Ghost Possession!

Wang Wu, a farmer by trade and originally a carpenter, was considered a renowned carpenter in Tianmen Village.

Wang Wu had a younger sister, Wang Ying, who had been preparing to marry at the start of this year.

It should have been a joyous occasion, yet an accident occurred on the way to the wedding.

The bridal sedan chair collided with a funeral procession halfway there. After a chaotic tumble of men and horses, the sedan set off again—and then the accident happened.

The bride went mad.

Without any warning, Wang Ying went mad, and the marriage fell through.

This left Wang Wu's entire family frantic. Yet after they had consulted every doctor throughout Tianmen Village and the surrounding towns, all said she could not be cured. They only said she had most likely been afflicted by evil and told Wang Wu to seek out someone truly skilled.

But how could Wang Wu, a humble farmer, ever come into contact with a true master? It was not until today, when he met Old Daoist Liu and Chen Yan, that he risked everything to beg them to save Wang Ying's life.

Inside a small side room.

It was clear that Wang Wu's family cleaned often; the room was very tidy.

The moment he stepped inside, Facai on Chen Yan's shoulder immediately assumed a fighting stance, letting out low growls toward the inner room from time to time.

"Meowr..."

Seeing this, Chen Yan raised his guard as well and followed closely behind Old Daoist Liu.

Upon entering the inner room, the first thing that met their eyes was a bed plastered with all kinds of talismans.

The talismans came in every color—red, yellow, blue, purple—and the patterns and characters upon them were a wild mishmash. Even Chen Yan, who was not a cultivator, could tell that this jumble of talismans was all counterfeit.

Compared to the talismans Old Daoist Liu used, his yellow talismans carried an indescribable Daoist resonance.

Old Daoist Liu's face darkened. He tore away the messy talisman papers from the bed, lifted the bed curtains, and saw Wang Ying lying there.

Chen Yan, a step behind, craned his neck to look as well. Wang Ying's eyes were tightly shut, her lips purple and her complexion bluish-green. She looked like a corpse.

What drew the eye most was the layer upon layer of hemp rope tightly binding Wang Ying. At first glance, it looked as though she had been imprisoned.

Perhaps afraid they would misunderstand, Wang Wu hurriedly explained from the side:

"Immortal master, please don't misunderstand. I didn't want this either, but... but my little sister, she..."

Before Wang Wu could finish, Wang Ying, whose eyes had been shut, suddenly flew open. Her bloodshot eyes fixed upon Chen Yan and the old Daoist by the bed, and she immediately tried to pounce. But the hemp ropes bound her fast, leaving Wang Ying only able to bare her teeth and roar like a madwoman:

"Let me go!! Let me go!!!"

The veins on Wang Ying's neck bulged like winding earthworms. Her eyes were streaked red as blood, and the nails of her ten fingers frantically scraped the bedboard, gouging out bloody marks. Wood splinters pierced into her flesh, yet she seemed not to feel a thing.

Chen Yan frowned at the sight. Had he not seen blood flowing from Wang Ying, he might have thought the person before him was a Skin-Peeling Puppet.

Thinking of this, Chen Yan stepped forward and leaned close beside Old Daoist Liu to ask:

"How is it? Can you tell what it is?"

"What is there to tell?" The old Daoist shot him a sidelong glance. "A ghost has possessed her."

"Ghost possession?!"

Chen Yan immediately perked up. Across both lifetimes, he was nearly forty years old, yet he had never seen a ghost before!

"What? You want to see it?"

Seemingly noticing the interest in Chen Yan's eyes, Old Daoist Liu asked again.

How could Chen Yan refuse? He immediately nodded like a chicken pecking grain.

As though he had known Chen Yan would agree, the old Daoist produced two crystal-clear Willow Leaves, still beaded with droplets of water, as if by magic.

"Close your eyes. Stand still."

Chen Yan did as he was told. The old Daoist placed the two Willow Leaves over his eyelids and began chanting:

"The laws of Heaven are clear, the laws of Earth are divine; yin and yang join their essence, water spirits reveal their forms; swiftly, swiftly, as the law commands!"

The next instant.

Chen Yan felt two cool streams of energy flow into his eyes, making him open them instinctively.

Seeing that Old Daoist Liu before him had not changed in the slightest, Chen Yan wore a puzzled expression.

Then the old Daoist pointed at the bed. Chen Yan followed his gesture. It was fine until he looked—then he was startled out of his wits.

Where was Wang Ying on the bed? There was clearly an old woman dressed in burial clothes, her skin blue-black, her eye sockets empty of eyeballs, her mouth devoid of a tongue. Her facial features were nothing but pitch-black holes, making her look exceptionally eerie and terrifying!

Wang Ying's roar in his ears had also turned into the old woman's hoarse, millstone-grinding rasp.

Even Chen Yan, who had killed several Skin-Peeling Puppets, took half a step back from the sudden fright. Facai on his shoulder looked at him with contempt, yawned, then curled back into a ball to nap, as though the old woman before them held not the slightest interest for it.

Still, Chen Yan had merely been startled by the suddenness of it. Once he adjusted, he quickly regained his composure. He even began to study the old woman possessing Wang Ying with great interest. Walking to Old Daoist Liu's side, he asked curiously:

"What should we do?"

"Of course, separate the two of them first." Old Daoist Liu looked at Chen Yan as though he were an idiot, then added, "If we don't separate them soon, this girl's yang energy will be drained dry."

As he spoke, Old Daoist Liu drew a pair of vivid red chopsticks, crimson as fresh blood, from his sleeve. He walked to Wang Ying's side, formed sword fingers with one hand, and swiftly tapped the joint of her arm. At once, Wang Ying's entire arm was pinned to the bed, unable to move.

After restraining Wang Ying's right hand, the old Daoist swiftly clamped her right middle finger between the red chopsticks and chanted urgently:

"Vermilion Bird shines bright, divine might swells within; the four wards of mountain sources, ghost soldiers flee in ruin..."

As he reached the end, Old Daoist Liu's expression turned stern, and he shouted:

"Wretched thing! Come out at once!"

With a whoosh!

The old woman flew out of her body!

Chen Yan reacted instantly. The Fish Dragon Saber leaped from its sheath, and he was about to slash down!

"Spare the Soul!"

But Old Daoist Liu hurriedly stopped him.

The snow-white blade of the Fish Dragon Saber halted in midair as Chen Yan looked at Old Daoist Liu in confusion.

On the other side, the old woman's ghost was trembling with fright. She knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Chen Yan and the old Daoist, but once outside the body, the ghost could make no sound.

"This ghost bears no resentment. She did not truly intend to harm anyone; she merely wishes to be reborn. Spare her life."

Old Daoist Liu sighed, straightened his robes, and began reciting a salvation scripture:

"The heavenly venerables of the ten directions, as countless as grains of sand, manifest in the realms of the ten directions, universally save and deliver gods and men; gathering qi to amass merit, their voices join to save all people..."

The old woman froze at first, then immediately kowtowed in profound gratitude. Amid the chanting, her figure gradually dissipated.

Chen Yan, standing nearby, had long since been filled with solemn respect.

Though Old Daoist Liu looked sloppy and unkempt on the outside, as different from Zhang Yuanlin, the Temple Master of Bai Yun Guan, as clouds were from mud.

Yet at this moment, Old Daoist Liu, who delivered the dead from suffering and vanquished demons for the living, was the truly sacred one.

As Chen Yan thought this, he saw the old Daoist, having finished the salvation ritual, muttering with a look of regret:

"What a loss... What a loss..."

"A loss? What loss?"

Chen Yan was taken aback.

"I forgot to ask where that old woman's family lives. I don't even know who to collect the payment for this salvation ritual from... No, I need to find out which family that funeral procession belonged to..."

Chen Yan rolled his eyes.

Sure enough, Old Daoist Liu was still Old Daoist Liu—the same familiar flavor.

Note 1: From the Scripture Spoken by the Supreme Spiritual Treasure Heavenly Venerable of the Cavern Mystery on Saving from Suffering and Erasing Sins.