Chapter 63: Ten Evils Divine Fiends (2)

I had already found what I was looking for. I yanked the power cord, and the room soon plunged back into darkness.

"How did Zhang Rong catch up to you?"

"Fuck, I got lost in this hellhole. I was just about to find a random room to hide in, and guess what I saw?" Yuan Feng kept his voice extremely low, sounding secretive.

"Did you see a ghost?"

I only said it to test him, but Yuan Feng nodded emphatically. "You saw them too, right? In that middle building."

Fear had drained all the color from his face, and he gestured frantically. "There were eight or nine of them standing in that room. At first, I thought they were people, but when I crouched below the window and peeked inside, I realized their faces were as white as paper. They were spouting total nonsense, too."

"What were they saying?" Sensing something was wrong, I pressed him for details.

Yuan Feng shook his head. "I could only make out a few words here and there. Something about a spirit bus, the ten evils... stuff like that."

"Where is this room? I need to see it for myself." The final mystery was about to be unraveled. The causes, the consequences—the climax of the night had finally arrived.

"Right in the middle of the crematorium. The main doors are locked, though, so the only way there is to detour through the ash repository on the side."

"You certainly know your way around."

I laced my words with insinuation, but Yuan Feng completely missed the subtext. "I'd advise against going right now. Zhang Rong is still out there, and I doubt she's gone far."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful." I waited another few minutes until it was completely silent outside, then took Yiyi's hand and gently pushed the door open.

"Let's go! Move quickly." Just as I was about to step out, someone grabbed my clothes. I looked back to see that eerie little girl. She stared at me, refusing to let go, and her lips parted to deliver a single sentence: "Don't go, you'll die."

Her voice left me momentarily stunned. I wanted to say something, but far down the corridor, Zhang Rong—her hair a disheveled mess—had already spotted us.

"Split up and run! Forget about everything else!"

We sprinted through the corridor to the center of the crematorium. This was the memorial hall, a place that should have been solemn and dignified.

Now, however, silhouettes flickered within, and the faint sounds of weeping, laughter, and hushed conversations drifted out.

Gripping Yiyi's hand tightly, I detoured toward the ash repository just as Yuan Feng had instructed. "Yiyi, no matter what happens, do not come out! Hold on until dawn! You must hold on until dawn!"

Ten or so minutes later, Yuan Feng's agonizing screams echoed from outside. Zhang Rong must have caught him.

This deranged serial killer who preyed on women had ultimately fallen by a woman's hand.

The stars hung low. The moment just before dawn was always when the night was at its darkest.

I pulled out my phone. "Half-Immortal Liu, are you there? The final battle is about to begin!"

"Battle? What are you going to battle with?" Half-Immortal Liu replied with a sighing emoji. "While you were running all over the crematorium earlier, I mostly figured out the feng shui layout of this place."

"The crematorium beneath your feet isn't meant for releasing souls at all. It's designed to transform yin energy into a malevolent aura to help a peerless, vicious entity break free."

"Vicious entity?"

"Don't go thinking you can fight something like that just because you've got a tough fate and a few talismans in hand. An existence of that level could blow a single breath and wipe you off the face of the earth without leaving a corpse."

"It might be vicious, but it's not like I don't have a fighting chance." I took out the yellow paper given to me by the Qingtu Temple Daoist. There was only a single line written on it: "The Spirit Bus hits the road, the dead return home, ten ghosts missing one, the fierce demon unforgiven!"

My previous livestreams at the Anxin Hotel and Xinhu High School had introduced me to two different Divine Fiends—yuan chen and Red Luan.

Drawing inferences from those encounters, I had looked up a lot of information on the Eight Characters Divine Fiends. While most of it was fabricated nonsense, it at least taught me what kind of Divine Fiends existed.

I had heard the words 'ten evils' once before from the old woman at the mass grave through the Soul-Pulling Dream-Lingering Talisman. Then, those same words had appeared on the Qingtu Temple Daoist's note. The conclusion was obvious—the Eight Characters Divine Fiend I was facing in this livestream was the ten evils!

The Spirit Bus hits the road, the dead return home. The people and ghosts on the bus each represented one of the ten evils. Just as the saying went about the ten unpardonable evils, only by gathering all ten of these individuals together could their fate patterns form the complete Ten Evils Divine Fiends!

The last two phrases on the yellow paper were the reason I dared to stand my ground: "ten ghosts missing one, the fierce demon unforgiven."

The ten evils had not been fully gathered. They were still missing one, meaning the vicious entity suppressed beneath the crematorium couldn't escape. Tonight, I should only have to deal with nine Little Ghosts.

I had considered this earlier. The girl's name was Liu Yiyi. Ten ghosts missing one—it was highly likely that she was the missing 'one' (yi).

Because of that, I actually suspected Yiyi was a ghost for a while. But then I saw the postcard in her backpack. The girl's mother was named Tie Yi, a name that also contained a character pronounced identically to the word 'one' (yi).

Furthermore, I had found her mother's name on the crematorium's computer. More than a week ago, her mother had already been cremated.

It was incredibly cruel, which was why I never dared to ask Yiyi about it directly. As for who was calling Yiyi every night, I could actually hazard a pretty good guess.

If the Woman in Red could use a phone to harm people, then souls lingering in the mortal realm could just as easily use a phone to pass on their final lingering affections.

It was just like that old woman I saw when I boarded the bus at Miyun Mansion—burning paper offerings in the dead of night to call back a soul.

She hadn't been asking for wealth or luck. She merely wanted one last look at the husband who had weathered decades of storms by her side.

When a person died, it was like a lamp going out, forever separating the living and the dead. But ghosts weren't always out to cause harm. Some simply endured cycles of reincarnation because they refused to forget the very first time they laid eyes on you.

Yiyi was kind-hearted by nature; there was no way she could have committed crimes that belonged among the ten unpardonable evils. Which brought up the crucial question: who was the final member of the ten evils?

Based on my guess, it was very likely Yiyi's mother.

She was a gentle and respectable mother, but it was entirely possible that she harbored hidden sins in other aspects of her life.

In order to help the vicious entity break free, the Ten Evils Divine Fiends needed to fuse into one. Their individual consciousnesses would be erased, and all the mother's memories of Yiyi would dissipate along with them. This was something Yiyi's mother absolutely could not tolerate.

Since she refused to fuse, the mastermind behind the scenes naturally had to find a way to force her submission. And that was why Yiyi had been called onto the Route 14 Spirit Bus in the dead of night.

"The Spirit Bus hits the road, the dead return home." This bus served only the dead. If I hadn't gotten on board, I shuddered to think how those wandering spirits and wild ghosts would have tormented the innocent Yiyi.

That was the deduction closest to the truth, and it was the very reason I had boarded at Miyun Mansion. The commission from the Underworld had been initiated by Yiyi's mother, and my primary mission tonight was to protect Yiyi.

As long as Yiyi stayed alive, her mother would never agree to the fusion of the ten evils, and the vicious entity would remain trapped.

Having sorted out the cause and effect, I pulled out the Maoshan Seven Dipper Talisman. "Half-Immortal Liu, it's a matter of life and death! Hurry up and teach me how to use this Seven Astral Talisman!"

This talisman was my trump card. With a little luck, stalling until dawn wouldn't be a problem.

"Little friend, can you not read? You literally just called it the Maoshan Seven Dipper Talisman. This Daoist master here practices Qingcheng immortal arts! Our two mountains are separated by thousands of miles. How the hell am I supposed to teach you?"

I was completely dumbfounded the moment Half-Immortal Liu's comment popped up. "Didn't the Qingcheng incantation you gave me earlier work just fine on the Way-Guiding Talisman?"

"The Way-Guiding Talisman is just common Talisman Paper you can find anywhere on the streets. The Seven Astral Talisman is authentic Maoshan Talisman Paper meant for suppressing evil demons! Anyone who isn't a direct disciple isn't even allowed to lay eyes on it, so how would an outsider like me know its activation methods? Why don't you try the Thunder Talisman incantation I taught you earlier?"

"Try my ass!" I nearly smashed my phone onto the ground. I had spent the whole night racking my brains, and just when I was thrilled to have finally unraveled the mystery, a single sentence from Half-Immortal Liu kicked me straight from heaven back down to hell.

'Looks like I'll have to learn some real skills from Blind Liu in the future... assuming I can survive this.' I looked at the stream chat with a bitter expression. Although I was determined to study the Dao and cultivate, that was entirely contingent on me living past tonight.

"Emergency! Do any of you livestream viewers know Maoshan Daoist Arts? Hurry up and send a couple of comments to tell me!"

"I know! Streamer, listen closely and chant with me: The Great Tathagata's Vessel of Compassion saves all, the bright mirror is no stand either! No need to thank me, I'm the guy from the Harbin Buddhist Academy last time!"

"Holy shit, an alum of the Harbin Buddhist 'Harvard'! Pardon my disrespect!"

"Are you guys really in the mood to joke around at a time like this? Streamer, I'm a true fan! I'm the sales manager at the Taoyuan Cemetery. Once you kick the bucket, I'll set you up with the all-inclusive VIP emperor-tier funeral package!"

Outside the door, Zhang Rong was pacing back and forth in the corridor, while the sounds of crying and laughter from the adjacent hall grew increasingly ear-piercing.

Watching the stream chat derail into utter chaos, I had no choice but to pull out the other talisman—that blood-red, ominous talisman!