I shook my head. “A few items are still missing.”
He held out his hand. “Then give your master the ones you already have.”
I took out the artifact pouch containing the evil objects and handed it over.
Master hurriedly rummaged through the pouch. “Why is it empty?”
My gaze turned cold. “Because you’re a fake.”
He froze. “Tiểu Thu, what nonsense are you talking about? How could your master be a fake?”
I nodded. “In a way, you’re real. But this is an illusion deep within my consciousness. Master, we’re inside an illusion.”
“Tiểu Thu, don’t talk nonsense. Look at my hands, my face—they’re warm to the touch. Don’t let the demon cloud your judgment.”
“The Compassionate Face really is powerful. Even with the gods and demons protecting me, it still managed to trap me in an illusion.”
I reached out, and a curved blade appeared in my empty hand. I smiled. “Sure enough, an illusion can change according to its master’s thoughts.”
I looked at “Master.”
“Do you know why I conjured a blade?”
He tried to run, so I drove the blade into him without hesitation.
I murmured, “Master, I truly wish you weren’t dead.”
I closed my eyes, took out a handful of ash, bit my finger, and let a few drops of blood fall onto it.
Then I rubbed the ash over my eyes, and the illusion shattered.
I’d asked An Mạn to get this for me before we came.
I didn’t waste the rest of the ash. I scattered it into the air, forcing the demon lurking in the shadows to reveal itself. It rolled around on the ground, trying to rub the incense ash off its body.
“How ironic. Something that wants to proclaim itself a god is afraid of incense ash.”
I blew the remaining ash from my hand and looked at it coldly. “You’ve taken so many lives. It’s time you paid for it.”
“Mysterious tortoise, treasured stupa; vermilion bird, carry the talisman—contain!”
The stone statue cracked inch by inch, and I saw panic in its eyes.
When the ghostly energy had dissipated from all seven orifices, the statue finally crumbled into a heap of dirt. Countless points of light drifted aimlessly from its body.
They were the souls of hundreds of people who had died over the past few centuries.
Compassion welled up in me. I sighed. “Don’t worry. I’ll take you where you need to go. I hope you’re all born into good families in your next lives.”
“One year’s withering and flourishing comes to an end; three strands coil softly around the fingers. I beseech the underworld’s guide to show the way. Open!”
The gates of the underworld opened, and all the points of light entered the cycle of reincarnation.
I gathered up the living souls whose lifespans weren’t yet over and returned each one to its body.
At last, only two little girls remained on the ground: one a living soul, the other a dead one.
The living soul was dressed like a doll. It was obviously Hứa Ngôn Ngôn.
The dead girl stared blankly, unsure where to go. She murmured, “Mom’s still waiting for me.”
I suddenly thought of the mute old woman outside. Could she have been waiting for this child?
I spoke gently. “How long have you been waiting here? Do you remember what your mother looked like?”
The little girl shook her head blankly. “A really long time. Mom was very pretty, with big eyes and black hair… She said she was going to buy me a little rabbit bracelet.”
Thinking of the old woman, I felt hollow inside.
She’d been waiting out there for at least several decades.
I took out the rabbit-shaped piece of jewelry the old woman had left behind before she died and stroked the girl’s head. “Your mother asked me to bring this to you. Hold on tight, okay? Now let’s go reunite with her.”
The girl clutched the jewelry tightly, her eyes glistening with tears. She nodded. “Thank you.”
I watched the girl enter the underworld. In the distance, an adult came running to meet her and gathered her into their arms.
7
With the demon dealt with, the whole Thần Miếu Thôn incident finally came to an end.
When I subdued the Compassionate Face, “Ai Thôn,” where A Xá had been standing, crumbled to pieces. She escaped unharmed and discovered she was still in the abandoned hospital.
After that, the livestream viewers became convinced she had a knack for attracting ghosts.
But ordinary people were better off not knowing about these things, so the Supernatural Affairs Bureau erased the memories of everyone who’d watched the livestream drama to the end.
Because of her unusual fate, A Xá was recruited by the Supernatural Affairs Bureau. She joined the Bureau as soon as she graduated from college.
Đường Hành and his teammates stayed behind to handle the aftermath, while I took Hứa Ngôn Ngôn home first.
Mr. Hứa kept his word. When I returned Hứa Ngôn Ngôn’s living soul to her body at the hospital, the girl woke up. Assistant Trương brought over a box, and inside was the Demon-Subduing Pestle, just as promised.
I put it away carefully. “Thank you.”
Mr. Hứa was very amiable and treated me well, but his son wasn’t very likable.
The young man said regretfully, “Dad, you’re really giving away the Demon-Subduing Pestle just like that? We could’ve given her something else to save Ngôn Ngôn. And we went to so much trouble to find out about the Compassionate Face—now someone else gets to it first.”
I smiled without replying.
Mr. Hứa’s expression turned cold. “Be quiet.”
His son didn’t dare say anything more, but he still looked indignant.
I glanced at the young man and said to Mr. Hứa, “You seem like a decent man, so I’ll give you one more piece of news. Your son chases women and has racked up a terrible karmic debt. If there’s anything important, you’d better find someone else to inherit it. He won’t be able to hold on to it even if you leave it to him.”
Mr. Hứa was taken aback and fell into thought.
His son couldn’t sit still. “Dad, don’t listen to her nonsense!”
Just then, the duck woke up. Smelling the two evil objects, it excitedly flew all over the place.
The Hứa family stared in astonishment as it swallowed both evil objects whole.
It let out a satisfied burp.
“Duck, let’s go.”
“Peep peep, quack!”
Translation: “You little duck, my name is Ban Ban!”
This time, after Ban Ban ate the evil objects, it didn’t fall asleep. Instead, it pinpointed the location of the evil objects more accurately—and even saw a few images.
It was an old-fashioned house, clearly belonging to a wealthy family.
As it happened, Đường Hành had some time off, and he invited us over to his house.
“My grandfather said I absolutely had to bring Miss Hạ Hầu.”
When we arrived and saw Đường Hành’s old house, Ban Ban was so excited it spoke human words. “Human, this is it! It’s exactly like the house in my vision! The next evil object is inside!”
I looked at Đường Hành’s grandfather.
He didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see me.
-THE END-