Assistant Trương broke out in a cold sweat. A moment later, he let out a heavy sigh, tapped his earpiece, listened respectfully to what the person on the other end said, then handed it to me.
“Mr. Hứa wants to speak with you.”
I sat leisurely in my chair, smiling faintly.
Assistant Trương switched the phone to speaker.
A mature, steady voice came through. “Miss Hạ Hầu, I’ve heard so much about you.”
Mr. Hứa cut straight to the chase, offering a reward I couldn’t refuse.
“Ngôn Ngôn is the daughter I had late in life. My useless sons joined forces with the altar keeper and sucked out her soul. At first, I went to Old Đoạn, and he referred me to the Supernatural Affairs Bureau. He said there was a great master there—surely that must be you.”
Old Đoạn was Đoạn Quốc Hoa, director of the Supernatural Affairs Bureau.
“I know you’re a woman of great ability, Miss Hạ Hầu. If you can save Ngôn Ngôn, I won’t just give you money—I’ll also give you the Demon-Subduing Pestle.”
At that, my pupils contracted.
The Demon-Subduing Pestle, one of the Ten Evil Artifacts—and it was in his hands!
Mr. Hứa continued, “Ngôn Ngôn’s misfortune was also caused by my sons trying to find the legendary ‘Compassionate Face’ to curry favor with me. Many years ago, I came into possession of the Demon-Subduing Pestle by chance. I was captivated by the mysterious allure of the Ten Evil Artifacts, but after all these years, I still haven’t found a trace of any of the others. I’m old now. I can’t keep searching. My sons want to find the Compassionate Face so they can get a larger share of my estate after I die.”
Mr. Hứa let out two mocking laughs. “I never expected this to make my own flesh and blood turn against one another. Perhaps I shouldn’t have kept the evil artifact in the first place.”
I paid no attention to his sorrow and went straight to the point. “You mean the Compassionate Face is in Thần Miếu Thôn?”
“That’s right.”
It suddenly clicked. No wonder the duck had told me to watch A Xá’s livestream.
If this trip to Thần Miếu Thôn went well, I could collect two evil artifacts at once!
“I’ll take the job. I’ll bring Hứa Ngôn Ngôn back safe and sound. Have the Demon-Subduing Pestle ready.”
“Thank you, Miss Hạ Hầu.”
I rummaged through the cabinet and took out a bottle of mineral water. Half of it was filled with a clear liquid.
I handed it to Assistant Trương.
“Hứa Ngôn Ngôn is young, and she’s an ordinary person. If her soul stays separated from her body for too long, her body will die. She’s managed to hold on this long, so you must have spent a lot of manpower and resources, haven’t you?”
Assistant Trương nodded.
In a case like Hứa Ngôn Ngôn’s, it takes several billion a day just to keep her going.
I remembered the last time I went to capture a ghost. It took so much effort and time, and in the end I only got ten million.
I’d better stop thinking about it. Any more, and I’d just get jealous of the rich.
“Take the liquid in this bottle and rub it on Hứa Ngôn Ngôn’s forehead. It’ll keep her body safe.”
Assistant Trương looked at me gratefully. “Thank you, Miss Hạ Hầu!”
Thần Miếu Thôn was too dangerous, so I turned down An Mạn’s offer to come with me.
“But there’s something I’d like you to do for me.”
“Just say the word!”
“Go to the altar at the Supernatural Affairs Bureau and get me a handful of incense ash.”
An Mạn: I don’t get it, but I’ll do it.
4
At last, I reached the place where Thần Miếu Thôn was located. Nothing grew on this patch of land, and there were no people living nearby. Its only caretaker was a deaf-mute old woman. When I arrived, she sat motionless on a mound of earth, as if she had blended into the yellow soil and had no breath left in her.
I crouched down, placed my hand on the ground, and closed my eyes to sense what lay beneath.
My spiritual sense passed through the earth and found countless tombs of the living, large and small.
They stood upright, gazing reverently at a smiling stone statue.
When my spiritual sense came face-to-face with the statue, its eyes shifted slightly. The next instant, my spiritual sense was expelled.
I snapped my eyes open, my head pounding as if it were splitting apart.
If someone with a lower cultivation level had been in my place, their soul might have shattered just then.
At some point, the old woman had come to stand in front of me. She trembled as she gestured for me to leave at once.
I recited the calming mantra several times and began to feel better.
“Ma’am, I’m here to look for my friends. Have you seen a few tall men?”
The old woman was stunned, then gestured for me to follow her.
She led me to a small earthen house. Inside, five people lay sprawled on the floor. Đường Hành was among them.
Just as I’d expected, their bodies were still in the outside world, but their souls were gone.
Luckily, they were all gifted specialists. Their souls had left their bodies, but their bodies hadn’t died.
But their faces were all tinged blue and purple, and their lips were dark, almost black. They wouldn’t last much longer.
I applied the same liquid I’d used for Hứa Ngôn Ngôn, then turned and thanked the old woman. “They’re all my friends. Thank you for taking them in.”
The old woman made unintelligible sounds and gestures, indicating that Đường Hành and the others couldn’t be saved and urging me to leave at once.
I smiled. “Ma’am, you’re the one who should leave.”
The old woman froze.
I took her hand, dry as a tree branch. “I don’t know what Thần Miếu Thôn did to make you unwilling to leave. But your last breath won’t sustain you much longer. If you keep going like this, you’ll miss the underworld’s roll call and never be reincarnated.”
Tears welled in the old woman’s cloudy eyes.
“Don’t worry. I’ll put an end to everything at Thần Miếu Thôn.”
The old woman slapped my hand, shoved a little rabbit-shaped trinket into it, then gradually grew still.
I put the trinket away, laid the old woman on the bed, then returned to where I’d been.
I sat cross-legged and murmured the soul-guiding incantation: “Yin spirit leaves the body, yang spirit guards the form; between the realms of yin and yang, I may pass at will—depart!”
As I said, without a special fate, my physical body couldn’t enter Thần Miếu Thôn either.
My soul left my body, and I slipped beneath the earth.
A master had set up a barrier around Thần Miếu Thôn. As I descended, I found the passage lined with intricate talismanic symbols. Sensing someone passing, they glowed a faint gold.
I gave them a cursory look.
The whole passage depicted the three hun souls roaming the Great Void and the seven po souls guarding the Yellow Court. This kind of yin-crossing technique is usually used to assist in setting up barriers that suppress evil spirits.
Every branch of Huyền Môn has its own unique methods for casting spells and laying formations.
I recognized the barrier around Thần Miếu Thôn immediately, because it used the methods of our Psychic Master branch.
I sighed.
As expected, Thần Miếu Thôn was connected to my master, too.
Once my soul entered Thần Miếu Thôn, the scenery before my eyes quickly changed, and the noise around me gradually grew louder.
The stone statues in the tombs of the living transformed into the forms they’d had in life and began to move.
Villagers chatted, bought vegetables, and children played...
If they hadn’t been carrying lanterns made from skulls, this would have looked no different from an ordinary village.
“Hurry, Grandma has bestowed her blessing!”
The villagers set off together toward the tallest building in the village.
A towering mass of baleful energy hung over the place. I didn’t need to think twice to know something powerful was there. I followed them.
Inside the shrine stood a colossal stone statue. It took the form of a kindly old woman, with thick brows, gentle eyes, and a warm smile. She held a porcelain vase in one hand as the villagers knelt one after another, praying for her blessing.
But to my eyes, the statue had a pointed mouth and fangs, and its fingernails were packed with fresh, bright-red flesh. Blood ran from the corners of its smiling mouth, as if it had just eaten someone, and a foul stench surrounded it.
The porcelain vase in its hand glowed a faint blue. It held the life force stolen from innocent little girls.
Suddenly, the statue’s eyes spun around and fixed on me.
Immediately afterward, as if sensing something, the villagers all turned to look at me. Their eyes were vacant, and they had only one thought...
Kill the outsider.