Chapter 9: The Sixth Formation of the Liùjīng (Six Ding and Six Jia)

  But then the female ghost swam around in circles in the pond, suddenly diving into the water. After a moment, she saw that her hands were holding a human skin mask. Seeing this, Nan San suddenly realized that the little ghost was using the human skin as a mask to absorb the essence of life. The little ghost put on the human skin and instantly emitted a seductive aura, with a slender figure and a beautiful appearance. Anyone who didn't know better would be attracted to her.

  The female ghost emerged from the water, came to the front of the white thread, picked up Xizhi's birthdate and looked at it. Then she pulled the white thread carefully and examined it. It was forgotten that the other end of this white thread was actually tied to Xizhi's big toe. If this birthdate were fake, the female ghost would not have come out, so Nan Sancai used this trick. Speaking of which, Xizhi lay in bed, tossing and turning, suddenly feeling a chill on his leg, then let out a loud sneeze, unable to hold back curses.

  Nan San observed from behind, his heart was also a bit anxious. After all, Xi Zhi's birth eight characters and the matchmaker's daughter's birth eight characters did not match. He intentionally modified Xi Zhi's birth eight characters, but he didn't know if it would work. However, it seemed to have succeeded. The female ghost walked out of the water tank, floating along the white line, and the rice on both sides of the white line turned black as she passed by.

  After Nan San left, he hastily came out of the grass and sprinkled the prepared dog blood on the edge of the pond, pasted a ghost-suppressing charm, muttered an incantation, and hurriedly rushed to Wang Lao's home. Just in time to see the female ghost enter Wang Lao's house, entering Wang Yishui's room. In fact, Nan San was not worried about Xi Zai, during the day he calculated a divination, Xi Zai's five elements clashed with fire, his yang energy was more prosperous than ordinary people, which evil spirit dared to approach, fearing being burned instead.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, before long, a shrill scream echoed from the room, accompanied by Xi Zhi's terrified curses. Nan San burst in through the door and happened to see Xi Zhi standing majestically beside the bed, her hands and feet trembling as she forced herself to scold the female ghost.

  "You wicked scoundrel, how dare you come here? Be careful or I'll beat you to death!" Xi Zi cursed and happened to see Nan San standing behind her, so she quickly hid behind him.

  Nan San looked at the female ghost on the bed with a cold gaze, and when he glanced at the wet and soggy sheets, the foul smell that filled the air almost made him vomit. He couldn't understand how Wang Yishui could tolerate such a stench. Although the female ghost was beautiful, she was ultimately just an empty shell.

  This was a beautiful woman, if not for the pale complexion that revealed the aura of death, Nan San would not have noticed anything unusual about her. At this moment, the female ghost emitted wisps of cyan smoke all over her body, and her skin was blistered with burns, staring at Xi Zǐ in terror.

  Nan San changed the charm in his hand, and stuck it on both sides of the bed frame. Then he ordered Xi Zi to call over Old Man Wang. Before long, Old Man Wang hastily entered the room. He had heard strange noises from inside earlier, but remembering Nan San's warning not to come out, he could only pace anxiously inside. The moment he saw the female ghost, Old Man Wang stared blankly at the female ghost on the bed and said: "Daughter-in-law, why have you just returned?"

  This remark made Nan San's face stiff, and Wang Lao Tou actually still called this female ghost "daughter-in-law", making him cry and laugh at the same time. After Xi Zi explained it to him, Wang Lao Tou took a few steps back with an expression of surprise, as if he didn't dare to believe that there was still a little ghost hidden in this skin bag.

  "Dao Chang, what should we do?" Wang Lao Tou asked in a panic. Nan San replied, "Don't worry, I'll break this gourd and eliminate the little ghost, bring peace to your village, and let your deceased son rest in peace!"

  Nan San was about to take action to subdue the little demon in the pond, but saw that the female ghost on the bed hesitated for a moment and wanted to escape. However, she was burned by the talisman on the edge of the bed and leaned against the bed in pain, not daring to move. Nan San shook his head, this little demon didn't have much ability, and it's likely that as long as Xi Zai stood at the bedside, relying on the yang energy would be enough to scare the female ghost away. It was really a pity for Wang Yi Shui, whose birth date was revealed, and he was calculated by others.

  There are three thousand demonic paths, with strengths and weaknesses, as well as distinctions between righteousness and evil. Nan San thought that after traveling for so many years, he had only seen a small part of it. He took out the coarse cloth bag, intending to capture the female ghost, but saw that the female ghost suddenly spoke up: "Daozhang, wait! I have been wronged!"

  The female ghost looked at Nan San in a panic, her whole body trembling violently. Nan San remained unmoved and continued to move forward, holding the bag and saying: "You little ghosts, harming innocent lives, even if you have grievances, how can you cancel your own sins?"

  At this time, old Wang suddenly rushed to the bedside and scolded the female ghost, pointing at her: "You evil spirit, I treated you kindly for my son's sake, why did you want him dead?"

  Old Wang's body was violently shaking at this moment, the pain of losing his son had driven this honest and simple rural man to madness. Nan San stood by silently, it was necessary to let Old Wang vent for a while. Xi Zhi also followed Old Wang in loudly cursing, when the two were exhausted, Nan San stepped forward to subdue the female ghost.

  The female ghost suddenly turned pale and begged for mercy, saying: "Daozhang, please spare me, this was not my idea, it was the water monkey in the pond who threatened me."

  Nan San's hand froze as he opened the bag, and he quickly pulled it back. His eyebrows furrowed in concern, asking what was going on. The female ghost let out a long sigh and recounted the events that had transpired earlier. It turned out that there was more than one ghost in the pond, and the true culprit was actually the water monkey. This evil creature was a vengeful spirit transformed from a drowned soul, with a body covered in hair, red eyes, and a black face. It often changed its shape to lure people into the water, where it would drag them underwater to drown. The matchmaker's daughter had fallen victim to this very creature.

  Nan San listened and calculated with his fingers, feeling that something was not quite right. According to reason, after the Water Monkey harmed someone and had a substitute, it should have gone to the underworld. But why did it still want to stay in the pond? He really couldn't understand, so he asked the female ghost about the matchmaker's death. All he heard was her trembling voice saying: "My mother was threatened by the Water Monkey, and reluctantly became my substitute for a ghost marriage, searching for a body for the Water Monkey."

  When he heard the two words "Yin Body", Nan San's expression froze for a moment, and all his doubts were instantly cleared up. It turned out that Yin Body was one of the Ten Evils, born in a place with heavy yin energy and dampness, its whole body tainted with evil energy, resulting in damage to its destiny. This kind of ghost is not accepted by the underworld, and in the mortal world, it is hunted down by those with the Tao, unable to reincarnate. It seems that the Water Monkey was indeed a Yin Body, and whether or not it sought a substitute body, as long as it wasn't a Yin Body, it would inevitably be unable to leave the water pond.

  Since this female ghost is not the real culprit, Nan San also doesn't want to take her down, and leaving her in the mortal world would be a disaster. So he warned the female ghost to leave first, and after subduing the water monkey, he would perform a ritual for her to eliminate the vengeful spirit's karma. He put away the two talismans on the bedside, and ordered Xizi to go to the edge of the pond to retrieve the ghost-suppressing talisman and the black dog blood, then let the female ghost leave the room.

  After he left, Old Wang hurriedly asked: "This little devil won't be cheating us, will she? Daozhang, you'd better take her in."

  Nan San shook his head and sat down in the chair, saying: "Look at that female ghost's own grievances are shallow, not an evil spirit, why must we drive her out completely? Let's think of a way to deal with that water monkey instead, otherwise I'm afraid more lives will be lost."

  Wang Lao Tou indeed understood the situation, didn't pursue his own son's death. It's a pity that he had done good deeds all his life, but ended up in such a state, it's really sigh-worthy. After thinking for a while, Nan San got up and returned to his room to think of ways to deal with Shui Hou.

  The next morning, Nan San got up early and called Xi Zai to hurry to the pond. After carefully surveying the terrain, they found that this pond was not only bubbling with yellow foam but also incredibly deep. It would be a difficult task to subdue the water monkey. Unless it could be lured out, but given the water monkey's cunning nature, it definitely wouldn't come out on its own. Nan San was momentarily at a loss, and Xi Zai, who was standing by, also sensed that something was off and shook his head, saying: "What's wrong, are you worried about how to deal with the water monkey?"

  Nan San nodded and explained the difficulty in between: "Yes, this pond is surrounded by a piece of paddy field. Even if we divert the water, it will still be a bit troublesome?"

  Xi Zi shook her head and muttered, "I heard from the old man that a long time ago, a Taoist priest came to this pond and built a temple about 100 meters away, saying it was to suppress the ghosts and monsters in this place. Now that I think about it, he was probably just a charlatan."

  Nan San originally didn't pay attention, but after hearing Xi Zhi mention it casually, he suddenly became interested and hastily asked where the land temple was. Xi Zhi pointed to a piece of farmland behind the pond and led Nan San there, pulling aside the grass to reveal the hidden land temple. Nan San took a closer look and thought to himself, "What kind of land temple is this? It's clearly a Liu Shen Temple."

  The so-called six gods refer to the six Ding and Jia arrays. The "Three Talents Diagram" says: The six Ding gods are Ding Mao god Si Maqing, Ding Chou god Zhao Ziyu, Ding Hai god Zhang Wentong, Ding You god Zang Wengong, Ding Wei god Shi Shutong, and Ding Si god Cui Jutong; the six Jia gods are Jia Zi god Wang Wenqin, Jia Xu god Zhan Zijiang, Jia Shen god Fu Wenlang, Jia Wu god Wei Chenyu, Jia Chen god Meng Feiyin, and Jia Yin god Ming Yizhang.

  These six gods are the objects that the Taoist priests of the Fu school usually invite to possess their bodies. Coincidentally, Nan San also learned the way of inviting gods and was slightly familiar with the Liuding Liujia formation. Upon closer inspection of the temple, Nan San discovered that it had long been in disrepair, with a large piece torn off from one of the Liuding Liujia talismans inside. Judging by the extent of the damage, it seemed as if someone had intentionally destroyed it. That old Taoist priest must have been a formidable master, able to understand this formation, and was certainly no ordinary person.

  After observing, Nan San discovered that the temple seemed to have been built to suppress the evil energy in the pond, but due to damage, it had lost its suppressing effect. Thinking of this, he got an idea in his mind. Since the old Taoist could use the six Ding and Jia symbols to subdue the water monkey, then similarly, they could try using the same method. After explaining the plan to Xi Zhi, Nan San immediately ordered him to buy cinnabar and get some women's menstrual blood, and send it to Old Man Wang.

  Xizi heard these two things and said with an embarrassed expression: "Third brother, this woman's thing is a bit tricky, or else let's just use some chicken blood!"

  Look at this guy, Nan San deliberately sank his face: "If you don't use your blood to attract the water monkey, it's fine!"

  Kiyo shook her head firmly, saying she wouldn't be a decoy again no matter what. She hurriedly went to collect the two items with a stiff neck. When Kiyo arrived, Sanzo noticed that Kiyo's right cheek had five clear palm prints and was bright red. He knew in his heart that collecting these two items must have offended many people.

  Then, San told Xi Zai to stand at the door and not let anyone in, no matter who knocked.