The black seemed to flicker, other colors occasionally lighting up before being swallowed by the darkness.
Wu Ling gently traced circles with her brush in the ceramic bowl, which was already half full of ink.
The ink swirled into a whirlpool, spinning without end.
Wu Ling exhaled, moved her lips, and silently recited something. The whirlpool stopped and turned into rings of ripples, which showed no sign of fading.
"Please hold Mr. Wei down," Wu Ling said, then walked over to Mr. Wei on the bed.
The young man called two more people over. They strapped Mr. Wei's arms and legs down, then held him in place.
From the way they moved, this didn't seem to be the first time they'd done this.
Wu Ling didn't even blink as she walked to the bedside. She dipped her brush into the center of the ripples, lifted it, and moved it to Mr. Wei's forehead, where she gently touched it down.
As the ink left a black dot on Mr. Wei's forehead, I felt the entire villa shudder.
I couldn't help looking at the floor and ceiling, then at the others.
They hadn't noticed anything unusual.
Wu Ling continued drawing the talisman, using Mr. Wei's body as her canvas. Starting at his face, she drew it stroke by stroke, forming a complex design.
I knew nothing about this sort of thing.
After encountering supernatural events, I'd wanted to learn about them, but had no idea where to start.
Relying only on the "supernatural stories" I'd come across in daily life and material from movies and TV, I'd searched for popular and academic books like An Introduction to the History of Talismans. But books like that were practically useless, especially when it came to anything practical. I didn't know whether I was going