"Dong-"
"Dong-"
"Dong-"
"Jingle-"
Three gong strikes and one ring of the bell. With a solemn expression, Yi Zhongzhou alternated between the Little Yin Gong and the Soul-Summoning Bell in his hands, following a fixed pattern.
They traveled along narrow paths, skirting the villages, because the greatest taboo in corpse driving was letting anything with yang energy approach. This did not just mean people, but dogs as well, since dogs kept by humans also carried the energy of the living.
If yang energy disrupted the procession, the spell would break. The corpses would be disturbed and fall, never to rise again, and the corpse driving would end in failure.
The Soul-Summoning Bell and the Little Yin Gong served to warn nearby residents to stay indoors and keep their dogs under control, preventing any "collision with yang energy."
Such incidents almost never happened in Western Hunan. This was the birthplace of corpse driving, so even households that could not perform it understood the practice and naturally observed its taboos.
The mountains were high and the road was long. Qi Wu carried a lantern at the very back of the procession, while another light shone at the front. Together, the head and tail formed a closed loop, sealing the spell as well.
The mountains were cold and eerie at night. Now and then, white mist obscured their path, and Yi Zhongzhou always chose to go around it.
That white mist was not necessarily water vapor. It might be interference from some unknown ghost or spirit. They had only one chance to drive these corpses; once they fell, there would be no way to make them rise again.
There was a full moon tonight, making the corpses harder to drive than usual. They were racing against time. If they moved too slowly, they