Chapter 279
Chapter 279
It was the Zi Hour, ten minutes past eleven at night.
We quietly slipped out of the old man’s house and headed for the Ninth Concubine’s home.
Her house was not far away. I had asked the old man to show me where it was during the day.
It was a small two-story house where the Ninth Concubine had lived alone.
Now that she was dead, no one went near it anymore.
People in the countryside tended to be superstitious, especially in a situation like this. The Ninth Concubine had lived alone, and her body was still lying in the mourning hall. No one dared approach her house for fear of running into her.
We soon arrived at her front door, where I suddenly realized something rather important.
I did not have her key!
How were we supposed to get inside without it?
Assistant He looked up and said, “Mr. Chen, the second floor is too high. There’s no way we can climb up. What do we do?”
“I can pick the lock.” Anning took a hairpin from her hair and walked straight toward the front door.
Her movements were extremely practiced, almost identical to the way Seventh Master picked locks.
I could not help thinking that anyone who lived this kind of life really did need to know a little of everything. Had those two learned from the same teacher?
Assistant He’s eyes widened at the sight. He could not help asking, “Miss Anning, you know how to… pick locks too? What did you used to do?”
Anning blurted, “I used to stea… stealthily learn it in college. I had a part-time job opening locks for people.”
I fought back a laugh.
As I recalled, she had never even finished middle school.
Assistant He sighed admiringly. “That’s inspiring. I worked my way through college too. I never knew we had the same experience.”
The moment he finished speaking, the lock clicked open. It had taken less than a minute.
Assistant He was shocked, and so was I.
With skills like that, it was no wonder the police had arrested her so many times.
With a single hairpin, she could probably open every door in an entire residential complex!
We pushed the door open, went inside, shut it behind us, and headed straight upstairs.
The instant we reached the second floor, Assistant He sucked in a sharp breath and stumbled several steps backward.
The second floor opened into a living room. Directly opposite the entrance stood an altar table bearing a statue, with a red electric lamp glowing beside it.
The Ninth Concubine practiced the arts of the Red Lotus Fa Sect, so the figure she worshiped was probably the sect’s founder and her Ancestral Master, the Red Lotus Patriarch.
There was really nothing frightening about it. Even Anning had not flinched, perhaps because the two of us had been through so much.
Assistant He’s reaction, on the other hand, was rather excessive.
I patted him on the shoulder and reassured him. “It’s a statue. That’s their Ancestral Master, not anything else.”
He looked so scared that I did not even dare say the word “ghost” in front of him.
Assistant He breathed a sigh of relief, looking embarrassed. “Sorry. I rarely come into contact with things like this. I used to be an atheist, you know.”
I said, “Why don’t you head back first? If we uncover any important clues, we can tell you about them later. It makes no difference.”
He hurriedly replied, “There’s no need to accommodate me. I just need to see more of these things. Once I get used to them, I’ll be fine. I can’t make more trouble for you, especially when you’ll need to rest after we get back.”
I said nothing more. Walking up to the altar table, I took out three sticks of incense and lit them, then bowed three times to the statue of the Red Lotus Patriarch with utmost respect.
“Senior, forgive our intrusion. I hope you won’t take offense at the actions of your juniors.”
“We’ll leave as soon as our business is finished.”
Certain rules had to be observed. One always had to approach these things with reverence.
After placing the three sticks of incense in the burner, I lit another three.
The Ninth Concubine had supposedly died peacefully at the end of a long life, so the soul-summoning procedure I had used before would not work on her.
I bowed once in each of the house’s four directions and chanted, “Holding a stick of incense in my hands, its smoke ascends to the nine heavens. Age-paper hangs at the outer gate, and white streamers hang at the second…”
“I, the living Chen Mo, request an audience with the deceased Old Woman Xu Xiu.”
“Old Madam Xu, please appear before us.”
Once I finished, I knelt respectfully on the floor and prostrated myself, pressing my head and both hands to the ground while holding the three incense sticks aloft as I waited for the Ninth Concubine to appear.
Strangely, several minutes passed without the slightest movement in the house.
I raised my head. The room held only a trembling Assistant He and a bewildered Anning. There was still no sign of the Ninth Concubine.
That made no sense.
According to Seventh Master, the Ninth Concubine had entered the Dao as a practitioner in life, so she would attain awareness as soon as she died.
Unlike ordinary ghosts, she would not need to drift around outside. Newly dead ghosts were usually unaccustomed to their present state, so the Ninth Concubine would certainly remain in her own home. If she heard my summons, she should have come to see me.
Why had she not appeared?
“Why… isn’t anything happening?” Anning could not help asking.
I looked around, unable to figure out what had gone wrong.
“This shouldn’t be happening…”
“Everything I recited just now was taught to me by Seventh Master. It’s meant for people who died peacefully at the end of their lives.”
Anning thought for a moment, then looked at me. “What if she didn’t die peacefully?”
I froze, cold sweat breaking out across my body.
Holding the three incense sticks, I began chanting again. “Heavenly Net and Earthly Fiends, the deceased Xu Xiu lived to the age of one hundred and nineteen. At one hundred and nineteen, she met an unnatural death and entered the City of the Unjustly Dead. I humbly ask the Bright Lamp to guide her path and bring Xu Xiu back.”
“I humbly ask the Bright Lamp to guide her path and bring Xu Xiu back.”
When I finished, the room fell deathly silent.
But a second later, a sudden gust of wind swept through the entire house.
I looked up. The living room windows were clearly shut.
Along with the wind, the temperature inside plummeted.
I had felt hot only a moment ago, but now I could see white mist with every breath.
“Cough… cough…”
A faint cough suddenly sounded in the living room. It resembled the weak coughing of a sickly eighty- or ninety-year-old.
She was here!
My heart pounded, and for a moment I panicked.
What unsettled me was not that she had come, but that I had actually summoned her using the method meant for those who had died a violent death!
That meant she had not passed away peacefully. Someone had murdered her!
At that moment, Anning, who was standing beside me, suddenly let her head droop. Her entire upper body bent forward with it.
She now looked just like a stooped old woman.
Assistant He trembled all over and swallowed repeatedly. He was so frightened that he nearly ran out of the room.
“Anning…” I called.
She did not respond. Swaying unsteadily, she shuffled over to the sofa and dropped onto it.
Every movement she made was exactly like that of an elderly person.
I knew the Ninth Concubine had already possessed her.
Sure enough, Anning soon spoke, but the voice that emerged from her mouth belonged to an old woman.
“Young man, were you looking for me?”