Chapter 18: The Undead Living Among Humans

  After that, the couple's life returned to its usual tranquility. The old man worked in the vegetable garden during the day, and the woman stayed at home doing needlework, which she would take to the market to exchange for household items. One day, while embroidering flowers, the needle pierced her finger, and black blood flowed out from the wound. The woman was shocked to see that her blood had suddenly turned black and couldn't speak a word, suspecting that her time was near. Behind the old man's back, she ran to Huang Bansi's place at night to ask for an explanation. When she arrived at his doorstep, it was just dawn, and Huang Bansi was sending off his last client of the evening and preparing to close the door and sleep. The woman, with red and swollen eyes, begged Huang Bansi to make an exception and calculate her fate again, to see why the blood from her hand was black.

  Huang Banshan watched her rush over, feeling a pang of sympathy, and let her into the house. He relit the incense, rearranged the altar, recited an incantation, and drew a talisman. Then he handed a copper knife to the woman and told her to prick her finger and drop a single drop of blood onto the paper talisman. The woman did as instructed, and a black drop of blood flowed from her finger. As soon as it landed on the paper talisman, a flame burst forth, burning the paper to ashes. Huang Banshan sighed at the sight, sat down on the altar, and said to the woman: "Go home and prepare a coffin, bring it here, and your husband will be safe."

  The woman returned home anxiously and told the old man about what had happened in great detail. The old man was also very worried. Following Huang Banshen's words, they bought a high-quality coffin for themselves.

  When the coffin was carried to Huang Banshen's door, the moon had just climbed over the treetops. Huang Banshen floated out of the door in his clothes and saw that the couple had arrived with the coffin, so he said to the woman: "Dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth, you have not been a living person for a long time, now it's time to return underground." As soon as he finished speaking, the woman fell to the ground and did not get up.

  The old man saw the situation, hurriedly bent down and picked up the woman. Two fingers probed under her nostrils, the woman was already breathless. The old man was both shocked and angry, pounced on Huang Banshan to demand his life. Huang Banshan dodged to the side, restrained the old man, saying: "You, old man, are so unreasonable, I save your life, but instead you repay kindness with enmity."

  The old man shouted: "You killed my wife, what kindness do you have for me?"

  Huang Bansi let go of the old man's hand and turned into the house, saying: "Follow me."

  The old man followed him into the house and saw an altar set up inside, with a mirror hanging above it. Huang Bansi wiped his hand in front of the mirror, and immediately a ray of light flashed out, followed by the image of a woman giving birth appearing on the surface of the mirror. The old man looked at the woman's face and felt familiar, so he leaned forward to take a closer look, only to discover that it was actually his own wife.

  Huang Banshen said, "At the time of her production, she had already exhausted her primordial energy. Only because she couldn't bear to leave her newborn son and drank the incense ash given by the Bodhisattva, did her soul stay in her body and become a vengeful spirit that roams the world during the day and night, just like a living person, living with you all. Now that her son is dead, the Bodhisattva no longer protects her, if she continues to live in the world, she will have to rely on the vital energy of the living to sustain herself, and you are the first one who will be sacrificed. Now, I see through the truth, sending her to the coffin, you avoided the disaster of killing lives, just go back and properly help her attain liberation, then you can live a peaceful life for the rest of your days."

  The old man listened and broke out in a cold sweat, thanking Huang Bansi. He put the woman into the coffin and took her back home for a proper burial.

  After finishing the story, Wen Shu closed the book and asked me what I thought. I touched the back of my head, unable to think of an answer to this profound question. Suddenly, I remembered that day when I used a mailbox to hit Li Xiao Shu's foot, and his foot also started bleeding black blood. So I asked Wen Shu if there was any connection between the black blood in the story and the black blood that flowed out of Li Xiao Shu. Wen Shu said it was a good question and she would continue to look for more stories about black blood.