Chapter 238
Chapter 238
When it came to catching ghosts, Seventh Master was an expert.
But exactly how formidable he was, none of us really knew.
At any rate, ever since we’d met him, aside from his dealings with Du Ruhai, he had never once stumbled.
I’d seen him use plenty of spells before-summoning Qiongqi, calling upon Cui Jue, invoking the Thunder Method of Daoism. He was like a walking encyclopedia, proficient in everything.
By now, we were all ready.
We hadn’t made too many preparations this time. We had only brought some incense, candles, and joss paper.
“Inspector of the Eighteen Hells, aide to the Ten Kings, who divides good from evil into separate paths, who governs life and death through Yin and Yang; all born of womb, egg, moisture, and transformation are living beings, and all fall under the charge of the officials of the underworld. By the Supreme Lord’s Decree, I urgently summon Cui Jue to appear!”
Seventh Master’s hands shifted constantly as he formed ritual seals, reciting Cui Jue’s sacred invocation as he did.
Cui Jue, also known as Lord Cui, was one of the four great judges of the underworld, one of its divine officials. He was also the chief of the four judges. In Daoist mythology, he was the one who governed the Book of Life and Death and the Soul-Hooking Brush, which gave him immense authority and power in the underworld.
The first time I’d heard of him was back when I read Journey to the West.
Later, when I saw Seventh Master recite Judge Cui’s invocation and send Ding Ruoning flying the very next second, I knew this figure had to be real.
Unlike the Judge Cui portrayed in film and television, the real Judge Cui was a judge who clearly distinguished good from evil-upright and benevolent.
After Seventh Master finished reciting the invocation, a halo of light suddenly appeared around his body again.
And this halo was visible only to Anning and me. Song Xiaotian couldn’t see it.
Judging from the calm look on his face, I knew he hadn’t seen a thing.
Once he finished the invocation, Seventh Master formed a Daoist sword-finger seal with his right hand and drew some kind of Talisman in the air. Then he continued chanting, “Auspicious clouds from the ten directions, gather at my gate. Let present deeds receive present retribution. All living souls within this place-reveal your true spirits at once!”
The moment his voice fell, a wind rose from nowhere, and the temperature plummeted.
Whirlpools suddenly appeared on the river’s surface again. And this time, there wasn’t just one whirlpool. I saw three.
From the three whirlpools, three floating corpses emerged at the same time.
On the riverbank stood a woman with her clothes in disarray. Blood flowed from her body, and her hair hung loose as she stood there facing us.
As for Rat, the one we were looking for, he stood just a few meters away from us, completely motionless as well.
I counted them. Including Rat, there were actually five wronged souls here.
All five of these ghosts had been murdered in this place.
That disheveled woman had probably been assaulted by the river before she died, then killed by someone.
As for the other three floating corpses, they had either drowned in the river or been murdered and thrown into it.
If a person died in a river, or if their body was dumped into one, they had to undergo Exorcism. Otherwise, they would be trapped in the water, their wronged soul lingering forever, unable to reincarnate even if they wanted to.
After being trapped for too long, once their resentment deepened, they would start harming people, looking for a Body Double.
That was why in some rivers or reservoirs, as long as someone had died there before, more people would keep dying there every year.
Seeing this scene in the middle of the night was truly chilling.
Song Xiaotian was already afraid of ghosts. Seeing five of them all at once, his legs started trembling.
But he knew the rules too, so he didn’t dare cry out.
I saw him reach into his pocket for something, and after a moment, he actually pulled out a pair of sunglasses.
“Pay respects to the four directions!”
Seventh Master formed his Daoist sword-finger seal and shouted loudly.
I quickly burned a pile of joss paper, then took out three sticks of incense and lit them from the flames.
Song Xiaotian and Anning followed my lead.
Then, holding three sticks of incense each, we bowed toward the four directions.
“Send off the deity!”
Seventh Master began calling out again-or rather, he sang it, still in the Sichuan dialect. “Thus we declare: the heavens open the auspicious path, the earth holds eternal blessing. The year and month prosper, the day is fortunate, the hour is good. Today, passage is granted with great luck and great prosperity…”
After he finished singing, I burned four more piles of paper money, one for each of the four ghosts besides Rat.
“Everyone, the living have their roads, and ghosts have their paths. The road-opening money has been burned for you. Go where you should go. Don’t linger here. If you miss the appointed hour to pass on, you’ll become a Lonely Wandering Ghost.”
As I burned the paper money, I gently urged them on.
Before long, the four ghosts vanished one after another.
Now only Rat remained.
I took a bundle of incense, lit it, and walked up to him.
All the smoke rising from the incense drifted toward him and was drawn into his nose.
Soon, his mind cleared. That gloomy, yin energy-laden look was gone.
He looked at us, his expression full of confusion.
“Child, we’re here to perform Exorcism for you,” Seventh Master said to him. “Since you’ve already passed away, you shouldn’t linger in this place for too long. It’s better to be reincarnated as soon as possible. If you have any last wishes, we’ll help if we can.”
Rat lowered his eyes, looking deeply worried. “I don’t want to be reincarnated. I still have to take care of my little brother.”
I was just about to speak when Seventh Master raised a hand to stop me. He asked, “If you’re reincarnated, you can have a new life. Maybe in your next life, your parents will treat you well. But if you refuse to be reincarnated, you’ll be trapped here for all eternity, reduced to a Wandering Ghost, and you’ll never have another chance at reincarnation.”
“Even so, you still won’t go?”
After hearing Seventh Master’s words, Rat’s face twisted with inner conflict. He struggled for a full half minute before finally shaking his head. “I won’t go.”
Hearing his answer a second time, all of us found it hard to believe.
Seventh Master had already made all the pros and cons clear to him, yet he still refused.
Just to take care of a little brother who wasn’t even related to him by blood… he would rather be trapped here forever as a Wandering Ghost.
The brightest side of human nature had appeared in this little thief everyone despised.
Seventh Master didn’t say anything more. He simply told me to take out the things.
I quickly brought out the orphanage admission agreement and some photos of the orphanage for Rat to see. “Look. We’ve already found a place for Xiao Xuan. Someone will take care of his food, lodging, transportation, and daily necessities. He’ll be able to go to school too. And no one there will bully him.”
Rat stared blankly at the photos for a long time. At last, he gave a bitter smile. “That’s good. He has a place to belong now. Thank you.”
Seventh Master asked, “Do you have any other wishes? Do you want to go back and see your parents?”
At the mention of his parents, Rat froze for a long while. Then he lowered his head. “No. I don’t have parents. My parents stopped wanting me a long time ago. They already have other children now. I don’t want to bother them again.”
I nodded and comforted him. “The truth is, they don’t deserve to be your parents. One day, they’ll regret what they lost.”
“There are many good parents in this world. You should become their child.”
Rat looked up at me and said, “Thank you. Aside from Grandpa, I’ve never met any good people. I thought there weren’t any good people left in this world. I’m very grateful to all of you. There are still people in this world willing to care about me.”
“I want to take Xiao Xuan to an amusement park once. I promised him I would.”
“Can you let us go just once? Otherwise, he’ll never be able to see me again.”