Spirit-Bait, a Scheme (Thanks to the Tree by the Road)

With that, he did not let Xu Feng rest. He picked up a shovel and got to work.

As he worked, he kept an eye on Xu Feng, occasionally motioning for him to "stretch his muscles and bones" and remember the essentials of putting strength into each movement.

But it was at that moment that Xu Feng began to reap some of the benefits of the big fish.

Outside the Earth God Shrine.

In Luoyin County.

Fine rain drifted down, settling on people like threads of worry that could neither be cut nor untangled.

Anyone passing Qian Dayou's residence could see funeral lanterns hanging at its entrance, their ghostly flames burning with a ghastly light. Soul-summoning paper banners hung brazenly by the open gates, and waves of chill air spilled from the mansion.

Even in broad daylight, the mere sight of it was enough to make a person's skin crawl.

Several servants sat before the gates, dressed in sackcloth and mourning as though they were dutiful sons, wailing away.

Not a tear could be seen. They merely kept their heads down, listless and dejected.

The man behind it all, Qian Dayou, sat in the main hall across from Mr. Zhou.

Outside, servants carried in red candles, blessed rice, paper funeral offerings, firecrackers, and other supplies in an endless stream for someone to check off. Ordinarily, bringing things meant for the dead into a home of the living was naturally unlucky.

But Qian Dayou had no mind to worry about that now. He kept his eyes lowered, looking ashamed, his fortunes crushed low. Black energy coiled around his head: a textbook case of the Blackened Hall.

Mr. Zhou's disciple, Fa Ming, stood outside with a ledger, checking the items one by one.

He strutted through Qian Dayou's residence with his nose in the air.

He looked as though he were the master of the house.

Mr. Zhou's expression remained untroubled.

He made no move to curb his disciple's arrogance.

He lifted his tea bowl and took a sip.

Slow and unhurried.

The six bodies brought back from the Earth God Shrine had been placed in thin-walled coffins. Old coins weighed down their lids, and the coffins hung from the beams outside.

One hung in each room. This was called "pressing down human breath at the head, keeping the feet off the ground." It would make it easier later to "cast off attachments, send them to the underworld, and ferry their spirits onward."

They would not touch the breath of the living, and so would not turn back. Before each coffin stood a stick of incense, a brazier, and a person burning paper money.

Soul Banners were brought in one after another and planted before the coffins.

This was called "knowing how to guide the way."

Although Xu Feng and his master had stitched up the bodies and wiped them down with Righteous Qi Decoction, decay was still inevitable.

After drinking tea for a while, Qian Dayou left. Mr. Zhou was in no hurry.

He ordered the Qian Family servants, especially the young and strong ones, to run a couple of laps outside until they broke a sweat, then walk through the residence!

This was called "spreading human breath." It was also a way to keep lesser ghosts in check.

As he put it, this would bring "prosperity to the household and peace to its people."

By the time the tea had lost its taste and his urine had turned clear,

a cough finally came from outside.

Mr. Zhou raised his eyes and knew the man he had been waiting for had arrived.

The Qian Family's Third Master, the "Flaming Monkey" from the county office, had arrived!

As the man's footsteps drew near, Mr. Zhou immediately rose to greet him.

The two sent everyone else away.

After talking for some time, they settled on a plan.

"Good. We'll do as you say, sir."

Once that was decided, Third Master Qian strode off to make preparations. Qian Dayou returned, looking much more spirited this time. There was even a trace of murderous intent about him.

He looked at Mr. Zhou.

Qian Dayou said, "I know what you have planned, Mr. Zhou. What else do you need me to do?"

Mr. Zhou said, "Well, I expect Third Master has told you about everything else, Master Qian.

"Please find me four more pairs of people with ill-fated lives to serve as Spirit-Bait. I must see them before sunset tonight. They'll be vital to my rite."

Qian Dayou said, "Tonight? I'm afraid it won't be easy to catch that many Spirit-Bait!"

Mr. Zhou said, "Master Qian!

"These Spirit-Bait are no ordinary ones. They must truly face ghosts, even vicious and vengeful ghosts. Those are nothing like lesser spirits.

"So this time, I need people with lives hard enough to make ghosts fear them, people who work in lowly trades. Ghosts are certain to cause trouble during tonight's rite, so it will be dangerous. You must find Soul-Banner Spirit-Bait!

"Ordinary Spirit-Bait won't do.

"Go straight to them and tell them they'll be Soul-Banner Spirit-Bait! Master Qian, don't try to be clever about this!"

Qian Dayou said, "I understand."

In truth, he had understood as soon as Mr. Zhou mentioned Spirit-Bait. It was an occupation, but not a permanent one.

It was like being an itinerant wheat harvester.

Wheat harvesters followed the seasons, appearing only at certain times of year. The rest of the time, they were farmers.

Spirit-Bait were much the same.

They appeared only when lives were on the line.

Ordinary Spirit-Bait had a fine-sounding name, but in truth, they were scapegoats meant to die in someone else's place. More brutally put, they were disposable tools. That was why Master Qian had spoken of catching them. Some people specifically sought out the witless and foolish for the role.

They died in another person's stead.

And they were not used only for occasions like this.

Sometimes they were sent to the county office to take the place of condemned prisoners.

But that would not work now.

Mr. Zhou had made it perfectly clear. He did not want disposable scapegoats. He wanted Soul-Banner Spirit-Bait: people with hardy fates who could stand against the dead.

If they were to hold banners, what banners could those be?

Soul Banners, of course!

Who knew what the Soul Banners might summon?

Master Qian hurried away.

Only Fa Ming and Mr. Zhou remained.

Fa Ming glanced cautiously at his master and said, "Master, since when has a Transcendence Rite needed Spirit-Bait?"

Mr. Zhou was in a good mood. "What do you know? Do you really think this is a simple Transcendence Rite?"

He looked around and, once certain no one else was nearby, said, "I'm telling you, tonight's rite won't be simple at all. There won't just be ghosts.

"There may be danger, too!"

Fa Ming's face instantly went pale. "Calamity?"

Mr. Zhou smacked him on the head. "I said danger, you fool, not calamity! If this were a true calamity, I'd be the first to run! It's only one residence. At worst, there'll be an ill omen. Calamity, my foot!"

Then he told Fa Ming to summon several sturdy disciples. Looking at them, he instructed, "There are a few things you must know about tonight's Transcendence Ceremony!

"I'm warning you: once the ceremony begins, no matter what happens outside, you must stand firm in your assigned places.

"No matter who knocks, do not open the door. Even if a fire starts outside, don't be afraid!"

Mr. Zhou walked over to the crates of funeral supplies, picked out precisely the one he wanted, and opened it. "Do you still remember the slingshot skills I taught you?"

"We do."

The disciples answered together.

Mr. Zhou beckoned them forward. Each took an Iron-Core Ox-Sinew Slingshot, and he gave each a bag of Iron Pellets. "Tonight is when you'll use these. Remember: wherever I tell you to shoot, you shoot. Whoever I tell you to shoot, you shoot!"

"We understand!" the disciples said.

But Fa Ming, quick-witted as he was, looked at the scene and ventured, "But Master, slingshots won't do any good against ghosts!"

Mr. Zhou smacked him on the head again. "Just do as you're told! Who said these are for shooting ghosts? They're for shooting people! And did you think this Transcendence Ceremony would send off only those six products of Corpse Refinement?"

"You're wrong!" Mr. Zhou said. "This ceremony will also send off the people who die tonight. For all we know, anyone out in that courtyard could die."

This Transcendence Rite was for those who had already died tonight, and those who were about to.

As for the ones about to die.

They should not blame him.

They could blame their own fates for not being hardy enough! He had told Master Qian to find hardy people. If any of them died tonight because their fates were too weak, that only meant they had drawn a bitter lot!

In this world, people with weak fates would die one way or another.

All he was doing was making them die sooner rather than later!