Hei Jie had clearly planned this from the start. She wanted to use the ghosts of Sanghua Township to refine ghosts.
Xiao Ling had been forced into it and could only obey Hei Jie's orders. Otherwise, surrounded by so many ghosts she couldn't see, she would surely die here.
Hei Jie repeated the incantation. Xiao Ling listened carefully and memorized it.
A-Zhuang seemed to have done something that kept the ghosts far away. They could only make chilling cries; they couldn't get any closer.
I could hear A-Zhuang breathing. He was panting nervously, and might even have been trembling.
Xiao Ling was trembling, too, but she managed to stay focused.
I could hear Hei Jie chanting as well. She recited the incantation slowly, and Xiao Ling memorized it. So did I. It was like being forced to learn a foreign language by rote, memorizing a long word. There was no other way.
Xiao Ling repeated the incantation and asked, "Is that all?"
It was complicated, but memorizing a complex incantation wasn't all that difficult in itself.
Hei Jie reached out and took Xiao Ling's hand.
Xiao Ling felt a sharp pain in her hand, as if her skin had been cut.
Blood flowed out.
Something was quickly pressed against the wound.
"Recite it," Hei Jie said weakly.
Xiao Ling endured her discomfort and recited the incantation she had just memorized.
As Xiao Ling chanted, the ghosts outside began to cry out even louder. Something slammed into the hard objects around them, making repeated thuds. The shrill sound of fingernails scraping metal rang out, circling around Xiao Ling.
The sound of glass shattering broke the stalemate.
A-Zhuang let out a scream.
Xiao Ling reached the final syllable of the incantation.
As her voice fell silent, the hand gripping hers let go.