The Centipede Monster

The moment Old Bai Gan’s eyes met Old Madam Ma’s, he gathered his last bit of consciousness and wailed loudly: “Save me. Please save me. If you don’t save me, I won’t get down.”

Seeing this scene, Old Madam Ma’s mind failed to react for a moment. She had never expected to see such a terrified expression on the face of a fierce ghost.

Dazed for a second, Old Madam Ma uncovered the fierce deity statue hidden under the black cloth. The statue had three massive wide-open eyes, and a black centipede was carved right onto its back.

The three-eyed fierce deity had a pitch-black face, looking majestic and overbearing, radiating a dense aura of malice.

Old Madam Ma barked loudly: “You evil creature! Why haven’t you come down to plead before the deity yet?”

Old Bai Gan did not dare look any longer. He scrambled down from Bai Dabiao’s back and immediately bowed to the three-eyed statue to seek shelter.

Overjoyed, Old Madam Ma put on a deeply serious front and said, “For the sake of your nephew’s filial piety, I shall aid your soul in passing on. Do not cause trouble in the human realm in the future.”

Having his ghostly energy blasted away by Hu Lingsu and being torn apart by the pack of foxes, Old Bai Gan was no longer a fierce ghost. He was merely a frightened, lonely soul, so he nodded frantically.

Old Madam Ma walked forward, pulled out the wooden hairpin from her hair, and stabbed it toward Old Bai Gan’s head. As she stabbed, she chanted:

“The deity claims your Heavenly Soul!”

“The deity claims your Human Soul!”

“The deity claims your Earthly Soul!”

With every single stab, Old Bai Gan’s form grew a bit fainter as he twitched violently, looking in immense agony. Old Bai Gan, who initially possessed some consciousness, grew increasingly dazed and foolish.

“Claiming your seven po-spirits!”

Old Madam Ma let out a final shout, and Old Bai Gan vanished entirely.

Kneeling on the ground and not daring to speak, Bai Dabiao waited for a while before asking, “Old Madam Ma, where did my uncle go? The weight on my back seems to be gone.”

Old Madam Ma wiped the sweat from her forehead, revealed a satisfied smile, and said, “Dabiao, your uncle took my advice and has already entered the cycle of rebirth. He won’t come to cause you trouble anymore. You just need to burn the paper figures and paper money completely now.”

Bai Dabiao was thrilled: “From now on, I will give one hundred yuan of incense money to your altar room every single month.”

In reality, Old Madam Ma had not sent Old Bai Gan to pass on at all. Instead, she had gathered his three souls and seven po-spirits to offer them up to the wild god in her hands.

She believed she had acted completely undetected, but this entire scene had been witnessed by Hu Lingsu and the snake-tailed girl, Liu Hongdou, who had followed her.

Feeling immensely pleased with herself, Old Madam Ma immediately offered incense to the fierce deity. She took out a silver needle and a cloth doll, stabbing it while cursing: “Chen Gousheng, you short-lived ghost, you dead brat. You will die a horrible death. Heaven has no eyes for letting you survive, but offending me, Ma Jinlian, will bring you no good end.”

With a sharp clack sound.

The fierce deity statue with the centipede on its back fell straight onto the floor, even rolling a few times.

Panic-stricken, Old Madam Ma rushed forward to pick it up. Before she could even get close, a loud smack echoed out. She took a massive slap right to her face, flipping her completely onto the floor as blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.

The cloth doll fell to the side as well. On its back, my date of birth and my name were clearly written, and it was already packed with dense needle holes.

Having taken a hard slap without seeing a thing, Old Madam Ma nearly lost her mind with terror.

By the firelight of the burning paper, the shape of massive fox tails and a snake’s tail loomed right over the wall.

Countless foxes gathered all around the courtyard, and numerous black venomous snakes appeared on the ground.

Hu Lingsu’s voice rang out right beside Old Madam Ma’s ear: “Worshipping a mere centipede spirit from the mountains, yet you dare covet the Azure Dragon’s Son. You must be tired of living!”

Looking at the fallen statue and then at the shadows on the wall, Old Madam Ma realized what was happening. She raised her hands to slap her own face repeatedly, pleading pitifully: “This disciple’s master is a follower of the seventy-two branches of the Lower Maoshan Sect! I did not know Chen Jianfan was watched over by the two immortal families of Hu and Liu, and I have offended you greatly. Using mediumship to call spirits and practicing sorcery spells has offended the heavenly lords. I beg the immortals for forgiveness!”

Bai Dabiao was instantly dumbfounded, having no idea why Old Madam Ma would say such things. He focused entirely on burning the paper money, not even daring to wipe the sweat pouring from his forehead.

Old Madam Ma crawled forward on her knees, picked up the cloth doll, threw it right into the fire, and began slapping her own face again: “This disciple was possessed by an evil mind. I shouldn’t have harmed the Chen family’s Chen Jianfan. This disciple was wrong. I will thoroughly repent and make amends for my crimes. Please let me off, considering this is my first offense!”

Fearing for her life, Old Madam Ma finally brought up the name of the Maoshan Sect. After burning the doll, she kowtowed non-stop, not even stopping when her forehead bled profusely.

The snake-tailed girl, Liu Hongdou, said, “Since you are connected to the Maoshan Sect, you ought to practice kindness and build virtue. We shall spare you this once today, but do not ever repeat it!”

After a few minutes, the fox tails and snake’s tail on the wall vanished. The foxes and venomous snakes also retreated one by one.

Soaked completely in sweat, Old Madam Ma slumped onto the floor, unable to recover her wits for a very long time.

After waiting for a long while, Bai Dabiao looked up at Old Madam Ma and asked carefully, “Auntie Ma, what just happened? Did my uncle come back again?”

Old Madam Ma rose to her feet. Fearing that the two immortals were still watching her, she glared viciously at Bai Dabiao and said, “Do not ever plot against the Chen family again. You almost caused my death. Do not cross the Chen family’s boy. Otherwise, I won’t let you off. This old woman is not that fraud Master Cai, I have my own ways to handle you.”

With both Master Cai and Old Madam Ma failing one after another, Bai Dabiao did not dare to look for trouble with our family ever again.

This entire crisis brought about by Old Bai Gan finally came to an end.

When my father and mother woke up and saw that I was completely unharmed, they wept with intense joy.

I told them about the red and white figures.

My mother said to me, “Gousheng, those are the protections your master left behind for you. Your master will arrive very soon. If he wants to take you away, just follow him.”

After this incident with Old Bai Gan, my mother completely believed in my master, as everything had fallen right into his predictions.

Feeling a bit lost, I did not give my mother a clear answer. Thinking I was just unwilling to leave home, she did not force me either.

I looked all around but could not find the red and white figures. However, I knew they were somewhere nearby. The white figure was a fox immortal with an overbearing and fierce temperament, while the red figure was a snake demon who was gentle, kind, and less rash in her actions.

Apart from that, I knew nothing about their origins.

The next afternoon, under the bright sunshine, a pale-faced Old Madam Ma came to our door bearing gifts. Shedding floods of tears, she claimed she had been blinded by greed and had lost her mind over money. She only begged our family to forgive her.

My parents were naturally kind-hearted people. They didn’t know Old Madam Ma had cast a sorcery spell on me, and seeing her repenting so sincerely, they stated that since we were all neighbors, everything was in the past.

Old Madam Ma finally let out a sigh of relief. Smiling warmly at me, she said, “Young Master Chen is born with a noble fate. You will surely rise rapidly and bloom with every step.”

Just then, my master walked in from outside and barked loudly: “Master Cai is already dead, so why did you still dare to come and wade into these muddy waters! If you still harbor wicked thoughts, you might survive this year, but seven years from now, you will die without a place for burial!”