This time, the victim was the son of an important leader in this city. It was the same as the other previous two cases. His head exploded, which resulted in his instant death.
Although this guy wasn’t a top leader, he held a lot of power. He immediately learned about my existence from Jiang Teng.
After telling me about the new incident, the bodyguard smiled. “Mr. Zhang, if you can take revenge for the victims, you will forge a strong relationship with the people in this city…”
I was speechless and told myself that I hated having this sort of connection to government officials. In some cases, even if I solved the situation, they would try to kill me to shut me up. And, if I couldn’t solve the problem, it was likely I would never be able to run my shop again. It was a difficult situation.
“Do you want to go to the scene?”
I nodded. If the leader knew about me, I had to go and take a look.
Along the way, the bodyguard carefully advised me, “Mr. Zhang, when we arrive, please mind your behavior. Do not get into a fight with the leader.”
Even if he didn’t tell me, I knew that much. Well, good citizens shouldn’t fight against the officials. I understood this way of life.
When we arrived at the place, our car was stopped outside the iron gate. A policeman finished checking us thoroughly. He even took things like snacks away.
Another policeman guided us through layers of security to the living room. In the middle of the living room was a crystal coffin. I could see the body inside through the transparent walls of the coffin.
In front of the sofa was an outline of a human figure marked by white chalk. This place seemed to be the death scene.
This body was similar to the previous two. Except for the exploded head, there was no other wound. I asked the bodyguard and learned about a different detail about this case: The murder took place in the morning when the sun had already risen…
Although the morning sunlight wasn’t very strong, this living room was naturally well-lit. Normally, a spirit wouldn't dare to show up during such a time. To me, it was very, very bad news.
After I had carefully checked the scene, I was brought to the backyard. The bodyguard wanted to follow me, but the policeman stopped him.
Jiang Teng was sitting with a classy, bespectacled man. From Jiang Teng’s proper posture, I knew he was tense. Meanwhile, the elegant man looked more relaxed.
When he saw me, the elegant man waved his hand. The policeman left.
Then, the man assessed me from head to toe. “I heard from Old Jiang that you have a lot of talents. I’ll give you three days to capture that murderous, ghostly thing. Is it a problem?” He drawled his words. His finger tapped the table from time to time.
As I hadn’t answered him yet, the man added, “Mr. Zhang, you have many good things in your shop, right? I guess some of them are national treasures.”
I was startled inwardly. This man had investigated me thoroughly within one day! I knew he had an important background.
“It’s no problem!” The corner of my mouth twitched when I agreed with him. But in my heart, I was cursing the eighteen generations of his family.
On the way back, I didn’t talk to Jiang Teng. This man wasn’t reliable at all. I hadn’t made any progress on his case, and he had directly sold me out.
Jiang Teng checked me. He didn’t have the guts to talk. The bodyguard knew the situation wasn’t good. He kept his mind on the road and didn’t say anything.
As soon as the car stopped, I was attracted by the noise outside the villa. The gray-haired man had come back!
He was like an enraged lion, burning the paper money in front of the villa. The bodyguard had muffled him. He couldn’t talk, apart from letting out some low whimpers.
I turned to take a look at Jiang Teng. He was looking at the old man with hostile eyes. I was shocked and felt a murderous intent from Jiang Teng.
When Jiang Teng recognized that I was looking at him, he put away his cruel countenance and said reluctantly, “Forgive me, we’ve bumped into a trouble-maker.”
Then, he asked the bodyguard to get out of the car and direct his staff to shoo the man away. When the old man was thrown out of the gate, he shot me a menacing glance.
I was sure that my eyes weren’t blurred this time. However, I didn’t think about it much. Since I had sat with Jiang Teng in his car, he might have thought that I was Jiang Teng’s new hound.
I didn’t linger in that thought. After taking a deep breath, I told the bodyguard, “Get me a pot of cooked glutinous rice and a bowl of fresh rooster blood immediately. I will also need two wax candles and a sheet of white paper!”
The bodyguard didn’t say anything and rushed to prepare the items.
“What are you going to do?” asked Jiang Teng.
I spat the words, “Congregating the spirits!”
Congregating the spirits was similar to Ouija, the game young people liked to play, just more dangerous. It was easy to invite spirits when playing Ouija, but it was tough to send them away. The spirits one could invite might even be relatively powerful and with deep hatred. However, as long as the user followed the rules, they wouldn’t be harmed.
Congregating the spirits was different. When one congregated spirits, they would massively invite all kinds of ghosts and spirits. If they were careless, they could even invite super strong spirits. If they did, those guys would not leave without a sacrifice!
I had no other choice now. If I couldn’t solve the spirit within three days, I would be finished. I should try it once. If my luck was good, perhaps I could summon the spirit that was causing trouble.
The items I requested were normal and easy to find. Around an hour later, the bodyguard returned.
I told him to turn off all the lights in the villa. In the end, we only had a pair of wax candles to light up the living room. They lit the room with their faint yellow flames.
When I felt the time was right, I told Jiang Teng and his people, “All of you should go and wait in your rooms. No matter what noise you hear, do not come out!”
As they were already scared, they left immediately. No one wanted to linger.
I shook my head reluctantly and spread the white paper sheet on the table. I directly dipped my finger into rooster blood and drew some red lines on the paper. The cooked glutinous rice was divided into four parts and placed in the four different corners of the paper. Together, they formed a simple Spirit Congregating Formation.
Then, I squatted in front of the table and respectfully read the spell. “Sacrifice with blood, using food to raise…”
As I read the spell, the red lines I had drawn on the paper slowly glowed. As the formation started to work, the red lines shone brighter. When I finished reading the spell, the light created by the red lines on the paper floated up and created a strange but complicated diagram in the air.
The Spirit Congregating Formation started to spin faster and faster. As the formation was moving, more and more spirits started to follow the light and come in.
At first, there were some small ghosts. I could use some joss sticks and yellow paper money to send them away. Then, relatively strong ghosts came. I could use a drop of blood to send them off. However, as the spirits with stronger power arrived afterward, I had to struggle hard to deal with them.
I held the Yin and Yang Umbrella and cautiously looked at the ghosts that were fixing their eyes at me like a pack of hungry wolves. I couldn’t help but curse. “Damn it! I don’t want to be drained before that thing comes!”
After cursing, I decided to wait for two more minutes. If it didn’t come, I would deactivate the Spirit Congregating Formation immediately!
As soon as I had this thought, a cold wind blew into the room. The ghosts that were bargaining with me immediately fled when they felt the wind.
Instantaneously, a murderous aura slapped my face. My legs felt like jelly. However, it was the only chance I had. Holding onto the Sirius Whip tightly, I was ready to face the enemy.
This time, the victim was the son of an important leader in this city. It was the same as the other previous two cases. His head exploded, which resulted in his instant death.
Although this guy wasn’t a top leader, he held a lot of power. He immediately learned about my existence from Jiang Teng.
After telling me about the new incident, the bodyguard smiled. “Mr. Zhang, if you can take revenge for the victims, you will forge a strong relationship with the people in this city…”
I was speechless and told myself that I hated having this sort of connection to government officials. In some cases, even if I solved the situation, they would try to kill me to shut me up. And, if I couldn’t solve the problem, it was likely I would never be able to run my shop again. It was a difficult situation.
“Do you want to go to the scene?”
I nodded. If the leader knew about me, I had to go and take a look.
Along the way, the bodyguard carefully advised me, “Mr. Zhang, when we arrive, please mind your behavior. Do not get into a fight with the leader.”
Even if he didn’t tell me, I knew that much. Well, good citizens shouldn’t fight against the officials. I understood this way of life.
When we arrived at the place, our car was stopped outside the iron gate. A policeman finished checking us thoroughly. He even took things like snacks away.
Another policeman guided us through layers of security to the living room. In the middle of the living room was a crystal coffin. I could see the body inside through the transparent walls of the coffin.
In front of the sofa was an outline of a human figure marked by white chalk. This place seemed to be the death scene.
This body was similar to the previous two. Except for the exploded head, there was no other wound. I asked the bodyguard and learned about a different detail about this case: The murder took place in the morning when the sun had already risen…
Although the morning sunlight wasn’t very strong, this living room was naturally well-lit. Normally, a spirit wouldn't dare to show up during such a time. To me, it was very, very bad news.
After I had carefully checked the scene, I was brought to the backyard. The bodyguard wanted to follow me, but the policeman stopped him.
Jiang Teng was sitting with a classy, bespectacled man. From Jiang Teng’s proper posture, I knew he was tense. Meanwhile, the elegant man looked more relaxed.
When he saw me, the elegant man waved his hand. The policeman left.
Then, the man assessed me from head to toe. “I heard from Old Jiang that you have a lot of talents. I’ll give you three days to capture that murderous, ghostly thing. Is it a problem?” He drawled his words. His finger tapped the table from time to time.
As I hadn’t answered him yet, the man added, “Mr. Zhang, you have many good things in your shop, right? I guess some of them are national treasures.”
I was startled inwardly. This man had investigated me thoroughly within one day! I knew he had an important background.
“It’s no problem!” The corner of my mouth twitched when I agreed with him. But in my heart, I was cursing the eighteen generations of his family.
On the way back, I didn’t talk to Jiang Teng. This man wasn’t reliable at all. I hadn’t made any progress on his case, and he had directly sold me out.
Jiang Teng checked me. He didn’t have the guts to talk. The bodyguard knew the situation wasn’t good. He kept his mind on the road and didn’t say anything.
As soon as the car stopped, I was attracted by the noise outside the villa. The gray-haired man had come back!
He was like an enraged lion, burning the paper money in front of the villa. The bodyguard had muffled him. He couldn’t talk, apart from letting out some low whimpers.
I turned to take a look at Jiang Teng. He was looking at the old man with hostile eyes. I was shocked and felt a murderous intent from Jiang Teng.
When Jiang Teng recognized that I was looking at him, he put away his cruel countenance and said reluctantly, “Forgive me, we’ve bumped into a trouble-maker.”
Then, he asked the bodyguard to get out of the car and direct his staff to shoo the man away. When the old man was thrown out of the gate, he shot me a menacing glance.
I was sure that my eyes weren’t blurred this time. However, I didn’t think about it much. Since I had sat with Jiang Teng in his car, he might have thought that I was Jiang Teng’s new hound.
I didn’t linger in that thought. After taking a deep breath, I told the bodyguard, “Get me a pot of cooked glutinous rice and a bowl of fresh rooster blood immediately. I will also need two wax candles and a sheet of white paper!”
The bodyguard didn’t say anything and rushed to prepare the items.
“What are you going to do?” asked Jiang Teng.
I spat the words, “Congregating the spirits!”
Congregating the spirits was similar to Ouija, the game young people liked to play, just more dangerous. It was easy to invite spirits when playing Ouija, but it was tough to send them away. The spirits one could invite might even be relatively powerful and with deep hatred. However, as long as the user followed the rules, they wouldn’t be harmed.
Congregating the spirits was different. When one congregated spirits, they would massively invite all kinds of ghosts and spirits. If they were careless, they could even invite super strong spirits. If they did, those guys would not leave without a sacrifice!
I had no other choice now. If I couldn’t solve the spirit within three days, I would be finished. I should try it once. If my luck was good, perhaps I could summon the spirit that was causing trouble.
The items I requested were normal and easy to find. Around an hour later, the bodyguard returned.
I told him to turn off all the lights in the villa. In the end, we only had a pair of wax candles to light up the living room. They lit the room with their faint yellow flames.
When I felt the time was right, I told Jiang Teng and his people, “All of you should go and wait in your rooms. No matter what noise you hear, do not come out!”
As they were already scared, they left immediately. No one wanted to linger.
I shook my head reluctantly and spread the white paper sheet on the table. I directly dipped my finger into rooster blood and drew some red lines on the paper. The cooked glutinous rice was divided into four parts and placed in the four different corners of the paper. Together, they formed a simple Spirit Congregating Formation.
Then, I squatted in front of the table and respectfully read the spell. “Sacrifice with blood, using food to raise…”
As I read the spell, the red lines I had drawn on the paper slowly glowed. As the formation started to work, the red lines shone brighter. When I finished reading the spell, the light created by the red lines on the paper floated up and created a strange but complicated diagram in the air.
The Spirit Congregating Formation started to spin faster and faster. As the formation was moving, more and more spirits started to follow the light and come in.
At first, there were some small ghosts. I could use some joss sticks and yellow paper money to send them away. Then, relatively strong ghosts came. I could use a drop of blood to send them off. However, as the spirits with stronger power arrived afterward, I had to struggle hard to deal with them.
I held the Yin and Yang Umbrella and cautiously looked at the ghosts that were fixing their eyes at me like a pack of hungry wolves. I couldn’t help but curse. “Damn it! I don’t want to be drained before that thing comes!”
After cursing, I decided to wait for two more minutes. If it didn’t come, I would deactivate the Spirit Congregating Formation immediately!
As soon as I had this thought, a cold wind blew into the room. The ghosts that were bargaining with me immediately fled when they felt the wind.
Instantaneously, a murderous aura slapped my face. My legs felt like jelly. However, it was the only chance I had. Holding onto the Sirius Whip tightly, I was ready to face the enemy.
