I glanced at the old lady rolling on the ground and said, "Fine!Just let them kneel outside until noon tomorrow.I'll handle the rest. You come with me.The village chief bypassed the person kneeling at the door and followed closely behind me to the Zhao family. When I went out, I saw that the old Zhao family's little grandson hadn't come over. I guessed that the person whose lifespan was taken away in the Zhao family was him. When I arrived, I indeed saw Zhao's little grandson lying on the kang. I hadn't seen him for just a few days, and the child had already become so thin that he was nothing but skin and bones. His hair had turned a dry, yellowish color like withered grass. Although he was lying there with his eyes open, his gaze was empty. If it weren't for the rise and fall of his chest, anyone would think the person lying on the kang was a corpse. The village chief waved his hand in front of the child, but the child showed no reaction at all. The village chief quietly asked, "Jiu'er, is this child still savable?""Yes!"I dipped my fingertip in vermilion and touched the child's forehead, then immediately took a step back, raised one hand with the palm facing up, and with two fingers curled towards me, said, "Get up!"The child suddenly sat up from the kang, his eyes shining with a glimmer of light: "Brother Chen Jiu!"I asked in a low voice, "Have you encountered anyone these past few days?"Did that person take your clothes or pull your hair?The child said, "A few days ago, my mom took me to the market. She said she needed to go to the bathroom and asked me to wait for her by the roadside.""When I was waiting for my mom, an old lady came up to me and said, 'This child is really cute, I'll give you some candy.'"I saw that the old lady had kind and gentle eyes, so I accepted her candy and put it in my mouth."I was eating the candy and was just about to say: Thank you, Grandma."I saw that the old lady's eyes changed, her pupils standing up in her eye sockets like a cat's. I was so scared that I wanted to scream for help, but the old lady covered my mouth, grabbed my hair a few times, and then ran away."I was so scared that I cried. When my mom came out and saw that a lot of my hair had been pulled out, she scolded all the way home."I got sick after I came back."This child from the Zhao family has indeed had his lifespan taken away by someone." That old lady gave him a piece of candy, intending to exchange it for his lifespan. As long as he accepted it, regardless of whether he agreed or not, the old lady could take away a part of his lifespan.So, taking away someone's lifespan mostly happens to children.
Stealing life, under normal circumstances, doesn't kill people. The children whose life has been stolen usually become frail and sickly after a major illness, and their lifespan is reduced by several years, or even a decade or more. The person who targeted the old Zhao family's child clearly went too far; they were aiming to completely drain the child's lifespan! The village chief looked at me eagerly and asked, "Is this child still savable?""Yes, there's hope!"If we know what's going on, we can save him!"I said this as I walked towards Old Zhao's courtyard." Sorcerers take on jobs that emphasize tracing the root cause; knowing what kind of entity is haunting the employer allows them to find a way to deal with it.What you should be afraid of is not knowing what kind of evil spirit the employer has encountered, and then flailing around like a headless chicken. In that case, not only will you be unable to save the employer, but you might also end up getting yourself into trouble. As I walked, I said to the village chief, "The person who acted isn't very skilled in Taoism; she needs to borrow something else to take the lifespan back."That thing is definitely in the old Zhao family's courtyard. Don't follow me, be careful not to get hit by it."The village chief was so scared that he stood in the courtyard and didn't dare to move. I walked around the courtyard and finally set my eyes on the corn stalks piled up next to the cow shed, which were used to feed the cows." I reached out and peeled back the corn stalks a couple of times, and behind them appeared a paper figure dressed in blue cloth, with no eyes drawn on it. When I saw that paper figure, I felt more than half relieved. That person wanted to use the paper figure to carry the soul back but didn't dare to draw eyes on it, fearing that the paper figure would come to life and run away, and she wouldn't be able to catch it.This shows that her cultivation is even lower than I imagined. I carried the paper figure back into the house and shouted to the village chief, "Uncle, go find me a red tassel spear, and also tell the villagers to stay inside the house and behave. Don't come out; it would be bad if they got caught in the crossfire."The village chief hurriedly ran out, and when he returned, he was holding a spearhead used for inserting grass, modified with a red cloth strip to make a red tassel spear.The only thing you can probably find in the village is this thing. I took the prepared cinnabar and walked up to the paper effigy: "Uncle, don't say anything when you see something later, understood?"While the village chief was nodding vigorously with his mouth covered, I dipped the brush in the cinnabar and pointed it at the paper figure. The secret technique Zi Mu taught me, however, did not reveal its origin, nor did it tell me whether it was righteous or evil. According to her, sorcerers are not cultivating the Dao, they are just practicing spells. As long as the spells are effective, you don't need to know about good or evil. So, the things she taught me can exorcise evil spirits and subdue ghosts, but they can also cast curses to kill people. When I dot the paper figure with cinnabar, I am consecrating it. When the cinnabar brush in my hand touched the paper figure's forehead, I also chanted, "Open the light, the Great Void Dharma King above.""Open the eyes, and the evil spirits from all directions have nowhere to hide."
"With hands glowing, wielding the red tassel ghost-slaying spear, they make the evil spirits flee in panic.""Open the foot light, ride the clouds and mist to travel the world."After I finished speaking, I put away the cinnabar brush and stepped aside. The village chief couldn't help but say, "Jiu'er, you haven't fully completed the consecration!""Opening four lights is enough!"If you open too many, he will start killing people!"I opened the prepared liquor, took a sip, spat it onto the paper figure, and shouted, 'Get up!'"The paper figure seemed to be jolted awake, suddenly standing up, grabbing the nearby red tassel spear, and hopping out the door, flipping over the wall and running into the village. I said to the village chief, who was paralyzed with fear on the ground, "I'm going to find someone, you watch this child."As soon as I finished speaking, I jumped over the wall and out of the courtyard. When I chased the paper figure all the way to the village cemetery, I heard a scream coming from the grave. When I rushed over to take a look, the paper figure was standing on a coffin placed in the open space, its red tassel spear having already pierced through the coffin lid, penetrating halfway into the coffin. Vivid red blood was seeping out through the gaps in the coffin. I clapped my hands from a distance, and a series of flames erupted from the paper figure. These paper puppets must be burned immediately after use; otherwise, if they escape, they will turn into malevolent spirits that harm people. Sorcerers cannot afford to provoke such consequences. As the flames ignited on the paper figure, it forcibly turned its head, glaring at my face with a fierce look in its eyes, and emitted ghostly wails that sounded like a child's cries. I struck twice more in mid-air, and the flames on the paper figure intensified several times over. In no time, it was reduced to ash in the shape of a human, standing on the coffin lid with sparks flying. I brushed aside the ashes on the coffin, lifted the coffin lid, and took a glance inside. The red tassel spear that the paper figure had inserted into the coffin first pierced through the long-dead body of a black cat, then through the body of an old lady dressed in a blue burial robe. This old lady should be the one who cast the spell to steal life. I was just about to close the coffin lid when something I accidentally caught a glimpse of caught my eye.