Chapter 132: Even Taoists Can Be Tricked

People often realize halfway through doing something: Wait, why am I doing this, or why did I come here? Usually, people chalk it up to being absent-minded or spacing out, which are common occurrences.

Uncommon occurrences happen too. I know of people who traveled from one city to another, only to suddenly find themselves in a strange place, completely unable to remember why or how they got there. Science explains this kind of disorientation as something akin to a sleepwalking state.

However, there are situations that even sleepwalking cannot explain—cases where a voice inside your head is guiding you to take certain actions. Taoists generally believe this is a matter of a person's spirit being hijacked or falling under a demonic curse, while folklore typically refers to it as being manipulated by an imp.

If the person being manipulated were me, it perhaps wouldn't be too surprising. After all, I am merely an ordinary person; perhaps a bit hot-blooded, but everyone goes through periods of bad luck. Taoism teaches the alternation of Yin and Yang. When a person enjoys good fortune for a while, it will inevitably wane slightly. As one waxes, the other wanes—the full moon must eventually wane, and that is the principle.

Zha Wenbin is different, though. Who is he? He is a Taoist priest. To take a step back, he constantly carries a cloth bag that never leaves his side. The items inside—such as compasses, command tablets, sounding bowls, and decree flags—are the real deal, many of which were passed down through his ancestors. Which of them is not meant to ward off evil? Furthermore, he carries the grand seal of the Tianzheng Sect, inscribed with the four characters "Treasury of the Celestial Master Tao." That object was left behind by the sect's founding patriarch, Ling Zhengyang. Which unclean entity would dare harbor evil intentions toward him?

Zha Wenbin realized that his mind had likely been bewildered by some supernatural force, and he broke out in a cold sweat. He said, "Let's piece this together. First, when I came back with you, we met Old Boss Liu, who asked me to help him. Then we went to Gao Cheng's house and retrieved that coffin. After that, you got into a car accident yet emerged completely unharmed, followed by Aunt Jinfeng telling me not to touch the matter, but I stubbornly insisted on bringing it here. Xiaoyi, these seemingly unrelated events have been linked together like this. Do you think us running into Old Boss Liu right upon our return was just a coincidence?"

"It should be a coincidence. That day he was checking the geomancy for my family's house. But hearing you put it this way, Aunt Jinfeng's situation is indeed rather strange. It's been several days; her fever broke, but she remains completely unable to speak. I feel she might know something you don't. Also, now that you mention it, I vaguely remember that when we got in the vehicle to leave, I said there were nine people in the car, but Lin Baobao insisted there were ten, even though there were definitely only nine including me. Later, I also remember that when we went off the road, I seemed to catch a glimpse of someone in white flashing past inside the car..."

Zha Wenbin said, "Fine, let us assume that the accident you had was the work of some entity. Then what was its motive?"

"The motive was to buy time!" I suddenly understood. "When I got hurt, you naturally had to rush over. At the time, they planned to bury Gao Cheng early the next morning, but you were against it. However, I got into an accident, you came back, Gao Cheng was buried on schedule, and then we went and fetched that coffin. There is one thing I haven't asked you: why couldn't Gao Cheng be buried?"

Zha Wenbin explained, "In Gao Cheng's Four Pillars of Destiny, the Earth element is missing from the Five Elements, which is why his name contains the character for 'city.' However, he died during a leap month. Generally, burials are not advised before a leap month because it is an intercalary month—one that exists outside the normal cycle—meaning it can nurture life but cannot release it. Being born in a leap month is auspicious, but dying during one is inauspicious. That is the first reason.

"Secondly, he died an unnatural death. Judging by his destiny, he should have had another nineteen years of mortal life remaining. Those who die violent deaths mostly harbor grievances, and burying them without performing rituals to guide their souls risks stirring up trouble.

"Thirdly, he met his demise because of a disturbance at a Red Burial site. You had a large group of people with surging Yang energy, and you went up during the daytime, so you weren't afraid, but every Red Burial comes with specific rules. Ancient people believed that the color red represents and symbolizes life; blood is red, and fire is red. The loss or stagnation of blood and the extinguishing of fire signify the end of life. The living require the support of blood and fire, and the dead also need their sustenance. In such a burial environment, the deceased will seem as though they are still alive, and their soul will remain undying. Therefore, it is entirely possible for a Red Burial to produce a living corpse. Gao Cheng's soul was actually lost there and has already entered the earth. If he is buried before his lost soul is recovered, the soul trapped in the earth will realize its physical body has perished and will turn into a malevolent ghost. However, his soul is trapped within the Red Burial and cannot come out. As time passes, that soul will transform into a ferocious entity and is highly likely to emerge and harm people. Originally, I intended to use the Soul-Prolonging Lamp to create the illusion that Gao Cheng was still alive, then find a way to lure his lost soul back from the outside, perform the salvation rituals, and only then proceed with the burial. That way, he could enter reincarnation and his karmic obstacles would be erased. Who could have foreseen things turning out like this? Everything is in vain now."

"So that was it—to buy time, to have Gao Cheng buried and then have him transported here. Wenbin, do dead people really possess such immense power to control the living?"

Zha Wenbin was also lost in confusion. For the first time, he felt that he was not a truly formidable Taoist priest. In his memory, being a Taoist used to be a profession; many people became Taoists and made a living from it, and he had heard of Taoists or sorcerers who died while performing rituals. But nowadays, the Taoist world has long since withered. Someone who merely knows how to read horoscopes and set up a compass is already considered remarkable. Times have changed, especially in China, which has experienced the baptism of the Cultural Revolution. So many ancient things have simply vanished just like that.

Taoist priests may be fewer, but what about unclean entities? They existed in the past, and they still exist now; they were not overthrown by the Cultural Revolution. On the contrary, with a batch of objects used to suppress houses and ward off evil being destroyed, and capable people facing suppression, more people would rather return to farming than work as Taoist priests. This has bred fertile ground for those entities to rise again. If there are truly as many unclean entities as described in *The Investiture of the Gods*, even if Jiang Ziya were here today, he might not be able to clear them all out completely. This era is truly a golden age for unclean entities!

Zha Wenbin sighed and said, "Xiaoyi, look at these years—you have money in your pockets, you don't lack food or clothing, and your horizons have broadened. Yet I feel that people today are not as simple and honest as before. All kinds of frauds and scams run rampant everywhere. I don't know whether the times have changed, or people's hearts have."

"You're overthinking it. I am still the same me." I offered him a cigarette, but he declined. Taking a puff, I said, "You are a rather stubborn person. To put it grandly, you're single-minded; to put it mildly, you're an old-fashioned feudal. You say you don't do normal work every day, just drawing talisman papers and capturing ghosts—what do you eat? Even if you were to open a Taoist temple, you lack the official policies and paperwork, and the authorities won't grant you approval. Where would you get incense money to sustain yourself? Don't blame your fellow Taoists for becoming fewer and fewer. You've been to Hong Kong; even going to Guangzhou to peddle scrap metal would earn you more than this."

Zha Wenbin chuckled dryly. He wouldn't get angry at my words, nor did he have much use for money. He didn't smoke or drink, and year-round he wore a traditional long gown like an ancient scholar, alternating between two pairs of cloth shoes. He didn't even need to get his hair cut; he wore it tied up in a traditional topknot! The money Zhu Zihao had given him a while ago was entirely handed over to me. He had little concept of money; a few grains of rice were enough to sustain him.

"There are some things that someone simply has to do. Otherwise, take my master, for instance—he looked crazy and eccentric his whole life, yet he somehow managed to raise me. What was he even after? Since I was little, he taught me to follow my heart. When I was seven years old, I could see through heavenly secrets, and he already knew what my life's purpose was supposed to be. It's just that, in the end, my cultivation was still too shallow, and I fell into a trap. If my master knew, he would rise from the netherworld to beat me."

"So what do we do now, my dear Taoist master? In two hours, the sky will start to grow light. Are we going home to sleep, or should we keep looking for those two damned dead people?"

"We search!"

How do you search? I wouldn't know how, but Zha Wenbin did. Unorthodox paths naturally have unorthodox methods.

Right there in the open space, he brushed aside a patch of straw, planted three long sticks of incense, and produced a sheet of yellow paper inscribed with a string of characters representing Gao Cheng's birth data. He was quite deft with his hands; with a few casual tears, he ripped the paper into the shape of a tiny humanoid figure, complete with a head and facial features.

Straw was scattered everywhere on the ground. Zha Wenbin picked up a wooden stick and temporarily fashioned a small straw doll, roughly the size of the paper figure. He tucked the paper into the doll's chest, leaned it against the side, and said to me, "In a moment, you take this thing, close your eyes, and clear your mind to ask it which way to go. It will lead you."

I thought to myself, you must be joking. At that moment, Zha Wenbin produced a length of red cord and, without any explanation, tied one end to my middle finger while securing the other end around the straw doll's waist. He pricked my middle finger with a silver needle and then abruptly drove it straight down into the crown of the straw doll's head.

"Close your eyes!"

I hurriedly closed my eyes, and all I heard was the crisp sound of a bell ringing beside my ear. With a single *ding*, I knew it was his Three-Pure Evil-Warding Bell again. He chanted in a low voice: "Fragrant smoke drifts to summon a wandering soul; holding a golden bell, riding backward on an ox! Three shouts gather the dual souls; a single point at the red gate keeps the blood from flowing! Carve wood into a doll to unite the three souls; a single line of red cord prevents the life from breaking! By decree of Supreme Lord Laozi, let this be executed as swiftly as a legal ordinance!"

*Ding!* Another crisp chime rang out. Strangely enough, I felt as though my middle finger twitched involuntarily, and I could sense a tightening motion from the thread looped around my finger. Then, my mind began to go completely blank, as if I had been suddenly tossed into some boundless void where I wanted to move but couldn't, yet my consciousness remained entirely clear.

I wanted to ask Zha Wenbin if it was ready, but my throat felt choked, and no matter what, I couldn't force any words out. Right at that moment, I heard a faint voice whispering beside my ear: "There is only the time it takes for a single stick of incense to burn. Do not let your mind wander. Focus your attention straight ahead, walk along with it, and tell yourself that Gao Cheng is standing right in front of you!"

I wonder if any of you have ever tried to notice the exact moment you truly fall asleep. I never have. Even though I try to catch that transition from waking to sleeping every time before I nod off, I fail every single time, because once I am asleep, I genuinely know nothing at all. I often wonder if the transition from life to death is just like that. Perhaps so, because when my footsteps began to move, my soul had actually transferred from my physical body into that straw doll. In Zha Wenbin's words, during that time it took for the incense to burn, the real me left behind was merely an empty shell...

Author's note:
Good noon, updating one chapter first while I go grab a bite to eat.