"How, how can you casually detain people's souls?"
I was extremely surprised by Du Peilin's action. Even the ghost catchers in the Underworld didn't have the guts to deal with those whose lifespan was not yet over. How could he, a Taoist priest from the Qingwei sect, dare to do such a thing?!
"What? You allow your man to use corpse poison to seal people's souls, but you don't allow me to sacrifice my Taoist practice to save people's lives?!"
Du Peilin winked at me. "I'm doing this for the good of heaven and extending these people's lives. It doesn't count as doing evil!"
Looking at Du Peilin's teasing expression, I wasn't sure how much of what he said was true.
Si Jiangchen followed me into the room. He said to Du Peilin, "Is the area outside sealed off?"
"Do I need you to remind me?"
Du Peilin rolled his eyes. "What kind of place is Hongluo Temple? It has strong incense and a large number of believers. If I hadn't had the foresight to bring a team of police officers to block the mountain road first, there might be hundreds or thousands of people trying to visit the secret passage smashed out of the back wall of the main hall by now!"
I ignored Du Peilin and Si Jiangchen's bickering and silently walked to Police Officer Xue's wife. She was the first living person to be infected. Now the white film on her eyes made it impossible to see her pupils. Sensing a living person approaching, she immediately opened and closed her mouth, her teeth chattering. She was completely like a crazy wild dog.
I couldn't help but feel a sense of relief. Fortunately, Police Officer Zhao had taken Xue Shuo out. Otherwise, seeing his mother like this would definitely leave a lifetime of psychological trauma on Xue Shuo...
I silently recalled the Taoist methods of dealing with zombie corpse poison in my mind and couldn't help but frown. Things like pomelo leaves, glutinous rice, and rooster blood... Although they were common items, the incident had happened suddenly. Where could I go to prepare them?!
Judging from the situation of the two of them, it seemed they couldn't wait for us to go down the mountain to find all the things needed for the spell!!
"Xiao He?"
Seeing that I was silent, Si Jiangchen ignored Du Peilin, who was pestering him, and walked behind me.
"Can I use the demon core to save them?"
I remembered that in the spiritual illusion of the One-Eyed Buddha Mother, Lord Mu Yuan's demon core not only saved my life but also sealed the Buddha Mother, who had become a god. It should be more than capable of dealing with this corpse poison...
"That thing can't be taken out."
Si Jiangchen held my hand to stop me. I immediately woke up. Granny Bai had once said that Lord Mu Yuan's demon core was a divine item. If it was easily exposed to others, there might be villains with malicious intentions.
"... But we can't just watch Police Officer Xue's wife die without doing anything!"
I was a little anxious.
"It's okay. It should be here soon."
Si Jiangchen raised his hand to look at his watch and then said to Du Peilin, "Let your people let Ji Chen in."
"You're kidding! You dare to let a mortal enter such a strange place? You don't want your assistant to live, do you?"
Du Peilin grinned and shook his head at me. "What an inhumane old guy. Your little assistant is so young and beautiful. He's going to die in vain here!"
I didn't know if Ji Chen knew Si Jiangchen's past, but he was really Si Jiangchen's best assistant. He seemed to be Si Jiangchen's right-hand man, able to quickly handle everything Si Jiangchen told him perfectly.
Could it be...?!
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to my mind. I reached out and held Si Jiangchen's palm tightly, asking in surprise, "You... Do you have a plan?"
Si Jiangchen was the most powerful Taoist I had ever seen. If he could tell Ji Chen to find things to control zombies, with Ji Chen's ability, he might really be able to find them quickly!
"Hey?!"
Before my voice fell, Du Peilin's phone rang. He answered the phone, glanced at Si Jiangchen after listening for a while, pointed upwards, and asked, "So fast. He's already up there. Are you sure you want him to come here?"
Si Jiangchen nodded slightly and replied. Du Peilin then gave a few instructions on the phone.
Within two minutes, a police officer in a dark uniform rushed over with Ji Chen.
"Boss, I've found everything."
Ji Chen was wearing an Armani suit, but now he was carrying an old sack on his shoulder. There was something constantly wriggling inside, as if there was a living thing in it.
"Put it down."
Si Jiangchen pointed to the corner.
Ji Chen obeyed his order and placed the sack against the wall without looking sideways, as if he didn't see the strange situation in the secret room.
"Boss... I was afraid that the rooster blood and dog blood would coagulate on the way, so I brought the living ones. I don't know if it's too late to slaughter them now?"
Saying that, he untied the mouth of the sack and took out a live rooster with its wings tied.
Birds are night-blind. It thought it was night in the sack just now, so it didn't struggle or make a sound. But now that it was taken out, even though there was only a faint light from the light bulb on the ground, it was so scared that it crowed loudly.
"You don't need to kill them."
Seeing Ji Chen take out a small black dog with its four limbs tied from the sack, I immediately waved my hand and said, "I just need their blood to mix with cinnabar. I don't need to take their lives!"
Originally, my masters from the Maoshan sect scoffed at the scenes in those so-called ghost-catching TV dramas where they would casually kill roosters and dogs.
We Taoists advocate equality among all living beings. Whether it's humans or ants, they are all lives. We won't sacrifice other lives just to save a human life... Actually, we only need the blood from the comb of a rooster and the head of a black dog, which have the strongest yang energy. There's no need to be so exaggerated as to kill them!
If we had to kill roosters and dogs every time we did a ritual, we wouldn't be Taoists but a slaughterhouse!
The small black dog was quite obedient. It lay motionless on the ground with its four limbs tied. But that big rooster was really annoying. Seeing me taking things out of the sack one by one, it kept crowing loudly and trying to flap its tied wings to fly.
I got annoyed by it. I straightened its neck and laid it on the ground with its head on the ground. I drew a straight line on the ground along the direction of its beak. Immediately, the rooster was attracted by the line and remained motionless in that position, as if it had been petrified.
"... What, what's going on?"
Ji Chen, who had seen countless storms, finally couldn't help asking, "Miss Du, what kind of magic did you use?"
I was taking out the items needed for the ritual from the sack, a bag of glutinous rice, a small knife, a full jar of cinnabar, and yellow paper. Even the writing brush and small dish for drawing talismans were ready.
I really admired Assistant Ji's execution ability. I didn't know where Si Jiangchen had found such a capable and loyal subordinate.
"This is the Chicken Immobilization Technique."
While quickly setting up the altar, I explained to Ji Chen, "This isn't any magic. Any rural old man can do this."