Episode 4 Chapter 037 Ban
The footprints completely disappeared in front of the water dispenser, as if they had stopped abruptly. There was no movement after that. The rest of the night passed like this, but I just felt a strange sense of uneasiness in my heart.
Maybe Master Nan's method was effective, nothing happened that night. When it was daybreak, all the candles had burned out. Master Nan looked at each candle, then put the burnt candle remnants into a small cloth bag and collected them carefully. I asked Master Nan why he collected these things, and Master Nan said that these things had to be disposed of, otherwise they would lead to other troubles.
After putting them away, Master Nan opened a box he brought with him, and I saw a lot of things inside that I had never seen before. Some of them I couldn’t name, I only vaguely knew some of them, such as inkwell, glutinous rice, lime and so on.
Master Nan said that for now the entire house should be sealed off. He said that in exorcism it is called drawing a line on the ground as a prison. Although these things are lurking in the house, as long as they are trapped in place using specific methods and people moving around in the house pay attention to the specific location where they are lurking and don't bump into them, then nothing will happen.
Of course, the complete sealing is to prepare for dispersal, because nothing can be trapped forever. Master Nan said that the longer these things are trapped, the more violent they will become, so we must find a way to send them away as soon as possible after they are trapped.
The best way to trap them is to use ink line. The ink used for ink line is naturally not ordinary ink. Master Nan said that it was made of chicken blood or black dog blood mixed with boy's urine and peach wood ink. However, whether it is chicken blood or black dog blood, they have heavy evil spirits because they kill. Such means of exorcism often have some sequelae, especially when the exorcism cannot be done, this evil spirit will intensify on those things and become a disaster. So now he usually mixes silver powder in it, and uses gold powder when necessary, and then uses cinnabar and other things to make ink for drawing lines.
Master Nan said that he was afraid of accidents when he helped me this time, so he mixed gold powder in it. Of course, a box of ink fountain doesn't actually use much of these things, so the cost is not that big. Maybe I am a layman, so I asked why not just use gold powder, wouldn't it be better? Master Nan shook his head and said that silver powder is indispensable anyway, and the moon waxes and wanes, and water overflows when it is full. Anything will change when it reaches its limit. If it is all gold powder, it may not be as good as mixing gold and silver powder.
I roughly understood about four or five points. Master Nan said he was good at exorcising evil spirits at home, and he was best at using wooden tools, which were the most effective. So I saw that in his box, in addition to the ink fountain, there were also a ruler, a carpenter's pencil, etc., which were all things frequently used by carpenters. I saw there was also a plane, and asked if it could be used to plane that thing. Master Nan said no, it was just because it was a thing that could ward off evil spirits. It could force back or even disperse that thing when necessary, and it had nothing to do with its actual use.
So I smiled and said that I was a little superficial. Shi Hu seemed to know something. He said that each of the molds in Master Nan's box was an antique. The more of these things a person can use to ward off evil spirits, the stronger their effectiveness. Master Nan said that this set of wooden tools was passed down from his ancestors, and it has a history of at least several hundred years, so I don't need to worry.
I then paid attention. Even the box looked very old, but it was not old at all. Instead, it had a round and smooth appearance and a bright luster. Master Nan had already mixed the ink and poured it into the ink fountain. He asked Shi Hu and him to draw the line. As for me, Master Nan said that since I was the one being entangled, it was best not to touch these things to avoid any trouble. I only needed to sit on the sofa.
So after that I watched Master Nan and Shi Hu draw the ink line. Master Nan said that all the walls, floors and ceilings should be drawn. In the words of their industry, it is a dragnet. The purpose is to make sure these things have nowhere to escape and nowhere to hide, in preparation for the subsequent exorcism.
For such a large job, a box of ink fountain is definitely not enough. Moreover, when marking the lines, any furniture that is in the way must be moved away. Master Nan said that we should try to finish marking the lines before dark. We cannot do it at night because it is easy to be ineffective. If we leave it until the next day, the effect will not be very strong. And Master Nan also said that it is best to finish the work before the sun sets.
The ground is easy to bounce on, but it is more difficult to move some furniture such as coffee tables and sofas. The high places and the ceiling are more difficult. For some furniture that cannot be moved, you can only bounce on the furniture. Master Nan said that at this critical juncture, these things are dispensable, and life is the most important thing.
It only took half a day to finish the ink line. The key was due to the skilled techniques of Master Shi Hu and Master Nan. If a stranger were to do it, it might not be finished within a day, and there would be no method for an stranger to do it. I watched from the side and felt that even something that seemed so simple required certain skills.
After I finished drawing the ink line, I just felt like I was in a cage. The feeling was very subtle. Master Nan put away the ink line, and then took something out of the box, it was a wooden adze. Master Nan asked me to clean up the things on the coffee table, and then put the wooden adze in the center of the coffee table. He told me that this was temporarily used for me to ward off evil spirits, and it could ward off evil spirits before the exorcism was completed. After the lamp was done, he took it back.
Master Nan warned me that the wooden adze must not be moved, and that I should not entertain anyone at home recently, whether strangers or acquaintances, to avoid attracting other things. After that, Master Nan used cinnabar to draw a rune-like thing on the coffee table, and then placed the wooden adze on it. I know that these are antique-level items. Not to mention being able to ward off evil spirits, even if they can't, they are still extremely valuable.
After it was done , Master Nan reminded me not to touch it. Shi Hu was afraid that I would get into an accident, so he said he would stay with me at night so I could take care of him. Master Nan didn't say anything else. He said he had to go back to make a paper man to exorcise evil spirits. When I heard the word paper man, I felt a chill all over my body. Master Nan knew why, and he told me not to worry, because this was different from the paper man I had seen before.
When asked why it was different, Master Nan said that the paper man I carried back before was also a paper man used by someone to exorcise evil spirits. It was just that this paper man should have been burned immediately, but for some reason it was kept, so the thing attached to the paper man and caused trouble. Master Nan said he was not sure, and it was possible that someone did it on purpose and sealed it inside the paper man. Now I have burned it. Let’s not talk about how I came up with this idea, but at least I used the correct method.
I was stunned by what Master Nan said. I thought I had caused trouble by destroying the paper man, and I felt a little guilty. Unexpectedly, I used the correct method. Master Nan said that he and Shi Hu were going to deal with the paper man in this way, but I didn't know how I burned it yet, because generally, such things cannot be burned without a way to suppress them. Now I can only say that I was blessed in disguise, and I solved a difficult problem by accident, although bad things still happened to me afterwards.
Actually, I still have a question. When Master Nan took out the wooden adze, I wanted to ask about the Bodhisattva on the table that my mother worshipped at home. Although I haven't burned incense or offered sacrifices to it after my mother passed away, since there is already a thing to ward off evil spirits at home, will there be any conflict if I put another one?
Master Nan then said that he had seen it on the first day he came to our house. This Bodhisattva statue was not for warding off evil spirits. My mother might have been too impatient and welcomed back a ghost Bodhisattva. What is a ghost Bodhisattva? To put it bluntly, it is a polluted Bodhisattva statue with dirty things attached to it. Most people do not know how to distinguish it, so they will take it as a thing to ward off evil spirits and bring it back for worship, not knowing that they have already invited themselves into a big trouble.
I was shocked again. Master Nan said that this was also the reason why he tried his best to persuade my father and mother to return to their hometown as soon as possible. He couldn't say it directly when they were still around because caring too much would lead to confusion. Doing good things with bad intentions is the most terrifying thing. It is better to keep them away before this matter involves them.
Knowing this, I felt a little more at ease. Master Nan drove here by himself and left first. Shi Hu didn't seem to have anything else to do, so he stayed. As I hadn't slept all night, he asked me to go back to bed and sleep for a while. I said he could go to the guest room, but he said he wasn't sleepy for the time being and told me to go to sleep and not to worry about him. He would sit in the living room for a while, and if he felt sleepy he could go to the guest room.
Seeing that he wasn't sleeping, I didn't want to go to bed alone, but he said that I'd better get some sleep. Before exorcising the evil spirits, it's better for us not to sleep at night to avoid wasting our efforts. So I had to make up for the sleep during the day so that I could get through the night. Finally, I went to bed.
It's amazing, I slept very soundly. It was the first time I slept so soundly. I was basically back to the time before the nightmare happened. I would sleep until I woke up without even having a dream. And when I woke up, I didn't feel more tired or even scared. It was almost 18:00 when I woke up, so I got up and went to the living room. Shi Hu was still sitting on the sofa, playing on the computer. I asked him if he hadn't slept yet, and he said he had woken up after sleeping for a while.
He used my computer and told me that he had an email and asked me if I wanted to read it. So I sat over and he handed me the computer. I opened the email and there was indeed one, but when I saw the name, I had a bad feeling, so I said I didn't want to read it. Shi Hu asked why, and I told him about the emails I had received a few times before. I was afraid that this time it was another weird email.
Shi Hu understood, so he said that we should not order it yet, in case something happens. Then I said I would go downstairs to buy dinner, but Shi Hu was worried about me going alone, so he said he would go with me. In the middle of the trip, he received a call, which seemed to be from the police station. He didn't say anything, but just kept saying "um" in response.
