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墨書 Inktalez
I quietly slipped out of the house and found my way back to A Lan Po's small hut. As soon as I stepped inside, a strong fragrance hit me, making me cough uncontrollably.
“A Lan Po, please save my mother!” My voice trembled, nearly breaking into tears.
She slowly turned around, her murky eyes shimmering with an unusual light in the candlelight. “Speak, child.”
Gasping for breath, I recounted everything my grandmother had prepared. When I mentioned the chicken blood and silver needles, A Lan Po's expression suddenly darkened.
“That old woman dares to use the Soul Locking technique to exchange souls!”
She stood up shakily, leaning on her cane as she walked to the altar, retrieving a small copper mirror from a hidden compartment. The mirror was only palm-sized, its surface dull and lifeless, with strange runes etched along the edges.
A Lan Po wiped the mirror with her sleeve, her hands trembling as she handed it to me. “Your grandmother intends to forcibly reverse Yin and Yang, using blood as a guide, borrowing the Yin energy of Qingming Day to forcibly extract and reposition two souls.”
Suddenly, she grasped my wrist tightly, her nails digging into my flesh painfully enough to make me gasp. “If this is done, either your mother will be lost forever or your father will perish completely. Do you understand? One of them will never return!”
The cold touch of the copper mirror against my palm sent a shiver down my spine. A Lan Po held my wrist firmly. “Remember, when your grandmother finishes chanting the spell and is about to strike with the knife, aim the mirror at the center of the formation to break it. The timing is crucial; too early or too late won’t work.”
I swallowed hard and nodded.
At noon on Qingming Festival, the sky was overcast and heavy with dark clouds, as if a torrential downpour could start at any moment. My grandmother wore all black, her hair twisted high and secured with an ebony hairpin.
Her gaze was frighteningly fervent, a strange smile on her lips that I had never seen before.
My father was bound to an armchair at the center of the formation; his face was pale, lips purple, and his eyes filled with despair. On the other end of the formation, my mother was tied to a pillar in the courtyard. She did not struggle but quietly watched my father with an unsettling excitement in her eyes.
I hid in a corner, my palms slick with cold sweat, clutching the copper mirror tightly; its icy feel was my only source of comfort.
Grandma lit the black candles surrounding the formation, ignoring Dad's trembling pleas for mercy, and splashed chicken blood over both of them. The metallic scent of blood filled the air, sharp and nauseating. I covered my mouth, struggling to suppress any sound.
Holding the Peach Wood Sword, Grandma began to chant incantations. Both Dad and Mom let out simultaneous cries of agony, as if an invisible force were tearing at their souls. My heart raced, nearly bursting from my chest; fear and despair threatened to engulf me. I wanted to rush out and stop it all, but A Lan Po's warning pinned me in place.
I watched as Grandma picked up a dagger smeared with Zhusha, a sinister grin spreading across her face as she approached Dad. Her eyes glowed with an eerie red light. "Come back! My son! Let this wretched woman’s soul scatter!"
My palms were slick with cold sweat as I clutched the bronze mirror tightly. A Lan Po had said that the right moment was fleeting. But when was the right time to use it? What would happen if I used it incorrectly?
I fixed my gaze on Grandma's movements, and just as her dagger was about to pierce Dad's chest, I suddenly dashed out from the shadows. I hurled the bronze mirror toward the strange rune at the center of the formation with all my might.
With a loud clang, the mirror struck the ground. The once-dull surface erupted in blinding Qing Guang, enveloping the entire courtyard in its bizarre light.
"No!" Grandma shrieked in a piercing cry.
All the candles extinguished simultaneously, and the runes on the ground began to twist and contort, writhing like living snakes as they intertwined, ultimately transforming into a chaotic mass of black mist. A powerful force hurled Grandma away; she crashed against the wall, dropping both her dagger and Peach Wood Sword.
Suddenly, Dad threw his head back and let out a horrific scream. His body convulsed unnaturally, his eyes rolled back, and black froth spilled from his mouth.
Meanwhile, my mother, bound to the pillar, began to struggle frantically, the ropes digging deeply into her flesh.
"Ah!"
My grandmother clutched her chest in pain, her face visibly withering away, deep wrinkles forming on her skin. Her half-white hair turned completely white in mere seconds, cascading down from her hairpin and spilling over her shoulders.
"Damn you little beast..." she managed to lift her head, her voice filled with venom, "Who gave you the mirror... that ruined my... my son..."
I saw blood tears welling in the corners of her eyes, her entire being seeming drained of spirit as she hunched over and curled up on the ground.
She opened her mouth to say something but could only emit a hissing sound.
A chilling wind swept through the courtyard, stirring up dust and blood from the ground, while dark clouds loomed overhead as if the entire sky were about to collapse.
I stood at the center of this chaos, watching everything unfold before me, unsure if I was doing right or wrong.
"Boom—!"
A blinding flash of lightning tore through the sky, followed by torrential raindrops that pelted down like bullets, instantly merging into a downpour.
The rain washed over the runes on the ground, mixing with blood and flowing in winding streams.
Those runes gradually blurred under the relentless rain until they completely vanished, as if they had never existed at all.
I heard my parents' anguished cries rising and falling amidst the sound of the rain, yet I dared not step forward. I didn't know whom to approach or what I could do.
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