The Soul-Returning Night

Old Madam Ma finished speaking and revealed an extremely cold smile.

I stared into her eyes and felt she wasn’t even as scary as the wrinkled old woman carrying the basket. I let out a disdainful laugh: “Ugly old bag! You aren’t scary at all.”

Old Madam Ma had just walked out the door when she heard this. Her body stumbled, and she whipped her head back to glare at me, her gaze becoming even more venomous.

Strangely enough, that afternoon, right after the sun sank into the clouds.

My head began to burn and ache again, the nightmares returned, and Old Bai Gan’s cold laughter echoed constantly in my ears. At the same time, my chest felt as if countless fine needles were stabbing into it.

My mother applied a wet towel to my forehead, murmuring prayers to Amitabha and asking the Bodhisattva for protection.

My father was not idle either. He prepared the black dog blood and rooster blood, and sharpened his wood-chopping knife until it gleamed. If Old Bai Gan dared to come to our door, he would fight him to the death.

I tore open the shirt at my chest and shrieked loudly: “It hurts! My chest hurts. It feels just like needles stabbing me.”

In my dazed state, I clawed violently at my chest, instantly leaving several deep scratch marks. My mother grabbed my hands tightly and said, “Gousheng, just endure tonight and everything will be fine. Bear with it, your parents are right here beside you.”

My father looked utterly puzzled and said, “This is truly strange. The sky isn’t even dark yet. How can his chest feel like it’s being stabbed by needles? This never happened before.”

My mother sighed: “The earthly tribulation has arrived. Gousheng will have to suffer all kinds of torments. Now that Old Bai Gan has turned into a fierce ghost, he surely has many bizarre methods.”

At that time, my parents did not know that the hearts of humans in this world could be far more vicious than ghosts.

The needle-stabbing pain in my chest was not caused by Old Bai Gan’s departed soul at all.

Instead, it was a sorcery spell cast by Old Madam Ma. She used a cloth doll to represent me, and by stabbing the doll with needles, she triggered the pain in my body. And the sole reason for this was because I had called her an “ugly old bag.”

Whoosh, whoosh!

I felt a chilly wind sweep through. In my hazy consciousness, comforting voices suddenly echoed in my ears.

“Gousheng, sleep in peace. I am guarding your side,” a gentle voice sounded.

“Chen Jianfan, Old Bai Gan spent seven days turning into a fierce ghost to gather enough ghostly energy. He definitely wants to chew your bones to pieces and drink all your blood. But with me here, he cannot succeed,” another slightly overbearing voice rang out.

My heart felt a little more at ease.

Before I knew it, darkness completely fell. The entire Chen Village was dead silent, and not even a dog could be heard barking.

At this moment, my father and mother were tense to the absolute limit.

Suddenly, my mother realized a problem: “Husband, we aren’t highly capable experts like Master Gai. With our ordinary eyes, can we even see Old Bai Gan’s ghost? I’ve heard that rubbing cow tears on your eyelids allows you to see spirits.”

My father snapped to alertness and said, “But it’s too late to look for cow tears now. How about we rub some dog blood on our eyelids instead?”

In their panic, the two hurriedly smeared black dog blood over their eyelids.

Thud, thud, thud!

The sound of tapping against the window glass suddenly rang out, shattering the silence inside the house.

A cackling laugh echoed: “Hehehe, I want to flick your crotch! I want your whole family to pay with your lives.”

I snapped awake instantly, shrinking into a tight ball, staring in terror outside the window.

My father and mother shot their gazes toward the window at the same time.

My father’s mouth fell open. Because he was too terrified, he failed to utter a word after several attempts.

My mother was slightly more composed. She forced out all her strength and shouted, “Old Mr. Bai! Everything happened for a reason. You gave our Gousheng a hard time, so the deities on Qinglong Mountain punished you. Now that you are laid to rest, the dead should be at peace. If you claim our Gousheng’s life, the King of Hell won’t let you off, and you might not even be reborn in your next life. If you just spare Gousheng, I will burn paper servants, paper horses, and gold ingots for you every single year.”

These words had no effect whatsoever.

Thud, thud, thud!

The tapping against the glass continued, and a bloody palm print appeared on it, looking incredibly horrific.

Old Bai Gan screeched in a sinister voice: “Flick the crotch! Wipe out the entire family!”

My mother gnashed her teeth and shouted, “Husband, pour the dog blood. Pour it at the window!”

Having endured the most difficult few minutes, my father was no longer as terrified. He rose to his feet. Except for his first step being a bit slow, his movements returned to normal for the next few steps.

He picked up the bowl of dog blood and splashed it straight toward the window. The metallic stench of blood in the room grew thicker. Unfortunately, he hadn’t opened the window first, so the blood didn’t hit Old Bai Gan at all.

My mother cried out, “Husband, it’s wasted! Fall back quickly!”

My mother hurriedly picked up the peach wood branches by the window and waved them frantically. Fearing she couldn’t see the vicious ghost, she swung them with immense speed.

Realizing his mistake, my father retreated, picked up the wood-chopping knife smeared with dog blood, and bellowed, “Old Bai Gan! My son is protected by the green dragon of Qinglong Mountain, and his master is the feng shui grandmaster Gai Jiuyou. If you dare come in, I’ll hack you to death with one blow!”

Cackle, cackle!

A chilly wind swept through the room, and the oil lamps instantly went out. The tightly closed door was suddenly slammed wide open.

Unable to see anything in the dark, my father and mother screamed at the same time. As if possessed, they threw themselves toward the doorway without a care for their own lives. They wanted to use their own bodies to shield me from the fierce ghost.

Bang, bang!

Two heavy thuds echoed as my parents were struck by a powerful force, crashing heavily onto the floor. Yet, neither hesitated for a single second. Enduring the agonizing pain, they scrambled back up. At that moment, two streaks of dark red aura drifted through the darkness, wrapping around my parents’ necks and hoisting them up toward the roof beams.

Only later did I learn that this dark red aura was yin-malevolent energy, commonly known as yin energy. The greater the resentment of a fierce ghost, the redder its yin-malevolent energy would be.

Anxious and desperate, I tumbled off the bed and crawled toward my parents, crying out, “Dad, Mom…”

The cold, eerie screech echoed through the room: “Flick the crotch, wipe out the entire family!”

Old Bai Gan suddenly manifested right in front of me.

Blood dripped from his nose and mouth, his body drifted unsteadily, and he was covered in crimson yin-malevolent energy. His eyeballs were a terrifying shade of red, his entire face was deathly pale, and water seemed to slowly pool beneath his feet.

Vicious, cruel, and without a single shred of humanity.

Forgetting my fear, I pushed forward with all my might to crawl past him to save my parents. At the same time, I cursed, “Old Bai Gan! I curse your ancestors to the eighteenth generation. Even if I become a ghost, I won’t let you off!”

I belonged to the naturally brave sort; facing a ghost, I went straight to cursing.

Old Bai Gan never expected that he wouldn’t scare me at all. His expression twisted in rage, and another streak of red energy wrapped straight around my neck. In just an instant, my entire body went ice-cold, and I could no longer move.

Suspended in the air, my father and mother struggled violently, their faces turning completely purple. Seeing that I couldn’t move, they knew everything was over. The two stopped struggling, as if accepting their terrible fate.

Right when I thought I was about to breathe my last, one red and one white figure suddenly appeared. They were actually two young girls. The two stood with their backs to me, so I couldn’t see their faces clearly.

I could only see that the red figure had a snake’s tail, while the white figure had a white fox’s tail.

They simultaneously grabbed the red energy wrapped around my neck, showing absolutely no fear. Among them, the fox-tailed girl let out a domineering, fierce shout: “You court death!”

Strangely enough, the moment that loud shout was issued, the crimson energy covering Old Bai Gan’s body was instantly blasted into pieces.