Chapter 2 – Prologue (Part 2)

As he stepped into the room, Old Man Wei staggered slightly and supported himself against the doorframe. A startled cry came from behind, as if one of his companions had been frightened by the tragedy inside and stumbled away in panic. He didn’t stop them, only took a deep breath, straightened up, and walked step by step into the room.

The room was lit, and two corpses lay haphazardly on the floor. The male corpse had long since stopped twitching, its face a bluish-black, as if dehydrated and shriveled. The female corpse’s tongue hung from her lips, its color nearly matching the dark handprint on her neck. Under the pale light, the two corpses looked as if they were on the verge of reanimating, appearing hideously ferocious. Old Man Wei trembled for a long while, saying nothing, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of white glutinous rice, scattering it over the two bodies with a rustle.

“The evil has been dealt with. They won’t rise,” Zhang Huaiyan said casually.

Old Man Wei glanced at the unchanged rice and nodded numbly. His clouded eyes swept the room once more before he suddenly asked, “The child? They should have a child, about three and a half years old…”

“He’s alive. He’s in the yard.”

The answer clearly surprised the old man, and he looked up sharply. “The child’s unharmed?!”

“He’s fine. He’s with my son…” Before Zhang Huaiyan could finish, the old man rushed out the door.

At that moment, half of the Wei Family Village was inside the room cleaning up, while the other half stood guard outside. The yard was nearly empty, and the two children were quietly hiding in a corner, unnoticed. Old Man Wei immediately spotted the little boy curled up beside the other child and hurried over. After staring in disbelief for a moment, he finally reached out with a trembling hand, “Ah Yang, Grandpa’s here to take you home…”

However, the child shrank back in fear at the old man’s call, gripping the sleeve of the boy beside him tightly and trying to hide. The boy also grew nervous, eyeing the old man suspiciously, clearly doubting his identity. He half-rose to shield the child in front of him. Zhang Huaiyan walked over at this point, chuckling wryly at the awkward scene. But when his gaze fell on the water jar where the child had been hiding, he frowned, stepped forward, and reached inside, pulling out an object.

It was a cylindrical item, resembling a finger bone, with a trace of fresh blood on it—child’s blood. As Zhang Huaiyan touched it, he noticed a faint pattern carved into it, a simple formation. To the untrained eye, it would seem insignificant, but to a Taoist or shaman skilled in yin-yang arts, it was unmistakably a ritual object. However, bone artifacts like this lacked durability and couldn’t hold much spiritual power, so few people still used them.

But a ritual object was still a ritual object, and if it had been activated by child’s blood… Zhang Huaiyan’s expression changed. He stepped onto the courtyard wall and leaped onto the roof. From his vantage point, his face darkened. In the pitch-black night, several houses in the village were still lit, and at first glance, nothing seemed amiss. But to the trained eye of a Longhu Mountain disciple, he could see a flowing current of life energy, with the lights corresponding to the seven passes of the Big Dipper. In Taoist divination, the seven passes were of great importance—the Mao Mountain Sect used them to exorcise ghosts and subdue demons, the Topography Sect used them for geomancy, and the Longhu Mountain lineage used them for blessings and divination. However, Zhang Huaiyan had primarily studied talismans and seals, so he wasn’t well-versed in techniques for observing energy flows and hadn’t noticed the formation earlier.

This grand formation before him was clearly man-made, reversing the seven passes, likely using the life energy of the entire village to summon evil—either to empower a ritual object or to curse someone to death. It was an utterly sinister formation. Unexpectedly, during the activation of the formation, an old bone artifact had appeared at the formation’s core and was activated by the child’s blood. The spiritual power within the bone clashed with the formation’s energy, not only destroying the core but also diverting the energy flow into this house.

Zhang Huaiyan looked down again, carefully studying the layout of the courtyard, then jumped down from the roof and walked to a bare patch of ground in the corner. He gently kicked away the loose soil, revealing half of a dog’s corpse. It was a mutt, its face twisted in a snarl, as if baring its teeth in a ferocious bark. The body was contorted in a grotesque and eerie manner.

After surveying the surroundings, Zhang Huaiyan quickly understood. The dog had likely been buried in the yard to counterfeit ancient jade—placing new jade in the belly of a freshly killed dog and burying it for two or three years would produce a blood-red patina, allowing it to be sold as antique jade. This was a common technique among counterfeiters. However, the dog had been killed at the wrong time and buried in the wrong place. Burying a pregnant dog that hadn’t yet given birth in the courtyard’s death gate naturally created an overwhelming evil aura. When combined with the bone artifact and the formation, it had birthed a malevolent spirit.

No wonder the evil aura he had sensed outside the village was far weaker than what he encountered inside the house. If the formation had worked as intended, such a meticulously arranged setup would have gone unnoticed until the formation was complete. By then, the evil energy generated by the formation would have permeated the entire village, not just claiming the lives of this family.

Old Man Wei approached at this point, his face ashen as he looked at the buried dog. “Master, was this someone’s doing?”

Zhang Huaiyan didn’t answer immediately but instead asked, “How did you know evil would rise here tonight?”

Old Man Wei replied in a low voice, “Someone in the family worships a household immortal. They received a warning late at night, but we were too late.”

Zhang Huaiyan immediately understood. “Worshipping a household immortal” referred to venerating the physical forms of the Five Great Immortals—Fox, Weasel, Hedgehog, Snake, and Rat—a form of folk shamanism. These minor spirits had limited powers and usually avoided confronting malevolent forces. Issuing a warning was already an act of goodwill. It was fortunate that he had arrived earlier, or more people might have been injured or killed.

Shaking his head lightly, Zhang Huaiyan looked at the little boy still clinging to his son and answered calmly, “This wasn’t targeted at this family. It was just a twist of fate that they encountered this evil.”

It truly was a twist of fate. If the child hadn’t played with the bone artifact, activating it with his blood, the formation wouldn’t have been disrupted, and the energy flow wouldn’t have entered the house. Similarly, if the family hadn’t buried the dog in the yard, the evil aura likely wouldn’t have directly targeted them, claiming their lives. But explaining this would only breed resentment. It was simply a case of unfortunate timing.

Old Man Wei seemed to sense the underlying meaning in Zhang Huaiyan’s words and gave a dry laugh. “The immortal said Ah Yang brings misfortune to the family. My second son never believed it and even moved to a neighboring village. Who would have thought…”

Zhang Huaiyan sighed and beckoned to his son, “Xiao Qi, bring the child over.”

To avoid Old Man Wei, the two children had retreated further and were now almost at the corner of the yard. Hearing his father’s call, Zhang Xiuqi hesitated for a moment but eventually led the child forward. Standing in front of his father, he glanced nervously at his stern expression and stubbornly said, “Father, he’s pitiful. I gave him the talisman jade. You said it could ward off evil…”

“It’s fine,” Zhang Huaiyan crouched down and carefully examined the child’s features, gently touching his cheeks and fingers. “I’m not skilled in reading fate, but this child doesn’t have an inauspicious aura. He just happened to encounter a deadly calamity. Don’t remove the talisman jade from his neck. It’s a protective talisman from the Longhu Mountain lineage. It can ward off evil and protect his life.”

Unlike his reaction to his grandfather, the child was now obedient, quietly hiding behind Zhang Xiuqi. Zhang Huaiyan smiled, picked up the child, and said gently, “You seem to get along well with him, but now’s not the time. Once we finish our important task, we might come back to see you…”

Suddenly being lifted, the child struggled, twisting to escape. But the hands holding him were too strong, and after struggling for a while, he couldn’t break free, his little face turning red as he whimpered. Zhang Xiuqi grew anxious and took a step forward, wanting to pull the child back, but he didn’t dare act rashly in front of his father.

Old Man Wei quickly took the child from Zhang Huaiyan, holding him tightly in his arms. “Ah Yang, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. Grandpa’s here. I’ll take you home…”

With these words, tears that had been held back for so long finally spilled over. Old Man Wei choked up as he hugged the child tightly, as if only by holding him could he support his aging body. Seemingly affected by the tears, the child stopped struggling and looked at his grandfather with slight confusion, then glanced at the older boy beside him. Finally, he reached out a small hand and placed it in the old man’s withered hand.

Seeing the child returned to his family, a conflicted expression appeared on Zhang Xiuqi’s serious face. Having grown up by his father’s side, learning Taoist arts and training his body, he had never had the chance to interact with other children. “Saving” this child had been a novel experience for him, and he felt a sense of reluctance to part. However, having spent most of his life traveling, he only hesitated for a moment before standing firm, carefully studying the child’s face, and silently lowering his gaze.

Zhang Huaiyan picked up his travel bag and walked over to his son, saying to Old Man Wei, “The evil here has been dealt with. We have urgent matters to attend to, so we’ll take our leave. If we have time, we’ll return to investigate the cause of this incident.”

Old Man Wei shakily stood up and bowed deeply. “Thank you, Master, for removing this calamity. If you ever need anything from Wei Family Village, I, Wei Changfeng, will go through fire and water for you!”

“You’re too kind,” Zhang Huaiyan waved his hand and took his son’s small hand. “Let’s go.”

Zhang Xiuqi nodded firmly, then turned to look at the child one last time. Clenching his teeth, he secretly resolved in his heart that once they finished their task, he would find a way to come back and see this little brother. What was his name again? Ah Yang? Though preoccupied, the boy’s footsteps remained quick, and as dusk fell, the two soon disappeared down the path.

Only then did the child in Old Man Wei’s arms seem to realize what had happened. His eyes widened, and he struggled against the old man, reaching toward Zhang Xiuqi’s retreating figure. After two futile attempts, the figure vanished from sight, and the child let out a wail, crying as if his heart had been torn out. Old Man Wei’s heart ached, and he held the child tightly, whispering comfort, “The older brother will come back, Ah Yang. Don’t be afraid. Grandpa’s here…”

The child didn’t hear his grandfather’s words. His chubby fingers gripped the jade pendant hanging on his chest tightly, tears rolling down the pendant and soaking his palm. On the edge of the tiger’s mouth of his left hand was a small, bright red mole. When the tears touched it, it looked like a drop of vivid blood. The jade pendant glowed faintly, and under its light, the red mole faded until it disappeared into the skin.

Dark clouds gathered, obscuring the dark red crescent moon in the sky. Old Man Wei patted his grandson’s back and, not daring to delay any longer, led the group and the bodies of his son and daughter-in-law back to Wei Family Village.

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