Chapter 10: Earthbound Spirit, Red Clothes
Under the moonlight, Li Daoxuan suddenly realized that he had overlooked many details.
Compared with other villagers, although Wang Chunsheng had a ruddy complexion, was conscious, and looked more alive, his body was very light.
Just now, Li Daoxuan pulled him to escape, and he didn't feel it was difficult at all.
But in fact, he is a tall and slightly fat man.
Wang Chunsheng himself was also confused. He looked at Li Daoxuan with a hint of pleading in his eyes and said, "I am not, Taoist priest. I really am not. Please don't listen to his nonsense..."
But Li Daoxuan silently took a few steps back and moved away from him.
The Taoist priest in yellow robe sneered and said to Wang Chunsheng: "Do you remember when you entered this village?"
"Of course I remember. I was delayed in collecting herbs in the mountains last night and accidentally entered this village!"
Wang Chunsheng immediately said excitedly.
"Hehe, what did you do last night?"
"I was walking down the street and I met Mr. Chen. He invited me to his wedding. I was a heavy drinker, so I followed him. Then I met the young Taoist priest!"
A light flashed in Li Daoxuan's eyes and he sighed in his heart. It seemed that what the Taoist priest in yellow robe said was true. There was indeed something wrong with Wang Chunsheng.
He asked, "Brother Wang, we just met tonight, and you went to the wedding last night?"
"Yes, I—"
Wang Chunsheng stood there in a daze, his eyes dull, his pupils dilated, revealing a trace of pain.
"Yes, I went to a wedding last night. Why did I go to it again tonight? What happened in between?"
He covered his head, and wisps of black air began to emerge from his body.
"I can't remember, I can't remember..."
Li Daoxuan once again pinched a Five Thunder Talisman in his hand, but the Taoist in yellow robe stepped forward and stood in front of him.
"You died last night!"
The voice of the Taoist priest in yellow robe was like the sound of a huge bell, majestic and unfathomable, with an inexplicable Taoist charm, echoing in the ancestral hall for a long time.
Wang Chunsheng knelt on the ground, his head hung, his eyes invisible, and his voice low and hoarse.
"Yes, I'm dead. Last night, I rushed to save the bride, but they turned into evil spirits and ate me up..."
Wang Chunsheng raised his head, blood gushing out of his body, his eye sockets were empty, and his eyes had disappeared.
"They ate my heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys. That wasn't enough, they dug out my eyes. I died a miserable death. I died a miserable death!"
His resentment was boiling as he rushed towards the Taoist priest in yellow robe.
"The Supreme One has decreed that your lonely soul be liberated, and all ghosts and spirits be blessed. Hurry and follow the command to capture them!"
The Taoist priest in yellow robe took out a black jar from somewhere, chanted a spell, and pointed at Wang Chunsheng.
"Evil creature, hurry up and enter my altar!"
The next moment, Wang Chunsheng's body suddenly turned into countless black mists and was sucked into the small jar.
The Taoist priest in yellow robe closed the lid, only to see that it was still shaking, as if some force was constantly hitting it from inside.
But the Taoist in yellow robe took out a piece of talisman paper and stuck it on the mouth of the altar, and immediately the altar became quiet.
The whole process was as smooth as flowing water, and the Taoist priest in yellow robe was calm and composed, without the slightest sign of panic.
Li Daoxuan moved closer and looked at the black jar in surprise, but he smelled a faint smell of urine.
As if sensing Li Daoxuan's gaze, the Taoist priest in yellow robe chuckled and said, "I came in a hurry and accidentally took the chamber pot. Let's make do with it."
Li Daoxuan was speechless and observed a moment of silence for Brother Wang, who had to endure such inhumane treatment even after his death.
"Master, what's so strange about this village? Why are you... in a coffin?"
After witnessing the other party's amazing Taoist skills, Li Daoxuan decided to quickly curry favor with him and have a chat to improve his impression.
The Taoist priest in yellow robe pointed at the jar and said, "The evil ghosts in this village are actually the same as the man in the jar, they are all earthbound spirits."
"Earthbound spirit?"
Li Daoxuan remembered that these three words had been mentioned in the Demon-Subduing Book, but due to his limited knowledge, he did not know what they meant.
The Taoist priest in yellow robe sighed, "Earthbound spirits are actually quite pitiful. They don't know they are dead after they die. They continue to do the things they did before they died day after day, repeating the day before they died. Once they are awakened by someone, they will turn into evil ghosts."
Li Daoxuan was surprised and asked, "So, all the villagers in the village are earthbound spirits?"
He recalled that at the wedding scene, when Wang Chunsheng went to rescue the bride, he mentioned reporting to the police. It was when the villagers heard those two words that they suddenly turned into evil spirits.
The Taoist priest in yellow robe nodded, glanced at Li Daoxuan, and said, "Since you are bored anyway, I will tell you the story of this village so that you, a little Taoist priest, can gain some knowledge."
Li Daoxuan immediately said, "I am all ears."
As if by magic, the Taoist priest in yellow robe had a wine gourd in his hand. He took a sip of the strong liquor and said, "In the fifth year of Wude, this place was still a peaceful little village called Lijia Village."
"Because the village is deep in the mountains, it is far away from war and is peaceful and stable. There is also a witch in the village who knows a little bit of Taoism. She can protect them from being harassed by mountain ghosts and monsters, so they live a very peaceful life."
"Until one day, an epidemic suddenly broke out in the village."
"Because of the epidemic, many people died in the village. Some people wanted to escape from the village to seek medical treatment, but at that time Liu Heita took advantage of the Turkic people to raise an army and occupied Hongzhou and Dingzhou to confront Li Tang. He heard that the plague had broken out here. In order to prevent the epidemic from spreading to the army, he sent troops to surround this place, and then one night, he had people set fire to the entire village and burned it to ashes!"
Li Daoxuan asked in confusion: "But why is there a wedding in the village?"
The Taoist priest in yellow robe smiled coldly and said, "Do you really think that the epidemic appeared naturally?"
Without waiting for Li Daoxuan to speak, he continued: "See those red lanterns outside? That is actually a Yin Gathering Formation. It was set up by a master to gather the Yin energy from the three mountains in order to raise a powerful ghost!"
"Raising a ghost?"
"I realized something was wrong as soon as I entered the village. There were obvious traces of formations here. Later, I came to the ancestral hall and collected the old ghost in the coffin. He told me that after the epidemic broke out that year, a wandering Taoist priest entered their village."
"The wandering Taoist priest told them that if they wanted to be saved, they had to hold a wedding to ward off the plague. He even mentioned the bride's name, saying that the bride had to be the eldest daughter of the Chen family, because she was born on a yin year, yin month, yin day, and yin hour, and was the most beloved by the Plague God."
At this point, the yellow-robed Taoist said disdainfully, "Bullshit about using happiness to ward off plague. That wandering Taoist clearly has his eyes on the eldest daughter of the Chen family. If a woman with this kind of birth date dies with resentment, she will easily become a fierce ghost. Add to that the years of nourishment from the Gathering Yin Formation, and it's enough to raise a red-robed one!"
"Red?"
Li Daoxuan asked with some doubt.
"After a person dies, if they have deep resentment, they may turn into an evil ghost. This is a ghost with malicious intent. The threat is not that great. If an ordinary person is strong and has a strong yang fire, they can survive it. But if the evil ghost goes one step further and turns into a fierce ghost, it will be a bit tricky."
"No matter how strong their physique is, ordinary people will surely die when facing evil spirits. Even monks are in great danger. Among evil spirits, the most powerful is the one in red. If the evil spirit in red appears, then, within a hundred miles, no living creatures will appear."
Li Daoxuan thought of the bride's red wedding dress, which was as dark red as blood, and felt a chill in his heart.
It turns out that he had once crossed paths with such a powerful red-clothed ghost?
"You should have seen the bride. She is the eldest daughter of the Chen family. She was forced to hold a wedding and was full of resentment. On the wedding night, Liu Heita ordered people to set fire to the village. All the villagers died. From then on, she turned into a ground-bound spirit and attended weddings day after day."
"And the eldest daughter of the Chen family, under the control of the formation, has to get married every night. Every time it happens, her resentment grows deeper. By now, I'm afraid she has already turned into a red ghost out of her resentment!"
The yellow-robed Taoist priest showed a hint of murderous intent in his eyes, and said, "Now that Red Robe has been trained, the wandering Taoist priest should also come back to reap the fruits of his labor. Otherwise, if Red Robe escapes, it will be difficult for him to subdue her again."
