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With Wang Tuozi's reminder, Wei Ning took a deep breath, clearing a space with his right hand. He pulled out a glass bead from his pocket. The skeletal hands tightened their grip, and Wei Ning, unable to exhale, felt himself nearly fainting. As he relaxed his grip, the bead fell to the ground at the skeleton's feet. A flash of red light erupted, and it began to burn. The skeleton recoiled in pain, loosening its hold. Seizing the opportunity, Wei Ning rolled on the ground to extinguish the flames on his body and quickly fired several more glass beads that exploded against the skeleton, igniting it in fierce flames. He then aimed a few more beads at the Zombie Snake, which also caught fire.
It turned out that Wang Tuozi had noticed Wei Ning's skill in launching beads and had crafted numerous glass beads tailored for him. The beads Wei Ning had just used were what Wang Tuozi referred to as “Fire Spirit Pearl.” These beads ignited upon exploding in the air when they came into contact with oxygen, creating a ferocious blaze.
At that moment, Wei Ning was performing brilliantly. After training with Wang Tuozi, he was no longer just a boy who would faint at the slightest scare while hiding behind his grandfather.
The men of the Wei Family were indeed extraordinary.
Meanwhile, as Wang Tuozi emerged from the belly of the Zombie Snake, he immediately began forming seals with his hands. By the time his feet touched the ground, he had completed his seals. He pulled out a dark net covered in colorful talismans from his pocket and ensnared the unsuspecting Black Cat, which had been watching from the wall.
Caught off guard, Black Cat, who had thought victory was assured, was taken aback by this sudden turn of events. With a startled meow, it attempted to escape, but the black net tightened around it. In pain, Black Cat hesitated to struggle further.
At that moment, the flames on the skeleton and Zombie Snake gradually extinguished, turning into a pile of ashes.
Wang Tuozi, spitting out some saliva and ignoring the yellowish goo on him, cursed, “Damn it! You little brat almost turned me into a delicious meal—Ningzi, are you alright?”
Wei Ning rubbed his arm, sore from being squeezed by the skeleton. “Master, I'm fine, but we’ve lost the God of Joy. What do we do now?”
“That was just a worthless ‘tool’,” replied Wang Tuozi. “The real God of Joy is this one.” He pointed at the Black Cat. “This is an evil technique from the Black Cult, known as ‘Beast Soul’. It traps a person's soul within an animal's corpse and then confines that corpse within a human body. Layer upon layer creates a unique Yin-Yang Cycle. After hundreds of years, all of this person's essence is absorbed by that cat's corpse; what remains is merely a ‘tool’—ha! This is actually quite similar to roasted lamb from Xinjiang; I bet this evil technique was invented by some Great Lama during a feast. Interesting indeed.”
Seeing that Wang Tuozi still had time for jokes put a smile on Wei Ning's face. “Master, what should we do now?”
"Pack up, let's go home."
Wang Tuozi carefully put away the black net and then placed several talismans on the Black Cat. He murmured, "I really don't know what they want this for, but whatever." He then applied a thick layer of Glutinous Rice Water on the Black Cat, seemingly still not at ease. He used Ink Line to cast another spell over it, packed it into a glass bottle, and only after confirming that the Black Cat was subdued did he take out two talismans, handing one to Wei Ning. They both consumed their respective talismans.
Wang Tuozi examined the cave closely. At this point, the Thousand Corpses Hanging Yin Formation had completely disintegrated in the sunlight, and there seemed to be no more peculiarities around. Wang Tuozi carefully turned over the coffin. Due to the previous darkness and their focus on the God of Joy, they had not noticed that a large character "Repay" was written in bright red in the center of the Coffin Lid's inner side. Surrounding this character were dense inscriptions in a peculiar script that neither Wang Tuozi nor Wei Ning recognized. Wang Tuozi instructed Wei Ning to take out a piece of white cloth to make a rubbing of it.
What does "repay" signify? What past grievances existed between this God of Joy and those who buried him? What do these inscriptions mean? Although doubts filled their minds, fortunately, neither Wang Tuozi nor Wei Ning were prone to overthinking. Unable to find answers, they naturally let it go.
Wang Tuozi exited the cave and found a clean stream to wash away all the filth from his body. After using Glutinous Rice Water to detoxify himself, he and Wei Ning tidied up for a while before setting off on their journey home with the Black Cat.
Along the way, Wang Tuozi took a route along a great river that exhausted Wei Ning considerably. However, traveling by water was no match for the ease of land travel. As dusk approached, Wang Tuozi led Wei Ning ashore to find a place to spend the night.
Wei Ning followed Wang Tuozi to their destination and saw a dilapidated house. The exterior was barely held together by crumbling stones forming a makeshift wall, while one side of the house appeared ready to collapse. A large door with peeling vermilion paint hung askew, and an old signboard tilted above it bore the words "Charity Hall." Peering inside revealed rows of coffins neatly arranged, each supported by two wooden stools beneath them and piled high with white paper money on top. A gentle breeze swept through, causing paper strips to flutter down silently onto the ground.
Wei Ning couldn't help but shiver; it turned out that Wang Tuozi's idea of spending the night was in this place specifically designed for housing corpses—the Charity Hall.
The so-called Charity Hall refers to places where families without heirs store deceased bodies when there is no place to keep them. If someone kind-hearted and wealthy happens by and donates a simple coffin, then the deceased can finally be laid to rest. However, most Charity Halls have fallen into disrepair over time. This particular Charity Hall was in such a state of decay that it could probably apply for heritage protection. It was unclear how long the coffins inside had been there or whether they contained bodies; a thick layer of dust covered everything. It seemed no one had visited in quite some time.
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