Chapter 32 - Soul-Capturing Yin House (Part VIII)

The woman approached Chen Shaoxian and suddenly reached out to grab him.

Chen Shaoxian stepped back to dodge her hand, and at that moment, the woman inside the door disappeared. Then, she suddenly reappeared behind him.

Chen Shaoxian felt a chill on his back and immediately turned around, pressing the Altar-Stabilizing Wood against her with his right hand. The wood sank into the woman’s body as if a red-hot iron had been plunged into water, hissing as it entered.

The woman turned into a mist and vanished.

The hall where Chen Shaoxian stood then transformed to look exactly like the woman’s room.

The baby crib in the room began to rock more violently, and Chen Shaoxian felt the floor beneath him start to shake, making it hard to stand firm.

Suddenly, the room opposite flipped upside down, and the floor on this side began to tilt, as if trying to dump Chen Shaoxian over. A sneering laugh echoed in his ears.

Chen Shaoxian grimaced and discarded the now useless Altar-Stabilizing Wood. He reached into his bag and pulled out the talisman seal, walking unsteadily toward the door that had turned into a mirror. He murmured, “With the talisman seal revealed, evil spirits perish.” He then slapped the talisman seal into the door.

The door twisted momentarily, and the room inside vanished, restoring normalcy around Chen Shaoxian.

He found himself lying on the floor of the hall, surrounded by scattered ink lines. He thought to himself, “Good thing I stepped back, or I wouldn’t have been able to return.”

Standing up, he took out a small box containing cinnabar and drew a talisman on the floor. He coated the talisman seal in cinnabar and whispered, “Supreme Celestial Star, Constantly Adaptable, Dispel Evil and Bind Spirits.” He was about to stamp the talisman seal onto the floor.

Suddenly, a gust of wind arose in the hall, and like magnets of the same pole repelling each other, the talisman seal refused to touch the floor. The repulsive force grew stronger.

Beneath Chen Shaoxian, the woman reappeared as a phantom. She held the talisman seal tightly with her hands, gradually pushing it back up as blue smoke rose from the talisman on the ground.

Chen Shaoxian knew he had to act quickly, or the talisman would be rendered useless.

Chen Shaoxian fiercely slashed the knife in his left hand toward the ground, and with a “puff,” it struck a woman’s ghostly image. The cinnabar on both sides suddenly ignited, burning the apparition into a cloud of steam that fell to the ground.

The knife then fell to the ground with a clang, its sides now blackened.

The repelling force also vanished along with the woman. Seizing the moment, Chen Shaoxian stamped the talisman seal in his right hand onto the ground.

As soon as the talisman seal touched down, the talismans drawn on the floor crackled into flames, and the floor of the hall cracked outward from the seal as its center. A heart-wrenching scream came from beneath the ground; muffled by the floor above.

Chen Shaoxian stood up, stuffed the tangled ink line into his pocket, still feeling uneasy. He then took out several packets of incense ash and filled the cracks in the floor, patting his hands clean before heading upstairs.

Upon opening the door, he saw all the Zhuo Family Members lying on the ground, eyes tightly shut, drooling.

Zheng Lei, seeing Chen Shaoxian enter, said anxiously, “Shaoxian, I did as you instructed. Whenever I saw someone acting abnormally, I tapped their head with the Bagua Mirror. But look, I ended up knocking out the whole Zhuo family.”

Chen Shaoxian inquired about what had happened during his absence.

Zheng Lei explained that after Chen Shaoxian had left, Zhang Xinyi and Zhang Xinming were busy with their respective tasks, while Zheng Lei himself kept watch over everyone. At first, there were no abnormalities. However, Mr. Zhuo suddenly declared he was hungry and stood up to leave, unstoppable by any means. Out of options, Zheng Lei had to tap Mr. Zhuo lightly as Chen Shaoxian had taught him, which immediately knocked him down.

But it didn’t stop there; one by one, the Zhuo Family Members did the same, all claiming they were hungry and rushing out only to be knocked down by Zheng Lei. Fortunately, Zhuo Junfan, who was level-headed, did not panic but was crying inconsolably, comforted by Zheng Ruirui on the side.

Having listened, Chen Shaoxian nodded, took out a small bottle he had used during the day, and dripped a few drops on the philtrum of each collapsed family member. He then took out a piece of nectar glass, smashed it, and poured some into the mouths of the Zhuo family members.

He then turned and instructed the Zhang brothers to go downstairs and boil a pot of eggs, insisting they be cooked fully without any runny yolks. He also specifically instructed that no one should lift the lid of the pot on the stove; it should be wrapped in yellow cloth and set aside.

The Zhang brothers put aside what they were holding and went downstairs to boil the eggs.

In the time it took to speak, all the Zhuo Family Members woke up. Chen Shaoxian asked a few questions, but the Zhuo Family Members replied with blank expressions, unaware of what they had just been through.

Half an hour later, Zhang Xinyi and his brother carried a large basin filled with eggs into the room.

Chen Shaoxian peeled the eggs and instructed everyone to hold one in their mouth, then did the same himself.

Five minutes later, Chen Shaoxian spat out his egg and examined the yolk’s color before casually tossing the egg into the trash.

He asked everyone to spit out their eggs and peel them. Except for Zheng Lei and two others, all the yolks were a bluish-black color, varying only in intensity.

Chen Shaoxian told them to keep holding the eggs in their mouths until the yolks turned a normal color, indicating the end of the process. After giving these instructions to the Zhuo Family Members, Chen Shaoxian lit a cigarette and found their egg-holding expressions quite amusing.

As dawn broke, the Zhuo Family Members finally saw the eggs turn a normal color. The entire household then began massaging their cheeks.

Chen Shaoxian instructed the Zhuo Family Members to soak the spat-out eggs in Realgar wine¹, mix them with Incense ash, and then lay them out to dry in the sun. Once the Incense ash was dry, they were to bury it deep in the ground.

Turning to Zheng Ruirui and Zhuo Junfan, he said, “You two go cook Mung bean porridge, and add plenty of water. Also, boil some vinegar.”

Zheng Ruirui rolled her eyes at Chen Shaoxian and hurried off with Zhuo Junfan.

Soon, the entire Zhuo household was filled with the sour scent of vinegar. Chen Shaoxian told everyone to open all the windows and carefully store the yellow cloth that had been covering them, as it would be needed later.

He also instructed Zhang Xinyi and his brother to remove all mirrors from the house and place them in the courtyard. Any mirrors that couldn’t be taken down should be smashed, ensuring that no mirrors remained inside the house.

Once the Mung bean porridge was ready and everyone had eaten, Chen Shaoxian began organizing the next steps to be taken.

Footnote:

1. Realgar Wine(雄黄酒):Realgar Wine is a traditional Chinese alcoholic beverage infused with realgar, an arsenic sulfide mineral. It is traditionally consumed during the Dragon Boat Festival and is believed to ward off evil spirits and insects.