Chapter 41: Calling the soul (2)

“Let’s follow them,” said the old man in a low voice, and then let go of my mouth.

“Master, there are so many ghosts following my mother,” I whispered to the old man Jiang. This scene seemed to me, for some reason, very scary. It felt like my mother was walking with a group of ghosts, all of them heading towards my house.

“The soul-attracting lantern your mother is carrying is the only light in the vast darkness for these wandering ghosts. It’s not surprising that some of them are attracted to it. And not all of them are ghosts. Some of the misty figures you see are not black, but grayish. They are the lost souls of people who have come here. In fact, they are not harmful. After the soul returns to your second sister’s body, it will be dispersed a little.” Old man Jiang actually wasn’t worried about this terrifying scene in my eyes.

In this way, my mother led these ghosts along the way, and I and Old Man Jiang followed behind.

When we were almost home, the old man suddenly took me on a different path and ran quickly towards my house.

“Master, what are you doing?” I didn’t understand.

“Nonsense, you’ll see soon enough,” replied the old man impatiently, picking me up and carrying me on his shoulder.

When we stepped into the house, I looked back and saw that my mother was less than 50 meters away from the door. She obviously saw us, but she didn’t dare to be distracted.

Old Master Jiang took me straight to my second sister’s room, and when we got to her bed, he reached out and began to unlock the soul knot. He said, “Without unlocking the soul knot, your second sister’s soul can’t enter. It’s been locked for two days, and your second sister’s remaining soul should be very stable. The difficult part is still ahead.”

“What’s the matter?” I looked at the old man’s hands like two butterflies flying up and down in a flower, incredibly fast and also very beautiful, but the knot was too complicated for me to understand at all.

“After the soul enters your sister’s body, the soul-binding knot must be tied quickly because the soul is unstable after being squeezed out of the body. Moreover, your sister’s soul has been in the wilderness for so long, so it is even more unstable. Therefore, it must be tied with the soul-binding knot. However, your sister has lost one soul and four spirits, so it must be opened five times and tied five times. During this process, I am afraid that the soul will run away again. This is not something to be taken lightly, because the soul is inherently fragile. It could be scattered by a simple bump, so it is up to your sister to hold it. I am afraid of accidents.” Old Jiang was clearly worried.

After all, my second sister has lost five of them. It is a big deal for ordinary people to lose one or two. It requires great willpower in the process. Old man Jiang has a way to do it, but according to what he said, it is very risky. He doesn’t want to do it unless it is absolutely necessary.

My heart was in my throat, and I could only pray that my second sister was strong enough.

At this time, a voice called out, “Xiao Juan, Xiao Juan.” I thought my mother had entered the courtyard. Old Jiang shouted, “Everyone, stay away.”

Then he picked up my eldest sister, who was sleeping next to my second sister, and took her to my father’s room before she had a chance to react.

After a brief explanation, the four of us hid in my father’s room and peered through the crack in the door at my second sister’s room.

My mother entered the room, still followed by five ghosts. This time I counted them clearly.

My mother entered my second sister’s room…

My mother came to my second sister’s bed…

Standing in front of the bed, my mother kept calling out Xiaojuan…

At this point, something magical happened. The ghost of my second sister, who had been following my mother, stood in front of my second sister’s bed, then, as if it were out of control, it suddenly crashed into my second sister’s body.

“It’s done,” said the old man Jiang, and then he quickly rushed out of my father’s room, and the three of us followed him closely behind. I didn’t care about the other four ghosts in the room.

Old man Jiang quickly tied the soul-binding knot on my sister’s chest again. My family stood by and dared not say a word, but I noticed something amazing. From the moment the three of us, my father, Old man Jiang and I, rushed into the room, two of the ghosts in the room had already fled.

It felt like I was blown away by the wind, or like I was floating away quickly.

This is probably what ordinary people call it. Ghosts are also afraid of the yang energy of ordinary people. Not only are there men here, but some women also have a strong yang energy. It’s just that, relatively speaking, the yang energy of men is stronger than that of women.

After tying the soul-binding knot, the old man let out a long sigh and said, “After dawn, the living souls will hide and be hard to find. We must call them back tonight and hurry up.”

At this time, I turned my head and saw that my mother’s face was a bit ugly, always feeling a bit dusty, but I didn’t say anything because I didn’t understand, and because no one else could do this except my mother. My second sister, who had been lying in bed for so long, was really pitiful.

I hope everything goes well!

I heard the old man say that we should hurry and call my sister’s spirit back. After dawn, things would be difficult. My mother didn’t even have a sip of water, and she was already on her way with a lantern in hand.

In her opinion, my sister’s wandering soul is also her child. How could a mother bear to see her child suffer? And this child is in danger at every turn.

Old Jiang once said in his spare time that the soul of a newborn is fragile and easily scattered, so it usually hides in remote, inaccessible places. Of course, there is a scope for this place, which is the place where its physical body is most active. For example, my second sister’s soul will only wander within the boundaries of our village.

So the remote, rarely visited places are only relative.

It is because of this that my mother is particularly worried and scared.

“Xiu Yun, wait a minute.” My father chased after her and handed my mother a bowl of hot rice soup.

This is my father and mother. They are not romantic, and they are not good at expressing their feelings. Their lives are about rice, oil, salt, vinegar, tea, and their three children. But I have no doubt about their feelings. Even many years later, I firmly believe that my father and mother have a deep love for each other.

Their love for each other is expressed in the details of their daily lives. This is the greatest love of all.

My mother took a sip of the rice soup and quickly handed the bowl back to my father. In the process, my father touched my mother’s hand and exclaimed, “It’s so cold.”

My mother didn’t have time to explain, and she hurried out of the door with the lantern, followed closely by the old man, because he was to lead the way for my mother.

I stopped for a moment, looked at my father, and wanted to say something, but in the end I followed him out.

In fact, I knew the reason. My mother had a yin yang knot on her body. How could her body not be cold when her yang energy was locked up? And how could a group of ghosts not affect my mother when they were following her? But I still couldn’t say anything. It wouldn’t help, and it would only make my father worry more.

I don’t know why I suddenly became more sensible overnight. In those days, children generally became sensible at an early age. I was already considered a late bloomer, but after all this happened, I couldn’t be insensitive.

Walking down the street, I felt bad, and my father’s worried eyes kept appearing in front of my eyes. It was at that moment that I silently vowed in my heart that I would never let my parents suffer in this life, and that I would let them live a good life.

That night was particularly busy. We ran back and forth like this, bringing my sister’s soul home again and again.

In addition to my mother, the pressure on old man Jiang was also very great. I could see that it was not an easy task to open and close the soul-locking knot. After watching it several times, I knew that in the process, not a single detail could be wrong, otherwise the soul could not be locked.

Every time he opened the soul knot, he was like facing a great enemy, and every time he locked it, he would breathe a sigh of relief. I knew he was worried that my sister’s soul would run out again, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

The last time, my mother brought back the two souls of my second sister at the same time. This time, my mother was followed by seven ghosts. I noticed that my mother’s footsteps were a bit unsteady, and even the sound of calling my second sister’s name had become a bit weak.