Chapter 43: A Single Word Became a Prophecy

  I was at a loss for words, and Liu Weimin reminded me: "The ghost you hate the most."

  A figure floated in my mind, and I blurted out: "It's You Wu! Damn it, kill that son of a bitch."

  You suddenly looked stunned and stuttered: "What did I do to offend you again?"

  I said it wasn't you, but the man ghost who disguised as you and took Wen Jing away that day.

  I rushed over to ask the male ghost where he had taken my cousin, and also beat him up. Liu Weimin suddenly shouted: "You Mo, stop him!" Then he comforted me, saying: "You can't get close to that coffin, don't be impulsive, I'll find her, and then I won't let him run away again."

  Liu Weimin spoke up, and I had no choice but to give in. After searching around on the ground for a while, I finally picked up that jar of spiked Tongzi urine and asked, "If I use this to splash the village chief, can it hit the ghost inside his body?"

  Liu Weimin smiled and said, "Alright, but there's no need for that. When you see a rabbit eating grass leisurely, the tiger is not far away either. Wang Zhen, go inform the deputy village chief to calm down everyone in the village. Tonight, they must not approach the ancestral hall, especially you, go move a chair out of the ancestral hall."

  I looked up and saw the paper money swirling in the night sky, like white butterflies flying back and forth, wrapping the temple in an eerie and deadly atmosphere. Strangely, there was not a single sound, it was so quiet that it was frightening. I asked Liu Weimin, "Won't we be in trouble if we go out now?" The lights were all out, and who knows where the old clan head is hiding?

  Liu Weimin reassured me, saying that nowadays in the village, everyone is his person!

  I hesitated and walked out the door, still thinking that Liu Weimin would call someone over, but after walking more than ten meters, I couldn't see a single soul, and the surroundings gradually returned to normal. The leaves rustled in the gentle breeze, which was completely different from the temple's surroundings, as if it had been sealed off in a vacuum.

  Liu is really awesome, even the weather seems to be under his control. I subconsciously turned my head back to look at the temple, and suddenly a chill ran down my spine, scaring me out of my wits.

  The ghostly shadows crowded shoulder to shoulder, surrounding the ancestral hall in three layers inside and out. They wore different clothes, with men, women, old and young all present. On their shoulders or around their necks hung a white cloth strip, as if the Tibetan people had given them a khata. The white silk strips were all inscribed with large crimson characters.

  Far away, the sky is dark, I can't see what words are written on it, but it should be the white silk that Liu Weimin asked the villagers to take back home and burn in the afternoon. It's clearly written with water, but when it falls into my eyes, they're indeed Chinese characters.

  I didn't dare to get closer to take a look, these ghostly figures that were definitely not human were all doing the same action, like in an ancient costume TV drama, when the beauty throws the embroidered ball to attract a suitor. They had crazy looks on their faces, waving their arms wildly, and every time some paper money was blown down, those who were closer would rush to pick it up, snatching at that one piece of paper money like dogs fighting over a bone, and after grabbing it, they would hide it in their pockets like misers.

  This is the person Liu Weimin called over, I just passed through them a moment ago without even noticing?!

  I hastily shifted my gaze and ran to the reception room, knocking on San Shu's door and asking her to call Deputy Village Chief. San Shu yawned, looked at the clock on the wall, and complained to me: "It's definitely impossible for anyone to go out at this hour in the middle of the night. Now if we let Deputy Village Chief go from door to door warning people, some curious people will come out to see what's going on, believe it or not?"

  It seems to be this reason, Lao Zu Gong has not caught it yet, who dares to go out at midnight in the village?

  It must be Liu Weimin overthinking things.

  I then called You Wu, wanting to ask about the ghostly figures surrounding the ancestral hall, and it would be best if Liu Wei could come pick me up, otherwise I really didn't dare go back.

  He answered the phone after several rings, and said discontentedly: "What's up? I'm holding a bow and arrow to intimidate the village chief with both hands, no time to talk to you!"

  I was stunned for a moment, and then let him give the phone to Liu Weimin. Yu Mou said: "You just went out, and the old man followed you up. Wait until you bring out the real Huang Jibai."

  When I heard this, I almost blew up with rage. When will Liu Weimin stop cheating me? Only then can he be considered a good comrade.

  I was about to call Liu Weimin when I saw him beckoning me from under the tree opposite the reception room. I rushed over, and before I could complain, Liu Weimin said with a bitter expression: "Wang Zhen's little friend, when can you do exactly as I say without changing anything? Do you need to run all the way just to make a phone call?"

  I told you to be a bait, just say it directly. In this era, who still runs errands in person for things that can be done over the phone?

  Liu Wei-min patted his forehead and sighed: "No hair on the mouth, indeed not solid in doing things. Let's go, I'll take you to the old clan's house entrance to circle around, then I'll jump in and pretend to do something, and you return to the ancestral hall alone. On the way, don't look east or west, I'll protect you from behind!"

  Liu Weimin's idea is that we have caught the male ghost, and Huang Jinbai must be worried that his true identity will be exposed. If he doesn't want to escape from Guan Cun Village, he can only catch me and use me as a hostage to exchange for the ghost in Liu Weimin's hands, so Liu Weimin let me come out alone to lure the snake out of its hole.

  I asked him why he didn't directly torture that male ghost and force out the whereabouts of Huang Jinbai, then go straight to Huang Long.

  Liu Weimin furrowed his brow, saying somewhat strangely: "Because I'm not even sure if I've really caught him, something must have gone wrong with this matter. According to my original plan, tonight, within the ten-mile radius of Guanxi Village, all the demons and monsters would appear at the temple, and Nalan Yuancheng should also come, but in reality, none of those who were supposed to come showed up."

  I asked him who Nalan Yuanching was, and Liu Weimin said it was the name of an old tribal leader. He had sneaked into Guanxi Village before and even drank with the old tribal leader, who was a very open-minded person. Unfortunately, after his death, he was disturbed by Huang Jinbai and could not rest in peace.

  Another thing came to mind and I asked him if the white threads wrapped around the ancestral hall were those that had been burned by the villagers.

  Liu Weimin nodded and said, "Hmmm, I'll teach you something. In a house, the toilet is the most yin, where dirty things are often hidden. The kitchen is the most yang because the stove burns fire like a fiery hell, ghosts don't dare to get close. And whether a family's fortune is prosperous or not also depends on the incense fire. In ancient times, people lit candles, now it's the stove fire. A household with an icy pot and cold stove will definitely have weak incense fire."

  Because of this characteristic, ancestors can perceive the recent situation of their descendants from the fire on the stove. The white silk that Liu Weimin asked the villagers to burn was actually a letter, summoning the ancestors of each family to come to the ancestral hall.

  He asked him what was written on it, and Liu Weimin said: "In a word, the edict of pardon from Changchun Zhenren."

  Liu Weimin is actually the true person of Changchun Zifu, which sounds quite impressive. But I asked him, why did the water book turn into Chinese characters when I saw Bai again?

  He calmly said: "Who knows? Maybe you're naturally talented in learning Water Scripture?"

  Before I could say anything, he said: "Originally my idea was to ask the ancestors of each family about the news, and that jar of children's urine is a prepared torture instrument. The killing bow and hundred-step branch are used to deal with zombies. The bow has a murderous aura, and the tree branches used to make arrows are also full of life, hitting the zombie is more effective than bullets, especially the big bow you brought back. Nalan Yuqing accepted bribes in exchange for his bow, but still sentenced that general to exile three thousand miles away. Under the entanglement of cause and effect, that bow is his nemesis, but he didn't come."

  I asked him if Huang Jinbo didn't allow him to come?

  Liu Weimin shook his head and said, "It shouldn't be. Now we still don't know why that small section of dragon vein is hiding in Guanxi Village. If it's the dragon vein nurturing a third-grade official, Huang Jinbai can control the old tribal leader. But if it's the third-grade official who brought the dragon vein, the dragon vein would have already nourished the old tribal leader thoroughly. Not to mention Huang Jinbai, even if you and I were tied together, we wouldn't be a match for the old tribal leader. That's not an underground evil energy causing a zombie, it's dragon energy!"

  He sighed and Liu Weimin said another thing that he couldn't understand, which was who would cut off half of Lao Zu Gong's body, cutting it in such a strange way, as if Lao Zu Gong was lying motionless on the bed, being sawed open with an electric saw.

  Zombie zombie, Shēnzi naturally strange zombie unparalleled, if someone can chop out such a wound with one knife, why not just behead it?

  Moreover, Liu Weimin didn't know who had such strength. In his words, if they tied up Lao Zu Gong, with Liu Weimin on top of his head and Huang Jinbai between his legs, the two of them using their combined strength, it would take about half a month to cut open Lao Zu Gong.

  "I said: 'Could it be that the monster in the Heavenly Master's coffin has jumped out?'"

  Liu Weimin smiled kindly and stroked my hair, saying softly: "You're really a silly child, don't say unlucky words!"

  Nor does he know what's in the coffin, which makes Liu Weimin so taboo.

  I and You Wú circled around the ancestral hall sprinkling paper money, this was to buy a road for the village ancestors, step by step leading them into the ancestral hall. However, after we went out, Liu Weimin carried the coffin into the courtyard, originally wanting to wait for the ancestors to come in and identify the ghost wearing the village head's body one by one. But unexpectedly, a gust of evil wind came, blowing the paper money up to the sky, the ancestors couldn't pick it all up and couldn't come in, and the village head inside the coffin actually stood up on his own.

  Liu Weimin thought that male ghost knew he was in grave danger and wanted to make a desperate last-ditch effort, but unexpectedly the village chief didn't move at all, as if he had lost his soul.

  The ghost will squeeze out some of the person's yang soul, and after the ghost leaves, the yang soul will automatically return to its original position. If it doesn't return, you have to call back the soul. Before it returns, it is considered a loss of soul.

  Liu Weimin said, the village chief's appearance was like losing his soul, which means that ghost has already left.

  But he didn't believe that a ghost could slip away under his own eyelids, so after I came in, he deliberately asked to see how the ghost would react, but there was no reaction.

  I asked him if that ghost really took away Wenjing?

  Liu Weimin said it must be.

  "What evidence?"

  He said: "A coffin can't trap a ghost but it can suffocate a person. The village head was locked in the coffin for an entire afternoon and didn't die, because the ghost was on him and temporarily didn't need to breathe. It's just like when a quiet body loses its soul and stops breathing, and if it doesn't breathe, it will rot. That's why I called the cat onto her body. The village head didn't die, which proves that I really did lock that ghost in the coffin."

  "Isn't it said that coffins can't trap ghosts?"

  Liu Weimin smiled and said, "That's because you didn't see the yellow talisman I stuck to the bottom of the coffin. It has the male ghost's name, hometown, birthdate, and date of death written on it. It can't trap other ghosts, but it can trap this one."

  I was shocked and hastily asked: "Do you know who that ghost is?"

  "I knew it all along, his name is Li Dazhuang, a construction worker from the bridge repair team near your home. Weren't two of them dead? One was sleepwalking and drowned in the lake, the other was strangled to death. Li Dazhuang was the one who drowned, he was 52 years old when he died. I was afraid you couldn't take it so I didn't say anything. The male ghost taking Wenjing away already drove you almost crazy, if you found out it was an old male ghost, you would have been driven to death..."

  Before he could finish speaking, Liu Weimin's face suddenly turned bright red, and with two loud coughs, he spat out a mouthful of blood, splattering me all over my face.

  Liu Weimin suddenly fell backwards, I hastily supported him and anxiously asked what was wrong?

  "Take me back, the ancestral hall... something has happened at the ancestral hall!"

  You Yu didn't stay in the ancestral hall, my heart was burning with anxiety, I carried Liu Weimin on my back, and didn't even care if he could withstand the jolting after just vomiting blood, and rushed towards the ancestral hall.

  From a distance, I saw the firelight illuminating half of the night sky.

  The ancestral hall is on fire.