Chapter 25: Horror

That sneer made my whole body cold, not because I was afraid, but because I seemed to smell the scent of a secret buried for many years, and I had already entered a whirlpool, which was full of something that was frightening and unknown.

The spirit summoning was completed in an instant, and the spirit of the ghost soldier I had summoned began to dissipate and move about, acting on my request and temporarily silencing the ordinary people.

Instantly, the world seemed to have quieted down. The chaotic scene, with people dancing like demons, suddenly stopped all their movements. Some people’s cloaks had been lifted during the process of transporting the old man, and their eyes were fixed in a moment of horror.

I was relieved, but also felt a little guilty. Since I had summoned the ghost soldiers, this kind of hypnotic suppression must be full of some kind of fear, and it might leave a psychological shadow on the people here in the future. But at this moment, I couldn’t care less. Heaven would forgive my desire to save those children.

With this thought, I lifted the hat of the black cloak that had been covering my head, and in the late autumn night, the inexplicable cold wind blew, and I walked step by step toward the high platform.

The black-clad man who had just made a strange sound like a corpse’s roar just kept staring at me, watching me walk towards the platform step by step, without any words or movements, like a wooden man, while the other black-clad men were nervously surrounding him.

He seemed very calm, and he didn’t make a single move in response to the fact that I had instantly suppressed everyone. I sensed nothing from his cold breath, and I didn’t feel that he cared about this matter at all… but it was as if he was quietly waiting for me to come to him.

My mood was a little chaotic. Looking at the “horrible” offerings on the high platform, and the flickering fire in the brazier, I felt more and more that the high platform was a horrible place, and my heart couldn’t help but start to think about nonsense…

“The corpse roar is a mystery that Taoist priests have been unable to solve to this day.” I remember the bamboo forest cottage, where my master was holding a book describing all kinds of demons and monsters, and explaining it to me when I was young.

“Why is it an unsolvable mystery?”

“Because the soul of a vampire is incomplete, and even in rare cases, a vampire can rise without a soul. But once they rise, and after they have been active for a certain period of time, they become a fully formed vampire, and their roar has a strong suppressive effect on humans. Do you know? Fear is a great harm to the soul. Just like when a person is suddenly scared, the consequences will also vary depending on the degree of fear, and it can even threaten life. The soul fears fear. But only the soul can have an effect on the soul. How can a zombie make such a corpse roar? It’s hard to understand…”

“Ah, Master, the corpse roar is so powerful? If I encounter a corpse roar in the future, won’t I be killed by it?”

“If you are filled with awe, you will naturally be free from fear. Even if you are not a Taoist and do not have the means to defend your soul, ordinary people can achieve this and will not be affected.”

“What do you mean, Master?”

“People who always have awe in their hearts, who are honest in their words and deeds, who are not afraid of anything, who are blessed by heaven, have nothing to fear. You little brat, go take a bath… It seems that you only know how to copy the Dao De Jing, but you don’t understand the deeper meaning. After you finish taking a bath, copy it a hundred times for me.”

“Old man, I absolutely won’t do it…”

The memory of the cold wind in late autumn came to a sudden halt before the high platform… and the warmth of the memory suddenly dispelled my fear, causing a slight smile to involuntarily appear on the corner of my mouth. I didn’t even notice that at this time, an old and weak hand had grabbed me.

“Don’t go up.” I turned around and saw that it was the same old man. The success of the exorcism had allowed the dozen or so elderly people to finally escape from the common people. I didn’t expect him to stop me at this time, and… I seemed to hear someone call him Mr. Liu.

“Why? Aren’t you trying to save the child?” I was full of surprise. Didn’t he come here to stop these people from doing anything to the child?

We didn’t notice that our conversation was a bit strange. I didn’t ask who he was, and he didn’t ask who I was. We were talking like old friends because we had the same goal at the moment.

“Liu Jiwang, I advise you not to interfere. He is my sacrifice. This sacrifice is very interesting. Ten years ago, such a sacrifice appeared once, and it was very satisfying… Do you want to destroy it? Do you think all your blessings will allow you to be so brazen as to destroy such a sacrifice?” I didn’t expect that my brief conversation with the old man would have such an impact on this middle-aged man who had been very quiet. He actually walked a few steps forward and reached the edge of the high platform, looking down at me and the frail old man… Unlike others, this man in black not only wore a cloak, but also a mask on his face. But the words he said were full of all kinds of information. I had already fallen into thought and didn’t pay much attention to the mask on his face.

Sacrifice, satisfaction, ten years ago… I remembered the old man who rented the house to us, and some of the things he said… It’s not that no one has ever been here!

“Wei Donglai, I will stop at all costs today. What do you want?” While I was thinking, the frail old man suddenly burst out with a strong and determined air. Although his body was still weak, his eyes were filled with a certain firmness, as strong as a rock that would not move.

But I was already dumbfounded. Two questions exploded in my mind. The first was a shock… Wei Donglai? Wei Donglai! If I remember correctly, in the story that Mr. Ge told us, he was a dead man! He died that night right at the door of the broken house. He… The second was why this stranger, Mr. Liu, would be so determined to protect me? Not let me become a sacrifice?

What is going on in this town… My throat was dry. I thought I was close to the truth… but in fact I found out that I knew nothing.

“Hmph… I can’t do anything about it, but wait, the boat from the Holy Village will be here soon, and I will tell them everything as it is… Let’s talk about it then. Haha…” At the end, Wei Donglai laughed happily. Why was he so happy? Was it because he had finally suppressed Master Liu?

After Wei Donglai finished speaking, the old man’s face turned extremely ugly. He looked at the four children on the stage who were crying and wailing, and said with a gritted teeth, “Let’s go.” After that, he grabbed me and started to leave!

“But the children…” I didn’t know what grudges and grievances were in the town, but I didn’t want to be swayed by them. I had come to save the children, so I naturally had to take them away.

The reason I didn’t push him away was that I couldn’t bear to push away the frail old man who was holding me. But how could he pull me away? I told myself that I had to save the children!

“If I save you, I can’t save them. Even if it costs me everything… let’s go…” Old Master Liu’s tone was full of sadness and helplessness, but I didn’t understand a word.

“You’re smart to know better. You’ve disrupted the sacrifice seven times in the past decades, and that’s enough. But this time, do you think you can avoid the punishment of taking the sacrificial offerings away by paying all the costs? You think you know it all… even your dead father…”

“Wei Donglai!” Old Master Liu suddenly became angry, and his cane once again thumped the ground. At the same time, his hand trembled and reached out, and the fist he had been holding suddenly loosened. In that fist was a small piece of bone, black, emitting a strange, yet alluring light.

What is that? I looked at all this more and more confused, and Wei Donglai, who was so arrogant on the high platform, suddenly bowed his head in fear, and then the whole person knelt on the high platform.

His movements were full of awe, but his mouth said spitefully, “Liu Jiwang, you can only rely on this to protect you forever. You can only rely on this… After today, you will inevitably die. You will die, you will die!”

It was a vicious curse, but Grandpa Liu was not afraid: “People always die. It is natural for people to be born, grow old, get sick and die. If you use this to threaten me, you are wrong. What’s the use of it? Let’s go…”

While talking, Mr. Liu came to pull me again and wanted to say something to me… But at this moment, from the side of the surging Yellow River, there suddenly seemed to be a sound of drums and music coming from nowhere…

“Hurry up, or it will be too late!” Mr. Liu suddenly became very anxious!