Chapter 41: Dong Songpo Village

  My master, the old Taoist of Bamboo Mountain, always felt that these little ghosts from the Extinct Door Sect were after me. So, he told my mother that for my safety, he had to keep me by his side at all times until this matter was over.

  There are so many evil spirits in my house now, it's no longer safe. My mom knows this. Also, whether my master treats me well or not, my mom can see that. In my mom's opinion, my master, the old Daoist Zhangshan, would never harm me. So after my master made this suggestion, although my mom was reluctant to part with me, she agreed for the sake of my safety.

  After my mother agreed to let Shifu take me away, my Shifu Zhangshan Lao Dao pasted several talismans in my home and also buried a handful of ashes made from burning talismans under the floor of the main hall.

  Since I followed Master, I dropped out of school and didn't go back home, but returned to Zhushan Temple instead.

  On the first Saturday of my stay at Bamboo Mountain, which happened to be the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, Master suddenly told me that he was going to Songpo Village and I had to follow him.

  As for Songpo Village, I still know that the exterminated family's home is there. To be exact, there are two Songpo Villages. One is East Songpo Village, next to Songlin Mountain; the other is West Songpo Village.

  In the past, Songpo Village was just one. However, after the notorious Mengmen Pu, villagers who were able to move out did so to other villages. Those who couldn't leave Songpo Village moved their homes as far west as possible, thus slowly forming Xisongpo Village.

  As the villagers moved away, Dong Songpo Village was left with only one family, to be exact, one person - Mie Men Po. Mie Men Po's husband died when her daughter Li Tianzhen was three years old. After her husband's death, Mie Men Po did not remarry and therefore had no more children, so she only had this one daughter, Li Tianzhen.

  My master and I arrived at Dong Songpo Village at 9 o'clock in the evening. At this time, Mie Men Po was herding ghosts on Songlin Mountain, so she couldn't be at home.

  I don't know why Master Zhushan chose to visit Dong Songpo Village at this time, but I vaguely feel that my master is intentionally avoiding the Exterminating Grandma.

  As soon as I walked to the entrance of Dong Songpo Village, I saw a strange thatched cottage. Actually, the thatched cottage itself looked no different from other thatched cottages. However, on the walls around the thatched cottage, incense sticks and candles that had already been burned were inserted all over.

  "This must be the Manchu's corpse chamber." My master, Zhangshan Old Dao, said to me.

  The mortuary is where the Destroyer Witch keeps corpses, which are a completely different concept from souls. Corpses are tangible things, and there are both intact bodies and skeletal remains. Unless magic is applied, souls cannot be seen with the naked eye.

  "Go take a look." Bamboo Mountain Taoist said to me, then pushed open the door of the mortuary. After opening the door, my master Bamboo Mountain Taoist carefully walked in.

  This place is dark and gloomy, with a deep and eerie atmosphere. It's also the domain of the exterminated family, which makes me feel uneasy all along. Now that Master has gone in, I would definitely be scared if I were to wait outside alone. Therefore, I can only follow closely behind Master Zhangshan Lao Dao's footsteps and enter that mortuary.

  As soon as I stepped into the mortuary, I felt something under my right foot. It was hard and pressing against my foot. I thought I had trodden on something, so I slowly lifted up my right foot.

  I couldn't keep my right foot suspended in the air all the time, or I wouldn't be able to move and it would be very tiring. So, I had no choice but to grit my teeth and put my right foot down.

  As soon as my right foot touched the ground, I felt that thing under my feet again. It was still as hard as before, but it seemed to be bigger than the one just now.

  The mortuary was pitch black and I couldn't see anything. I didn't even dare to bend down and remove the thing under my feet.

  "Master, there's something under my feet." At this moment, I was already trembling all over from fear of what was under my feet. I knew that now the only one who could help me was my master, Bamboo Mountain Taoist.

  As soon as I finished speaking, my master Zhu Shan Lao Dao suddenly appeared beside me like a ghost.

  "Stand still." My master, Bamboo Mountain Taoist, said.

  After finishing speaking, my master Zhu Shan Lao Dao began to mutter and recite scriptures. Of course, I couldn't understand the scriptures he was reciting.

  But I know that my master, Zhangshan Lao Dao, won't casually recite scriptures. The only situation where he would do so is when we encounter a ghost.

  I don't know if it's because my heart is filled with fear, but when my master was reciting scriptures, I always felt a chill down my spine, the kind of cold that sends shivers.

  However, this chill didn't last long. After my master, the old Daoist of Bamboo Mountain, finished reciting the scriptures, my back wasn't so cold anymore.

  "Alright, let's go!" My master said to me. Then he bent down and took away the thing under my feet.

  "What's that?" At this time, my back was no longer cool, and my curiosity slowly came up.

  "Do you want to know? Then take a look!" With that, my master handed over the thing in his hand to me.

  As for my master, Zhu Shan Lao Dao, I now trust him quite a bit. I know that thing is something I shouldn't touch, and my master would never give it to me. But now, he voluntarily handed it over to me, which at least proves that the thing absolutely won't harm me.

  Out of trust in my Shifu Zhu Shan Lao Dao, I stretched out my hand and took the thing he handed over to me.

  As soon as my fingertips touched the thing, I felt something was wrong. The thing was hard and seemed like a bone. I brought it closer to my eyes for a look, and indeed it was a bone, which looked like a human finger bone. As soon as I thought of it being a human bone, I got scared and immediately returned it to my master.

  According to conditioned reflex, I should have directly thrown the bone on the ground. However, just as I was about to let go, I suddenly seemed to understand something. This bone can't be casually discarded, if it's carelessly thrown away and causes some trouble, it won't be worth it. So, I decided to return it to my master and let him handle it.

  My previous behavior reaction, my master can see clearly. After seeing me return the bone to him, my master nodded in approval.

  "Take a sniff." My master, Bamboo Mountain Old Dao, said very seriously to me.

  Although I had a thousand unwillingnesses, after seeing the serious face of my master, I had to force myself to take over that bone.

  I guess it's because I had the experience of the first time, after taking over that bone for the second time, I'm not as afraid as before, at least not as scared as the first time.

  After taking the bone, I originally thought of going through the motions and just smelling it casually. However, when the bone approached my nose, I caught a whiff of a faint fragrance. The scent was somewhat like flowers, somewhat like perfume. In short, it smelled really good. So, I started to smell it seriously.

  "How is it? Do you smell anything?" asked Master Zhushan Laodao.

  "It smells so good!" I exclaimed with a look of intoxication.

  "Do you know where the fragrance comes from?" asked Zhangshan Laodao as he chased after me.

  Master asked me like this, I understood his meaning. My master must be wanting to take this opportunity to impart knowledge to me.

  "I don't know." I replied honestly to Master.

  "This bone is from a human body, to be precise, it's the phalange of the middle finger of a woman's right hand. This bone originally had no smell, but now you can smell the fragrance because this bone was refined in corpse oil..."

  Just as my master, Bamboo Mountain Taoist, was murmuring and teaching me knowledge related to this broken skull, I inadvertently discovered a figure flashing past the doorway while looking around.

  I'm quite sure it was a person, not a ghost. The person was wearing a skirt, so it should be a woman. Although I didn't see the person's face clearly, judging from their figure, they shouldn't be Mie Men Po or Li Tian Zhen.

  Apart from Mie Menpo and Li Tianzhen, which woman dares to appear in Dong Songpu Village?