Chapter 10

They had to wait until night to act.

Xiamaling and Fulong Township were too far apart, so it wasn't worth the trouble to travel back and forth during the day, and they stayed nearby.

Fortunately, there was an official road crossing Xiamaling leading to the township, and there was a tea stall on the road serving sorghum noodles and bamboo skewer roasted meat.

The three of them ate here at noon and again in the evening.

The bamboo skewer roasted meat was a delicacy. It was made by skewering chicken with thin bamboo and roasting it, requiring no seasoning; just a sprinkle of salt made it fragrant.

The three ate very happily, and Wang Qilin sighed, "I didn't expect to find such delicious food in this remote place."

Du Cao looked at the thin bamboo skewers and said, "It's delicious, but the shopkeeper is too frugal. The bamboo skewers are reused, and they might still have the saliva of previous customers on them."

Xu Da smiled proudly, "That's why I broke the bamboo skewers after eating at noon. Ha ha, how clever am I?"

"You are indeed a clever little devil," Wang Qilin praised, "but if you hadn't broken them, you might have eaten your own saliva. By breaking them, you'll end up eating someone else's saliva."

Suddenly, the clever little devil had many question marks.

In March, the Xiang River was calm and the full moon and gentle breeze made the night perfect for travel.

Today was the 14th day of the lunar month, and the moon was very bright, with white moonlight.

The bright moonlight spread on the ground like snow, but it seemed to be swallowed up in the mountains.

Xiamaling at night was a dark, continuous expanse, like the ancient creature Zhujuyin crouching in the Arctic without day or night.

Some dim lights flickered in the village of the Zhong family, too dark to be seen clearly, like ghost fires hidden in the mountains.

Seeing them did not bring brightness to the heart but rather made one feel uneasy.

The three walked on the country path. Because it had rained the past two days, their boots made a squelching sound on the muddy ground.

The sound was somewhat chaotic, as if more than six feet were stepping on the ground!

Wang Qilin listened carefully and felt that someone was following them.

He couldn't help but turn his head, but Du Cao's voice came from ahead, "When traveling at night, just focus on your own path."

The three reached the foot of the mountain and looked up at the scattered stone houses on the hillside.

Finally, a child's piercing cry broke the silence.

Then, a young woman's scream was carried down by the night wind, "Help! Little Stone has been possessed! Little Stone has been possessed!"

An elderly man shouted, "Quick, find the clan leader, no, find Second Master!"

The village of the Zhong family soon had several torches and oil lamps lit, and people began to move about.

For a moment, shadows flickered everywhere.

What was strange was that, although every household in the village had dogs, there was no barking.

Du Cao pointed to a corner at the foot of the mountain and said, "The Zhong family's earth prison is there, follow me!"

The so-called earth prison was actually an underground dungeon.

Hearing the commotion from the mountain, the dungeon door was pushed open, and a man rushed up the mountain in a hurry.

The dungeon was very simple. Down the stairs was a basement divided into two parts by wooden bars. One part had a table and chairs for the guard to live in, and the other part was used to hold prisoners. Zhong Erniu and a ragged old man were huddled in two corners.

Seeing Du Cao enter, Zhong Erniu was stunned, then knelt down and kowtowed, "Great Lord, Great Lord!"

The bars were locked with an iron chain, and Du Cao's single strike did not break it.

Xu Da kicked it, and the thick wooden bars were all broken.

Wang Qilin praised, "What a fine animal!"

The commotion on the mountain continued, and this time there were more children's cries. After climbing the mountain, they heard dog barks, but they were not fierce barks, but low whimpers—

The dogs were afraid of something.

Du Cao asked Zhong Erniu, "Take me to your wife's house first."

The tenant farmers lived in the outermost part of the lower village, so if there was an attack, they would be the first to suffer.

Zhong Erniu ran hurriedly to a thatched cottage built of stones, the wooden door tightly closed. He knocked and shouted, "Open the door, Mother, open the door for me."

There was no sound from inside.

Xu Da said, "Let me open the door for you!"

Zhong Erniu shook his head urgently, "Please, Master, spare my door."

At this moment, the door creaked open, and a thin, disheveled old woman screamed, "Niu-zi, how did you get out?"

Zhong Erniu asked, "Mother, where is Cui-er?"

The old woman looked panicked and helpless, and Zhong Erniu said, "Mother, don't be afraid. I've brought the great lords from the Heavenly Listener Bureau. They can save Cui-er."

"But, but the ancestral rules..." The old woman did not feel reassured but became even more panicked.

Du Cao pushed her aside and walked to a shed on the west side of the yard, where a sheep was tied. A woman in dirty clothes, reeking of filth, was hugging the sheep's leg and sucking on its milk.

Seeing this, he frowned and asked, "Didn't I give you a talisman? Didn't you stick it?"

"I did, I did," the old woman stammered, "My daughter-in-law was normal yesterday and this morning, but after noon, she went crazy again."

Xu Da said confidently, "I calculated that you stuck the talisman on her at noon yesterday."

The old woman looked at him with reverence, "Master, you are truly accurate."

Du Cao glanced at the woman who was tightly biting the sheep's milk and said, "She has been possessed by an infant spirit. I'll drive it away first."

As he spoke, he took off his clothes. In the dim light, Wang Qilin vaguely saw something flash past Du Cao's back, and then the woman collapsed softly on the ground.

Putting his clothes back on, Du Cao asked, "Has your wife ever had an abortion?"

Zhong Erniu picked up his wife and shook his head, "No."

Du Cao asked, "Then, did she go to any unusual places or touch any unusual things before being possessed?"

The old woman said, "No, Cui-er only stays at home and does housework..."

"Cui-er went to the upper village to get embroidery thread and then became like this," Zhong Erniu called out.

The old woman said, "Don't say such things! Who hasn't been to the upper village? How is that unusual?"

Zhong Erniu insisted, "According to the ancestral rules, the lower village cannot enter the upper village within seven days of the clan leader's death. We have never entered the upper village during this special time. Cui-er, who has been married for a short time, didn't know this rule, and then she went to the upper village during this special time, and then something happened!"

"There are ghosts in the upper village!"

Soon, the woman woke up and smiled foolishly, "So many babies, so many babies, Erniu, I'm going to be a mother, I have so many babies..."

Du Cao said, "To the upper village!"

At night, the checkpoint between the upper and lower villages was still guarded. Seeing the three approaching, a man shouted, "Who's there..."

"Get lost!"

"Bold, you..."

"Case of the Heavenly Listener Bureau, all irrelevant people step aside."

Du Cao took out a wooden plaque the size of a child's palm.

In the flickering torchlight, the wooden plaque glowed with a blood-red light.

The man shuddered and quickly opened the wooden door.

For the Heavenly Listener Bureau's case, any obstruction would be treated as a demon.

The New Han Dynasty always executed demons first and reported later!

Du Cao led the way, and the three headed straight for the ancestral hall.

The ancestral hall of the Zhong family was a large stone house. Pushing open the door, a two-meter-tall stone Buddha statue stood directly ahead. According to custom, there should be memorial tablets under the Buddha, but this hall was unique, with an incense burner and offerings in front of the Buddha, but no memorial tablets.

Instead, a red-lacquered coffin was placed on a bench in the room, and a delicate paper bridge was set up between the entrance and the coffin.

This was called the Ascension Bridge, connecting the living world and the underworld.

After a person died, the bridge would be set up, and the spirits would cross it to take the soul to the underworld.

At the end of the Ascension Bridge, a bronze bell with an ancient and solemn appearance was placed between the coffin and the bridge.

This was the Soul Summoning Bell. On the seventh day, the bell would summon the soul of the deceased to cross the Ascension Bridge and return to the living world for a brief visit.

A slightly pregnant young woman was tending the eternal lamp. Seeing the three suddenly push the door open, she was startled, "Who are you? This is the Zhong family's sacred place, no outsiders are allowed to enter!"

Xu Da said, "Then consider us insiders, and we can enter freely, right?"

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