Chapter 131
Chapter 131
In addition, I placed a bowl of clear water on the main-room floor about three feet inside the front door. A pair of scissors rested across the rim!
This was called the Clear-Water Ghost-Cutting Rite. If even a speck of the stove soot clinging to the ghost fell into the bowl of clear water, the metallic energy carried by the scissors would immediately injure it.
Even if the trap couldn’t destroy the entity, it would weaken our enemy as much as possible before the real battle.
Once all these defensive preparations were complete, I began drawing talismans…
To remain calm and focused without interruption, I decided to draw them alone in a room upstairs.
When Xia Sanjin and Xia Degui heard that, they became a little frightened again.
After all, the sun was about to set.
It took me quite a while to explain that the vicious entity definitely wouldn’t arrive before eight that evening and that they could set their minds completely at ease.
Only after I had used the talisman arts to draw seven or eight different talismans that I currently knew how to make and considered useful did I return downstairs to the main room.
The two men rose from their stools in relief, sweat beading on both their foreheads.
I found their reaction both irritating and amusing. Weren’t they a little too cowardly?
At that moment, I looked at the clock hanging on the wall.
It was already seven thirty in the evening.
“Young Mr. Wu, it’s getting late. If there’s nothing else, I’ll head home now. My wife and my parents are still waiting for me,” Xia Sanjin said.
Leave? Go home?
I frowned and asked in confusion, “Secretary Xia, you’re planning to go back?”
Xia Sanjin was baffled too.
“What? Am I supposed to stay here?”
We stared at each other for a moment.
Only then did I smile bitterly and say, “Secretary Xia, you never mentioned this before, so I assumed you planned to stay and help. Now that all the defensive measures are in place, no one can leave this courtyard until everything is over.”
“What? But…”
Xia Sanjin’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
Seeing him like this, I more or less understood.
It was true that he was a responsible village Party secretary, and he had taken the initiative to help Xia Degui find an expert capable of resolving the haunting. But ultimately, he was still an ordinary person afraid of supernatural matters…
He had probably assumed that since an “expert” like me was here, only Xia Degui, the client, needed to remain with me. Surely he, the village Party secretary, wouldn’t have to face the ghost directly?
I shrugged and spread both hands.
“Secretary Xia, everything is already arranged. I’m afraid you can’t leave now.”
“Oh. I-I understand…”
The smile on Xia Sanjin’s face looked worse than tears.
Xia Degui patted him on the shoulder and offered reassurance.
“Don’t be afraid, Secretary Xia. Young Mr. Wu is here, so everything will be fine. Even if danger arises, I’ll stand in front of you. After all, that evil entity is using my daughter’s body, and my family bears much of the responsibility…”
“Who’s afraid? I’m not afraid of a damn thing!”
Xia Sanjin knocked Xia Degui’s hand away and cursed, “Damn it! When I was young, I was one of the fiercest fighters in all the surrounding villages. Why the hell would I be afraid? If a ghost comes, we’ll kill it just the same. Get the sickle and the thick wooden clubs inside the house ready!”
Perhaps saying a few fierce words himself helped Xia Sanjin calm down.
And so, the three of us talked and drank tea in the main room as we waited for the vicious entity to arrive.
Time passed slowly…
Our surroundings grew increasingly quiet. Even the faint sounds of villagers chatting and quarreling disappeared.
The calls of insects and birds rose through the mountains and wilderness at night.
I could clearly sense yang energy fading between heaven and earth while yin energy grew.
It was a deeply mysterious sensation.
Ordinary people couldn’t perceive it, but once a person embarked upon cultivation and nurtured qi within their body, they became extremely sensitive to changes in the natural world.
Night and day were, in truth, a continual exchange between yin and yang.
The yang and yin energies between heaven and earth naturally waxed and waned over the course of each day.
The Hour of the Rat was the period when yin energy reached its peak!
That was why, in so many folk horror tales, monsters and ghosts chose to emerge and harm people during the Hour of the Rat. There was a sound reason for it.
During that period, they were comparatively stronger.
Gurgle, gurgle!
An iron pot beside us made the sound of boiling water.
A small stove I had prepared was heating the iron pot over a low flame, and mugwort simmered inside.
This was another of my preparations!
After dried mugwort was placed in clear water and slowly simmered over low heat for two hours, the resulting juice could be smeared over a person’s body to make them invisible to ghosts for a time.
Ordinarily, it was ghosts that possessed the ability to hide themselves from living people.
But after a person applied mugwort juice, the situation was reversed!
The ghost became unable to see the person.
Once all three of us had coated ourselves evenly with mugwort juice, I looked up at the clock on the wall.
At that exact moment, the hour hand reached eleven!
Whew…
I let out a long breath of turbid qi and said in a low voice, “It’s eleven at night. The Hour of the Rat has begun. During the next two hours, that vicious entity may appear at any moment. Everyone, stay alert.”
At those words, the two men, who had been growing drowsy, suddenly shuddered and snapped completely awake.
Each grabbed one of the “weapons” prepared nearby. Xia Sanjin seized the sickle, while Xia Degui took a thick wooden club.
“Secretary Xia, a sickle probably won’t work on that thing. You should follow Uncle Degui’s example and take a thick club instead.”
“Right, right. All right.”
As Xia Sanjin answered, he put down the sickle and casually snatched the wooden club straight from Xia Degui’s hands.
Xia Degui: “…Damn it!”
Left with no choice, he went to the nearby kitchen woodpile and fetched another club.
I looked at the two men, who seemed timid and nervous, and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Both were clearly adults with considerable standing in society, while I was merely a middle-school boy.
How had I somehow become the mature center of our group while they behaved like frightened children?
In truth, there was one thing I hadn’t told them: if the ghost could still see them despite the mugwort juice, and if they had to confront it personally even with me present, then we would be in very serious trouble!
Of course, saying that aloud would probably frighten them all over again.
At least holding thick clubs makes them feel safer.
As I thought this, I turned my head.
My gaze passed through the open main-room door and settled on the courtyard gate, which remained tightly closed.
The red cord with a stone tied beneath it hung straight behind the gate, swaying faintly in the night breeze…
That vicious entity should be here soon, shouldn’t it?
The night wind grew a little stronger.
It passed through the bamboo groves, weeds, and trees outside the village, producing a succession of eerie moans.
Several trellises used to grow vegetables in the courtyard also rocked in the wind, creaking as they swayed.
The red cord began swinging more widely, as though an invisible hand were pushing it.
At that moment, even I began to feel somewhat tense.
Honestly, my cultivation had risen sharply lately, and my fighting strength had soared. I believed dealing with that vicious entity would present no problem.
But now that I was about to see it in person, the thought still made my skin crawl a little.
That too was an instinctive reaction…
Of course, I felt only mildly uneasy. I hadn’t reached the point of fear.
After making so many preparations, I could say with confidence that everything was under control!