Chapter 72: Joyful Wedding, Mourning Cry 3 Part 1
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After the owner at the breakfast shop sought help from Yan Shixun, he quickly locked the door of the shop, without even cleaning up, and hurriedly took Yan Shixun to his home.
Because the owner and his wife had escaped from their village many years ago, witnessing the cruelty toward women in their village, they had never dared to return. They also couldn’t register their household registration, so they had to rent a house in the depths of the old city.
Yan Shixun and Ye Li followed the owner into dimly lit alleyways. Occasionally, they had to sidestep bicycles passing by and lower their heads to avoid the occasional drooping wires that were densely tangled above them.
Yao Li had never been in this kind of environment before, and with his tall and slender physique, he felt cramped as he walked through the narrow alleys, making Yan Shixun chuckle.
“Is it your first time in a place like this?” Yan Shixun quickly pulled Ye Li over, keeping their backs against the wall. They had just avoided being scraped by a modified motorbike speeding by, driven by a group of young thugs who muttered something under their breath as they passed.
The young thug gave Ye Li a sideways glance, muttering something foul under his breath, and then moved on.
Yan Shixun, who was accustomed to navigating the streets and alleys while helping people with spiritual matters, had seen all kinds of characters and wasn’t bothered by the young thug’s attitude.
Ye Li only lifted his eyelids slightly, casting a cold and indifferent glance in the direction where the hoodlum had left. Then, he turned his gaze back to Yan Shixun, whose grip on his hand remained firm.
“Because of you, I’ve experienced many ‘first times,’” Ye Li said casually, raising his hand to brush off some wall dust that had fallen onto Yan Shixun’s shoulder. His eyes held a hint of amusement. “It seems like you’re quite accustomed to this environment. Yan Shixun, did you used to come here often? I heard from the breakfast shop owner that you’ve helped exorcist evil spirits for his family before.”
“As you can see.”
Yan Shixun shrugged, shaking off Ye Li’s hand that was resting on his shoulder. He didn’t like people getting too close to him. “You saw it before at Wild Wolf Peak, or did you think that was just a toy figurine? Are you a skeptic?”
“Compared to telling rich people’s fortunes, altering their destinies, and Feng Shui consultations for the sake of wealth, I prefer helping those who genuinely need assistance in exorcising evil spirits.”
Yan Shixun’s voice remained calm, and he spoke as if it was a routine part of his life. “Many skeptics find themselves helpless when faced with things beyond their understanding. They don’t know how to deal with those phenomena. If they encounter vengeful spirits or malevolent ghosts, it could even endanger their lives over time. So, for them, it’s a more urgent matter.”
“Those who like to seek Feng Shui and fate-changing services often have connections to genuinely skilled individuals. However, for ordinary people, it’s not as straightforward. Rather than having them urgently seek help from the charlatans on the street who harm their Yin virtue, wasting time without getting proper assistance, I’d rather walk around these places. If they truly need me, the guidance of fate will naturally lead me to them.”
Yan Shixun turned his head slightly and smiled casually. “So, does this match your expectations?”
“I’ve noticed you’ve been observing me all along. What were you hoping to see?”
“No matter how I imagined it, it couldn’t compare to the breathtaking sight of meeting you in person.” Ye Li lowered his gaze, his deep, magnetic voice tinged with subtle softness. “This question, I’m afraid even if I tell you the truth, you’ll take it as a lie.”
“——I just wanted to see you.”
Yan Shixun raised an eyebrow. “Is that your reason for showing up at my house so early? Tell me, how did you know my address?”
Ye Li, however, used Yan Shixun’s previous response to reply, “Because I need you, that’s why the guidance of fate led me to find you.”
“I see.” Yan Shixun remained unfazed and nodded. “You asked Zhang Wubing for my address, right? That little fool, I bet you could trick him into revealing it with a casual word.”
“The only one who knows my address is that little fool.”
Ye Li didn’t deny it. “Zhang Wubing is a very nice person.”
Yan Shixun chuckled coldly
Right at this moment, the restaurant owner, who was leading the way, also stopped at the entrance of an old building. Anxiously, he said, “Mr. Yan, this is it. My home is on the fourth floor. My wife, Hua’er, is inside. I locked the door to keep her from running away. Please hurry upstairs and check on her.”
Yan Shixun nodded and lifted his long legs, stepping over the scattered debris in the middle of the road as he walked towards the small building.
“Ah—! My mouth, my mouth, ah!!!”
A painful scream came from not far behind.
Yan Shixun glanced over and saw that the same yellow-haired hooligan on the modified motorcycle had crashed into a trash can. While he wasn’t injured elsewhere, he had hit his mouth, and it was now covered in blood. His face was twisted in pain, and he clutched his mouth with both hands, spitting out several white dots.
Combined with his incoherent and painful screams, it seemed that he had lost several teeth and would need dental work.
Yan Shixun raised an eyebrow in suspicion and looked back at Ye Li. However, Ye Li simply gazed back at him with an expression that showed no emotional disturbance, as if he were unaware of the situation.
The thug cursed in a very unpleasant manner and was immediately hit in the mouth… Coincidence?
Yan Shixun didn’t voice his doubts to Ye Li but followed the restaurant owner upstairs.
The corridor was cluttered with debris, and the windows were covered with half-peeled newspapers. The dim light made it difficult to see clearly, as if ghostly figures were silently standing in the darkness, gazing at the newcomers.
“I know Yang Duo resents me, she has every right to. I haven’t dared to return to the village since then and couldn’t bring her out. But her sister, Hua’er, knows nothing about this. She’s innocent and shouldn’t have ended up like this. For the past few days, Hua’er has hardly slept; she’s constantly waking up in fright. Yang Duo has taken over Hua’er’s body, and she refuses to eat. She keeps eating candles and dirt when I’m not home, making her health deteriorate……”
Perhaps due to his habitual recollection, the restaurant owner didn’t notice the darkness in the corridor. He continued to worry about his wife at home.
When they arrived at the door, Yan Shixun finally got a clear look at the appearance of this house.
The red spring couplets on the iron door had faded to an almost white color, and the black characters on them lacked the festive atmosphere of the Lunar New Year. Instead, they resembled the mourning banners hung during a funeral. The walls, aged and stained over time, no longer displayed their original colors. The black, mottled patterns and water stains on them resembled the cold, ashen skin of a corpse, with veins winding across it.
“Mr. Yan, please don’t be scared later.”
The restaurant owner hesitated for a moment before pushing the door open. “Because I was worried that Yang Duo would continue to eat candles and dirt and that she might run away, I had no choice but to tie her to the bed with a blanket.”
Behind the iron door, a cluttered room appeared before them.
Traces of the room being neatly arranged in the past were evident, but now, flower pots had fallen from the balcony and shattered on the floor, spilling soil everywhere. It looked as though someone had taken soil and scattered it around like they were throwing it. The furniture and the floor were covered in dirt, giving the place a filthy appearance.
The curtains were tightly closed, blocking out all the morning sunlight, leaving the room dimly lit, like nighttime. Knitted fabrics that should have been on the sofa were torn down and strewn across the floor. As for some small ornaments, they had been swept off the shelves and lay scattered on the ground. Furniture and cabinets were overturned amidst the chaos, giving the impression of having endured a fierce struggle.
The owner was momentarily shocked by this scene, and then his face turned ashen as he rushed toward the bedroom. “Hua’er, Hua’er!”
However, the bedroom was empty, devoid of any human presence.
The woman who had been tied to the bed before the owner left had vanished, leaving only the disheveled bedding and the evidence that someone had occupied the space.
“Mr. Yan, what should we do?” The owner was almost in tears.
After searching the entire house and calling his wife’s name in vain, the owner had no choice but to seek help from Yan Shixun. “This is bad. Hua’er must have run away while I was gone. What if we can’t find her in time? She might stuff those inedible things into her stomach again. If she runs into the street and gets hit by a car, it will be even worse.”
However, Yan Shixun remained calm and composed throughout, showing only a hint of surprise when he first entered the house. He then regained his composure and calmly inspected the traces of the scuffle inside the house.
He crouched down, reached out to easily lift a cabinet that had been pushed over, and moved it to the side, revealing the spot it had covered. In that spot, aside from the scattered soil from a flowerpot, upon closer inspection, there were also some light gray ashes, resembling the remnants of burnt yellow paper.
Yan Shixun picked up a bit of the ashes with his slender fingers and slowly spread it between his fingertips, confirming that it was the residue of burnt talismans.
However, according to the owner’s account, his wife, Yang Hua, had been possessed by her deceased sister, Yang Duo, several decades ago. Yang Duo should not voluntarily approach talismans, so the ashes scattered in the middle of the living room must have been brought by someone else.
Moreover, judging from the signs of the struggle inside the house and the flower soil that had been stepped on, it appeared that two individuals had engaged in a fierce battle inside the house, each intent on taking the other’s life, without holding back.
One of them was a slightly taller man, judging by his movements and the age estimate, he was likely quite young, showing signs of impatience in his actions.
Carrying talismans with him, he was probably someone within the circle, but lacked experience in exorcism. He had fallen several times, crashing into the sofa and coffee table, breaking furniture and injuring himself. The shattered glass on the coffee table still had traces of fresh blood. After getting injured, he had continued to wrestle inside the house for a while before dripping blood everywhere.
The other person was likely Yang Duo, who had taken possession of the owner’s wife’s body.
Based on the owner’s description and what Yan Shixun had observed in the past, Yang Hua cherished this hard-won happiness. This was evident from the way she had decorated the house with small ornaments and handcrafted textiles. She highly valued and cared for her home. If it were a mental issue with Yang Hua herself, she would not have been so reckless in causing chaos in her home, turning their warm and cozy dwelling into a complete mess.
As Yan Shixun pondered the blood drops that had dripped inside the house, he reconstructed the scene of their confrontation frame by frame in his mind. Through the angles at which the furniture had toppled and the chaos on the floor, he attempted to deduce the identity of the person other than Yang Duo.
The traces of blood eventually vanished near the window.
Yan Shixun raised his head and, in the breeze flowing through the partially open window, squinted slightly. “Did you open the window when you left this morning?”
It was early autumn, and though it wasn’t too chilly, the night breeze already carried a noticeable coldness. Considering that the shop owner left for his breakfast stall very early, it was unlikely he would have left the window wide open, especially with a physically weak patient at home.
As expected, the shop owner, who had been anxiously searching for his wife, approached with confusion. When he saw the open window, a look of bewilderment crossed his face. “No, I didn’t…”
Suddenly, the shop owner realized something and his face turned pale. “Could it be… could Hua’er have jumped out of the window?”
“Don’t worry. Your wife’s body is currently controlled by her sister’s spirit. Even after being dead for decades, she still has the power to possess someone. She came all the way from the southern village to Binhai City, which indicates her strength. With her presence, your wife won’t do anything drastic like jumping from a window. Though minor injuries are unavoidable, there’s no need to worry about anything else.”
Yan Shixun glanced down through the window. The pile of garbage below showed clear signs of being crushed by a heavy object, leaving a noticeable depression.
Yan Shixun had met Yang Hua, the shop owner’s wife, before. She was a slender woman. Given the shop owner’s description of her recent severe weight loss, it was unlikely that she could have caused such a deep dent in the garbage pile.
It seemed that someone else had jumped from the window first, followed by Yang Duo in pursuit.
—So, it was originally an exorcist who wanted to come and banish the spirit but ended up being chased by the ghost?
If that’s the case, Yang Duo’s power should not be underestimated.
Her death experience, being buried alive as a sacrifice decades ago, must have filled her with resentment, which was why her powers were so strong.
Yan Shixun furrowed his brows in thought and turned towards the bedroom. “Owner, you mentioned that you went to Haiyun Temple to get a talisman? Where did you hang it? Show it to me.”
Despite his overwhelming concern for his wife’s whereabouts, the owner’s trust in Yan Shixun, built over the years, kicked in as he followed Yan Shixun to the bedside and showed him the talisman he had secretly hung there. “Mr. Yan, it’s this one…”
The owner’s voice abruptly stopped, and his trembling finger pointed at the talisman.
What used to be a yellow talisman that had been hanging there for over ten days without any changes had now turned into a handful of ashes, scattered in the crevices.
If it wasn’t a ghost that triggered it, how could a talisman meant for exorcism burn into ashes?
Yan Shixun noticed the ashes as well.
As he expected.
In his heart, Yan Shixun thought that Yang Duo had completely taken control of her sister Yang Hua’s body, which may have inadvertently leaked out the ghostly aura, alerting the passing exorcist. That’s why he came up to banish the ghost but didn’t expect Yang Duo’s power to be so overwhelming, leaving him running in distress.
After deducing the previous events from the traces left in the house, Yan Shixun asked the owner, “You mentioned that your wife ate candles? Do you have any candles at home? Get me one.”
“Yes, we do have some. When the elderly lady next door passed away, her family bought extra candles, and they gave me the leftovers. They said to keep them as a backup in case of a power outage.” He then retrieved half a pack of white candles and handed them to Yan Shixun, saying, “I’m not sure if these are the ones you need, Mr. Yan, but they are indeed white candles used for rituals and funerals.”
Yan Shixun raised an eyebrow, looking at the owner with surprise. He didn’t refuse and took one of the candles in his hand. “Since you know these are candles used for rituals, and you’ve witnessed the village’s heavy rituals before, haven’t you considered that your wife family might come back, especially knowing that her family died tragically? Didn’t it feel taboo to keep them?”
Hearing Yan Shixun’s questions, the owner suddenly realized and regretted, “I thought these candles were still perfectly usable and could save me a few bucks. I never thought I was wrong! So, could my wife’s situation be related to this?”
“Not necessarily.” Yan Shixun comforted the owner and, with one hand holding the candle, used the other to form a spell while silently reciting the Five Thunders Spell. The candle was instantly lit, emitting a black smoke.
“I will help you locate your wife now. Don’t worry.”
The black smoke didn’t disperse randomly; instead, it continued to drift in a specific direction. It didn’t stabilize or dissipate with Yan Shixun’s movement but varied in thickness, as if it was signaling whether his orientation was correct.
The shop owner, who had never witnessed such a scene before, was left stunned. He could only nod in response to Yan Shixun’s gestures, staring in amazement as Yan Shixun followed the direction of the candle’s black smoke.
Yan Shixun opened the partially open window, holding the candle in one hand. He stepped onto the windowsill with one leg and turned slightly. He raised his chin to address the calm figure of Ye Li, “Wait for me here; I’ll be back shortly.”
Ye Li nodded in agreement, showing no objections or concerns, and replied calmly, “Alright.”
On the other hand, the shop owner suddenly snapped out of his shock and looked at Yan Shixun in terror. “M-Mr. Yan, you’re not thinking of jumping, are you? We’re on the fourth floor… Damn!”
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Thanks for the update