Chapter 21: Revenge

  After listening to Erniang's description of the dream, I not only recalled the scene I saw when I went to the ghost cave before, but it was also similar in several ways. After Erniang finished speaking, she seemed to have lost a bit of strength and lay down again. I hurriedly touched Erniang's head, Erniang's head is so hot, she's sick.

  "Little sister, hurry up and go to the kitchen to cook porridge for Second Mother. She seems very weak, if she doesn't eat something soon, it'll be over. I'm hungry too, hurry up and go." After saying that, little sister went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

  Is this evil spirit one or two? Listening to Erniang's story, the monster in my dream and the shadow I saw with Xiaomei yesterday are quite similar, but it doesn't look like Erbo at all. Could it be two monsters? My mind is getting more and more confused. Whether it's one or two, I thought of Erbo's kindness to me and how Xuancheng Daozhang died for our family's affairs, my heart feels so painful. I must drive the ghost out of Erbo's body and avenge Xuancheng Daozhang!

  That's right! Isn't there a book called "Nine Emperor God Strategy" in Second Uncle's house? That book was dug up from an abandoned tomb, covered with all sorts of talismans, but Second Uncle never looked at it. Would there be some way to crack the code on it? Thinking of this, I suddenly gained confidence and rushed straight to Second Uncle's house.

  I entered Second Uncle's room, and it was a mess. On the wall hung his yellow cloth bag, which was the same one he wore on his back when we went to drive out evil spirits together. I casually pulled out a bunch of ritual tools that Second Uncle used, including talismans, spell papers, and various kinds of bells and red threads. Then, from the very bottom of the bag, I finally pulled out a book, and upon closer inspection, it was indeed the "Nine Supreme Divine Strategies".

  The yellowed pages of the book have four large characters on top, "Nine Supreme Divine Strategies". The side of the book is sewn with silver-white silk thread, a method that was used by people in ancient times. This book looks like it's an ancient book, at least several hundred years old.

  I opened the "Nine Emperor Divine Strategy" and read a line of annotations: The Nine Emperor Divine Strategy, conforming to the creation of heaven and earth, obtaining the mystery of heaven and earth, possessing the power to reverse yin and yang... This method can also drive away evil spirits, summon wind and rain... I looked at the content above for half a day. I specially looked at the book's catalog and there were over a hundred items. The "Ghost-Catching Array" deeply attracted me: "To catch ghosts, one must have an array, the array is divided into trapping arrays, annihilating arrays, confining arrays...". The top was filled with different array methods. To drive away the evil spirit on my second uncle's body, I had to use the "Confining Array" to trap it and then use a soul-nailing nail to pin it down. I hastily packed up the book and various magical tools and headed towards the main hall.

  This book is very comprehensive and actually has an introduction to various evil spirits. One of them immediately caught my eye: "White-haired ghost, big head and thin body, one leg, likes to harm people at night, absorbs human essence and appears in the mountains where it was cursed..." Looking at the description in the book, isn't it exactly the monster in Erniang's dream? White hair, black face, big head with red eyes, one leg, can fly around.

  "Brother, come and eat quickly, I've already cooked the meal, you come and eat too. We haven't eaten all day, don't starve!" Little sister walked into the room and pulled my arm, while I was still reading that book.

  "Little sister, you go eat first, I'll take a look at Second Uncle's book. This page has methods for driving out evil spirits and introductions to the layout of the law array. If I follow the descriptions here, I might be able to exorcise the fierce ghost from Second Uncle's body!" I pointed to the text on the page to let Little Sister see.

  "Brother, you go with dad to drive out evil spirits every day, of course, you can understand. How can I understand? Dad didn't teach me, and even if I looked at it, it would be useless!" My cousin said, frowning.

  "Alright, let's go eat first. It's only noon now, nothing should happen, let's go!" I pulled Little Sister along and we walked into Second Aunt's room.

  "Second sister, are you feeling better?" I hurriedly ran over to see second sister.

  "It's better now, Xiao Yu, you and your sister should leave quickly, this place is very dangerous. If your father comes back and becomes the evil spirit from yesterday, we'll all be dead!" Erniang looked around nervously outside.

  "Let Second Aunt eat first and then talk. After eating, we will leave immediately or go find Big Uncle to think of a solution." I quickly helped Second Aunt up and fed her congee.

  "It's alright, I'll get up myself, you don't have to help me." Erniang said as she stood up and looked at me.

  "Xiao Yu, you and Xiao Mei hurry up and leave the house, this place is really not safe. If the monster in my dream yesterday was real, it will come back again. I don't want anything to happen to you two, I'm old and even if I die, I'll die with your second uncle together. But you two are still young, finish eating quickly and leave!" Erniang said as she got up and pushed me.

  "Second sister, I just saw Second Uncle's room and there is a book in his pocket called 'Nine Emperor God Strategy'. If I set up the spell array according to its content, I can capture Second Uncle. Then use the Soul- Calming Nail to subdue him, and the evil spirit will be gone. I'd rather die than leave! I want to avenge Master Xuan Qing's death! He died too miserably! I'm really furious, if we don't get rid of the ghost, where can we escape to? Where is our safe haven?"

  The second daughter shook her head and sighed, no longer speaking. The younger sister quickly covered the quilt for the second daughter. At this time, someone suddenly walked in from outside the door, and it turned out to be the eldest uncle and several villagers.

  "Xiao Yu, Ya Tou, why are you two still here? Didn't I tell you it's not safe here?" Uncle looked at me and my little sister anxiously.

  "Grandfather, didn't you see a shadow yesterday? What was it like?" I'm still unsure whether it's one ghost or two.

  "You silly kid, I just told you that I only saw a shadow and nothing else." The villagers next to me were chattering and pointing at me saying something.

  "Listen, I'm telling you the truth, Second Uncle is now possessed by a ghost. Last night, I invited a Taoist priest to perform an exorcism on him, but the priest ended up dead. Now Second Uncle has become neither human nor ghost!" I shook my head after finishing speaking.

  "What? Your second uncle has become a ghost? Why didn't you tell me earlier, becoming a ghost is to harm people!" The big aunt's eyes widened and looked around the yard in panic.

  "Where's your second uncle? Wasn't he just in the courtyard?" As he spoke, Eldest Brother took a few steps back.

  "He's already gone and not in the house, I don't know where he went either. Don't be afraid, Second Uncle won't hurt us." I said confidently, but Big Aunt still looked at me suspiciously.

  "How can a ghost not harm people? Don't cheat us!" An old man from outside the village shouted at me, but I couldn't remember his name either.

  "Let's go, let's get out of this haunted village!" The other villagers left one after another, hurrying and scurrying back to their own homes.

  "Xiao Yu, Second Uncle is my brother after all. Now that he's in trouble, I can't just ignore it. Alright, I'll take your mother and Guo Zhu to the neighboring village to hide out for a while. I have a friend who is a Daoist priest from Zhangzhuang, and his older brother seems to know some magic too. I'll go get them right now. If we can exorcise Second Uncle's ghost, we won't have to worry anymore!" First Uncle said, then turned around and left.

  "Uncle! Uncle!" Little sister called out but uncle didn't come back.

  "Brother, let's take Mother and leave. If Father comes back as the evil spirit from yesterday, we'll all be in trouble. Do you really want to fight that evil spirit on your own and on Second Uncle's body? What if something happens to you?" As she spoke, Little Sister cried and left tears clinging to my chest.

  "Don't worry, little sister. I just checked the information on that monster. The White Haired Charms fears cinnabar. Second Uncle's pouch has cinnabar in it. When it comes, we'll use the cinnabar to deal with it. If Second Uncle becomes a ghost, I'll set up a spell array to immobilize him and pin him down with soul-pacifying nails. I must avenge Master Xuancheng!"

  "Brother, I have a peach wood bracelet here, it was left by Father to ward off evil spirits, you take it!" As she said that, my little sister put the bracelet on my wrist, and I also shed tears. My little sister and I rely on each other for survival now, and the more I look at her, the prettier she becomes! But I don't know if I can still be alive tomorrow!

  I walked into the main room and took out Second Uncle's Bagua mirror according to the book. The Bagua mirror had a gold-plated mirror in the middle, surrounded by the Eight Trigrams pattern. I placed the Bagua mirror on the altar, with an incense burner in front of it, which was mixed with dog blood and chicken blood. Then, I picked up Second Uncle's peach wood sword and silently recited the "Demon-Confining Array" according to the book: "Qiankun has no bounds, the heart gives birth to two instruments, yang overcomes yin, yin overcomes yang..." After finishing the incantation, I pointed the peach wood sword at the Bagua mirror, and to my surprise, golden light shot out from it. I was secretly delighted that my magic had taken effect, and any ghosts or monsters illuminated by this golden light would reveal their true form.

  I've got the spell formation ready, I quickly took out the talismans drawn by Daoist Qing earlier and stuck them all over Erniang's and the wing room's doors to prevent the ghost from running there. The main hall's gate had nothing on it, just waiting for the evil spirit to come and enter my spell formation.

  "Second sister, little sister! You mustn't come out, I'll set up a spell array in the main hall to catch ghosts in a moment. No matter what sounds you hear, don't move!" I hastily ran into Second Sister's room.

  "Xiao Yu, be careful! Even Xuan Qing Daozhang was killed by that white-haired ghost. If it catches up to you, you're done for!" Second Aunt didn't want me to go to my death.

  "Don't worry, Second Aunt! Xuan Qing Daozhang used up a lot of his spiritual power yesterday to subdue my second uncle, and he didn't expect to be hurt by another ghost, so he was ambushed. Today I've already made preparations, the White Haired Ghost won't be able to harm me, I've set up a spell array!" My resolute attitude made Second Aunt nod in agreement.

  It's already past eight at night, why is it still so quiet? I'm sitting in the middle of the main hall, with Second Uncle's Bagua mirror right in front of me. From the entrance to the middle of the main hall, I've placed talismans everywhere. On the ceiling of the main hall, I've hung Second Uncle's Daoist robe, which has talismans written on it. As soon as any ghosts or monsters come in, it will fall down and cover them up.

  Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew, and the courtyard was filled with flying sand and pebbles. I quickly looked over and saw a black shadow rapidly circling around the door of the main hall. Cold sweat broke out on my forehead as I leaned against the window to look outside. All I saw was a white-haired evil spirit, its head as big as a cow's, its entire body dry and black, swaying back and forth with only one leg, jumping towards Erniang's house. As it jumped, there was no sound at all. When its hand touched Erniang's door, the talisman I had stuck on it shocked it, and the talisman emitted a fiery glow as if burning its hand. At this time, it slowly reached out to touch the main hall.

  I hastily hid behind the Bagua mirror, waiting for him to come. At this time, he pushed open the door, and I shouted loudly, pulling up the talisman on the ground. It fell to the ground with a thud, and the talisman crackled with flames on his body. He raised his head, struggling to look at me, but those white eyeballs didn't have pupils! I was terrified, and quickly used the Bagua mirror to shine its light into his eyes. He covered his eyes with both hands to block the golden light emitted by the Bagua mirror. I hastily pulled down the Taoist robe from the top of the room, which happened to fall onto his body.

  The white-haired old man struggled desperately in his Taoist robe, suddenly he became enraged and stood up, let out a loud roar and tore off his robe to pounce on me. I hastily raised the Bagua mirror, it blocked with both hands, let out an angry roar and jumped out of the hall, recklessly crashing around, and actually crashed into Erniang's room.

  The second daughter and little sister were secretly watching from inside the house, frightened by this sudden change. The white-haired ghost flew to the side of the second daughter, who fainted in fright. Just as the white-haired ghost was about to grab the second daughter with both hands, a flash of white light appeared.

  "It's Second Uncle!" I was shocked in my heart and stood there stupidly at the time.

  Only to see the current second uncle's face turned green and his teeth became sharp, he had already become an evil spirit like yesterday. The second uncle rushed towards the white-haired goblin and pounced on it, the white-haired goblin was startled and flew up wanting to fly away, at this time the second uncle also flew up and they two started fighting together.

  I hastily took the octagonal mirror and ran out of the hall to take a look, but the two of them had already disappeared without a trace.