How could I possibly fall into that old ghost's trap?!
He told me to go and take a look outside the yard. Does that mean I have to go?
I had already thrown out my Lingguan Talismans. Two illusory figures, one red and one white, instantly took shape and charged straight at the emaciated old ghost.
Suddenly, the old ghost "swished" and knelt down.
It actually kowtowed heavily towards the two Dharma - protecting Lingguans.
I had no idea what they were communicating. The old guy clasped his hands in front of him and whispered in ghostly language. The two illusory figures faintly hovered in mid - air, and then, in the blink of an eye, they disappeared without a trace.
A chill ran down my back. The Lingguans were actually ignoring this old ghost?!
I watched as the old ghost swayed and floated up again, and then suddenly merged into the body of Lu Erzhong's wife. Immediately, Lu Erzhong's wife was like a giant wind - up doll. She twisted her body and suddenly appeared in front of me.
"If you meddle in other people's business again, I'll possess you!"
She bared her teeth and grinned defiantly, then reached out and pushed me hard in the chest.
Suddenly, a big hand reached out from above my head and grabbed Lu Erzhong's wife's rather plump wrist. With a gentle flick, she was sent staggering back two steps and plopped down on the ground.
"AAAAHHHH!!!"
Lu Erzhong's wife let out an old - man's shrill scream. She shook her arm repeatedly as if she had grabbed a hot coal. "Who are you! What are you? How dare you meddle in our family's business..."
"Village head Lu, tie her up!"
I didn't even have time to thank Si Jiangchen, who had come to my rescue from behind. I shouted and took out three yellow talismans folded into triangles from my pocket and stuffed them into the hands of Lu Erzhong and Uncle Li and his wife.
These were Ghost - Exorcising Talismans. As long as one wore them, ghosts couldn't get close.
The talisman I had given Wei Yuan before was also of this kind.
Since I entered the Taoist path, I had never seen a ghost that the Lingguan didn't want to deal with. To prevent the old ghost from harming others, I had no choice but to use physical means to capture it first.
Lu Erzhong was extremely scared. Although it was his own wife lying on the ground, her mouth full of blood, her limbs twitching, and the voice of an old man coming out of her was really creepy.
Seeing that these cowards didn't even dare to step forward even with the talismans in their hands, I sighed. I took out the Ghost - Suppressing Talisman and wanted to go over and stick it on Lu Erzhong's wife's forehead.
How could the old ghost just sit there and wait to be captured? It had already scrambled backwards. I could see a bronze - colored illusory shadow about to emerge from the top of Lu Erzhong's wife's head.
As soon as I took a step forward, I felt myself being lifted into the air. The next second, Si Jiangchen's long legs had stepped on Lu Erzhong's wife's chest, pinning her firmly to the ground so that she couldn't move.
"Where should I stick it?"
Si Jiangchen held me in his left arm and took the Ghost - Suppressing Talisman from my hand with his right. But his thin lips were right next to my ear. His low voice made my heart skip a beat. "On the forehead, right in the middle!"
I pointed at the woman on the ground in a flurry and then at my own forehead.
Si Jiangchen bent down and "slapped" the yellow talisman firmly on Lu Erzhong's wife's forehead.
Only then did I realize later that since he could draw talismans so smoothly, how could he not know where to stick it?!
He did it on purpose!!!
Being held in his arms, it was a bit hard for me to maintain my image as a "master". I struggled to get out of his embrace. Then I said to Lu Erzhong, "If you don't tie up your wife quickly, if she runs out and bites people, your whole village might be in trouble!"
I deliberately exaggerated. After all, Lu Erzhong was the village head, and he should have this sense of responsibility!
Immediately, he and Uncle Li quickly fetched a hemp rope and tied the woman up tightly.
"Little master, what should we do now?"
Lu Erzhong looked at his bound wife on the ground and asked with a bitter face, "We can't just keep her tied up like this forever, can we?"
First his daughter, and now his wife. Lu Erzhong was really afraid that one day he would end up like this...
"Lu Erzhong, are there any customs in your village?"
I ignored Lu Erzhong's question with a cold face and instead asked him, "Why haven't the old people who died in your village been reincarnated?"
Hearing my words, Lu Erzhong showed a confused expression on his face. "It's impossible! We don't have any special customs. We just follow what our ancestors have passed down. We offer incense on Tomb - Sweeping Festival and make offerings on the first day of the tenth lunar month. There has never been anything strange happening... This is the first time something like this has happened to Xiaojuan!"
I stared at his expression and couldn't see any sign of deception.
However, the old ghost that haunted his family clearly said that it was an ancestor of his family and told us not to meddle in their family's business.
"Miss Du, what should we do about my wife?"
Seeing that I didn't say anything else, Uncle Li anxiously pulled Aunt Li in front of me and showed me her arm.
There was a blood - filled hole the size of a teacup on Aunt Li's upper arm, and blood was oozing out continuously.
"This wound is serious. It not only needs to be bandaged, but you should also go and get a tetanus shot quickly!!"
I took another look at Lu Erzhong's wife, who was still twitching even though she was suppressed by the yellow talisman. "It's best to also get a rabies vaccine..."
"We don't have those in the village clinic!"
Lu Erzhong took over the conversation. His wife had been bitten by their daughter a few days ago and had only received a simple bandage at the village clinic. Now, hearing me say that they needed to get vaccines, he immediately became scared.
"Then go outside and get them. Go to the city."
Uncle Li looked at Aunt Li's hideous and shriveled wound and felt a pang of fear. He supported her and said to Lu Erzhong, "Village head, here..."
"Go quickly."
Seeing that Aunt Li was seriously injured, Lu Erzhong felt extremely guilty. "I'll reimburse you later."
Uncle Li supported Aunt Li and walked out of the village head's front door.
I was just about to step forward to help Lu Erzhong carry his wife back into the house when I heard Uncle Li and Aunt Li outside the courtyard gate suddenly let out two extremely panicked screams.
Immediately afterwards, there was a loud "bang" at the door, and the two of them ran back in.
They were running as fast as if there were ghosts chasing them.
"It's bad! It's bad!!" Uncle Li's face was no better than a ghost's. He trembled as he closed the courtyard gate again and locked it. Then he took a deep breath. "There are so many ghosts outside!!!"
"Ghosts?!"
My eyebrows immediately knitted together.
I looked up at the sky. Although it was already evening with the setting sun slanting, it wasn't the time for all the ghosts to come out. No matter how evil Lu Village was, the Underworld wouldn't allow ghosts to run amok in broad daylight!
I walked past Uncle Li and Aunt Li and came to the locked courtyard gate.
The red - lacquered front door was thick and imposing. There was a small rectangular window about one and a half meters up, about a foot square.
This was the "peephole" on rural doors. After opening it, one could observe the situation outside.
I'm always cautious. Although I suspected that Uncle Li might have been so scared by Lu Erzhong's wife just now that he was seeing ghosts everywhere, I still carefully opened the iron sheet covering the small window and looked outside.
Right across from me, just on the other side of the window separated by the door, there were also a pair of grayish eyes looking back at me...