He came

After spending the whole day running around with Xiao Pang, I ate and drank my fill, then went to bed.

None of us expected that once I fell asleep, I would not wake up again. Even stranger things happened afterward.

My family did not notice anything unusual about me, but Granny Liu was on edge, unable to shake the feeling that something was about to happen.

Today was supposed to be the day of my tribulation. There was no way it could pass so peacefully.

Still worried, Granny Liu hung some specially made bells at the courtyard entrance and the doors to the rooms before going to bed. These bells were solid and would not ring in the wind, but they would sound a warning whenever a Ghost Entity approached.

She had already placed the Ghost-Blocking Wood at the entrance and sprinkled chicken blood outside the doors, so ordinary Ghost Entities could not possibly enter the courtyard.

Yet Granny Liu still felt that something was wrong, so she added another layer of protection.

Back in the west wing, Granny Liu remained uneasy and could not get to sleep. But at her age, she could not stay awake forever, and eventually she drifted off.

Around midnight, Granny Lin faintly heard a voice echoing over and over in her ears. "He's here... he's here..."

At first, she thought she was dreaming, but the temperature in the room suddenly plummeted. Granny Liu shuddered and jolted awake.

Once awake, she heard scratching at the door and saw numerous figures leaping about outside the window.

The bells outside the courtyard were ringing too, jingling without pause.

At the sound, Granny Liu trembled all over. Without even putting on her shoes, she pushed open the door.

When she looked outside, she saw that the courtyard had suddenly filled with Yellow Weasels and foxes. Several were standing at the doors, banging on them incessantly.

With all that noise just now, how did I not wake up? What was going on?

Granny Liu immediately grew uneasy.

The voice that had awakened her belonged to the Chang Immortal she worshipped. Knowing danger had arrived, the Immortal had come specifically to warn her.

The bells at both the courtyard entrance and the room doors had rung at the same time. That meant an unclean spirit had arrived.

The first thing Granny Liu did was run to the courtyard entrance to check the Ghost-Blocking Wood. Her expression changed drastically at the sight: two clear footprints marked the wood, and they had turned black.

The talisman markings drawn on the Ghost-Blocking Wood in rooster blood had also blackened, as though scorched by fire.

The Ghost-Blocking Wood was made from ten-year-old peach wood and could repel ghosts and ward off evil. Ordinary unclean spirits would not even dare approach it, yet this one had stepped straight over it. That alone showed how powerful the Ghost Entity was. It had no fear of the Ghost-Blocking Wood whatsoever.

"Oh no, oh no. Something really has happened." Panicking, Granny Liu hurried toward the room where I slept.

As she ran, she shouted, "Brother Wu, get up! Something's wrong!"

Yet even after she called several times, neither Grandpa nor my parents woke up.

Granny Liu could not worry about that now. She went straight into my bedroom.

I was already nine at the time and had long since stopped sharing a room with my parents. I had a room of my own.

Upon entering, Granny Liu saw that my whole body was scarlet. My little face, in particular, was flushed as red as a freshly ripened apple.

Then she touched my forehead. It was hot enough to burn her hand.

Just as Granny Liu pulled her hand back, I suddenly coughed several times as I lay in bed.

The sound was terribly aged, the sort of cough only someone in their seventies or eighties could make.

Granny Liu was badly frightened. Her first thought was that an unclean spirit had possessed me.

What Granny Liu could not understand was that an immensely powerful Immortal resided within me, with over a thousand years of cultivation. With such a mighty Immortal inside me, how could an unclean spirit possibly possess my body?

Bewildered, Granny Liu placed her hand directly over my spiritual center and said, "Forgive the intrusion." Then she began murmuring an incantation, trembling all over. A moment later, she withdrew her hand, her expression growing grimmer by the second.

She had sensed that the soul of the Immortal within me was extraordinarily weak, so faint that she could barely detect it.

Yet there was another presence inside me, and its spiritual form was exceptionally vigorous.

An unclean spirit really had possessed me.

Recalling the aged sound of my coughing, Granny Liu quickly thought of Old Man Wang, whom she had seen at the hospital that day.

Could it be him?

Was he Wu Jie's Tribulation-Bound Person?

Old Man Wang had looked perfectly ordinary, and he had only just died. How could he have such powerful cultivation? He feared neither the Ghost-Blocking Wood nor rooster blood, and he could possess someone so soon after death.

Even a vengeful ghost would have to wait until the seventh day after death to become this powerful.

At a loss herself, Granny Liu ran over and knocked on Grandpa's door, but no one answered, even after several knocks.

Growing anxious, Granny Liu had no choice but to call upon the Chang Immortal within her for help. Her eyes turned an eerie green, and she slammed into the door, finally forcing it open.

As soon as the door opened, a gust of icy wind blew toward her.

Granny Liu quickly noticed a red aura of death swirling around where Grandpa slept. It was especially pronounced above his head.

Only then did Granny Liu finally understand why she had heard none of the earlier commotion outside, even with so many Yellow Weasels and foxes knocking on the doors. She had been affected by this death aura. In her earlier haste, she had failed to notice it.

Granny Liu went straight to Grandpa's side and shook him hard. Only then did he groggily wake up.

"Sister... what's wrong?" Grandpa was very surprised to find Granny Liu in his room in the middle of the night.

"Get up, quickly! Something's happened to Little Jie!" Granny Liu said anxiously.

At that, Grandpa sprang up. "What happened to Little Jie? Wasn't he fine earlier?"

"It's complicated. Get up first, and wake Little Jie's parents too," Granny Liu said.

Once Grandpa got out of bed, the first thing he did was reach for his saber. That weapon was the source of his courage. As long as he had it in hand, he feared nothing.

But Granny Liu said, "Leave the saber. It won't help now. Little Jie has been possessed by an unclean spirit."

Hearing that, Grandpa abandoned the saber and rushed straight into my room to take a look. Seeing my whole body flushed red, as though I had been boiled in water, and so hot he could have cooked an egg on me, he was startled too. He said to Granny Liu, "Didn't we put the Ghost-Blocking Wood at the entrance and sprinkle rooster blood there? How could this happen?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet, but I suspect the unclean spirit possessing Little Jie is the ghost of Old Man Wang from the hospital," Granny Liu said.