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墨書 Inktalez
"Mom was killed by your dad."
Dad said with a trembling voice, his large hands tightly gripping a cloth bag. "That night, he beat me so badly that I could hardly breathe, and I felt like my soul was about to leave my body. Just when I was on the brink of death, A Lan Po appeared."
"A Lan Po said that with the forbidden technique of exchanging souls for seven days, I could come back to life and make your dad experience the pain of being beaten and scolded."
Dad's gaze suddenly turned fierce. "I agreed. I want him to feel that kind of pain too!"
I shivered.
Although I knew that Mom's soul was now inside Dad's body, hearing those words come from his mouth sent chills down my spine.
"Mom, let's escape!"
I urgently grabbed his arm. "Before Grandma comes back, we need to leave this cursed place!"
But Dad slowly shook his head. "No, Xiao Yan. Your grandma suddenly left today; something must be wrong. She understands these dark arts just like A Lan Po does. If we run away, she will probably bring us back."
My heart sank. "Then what should we do?"
"You need to find A Lan Po."
Dad tore off a corner of the yellow paper with runes from the cloth bag. "She lives in a small house on the back mountain. Tell her that Grandma might cause trouble. The seven-day deadline hasn't passed yet, and my soul is still unstable."
I took the yellow paper and followed the overgrown mountain path until I found the lonely little house.
An old woman hunched over sat in front of an altar, as if she had been waiting for a long time.
Inside, black candles flickered, filling the air with a dizzying aroma of incense.
"I knew you would come," she rasped as she looked at the yellow paper in my hand. "Your mother's resentment is too heavy. I couldn't bear to see her soul scatter, so I used this forbidden technique."
I stepped forward anxiously. "But Grandma has already found out!"
A Lan Po's expression suddenly turned serious. "Exchanging souls and reversing the natural order is inherently dangerous."
She leaned closer to me, and a mix of herbal and decaying scents hit me hard. "Now your grandma must be suspicious; she understands these matters. On Qingming Day, when the yin energy is at its peak, there will likely be trouble as she forcibly tries to restore order. By then, your mother's soul will be unstable and could scatter!"
I broke into a cold sweat and stumbled back home.
When I returned home, I found Grandma standing in the yard with a black cloth bag in her hand. The bag was wriggling slightly and making faint sounds.
She looked at her father with eyes that had completely changed. There was no trace of the indulgence from before. Instead, there was a piercing coldness, as if she were gazing at a sworn enemy.
"Go, chop the firewood in the backyard," she commanded suddenly.
Her father froze. His plump body had never done any heavy labor.
"What? You unwilling?" Grandmother sneered. "Should I, an old woman, go chop it?"
Her father glanced at me, his eyes filled with an unfathomable fear. He shook his head slightly, signaling me not to act recklessly, and then he trudged off to chop the wood, burdened with worry.
I hid in the corner, watching as my father awkwardly swung the axe, sweat quickly soaking his back. Grandmother stood nearby, watching coldly and occasionally letting out a derisive snort. "Is that tiring? You useless man!"
I noticed the black cloth bag in her hand trembling incessantly, making a "gurgling" sound. The atmosphere in the yard suddenly grew tense as Grandmother opened the bag and pulled out a black rooster. The rooster was entirely black, without a hint of other colors, its eyes blood-red, emitting an ominous cry.
In rural legends, such a pitch-black rooster was believed to be a spirit medium capable of connecting the realms of the living and the dead. Grandmother took out a sharp knife and gently drew it across the rooster's neck. Blood dripped onto the ground as she swiftly drew a strange pattern in the yard.
Seeing this, my father was so frightened that his hand trembled, nearly causing the axe to hit his own foot. Only then did I notice that the ground of the yard had been covered with dense runes drawn in lime at some point, connecting with the blood symbols.
Everything had been meticulously prepared. Grandmother had known all along; she was just waiting for the right moment.
Realizing this, I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me.
Grandma pulled out a silver needle from the black cloth bag and walked into the woodshed.
I peered through the crack in the door and saw her inserting the needles into my mother's acupuncture points, one by one.
With each needle, my mother's body convulsed violently, yet there was an eerie sense of calm in her eyes, as if she were anticipating something.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Dad asked, his voice trembling.
Grandma turned around, suddenly letting out a cold laugh as she pulled out a small porcelain bottle from the bag. "Come, come, drink some Talisman Water to regain your strength."
Dad's face turned pale as he staggered backward. "N-No, I don't need it..."
"What? Afraid to drink?"
Grandma narrowed her eyes. "If you were my son, you wouldn't be scared of this."
Before he could respond, she grabbed Dad by the collar, her nails digging into his cheek as she forced the Talisman Water into his mouth.
He immediately clutched his throat and fell to the ground, gagging in pain.
"You impostor!"
She spat fiercely. "How could my son become so weak? Once the Qingming Festival arrives tomorrow, I will drive the soul of this wretch out and bring my son back to his own body!"
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