Chapter 77

Chapter 77

I was originally quite excited to have dug up the cinerary urn.

But when I saw that the entire urn was wrapped in yellow Talisman Paper, I felt like I had just unearthed a landmine.

Containers for ashes usually aren’t covered in talismans; they’re just vessels. If talismans are attached, it means there’s a problem with the owner of the ashes-either their Ghost is lingering, or they are consumed by resentment.

But covering the entire container in talismans was a bit excessive.

What kind of thing was inside that thing…

What made my heart race even more was that one of our shovels must have accidentally clipped the urn just now, knocking a crack into it.

“It… it’s cracked…”

Song Xiaotian looked at me in terror. “Master Chen, what do we do? Should we just run?”

I pulled off my shirt and wiped the sweat from my face while pondering how to handle the urn.

Since the urn was already broken, the talismans on it definitely wouldn’t be able to suppress whatever was inside anymore.

Even if we wanted to run now, we might not be able to get away.

And the moment we ran, the thing inside would definitely give chase.

“It’s fine, I have a plan!”

I quickly pulled Song Xiaotian and Meng Yifan down to kneel on the ground. “As the saying goes, one does not strike a smiling face. Let’s all kowtow to it.”

We kowtowed with such force that the thuds were deafening. I hadn’t even kowtowed that hard to my own grandmother during the Qingming Festival.

As we kowtowed, we tried to negotiate with it, telling it that its mother had sent us to bring it back for a reunion. We were essentially doing a good deed, so it couldn’t harm us-otherwise, wouldn’t that just break the heart of a good person?

After the negotiation, I prepared to take the urn out.

Just as I started to stand up, a heavy weight suddenly pressed down on my back. It felt as if several hundred pounds had dropped onto me, forcing me right back down onto my knees.

I couldn’t get up at all. Panic seized me.

“Quick, look! What’s on my back?”

Song Xiaotian and Meng Yifan scrambled to the side. “There’s nothing there. What’s wrong with you?”

I told them something was pressing on my back and I couldn’t move.

“There’s really nothing there. Holy crap, what do we do?”

Song Xiaotian’s voice was trembling. “It’s not listening to reason. Does it not plan on letting us leave?”

Meng Yifan hurriedly suggested, “Maybe we should bring Li Xiumei’s ashes in and ask her for help!”

I said no. Bringing Li Xiumei in would definitely lead to a conflict. If she accidentally hurt this child, how would we answer to Du Yuwei?

After thinking for a moment, I said to the two of them, “Look around. Is there anything unusual nearby?”

It was only weighing me down; it didn’t seem to be actively attacking me yet.

I suspected it might be being suppressed by something else as well.

Song Xiaotian and Meng Yifan searched the area for a long time before suddenly shouting, “There’s a copper mirror in the tree!”

I quickly asked, “Where is the mirror pointing?”

Song Xiaotian replied, “It’s shining right on this kid’s headstone.”

I said that must be it. The mirror was likely the culprit. I told him to take it down first.

Before long, Song Xiaotian climbed the tree and retrieved the copper mirror, but the heavy weight was still pressing down on me.

I asked him, “What does the mirror look like?”

Song Xiaotian said, “The back has an eight trigrams diagram.”

I told him it was definitely a Bagua Mirror.

I had heard Old Zhao Seven mention before that Bagua Mirrors are tools used by Taoists to suppress ghosts. A typical Later Heaven Bagua Mirror usually has the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams on the back and is used to suppress minor spirits or resolve Feng Shui issues. An Innate Bagua Mirror, however, is used to suppress a Fierce Ghost.
Moreover, Innate Bagua Mirrors were rare. It took a Taoist priest with significant cultivation forty-nine days of ritual work for the mirror to become effective.

I hurriedly asked Song Xiaotian whether the bronze mirror had the Earlier Heaven Eight Trigrams or the Later Heaven Eight Trigrams on the back.

“What ‘earlier’ or ‘later’ heaven…?” Song Xiaotian didn’t seem to understand.

I said, “Look at the very top. Is it ‘Qian’ or ‘Li’?”

Song Xiaotian replied, “Qian.”

Cold sweat broke out on my forehead again. “Qian at the top, Kun at the bottom, Li on the left, and Kan on the right… That’s the Earlier Heaven Eight Trigrams. It’s used for suppressing Fierce Ghosts…”

If an unborn baby died prematurely and became a ghost, it would be extremely malevolent.

It seemed this child really hadn’t had the chance to be born before being killed in the car accident along with Du Yuwei.

And Du Ruhai must have extracted the child for cremation after Du Yuwei died, burying it in this place.

This Innate Bagua Mirror was likely placed here on Du Ruhai’s orders. He had even wrapped the ashes in yellow talismans, fearing the child would turn into a Fierce Ghost and escape.

Now the urn was shattered, but the bronze mirror was still performing its suppression.

It was pressing down on me, likely trying to tell me that it was also being weighed down by something and couldn’t leave.

“Quick, piss on the bronze mirror! It’ll break the mirror’s spiritual power.”

“Oh, right, it has to be virgin boy urine. Which of you is a virgin?”

As soon as I said it, I realized Meng Yifan couldn’t possibly be one; he had been living with his girlfriend for a long time.

And Song Xiaotian was already twenty-nine; he probably wasn’t one either.

Dammit!

Does that mean I’m doomed?!

Meng Yifan said, “You’re the only virgin here. Can you pee?”

I snapped back, “I’m pinned to the ground! How the hell am I supposed to pee?”

Song Xiaotian gave a dry cough. “I am… Let me do it.”

“Holy crap, a twenty-nine-year-old virgin? How did you manage that?” Meng Yifan almost burst out laughing.

Song Xiaotian cursed, “What’s wrong with being twenty-nine! Can’t I stay pure at twenty-nine? Are you discriminating against me?!”

I groaned in misery and shouted, “Look at the time! Just pee already, man! I’m fucking suffocating here!”

Soon after.

I heard the sound of Song Xiaotian relieving himself.

A Bagua Mirror was a righteous object and a treasure for suppressing ghosts, but it couldn’t withstand pollution. Once it was tainted by something filthy, its power would be easily broken.

I was glad I had listened to Old Zhao Seven talk about these things before and had actually remembered them.

Right after Song Xiaotian finished, the weight on my back suddenly vanished into thin air.

I took a deep breath and scrambled up from the ground. Without pausing to rest, I dug the urn out of the soil and stuffed it into my backpack.

The three of us had suffered quite a bit tonight for this thing. Now that we finally had it, I felt a surge of joy.

“Should we restore the grave?” Meng Yifan asked.

I said there was no point. Even if we tried to fix it, anyone could tell the place had been dug up. Instead of wasting time, we needed to get out of here. It was already four in the morning; if we delayed any longer, it would be dawn.

We picked up our gear and prepared to leave.

As we passed the grave of that Motorcycle Influencer, I saw her.

I wasn’t the only one; Song Xiaotian and Meng Yifan saw her too.

The influencer was standing right in front of her own grave, motionless, looking exactly as she did when she died.

She had died in a motorcycle accident. Rumor had it her neck had been snapped, and nearly two-thirds of her jaw had been torn off by something on the bike.

What we were seeing now… matched the online descriptions perfectly. We could even see blood still dripping from her jaw.

Song Xiaotian nearly fainted. I quickly steadied him and whispered a warning:

“Don’t make eye contact with her, or she’ll think you want to stay…”

“Let’s go…”