The night deepened.
Lin Fang sat in the study of the Nanshan Villa, gently turning the gray-white feather in his hand on the table. The tip of the feather had no luster of bird feathers, but exuded a faint aura of death, like a withered bone, and like a dark fog that had not dissipated for many years.
He stared at the feather intently, slowly pinched out an obscure spell between his fingers, covered it with his palm, and whispered:
"Interpret the shape - know the origin."
The pale yellow magic light shone from his palm, like a circle of ripples of mirror light spreading from the palm, sweeping across the outline of the feather horizontally, as if dissecting some hidden dimension. In an instant, several blurred shadows appeared on the table.
First, it was a pale gray human face with no pupils, like a face that had been soaked in corpse wax for a long time; second, it was a group of translucent mist, shaped like a crow but without wings, with a pair of slowly bulging air sacs on its back, like a soul with exposed internal organs; third, it was a strange landform - a low-lying and dilapidated forest, with jagged dead trees and the corners of mottled bone-gray stone formations on the ground.
Lin Fang frowned slightly, his heart tightened:
"... It is indeed not an ordinary thing."
He stood up and walked to the bookcase, and pulled out an old gray-sealed book from the interlayer, with five words on it: "Xilai Disha Zhi".
This was the only copy left to him by his master, which recorded various rare wind evil phenomena and complex earth veins that had appeared in the west coast of North America and Latin America in the past hundred years. In particular, it recorded a large number of "mixed yin earth veins" mixed with indigenous beliefs, religious totems and underground ritual remnants.
He quickly flipped through the pages and stopped at a page of gray shadows: "Gray feather ghosts parasitize in places with heavy death, feed on souls, are irritable, and like to lurk in sealed graves. They are often seen in places where demolition and relocation of graves are not clean."
A line of annotations below:
"If you encounter a gray feather, you should not force it. It is better to use the 'inducing evil to change the place' technique to move its place, or burn its feather roots with the 'Chen Fire Removal Talisman' within three days of its first appearance to break the parasite."
Lin Fang closed the book, returned to the table, lit a yellow talisman and burned incense, and placed the feather in the center of the ash plate. As the talisman smoke swirled and rose, he pinched his hands and whispered:
"If the evil does not return to its source, the wind will not gather; once this feather leaves, my world will be clear."
A flash of fire, the incense ash suddenly gathered, and the feather rose with the smoke, turning into a wisp of gray-white air, circling in the air, making a slight sound like a bone crack, and then dissipated silently.
The next morning, the clouds were dark.
Lin Fang drove north, heading straight to the mountains outside Los Angeles, with only a gray-brown cloth bag in the car. He did not inform anyone, not even Xiaoqiu knew where he was going.
Based on the location of the "source of the gray feather" in the magic last night, he locked the old site of Perry Valley.
The place was once an Indian tribal reservation, and was converted into a private ranch in the 1950s. However, in the 1990s, the municipal government banned it as a "geomagnetic anomaly area", and no one has set foot in it for 20 years since then, and even the aerial photography data has been hidden.
Lin Fang changed out of his suit, carried the cloth bag, put on gray-brown casual clothes, bypassed the highway blockade, and walked into the woods.
The dead grass here grew wildly, and there was a strange and solemn atmosphere between the branches and leaves. There was also a faint smell of sulfur in the air, as if some kind of "seal crack" was slowly leaking.
Lin Fang gradually entered the dense forest and suddenly stopped.
The terrain ahead slowly sank, forming a natural valley. At the bottom of the valley stood a few strange withered locust trees, with branches like hooks, covered with moss spots, and twisted shapes like withered hands sticking out from the ground, like some kind of "sacrificial remnant".
He slowly closed his eyes, pinched his right hand, took out a small black copper mirror with his left hand, and exhaled into a sound:
"Please let the air enter the mirror."
As soon as the term came out, circles of gray-white ripples appeared on the surface of the copper mirror, and then condensed into a stable gray vortex, pointing to the center of the valley.
Lin walked slowly in, and the sound of falling leaves gradually became louder and less frequent.
Every few feet forward, the temperature around him dropped a point, and the ears gradually sounded a faint "whimper" - not the wind, not the sound of insects, but like the intermittent breathing of a lost soul.
Suddenly, Lin Fang's eyes flashed, his figure was like lightning, he turned around suddenly, and waved the talisman with his right hand!
The yellow light shot straight at a gray shadow that was rushing over like an arrow.
"Puff!"
The gray shadow exploded, uttered a hoarse scream, turned into black smoke and retreated quickly, but did not dissipate completely. In an instant, it disappeared into a crack in a rock at the bottom of the valley and disappeared without a trace.
Lin Fang frowned.
"It is a low-level incarnation of the 'Gray Feather Spirit Evil'... This place is not just a place of evil."
He quickly stepped forward, squatted down to examine the cracks in the rocks, and saw neat stone slabs at the bottom. Under the cracks, there was actually an artificial platform left over from the early years, with a faint Indian seal.
He took out six copper nails and laid out the "Small Five Elements Formation" according to the five directions of southeast, northwest, and center, using the five elements to stabilize the qi and suppress the valley qi.
Then he pulled out an old copper key as long as a thumb from the cloth bag, with feather patterns and prayers engraved on the handle.
The key was embedded in the stone surface, and with a light "click", a narrow crack in the ground opened, revealing a dark tunnel entrance, like an underground throat breathing out rotten air.
Lin Fang was not in a hurry to enter, but put down two "returning qi to stop evil" talismans and chanted in a low voice:
"Shadows are hidden in the ground, and evil moves without a trace; use the five elements as seals, and use true qi as fire to suppress."
When the formation was stable, he raised the lamp and walked in.
Inside the tunnel, it was dark, damp and cold, and the smell of rotten mud and ash was overwhelming.
Lin Fang lit a "nightmare fire lamp". This lamp was made of black dog blood, thousand-year-old vine heart, and spiritual magnetic grass, and was specially used to show evil.
The light was dim, but it illuminated the totems on the wall - human-shaped prayers, bone-decorated totems, bird-headed and beast-bodied strange god patterns, and circles of wells were sunken, with blood stains and spots on them, as if they were places for sacrifices.
He circled the well three times, his steps were rhythmic, and he chanted a spell.
However, when he finished the third circle, his feet suddenly sank.
A talisman bone hidden by the well shattered!
"Crack!"
A green light exploded from the well mouth to the top wall, as if some ancient seal was broken!
Lin Fang's pupils shrank suddenly, and he shouted: "Suppress!"
But - half a breath too late.
In the well, a vague figure rose up -
Its feathers were not feathers, but gray silk tangled; its eyes had no pupils, but it stared intently; its voice was like a prisoner's throat:
"My... residence... cannot be... violated..."
Gray Feather Spirit Evil·True Body!
A vague black door shadow appeared behind it, as if it was connected to another world. The wings spread out, bringing a gust of wind with Yin and Ming Qi, and the surrounding talisman arrays instantly floated with light!
Lin Fang looked stern, took out a black talisman with his right hand, and stuck it to his chest:
"Wind comes - Subdue the evil spirit!"
Instantly, the wind rose like an angry dragon, Lin Fang's robe fluttered, the five elements of his feet started to generate fire from the ground, his true energy was surging, and the whole person was like the wind god descending to the world!
He drew the spell with his right hand, waved the talisman to cut the ground:
"Thunder - Six Combinations Curse!"
The underground magnetic veins vibrated, the arc flashed, and there was a loud bang in the well!
The shadow of the gray feather spirit stagnated and retreated violently!
Lin Fang took advantage of the situation and slammed his palms on the ground, the five elements of copper nails shook together, and the second level of "Golden Fire Exorcism Formation" started!
The gray feather spirit was completely imprisoned, and his body was agitated, making a low and resentful cry like a baby.
Lin Fang looked neither sad nor happy, and took out a red copper jar from his arms. The body of the jar was engraved with soul-calming patterns. When he opened it, an invisible vortex swept away the spirit in the formation.
"Shua——"
The shadow was taken in, the tank body shook, and turned into calm.
In the tunnel, everything was silent.
The sky was slightly bright.
Lin Fang walked out of the tunnel and posted a "land sealing talisman" at the entrance of the valley to lock the source of the evil spirit.
He turned and looked at the valley with a complicated look in his eyes, and whispered:
"You have buried too many things... This land should not be used for human habitation."
This land has a slanted terrain, chaotic spiritual veins, sacrificial relics, totem patterns, underground seal arrays... All signs point to the fact that there may be an "old seal field" hidden deep in the Greenwell development zone, and the "Gray Feather Spirit Evil" is just one of the byproducts.
On the way back, Lin Fang called Faulkner.
"I need Bella to come to the villa in person."
"What happened?"
"It's not a business risk, it's a life."
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and then a low voice responded:
"She will come."
Lin Fang closed his phone, and his palm slowly stroked the red copper pot, his eyes grim.
"I want to show her - something she has never seen before."