Chapter 8: The Dark Soul Steals Life (Part 2)

  Since ancient times, the wedding ceremony of ghost marriage has been held without forming a fixed example. Although ghost marriage is considered a happy event, it cannot avoid the confusion of red and white rituals. To a large extent, it depends on the parties' claims. Therefore, the form of ghost marriage rituals varies greatly. Generally speaking, ghost marriage also needs to be introduced by a matchmaker, both sides pass the gate post, go to the fate hall to get married, obtain the dragon and phoenix post, only then can it be considered that the ghost marriage is completed. But Wang Lao Tou didn't have this concept at all, Nan San asked who presided over the wedding ceremony, and only then did he know that it was the matchmaker who played a role in between.

  Now that's clear, the object of a ghost marriage is usually the deceased, and it can only be held with the consent of both families. However, there is a problem here, which is the eight characters of birth, Wang Yishui's eight characters must match those of the deceased, and the zodiac signs cannot conflict, while Wang Yishui's eight characters are naturally known only to Old Man Wang.

  After some deliberation, Nan San asked: "Old Wang, who knows your son's birth eight characters?"

  Wang Lao Tou was still immersed in a state of terror, and when he came to his senses, he said: "This matter, except for the child's mother, only I know about it. Ah, yes, and that matchmaker too!"

  Nan San couldn't help but feel suspicious of the matchmaker when she was mentioned twice. Xi Zi, who was standing beside him, said that the matchmaker had not arranged any marriages for over a decade, and it was strange that she had found such a beautiful woman for Wang Yi Shui. The old bachelors in the village were all envious and wanted to ask her to find them wives too. Nan San thought this was not good and asked Xi Zi to take him to see the matchmaker immediately.

  On the way, Xizi asked why it's not good. Nan San replied that those young people, if they really rely on matchmakers to introduce them to someone, are probably going to end up with a female ghost. Once their birth dates and zodiac signs are matched, it won't be just one or two who die.

  Xi Zi listened, although not very believing, but also didn't dare to delay, led Nan San to walk towards the matchmaker's house. But when they got there, they found that even the matchmaker was nowhere to be seen, and after asking around, it was said that the matchmaker had also left in a hurry early this morning, carrying a large package of luggage.

  "No good, Xizi, hurry up and take people to chase that matchmaker, don't let her get away!" Nan San said in a low voice.

  Xi Zi didn't ask for the reason, and immediately called a group of people to chase after them towards the village entrance. Nan San returned to Wang Lao Tou's house to wait. About three hours later, Xi Zi burst in frantically, shouting: "It's terrible! The matchmaker fell into the ditch and died!"

  Nan San's expression froze for a moment, and the development of things seemed to have taken an unexpected turn - how could the matchmaker possibly be dead? He called out to Xi Zi to lead the way, and they went to the ditch. Before they even got close, they caught a whiff of a pungent smell that made Nan San wrinkle his brow - it was indeed the same smell as the hair. A crowd had gathered around the ditch, and when they pushed their way in, they saw that the matchmaker was indeed dead in the ditch. Her body was covered in debris, and the dark, murky water submerged half of her torso.

  Xi Zi pulled the matchmaker's body out of the water, and Nan San squatted down to examine it carefully. He saw that her eyes were wide open, with dilated pupils, and her hands were curled up in a strange claw-like shape. Her face was pale, and judging from the condition, she had been dead for about an hour. Next to her body was a backpack, which when opened, revealed a large amount of hell money and several pieces of jewelry, as well as a few red papers with birth dates written on them.

  Nan San glanced at the things in the package and said to Xi Zi: "This matchmaker died unjustly, I'm afraid she was murdered."

  The crowd was puzzled, seeing the young man's appearance was elegant and handsome, how could he judge that it was a murder. Xi Zi was standing aside, staring at the corpse with some fear, shifting her gaze and not daring to look straight. Nan San dared to judge that it was a murder because the matchmaker's eyes showed strong fear. A person's eyes are the most expressive of what they saw before death. He said the matchmaker dared to take on this task because the female ghost gave the matchmaker some money, and the matchmaker's greedy heart made her accept the job. The crowd seemed not to believe it, Nan San didn't bother to explain, called Xi Zi and left the crowd.

  Just now, the matchmaker's death in Nan San's view was actually killed by that little ghost. With his cultivation, he could naturally see that the hell money had been cast with an eye-blocking spell to confuse the matchmaker. Nan San did not return to Wang Lao Tou's house, but asked Xi Zai where the source of this ditch was, and he wanted to take a look.

  Xizi naturally agreed to help, leading Nan San along the ditch to a deep pond. From the outside, this pond seemed to have no ripples at all. But Nan San saw the strange place of this pond at a glance, opened the third eye with magic, and saw the black air surging on the pond, with weeds not growing around, and even no dead fish. Xizi said that since someone died in this pond three years ago, the villagers have explicitly prohibited anyone from entering.

  Nan San heard, walked around the pond in a circle, pinched his fingers to calculate the aura, and threw the burning talisman into the pond. Suddenly, the originally still pond burst out with small yellow bubbles. Xi Zi, who was standing aside, was so frightened that he retreated several steps back, almost tripping over his own feet.

  This strange pond made Nan San's heart feel uneasy, and he tentatively threw a coin into it. Unexpectedly, he really discovered something strange. He calculated with his fingers that this place had gathered yin energy, and the water was flowing through, making it easy to breed evil spirits. If there were any small ghosts here luring souls, then perhaps more than one person would lose their lives. Nan San sternly asked Xi Zai how many people had died in this pond. Xi Zai hesitated and lowered his head, refusing to speak, which made Nan San anxious.

  "Xi Zi, tell me honestly, did the pond really claim three lives, two males and one female, with two of them not yet eighteen years old?" Nan San's words shocked Xi Zi, who exclaimed in surprise: "How did you know?!"

  As soon as Nan San saw Xi Zhi's expression, he knew he was right. To say that the most common little ghost in rural areas is probably the water ghost, also known as the water monkey. Those who drown themselves or die accidentally will linger in the place where they drowned and become a water ghost. Then, patiently waiting in the water, luring or forcing people to fall into the water and die, to serve as their own substitute ghost, for thousands of years, the water ghosts have been carefree and worry-free, relying on this method to reincarnate and escape the hardships from hell.

  It's no wonder that most of the dead were young people, basically with weak willpower, how could they resist the temptation of the water ghost. But Nan San was puzzled as to how this water ghost came ashore. As the saying goes, a drowned ghost has infinite power in the water, but on land it is powerless. How could it have sucked away Wang Yishui's vital energy? The only way to find out was to lure the snake out of its hole and investigate.

  Nan San took another careful look at the pond, then led Xi Zi back to Old Man Wang's home and told him about the matchmaker and the pond. After listening, Old Man Wang sighed for a long time, closed his eyes in contemplation, and only opened them after a while to say: "Actually, the matchmaker's daughter also died in that pond."

  "What?" Nan San exclaimed in surprise. The only girl among the three dead people was actually the matchmaker's daughter, which made things a bit confusing.

  Old Wang said that the girl was only sixteen years old when she accidentally fell into the water tank and drowned. It's been ten years since then, so if she were alive today, she would be twenty-six years old. Nan San had a thoughtful look on his face, and immediately asked about Wang Yishui's birthdate and the eight characters of her birth time. After calculating with his fingers, he suddenly realized: "If I'm not mistaken, that matchmaker's daughter was born in the year of the lunar calendar, the year of the rabbit, is that correct?"

  Wang Lao and Xi Zhi exaggeratedly opened their mouths, seemingly not daring to believe that someone could calculate the eight characters of birth, but also indicating that what was said was correct. Nan San then pointed at Wang Yishui's house and said: "Your son was probably killed by the matchmaker's daughter for no reason, losing his life in vain."

  Old Man Wang heard that his son was murdered, and tears streamed down his face. He thought to himself that he was almost seventy years old, but never expected to send off a young life before his own. It was really painful to be plotted against by the little demon and have his son killed. He hurriedly wanted to kneel down and kowtow three times, muttering that he would avenge his son's death. San Shang hastily helped Old Man Wang up, let out a long sigh, and thought for a moment. This old man had done many good deeds in his daily life, accumulated virtue, and shouldn't have had calamity extend to his children. Although the numbers of fate were complex, the destiny could be changed. He didn't know why the matchmaker wanted to arrange a ghost marriage for her daughter - was it because she was afraid of loneliness or for some other reason?

  Doing good and accumulating virtues, the source of blessings is vast, according to Wang Lao's fate, his descendants will surely be rich and noble. But why did Wang Yishui die so young? Nan San didn't understand, but the most urgent task was still to lure out the female ghost in the water tank. According to the habits of the water ghost, it must find a substitute for death, and the matchmaker's daughter happened to be the last one. This yin marriage is simply a process of absorbing vital energy.

  Nan San thought of this and decided to lure out the female water ghost, so he opened his mouth and said: "Old Wang, in order to lure out the little ghost in the pond, I'm afraid we'll have to borrow Xi Zai's help this time."

  Xizi was confused and asked blankly: "What's the use of borrowing it?"

  Nan San smiled and said mysteriously: "Let you be a ghost bride for once, and lure out the ghost."

  As soon as he heard this, Xi Zi immediately jumped up in opposition, saying that she would not be willing to do such a dangerous thing no matter what. Nan San was not in a hurry and deliberately teased her for being timid. Xi Zi's temper was bad, and she couldn't withstand the provocation. With Old Man Wang fanning the flames on the side, Xi Zi finally slapped her forehead and said: "Fine, I'll stake my life on this. Let's see how you summon the little ghost."

  Nan San couldn't help but laugh, with him around, there was no need to be desperate. After finalizing the plan for tonight's action, Nan San ordered Old Man Wang to stay in the house and not come out. Then he told Xi Zai to lie on Wang Yi Shui's bed. This bed had been tainted by the evil spirit of the water ghost, and Xi Zai lay on it, constantly begging for mercy, asking if she could sit up instead, feeling a chill down her back. Nan San's eyes turned cold, and Xi Zai meekly lay back down on the bed.

  By nightfall, the villagers had fallen asleep, but Nan San was still busy. To make a good show of the ghost marriage, he had put in a lot of effort. In front of Wang Lao's gate, two white lanterns were hung with black double happiness characters pasted on them. A thin white thread stretched from Wang Yishui's room to the edge of the pond, and Nan San had sprinkled white rice along the way. The other end of the white thread was tied with Xi Zhi's birth eight characters, in order to attract the little ghosts in the pond.

  After doing all this, Nan San hid in the grass not far from the edge of the pond to observe carefully. At midnight, there was indeed a commotion on the other side of the pond. The water surface churned and bubbled, emitting large amounts of yellow gas bubbles, and a pungent smell of rot and decay wafted over. Nan San hastily held his breath, as this smell could make ordinary people seriously ill for several days if inhaled. Even so, he still felt a bit dizzy.

  But then, after a few minutes of bubbling in the pond, a pair of pale and eerie hands suddenly emerged from the water, followed by long hair floating on the surface, until the entire body was exposed. Nan San couldn't see what the ghost looked like due to his position, but judging from the situation, he guessed it was also a female ghost. He was curious about how this female ghost managed to get ashore without being afraid of not having the strength to even truss a chicken.