Chapter 210: Where Is It?

Ye Bing, always so aloof and proud, sat haggard on the edge of the sofa. Stripped of all her radiant glamour, she was just an ordinary woman.

I remembered how domineering and high-spirited she used to be. Seeing her reduced to such a wretched state, I slowly set down my teacup. "I will help you catch the Little Ghost, but karma demands a toll. In the future, you must agree to one request from me, unconditionally."

I said this because the terms draping hemp, Mourning Guest, and mourning gate had once come from Mr. Gu. This was very likely tied to the Two-Faced Buddha's scheme. I needed to prepare in advance so I wouldn't be caught off guard when the time came.

Ye Bing clutched the hem of her skirt with both hands. "As long as it doesn't violate..."

"You don't have the luxury of a choice. Just tell me if you agree or not." I picked up my black bag, stood up, and headed for the door.

Just as my hand touched the lock, Ye Bing's voice came from the living room: "I agree. I'll do whatever you ask. I just beg you to drive away that Ghost Infant. Don't let it torment me anymore."

She dropped her head to her chest, her heart swelling with humiliation, sorrow, and a trace of bitter regret.

"Good. I accept your commission."

To me, this was nothing more than a transaction—or at least, that was what I told myself.

Returning to the room, I asked for a few more details. The Little Ghost usually appeared without warning and without a sound, only showing itself after midnight or once Ye Bing fell asleep.

I inspected Jiang Fei and Ye Bing's bedrooms. They were well-ventilated, opening to the north and south—not the sort of place that would gather evil entities.

Looking out the window, I saw sunflowers and other sun-loving plants thriving in the courtyard. The vegetation was lush and growing well. While this place couldn't exactly be called a Feng Shui treasure land, it was at least a high-class residential area.

"The Feng Shui is excellent. No wonder that Little Ghost only dares to show itself at midnight when the Yin energy is at its heaviest."

Jiang Fei's villa had two floors. The first floor held the guest rooms, while both women lived upstairs.

I checked everywhere and found nothing in the house that violated the basic principles of Feng Shui. "We currently hold the advantages of favorable terrain and human unity. That Little Ghost won't be able to make any huge waves. Tonight, just follow my instructions. Don't panic or give in to fear, or you'll just throw yourselves into disarray."

"Do you need any tools to perform your rituals?" Jiang Fei asked helpfully, leading me into a storage room. "I heard people say that ghosts, evil spirits, and other foul things are afraid of black dog blood, glutinous rice, and realgar wine, so I had someone get a lot of it."

Inside the storage room sat two large bags of glutinous rice, sealed containers of black dog blood, and three small jugs of realgar wine. In the corner, a rather magnificent-looking rooster with a red comb and snow-white feathers strutted back and forth.

"You're quite well-prepared." Theoretically, these items really could ward off evil. Folk practitioners often used such things to compensate when they lacked talismans to cast spells. But the problem was that I practiced the orthodox Profound Truth Mental Method; I didn't know the first thing about these rustic occult tricks. To destroy the Little Ghost, I would rely entirely on the Suppression Talisman I carried.

"Grab a handful of glutinous rice and keep it in your pockets. You can also carry some sunflower seeds, mung beans, and other things that grow toward the sun. As for the black dog blood and that rooster, keep them locked up for now. We don't want to startle the Little Ghost and scare it into hiding."

As the sun set, Ye Bing and Jiang Fei headed to the kitchen to cook. Ye Weilong stayed behind, vowing to expose my fraud so the two beautiful sisters could see my "ugly" true colors.

I figured having a bit more human vitality around couldn't hurt, so I let him be. I just hoped whatever happened tonight wouldn't leave this "little young master" with any more psychological trauma. His fragile heart couldn't take much more abuse.

Nothing unusual happened before midnight. The four of us finished dinner and sat on the sofa to watch a movie.

"Weilong, let's go to our room and rest. Where would there be ghosts in this world? It's all just fools scaring themselves, made up by people with impure motives." Jia Qingbai had spent the whole day crying and throwing tantrums. Having exhausted her energy, she was already incredibly drowsy.

Ye Weilong had also begun to doubt me. The house was brightly lit, and there were security cameras and patrols outside. How could this place possibly be haunted?

"If you two really can't hold on, go to sleep. Take any bedroom on the first floor," Jiang Fei said, taking a sip of coffee from the table. Both she and Ye Bing had seen the Little Ghost with their own eyes, so they were forcing themselves to stay awake, terrified of falling asleep.

"Let's go, Weilong." Like a boneless green snake, Jia Qingbai hooked her arms around Ye Weilong's neck, leaning most of her weight against him. This time, Ye Weilong didn't push her away. Moving in tacit agreement, the two of them retreated into the innermost guest room on the first floor.

I checked my watch, turning to Jiang Fei and Ye Bing. "You two go to sleep as well. Act just like you normally do. If you stay out here too long, you might put the Little Ghost on alert."

Around one in the morning, Jiang Fei and Ye Bing returned to their bedroom on the second floor. I turned off all the lights in the house and sat alone in the living room.

In the darkness, it felt as if something had come alive, opening its cunning, cruel eyes as it hid in the shadows.

People naturally feared the dark, but I was long accustomed to this terrifying pitch-black environment. My eyes quickly adjusted. Hiding the Suppression Talisman in the palm of my hand, I pulled out the Underworld Live Show's Large-Screen Phone.

I panned the screen across the living room. Nothing out of the ordinary.

An ordinary Little Ghost possessed meager magical power; even when harming someone, it wouldn't dare reveal its form so brazenly. But this Little Ghost of Jiang Chen's was incredibly unique.

I still remembered the day of the wedding banquet. The tables were packed with guests, and the Yang Qi was at its absolute peak. Yet even then, the Little Ghost had dared to show itself, attempting to climb onto Ye Bing's body in front of a massive crowd. That was definitely not something an ordinary spectral entity could do.

"This won't be easy to deal with. I'd better be careful." Deep into the night, the ashtray on the coffee table was already overflowing with cigarette butts. Just as I tossed the empty cigarette box into the trash can, I suddenly heard a bedroom door creak open on the second floor, followed by someone stepping out with extremely light footsteps.

"Who is it?" I looked up. Jiang Fei was standing on the wooden staircase. She wore her pajamas and, seemingly afraid her footsteps might disturb the others, was barefoot. Like a nocturnal cat, she crept softly toward me.

"Has the Little Ghost appeared?"

Facing my question, Jiang Fei shook her head. She sat down on the sofa across from me, lost in her own thoughts.

I found her behavior strange, but it wasn't my place to pry. I simply urged her to hurry back to her room. "Tonight is not peaceful. It's best if you stay obediently inside your room."

Jiang Fei didn't answer. She rubbed her wrist, and only after a long silence did she muster the courage to speak. "Has the Red Cord of Marriage that once connected you and me already been severed?"

"Why are you asking this?" I frowned, reaching for a cigarette, only for my hand to find an empty pocket. "The red cord has been severed. There are no longer any ties between us."

"Since the red cord is already severed, then if I still can't forget certain things—if I can still remember every single detail of that night—does that mean I..."

"Quiet!" I pressed a finger to my lips, panning the Underworld Live Show Phone. A black shadow seemed to have just flashed across the screen at an incredibly fast speed.

"It's here."

I had Jiang Fei follow closely behind me as I walked in the direction the shadow had vanished, Suppression Talisman in hand.

"The storage room? What is that Little Ghost doing here?" The room was filled entirely with items used to ward off evil. The fact that the Little Ghost had actively run toward this place baffled me.

"Jiang Fei, when did you buy that realgar wine and black dog blood?"

"They were delivered yesterday. My sister-in-law and I didn't know if they would actually be of any use."

"I wouldn't count on it."

I pressed my ear against the door panel. A strange noise was coming from inside the storage room, sounding like someone ripping cloth.

I took a deep breath, gripped the doorknob, and shoved the door open.

A faint scent of blood drifted into my nose. That majestic rooster was now lying in a pool of blood, its neck twisted at a grotesque angle. Snow-white feathers were scattered all over the floor.

Realizing the situation had gone south, I cast my eyes toward the Underworld Live Show Phone. On the screen, an infant with pale white skin was straddling the rooster, frantically plucking out its feathers.

"Found it!" The moment I spotted the infant, it saw me too. A grotesque, exaggerated smile cracked across its ugly little face, revealing a pitch-black maw completely filled with dense, razor-sharp teeth.

"Five Directions Divine Generals, lend me your dharma might!" The Little Ghost had appeared. I immediately began chanting the incantation, preparing to strike with the Suppression Talisman. But this spectral creature was remarkably sharp; before I could even finish the spell, it vanished from the phone screen.

"Where did it run off to?"

Its speed was terrifying. I swept the screen around in a full circle but couldn't catch a glimpse of it.

"When the single rooster crows, all under heaven is white. Roosters are inherently auspicious creatures that expel Yin and attract Yang. Yet this Little Ghost could actually slaughter a red-combed, white-feathered rooster. Its evil nature is overwhelming. I truly underestimated it before." Pinching the talisman tightly between my fingers, I backed out of the storage room.

"Did you spot the Little Ghost?" Only then did Jiang Fei notice the blood flowing across the room. The rooster she had asked someone to buy was already dead. Its corpse was a gruesome sight, stripped of more than half its feathers.

She clamped a hand over her mouth. Over the past few days, although the Little Ghost had frequently appeared at night, it had never actually harmed her in any tangible way, leaving her with a lingering sense of false hope.

But seeing the rooster's fate in the storage room today served as a brutal awakening for Jiang Fei. Spectral entities were spectral entities in the end. Once targeted by them, the outcome was usually tragic.

I retreated into the hallway. Unsure of where the Little Ghost had scurried off to, I held up the phone and searched all around the house.

Not long after, the bathroom faucet suddenly turned on. The rushing sound of splashing water was particularly chilling in the dead of night.

I hurried over and flicked on the bathroom light. The white tiles reflected a faint glow, but the room was completely empty.

Turning off the faucet, I stared at the water droplets splattered across the floor. Suddenly, without any warning, a tiny handprint materialized on the tiles.

"It's right here!" I aimed the screen down at my feet, but there was absolutely nothing to see. "Where did it run off to now?"

Suspicious and uncertain, I suddenly felt a burst of icy cold against my forehead. A blast of Yin wind seemed to sweep past me. The sensation was exactly like someone raising a sharp dagger to stab directly into my eye sockets!

My reaction was a beat too slow. By the time I raised my head, my gaze froze on the vanity mirror in front of me.

As droplets of water slid down the glass, a hideous Ghost Infant with pale white skin was clinging to my shoulder. Its outstretched fingers were slowly reaching for my eyeball!