Chapter 23: The Frightening Possession of a Headless Ghost

  Master's face was very heavy, I really hadn't seen Master like this before. Master is usually cheerful and loves to joke around, but once he encounters something serious, he becomes completely serious. Master turned around and said to us: "You've been with me for so long, you should know the scriptures for delivering people from suffering by now. You lead these two younger brothers in delivering people here, I have to go back immediately."

  I said: "Master, is there something you need to go back for? It's almost dark now, can't it wait till tomorrow?"

  The master said: "There is something very urgent, I must go back immediately, and I will come back in a moment."

  "I said: 'Master, what's so urgent?'"

  The master said: "Must not say, must not say."

  Zhang Ren's son saw that his master was about to leave, so he had the horse carriage send his master back. The county town is more than 20 miles away from our village, and it takes some time. As soon as Master left, there were only three of us left, and we couldn't do anything else, so I could only chant scriptures to help the deceased soul. This chanting must be done in rhyme, and it doesn't matter if others don't understand. So I beat the wooden fish and chanted: "Alas, spring scenery with a hundred flowers blooming, advising you to weave lotus fragrance, wealth and honor are arranged by fate, but time is wasted in vain, and thousands of years cannot be returned. Alas, summer scenery with long rainy days, fragrant lotus flowers in the pond, money can't buy this light, encountering the heat of the three summers, a small boat on the green waves... Alas, autumn scenery with yellow chrysanthemums, every family making wine fragrance, geese flying in formation in the sky, Guo Lao is 27,000 years old, Yan Hui unfortunately died young..."

  This chanting is really troublesome, I knock the wooden fish, Daidan and Shouhuan also play the Buddhist instruments, three people are guarding in the mourning hall, there are Zhang Rentu's son and several relatives of the deceased guarding the spirit in the mourning hall. Singing this makes me sleepy, as I sing, several guards fall asleep, Daidan and Shouhuan's beatings on the Buddhist instruments also become slower and slower, so I stop singing and fall asleep with them.

  At some point, a gust of wind suddenly rose, this gust of wind was different from others, a chill that pierced the bones, drilling straight up. "Achoo, achoo." The silly egg let out two sneezes and said: "It's strange, why is this gust of wind so eerie?"

  The thin monkey also woke up at this time, and the three of us felt a chill, so we didn't sleep anymore. We quickly started beating the law instrument to boost our morale. This round of beating was quite effective, and the yin wind stopped. Everything became quiet, with only occasional barking from dogs in the county town. The people guarding the mourning hall got up to take a look at us, then went back to dozing off. My master had not returned yet, I felt that he would not be coming back tonight.

  But it doesn't matter if the master doesn't come back, just now a gust of yin wind came, we beat the law instrument, and slowly calmed down, these are not just talking about it, the law instrument is indeed able to drive out ghosts and evil spirits. Just as I was thinking that things had subsided, suddenly a dog's cry came from afar, not a bark, but a sound more like crying, what is called a dog's cry, is the sound made by a dog when it sees something unclean, the sound was mournful and long, extremely difficult to describe, like a person crying, yet more terrifying than human cries.

  The howling of dogs seemed to come from the street where the dead man's house was, first from a distance, then getting closer and closer, as if something was approaching, about to arrive at the deceased's home. At this time, the dog in the dead man's house suddenly started wailing, its voice somewhat ethereal and distant, yet seeming to be right by my ear. I knew that something was going to happen, so I quickly took out the Sanqing bell and the Taomu sword.

  As soon as I held these two things in my hand, the wind started to blow in the yard. This wind was different from the usual wind, not a gust, but many whirlwinds spinning around me. The cow oil wax candles in the mourning hall suddenly had flames that were over three feet high, and then the flames got smaller and smaller, like beans, emitting a faint green light, illuminating the entire mourning pavilion with a gloomy green hue. At this moment, the whole yard was filled with eerie and strange winds.

  I shouted loudly: "Get up quickly, get up quickly, something big is wrong, something big is wrong."

  My voice was very loud, Zhang Rentu's son and the other mourners all rushed to get up and looked at everything in front of them. Zhang Rentu's son hurried over and said: "Master Dao, what is going on?"

  I said: "I don't know either, it just happened suddenly like this."

  Zhang Ren's son said: "Dao Zhang, you must think of a way, absolutely cannot let the fake corpse."

  Although I was only sixteen years old at that time, Zhang Ren's son still called me Daozhang out of politeness. Today, I must not lose face in front of my master, and I must suppress this scene no matter what. Just as I was about to speak, the fool loudly said: "Brother, hurry up and open your heavenly eye to see, there are many headless ghosts."

  As soon as I heard that, I quickly recited the incantation and opened my heavenly eye to take a look. I was almost frightened out of my wits. It turned out that these small whirlwinds around us were all headless ghosts. These ghosts only had one body, with their necks cut off at the same height, swaying back and forth, walking towards the coffin. The ghosts let out mournful cries, piercing into my brain. As soon as I understood, these ghosts came to take revenge on Zhang Rentu. I don't know why, but even though Zhang Rentu was already dead, these ghosts wouldn't let him off.

  I saw this place and knew that something big was going to happen today, so I quickly shook the three clear bells in my hand and recited the scriptures taught by my master. The foolish egg and thin monkey were also there, reciting scriptures with all their might. This trick worked very well, and those headless ghosts just swayed their bodies far away, not daring to get close to us. As I looked at those headless ghosts, thinking about how to deal with them, the coffin behind me suddenly made a creaking sound, which made my scalp tighten instantly. Something was wrong behind us! I quickly turned around and saw that Zhang Rentou had sat up from the coffin at some point. His face was expressionless, and under the dim green candlelight, his complexion looked even more terrifyingly pale. He was wearing a funeral suit, and his originally ferocious-looking face now looked even more ferocious, like an evil spirit.

  This is not the most terrifying, the most terrifying is the black shadow on Zhang Rentu's body. This black shadow is much taller than Zhang Rentu, and it is over one zhang tall when sitting down. The neck of the shadow is bald and has no head. If those earlier ones were headless ghosts, then this one is a headless demon. Oh no, Zhang Rentu's corpse has been possessed! This possession is also called borrowing a body to return to the soul. Generally, dead people returning to their souls are much more terrifying than fake zombies, let alone a headless demon.

  My master once told me that those ghosts and the like are all tangible but intangible things, they can't hurt people, so don't be afraid of those souls. I thought about this and quickly recited a spell to close my heavenly eye, the headless ghost in front of me disappeared, and the surrounding headless ghosts also disappeared, leaving only the howling wind in my ears, with the sound of ghosts wailing and wolves howling mixed in.

  Those who were keeping vigil were all scared and trembling, hiding behind us and staring at Zhang Rentu in the coffin. A smell of urine wafted through the air, and I knew someone had peed their pants. Zhang Rentu's son said to me: "Master Dao, think of a way, quickly think of a way, let my dad sleep in the coffin."

  "I said: 'Don't worry, master, I'll use the ghost-slaying charm that my master taught me to subdue the headless ghost that's possessing you.'"

  As I spoke, I took out the cinnabar brush and yellow paper, spreading them on the table. In fact, this ghost-slaying talisman belongs to the forbidden spells of the Zhu Yuchen Book, which is connected to those of the Taoist sects. I made an effort to calm my mind, then picked up the brush and silently recited: "Heavenly light prolongs life, mortal heart's magic spell, I see my own heart, communicating with the divine light, heavenly spirit's magical command, mortal fire's law, disciple requests the Holy Mother's decree."

  After I finished reciting, I blew a mouthful of air towards the cinnabar brush and wrote a ghost-slaying charm. The ghost-slaying charm is actually a compound character, with the "shang" character on top and the "tian" character below, and four ghosts in between, symbolizing trapped ghosts. Below are two more ghosts. Master said that this character carries the light of the "he" character, and ordinary ghost spirits are all afraid of this charm.

  After I finished writing, I was worried when I stuck the talisman. This talisman is useful, but it has to be stuck on Zhang Rentu's head, and I'm not confident that Zhang Rentu, who is sitting in the coffin, won't suddenly jump up and strangle me. But if I don't go, letting someone else do it would definitely be even worse. So I plucked up my courage, took the yellow paper talisman, and walked towards Zhang Rentu in the coffin.