"You talk so much, but I love listening. I'm a wealthy man, and I enjoy it," said Xiang Que with a smirk.
Chen Sanjin, quite straightforwardly, replied, "After it's all done, sir, there will be a substantial reward for you."
Xiang Que sighed softly, looking somewhat distressed. "Damn, don't bring up this matter; it's irritating."
Chen Sanjin led Xiang Que into the main house. He then headed straight to the upstairs bedrooms where his wife, son, and daughter lived. All three of them were facing issues now.
"This is my son, Chen Xia. He met with a car accident over a month ago and has been in a coma ever since," Chen Sanjin explained, pointing to a young man in his twenties lying on a bed. "The doctors talk nonsense, saying they can't find any issues, but he won't wake up. Finally, they attributed it to a head injury causing the prolonged unconsciousness."
Xiang Que scrutinized the man's face for a while, who, despite the darkened forehead, seemed to be in no serious condition. Turning around, Xiang Que said, "The doctors didn't talk nonsense; your son indeed has no threat to his life. He'll wake up once this matter is resolved. His problem is not significant. Let's go check the other two."
Entering Chen Sanjin's daughter's room, a young woman lay on the bed with extremely pale skin, lips purplish-red. Her eyes were tightly closed. Although her body remained still, her facial expressions changed every now and then, as if struggling with something. It was extremely eerie, like her body indeed belonged to her, but her expressions were of another person—very contradictory.
Chen Sanjin mentioned that his daughter had been in a coma for a month, sustained only by intravenous injections. Doctors, after examination, couldn't come to any conclusion.
From his bag, Xiang Que pulled out a yellow paper covered in strange symbols, densely filling the entire sheet. "Considering the history of prosperity in the Chen family, you should understand that there are many things in this world that cannot be understood by common sense, right? So, I guess you won't find anything strange if you see something odd," Xiang Que said, holding the yellow paper with his left hand. With his right hand, he uncovered the blanket covering the woman, exposing her fair skin.
Chen Sanjin's eyes tightened slightly. He nodded, saying, "Right, the history of prosperity in the Chen family isn't normal."
Xiang Que unfolded the woman's upper garment, and the inscrutable symbols on the yellow paper faded slowly. After two minutes, the densely packed characters disappeared entirely.
"Oh my, this is so mystical!" Despite some preparation, Chen Sanjin was still startled.
At the same time, the woman's body started violently trembling, to the extent that her entire body kept rolling on the bed.
Suddenly, the woman's eyes snapped open. Her eyeballs were completely white, lacking any other color. It looked as if two white pearls were embedded in her eye sockets, extremely creepy.
Staring at the woman's two eyes, Xiang Que beckoned with his finger calmly and said, "Roll out. I'll send you on a journey to reincarnation. If I have to forcibly pull you out, you know the consequences."
The "daughter" of Chen Sanjin's widened her eyes abruptly. Quickly, she started rotating her eyes in a particular direction, murmuring a series of unclear words. Xiang Que, maintaining his calm demeanor, continued to stare at her eyes.
"I'll count to three; if you don't come out by then, the chance will be lost."
"Three!" Xiang Que directly shouted to three. His right hand went into the bag, pulling out another talisman. Suddenly, Chen Sanjin's "daughter" screamed, and abruptly, she sat up. Then, her throat emitted continuous sobbing sounds. Shortly after, she closed her eyes again, and her body fell back onto the bed.
A faint shadow drifted in the pitch-black space under the bed, trembling as it stared at the talisman in Xiang Que's hand.
After putting the talisman back in the bag, Xiang Que said, "Considering you were forced, I won't hold it against you for now. Find a place to squat down temporarily. After I'm done here, I'll write a rebirth talisman for you to reincarnate."
The black shadow under the bed stopped trembling upon hearing Xiang Que's words, slowly emerging and floating to the window before disappearing.
The woman on the bed returned to a calm state, emitting regular breathing sounds, as if peacefully sleeping.
Pointing at the window where the shadow disappeared, Chen Sanjin, with his mouth agape, said to Xiang Que, "In simpler terms, my daughter was possessed by a ghost, just a minor one that doesn't affect people much, only causing her to be in a deep sleep. She can't live a normal life like other people. However, after a long time, her vitality will be exhausted, and she will be completely finished. Now, let her sleep, and she'll be fine. Tomorrow, let her eat something light, take a few days to recover. Originally, if the mirror on your main door hadn't broken, these things couldn't have entered. That Eight Trigrams mirror can block ordinary filthy things."
After a long time of stunned silence, Chen Sanjin finally accepted Xiang Que's explanation. He knew that decades ago, his great-grandfather received guidance from a Taoist on this mountain and built the family estate, the Chen ancestral house. According to the Taoist's instructions, the entire mansion was constructed as a Feng Shui layout. Since then, the Chen family prospered in business, growing into the vast commercial empire it is today.
Feng Shui was something he could accept; in this day and age, which business person didn't believe in Feng Shui? However, the possession by ghosts was somewhat unbelievable, exceeding the common understanding too much.
Chen Sanjin said in a deep voice, "My wife's condition is even more severe. If that's the case..."
Without explaining further, Xiang Que directly instructed him to lead the way to his wife's room to continue the inspection.
Before entering the room, a chilling wind blew out from under the door, causing a shiver. Chen Sanjin's hand, just touching the doorknob, felt an icy-cold sensation like needles pricking his palm. Inside the room, intermittent non-human sounds emanated.
"It's much worse than before. When I left, I just felt our bedroom was a bit chilly. At that time, I thought it might be because of the cold weather, and she just liked to talk nonsense and stay in dark places. At most, she cried and bit people when she saw them. I thought she might have been emotionally affected by recent family matters. But now, seeing..."
"Earlier, a minor ghost possessed your daughter; now, it's different. It's an evil ghost," Xiang Que interrupted him, pulling him away. "Don't go in. You can't handle it. Go find two pots of black dog blood. Smear it all over the windows outside the bedroom. Also, go to a slaughterhouse, get someone to bring a butcher's knife. Finally, bring some copper coins from the Qing Dynasty. The more, the better."
After hearing this, Chen Sanjin picked up his phone to instruct someone to bring these items over. Originally, Xiang Que didn't need to go through such a complicated process; he had several items with him that could deal with the situation inside. However, this guy had never dealt with powerful entities in Gejiu Temple for over a decade, and now he intended to hone his skills.
After all, in a few years, Gejiu Temple would be passed on to him.