Chapter 4 Human Skin

  The ink line, also known as the black line inside the carpenter's ink container, is an object left behind by Lu Ban, the ancestor of carpenters, so it can ward off evil spirits. However, I find carrying the ink container too troublesome, so I only brought a ball of ink line.

  I held this ball of twine and carefully approached the little kid, at which point it seemed to feel scared too, let out a strange cry, and its body tilted to one side, looking like it wanted to run away.

  I couldn't let it go, and with a flick of my wrist, I threw the ball of twine out, which just happened to wrap itself around this little devil's body.

  Don't look at this ink line, we normal people can easily break it with a slight pull, but that little devil was entangled by this ink line and immediately fell to the ground with a thud.

  I rushed forward and stepped on the little devil with my foot, then wrapped it tightly with a black thread. The little devil kept twisting its neck and opening its mouth to bite my wrist nonstop.

  Several times it almost bit me, I was a little angry in my heart, and I took out a soul-calming charm from my pocket and pressed it onto the child's head. Suddenly, it didn't move at all.

  The loud thuds kept coming from behind me, accompanied by the eerie cries of that creature, making my scalp tingle. I quickly turned around to look.

  All that can be seen is Liu Bo entangled with the monster at this time. Although Liu Bo is a cripple, he is now very agile and nimble, plus the monster's limbs are stiff and cannot touch Liu Bo.

  Liu Bo's body moved slightly, and he quickly slid behind the monster, dodging its attack. Holding the fire axe in his hand, he aimed at the monster's neck, let out a loud cry, and swung the axe down with a whooshing sound.

  That monster, although incredibly strong, had stiff limbs and was not agile. Liu Bo's axe chopped too quickly, the monster couldn't dodge in time, and was chopped right on target.

  All I heard was a loud crash, and a round thing rolled to my feet with a rumbling sound. It was the monster's head!

  Liu Bo swung his axe with all his might and chopped off the monster's head in one go, which rolled right to my feet.

  I stared at the head that had rolled to my feet, still glaring at me with its eyes open, and felt a chill in my heart. I stretched out my foot and kicked it to one side.

  At this time, Liu Bo walked over, picked up the head, and walked back. He shouldered the headless body and put them in the morgue cabinet, slowly closing it.

  I knew long ago that Liu Bo was absolutely not an ordinary person, I didn't expect him to be such a fierce character, today can be considered as opening my eyes wide.

  At this time, Liu Bo limped to me and said: "I didn't expect that thing would actually undergo a corpse change, which led to the child also changing. Now it's fine, hurry up."

  Liu Bo finished speaking and limped out of the morgue.

  I gazed at the old man's back, and I admired him greatly. Just now, Liu Bo fought that monster with all his might, without using any magic, relying solely on his own skills. This Liu Bo's martial arts must be very formidable.

  I really want to know what Liu Bo used to do, but now I have to catch this little devil first.

  I placed my left hand on the child's head, reciting the soul-calling incantation I learned from Master, then pointed my right hand's index and middle fingers at the child's eyebrows, shouting loudly: "Out!"

  As the sound faded away, my right hand made a sweeping motion, and that child's soul once again transformed into a white light that emerged from his body. This time, however, it didn't stand on the ground; instead, it followed my finger and instantly entered the small coffin.

  As soon as the little demon's soul was sucked back into the small coffin, I rushed over and covered it with the lid. At this time, a series of mournful and piercing screams came from inside, and even the small coffin lid was knocked against with a loud bang.

  I used my right hand to tightly press down on the coffin, and put my left hand fingers into my mouth, biting them hard until they bled, the pain making me grit my teeth.

  But now I couldn't care less about the pain, I quickly put my index finger on the coffin and let my blood drip onto it. Watching as drop by drop of blood flowed along the symbol lines I had carved, filling the entire coffin lid, only then did I feel a sense of relief. At this time, the little ghost inside also quieted down. I took out the black thread and wrapped the small coffin tightly, only then did I put it in my pocket and walk out of the morgue.

  As I walked out, Liu Bo happened to be at the door. I remembered that Liu Bo had just taken an axe and chopped off the monster's head like a god descending from heaven. I couldn't help but feel curious, so I walked up to him and said: "Liu Bo, I didn't expect you to be so fierce!"

  Liu Bohan smiled and said: "I used to practice martial arts when I was young, but now I'm old, my body is no longer flexible."

  Although Liu Boqian was humble, the situation just now I saw clearly, Liu Bo is absolutely a master, this makes me more interested in him, I asked him tentatively: "You are so powerful, how did you practice?"

  I asked, and Liu Bo was stunned for a moment, then sighed and said to me: "In my early years, I learned Wing Chun, but when I was young, I was too competitive and got my leg broken and one eye blinded. Now I can only be a gatekeeper for the dead."

  I didn't expect that Liu Bo's leg and eye were injured by someone, I was very curious about who did it, but this matter is not good to ask, so I asked another topic: "Liu Bo, where did you learn this skill?"

  Martial arts basically don't have self-taught masters, Liu Bo's skills are so fierce, there must be a master behind him, that's why I asked.

  I asked him to listen, and Liu Bo waved his hand and said: "Don't mention the master's door, my master only accepted two apprentices back then. I have a fellow apprentice named Little Dragon, who used to do very well and filmed many movies, but unfortunately died under unclear circumstances later on."

  Liu Bo said this and let out a sigh, but I was shocked and my mouth fell open. I carefully asked Liu Bo: "I...is your junior brother surnamed Li?"

  Liu Bo looked at me deeply, didn't answer me, waved his hand and limped back to his room.

  I carried the small coffin back, and my mood couldn't calm down for a long time. I knew Liu Bo wasn't an ordinary person, but I didn't expect him to be so powerful, that person was actually his junior fellow!

  Back at my place, I put the coffin with Gui Zi on the table, lit three incense sticks, and the smoke from the incense can also dispel the evil energy on this little ghost. Within seven days, using smoke to fumigate, plus washing it with my own blood, the evil energy on this little ghost can be completely eliminated.

  The room smells good, I lie on the bed, although today is tired enough, but I couldn't sleep at all. The master left, just me alone, it seems a bit deserted.

  I casually picked up a book that my master had placed on the head of the bed and flipped through it. This is a "Tao Te Ching", I've almost memorized this thing, now looking at it is just passing time.

  Who knew that as I was flipping through it, a piece of paper suddenly slipped out from inside the book and fell on me.

  I quickly sat up and picked up the paper.

  As soon as I got it in my hands, I felt something was off, because it wasn't paper, and the texture felt more like a certain kind of leather. When I held it up to my eyes for a closer look, it turned out to be a piece of skin.

  That piece of skin was the size of a book page, folded into two pieces, and looked slightly yellowish. I had never seen this kind of skin before, so I brought it closer to take a look.

  All I can see is this piece of skin slightly yellowish, and on it, I can still vaguely see fine pores.

  My scalp felt a chill and the vertebrae on my back couldn't help but feel cold, I let out a loud cry and threw it away in one swift motion, only to find that it was actually human skin!

  I threw away the human skin, and it took me a good five or six minutes to calm down. Although I felt a bit nauseous, this human skin that Master put in the book must be extremely important. Moreover, just now, through the lamp light, I vaguely saw that there seemed to be some words written on this human skin.

  At this time, I couldn't care about the disgust anymore. I crawled down from the bed, picked up that human skin, flipped it over and took a look. On it were indeed written four big characters: "Xiangxi Sheng Miao".

  The four characters are red, but now they have a faint blackish tint. I smelled a fishy smell on them, which is the smell of human blood. These four characters were written with human blood!

  Holding this human skin, I sit quietly on the ground. Xiangxi is in Hunan, which I know. There are Miao people there. These Miao people are divided into Sheng Miao and Shu Miao. The so-called Shu Miao refers to those Miao villages that maintain contact with the outside world.

  The Sheng Miao are the Miao people living in the deep mountains and old forests, these Miao people basically do not come into contact with the outside world and are also the most mysterious of the Miao people. The legendary Xiāo Huì, Guī Shī, Luò Dòng originated from among these Miao people, and often within these Miao villages there will be sorcerers who are well-versed in witchcraft.

  I put the human skin on the ground, staring at it tightly. This piece of human skin was about the size of two sheets of paper. I looked at it carefully and found that it was made from the skin on a person's back. Apart from those few bloody characters, there were also some scattered bloodstains, which were shocking to look at.

  I don't know why Master has this piece of human skin, nor do I know who gave it to him. However, through this piece of human skin, I vaguely feel that there is a great secret hidden on it! Moreover, this piece of human skin must have something to do with Master's departure.

  But with just these few words, I couldn't figure out what they meant, so I stacked them up neatly and put them back in that book. However, my heart had already made a firm decision - I would definitely go to Xiangxi someday.

  Raising a demonic brat is too exhausting, requiring me to use my vital energy every day to refine it. However, I was overly confident at the time and agreed to help that woman, so I must see this through and make sure this little demon turns out well.

  These days I'm too lazy to go out, staying in my room every day. In the first few days, that small coffin kept making strange noises, but by the seventh day, it was completely quiet inside.

  I was secretly delighted to know that the evil aura on that little ghost had been cleansed by me, and now this little ghost was no different from ordinary little ghosts, except that it could change its master's luck more quickly.

  A month later, the woman with the surname Fan came again. I took out the rattan from the coffin and handed it over to her, telling her that the little ghost liked incense and asked her to light incense for him every day. Within a year, his luck would change.

  The woman didn't say much, took the little ghost and left. Within a year, she indeed won a big award and became famous overnight. Although there were many scandals, the more scandals she had, the more popular she became. In the end, people even called her F-dàrén (a term of respect). I knew all this was because of that little ghost helping her.