Chapter 255
Chapter 255
The moment Seventh Master put it that way, I understood.
The Seventh Concubine had really hated her husband, Luo Baichuan, the master of Luo Mansion.
That was why every person killed afterward had been male.
Perhaps that was the Seventh Concubine’s obsession. She hated all men.
The people who died in Luo Mansion and those who died afterward had all been killed by the Seventh Concubine.
After death, the people of Luo Mansion became part of an adverse field and remained under the Seventh Concubine’s control. They had never harmed anyone themselves, but the field they created constantly affected those living nearby. That was what had caused the villagers’ hysteria.
Now that we had worked that out, we at least had some idea what we were facing.
“Seventh Master, the Seventh Concubine has been dead for over a hundred years. She must be one powerful ghost.”
A hundred-year-old ghost. Could she have already cultivated into some kind of monster?
“Have you heard of a Vengeful Ghost in red?”
As he surveyed the terrain with his searchlight, Seventh Master said, “She’s the equivalent of ten of them combined. And so many people have died here that this place has already become an Inauspicious Land. No arrangement, however favorable, can save its Feng Shui.”
“With the Inauspicious Land and the Seventh Concubine together, our chances of successfully resolving this are about ten percent.”
Every hair on my body stood on end. “T-ten percent? Can’t you make that any higher?”
Seventh Master shook his head. “No. Two great experts failed to perform Exorcism for the ghosts here. Even people with near-divine abilities couldn’t do it. I can’t compare to them.”
I swallowed. “Can I quit?”
Seventh Master glanced at me. “Of course. Assistant He is right over there. Go on.”
I chuckled. “I was only joking. We’ve already come this far. How could I quit now?”
I had one serious flaw: I cared too much about saving face, even when it made me suffer.
I had insisted on coming. Backing out now would be far too humiliating.
Seventh Master and I walked a full circuit around the construction site, partly to survey the terrain and partly to identify every entrance and exit. If something went wrong, we would at least know which way to run.
When we returned to the main gate, we called out to Assistant He, shouldered our backpacks, raised our searchlights, and walked in.
The instant we stepped through the gate, the sweltering heat vanished. One second it was summer; the next, it felt like winter. The chill burrowed into my bones like a cold wind.
This place was saturated with Yin.
Seventh Master took out a site plan. One location on it had been circled.
That was the original site of Luo Mansion and the Thunder Ancestor Temple. After the temple was demolished, the villagers had built an ancestral hall there to honor their forebears.
The people who built that hall were the same ones who had demolished the Thunder Ancestor Temple.
The spot lay right at the center of the village and should have been prime land, yet not one person had dared build a home there.
Why?
Because those people had believed in mysticism too.
Whether they believed the story of Luo Mansion or had faith in the Thunder Ancestor Temple was unclear. Perhaps they feared retribution if they built their homes on the temple’s former site.
Whatever the reason, they did not dare build residences there, so they erected an ancestral hall instead.
That hall had now been demolished, and a hotel was being built in its place.
But the hotel was unfinished. It was supposed to be nine stories tall, yet construction had stopped after the sixth floor.
“Seventh Master, are we going straight to the original site?” My confidence was starting to fail me.
Seventh Master took out his compass and said, “We didn’t come tonight to solve the problem. We’re only scouting the area and learning the exact situation. If we don’t enter the tiger’s den, how can we learn anything?”
The moment he brought out the compass, its needle lost all direction and began spinning endlessly.
That was a sign of a chaotic field. The field here was extremely unstable and could easily affect the human brain. No wonder the workers kept having accidents.
The needle’s reaction made Seventh Master’s already grim expression darken even further.
We headed toward the original site of Luo Mansion. Every gust and rustle put both of us on edge.
Then a strong wind sprang up inside the site, blowing sand, grit, and dust straight into our faces. We were already uneasy, and now our nerves stretched even tighter.
At last, we reached the original site of Luo Mansion and entered the unfinished hotel.
There were three different temperatures in the same place. Outside the construction site it was sweltering, while inside the site it was bitterly cold. But inside that hotel, it was colder than a goddamn morgue. Seventh Master and I were both shivering uncontrollably.
“Construction on this hotel stopped at exactly six floors. Do you know what… six represents?” Seventh Master was so cold he could barely get the words out.
I nodded. “Six represents extreme Yin, eight represents lesser Yin, seven represents lesser Yang, and nine represents extreme Yang.”
These were the Four Images born from Yin and Yang, and from the Four Images came the Eight Trigrams.
“The Yin here has reached its absolute extreme. It’s extremely dangerous. Even when I was young and traveled with my Master, I only encountered a place this saturated with Yin once.”
Seventh Master took out two Talismans and handed one to me. “These Life-Saving Talismans were drawn by my Master while he was alive and carry his magical power. When your life hangs by a thread, shout, ‘Divine Soldiers of the Six Ding, Divine Generals of the Six Jia, As Urgent as the Law Commands!’ That will save your life.”
“Memorize the incantation, and don’t use it unless you have absolutely no other choice.”
I accepted the Talisman and hurriedly slipped it into the breast pocket of my shirt.
This was a Life-Saving Talisman, drawn by Seventh Master’s own Master. I suspected Seventh Master had always been reluctant to use it, or perhaps had never needed to. The fact that he had brought out both of them today made the danger we faced painfully clear.
Still, having the Life-Saving Talisman offered me at least some comfort.
As we spoke, a dark shadow flashed past us.
It had the outline of an adult and passed so close it nearly brushed against me.
Seventh Master and I both flinched. By the time we looked back, the shadow had already vanished.
“Go!”
Seventh Master took off after it, and I followed close behind.
The shadow had disappeared toward the innermost section by the elevator shafts, where the emergency stairs were located.
The entire building was unfinished, and the elevator shafts were empty. Buildings at this stage of construction were the most dangerous kind. One wrong step could send someone plunging several meters.
Seventh Master and I chased the shadow up the emergency stairs to the second floor.
But the instant we reached the second-floor landing, Seventh Master froze. I recoiled in fright and nearly tumbled backward down the stairs.
Six people hung side by side beside a load-bearing wall. All six wore black clothes and black shoes. Their backs faced Seventh Master and me, their bodies suspended in midair.
I was too terrified to speak. After a long moment, I finally asked Seventh Master in a trembling voice, “Are those people or ghosts?”
Seventh Master did not answer for a long while either. Finally, he shook his head. He did not know.
Only after I calmed down did I begin to think. Why would six people have hanged themselves here?
And why were all six dressed in identical black clothes and black shoes? They looked like burial garments.
“Let’s get closer.”
Seventh Master took hold of me and led me toward the six figures.
Before we could approach, one of the bodies suddenly began swaying in the wind.
It swung back and forth, then abruptly turned until it faced Seventh Master and me.
I stared at its face. My scalp went numb, and my eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
It was Anning!