Chapter 10

Old Liu, the temple keeper, took out a lead pellet, which was no ordinary thing. The outside was a fusion of cinnabar and lead, and inside was a talisman. It was said to be an ancient legacy from the Celestial Master Ge Xuan — the talisman was a mystic pill refined from cinnabar. After dissolving it in rootless water, it could be used to mark the Conception Vessel with a Yang brush and the Governor Vessel with a Yin brush, sealing all the person’s blessings, heavenly gifts, misfortunes, and calamities... even ghostly curses could be sealed away, never to be seen by anyone again!

This pill could dissolve the yin and yang, erasing all good and bad, returning everything to chaos. If one had a heavenly gift, it would be a loss, but for a ghostly curse, it would be a cure.

Without this pill, the child would be plagued by misfortune and calamity throughout his life. Not only would many people want to kill him, but whether he could even grow up was uncertain. Old Liu’s offer to help seemed simple but was incredibly valuable. Despite this, August still had many doubts and muttered, "Uh, Old Liu, this thing had better be real, or else..." The meaning was clear: he didn’t believe it!

In the ghost market, it was taboo to pry into others’ affairs. August had always suspected that Old Liu belonged to the Yin-Yang Master lineage, but the lead-sealed phoenix pill was clearly a Taoist item. Given the importance, he had to ask, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he had made a mistake.

Old Liu’s face showed laziness, and he said with a sidelong glance, "Oh! You are truly detestable. I give you a treasure, and you don’t even show gratitude, and now you’re criticizing it... cough! Today, I’m like Master Lu, helping you." He pouted and stuffed the item back into his pocket, "It’s rare for me to sympathize with someone, and I get bitten by a dog right away..."

He turned and walked away!

"Hold it!" August hurriedly bowed, "I said the wrong thing, okay? I’m a dog that can’t speak properly, okay? — Old Daoist Liu, please help me, help me!"

He bowed a few times, but Old Liu showed no intention of taking it out again. Suddenly, a stroke of luck came to him, and he shouted, "Fat Lu, hurry up and prepare some small dishes and a few pots of wine for Elder Liu — we’ll go eat after it’s done!"

Swoosh, swoosh...

The lead pellet reappeared as if by magic...

This phoenix pill was extremely precious, and its use was difficult. According to Old Liu, it required a ghost talisman to work, like a medicinal guide to stabilize the heart meridian. Without it, the yin and yang energies would clash, and the child couldn’t withstand it.

Next, they unloaded everything from the donkey cart and prepared for the night market. To find a ghost talisman, they needed to find a ghost, and where else would there be more ghosts than the ghost market?

Three days later, the ghost market would open.

As night fell, the child, after drinking a bowl of thick rice soup, fell asleep. Everyone emerged from their shops, and the ghost market came to life.

They held brooms and swept the blue stone slabs from their shops to the treasure cauldron. After sweeping, a shallow groove appeared on the stones. They sprinkled powder from their bags into the grooves and poured sesame oil over it.

The temple keeper then emerged with a large bundle of paper money and threw it into the treasure cauldron. Flames immediately rose, enveloped in smoke. He chanted and threw the paper money into the flames, which danced with his recitation, growing more and more intense.

Bang!

Suddenly, the flames in the cauldron exploded!

A few sparks flew out and landed in the grooves, instantly igniting. The flames burned for a moment, then turned into small blue flames!

A thick, damp, and cold mist appeared, enveloping the entire city god temple. Numerous shadows moved and swayed, only vaguely visible. The temple keeper threw the remaining paper money into the cauldron, lit a thick incense stick, and stuck it in, coughing twice:

"Alright, let’s begin!"

Immediately, the shadows in the mist gathered at the treasure cauldron and followed the blue flames to the various shops.

The ghost market had existed for thousands of years, the only place where the yin and yang could trade. It was also a place where the underworld allowed ghosts to trade burial items. Although it involved dealing with ghosts, the profits were many times, even hundreds of times, greater than other businesses. Therefore, some people chose this path to make a living — as long as they had a pure yin八字 (eight characters), with a low karmic cause and effect, and weak three fires, plus a bit of luck, they could enter the ghost market.

In chaotic times, people were more evil than ghosts, making the ghost market even more prosperous.

***

Old temple keeper Liu Biyun and August were already sitting in Fat Lu’s tavern. On the table were a bowl of red eggs, a plate of tofu, a handful of peanuts, a large bowl of fried pork fat with chili, and a plate of wild game. However, neither of them touched the food, as if waiting for someone.

Even the wine jug on the table, filled with rice wine, remained untouched.

August seemed anxious, frequently looking outside, but not toward his shop, which was being watched by Luo Erni. Instead, he kept looking at the treasure cauldron. After a while, the cauldron made a few crisp sounds, and his old face relaxed:

"Old Liu, Old Liu..."

He called out twice, and the temple keeper, who had been meditating, interrupted him, "Don’t panic, don’t panic! Everything is under control, okay..."

As he spoke, a cold, bone-chilling wind blew in from the treasure cauldron, and a voice laughed, "Hey! What a special day today, you two have prepared such a sumptuous feast," a figure appeared opposite them, "You’re usually not this generous... I guess you have something you want me to do?"

In the mist, the figure wore casual clothes, with a plaque on his waist that read "Second Hall," and a black chain on his shoulder, and a steel ruler in his hand. As he sat down, his form became clear, like a person seen through a glass that was suddenly removed.

Any remaining warmth in the air was instantly taken away, and the tavern became as cold as an ice cave!

Although he smiled, with his mouth, eyes, and eyebrows all smiling, there was an indescribable coldness about him that made it impossible to smile back!

As soon as this ghost appeared, the air at the nearby table rippled, and a few vague shadows quickly formed into human shapes, smiling and greeting him, then throwing a solid gold lump and disappearing.

The figure nodded indifferently in response, picked up the chopsticks, and took a piece of wild game, deeply inhaling. The meat visibly shrank and darkened, and he smacked his lips, praising, "Not bad, still the same good taste... Fat Lu’s cooking is really good!"

"That’s right!" The temple keeper Liu Biyun coughed, urging, "Why not try the red eggs, they’re also very good."

As soon as he said this, the figure put down his chopsticks!

He glanced at the temple keeper and then at August, suddenly laughing, "No wonder my master said, ‘No good wine, no good feast,’ before I left today — so that’s what he meant. Alright, let’s get to the point, don’t hide it, or I won’t enjoy my meal."

Liu Biyun laughed nervously, "Since that’s the case, I won’t waste time. I do have something I need your help with — can you get me a ghost talisman?"

A ghost talisman, also known as a soul-fetching talisman, is a document used to fetch the soul of a dying person. The underworld checks the person’s birth date and time, and a judge writes it on a specific yin talisman. Before the name appears in the Book of Life and Death, only a specific ghost officer can obtain a soul-fetching talisman!

Upon hearing it was a ghost talisman, his smile vanished. He asked about the child’s condition and insisted on seeing the child himself, then used his steel ruler to measure the child’s three fires.

His expression grew increasingly grim.

Seeing him silent for a long time, August guessed that getting the ghost talisman was unlikely. Just as he was about to discuss the next steps with Liu Biyun, the figure suddenly went to the back, took out a basket, and placed it on the table, nodding at them, "Wait, I’ll have them send the ghost talisman up."

He actually agreed!

He scooped a gourd of water from the water jar, poured it into the basket, and the water rippled without a drop leaking through. When the basket was full, he drew a line in the air over the water, and the water split, revealing a misty ice block below.

He leaned down and whispered to the ice block, listened for a moment, nodded, and said something else...

Liu Biyun and August waited quietly. When the basket suddenly spilled water, they looked up to see the figure sitting back at the table, "I’ve arranged it. They’ll write it and send it over once they find the birth date."

"Thank you, thank you..." They both thanked him, and he stood up, bowing, "Alright, I’ve done my part. It’s getting late, and my master is calling me back. — Remember, don’t let this child go down the wrong path, or you’ll be unable to wash away your karma!"

As he spoke, his body gradually faded, and by the time he finished, he had turned into a faint white mist and disappeared with a hiss.

A moment later, the treasure cauldron burst with a few blue sparks, and a black smoke rose, circling in the air before flying to Fat Lu’s tavern.

The black smoke condensed and formed a fierce-looking head, which didn’t speak but grinned at Liu Biyun. After recognizing their faces, a gray-white talisman floated from the smoke to the table, the very ghost talisman they needed.

When they looked up to thank him, the black smoke had already dispersed.

The two didn’t waste time and rushed to the city god temple. On the way, familiar ghosts greeted them, but they didn’t have time to respond. Once inside the temple, Liu Biyun took out a three-legged snake-embracing mountain-river cauldron, opened the lid, and placed the phoenix pill inside.

Liu Biyun then instructed August to bring the child, while he lit incense at the eight departments: Yin-Yang Department, Rapid Reporting Department, Inspection Department, Rewarding Good Deeds Department, Punishing Evil Deeds Department, Wealth God Department, Life Span Department, and Merit and Demerit Department, praying at each one. By the time he placed the last incense stick before the city god, the cauldron was already trembling, and the lid was rattling, as if something was alive inside.

When the child was brought, he was already asleep. August placed the child before the altar, took incense ash and remnants from the eight departments, mixed them with mugwort ash, willow root powder, and cat feces, and handed them to Liu Biyun, who then gently stuck the ghost talisman on the child’s forehead.

The ghost talisman, like something on a swamp, silently and slowly merged into the child’s body.

Instantly, a greenish glow appeared on the child’s face, and a faint shadow gradually emerged, rising higher and higher, detaching from the child’s body and lying beside it.

"Good!" Liu Biyun quickly took out a copper cauldron, filled it with rainwater, and when he opened the lid, a thick white mist rose from the cauldron, like a snake, directly entering the child’s nostrils.

Shortly, the body, now soulless, began to convulse!

The soul, not idle, also began to twitch, moving in the opposite rhythm to the body, perfectly synchronized as if trained.

August quickly pressed the child’s body with one hand and made a diamond hand seal with the other, pressing it over the soul, chanting the "Soul Stabilizing Spell," but it had no effect, and the child’s convulsions worsened, with a grayish-black pattern appearing on his originally pale face...

Sweat began to bead on August’s forehead, and he turned to shout, "Old Liu, what do we do?"

To his surprise, he saw Liu Biyun deeply bowing to the city god, with something just burning in front of him, "Please help us, Lord City God, to save this child!"

As he spoke, the clay statue of the city god suddenly moved!

Suddenly, a faint golden light appeared on the statue, illuminating the altar and enveloping the child!

The child’s convulsions worsened, and the light grew stronger, intertwining with the child’s soul, which began to faintly merge!

"Bad!" The temple keeper shouted, "The underworld is cleansing and exorcising, and the child’s soul can’t withstand it — come, seal the Yongquan and Huiyin points, I’ll guard the Niwan, and we’ll force the child’s soul back, or it will be lost forever!"

They acted immediately, letting the golden light and the child’s fate intertwine, and they hurriedly forced the child’s soul back — strangely, the moment the soul returned, everything suddenly stopped!

The room was still dark, and they were still adjusting, but upon closer inspection, they were shocked:

The child’s ghostly curse had been completely sealed, but the child’s three fires were also gone! From now on, the child’s fate was no longer in the Book of Life and Death!