Chapter Fifty-Three: There Are Ghosts

  But things didn't go as well as I thought, and before I was ready, a cry of wailing and shouting came from downstairs, and I vaguely heard that someone had died. I was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized a problem - the hospital wasn't just our floor, even if we set up a formation to defend ourselves, it could only protect a small area at most. How many people could I possibly take care of in this 29-story building? Moreover, hospitals are places where people die all the time, and who knows how many would die today - of course, that's referring to normal deaths. I haven't experienced anything like this before, but thinking about the four of us, I suddenly had an idea - maybe I could ask for help from others.

  Suddenly stopped, just in time to see Zhang Qianqian and Wang Jing coming out of the ward with a tired face. My heart moved, I pulled Zhang Jianhua's arm: "Zhang brother, you go get back the two peace charms from Zhang Qianqian and Wang Jing, these two peace charms are not enough for me to set up the array."

  Zhang Jianhua was taken aback, looking a bit embarrassed. He glanced at Zhang Qianqian and the others, scratched his head, and felt a bit awkward. The thing he had just sent out was coming back, and it was indeed a bit embarrassing. I also felt that I couldn't open my mouth, so I let Zhang Jianhua go. Who knew that Zhang Jianhua was also hesitant and unwilling to go? He didn't even raise his eyes, pretending not to see me, leaving me feeling helpless. Just as Zhang Qianqian and Wang Jing were walking over, I took a deep breath, swallowed my saliva, and stepped forward two steps. "Uh, can you guys return the peace symbol to me? I really need it... this..."

  I also feel a bit embarrassed, the thing I just sent out is going to be returned, isn't it petty? As expected, I felt that Zhang Qianqian and Wang Jing's eyes were not right, and who knows what they think of me in their hearts. I even didn't dare to look at them, scratching my head with a stretched hand, and couldn't say anything more.

  "What's wrong with you, I'll return it to you tomorrow morning, look at your petty appearance -" Zhang Qianqian was still able to speak up, and one sentence made me even more embarrassed, this woman really speaks very directly.

  But unexpectedly, Wang Jing suddenly handed the amulet back to him, her face still filled with lingering fear: "Here, take this back, thank you. My boyfriend will be here to pick me up soon, and I'll be leaving in a bit."

  Facing Wang Jing, I felt a bit awkward, remembering that scene, and still feeling flustered when thinking about it now. Unfortunately, she already has a boyfriend, so I didn't dare to look at Wang Jing, silently taking the charm from her. Fortunately, Zhang Qianqian also handed over the peace charm, the spiritual power of the four peace charms was enough to set up the invitation array. After a slight hesitation, Zhang Jianhua said in a low voice: "Let's go, back to the room, I'll set up the array."

  Although the onlookers didn't know what I was going to do, with the continuous deaths and tonight's eeriness, they also didn't dare leave alone. It seemed like following me made them feel at ease a bit. However, all the way until my hospital room door, after I went in, I locked it from inside, blocking everyone outside. There were some things that couldn't be let them see.

  The divine array is actually just a medium, relying on the blessing of the formation to contact ghosts and gods. Of course, contacting gods is impossible, let alone me, even the elders in our sect haven't seen anyone who can truly summon gods. In fact, most are just yin messengers. The array I'm going to use is simple, just a six-pointed star array, then focus on infusing spiritual energy inside. However, at this time, I have no way to perform the ritual, so I can only use a peace symbol as a substitute. Originally, it was supposed to be drawn with cinnabar, but I don't have time to prepare it now, so I'll just use an ordinary pen instead. According to the secret book, I drew out the six-pointed star array, although it's a bit rough, this is after all a place where yin messengers come and go, so I believe summoning one shouldn't be difficult.

  Unable to activate the talisman with spiritual energy, I used a lighter to ignite it and then threw it into the Six Tomoe Array. As I watched the talisman burn into ashes, I didn't dare to delay and hurriedly chanted softly: "The precious banner is hung, universal benefit without bounds, all gods protect and defend, heavenly punishment is absolved, the banner falls when the scripture is finished, the cloud pennant returns to heaven, each follows the law's will, do not tarry, urgently as the Jade Emperor's decree - pardon."

  As the voice fell, I didn't feel any change. After a while, a gust of dark wind suddenly rose, and the ashes in the six-sided array were blown into the sky. I couldn't help but feel great joy - it was successful! As expected, with the rise of the dark wind, the temperature in the room dropped, slowly condensing into a black mist. After a moment, a shadow evolved from the black mist, and soon it could be seen clearly. It was a yin messenger's appearance, wearing ancient official attire, but on his chest there was only one character - Ming. In his hand, he held a chain. After appearing, he glanced at me and Zhang Jianhua, then couldn't help but smile, though the smile looked more like a cry. He bowed to me with his fist: "So it's Miao Zhenren's high disciple here. I wonder what important matter you have summoned me for?"

  I suddenly remembered that this yin messenger seemed to be the one who sat under the city god, I saw him when I was interrogating Li Chengdong and his son that night, but I didn't notice this yin messenger at the time, after all, there were many yin messengers, however, he remembered us. Since we're familiar with each other, it's easier to talk. I smiled and made a fist at the yin messenger: "Don't hide from me, brother, just now I almost lost my mind and was taken away by someone, but I managed to escape, however, someone in a ward several rooms away from mine caught on fire, his soul was captured and his spiritual energy was sucked dry, not even leaving behind his life essence. I think this matter is not trivial."

  After hearing my words, the yin officer was stunned for a moment, and his face also turned solemn. As the yin officer who had been capturing people all day, he knew the most about this matter of souls. Humans have three hun and seven po, but when the yin officer captures people, the heavenly soul returns to the heavenly path, and the yin officer only takes away the earthly soul and the seven po. The remaining ming soul cannot be taken away. To grab the ming soul out of the physical body, at least it would require the methods of a high-ranking yin official. And absorbing the essence is the method of evil ghosts. However, even evil ghosts cannot suck it dry in an instant, usually requiring many days. This is why there are often cases where cultivators discover someone with yin energy entering their body and then track down the ghost to capture it. Wanting to absorb the essence instantly is not simple, I'm afraid even ordinary yin officials can't do it, unless they have cultivated some evil and perverse methods. But no matter what, this is also a big problem.

  Listen to me carefully recount the situation just now, hesitated for a moment, and finally said in a low voice: "This matter is probably not something that I, a small yincha, can handle. I'd better notify the Chenghuangye as soon as possible and ask him to send someone over. That way, I won't disturb your rest any further. Farewell."

  Before I could say anything, the yin messenger transformed into a wisp of black smoke and disappeared with the yin wind. At least it was a bit of a struggle, as the yin messenger wasn't bound by physical constraints and would soon be able to inform the City God. When the time came, a large group of yin soldiers and messengers would arrive, and we could begin our search and capture operation. I hoped that this would result in fewer deaths.

  Sitting weakly on the bed, I suddenly heard a cry of surprise outside the door. The voice was Wang Jing's, and it sounded like she had encountered something terrifying. Could it be...? I struggled to get up, and Zhang Jianhua understood my intention, having already opened the door. At this time, everyone outside was in a state of panic, while Wang Jing, the owner of the villa, was actually buried in a man's arms, presumably her boyfriend. On the side, Zhang Qianqian and Li Hui were flustered and bewildered, with a look of confusion on their faces.

  "What's wrong?" I asked, and had already walked out. Looking back from the corridor, I didn't see anything, only a faint shadow flashing by, which was caused by the residual yin energy after touching the yin energy just now. After a while, I won't be able to see the ghost either.

  When I asked, Wang Jing finally calmed down, but still had a terrified face, pointing at a wall in shock and stuttering before saying "There's a ghost..."

  I furrowed my brow and took a closer look at Wang Jing. Wang Jing had seen a ghost, could it be that Wang Jing also had yin energy entering her body? Thinking back to the previous events, I suddenly felt a shock in my heart. Just as I was about to speak, Wang Jing suddenly let out a startled cry, pointing with a trembling voice: "There's a ghost - there's a ghost!"

  Honestly, others couldn't see the ghost, and when they looked past, it was just an empty corridor. But Wang Jing got scared, and when I turned my head to look, I saw a yincha (a type of ghost) walking over. Of course, the yincha didn't pay attention to us, but gave Wang Jing a sideways glance as she was screaming, then turned into a wall and disappeared. It turned out that Wang Jing had seen the yincha, but scared me instead. I took a deep breath: "You're talking about those people wearing official robes, they're yinchas, they won't harm humans..."

  Yin evil won't harm people, unless it's at the time of death. But how could Wang Jing see yin evil? If it was yin energy entering her body, she should have seen yin evil long ago. However, she only saw it now, which means she was affected by yin energy. The question is, who transmitted yin energy to Wang Jing?

  I was lost in thought, when suddenly I heard Zhang Jianhua's angry shout, followed by the sound of a fight. When I looked up, Wang Jing's boyfriend had already been kicked out by Zhang Jianhua. Unfortunately, I was too focused earlier and didn't know what happened, nor did the people around us. Only Wang Jing pushed Zhang Jianhua away, supported her boyfriend and anxiously asked: "Yan Hui, are you okay? What were you doing?"

  "What are you doing, you say what are you doing, I'm going to kill this kid today, messing with my girlfriend, I'll kill you!" The man pushed Wang Jing away, his face slightly twisted, his eyes red as he stared at me. It turned out he was coming for me. How did he know about that thing between me and Wang Jing? Since he knew, he should have listened to my explanation. But before I could even open my mouth, the man had already pounced on me, making a loud noise with his mouth.

  At some point, the man's hand suddenly had a fruit knife in it. This was clearly something he had brought with him beforehand. But did this guy know what was going to happen before he came? Was someone telling him or... but I didn't have time to think about it anymore because the man really raised his knife and wanted to kill me. Looking at his face, it was twisted and there was even slobber dripping from his mouth. This wasn't a normal look. It's entirely possible for someone who has been stimulated to do something abnormal...