I took out a bùa phá âm talisman and set it alight. As I was about to finish the incantation, I scattered two more handfuls of glutinous rice. The red dress burst into flames and vanished.
The woman in red’s dress was tattered, her long hair singed. I wasn’t much better off myself, feeling the sting of using up three handfuls of precious glutinous rice—gathered from all over, imbued with incense from the temple, accumulated over generations, and all I had was a single jar.
For minor ghosts, ordinary rice would do; but for a vengeful spirit like her, only this special rice would work.
“Talk! Why are you stealing people’s souls?”
The ghost glared at me as if she wanted to tear me apart. “Hmph, you’re good, aren’t you? Go find out for yourself! Let me ask you instead—who are you? What was that soul you took from me last night?”
I knew she was stalling for time. It was almost the hour of the Rat, when yin energy was at its peak, and she was recovering. Since I couldn’t get answers, I pulled out a bùa Khốn Hồn talisman and began chanting.
From the moment I entered the yard, I’d already placed five-emperor coins at the four corners—east, west, south, and north. When the talisman took effect, the ghost could only endure it. The four directions glowed red, like four walls rising up.
“How dare you!”
The ghost roared. Trapped in the formation, she would have to suffer the torments of the eighteen levels of hell, unable to reincarnate, reliving the moment before her death—a harsh punishment for an evil spirit. To break the formation, she’d have to seriously injure the one who set it up.
She intensified the yin energy, the black mist nearly becoming solid, and lunged at me.
I retreated, blocking with my wooden sword. I just had to hold out until the formation was complete!
She attacked relentlessly, knocking me down several times. When only a small gap remained at the top of the formation, she stopped attacking, her body swelling unnaturally. Not good—she was about to self-destruct!
If she succeeded, everything within ten miles would be devastated.
Even though Chen Village was full of wicked people, there were still innocent lives. My heart raced as I rummaged through my things and found a bùa lôi kiếp talisman.
“Heaven and earth, thunder’s virtue, all laws tremble—Grandmaster, there’s no time, by the law, act now!”
A thunderous crack split the air, a streak of violet lightning struck the ghost, and she vanished into the night.
With the woman in red dealt with, the soul-confining hairpin on the other side had also absorbed all the evil spirits, including Violet. I breathed a sigh of relief. Now all that was left was to ask Mark Chen where he’d learned this dark magic.
I didn’t know when he’d come to, but he was curled up behind a tree, trembling. I walked over, about to question him, when he suddenly screamed, collapsed, and fainted.
I thought he’d been scared by what just happened and was about to recite a purification chant when he opened his eyes. His gaze was like a poisoned blade, freezing me in place. Luckily, the protective talisman on my chest grew hot and glowed, snapping me out of it.
At that moment, Mark Chen was strangling me. I bit my tongue and spat blood in his face. Tongue blood is pure yang, deadly to evil spirits. If a spirit fails to possess someone, it’s much harder for them to try again.
The attacker revealed its true form: a hunched old woman. She didn’t look like a typical evil spirit, but the fact that she’d caught me off guard meant she was no ordinary ghost.
“I don’t know who you are, but the waters in Chen Village are muddy—you can’t just wade in as you please! Filthy exorcist, taking one person away is one less trouble for us!” the old woman spat.
“Insulting others? That’s just asking for trouble! Ignorance isn’t a crime, old lady, but I won’t hesitate to let my soul-confining hairpin have a taste of you!”
“Hmph, such arrogance! If you hadn’t harmed Violet and Scarlet, you wouldn’t even be qualified to meet me—the Lady of Ghosts!”
The Lady of Ghosts? Could she be the local overseer of the spirit world?
I never expected such a powerful ghost in a small place like Chen Village. I tried to see through her, but couldn’t. The Lady of Ghosts didn’t waste words—she attacked with a surge of yin energy. At first, I held her off with talismans, but after the fight with the woman in red, I was drained, and my incantations were losing their power.
She swept her sleeve, sending black mist crashing into my face. I was knocked down, my stomach twisted, and I tasted blood. It was exactly the hour of the Rat, when yin energy was strongest. I thought I was done for. Suddenly, the door burst open.
“Little Master, I’m here!”
The newcomer hurled a wooden plaque at the Lady of Ghosts, rolled over to my side, and helped me up.
The plaque struck the Lady of Ghosts, and a wailing shriek pierced my ears. That was the Thunderstrike Talisman Plaque, the treasured artifact of the temple. My heart ached again.
“Cough, Director, if you hadn’t come, I’d be meeting the Grandmaster by now.”
“Little Master, are you alright? As soon as I got the message, I rushed over, but the road wasn’t safe. You have no idea, I…”
“Save it for later—let’s deal with this first!”
I was weak, so I said, “I don’t have enough strength right now. Help me chant.”
I burned a bùa lục giáp âm dương talisman and tossed it out, chanting, “Six harmonies of yin and yang, unite the two forces.”
As the final words left my lips, the Lady of Ghosts was trapped. I took a bottle of boy’s urine from the director’s bag and splashed it on her. Black smoke rose, filling the air with a burnt stench.
“That’s for calling me a filthy exorcist. You don’t know who I am? Let me tell you: My surname is Jiang, my name is Emily, candidate for the next head of the Jiang family, and the 64th master of Thanh Vân Temple.” I lifted my chin proudly.
These days, wherever you find a feng shui master or exorcist, there’s bound to be someone from the Jiang family. As for Thanh Vân Temple, countless people come to pray. No matter which title I use, I can hold my own in this field.
But I still quietly do the grunt work, leaving the rest to my family and the temple members. In the past, whenever the Jiang family couldn’t show their faces, Thanh Vân Temple would handle it. If the temple couldn’t manage, the Jiang family would step in. If this incident hadn’t been so serious, I wouldn’t have revealed myself. The orphanage director with me is the temple’s senior disciple, here to assist me.
“Now, let’s talk about why you’re collecting souls.”
The Lady of Ghosts was bound by the six-harmony talisman, so I wasn’t worried about her escaping.
“Hmph, what’s there to say? We’re not after money or lives, just a few souls. Even the local underworld enforcers turn a blind eye. Take my advice, kid—don’t get involved!”
“Oh? So the underworld enforcers are in on this too? This is getting complicated.”
I took the bag the director brought, pulled out an oil lamp wrapped in yellow cloth—called the Soul-Seeking Lantern, the temple’s treasured artifact. Its base was made of a special material, and the wick could only be lit with the temple master’s heart blood. It was mentally exhausting, so few used it. But I had no other choice. I could sense that things in Chen Village were far from simple.
I chanted, dripped heart blood onto the wick, and the lamp glowed blue.
“What kind of demonic energy are you using?!” the Lady of Ghosts struggled, black smoke billowing, the temperature dropping, and the soul-binding formation starting to crack.
I ignored her and kept chanting. Blue light streamed from the lamp, turning into a beam that shot into the Lady of Ghosts. As the light entered her, I tasted something sweet and metallic. I quickly focused my mind and began searching for her soul.
On a wide, barren ground, countless souls appeared: children, young women, middle-aged men, the elderly—all lined up like prisoners from ancient times. In one corner, the Lady of Ghosts knelt, respectfully speaking to someone. That person—shrouded in a faint blood mist, their face impossible to see. The Lady of Ghosts spoke, the figure nodded, then drifted away.
I hurried after them. Suddenly, as if sensing me, the figure turned, swept their sleeve, and sent me stumbling back.
Searching for souls only reveals what has already happened, yet this person could sense me in the present—their soul was incredibly powerful. If I were at my best, I might have been able to put up a fight.
I coughed up blood, nearly forced out of the Lady of Ghosts’ soul.
"Little Master!"
The director caught me, giving me a medicinal pill. I forced myself to focus, realizing the Lady of Ghosts was the Mountain Spirit here. In recent years, besides Mark Chen sacrificing a few girls, others had done the same. But I couldn’t trace where the souls had gone, nor did I see that mysterious figure again.
With nothing more to gain today, I drew the soul-confining hairpin, sealed the Lady of Ghosts inside, and refined part of her spirit. When she weakens, I’ll set up another formation.
The next morning, Mark Chen and his parents woke up. Mark had been harmed by the resentment of the woman in red, then possessed by the Lady of Ghosts—his soul was badly damaged, his hair turned white overnight, and he had only days left to live.
Seeing that I was unharmed, Mark knelt and pleaded, "Please, save my sister! I don’t care if I die, but Annie is kind—she doesn’t deserve this!"
His parents said nothing, only knelt beside him.
I replied coldly, "Your family has done evil, sacrificing innocent lives for one person. The living world may not judge you, but the underworld remembers. This is Annie’s fate. If you care for her, do good, and stay away from dark paths, maybe she’ll have a chance to wake up. But now, even your own karma is entangled."
Not interfering with others’ karma is my rule. I said no more, and the director and I left the mountain.
Back in the city, I quit my job and returned to Azure Cloud Monastery. What I saw in the Lady of Ghosts’ soul left me shaken. So many spirits—if they were all collected by those people, what were they planning? And who was the person the Lady of Ghosts knelt before?
I had to find out who was behind this. I hoped the elders would help.
After half a month of recuperating at the monastery, the grandmaster appeared in my dreams: "Emily, someone wants to use these souls to resurrect an old man. Chen Village is just the beginning."
I immediately packed up and headed for the old Giang family house.
On the way, the head of the family called me: "Emily, there’s been something strange in Cloudridge City lately. Some children went missing, then came back after a few days, but they’re like empty shells. The sects have already sent people to investigate. You should go too."
After reporting what happened in Chen Village to the family head, I went straight to Cloudridge City.
—END—