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墨書 Inktalez
Human Sacrifice
I ran all the way to Guo the Blind's house, once again climbing over the Poplar tree by the wall into his yard. The moonlight was bright, and the night was quiet; at this moment, I was the only one left in the village.
Arriving at Guo the Blind's bedside again, I noticed that the wooden box on the shoe rack under his bed was still in its original position, with copper wire still tangled around the lock hole. I crouched down and carefully twisted off the copper wire, but at that moment, a faint voice suddenly reached my ears.
"Help me."
"Manman?" I looked around; that voice sounded just like Zhou Manman's. But she had long since lost her soul—how could she still ask for my help?
It must be that my guilt over not saving her had caused an auditory hallucination. Recent events had severely affected my sleep quality, and I felt mentally oppressed; experiencing hallucinations was quite normal under such circumstances.
However, when I touched the wooden box again, I vaguely sensed someone watching me from behind. I turned around abruptly, but there was nothing there.
Just then, I suddenly heard a muffled sound, like someone jumping down from the wall.
Although the villagers of Bright Moon Village should have all gone to bury Old Man by now, for safety's sake, I hadn't turned on any lights when entering. If Guo the Blind discovered I was missing from the funeral procession, he would surely become suspicious.
I hid behind the door of the main room and peered through the glass to see a sneaky figure in the yard—it was the slightly plump Masked Man who had intruded into Guo the Blind's house last time.
The Masked Man pulled out a blood-stained peach wood sword from his pocket and walked into the Side Room. The lights in the Side Room flickered on. I quietly moved closer and saw him rummaging through something on a dilapidated writing desk inside.
After searching for half a minute, it seemed he hadn’t found what he wanted. He began to rummage through the room excitedly and suddenly pulled out a ceramic jar from a large vat in the corner. The jar was sealed with a layer of mud and had a yellow talisman stuck on top.
The Masked Man said, "Zhou Manman, your restless spirit lingers. Since I haven't removed the black veil above my head, it means your soul hasn't dispersed yet. This time, don’t blame me!"
With that, he smashed the ceramic jar violently onto the ground. The jar shattered, sending dust and smoke into the air.
"Bone ashes?" The Masked Man looked at the chaos on the ground and suddenly erupted in anger. He shouted, "Zhou Manman, I know you're in Guo the Blind's house. If you have the guts, come out! Otherwise, don't blame me for killing Yang Hao!"
The room fell silent, with no response. After a fit of rage, the Masked Man stormed out of the house.
"Why isn't Grandpa's method working? The sword coated with a baby's blood can kill female ghosts. What is Guo the Blind hiding about Zhou Manman's soul?" The Masked Man muttered angrily to himself.
I was hiding in the main room, having confirmed that the Masked Man was Huang San'er. But was he really? Zhou Manman's soul had not been extinguished at all!
Guo the Blind had created so much confusion just to publicly destroy Zhou Manman's ghost. Everyone thought Zhou Manman's ghost had been eliminated, but in the end, this instigator of ghost hunting had managed to keep Zhou Manman's soul hidden away?
Yellow talismans summoned ghosts, Sophora Wood nurtured them, and Zhou Manman was trapped in her coffin while her sixth body rotted away, her soul scattering. Then Guo Huaiyi appeared.
What connection could there be between these two?
Huang San'er pulled off his mask and looked into the main room, a puzzled expression on his face.
I quickly retreated to Guo the Blind's bedside and hid under the bed. Huang San'er turned on the lights in the main room and began searching around. The light under the bed was dim; even if he looked under it, he might not see me. I reached for the wooden box, wanting to pull it closer to prevent Huang San'er from taking the Zhou Compass inside.
But as I moved it, I discovered that the Wooden Box was fixed to the table. Behind the box, there was a hint of a metal object protruding, looking like some kind of mechanism.
Guo the Blind had learned quite a bit about Five Elements and Eight Trigrams from Old Scholar at the Taoist temple; it was inevitable that he would design some traps to harm others. I recalled Huzi's warning that after what happened last time, Guo the Blind would definitely be on guard. Thankfully, I hadn't opened the wooden box.
Huang San'er quickly found the wooden box under the bed. The darkness concealed me from his sight. When he picked up the box and realized it was fixed to the table, curiosity crossed his face. Upon closer inspection, he also noticed copper wire on the lock hole of the box.
Huang San'er cautiously twisted open the copper wire. The moment he opened the box, a long Steel Knife sprang out. Huang San'er barely managed to dodge as it pierced through his left arm and embedded itself into the wall behind him with terrifying force.
Clutching his bleeding arm, Huang San'er furiously pulled out a lighter and set fire to a pile of clothes in the main room before storming out without another word.
After Huang San'er left Guo the Blind's house, I hurriedly crawled out from under the bed to extinguish the fire. Fortunately, it wasn't large, and I quickly put it out.
Zhou Compass was still inside the wooden box, cushioned by a layer of foam. Huang San'er thought the box was a trap designed by Guo the Blind, but little did he know there was something inside. I tucked the Zhou Compass away and got up to leave.
However, as I walked into the yard, I felt an eerie sensation that someone was watching me from behind. The Zhou Compass seemed to have some peculiar connection with me; whenever I touched it, I sensed things that were normally undetectable. But that fleeting feeling vanished in an instant. Suddenly, I remembered something and returned to Guo the Blind's main room.
In Guo the Blind's main room, there was only a bed with a single quilt on it.
There was no bed in Guo the Blind's side room. Would someone as neat and tidy as Guo Huaiyi share a bed with a blind old stranger? Let alone share the same blanket?
I couldn't decipher the hidden truth behind this, but with the Zhou Compass in my possession, I needed to find out what exactly Guo the Blind and Guo Huaiyi had done.
Just then, my phone rang; it was Huzi calling.
"It's almost midnight. Old Man is about to be buried. Why haven't you come back yet?" Huzi's voice sounded anxious.
"I'll be right there. Just wait for me," I said before hanging up. I hid the Zhou Compass close to me and crawled out of Guo the Blind's house.
In Futu Ridge's funeral customs, when an elderly relative passes away, before filling the grave with soil, descendants must throw their mourning sticks onto the coffin. Those without mourning sticks must walk around the coffin to express their deep sorrow for their elder.
In Bright Moon Village, with over a thousand residents, this funeral ceremony took quite some time. However, by the time I arrived, only a few dozen people remained waiting.
I followed at the end of the funeral procession. At that moment, Guo the Blind stood solemnly before Old Man's coffin, watching everyone pass by with a serious expression. Behind him stood a bright fluorescent light. Under its glaring illumination, I walked around Old Man's coffin; the spring water in the burial pit had already been scooped dry, and the golden carp inside had vanished without a trace.
Guo Huaiyi stood atop a mound of yellow earth. As I passed by him, he smiled slightly and said, "Brother Yang, why are you sweating so much in the middle of the night?"
"In this desolate place, is it wrong to take a girl out for some exercise?" I replied casually.
"Brother, you have such good taste," Guo Huaiyi remarked sarcastically.
"Keep it low-key."
I walked towards the crowd with a blank expression, not wanting to engage with Guo Huaiyi at all.
"Did you get it?" Huzi asked softly.
I nodded. "I'll take care of it when we get back."
Suddenly, someone pointed and shouted, "It's that Big Black Cat!"
There it was, perched on a broken tombstone among the graves, looking down at the crowd. Someone shone a flashlight on it, illuminating its eyes in a striking green that sent chills down spines. The Big Black Cat, having been spotted, meowed and leaped into the overgrown grass, disappearing from sight.
After the Old Man's coffin was buried, everyone in the village gathered around his grave, stepping on the mounds as they completed the ritual. By the time we finished, it was already past two in the morning.
On our way back, I told my mother to head home first, then I hurried with Huzi to the Old Man's house.
I recounted what I had seen tonight at Guo the Blind's regarding Huang San'er. After listening, Huzi said, "So it seems Zhou Manman's spirit might still be alive. Guo Huaiyi's sudden appearance should be related to her. Since Guo the Blind hasn't extinguished Zhou Manman's soul, she should be fine for now. Let's investigate the Old Man's cause of death first."
Upon arriving at the Old Man's house, we found that the spirit bed in the main room hadn't been disposed of yet. The Old Man's portrait hung above the Eight Immortals Table, draped in black cloth. Huzi was so frightened that he broke out in goosebumps and hesitated to enter. I stood beside the spirit bed and fiddled with my Zhou Compass; its needle began to spin, making a clicking sound.
The mysterious jade compass glowed with runes at its base. The moment the needle aligned with the markings, the surrounding Light Shadow shifted, and the room grew dimmer.
Before Huzi and me sat an old man with his back to us, flipping through yellowed pages at a desk. His gray-white braid trailed behind him onto the chair, while an oil lamp on the table flickered uncertainly.
"I can't believe we can actually see the past."
Huzi looked around in utter amazement at the Light Shadow. He walked over to the Old Man's side, pointing at the dazzling wick of the oil lamp. The Light Shadow shifted as I adjusted the compass needle to the position closest to its original point. The nearer we were to that point, the more likely it was that we could uncover events that had occurred at that time.
The figures gradually became clearer. At this moment on the timeline, the Old Man was lying on his spiritual bed. Huzi and I, as mere shadows, walked through the crowd. Old Man Wang stood at the entrance of the hall, calling out loudly, "The Old Man has returned; he has passed away peacefully at a hundred years old!"
Huzi said, "The time point is too close; let's adjust it further back."
I slightly moved the compass needle backward, and instantly, the room plunged into darkness. Huzi and I held our breath in silence. After a while, the Old Man's shadow entered the hall. His attire matched what he wore that night when he had finished discussing his affairs and returned home.
The Old Man went to the wardrobe and changed into a Funeral Garment. He moved a stool to sit directly facing the door, his expression calm.
After a moment, the Old Man raised his head and said, "I knew you would come tonight; you don't need to do anything; I can handle it myself."
"Who is the Old Man talking to?" Huzi asked with a puzzled look towards the door.
I shook my head and took a few steps forward with the compass in hand, but still couldn't see who it was.
Inside the hall, the Old Man walked over to his bookshelf, pulling out an old book as he said, "I remember you loved these books back then. One year, you rushed over asking me to help hide this Dao Book for you, promising to return it later. I wonder if it's too late now."
Just as he finished speaking, the tattered Dao Book in his hands suddenly caught fire and was reduced to ashes in an instant.
This scene startled both Huzi and me; even the Old Man seemed taken aback. It was as if he had received some command as he looked towards the door and said, "All those past events are my fault; don't harm others; they are innocent."
The Old Man then found a rope from behind the door, threw it over a beam, and stepped onto a stool. Huzi anxiously shouted, "Old Man, take it slow! Hao, go check who the murderer is!"
I took a few more steps into the courtyard. The range of Light Shadow now allowed me to see several dozen meters around; everything in the yard was laid bare before me, yet I still found no trace of anyone.
Meanwhile, there was a sound of a stool falling in the hall. The Old Man hung from the beam and struggled for a moment before losing his breath.
"How can there be no one in sight?" Huzi shared my confusion.
Huzi's gaze suddenly shifted to the shadow beside me, a shadow that did not belong to me but stretched down from the roof. We both looked up at the roof, where a man with an expressionless face stood.
It was Li Fugui.
Why did Li Fugui watch Old Man hang himself without offering help?
What is the connection between Zhou Manman's death and Guo Huaiyi's appearance?
What exactly does Guo the Blind want?
Can Guo Huaiyi also conjure fire out of thin air like the miraculous Dao Book?
Oh, dear Huzi, do you have a brother like that? Will he die?
As the entire Futu Ridge conspiracy is unveiled, how will the ordinary Yang Hao confront this vast and mysterious world?
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