Last Bus of Route 13 - Chapter 61 - Soul Transfer

In this critical moment, my mind was consumed with thoughts of saving Da Lao Wang, yet Xiao Chu had just warned me not to trust him. There was no time to dwell on her words-I bolted out of the house and headed straight for Da Lao Wang’s place.

Luckily, his house wasn’t far. When we arrived, we ran right into the Zhang Family, who had come wielding a kitchen knife to settle the score.

Old Zhang, his face still streaked with tears, stormed into the house clutching the knife, his fury palpable. Behind him trailed three or five relatives-some there to egg him on, others trying to hold him back to prevent things from spiraling out of control.

At this crucial juncture, I couldn’t let Da Lao Wang lose his life. I squeezed through the crowd and followed them into the house.

Old Zhang didn’t swing the knife immediately upon seeing Da Lao Wang. Instead, he pointed at him and shouted, “You cursed my son before he left the house! Spouted some unlucky nonsense, and now my son’s dead! You owe me his life!”

Da Lao Wang, clearly panicked, cowered at the edge of the kang bed and stammered, “You can’t pin this on me! I told you everything I saw in the divination, laid it all out for you. Now that something’s happened, you can’t make me take the blame!”

Old Zhang’s fury only grew at these words. He raised the knife and lunged toward Da Lao Wang, ready to strike.

The situation was dire-I didn’t have time to think. I rushed forward and kicked Old Zhang square in the back, sending him sprawling face-first onto the floor.

Old Zhang let out a loud “Ow!” as the knife clattered from his grip. My kick left everyone in the room stunned.

The Zhang Family’s relatives, seeing me intervene, exploded like a powder keg. In an instant, the room erupted into chaos. Men threw punches and kicks, while the women scratched and clawed at me with all their might.

Old Liu and Zhou Zhuang tried to step in and break up the fight, but there were simply too many people-it was impossible to stop the onslaught.

Suddenly, a commanding voice rang out: “Stop!! I’ll help!”

The shout came from none other than Da Lao Wang, still huddled at the edge of the kang bed. His words brought the room to a halt. The Zhang Family turned their venomous glares toward him and snapped, “Help? What kind of help? The boy’s dead-what can you possibly do?”

Da Lao Wang slowly scooted closer to the edge of the bed and spoke in a low voice, “The boy’s dead, yes. I can’t bring him back to life. But I can make it so he stays with you.”

Old Zhang, picking himself up off the floor, barked, “Stay with us? He’s dead-what good does staying with us do?”

Da Lao Wang fixed him with a steady gaze and replied coldly, “Your boy just passed away. His seven souls and six spirits haven’t dispersed yet. I have a skill-a way to capture one of his souls and transfer it into any poultry you have at home. The form will change, but at least it’ll still be your son.”

His words were cryptic and eerie, leaving everyone in the room exchanging uncertain glances. After a long silence, Old Zhang finally spoke, “What kind of nonsense is this? Are you saying I’ll have to call a chicken or duck my son from now on?”

Old Zhang clenched his fist, ready to strike again. But before he could, a woman behind him stepped forward and held him back. “Brother, wait,” she said. “If Da Lao Wang really can do this, maybe it’s worth a try. At least Binbin would still be with us, and we could keep taking care of him.”

Old Zhang lowered his fist and fell into thought. After a moment, he muttered, “You cursed my son to death. You’re responsible for this, and you’d better see it through.”

Da Lao Wang sighed and waved his hand dismissively. “Responsible, responsible-I’ll see it through, don’t worry. Just bring the boy’s body back here. I need to perform the ritual before sunrise.”

Old Zhang, after some persuasion from his relatives, shot a venomous glare at Da Lao Wang before leaving with his family.

Transferring the soul of the dead into poultry-just hearing about it sounded unbelievable. Could Semi-Immortal Xu really be that powerful?

I leaned closer to Old Liu and whispered, “Old Liu, isn’t Semi-Immortal Xu just good at divination? Where did this ability come from? Have you ever heard of it before?”

Old Liu thought for a moment before replying, “Who knows what people are truly capable of? But I have heard of this method before. It’s called Ghost Transfer. I’ve only heard about it, though-never seen it with my own eyes.”

In these remote mountain villages, the villagers weren’t highly educated and tended to be superstitious. But if even Old Liu admitted there was such a method, my curiosity was piqued to the extreme.

Ghost Transfer-it sounded as mystical as it was eerie.

Worried that the Zhang Family might change their minds and retaliate, Old Liu and I stayed at Da Lao Wang’s house to ensure his safety. It wasn’t until around midnight that the Zhang Family finally brought back the young man’s body. The moment the corpse entered the courtyard, wails and cries erupted, filling the air.

The commotion quickly drew the attention of nearby villagers, who gathered around to watch the spectacle.

Da Lao Wang’s house was soon surrounded by a dense crowd of villagers, packed so tightly that not even a drop of water could seep through. Everyone whispered among themselves, eagerly anticipating this unheard-of ritual.

Leaning on his cane, Da Lao Wang emerged from the house and approached the young man’s corpse. He examined it carefully from head to toe, then nodded and turned to the Zhang Family.

“So, have you decided which poultry you want the boy transferred into?”

One of the Zhang men gestured toward the crowd, and from within, the boy’s mother stepped forward, clutching a large rooster in her arms.

Da Lao Wang took the rooster from her, weighing it in his hands with a satisfied smile. “Good, a rooster is spiritually attuned. Perfect-just perfect.”

With that, Da Lao Wang tied the rooster next to the corpse and then turned back into the house.

A short while later, he returned, his hands full of various items, and began preparing for the ritual.

Even though the courtyard was lit by lamps and surrounded by dozens of villagers, the scene unfolding before me sent chills down my spine.

Da Lao Wang first took a red cloth strip, cut it in half, and tied each piece around one of the corpse’s feet. As he worked, he muttered under his breath:

“Tie the red bands, pull the ghost’s soul, the gates of the underworld shall remain closed.”

Next, he picked up an iron weight, threaded a rope through it, and hung it over the rooster’s head.

“The rooster carries the soul a thousand miles, merging life and Yin-Yang into one.”

Da Lao Wang’s incantations, delivered in his low, deliberate tone, were enough to make anyone’s hair stand on end.

The rooster, tied beside the corpse, seemed to sense something was wrong. It flapped its wings wildly, struggling to escape.

But Da Lao Wang remained unperturbed. He firmly pressed down on the rooster, then lifted it and began circling it over the corpse. He made three circles over the forehead, three over the eyes, and finally three over the legs.

When he was done, he pulled out two silver needles. One was inserted into the center of the corpse’s forehead, and the other into the rooster’s head. Then, with a loud shout, he commanded, “Pass!”

Astonishingly, the once wildly flapping rooster instantly went limp.

The villagers, who had been watching intently, erupted into a cacophony of gasps and murmurs. It was as if they had just witnessed something truly supernatural.

Da Lao Wang noticed that the rooster had stopped moving. He set it aside, and the bird stood there, motionless, its eyes vacant as if it had been deeply startled. It had completely lost the liveliness it had shown earlier.

Old Zhang stared at the scene before him, his mouth agape. His voice trembled as he asked, “Is… is it done?”

Da Lao Wang nodded and replied, “Take this rooster and the body back home. Keep them together for three days, and then bury the body. The soul transfer will be complete.”

Old Zhang swallowed hard, his gaze shifting between his son’s lifeless body and the rooster. “But… how can I be sure this rooster is really my son?”

Da Lao Wang chuckled softly. “Why don’t you try calling your son’s name and see what happens?”

Hesitant, Old Zhang cautiously approached the rooster. In a low voice, he called out, “Binbin, is that you?”

To everyone’s astonishment, the rooster lifted its head and flapped its wings twice.

The entire courtyard fell into stunned silence. The villagers were utterly dumbfounded.

Some of the more relaxed villagers, who had brought their children along to watch the spectacle, were caught off guard. One child, upon witnessing the scene, burst into tears with a loud “Waaah!”

Seeing this, the Zhang Family stopped making a fuss. They hurriedly carried the body and the rooster back home to settle everything.

As they left, I heard Old Zhang repeatedly addressing the rooster in his arms as “son.”

With the Zhang Family gone, the crowd of villagers began to disperse as well.

I glanced at the time-it was already past two in the morning. After exchanging a few more words with Da Lao Wang, Old Liu and I decided to head back to Zhou Zhuang’s house.

The events of the night had left me utterly shaken. This world truly seemed to be filled with extraordinary people capable of unimaginable feats.

Once back, Old Liu and I lay down, ready to sleep. But my mind kept replaying the scenes of Da Lao Wang performing the “soul transfer.”

“Old Liu,” I asked, “do you think that rooster is really the young man who passed away?”

Old Liu didn’t respond. He furrowed his brows, seemingly deep in thought.

I pressed on, “Do you think the rooster will start talking like a human in three days?”

Still, Old Liu remained silent.

Feeling a bit deflated, I closed my eyes, ready to drift off. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I suddenly heard the sound of arguing coming from Zhou Zhuang’s room next door.

Were the couple fighting again?

I was about to sit up and listen more closely when Old Liu suddenly bolted upright. He shouted, “No! Something’s not right about this soul transfer!”