Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Deaf Granny flew into a rage at the sight.
“Vile creature, you don’t know what’s good for you! You need a lesson!”
Using the Immortal-Binding Rope as a whip, she lashed out heavily at the woman.
A shrill scream rang out, and plumes of black smoke actually began to drift off the woman’s body.
Despite the agonizing pain, she continued to shuffle forward, step by step.
She only wanted Deaf Granny to save her child!
Seeing this, Old Li spoke up. “Deaf Granny, she can speak, she can scream, and she even has a shadow. Is she really dead?!”
Deaf Granny exhaled two words heavily: “Living Corpse!”
“She is already dead, she just doesn’t know it yet. She’s being held together entirely by the obsession in her heart.”
Old Li’s expression turned solemn as he asked further, “If she’s dead, then what about the child in her belly?!”
“Is it dead or alive?!”
Granny Li stared warily at the woman and replied, “Alive!”
“If the child were dead, this woman’s obsession would have dissipated. By then, it would be two lives lost in one body, and she would turn into a Childbirth-Difficulty Ghost-a terrifyingly fierce one!”
“The big and small ghosts would take up scissors and go everywhere looking for replacements. The pregnant women in our neighborhood would be in for a disaster!”
Old Li took two hard draws from his tobacco pipe. “Since it’s alive, we can’t just stand by and watch it die! Looking at her clothes, she comes from a poor background. We must help!”
Hearing this, the woman immediately tried to kneel and kowtow. However, her body was already stiff, and she found she couldn’t even bend her knees!
Deaf Granny was kind-hearted by nature, so hearing Old Li say this, she no longer insisted on driving the woman away.
“Old Li, you’d better think this through. If we fail to save the child, this mother and son will likely turn into vengeful spirits immediately!”
Old Li gave a hearty laugh. “Were the Japanese Devils fierce? This old man still cut them down one by one! Can a vengeful spirit be fiercer than the Japanese Devils?!”
“I just don’t know how to deliver a baby. I’ll have to rely on you!”
Deaf Granny looked at Old Li’s spirited demeanor and gave a soft smile. “Delivering a dead person’s baby… this is a first for this old woman, too.”
“I hope nothing goes wrong. The Immortal Spirits are enshrined in the house, so filthy things can’t enter. She’ll have to give birth here in the courtyard.”
Deaf Granny had Wang San bring several basins of hot water and used black cloth to cordoned off an open space.
Just then, the Immortal-Binding Rope in Deaf Granny’s hand began to move on its own. It traced several large characters into the snow in a crooked script:
*This thing is extremely malevolent!*
“This…”
Deaf Granny was momentarily caught in a dilemma. If the Immortal Spirits called it “extremely malevolent,” its horror was unimaginable!
It seemed this Living Corpse was not as simple as she appeared on the surface.
Seeing this, Old Li didn’t want Deaf Granny’s family to face such danger. “San’er, go to Old Liu’s house and borrow his donkey cart. I’ll take this woman to the hospital in town.”
Wang San immediately agreed. “Uncle, I’ll go with you. We can look out for each other on the road.”
Deaf Granny shouted to stop them. “Both of you, stay right there!”
“Sending this thing-neither human nor ghost-to the town… are you worried not enough people will die?!”
“This old woman will deliver the baby right here. San’er, stay back and wait for my orders. Old Li, you’ll be my assistant!”
With lives on the line, it was no time to worry about propriety, especially since they were dealing with a corpse.
Old Li immediately agreed. “Fine! Just tell me what you need me to do!”
Deaf Granny ignored him and spoke directly to the woman. “Do you still remember your Eight Characters of birth?”
The woman froze, having clearly lost part of her memory. After a moment, she slowly managed to recall them.
Upon hearing them, Deaf Granny’s face changed drastically. “Born in a Yin Year, Yin Month, Yin Hour… an Extreme Yin Body!”
“Combined with this ghostly date tonight, we’re in big trouble!”
However, the situation was urgent and left no time for further thought. The woman’s face was becoming increasingly distorted, and blood began to leak from the corners of her eyes-a black, foul-smelling pus.
A series of clucking, cold laughs escaped her throat as her long hair fluttered in the yin wind.
This indicated that the child in her womb was in grave danger and could die at any moment. Once the fetus died, the woman would immediately transform into an evil ghost.
If the mother and son turned violent, it would be a catastrophe for this small village.
To be cautious, Deaf Granny shouted her orders: “Sanwa, go and bring out the Great Seal!”
The Great Seal was an object symbolizing the rank of a spirit medium’s disciple and was also an important dharma treasure for exorcising ghosts and warding off evil.
Wang San, sensing the danger, immediately ran to comply.
Deaf Granny thought for a moment and continued, “Old Li, go get your big knife! I hope you weren’t bragging to this old woman-that knife really has killed people!”
Old Li laughed loudly. “Don’t you worry, Deaf Granny. If those Little Japs count as people, my big knife has hacked down eighty if not a hundred of them. Just you watch!”
As they spoke, Wang San returned, holding the Great Seal high. He asked, “Mother, why did you ask Uncle Li to get his knife? Is it that powerful?!”
Granny Li replied as she began to unfasten the woman’s clothes, “Powerful doesn’t cover it. That’s a tool that has tasted blood! If it kills a hundred people, it’s called a Hundred-Slayer. When used by someone full of righteous energy, filthy things won’t dare come near.”
By then, Old Li had returned with the Red-Tasseled Broadsword slung across his back. He looked incredibly imposing, radiating a fierce aura! Even the surrounding eerie atmosphere seemed to dissipate significantly.