Malevolence

As soon as those silver needles went in, the Zhang Family's second son stopped convulsing. His nose stopped bleeding, he no longer foamed at the mouth, and his breathing soon steadied.

Grandpa thought Granny Liu had driven out the Yellow Weasel possessing the Zhang Family's second son, but her expression remained grave. Then she suddenly placed her hand on his lower abdomen and pressed gently a few times.

To Grandpa's horror, a lump the size of a baby's fist bulged from the second son's belly. It was bizarre, moving as though alive, darting all over his abdomen, first to one side, then the other.

With a silver needle in hand, Granny Liu stared intently at the lump, tracking its movements. She tried several times, but failed to pierce it.

Astonished, Grandpa asked, "Sister, what is that thing?"

"It's malevolent energy formed from the Yellow Weasel's resentment. Unless we release it, the Zhang Family's second son will die."

Sweat beaded on Granny Liu's forehead as she spoke. She tried several more times, but still failed to pierce the lump.

Finally, Granny Liu looked at Grandpa and said urgently, "Brother Wu, hurry and fetch a basin of well water. It must be cold water drawn fresh from the well."

Grandpa answered at once and ran straight to the well, bringing back a bucket of water.

Well water came from underground. Even in the scorching summer, freshly drawn water was bone-chillingly cold, like ice.

Carrying the well water, Grandpa came up beside Granny Liu and asked hurriedly, "Sister, what do I do next?"

"Pour all of it over him," Granny Liu instructed.

Without hesitation, Grandpa dumped the entire bucket of well water over the Zhang Family's second son.

Water that cold, poured over someone all at once, could have made even a corpse jump.

Yet the second son merely shuddered slightly, then lay motionless again.

The instant the cold water struck him, the lump roaming across his belly paused. In that fleeting moment, Granny Liu's hand flashed like lightning, driving the silver needle straight into it.

Her hand was steady. Once the needle pierced the lump, she flicked it sharply upward, rupturing it. A gush of black liquid sprayed out, reeking so foully that Grandpa grew dizzy. Covering his nose, he kept backing away.

It smelled as though a rotten egg had smashed right into his face. The stench was unbearable.

Granny Liu, however, seemed completely unaffected and remained crouched beside the Zhang Family's second son.

As the black liquid continued to drain, the lump grew smaller and smaller until it finally disappeared.

The Zhang Family's second son finally resumed breathing, and his complexion gradually returned to normal.

Granny Liu let out a long breath and sat down beside him.

She had barely caught her breath when something eerie happened again. The second son suddenly sat bolt upright from the ground, his body rigid. His eyes kept rolling upward, and before long, they had turned completely white, covered in red veins, as though he had cataracts.

At the sight of him, even Granny Liu panicked. Her gaze kept darting around as though she were searching for something.

Then an even stranger scene unfolded. The second son arched his back, stuck his tongue far out, and scurried in a quick circle on all fours with startling ease. He looked like an enormous, human-shaped weasel. Strange cries kept rising from his throat, and his face twisted into a savage expression once more.

Startled by the sight, Grandpa ran a short distance away and pulled his broadsword from the ground.

"Sister, what's happening to him now?" Grandpa asked in alarm.

"There isn't just one Yellow Weasel in this courtyard. There's another with even greater spiritual cultivation. Hurry and search everywhere. Find that Yellow Weasel and kill it, and the second son will survive." As Granny Liu spoke, she had already lit another pipeful of tobacco and taken several hard puffs, making the tobacco in the bowl glow red.

Grandpa froze at her words. "Do we have to kill it? This Yellow Weasel was only doing this for Little Jie..."

"You can catch it alive, too. Drive it away without killing it if you like," Granny Liu said.

Only then did Grandpa begin searching around the courtyard with his sword in hand.

But even after circling the courtyard twice, he could find no trace of the Yellow Weasel.

Meanwhile, the second son, now behaving like a weasel, had lunged at Granny Liu, and the two were locked in a struggle.

Controlled by the weasel, the second son possessed tremendous strength and seemed unable to feel pain. Granny Liu kept striking him with her red-hot pipe bowl, but he never dodged, only attacked relentlessly.

Grandpa grew frantic at the sight. He had searched the courtyard without finding anything. What was he supposed to do?

By the look of things, even Granny Liu would not be able to hold out much longer.

Then a thought suddenly struck Grandpa. If it isn't in the courtyard, could it be inside the house?

With that thought, Grandpa carried his broadsword straight into the second son's room.

There were only three rooms in all. Grandpa searched each one, even checking beneath the beds, but still found nothing. Sweat broke out on his forehead as his anxiety mounted.

The Yellow Weasel had already harmed the Zhang Family's fifth son. If anything happened to the second son as well, they would be in serious trouble.

Sword in hand, Grandpa returned to the main room and scanned it with narrowed eyes. Then he happened to glance overhead and immediately noticed something strange.

A patch of white stood out sharply against a roof beam.

Looking closer, he realized it resembled an animal's tail.

The longer Grandpa looked, the more it seemed like the Yellow Weasel's tail. But something puzzled him: why was it white?

Still uncertain, Grandpa looked around the room and spotted the teacups on the table. He picked one up and hurled it straight at the white tail.

It struck dead on, and the white tail twitched.

It was a living creature.

Now Grandpa was certain that the creature lying on the roof beam was a weasel.

"Yellow Immortal, the Zhang Family knows they were wrong. Please spare them this once!" Grandpa called up to the weasel on the beam. When it gave no response, he threw several more teacups at it, hoping to drive it away.

The weasel squealed under the blows. Suddenly, it poked out a pointed head and glared viciously at Grandpa.

Grandpa could see it clearly now. The creature on the roof beam was indeed a weasel with a white tail.

According to legend, the greater a weasel's spiritual cultivation, the more white fur it had. This one's entire tail had turned white. Its cultivation was clearly considerable.