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墨書 Inktalez
We all turned to look at the man in the Daoist robe. He had a thin face and a bony frame, giving off no hint of menace; instead, he seemed quite amiable. Could this be Qingyunzi? The Daoist examined us from head to toe and then greeted us with a hearty laugh.
"Friends, could you spare this Youngster for my sake?" the Daoist said, cupping his hands in greeting. As the saying goes, one should not strike a smiling face, and we quickly nodded in agreement. The Daoist continued, "You clearly look like friends of the Dao. If you don’t mind, please come to my humble abode." Upon hearing this, I was about to explode in anger, thinking, "I am a law-abiding citizen! Why would I associate with you?" Just as I was about to speak, the old man pressed me down.
"It was Old Man Ge who sent us!"
"Oh! So it's him. The skinny Youngster in the middle is surnamed Xia?" The Daoist fixed his gaze on me, scrutinizing me as if he had seen a ghost, which made me feel uneasy.
"Big brother! These guys are bullying me; they don't give you face!"
"This yellow-haired one clearly looks like no good; how dare he mention Qingyunzi's name!"
"Alas! You don’t know the whole story... it's a long tale... alas!" Qingyunzi sighed helplessly, scolding the yellow-haired one fiercely before muttering to himself, "They still won't let me go!" We three exchanged confused glances.
"Tonight, let me be the host and give you some face. How about staying at my humble abode?" In this town-village combination, there wasn't even a decent inn; we were eager to settle down, so we quickly nodded in agreement.
"If you hear any noises tonight, please do not go downstairs!"
Qingyunzi led us into the courtyard, where several willow trees were planted. Underneath them were bundles of ropes woven from willow branches. After dinner, he arranged for us to stay in a room upstairs and repeatedly warned us not to go out no matter what sounds we might hear during the night.
Since eight o'clock yesterday morning, we had been on the move without rest for over thirty hours. Although it was midsummer, there were no flies or mosquitoes here, and we fell asleep around eight o'clock!
I don't know how much time passed; it must have been late at night.
Suddenly, I heard barking dogs followed by hurried footsteps that grew closer. Then came a series of loud crashing sounds from downstairs. The noise woke me up, and unable to contain my curiosity, I put on my clothes and peered out the window.
I saw Qingyunzi carrying a man on his back while holding onto a child with his other hand. He moved as swiftly as the wind and entered a room that contained a coffin. He roughly tossed the man inside and pulled the child behind the door. After peeking outside cautiously for a moment, he carefully closed the door.
"I can't believe it, on a dark and windy night, it's Child Exploitation time!" I had intended to bury myself under the covers and sleep, but my curiosity got the better of me. I tiptoed downstairs and peeked through the crack in the door, and what I saw was horrifying.
There stood Qingyunzi, pulling out a bundle from the desk. He took out a pair of incense sticks, an incense burner, a stack of yellow paper, and a bag of grains, laying them out neatly on the coffin. With a flick of his finger, the incense and candles ignited by themselves. He then bowed three times. Removing a jade brush from his hair, he placed it on the coffin. He took out a Cinnabar ink stick and began grinding it meticulously, occasionally adding some black-red liquid.
Once the Cinnabar was ready, he picked up the jade brush and started drawing symbols on the yellow paper, completing about ten in total. Sweat poured down his forehead as if he were in a sauna. Clearly, drawing these symbols consumed a lot of his Mysterious Power.
I glanced at the man lying on the ground; his face was pale, clearly shocked into unconsciousness. The child behind the door seemed dazed as well, neither crying nor making a fuss.
After finishing the symbols, Qingyunzi let his hair down, looking like an Evil Spirit. He positioned himself according to the Big Dipper Seven Stars, stepping awkwardly as he did so. With a sword in his left hand and a bell in his right, he began to chant incantations that sounded like gibberish. After a while, he shouted loudly, "Rise!"
The man lying on the ground suddenly straightened up like a mast, moving mechanically. I was stunned; no living person could stand up without bending their waist or legs. Yet I couldn't see any ghostly aura around him. The man's eyes were particularly vacant; as Qingyunzi pointed his sword, he moved accordingly—east when pointed east, west when pointed west! After some more chanting from Qingyunzi, he shouted again, "Stop!"
The man stood rigidly still. At that moment, Qingyunzi took out a vial and pried open the man's mouth as if pouring some potion inside. Then he performed the same set of incantations on the child, pouring in more liquid.
After administering the potion, he put down the vial and pulled out a Butcher's Knife from his bundle. He examined the blade under the light; it gleamed ominously. Tapping it lightly with his finger produced a crisp sound. He then approached the two individuals with the knife in hand.
Gripping the knife with both hands, he first swung it down at the man's arm. As I witnessed this, I couldn't help but gasp in shock and quickly shut my eyes; I dared not look anymore. I heard a sharp clang as if striking metal. When I finally opened my eyes again, Qingyunzi had already struck four or five more times and laughed triumphantly, "This one is ready!"
He then turned to the child and swung at his arm as well. With one swift motion, the child's arm was severed and fell to the ground! Strangely enough, the child neither cried nor protested; he appeared almost lifeless. The severed arm showed no traces of blood! Qingyunzi continued to strike five or six more times with similar sharp sounds. Shaking his head, he remarked, "This one is ruined!"
Clang!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A loud crash echoed as the courtyard door shattered into pieces; a shadow rushed in from outside—hair disheveled, lips purple and tongue blackened—with white fur at least ten centimeters long covering its body. Veins bulged on its head as it wore a burial garment adorned with seven or eight Talisman, though I couldn't tell what was drawn on them. The figure lunged toward us; terrified, I quickly jumped aside. Its vacant gaze was fixed straight ahead as it charged toward the coffin inside.
The sound was incredibly intense, waking up the old man, Zhou Daming, and Huang Mao, who rushed over to help. The old man took one look at the scene and shouted urgently.
"The flesh can bend, the limbs are not stiff... that's the Mountain Spirit!"
With a series of loud crashes, two doors were smashed to pieces as a man and a child jumped out along with the splintered door fragments. They had broken the door down themselves. Swift as the wind, they each grabbed one of the Mountain Spirit's legs tightly.
"Quick! Use the willow rope to bind it!" the old man yelled. I hurriedly retrieved some willow branches from under a tree and fashioned them into a lasso, perfectly looping it around the Mountain Spirit's neck. Together with the old man, Zhou Daming, and Huang Mao, we pulled back with all our might, but we couldn't withstand the immense strength of the Mountain Spirit, which was as powerful as a tractor. It barely slowed down at all. In a moment of desperation, I tied the willow rope around my waist and leaned back. Yet that creature was too strong; it continued to drag us along, only slightly reducing its speed.
"We can't hold it!"
"Just hang on! I'm almost there!"
Qingyunzi clapped his hands on the coffin and took a yellow bean and a black grain from his bag of grains. He began to chant incantations as an eerie wind started to swirl around him. After finishing his chant, he flicked the yellow bean onto the man and the black grain onto the child. As soon as they made contact with their bodies, they transformed into black smoke!
Seeing this turn of events, the Mountain Spirit pulled hard, snapping the willow rope in two. I was thrown violently away, landing hard and causing my nose to bleed while stars danced in my vision!
The man and child suddenly stood upright, their eyes flashing red. Their feet were firmly planted on the ground, toes touching down as if a cold white mist rose behind them, chilling to the bone!
"The Yin People have possessed them!" Qingyunzi shouted. He began reciting spells again and pointed his sword at the Mountain Spirit. The two possessed individuals lunged forward, gripping the Mountain Spirit's arms tightly before yanking it backward with great force, sending it flying.
We were all stunned by this astonishing sight. Zhou Daming whipped out his phone and started taking pictures frantically. If it weren't for the fact that Dirty Things couldn't be captured on camera, that fool would definitely have posted it on social media.
"Quick! Splash this bowl of Black Dog Blood on it!" Qingyunzi instructed. The black-red liquid he had ground from cinnabar was actually Black Dog Blood. I rushed forward to grab it and hurled it at the Mountain Spirit.
The Mountain Spirit let out a horrific scream as black smoke erupted from its body; its white fur burned away to reveal rotting flesh underneath, emitting an awful stench that was truly horrifying. With a loud crash, the Mountain Spirit collapsed straight down. "Wow! Is this Black Dog Blood really that powerful?" I cursed Qingyunzi inwardly for not using this trick sooner.
Why does Black Dog Blood have such an effect? The book Mausoleum Secrets suggests that the Jade Balance Star scatters like a chicken. The dog, born from fighting spirits, is a creature of pure yang. According to the theory of the five elements, dog blood is the most pungent, and its foul odor belongs to the lungs, which are associated with metal, while ghosts belong to wood. Metal overcomes wood, hence the fear of Black Dog Blood. If dog blood is splashed away, both the Walking Corpse and Demonic Sorcery can be immediately dispelled.
We were just feeling relieved when the Mountain Spirit suddenly sprang up. Its hands, like iron hooks, struck with a clang as they plunged into the man's chest, producing a sound like metal clashing. With a fierce pull, the Mountain Spirit tore the man in half, black blood gushing out. Qingyunzi also spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
Zhou Daming and I were so frightened that our legs trembled; we nearly fainted. The yellow-haired one had already passed out from terror, while the old man remained surprisingly calm.
“Xiazi, your birth date is extremely yin; I can borrow your flesh for use!” “You son of a…” Before I could finish cursing, a wave of drowsiness hit me, and my entire body felt as if it were filled with lead and unable to move. Suddenly, white smoke began to rise around me, and I found myself floating in mid-air. In the White Mist, a hideous Evil Spirit lunged at me.
I felt myself lift off completely and saw my own body moving on its own. “I” fiercely embraced the Mountain Spirit with strength greater than that of an ox. “Damn it, this is truly sinister.” I was anxious and restless, fearing my body would be destroyed but unable to approach it; all I could do was fret.
Qingyunzi wiped away the blood and jumped onto the coffin, stepping with precision while muttering incantations. He used his sword to manipulate both my body and that of the dismembered child. The two bodies and the Mountain Spirit twisted together into a chaotic mass. Wherever they rolled, every table and potted plant in the courtyard was smashed to pieces.
“Old Man Li! Are you just going to stand there? Quickly use the Coffin Nail to pierce its Heart!”
“Ah! How could I forget about this!”
Only then did the old man snap back to reality. He quickly stepped into the room and pulled out seven Coffin Nails from his bundle, glinting coldly and measuring about ten centimeters long. Grabbing a hammer, he strode menacingly toward the Mountain Spirit.
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