This time, the situation really was bizarre. What on earth was that malevolent entity? Even Qingyi, the young celestial master, was stumped by it.
"Forget it, if it doesn't make sense, don't think about it!"
Eventually, I got a bit frustrated and simply waved my hand: "There must be a way when the car reaches the mountain. We don't have any clues now, but once I go to the site and take a look, maybe I'll find something! Didn't we also go into the situation with the white powder lady completely blind, and in the end, didn't we resolve it successfully? In my opinion, this world is full of wonders, and there are countless ways for a person to die. It wouldn't be surprising if we encountered some kind of malevolent entity we've never seen before or something extremely rare, so let's not worry too much!"
I said this mainly to lighten the mood and to comfort Li Jiajia's heart. After all, the poor girl had traveled all the way from Shanxi to Longhushan in Jiangxi to seek justice for her father. She had been given the cold shoulder at the Tiandao Alliance for over ten days, and finally, she saw a few of us willing to help her with her problem. If we showed up looking all downcast, it would be such a blow to the girl, wouldn't it?
Who would have known, Zhang Jinya, that bastard, couldn't see my intentions at all and actually started to undermine me: "Stop bragging, will you? Acting all nonchalant, who was it that was used as bait last time and ended up screaming like a ghost?"
This son of a gun...
I hate it when someone slaps me in the face while I'm trying to impress a girl. I almost cursed out loud and said with a sullen face, "Ever heard of 'a man can be much changed in three days'? If it weren't for me summoning White Second Master using the summoning technique back in the Qinling ancient tomb, you'd still be lying dead in some godforsaken corner!"
"Ah, right, how could I forget this kid's good hand at summoning techniques!"
Upon hearing me scold Zhang Jinya, Wu Fatty's eyes lit up, and he chuckled, "With that in mind, Fatty is relieved. With this kid's skill, there might really be a chance to fight this time. Although summoning techniques are extremely harmful to the body, they are also a life-saving skill! No matter what that ghostly thing is, since it's transformed from a dead person, it can't escape the punishment of the ten great yin marshals. As long as Xiao Tian can summon another yin marshal, won't the problem be solved? In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures are needed!"
Wu Fatty's words made everyone who came with me nod in agreement, significantly relieved and more confident in my ability to carry out the mission alone.
At that moment, I suddenly remembered a very important question, so I asked Qingyi, "By the way, we only talked about the circumstances of Li He's death, but I still know nothing about the mission he originally took on in Wuwang Village. I have to resolve that issue as well when I go to complete the test. What exactly happened there? Do you know?"
"I've already looked it up for you before coming here. That case shouldn't be too difficult."
Qingyi said, "If nothing unexpected happens, it should just be a case of a restless spirit causing trouble. It doesn't feel like something with too much evil energy; otherwise, the case in Wuwang Village wouldn't have dragged on until now, and there would have been casualties."
Then, Qingyi carefully explained the case in Wuwang Village to me.
This matter probably started around the time of Qingming Festival in Wuwang Village.
As everyone knows, Qingming Festival is a traditional Chinese day for honoring ancestors. On this day, according to Chinese customs, every family goes to their ancestors' graves to burn paper money.
However, in Wuwang Village, there's not only the burning of paper money for ancestors but also another tradition—on the night of Qingming Festival, every household must prepare a big feast. In addition to seats for the family members, a few seats are left empty. The number of empty seats corresponds to the number of deceased family members, the meaning of which goes without saying—it's to have a meal with the departed ancestors. Wuwang Village has a legend that, in addition to the Ghost Festival on July 15th when a hundred ghosts roam at night, every Qingming Festival, which is also the third day of the third lunar month, the spirits from the underworld "return home" to visit their families in the world of the living. Therefore, Wuwang Village has this custom of having a family meal with ancestors. However, this custom is very particular; during the meal, no one is allowed to speak, and one must not mention anything about the ancestors when they were alive. The locals believe that doing so would make the ancestors feel attached and unwilling to leave after the meal, choosing to stay in the household instead!
The family that had the incident in Wuwang Village this time had their trouble during Qingming Festival!
The family in question was the Zhao family, and it was the old patriarch, Zhao, who had three sons. They were originally from Bai Cao Zhuang, a neighboring village of Wuwang Village, but later on, all three of Zhao's sons made a good living in the provincial capital Taiyuan, so they brought the old man to live with them in the city. However, the old man never got used to city life and longed to return to his hometown. After discussing it, the three sons felt that Bai Cao Zhuang was too poor and that the old man would have a hard life there, so they decided to have the old man live in the relatively affluent neighboring village of Wuwang, with the old man's consent. Thus, the three sons bought a piece of land in Wuwang Village and built a luxurious courtyard as a comfortable place for the old man to spend his retirement. Their new courtyard was completed half a month before Qingming Festival, just in time for the holiday. The old man Zhao loved lively atmospheres, and after hearing about the Qingming Festival customs of Wuwang Village, he wanted to follow the local customs and join in the fun. So, he called back his three sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren for a big family gathering to have a "family meal" with the ancestors. The three sons of old man Zhao were filial and happily returned upon hearing their father's wishes. The whole family busily prepared a table full of food for the family meal and also set aside seats for some deceased ancestors.
Who would have known, Zhao's eldest son's child, being ignorant and not having grown up in Wuwang Village, was unaware of the village's taboos and spoke out loud during the meal, exclaiming, "Eh, Grandpa, there are so many people in our house, the whole yard is full, at least a hundred or so, it's so fun, and there are even people wearing ancient clothes!"
Upon hearing this, old man Zhao was furious. It's said that children's eyes are pure and can see unclean things. The old man was superstitious and believed that his grandson must have seen something unclean. But... the Zhao family was not some noble clan, so where would they get so many ancestors returning on Qingming Festival? This scared old man Zhao so much that he fainted on the spot. When he woke up, it was already the next evening, and he was in the county hospital of Wuzhai County.
To everyone's shock, the first words old man Zhao uttered upon opening his eyes were—"I'm so miserable!!!"—and in a woman's voice!
This caused a commotion in the hospital, and later, the old man who worked as a gatekeeper at the hospital said that old man Zhao must have been possessed by a "dead fox spirit!"
"Dead fox spirit" is a term used in Wuzhai County, northwest Shanxi, to refer to a certain kind of malevolent entity.
Upon hearing this, Zhao's three brothers were furious and sought help by issuing a mission to the Tiandao Alliance. Unfortunately, after Li He's incident, the case was put on hold and remained unresolved. However, after Qingyi inquired about the mission and asked Zhao's brothers, they said that the old man was still alive but his behavior was becoming increasingly strange. He would scream in fear at the sight of fire, and every night at midnight, he would start repeating the same sentence over and over—"I'm so miserable..."
Qingyi speculated based on the old man's condition that the entity possessing him was probably not vicious, otherwise, the old man would have been dead months ago! So Qingyi said it shouldn't be difficult for me to deal with the thing on the old man's body.
After clarifying the mission, I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that at least it was a simple one, which was a silver lining in an unfortunate situation.
Having understood the general situation, I decided to head back to Shanxi. There was no point in lingering at the Tiandao Alliance any longer.
That evening, Qingyi and the others arranged a farewell dinner for me. Since we were all straightforward people, there was no need for lengthy goodbyes. After a satisfying meal, I booked a train ticket and returned to Taiyuan with Li Jiajia and Zhou Jing. As for Heizi, I definitely wanted to take him with me, and this time Zhang Jinya was surprisingly agreeable. He immediately promised to find a car to send Heizi over, as dogs couldn't be taken on the train.
With that settled, I felt somewhat relieved and cast aside all distractions, ready to face the first solo mission of my life.