Volume Three: The Two-Faced Demon Infant - Chapter 157: The Ghost Pact

At the very least, these preparations could serve as a warning to myself. If I knowingly did something impossible and forced my way through anyway, that would truly be courting death.

Therefore, as I listened to Chu Liuyan speak, I nodded in agreement.

Chu Liuyan continued, "Of course, what we do is different from grave robbing. Tomb raiders place lamps in the southeast corner, but we need to set up incense in the southwest corner of the house. According to the trigrams, the southwest position is the Kun palace. It is the major juncture where the front ghost gate transitions from yin to yang, and simultaneously, where the back ghost gate transitions from yang to yin. Therefore, the southwest corner is the confluence of yin and yang. This place is more favorable for humans and ghosts to forge a pact..."

Chu Liuyan patiently explained the method of forging a contract with the resentful ghost in the haunted house to me. Knowing that this concerned my life and death, I naturally did not dare to take it lightly and memorized every single detail.

This method was not particularly difficult. First, one had to bring this Nine-Tailed Mystic Porcelain Cat into the haunted house. During this process, the porcelain cat must not be exposed to light, and it must especially never leave the room during the day. It had to be taken out only at night, and moonlight also had to be avoided, so it had to be covered with a red cloth when going outside.

After bringing the mystic porcelain cat into the haunted house, one needed to locate the precise position, place it in the southwest corner, set up an incense burner in front of it, and after making some preparations, light four sticks of Buddhist incense. According to Chu Liuyan, offering incense follows the rule of three for deities and four for ghosts; one offers three sticks of incense to show respect to gods and Buddhas, but four sticks to pay respects to ghosts and spirits.

The rest was just waiting, during which one must not speak. Until those four sticks of incense burned down completely, if there were no abnormalities and they burned smoothly with the ash falling neatly into the burner, it meant the resentful ghost in this house agreed to move away. You would only need to perform a ritual for its deliverance and burn some paper offerings and sacrifices.

Generally, such a reasonable resentful ghost was usually someone who died full of grievances and was unable to be reincarnated. However, such wandering lone ghosts also had a hard time. Yet when their resentment faded and they wanted to be reincarnated, they were unable to accomplish it themselves. Such grievances would reach a pact with you, asking for your help to deliver them into the wheel of reincarnation. This was a win-win situation that both fulfilled the ghost's wish and broke the haunted curse.

Of course, there were also some ghosts whose resentment had not yet faded and were full of fierce hostility; they would not reach a pact with you. If that happened, abnormal phenomena would appear with the incense. Some ghosts might even attack you. Thanks to the presence of the mystic porcelain cat, it might help you block a fatal calamity.

At that point, if the person breaking the haunted house lacked sufficient cultivation and mastery, they could only run for their lives.

Chu Liuyan did not say a great deal, and most of the theoretical knowledge was what I understood based on his words.

In short, I listened to him lecture for the better part of the day at his Wushan Hall. Finally, as day turned to dusk, he let me hold the mystic porcelain cat and leave Wushan Hall.

As he saw me out the door, Chu Liuyan patted my shoulder and said meaningfully, "Take care."

Hearing this sent a shudder through me; these words did not sound comforting. In truth, I had not interacted much with the Thin Bamboo Pole, nor had I ever had any formal dealings with him. My impression of him was that he was very cold, usually spoke very little, and always put on an aloof and arrogant airs day in and day out.

Yet today he had broken character. Not only did he patiently explain the method of signing a ghost pact to me, but he also gifted me the mystic porcelain cat. In the end, that parting remark of "take care" felt like a farewell.

I left Wushan Hall with a heavy heart and drove my beat-up car back to the company.

The office had already finished work for the day, and I was the only one inside. I slumped onto the sofa, pondering whether I should go to Xue Quangui's house tonight.

Hesitating repeatedly, I still didn't dare make up my mind.

After all, I had not yet visited that house, and I hadn't figured out the situation inside. Rushing over blindly in the middle of the night—wasn't that just artificially increasing the difficulty for myself?

Early the next morning, I sorted out the items I would need. Third Uncle still had a shred of conscience; most of his gear was still around. I rummaged through his bag and fished out what I thought might come in handy: a peachwood sword, Taoist talismans, an ink-marking line, and so forth, packing them into my own bag. Among them was also his filthy, tattered old Taoist robe. Although that robe was dirty and worn out, Third Uncle seemed to hold it in high regard; whenever there was an important occasion, he would insist on wearing it, looking as though he were terribly formidable.

Just to be safe, I stuffed that robe into my bag as well. I knew very well that at a time like this, one could never have too many items—who knew which specific thing might save your life when the time came?

Aside from Third Uncle's odds and ends, I also brought the Earth-Snares and Black Tiger Knots that I had personally tied last time. Most importantly, I solemnly hung around my neck the dog tooth that Old Stall-Keeper had given me. Old Stall-Keeper had hyped this thing up as miraculous; regardless of whether it was useful or not, it was better to have it just in case.

Having packed everything, I asked Chen Tao for the address of Xue Quangui's house.

Chen Tao looked at me and asked, "Are you really going to break the haunted house all by yourself?"

I glared at him. "Isn't this the contract you signed? What? Why don't you go instead?"

Chen Tao shook his head like a rattle-drum. "Spare me, I don't have that kind of ability. Let's just hope you make it back..."

Chen Tao cast a sympathetic glance at my way and shook his head.

"Damn it. So utterly inauspicious, can't you say something pleasant for once?" Cursing and muttering, just as I was about to leave, I suddenly remembered something.

I bolted toward the dog kennel in the backyard. Tiezhu had just finished eating and was basking in the sun with all four paws up in the air.

Damn it, in just a few days, this fellow had fattened up by another two circles. This time I had to take it with me; breathing creature or not, at least it could help bolster my courage.

Leashing Tiezhu, I drove straight for the suburbs.

In the car, Tiezhu grew interested in the Nine-Tailed Mystic Porcelain Cat covered with the red cloth, its nose sniffing back and forth over the cat continuously.

Terrified that it would ruin things, I hastily barked, "Tiezhu, if you dare touch it, I'll stew you into dog meat soup later!"

Hearing my fierce tone, Tiezhu angrily curled its body up, gazed out the window with a pensive expression, and ignored me completely.

I found it rather amusing; this fellow actually had quite rich emotions, knowing how to get angry and even looking jealous. For a dog to be jealous of a porcelain cat—no one would believe it if word got out.

I drove the battered car at top speed and finally arrived at the suburbs before noon. Nowadays, housing prices around Shenzhen had skyrocketed; while called a suburb, it was not desolate in the slightest. High-end residential compounds had sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, and the house Xue Quangui bought for Shao Xiaoyao was located in a complex called Emerald Vista.

As a result, after finally finding the compound and driving my car to the entrance, the security guards stubbornly refused to let me in, claiming that non-residents were strictly forbidden to enter.

I got out of the car to reason with them, claiming that I was the new owner of an apartment in this complex.

The security guard was round and plump, blockheaded and looking very honest and simple-minded. At the moment, however, he wore an expression of utter disdain, twisting his mouth into the shape of a gourd as he looked first at me and then at my eighth-hand Santana. He must have assumed I had lost my mind to drive this piece of junk here trying to bluff my way in.

It was no wonder the fat guard looked down on people. In the brief moment I stood at the entrance, the vehicles driving in and out were either Mercedes-Benzes or BMWs—of course, those were just the two luxury brands I recognized, along with many others whose names I didn't even know.