must kill people and swallow their souls to constantly strengthen themselves.”
“Du Yuwei suddenly started harming people to strengthen herself, likely so she can seek revenge against Du Ruhai.”
Meng Yifan asked in a trembling voice, “Then how many people will she kill before she stops?”
Old Zhao Seven frowned. “She’ll kill until she believes she has the power to get her revenge. But even after that, she’ll keep killing. That’s the terrifying thing about a Mother-Child Shade. They are ghosts born of extreme resentment; once they’ve had a taste of it, how could they possibly stop?”
Meng Yifan asked again, “If He Tao’s souls have been swallowed, then why are strange things still happening in this house? Isn’t it his Ghost causing trouble?”
Old Zhao Seven shook his head. “No. I expect his Po hasn’t dissipated yet. Some people can’t accept that they’ve died, so they develop an obsession and will repeatedly do the things they liked in the place where they died.”
“One of his Po might still be lingering in this house. Now we can only communicate with this Po to see if we can find anything out.”
As he spoke, Old Zhao Seven had Meng Yifan and Song Xiaotian go into the Master Bedroom and carry out the Dressing Table.
This Dressing Table had a mirror, and Old Zhao Seven pointed the mirror directly at me.
I looked up at the mirror and instantly saw a shadow appear beside me. The shadow could barely be identified as having a human shape.
This was definitely He Tao’s Po.
But the eerie thing was that He Tao’s Po wasn’t the only thing beside me. On my other side, there was actually another shadow, and this shadow was mimicking me.