Free Web NovelChapter 406: Chapter 347: Summoning Ghosts
Cheng Cha quickly put on the dirty, wrinkled hood, with a Death Coin in his mouth, and took one last look at everyone before holding the Soul-Attracting Incense and walking out.
He made his way to the ancestral home’s main gate, which stood ajar. Somehow, a layer of fog had risen in the village, and oddly enough, it seemed to be contained by some force, as it didn’t enter the ancestral home at all.
As he approached the gate, Cheng Cha couldn’t help but halt his steps. He looked down to see an odd semicircle drawn outside the home’s gate, effectively sealing it off from the outside world.
Upon closer inspection, Cheng Cha realized that the semicircle was drawn with a powder, a gray powder, and he immediately understood—it was incense ash.
It was this substance that kept the eerie fog at bay.
"Crunch—"
"Crunch—"
Cheng Cha abruptly looked up, hearing a strange scraping sound coming from within the fog, as if someone were dragging their feet on the ground.
And the sound was getting closer.
At that moment, the Soul-Attracting Incense in Cheng Cha’s hand also changed. There wasn’t a hint of wind that night, and the incense smoke had been rising straight up, but now it was being drawn into the fog as if attracted by something, and simultaneously, the scraping sounds within the fog became more numerous and clearer. freёwebnoѵel.com
Not daring to hesitate any longer, Cheng Cha stepped into the fog, worrying about being cornered at the gate, which would have been terrible.
The fog was thick and uncertain, and the visibility extended about only five meters even when straining his eyes. Holding the Soul-Attracting Incense, Cheng Cha walked slowly along the village’s cobblestone road within the fog.
He dared only take the paths he had used during the day, fearing he might get lost. If he were to lose his way in such conditions and the Soul-Attracting Incense burned out, that would be the end of him.
Although based on the current clues, the Ghost Monk might not kill, who’s to say the wronged souls of the deceased Du Family Villagers wouldn’t?
Walking and staying alert, Cheng Cha soon saw villagers who looked like wandering spirits in the fog, each with bowed heads and rigid bodies, roaming around like the walking dead. Yet, as soon as he got a little closer, these grieved souls would react immediately and start moving toward him.
Needless to say, it must have been the effect of the Soul-Attracting Incense. Before long, Cheng Cha had a procession of these souls trailing behind him, but thankfully, they weren’t moving fast, so he could manage for the time being.
Based on the description from Du San and his own deductions, Cheng Cha had formed a mental image of the Du Family Village Chief. The Chief should be relatively well-built, dressed better than the average villager, and an older man.
After walking down the street for about fifteen minutes, Cheng Cha figured it was about time. Nearly all the Lost Souls and Wild Ghosts nearby had been attracted to him, and a third of the Soul-Attracting Incense had burned away.
Turning around and avoiding the throng of bodies, Cheng Cha moved to the other side of the road and quickened his pace back the way he came. His gaze swept over the villagers as he picked out a few old individuals who matched his expectations.
About a dozen in total, scattered among the many aggrieved spirits. His next task was to separate these suspicious candidates from the crowd for a second round of selection.
Cheng Cha took a bold gamble by using the Soul-Attracting Incense as bait. Quickly approaching the old people who met his criteria, he shook the incense in front of them, and the next second, Cheng Cha was amazed to find the incense’s fragrance instantly sucked into their nostrils. The elders, as if sensing something, suddenly looked up and moved toward Cheng Cha much faster.
"There’s a chance!"
Repeatedly applying the same maneuver, Cheng Cha eventually managed to extract the dozen or so suspect elders from the group, gradually leaving the mass of following spirits behind.
These elders were relatively well-dressed and portly, narrowing down the range. Cheng Cha observed them more closely, especially their legs, but regrettably, each elder had stiff limbs, hardly bending their knees, and their feet scraped the ground, seemingly lifeless. It was impossible to discern with the naked eye whose legs were wooden.
Inspecting them one by one wasn’t practical and was too risky. To narrow the field further, Cheng Cha observed their faces closely. He quickly noticed that among them, four elders shared similar features and facial structures, likely blood relatives.
In ancient times, those who could serve as the village chief were generally from the larger families within the village, with the number of family members, especially male members, being a significant criterion. Cheng Cha was fairly confident that the village chief of Du Family Village was within these four individuals.
Cheng Cha repeated his previous tactic, using the Soul-Attracting Incense to draw these four individuals out of the group again. By this time, he was nearly back to the ancestral house and more than half of the incense had been burned; he did not have much time left.
Without hesitation, Cheng Cha took a bold attempt; he picked up a small stick from the roadside, then he raised his arm high. As the four old men leaned in, greedily inhaling the scent, he quickly crouched down and poked the left leg of one of the elderly men dressed in dark blue silk cloth with the stick.
It was soft.
He poked the right leg next.
It was still soft, and it was that kind of softness that had not a bit of elasticity, like mud, and one could imagine that the bodies under their clothes were definitely terrifying.
Next were the elderly men in the brown and brownish clothes; their legs as well presented no issue.
That left only one man in the blue clothes. Honestly, Cheng Cha was also feeling nervous by then. He was running out of time; if this one was also a dead end, he would have to give up. After all, preserving his own life was more important.
Fortunately, the two following were Tong Han and Yang Xiao. These two were individuals he had great faith in—by no means ordinary. Cheng Cha was very confident in them.
Holding his breath, Cheng Cha began his last attempt. First, he used the Soul-Attracting Incense to hold the old men’s attention, then crouched down behind the man in blue clothes and poked his right leg with the stick.
Soft.
But when the stick touched the left leg, Cheng Cha’s eyebrows suddenly raised, and a glint sparkled in his eyes—it was hard, as if he had poked a wooden post.
"It’s him!"
In his excitement, Cheng Cha was about to stand up when suddenly, an unexpected event occurred. His body seemed to be pressed down by something and he couldn’t stand up at all.
He tried several times to straighten his waist, but it was impossible. He twisted his head to look behind him—there was nothing on his back.
After a brief moment of panic, Cheng Cha forced himself to calm down. He didn’t understand what had gone wrong, but he was not given much time to think. Soon, he heard a rigid scraping sound coming from above his head.
Shakily, he lifted his gaze and what he saw made his body tremble violently, almost causing him to drop the Coin Coin from his mouth. The man who had been facing away stood still, but his neck was slowly turning, the rigid jaw had moved 90 degrees to the shoulder. Looking up now, Cheng Cha could see half of the blue-clad elder’s iron-blue face. What was more terrifying were the old man’s cloudy eyes, which were slowly rolling downward, as if searching for him.
This sight scared Cheng Cha so much that he immediately averted his gaze; now he faced a dire situation. Even if the man in blue didn’t kill him, once the Soul-Attracting Incense burned out, his death would be inevitable.
There must have been a mistake somewhere...
Just now.
In this life-or-death moment, Cheng Cha’s mind worked at least ten times faster than usual. He could clearly feel something pressing down on him, focusing on his shoulder, his left shoulder to be specific.
Suddenly, as if he had realized something, he turned his head sharply to look at his shadow on the ground. Right then, the shadow was being stepped on by one of the old men in brown clothes, right at the shoulder, the left shoulder.
He had found the problem. At that moment, the man in brown wasn’t paying attention to him, merely leaning in to greedily inhale the fragrance of the Soul-Attracting Incense. With the four men extracting it so voraciously, the incense was burning at least twice as fast as before. It wouldn’t be long until it burned out completely.
But this for
With the four of them draining it so, the incense was burning at least twice as fast as before. It wouldn’t be long until it was gone.
