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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 39: Back to the Cemetery
I stood in front of the Tomb Mound, recalling how I had been tormented all night by that Mr. Zhang. Anger surged within me, and I began to curse at the Tomb Mound's gravestone, saying, "You old ghost, how dare you play tricks on me? Do you believe I won't dig you up and leave your corpse in the wild? If I hear of you harming anyone here again, I will use a peach blossom stake to break your Yin Zhai, ensuring you can never rise again!"
After venting my anger, I dusted myself off and left the old Tomb Mound, retracing my steps back to the mountain path. It was only then that I realized how far I had wandered from the trail last night; my feet were surrounded by Tomb Mounds, uneven and scattered. I couldn't fathom why I had felt like I was walking on flat ground.
Less than ten minutes later, I finally exited the eerie Cemetery. As soon as I stepped out, I spotted a Cottage ahead and hurried over to ask for some water from the Fellow Villager inside.
Seeing my exhausted appearance, the Fellow Villager quickly poured me a bowl of water while sizing me up, asking if I was a stranger since my face looked unfamiliar.
I nodded, and the Fellow Villager continued, "You look like you didn't sleep last night. Did you wander around that Cemetery all night?"
Upon hearing this, I quickly nodded in affirmation and asked if strange occurrences like Ghost Walls often happened in that Cemetery.
The Fellow Villager replied, "Who could deny it? Once night falls, Ghost Fires flicker there. Anyone who steps into that Cemetery shouldn't expect to return home for a good night's sleep; they’ll be wandering around all night before they can get out. And if they're unlucky, they come back dazed and confused; it’s not good unless they burn some paper money."
Hearing this sent chills down my spine; I exclaimed in disbelief at how ominous it sounded.
The Fellow Villager sighed and said, "It wasn't always like this. Ever since Old Man Zhang from Old Zhang's Family was buried there, things have been restless."
I felt a surge of curiosity; perhaps it was because I had also been tormented by Elder Zhang last night that made me particularly interested in him. I asked the Fellow Villager why Elder Zhang was causing such a ruckus—didn't his family realize something was wrong?
The Fellow Villager frowned and replied, "How could they not know? He started causing trouble even before he died, and after being buried there, his family wouldn't dare go near."
Causing trouble even before death? This piqued my curiosity even more.
At this moment, seeing my keen interest, the Fellow Villager began to recount the story of Elder Zhang to me.
It turned out that Elder Zhang had been dead for seven or eight years, and his death caused a shocking incident that stirred the entire village. After Elder Zhang passed away, his family was heartbroken and went to order a coffin. They placed Elder Zhang's corpse in a temporary house set up as a Spirit Platform, waiting for the burial the next day. That night, while everyone was keeping vigil, Elder Zhang suddenly sat up in the coffin, startling his family!
His eldest son called out "Dad," and immediately Old Man Zhang stood up from the Spirit Platform, extending his arms straight forward and jumped towards his son. Everyone was terrified, shouting that he had risen from the dead. In a panic, his son ran out the door, with Old Man Zhang jumping after him, arms still outstretched. It took a moment for everyone to regain their senses and they followed out after them. They ended up on a nearby hill by their home, where his son frantically shouted, "Dad, I'm your son!" But Old Man Zhang ignored him and continued to chase.
Because his legs were stiff, his son circled around a small tree, while Old Man Zhang directly embraced the large tree, gnawing at it like an Evil Spirit. His fingers dug deep into the trunk. The villagers who arrived later used ropes to tie Old Man Zhang to the tree and beat him with sticks for a long time, but he still crazily clung to the tree until nearly dawn when he finally calmed down.
The villagers were left with no choice but to saw down the tree, placing that section of the tree along with Old Man Zhang into the coffin. When they nailed down the coffin lid, they could still hear Old Man Zhang moving inside.
No one dared to keep him there any longer; they hastily took the coffin to the Cemetery for a shallow burial. As a result, no one dared to go near that Cemetery for a long time afterward. Eventually, some people passed by there but were often unable to return due to the Ghost Wall. In short, even now, no one dares to go through there at night.
After listening to what the villager said, I began to understand some of it. It was very likely that after Elder Zhang died and was placed in the Spirit Hall, something unclean possessed him—what is known as rising from the dead.
However, logically speaking, once you bury the corpse, any dirty thing that possessed it should also leave; it shouldn't remain attached to the corpse indefinitely. But why was Elder Zhang still causing such disturbances in the Cemetery?
While I was pondering these questions, the villager asked me about my attire and my interest in this matter—was I perhaps a Yin-Yang master?
Indeed, at that moment I was traveling and had been carrying a ragged bag filled with items like Compasses and Cinnabar along with brushes and ink pots; anyone observant could guess most of it.
I nodded and admitted that I was indeed a Yin-Yang master. Upon hearing this, the villager's eyes lit up and asked if I could help them deal with their Cemetery plot so they wouldn't have disturbances at night.
Hearing this made me feel conflicted. I was here to pursue that Paper Figurine; if I delayed even one day, it would surely be gone without a trace. However, this matter did involve malevolent spirits causing trouble. The reason I traveled was indeed because of dealing with Evil Spirits in this world.
After weighing my options in my mind for a while, I sighed and finally nodded in agreement.
I told the villager that nothing could be done during the day; we would have to wait until nightfall to take a look around the Cemetery and see what we could find out. The villager didn't care about such details; upon learning that I was willing to help, he happily went off to prepare breakfast for me.
That day I slept half of it away at the villager's home. By afternoon when I got up, many locals had already gathered there. Upon hearing that I was willing to help with the Cemetery issue, they all came over to express their gratitude. Of course, Zhang's son also rushed over and grabbed my hand saying it was truly unfortunate—a good person had died yet caused such disturbances; their family had never felt at ease since then.
Other families could visit graves during Qingming Festival to pay respects or burn paper offerings in memory of their ancestors; however, he didn't even dare go near. Other families could offer food during the Ghost Festival as an expression of filial piety; yet on July 15th he worried about whether something would come back. In short, these past seven or eight years had been full of misfortune for them.
I told him not to worry for now; I would understand everything after checking tonight.
Soon, night fell, and the fellow villagers suggested that we all go together. With more people, there would be less chance of something happening. I thought about it and realized that wouldn't work. If too many people rushed into the cemetery, those spirits would be too scared to come out. So, I advised them to wait here while I went alone; I would return soon.
The villagers were kind-hearted, each giving me advice and expressing concern that something might happen if I went alone.
I thanked them for their kindness. Although going alone would definitely be a bit troublesome, I was confident in myself. After bidding farewell to the villagers, I picked up my bundle and headed toward the dark cemetery.
Tonight, the night was still deep, and a thin moon was hiding in the misty night fog. The entire graveyard was pitch black. This time, I was well-prepared, holding a flashlight, a copper coin sword, and several spirit talismans for exorcism. As long as there were spirits wanting to harm me, I was sure I could handle it.
Moreover, although this cemetery was filled with tomb mounds, most of them were old graves with no owners left; the souls should have long reincarnated by now.
This time, I had a specific purpose and had walked through here during the day, so I quickly made my way to Elder Zhang's tomb mound.
Before reaching Elder Zhang's tomb mound, I saw ghostly flames flickering on his tomb from a distance; shadows danced around it, indicating that the yin energy was very dense.
Just as I was about to continue forward, suddenly a figure appeared ahead on the path. It was short and held a white lantern. In the darkness of this cemetery, the white lantern looked quite terrifying.
Without thinking twice, I knew it had to be a ghost. However, since it was so lively here, I might as well deal with it too.
So, I stood still and waited for the shadow holding the white lantern to approach. I wanted to see what kind of ill intentions the newcomer had toward me!
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