Chapter 66

The next morning, I and Pangzi said goodbye to Yao Yirong and her brother, took the umbrella holding Murong Jia Jia, and boarded the train back to Shenzhen. As we were about to leave, Pangzi kept calling me 'stationery brother' in an affectionate tone, so affectionate that it almost made me think Pangzi had become Yao Wenju's brother-in-law overnight.

On the train, I told Pangzi Murong Jia Jia's identity. After hearing it, Pangzi was also curious, clamoring to open the umbrella to see what Murong Jia Jia looked like. But there were so many people on the train, I definitely couldn't open the umbrella. Moreover, Murong Jia Jia had stayed that long in a lightless basement; coming outside, she needed to adjust.

Later, Pangzi didn't make a fuss either, because he was too exhausted to kick up a fuss. He flopped onto the train car and fell into a loud snoring sleep. After all those days of turmoil, my spirit was utterly exhausted; leaning against Pangzi's shoulder, I also fell asleep with a loud snore.

After returning home, Pangzi and I didn't eat anything, then fell headfirst into a deep sleep. When we woke up, it was already seven o'clock the next morning.

Having nothing to do, Pangzi went ahead to Zen-Easy Hall, while I stir-fried some dried radish to mix with my porridge.

Thinking that I hadn't offered incense to Little Fat for so many days, I prepared to light a stick of incense for him. However, just as I lit the yellow incense, the table beside me suddenly emitted two tremors. I turned around and saw that the tremors were coming from the piece of nether jade holding Hong Nainai; the vibration was obvious, shaking the whole table and making it tremble.

Seeing this, I muttered in my heart to Hong Nainai: 'If you have something to say, just say it straight; is it really necessary to shake twice to remind me?'

In my view, perhaps too many things had happened before, causing me to continually overlook her and forget to offer her incense, so she grew resentful toward me in her heart.

All you need to do is speak up if you have something to say; I haven't sealed you with a talisman.

I shook my head, gave a helpless smile, and said to the nether jade: 'Hong Nainai, if you have something to say, just say it; why throw a tantrum like a child?'

However, only after saying that did I notice the strangeness of the nether jade. Hong Nainai listened to my words but did not emerge, and the jade pendant kept trembling nonstop, as if it were telling me of its unease.

I reached out to touch the pendant, and the sensation gave me a fright. A bone‑deep, heart‑penetrating cold traveled up my arm into my body, making me shiver instantly, as if I were standing in an ice cavern of minus‑ten‑something degrees.

The chill I felt carried a thick yin qi, and I was immediately startled. I hurriedly activated my Seal Finger, drew a Golden Light Talisman of the Hairy Mountain Sect, and sent it onto the nether jade.

As mentioned before, the Yinshan method combines the arts of Universal Hermitage, Village Mountain, and the Hairy Mountain Sect into its own lineage, so disciples of the Yinshan School are at least somewhat familiar with those three schools' techniques. Moreover, the Golden Light Talisman is an introductory talisman of the Daoist Sect; it is the simplest, yet most effective at dispelling negative energy.

When I sent the Golden Light Talisman onto the nether jade, I was startled again. The yin qi on the nether jade was several times denser than I had imagined; a single Golden Light Talisman could only weaken a few wisps of it, not dispel it completely.

"What on earth is going on? How could there be such intense yin qi on the jade pendant?" I thought, and then I sent several more Golden Light Talismans onto the nether jade.

When I reached the fifth talisman, the nether jade emitted a pfft, as if something had torn open. Immediately afterward, Hong Nainai's figure fled from the nether jade in a disheveled state.

"So cold…." After emerging, Hong Nainai shivered violently several times.

Looking at the aura leaking from her, I couldn't help but frown deeper. A murky, blackish energy spread over her body; even a light touch felt bone‑chillingly cold. Although Hong Nainai is a ghost, this negative energy seems to repel her; the two auras are fundamentally incompatible.

"Hong Nainai, what on earth is this? How do you have such freezing negative energy on you?" As soon as the question left my lips, I involuntarily recalled a person—or rather, a ghost: the armored army soul that saved me and Pangzi that night in the art studio's small building.

"He… is he?" Hong Nainai's face showed fear as she slowly pointed her finger at the red coffin holding Little Fat.

My heart gave a jolt; I cursed 'holy shit', and indeed it was related to him.

I glanced around the room like a thief, then cautiously asked Hong Nainai.

Hong Nainai replied, trembling: "He has been here."

Hong Nainai told me that on the second night after Pangzi and I left Shenzhen to go to Anhui for the gathering, that armored army soul came to our house, apparently aiming for Little Fat lying in the coffin.

At first, Hong Nainai didn't know who the army soul was; when she first sensed him, she thought he was a blind wandering ghost come to steal incense oil, but when she poked her head out of the nether jade, she saw the armored army soul.

That armored soldier merely glared at Hong Nainai, and she immediately fainted. When her spirit revived, she discovered she was trapped inside the nether jade; no matter how she struggled, it felt like being stuck in an ice cavern, unable to break free.

Until this morning, the yin qi of the nether jade loosened; Hong Nainai then struck it hard, which finally drew my attention. With my help, she finally broke free from the nether jade.

After hearing Red Granny's account, my heart gave a sudden jolt. I quickly used the faint-light talisman to open my eyes and peered into the small coffin.

When I saw Little Fat still lying safely in the coffin, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. But at the same time I wondered, what on earth is this Little Fat's background, that he can move the military soul that even my master couldn't summon? Moreover, the military soul's cultivation is not trivial; a mere flick of its little finger could crush me.

From Red Granny's account, I infer that this military soul came specially to see Little Fat, but disliked Red Granny being in the way, so it sealed her inside the dark jade. This also shows that his relationship with Little Fat is not as simple as I imagined.

All of this has shrouded Little Fat in a veil of strangeness and mystery.

After agonizing for a long time, I decided not to concern myself with him. No matter what his relation to Little Fat is, the bottom line is that this military soul is one of our people, and as long as he poses no threat to me and Little Fat, that's fine.

I pointed at the dark jade and asked Red Granny, "Are you going back to that dark jade?"

Red Granny hastily shook her head: "That place is colder than the pond I used to stay in; I'd rather die than go back there."

Seeing this, I didn't force her, just let her stay in the house. By the way, I also told her about Murong Jiaja's matter.

Afterwards, I tidied up the spirit altar, cleaned up the dirty things in the house, closed the door, and headed to the Chan Yi Hall two streets away.

Since the last time I helped Dr. Chen lift the tiger-mouth curse, Yuan Qiu hasn't come looking for us again; I heard his family is now preparing to set up a company in Humen, Dongguan, specializing in underwear.

However, I'm not very optimistic about his idea. Although Humen in Dongguan is a famous clothing hub in China, and Yuan Qiu's family has some connections there, unfortunately most of Dongguan's clothing market is already monopolized by Chaoshan people. Even native Guangdong residents can't gain any advantage in that market.

While idly thinking about all sorts of random things, I soon arrived at the gate of Chan Yi Hall.

Believe it or not, there actually was someone inside Chan Yi Hall. However, this person didn't seem to be here to see things.

Pangzi and an elderly old woman stood in the hall of Chan Yi Hall. The woman looked to be in her fifties, a red silk scarf wrapped around her head, her temples already white. She was holding Pangzi's hand, chatting and laughing.

"Hai Sheng, come over quickly, this old lady brought us food." As soon as he saw me, Pangzi happily waved at me.

I walked over and saw a basket on the table, inside which were all red eggs.

Pangzi and I said, this old lady's daughter-in-law had just given birth, so she specially sent us red eggs. Her daughter-in-law had previously suffered from kidney stones, which QingSongShu had alleviated with medicinal methods. After conditioning, her daughter-in-law's health improved, and she even gave birth to a big, fat grandson.

Pangzi said that, and I had no doubts either; QingSongShu is a great person—when he encounters poor believers, he helps if he can, and he doesn't charge them. So it's common for those he's helped to send over poultry, fruit, and the like.

Pangzi and I took the eggs from the old lady's hand, peeled them, and prepared to stuff them into our mouths.

Just then, a loud shout came from the doorway.

"Don't eat them, quickly throw the eggs away!"

A tall, stalwart figure appeared at the doorway, glaring angrily at the old woman.

"Uncle Seven, why have you come too?" Pangzi stopped his hand, looking astonished at Seventh Uncle. In the half-second that Pangzi cried out, the old lady's kind smile instantly turned ferocious; she stretched out a hand and viciously lunged to grab Pangzi's neck.

Just as those withered hands were about to grab Pangzi's neck, I kicked the old lady away with a flying kick. Even before Seventh Uncle shouted his warning, I felt the old woman was off; I couldn't let her have her way.

After the old lady was flung backward, the red silk ribbon on her head scattered to the ground, letting me see her appearance clearly.

"A living corpse!" Seeing her appearance clearly, I couldn't help but gasp. It was a dark bluish face, with a pea-sized black mole protruding at the center of her forehead. At first I thought it was a birthmark, but then I recalled the record of living corpses in the classics.

In the Daoist Sect, a living corpse is both a taboo and a legend. Such a corpse is neither human nor ghost, existing between yin and yang. To cultivate such a corpse, a practitioner must choose a room that sees no sunlight, wrap the corpse in mulberry bark, and place it in the most yin spot of the room. Whenever the fifteenth night's moonlight arrives, they open a small hole in the roof to let moonlight shine in. Adding infant blood, grave soil, and a few other ingredients, they perform the sacrificial refinement; only a skilled practitioner can succeed. Once formed, a living corpse can survive only on resentment and human blood, controlled by the sorcerer, and goes about killing people.

One could say that a living corpse is a very evil technique.

"He's an insect breeder, not a living corpse." Seventh Uncle Yang flipped the old lady onto the ground, sternly correcting me.

"Hurry up and get some boy's urine; this thing is troublesome, it needs to be doused with feces and urine." Seeing us stunned, Seventh Uncle Yang frowned and shouted at us twice.

I quickly shoved Pangzi and anxiously called out, "Pangzi, hurry, let's go piss……"

"Sigh..." Pangzi stared, silent for a long moment. Then he lifted his right hand, gazing deeply at it, eyes brimming with tears, and said, "I hate him."

I: "........."