chapter 21

Hearing Xiao Qing’s words, both Meng Yifan and I turned a shade paler.

“Master Xiao Qing, what do you mean by that…”

“There’s more than one Ghost’s aura on you.”

Xiao Qing spoke bluntly: “These two auras hold resentment toward each other. If we summon one of the Ghosts later, and she senses this resentment, she may lose control. Do you understand what I mean?”

We both nodded quickly.

In other words, the girl who knocked on the door resents Li Xiumei, and Li Xiumei also resents the girl who knocked.

If Li Xiumei is summoned later and catches the scent of the knocking girl’s aura, she might lose control and do something harmful to Meng Yifan and me.

“These two Jade Tablets aren’t worth much, but I soaked them in menstrual blood. The Spirit Medium’s aura can shield you from those two resentful energies,” Xiao Qing added.

Menstrual blood…

Isn’t that the blood women shed during their period…

Though it was a bit unsettling, we couldn’t care about that now. We quickly stuffed the Jade Tablets into our pockets and thanked Xiao Qing again.

We really met a good person.

I hope the Heavenly God will bless Xiao Qing, this unfortunate soul, with a few more years of life.

Next, Seventh Master explained some precautions for Spirit Writing. He warned us to strictly follow every rule-breaking any of them could lead to failure at best, or serious trouble at worst.

Meng Yifan and I are both mature people, so of course we listened and didn’t mess around.

After the precautions, we entered the residential complex together.

While waiting for the elevator under Unit 3, I noticed an Old Woman from afar.

I’d seen her before-she was the one who told me that the apartment had been sold once before.

The Old Woman saw us too. She seemed to be out for a walk, but as soon as she spotted us, she hurried away, as if we were plague-bearers.

I was in a rush to handle business, so I didn’t greet her.

But I felt that this Old Woman might know something about the apartment-she just didn’t want to talk.

When I have time, I’ll definitely visit her and ask for information.

Soon the elevator arrived. We got in and went straight to the fifth floor.

Returning to the apartment, both Meng Yifan and I were extremely nervous.

The apartment had been temporarily sealed off. We weren’t supposed to be inside, so we kept quiet and, after entering, closed all the doors and windows.

Since Li Xiumei died in the master bedroom, according to Seventh Master, the Spirit Writing ritual should be held there.

But the master bedroom was too small, so we could only perform Spirit Writing in the living room, but had to keep the master bedroom door open.

After preparing, Seventh Master put down his backpack and began setting up the Array.

This Array had no name. Seventh Master said that in the earliest Spirit Writing rituals, there was no such Array-it was an improvement passed down through folk tradition, based on the experience of our ancestors, to ensure safety during Spirit Writing.

Modern Spirit Writing rituals, like summoning the Pen Spirit or Ouija Board Spirit, are actually evolved forms of ancient Spirit Writing. They’re simplified versions, with lower success rates and higher chances of trouble if successful.

Meng Yifan and I didn’t understand these details. We just saw Seventh Master take out eight Command Flags of different colors from his backpack and place them at eight positions, then connect them with a red cord.

Xiao Qing explained that the positions of the eight Command Flags represent the directions of the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams.

And the Eight Trigrams hold an extremely important place in metaphysics.
In addition, Seventh Master also lit sixty-four White Candles around the Command Flags, with eight of them placed right next to the eight Command Flags.

It is said that these sixty-four White Candles represent King Wen’s Sixty-Four Hexagrams, and these sixty-four hexagrams, in turn, symbolize the sum of all categories and images of things in existence.

Therefore, the structure of this Array can be seen as a holographic microcosm, isolating the inside and outside of the Array to prevent any accidents from occurring after the Ghost is summoned, thereby protecting the innocent from harm.

To put it simply, the way the Ghost is summoned is also the way it is sent back. This Array serves as a safeguard, and it also helps us communicate with the Ghost.

The Array was quickly set up. Meng Yifan, Xiao Qing, and I all sat cross-legged inside the Array.

The positions where we sat were also carefully chosen. Xiao Qing sat at the ‘Kun’ position of the Eight Trigrams, which is the southwest direction.

In the Eight Trigrams, ‘Kun’ represents the mother, the yin; Xiao Qing is a woman, also yin.

Meng Yifan and I sat at the ‘Li’ position, due south. ‘Li’ represents fire, and in the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams, it is also classified as yin.

Both are yin, so they do not repel each other.

Moreover, the Five Elements attribute of ‘Li’ is fire, while ‘Kun’ is earth.

According to the generating cycle of the Five Elements, fire generates earth, which implies that my energy flows to hers-in other words, I am showing goodwill to express my sincerity.

Once everything was ready, Seventh Master took a Three Pure Bells and walked around outside the Array, shaking it continuously.

The Three Pure Bells produced a crisp and clear sound. Although it was loud, it was not at all disturbing.

Seventh Master said that the sound of the bell was to prevent the Ghost from confusing us, helping us maintain a clear mind.

Besides the bell, Seventh Master was also chanting scriptures we could not understand-I had no idea which religion they belonged to.

Meng Yifan and I sat inside the Array, with a Fire Basin placed in front of us.

Inside the Fire Basin, we kept throwing in Yellow Paper to burn.

According to Seventh Master, we had to keep burning the Yellow Paper until the summoned Ghost was sent away, so we could not stop midway.

Next, we were about to begin the formal Soul Summoning process.

“Heavenly Net and Earthly Fiends, the Flower Maiden Li Xiumei, aged twenty-three, died an unnatural death at twenty-three, entered the City of the Unjustly Dead, humbly requesting the Bright Lamp to guide Li Xiumei back…”

The two of us recited the Soul Summoning Document that Seventh Master had taught us.

If all went well, Li Xiumei’s Ghost would soon possess the Spirit Medium.

But strangely, even after Meng Yifan and I recited it several times, Xiao Qing, who was acting as the Spirit Medium, showed no reaction at all.

She sat upright, head bowed, long hair draping down. Even though the Ghost had not yet possessed her, under the candlelight, she herself looked like a female ghost…

Seeing that we had not succeeded, Meng Yifan and I quickly looked toward Seventh Master.

I was about to call out “Seventh Master,” but suddenly remembered his earlier instructions and quickly changed my words: “Yanzu, it didn’t work…”

Seventh Master was also taken aback. He stopped chanting, thought for a moment, and asked us, “How many names does she have?”

I was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered that Li Xiumei’s original name was Li Yujiao. She changed her name to Li Xiumei after committing a crime, and she did not use the name Li Xiumei for long before she died.

So Meng Yifan and I recited the Soul Summoning Document again, this time using the name Li Yujiao instead of Li Xiumei.

This time, we had only recited it once when the entire living room suddenly changed.

To my horror, I realized that the shadows of Meng Yifan and me seemed to have disappeared…