Today, Zhang Yunyao had thanked me more than once, and now she suddenly brought it up again.
After the earlier chaos, I was completely exhausted. I leaned against the coffin, smiling weakly at Zhang Yunyao. "No need to be so polite, Zhang," I said. "Like I told you before, this is what I should do. After all, I took your family's money."
"No, you're nothing like the other feng shui masters—completely different! We asked others before about the family grave issue. As soon as they realized the situation was dangerous, they left immediately. Either they weren't capable, or they just didn't want the job. Only you were willing to risk your life for our family." Zhang Yunyao spoke with emotion.
What I was actually thinking was: it wasn't that I wanted to risk my life—I had no choice. This was my first job, and Uncle Huzi and I were desperate. If we didn't take this job, we wouldn't even have money for food.
I never expected my first gig to involve something like this. It was honestly depressing.
Money is hard to earn, and promises are hard to swallow. Since I gave my word, I had to follow through—no matter what.
That's one of the rules my master left for me.
Of course, I couldn't say that to Zhang Yunyao. So I quickly changed the subject. "Zhang, you'd better hurry home and get the stuff. Be quick—the workers can't hold on much longer."
Zhang Yunyao nodded firmly, then ran toward the car.
I watched as she drove away. Only then did I feel a bit more at ease.
The main reason I sent her home to fetch vinegar was because I'd run out of glutinous rice. My master had told me that vinegar mixed with stove ash could also neutralize corpse poison—it just wasn't as effective.
The stove ash, scorched by intense fire, is full of yang energy. It's powerful against corpses, which are extremely yin in nature.
It wasn't ideal, but it was the best I could do.
Once Zhang Yunyao left, I was the only one left awake in the Zhang family graveyard.
The silence around me felt eerie and unsettling.
I suddenly began to worry about Uncle Huzi. I had no idea where he'd gone.
All the workers had been found—even the loudmouth Zhang Yunliang—but Huzi was still missing.
If something happened to him, I wouldn't be able to explain it to my master.
Just as I was thinking about it, I heard faint footsteps in the distance.
Peeking from behind a coffin, I felt a surge of relief.
It was Uncle Huzi, emerging from one side of the Zhang family graveyard.
I was about to call out when I suddenly stopped.
Something was wrong with him.
His walking posture was bizarre—he was tiptoeing forward, his body slightly tilted. Under the dim moonlight, his face looked blank, eyes dull, and his mouth hung slightly open.
It looked like someone behind him was controlling his body, forcing him to walk.
Then I noticed a red glow hovering above his head, radiating a heavy aura of malice.
One glance was enough—I knew something evil had possessed Uncle Huzi.
But he wasn't coming toward me. Instead, he was heading toward a small grove nearby.
That grove still had one person inside—Zhang Yunliang, who had fainted earlier.
Why was Huzi going there?
I took a deep breath and quietly followed him into the grove.
Huzi's strange gait led him straight to Zhang Yunliang. He bent over, knees stiff, reached out, and effortlessly lifted Zhang Yunliang off the ground with one hand, dragging him further into the trees.
At this point, I was certain Huzi was no longer in control of himself.
Zhang Yunliang wasn't exactly light—at least 140 pounds—but Huzi picked him up like he was weightless.
I felt a chill run down my spine. Huzi was clearly planning something bad.
I had to stop him.
But I had just fought off a corpse earlier—my arms were injured and my energy drained. The thing possessing Huzi had to be a powerful ghost, a vengeful spirit. That red glow above his head was unmistakable.
I knew Huzi's strength well. Even without a ghost controlling him, I was no match for him in a fight. With a spirit maximizing his physical potential, he could easily kill me.
I couldn't act rashly. I was no match for him.
But I also couldn't let him harm Zhang Yunliang.
And I couldn't leave the graveyard—what if Zhang Yunyao came back and couldn't find me? There were still corpses here that could turn at any moment. That would be a disaster.
Just as Huzi was about to leave the grove with Zhang Yunliang, an idea hit me.
I pulled out my phone and searched for a rooster crow ringtone I had downloaded for fun.
It was finally going to come in handy.
I crept closer to Huzi, hiding in a patch of tall grass, then hit play on the rooster crow.
The high-pitched sound cut through the night.
Huzi, who had been dragging Zhang Yunliang, suddenly froze. His body shuddered.
A flicker of fear passed through his previously blank eyes. He looked around nervously and set Zhang Yunliang down.
Seeing that it worked, I played the sound again.
Almost instantly, Huzi panicked. His breathing turned rapid. He dropped Zhang Yunliang and bolted into the trees.
I let out a long breath. Once he was gone, I rushed over, picked up Zhang Yunliang, and carried him back to the Zhang family graveyard.
This solution wouldn't hold long. The ghost in Huzi would eventually realize it had been tricked and come back.
Spirits don't fear rooster sounds—they fear daylight.
No matter how fierce a ghost is, it won't show itself during the day. If sunlight touches it, it'll be instantly destroyed.
The spirit heard the rooster and assumed dawn was near—that's why it fled.
But once it realized it was still night, it would return.
I still didn't know why it was after Zhang Yunliang. But next time, it definitely wouldn't let him go.
Still, the red aura above Huzi's head felt eerily familiar.
It was the same as the ghost that had possessed Zhang Yucheng earlier.
This ghost clearly had a deep grudge against the Zhang family—tormenting both father and son.
I set Zhang Yunliang down beside one of the coffins, brain racing for a solution before the ghost returned.
Soon, I had a plan.
When I first saw Zhang Yunliang, I noticed an ominous aura around him. Curious, I'd secretly asked Zhang Yunyao for his birth details and did a quick divination. It showed a looming life-threatening calamity.
But the real value was in having his birth chart.
A person's birth chart is incredibly important—never share it unless you trust someone completely. In the wrong hands, it can be deadly.
With his birth chart, I could create a decoy.
I ran back to the grove, where the vegetation was dense—unlike the barren graveyard.
I gathered tall grass and quickly wove a rough humanoid figure—a straw man.
The craftsmanship was crude, but that didn't matter.
It just needed to fool a ghost.
I stuffed some rocks into the straw man's belly to give it weight.
Then, I pulled out a blank talisman, dabbed it with blood from my shoulder wound, and wrote Zhang Yunliang's birth chart on it. I stuffed it into the straw man's belly.
Finally, I pulled out a substitution talisman and stuck it on the straw man's forehead. Then I formed a hand seal and began to chant:
"Substitute, substitute, white paper forms your face, wild grass your body.
Unawakened, you're straw; awakened, you're divine.
Left ear hears the underworld, right hears the living.
You share name and birth with Zhang Yunliang.
Left hand takes wealth, right hand takes disaster.
If cursed, curse mountains; if harmed, harm seas.
If uncursed, carry misfortune far away.
Spirit soldiers, move! So be it!"
As I finished, I jabbed the straw man's forehead.
Suddenly, it sprang upright like it had come to life.
At the same time, Zhang Yunliang twitched violently and sat up—though his eyes remained closed.
Moments later, both collapsed back to the ground.
I had created a substitute for Zhang Yunliang.
That ghost was surely after him.
Now the straw man was Zhang Yunliang. If the ghost returned, it would take the decoy instead.
A trick made to fool the dead.
I moved the straw man to the edge of the graveyard and hid behind a coffin to wait.
Time passed quickly. Half an hour later, Uncle Huzi reappeared—just like before. Tiptoeing, body leaning forward.
But this time, his expression wasn't blank—it was furious.
Clearly, he was pissed I'd tricked him.
He sniffed the air like he was tracking something.
Meanwhile, I stayed perfectly still, suppressing every sign of life.
After searching, he walked straight toward the straw man.
Without hesitation, he grabbed it and hurried off into the trees again.
Only when he was gone did I finally relax. This night had been one nightmare after another.
But I knew it wasn't over.
That ghost would be back. I was sure it had something to do with the dark shadow I saw in the woods earlier.
Maybe that shadow was controlling everything.
It first attacked Zhang Yucheng in the old Zhang house—now it was going after Zhang Yunliang.
In my current condition, I couldn't face Huzi—not while he was possessed.
If the ghost returned, it might not just be Zhang Yunliang at risk—it could be me too.
I needed another plan.
I sat beside the coffin, running through everything my master had taught me over the years.
Eight years of training hadn't been in vain.
Soon, I had another idea.
I pulled out a few small triangular flags from my bag and walked to the southern edge of the graveyard.
The south represents fire in the five elements—yang energy, perfect for trapping spirits.
I would set up a Spirit Binding Array.
If the ghost returned, it would be trapped in the formation—and Zhang Yunliang and I would be safe.
I paced out the correct positions, chanted, and planted the flags at each critical node.
Soon, a faint white mist rose from the array.
Just then, a sudden beam of light shone directly on me.