Wasn't this female ghost supposed to have been driven away? A place like Dashan Temple, where the incense is always burning brightly, should definitely be able to drive away evil spirits like this.
Moreover, I really felt something at that time. The pain in my right ear canal couldn't have been fake.
But now that the witch says so, there's only one possibility: the female ghost is back.
Is this like an illness that can relapse?
However, since the witch could detect it before we even entered the door, she must have real skills and surely a way to deal with it.
It seems that coming to this witch this time was really the right decision.
"All three of you stay outside first. Don't come in. I'll get ready and then come to fetch you. If you come in, it'll be hard to drive the evil spirits away," the witch's old voice came again.
There's actually a folk saying that the doors and courtyards are guarded by door gods, which can stop evil spirits from entering.
For evil spirits to enter a house, they either have to deceive the owner into giving consent or possess a person and enter with them.
Among similar legends, the most famous one is probably the Beautiful Snake (a monster in Chinese legend with a snake's body and a beautiful woman's head) mentioned in Lu Xun's *From My Hometown to the Three-Flowered Studio*.
The beautiful snake is a monster with a snake's body and a beautiful woman's head.
It is said that when a scholar was reading at night, he would hear a beautiful woman lying on the outer wall of the courtyard calling his name and making an appointment to meet on a certain night.
The scholar, seeing the head of the beautiful snake, thought he was lucky to have a young lady from a good family offering herself to him, so he happily agreed.
Once he agreed, a few days later on a rainy night, the beautiful snake would come late at night to suck the scholar's brain.
Lu Xun only told this story in his book but didn't explain why the beautiful snake made such an appointment with the scholar across the courtyard wall.
Think about it. The beautiful snake is a goblin. It would be easy for it to eat a weak scholar. Why make an appointment in advance? Wouldn't it expose its intention and whereabouts if it met someone who knew the tricks?
Just like the scholar in the story. He happened to meet a master. The master used a flying centipede to kill the beautiful snake.
The real reason lies here. Evil spirits can't pass the door gods to enter a house, but once the owner gives consent, there's nothing they can do.
Like the old rural rule in the past, when someone knocked on the door in the middle of the night, the owner would always ask the person's name before opening the door. If the person didn't say their name, the door wouldn't be opened.
It's the same principle. Evil spirits can pretend to be people and knock on the door, but they can't bypass the rules. Unless the owner doesn't understand the rules and opens the door themselves, "consenting" to the evil spirits' entry.
Hearing the witch tell us to wait outside, the three of us didn't dare to move and just waited obediently in place.
After a while, an old woman with a plump and kind face walked out of the yard, carrying a clay pot in her hand with a lot of things in it.
The old woman was white and chubby, clearly a person who had lived a life of ease. I don't know if it was an illusion, but I saw a black aura lingering on her face.
The old woman came to the courtyard gate and took out the things in the clay pot one by one and laid them on the ground.
There was a thick stack of paper money, several yellow paper talismans painted with cinnabar, a writing brush, a small bowl of prepared cinnabar, and a small bottle of white wine.
The old lady picked up the paper money, lit it with a lighter, and put it into the brazier. Once the flames burned vigorously, she unscrewed the small bottle of white wine and poured some on it.
Once the white wine was poured on, the flames in the brazier suddenly shot up and burned fiercely.
The old lady stood up and said, "You three line up and come one by one. When I say 'step over', you step over."
So the old lady wanted us to step over the brazier. I had also heard my maternal grandfather talk about the custom of stepping over the brazier.
Fire was among the earliest totems revered by humans. With fire, humans began to eat cooked food and could drive away wild beasts in the dark.
Therefore, fire itself carries energy and has a purifying function.
Cremation serves this purpose, and stepping over the brazier does too.
After the old lady finished giving instructions, she threw a yellow paper talisman into the brazier, and the flames in the brazier immediately turned red.
The old lady said sternly, "Step over."
Jiang Lixin was the first to step over the brazier, walk into the yard, and stand aside watching.
The old lady threw in another yellow paper talisman, and Huang Po also stepped over the brazier and walked over.
When it was my turn to step over the brazier, I only felt a rush of hot air rising from my crotch towards my head.
For a moment, I was dazed. After stepping over the brazier, I seemed to feel much lighter.
Before I could take a breath, the old lady picked up the bowl of cinnabar and the brush on the ground again and started drawing on my face.
"The one you've gotten involved with is a powerful one. The brazier can only keep her out for the time being. I'll draw some talismans on you so that she won't pester you again when you go out later."
I didn't dare to move and let the old lady draw on my face.
Strangely enough, after the cinnabar was drawn on my face, it felt hot and soon started to itch.
I couldn't help but raise my hand to scratch it, but the old lady slapped it down.
"Bear it! Don't scratch! You've been haunted by that thing for so long, and your body's full of yin energy. The cinnabar on your face will definitely itch when it dispels the yin energy. If you scratch it off, it won't work."
When I heard what the old lady said, I didn't dare to move anymore. Even though it felt like countless bugs were crawling on my face and I was itching like crazy, I didn't dare to move a single bit.
The old lady not only drew on my forehead and face but also walked behind me and drew cinnabar on my neck and ears.
When she was drawing on my right ear, the old lady obviously paused for a moment: "You're quite lucky, kid. You actually survived after encountering such a powerful one. It seems this thing is really not simple."
My heart skipped a beat: The old lady must have seen something. I'll have to ask her carefully later and try to completely solve the problem of the female corpse.
After the old lady finished drawing, she put the things on the ground, coughed, and called out to us, "Alright, let's all go in."
The old lady led us into the main hall. As soon as I entered, I was attracted by the statue on the offering table.
The statue had three heads and six arms, with glaring eyes and a ferocious face. Each of the six arms held a different weapon, looking extremely menacing.
My heart skipped a beat. I had heard my maternal grandfather say that most practitioners of Walking in the Underworld choose kind - hearted gods as their statues.
If the statue worshipped by practitioners of Walking in the Underworld has a ferocious expression and a menacing look, one must be extremely careful.
Since practitioners of Walking in the Underworld often go down to the Underworld themselves or summon ghosts to possess others, they inevitably become contaminated with yin energy, which can harm their physical health.
Worshipping a statue of a compassionate deity is to seek the protection of the gods and ensure their own safety, thus avoiding any mishaps during Walking in the Underworld that could lead to their sudden death.
Moreover, compassionate deities are more likely to be reasonable. When practitioners of Walking in the Underworld summon ghosts, they inevitably have to conduct some negotiations, and it is easier to communicate with such deities.
If the statue being worshipped has a menacing look, then there's a big problem.
Even if such a statue represents a true god, it belongs to the category of fierce - looking guardians or Dharma protectors, who are good at fighting but not at protecting people, and are of no benefit to practitioners of Walking in the Underworld during their Walking in the Underworld.
More importantly, guardians and Dharma protectors are born out of anger, and most of them have bad tempers. When facing conflicts, they basically resort to force, which is extremely unfavorable for practitioners of Walking in the Underworld to conduct negotiations.
How could this witch, a practitioner of Walking in the Underworld, worship such a menacing statue?
As I pondered this in my heart, my eyes couldn't help but fix on the statue.
The statue's eyes moved and stared directly at me.