Hearing Huang Po's words, I came back to my senses. Only then did I realize that my nosebleed was flowing incessantly like an open tap. My head ached, and my vision blurred intermittently.
Before I could react, the old woman quickly grabbed a handful of incense ash from the incense burner on the offering table and covered my nose with it, making me cough violently.
By the time I spat out all the incense ash in my mouth, the nosebleed had stopped. Before I could express my gratitude, the old woman got up to see us off.
"You three go back first. Come back after 11 p.m. I've got to make some proper preparations."
Huang Po and Jiang Lixin supported me as we left the witch's place. I felt light - headed all the way, with a dull ache in my head.
The three of us discussed briefly and decided to find a hotel in the nearby town to rest.
We rented two rooms at the hotel. Jiang Lixin supported me into the room. I collapsed onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep immediately.
In my dream, I saw many bizarre and outlandish scenes. Some seemed like martial - arts scenarios, where I was practicing martial arts with many peers.
Some other scenes were like horror movies. I was running for my life with a short figure, and there were countless ghosts chasing us from behind, making terrifying roars.
There were also some images that just flashed by. There were huge shadows, like gigantic beasts, which filled me with fear.
I don't know how long it took, but finally, such a chaotic dream ended. I was standing on the stage of the banquet hall again, and in front of me was the bride with a red veil.
Looking at the emcee's smug smile, I suddenly felt a chill in my heart. Why was I back in this scene again? Didn't we drive the female ghost away when we went to Dashan Temple?
It was the same old wedding - ceremony routine. The red veil was lifted, revealing Jiang Lixin's face. There was a strange smile on her face as she stared straight at me.
Then a white paper with our birth dates and times was taken out. The emcee pulled my hand and made me press my fingerprint on it.
I clearly saw that my birth time on the paper had become the correct wu - shichen (the time period from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the traditional Chinese time system). Shocked, I thought to myself: We had been trying one shichen after another before. How did it suddenly turn out to be wu - shichen? It must have found out my correct birth date and time.
I only told the witch my birth date and time when I had my fortune told today. And the only people present were Huang Po and Jiang Lixin.
The witch had no connection with me before. We just found her today, so it shouldn't be her who leaked the information.
Then the only ones who also knew my correct birth date and time were Jiang Lixin and Huang Po.
I couldn't help but think again of the blindfolded girl we met when we drove out of the housing estate. She said that neither Huang Po nor Jiang Lixin could be trusted. Could she be right?
While I was lost in these thoughts, the emcee had already pressed my thumb onto the white paper.
As this happened, the ghosts in the audience immediately cheered. They flew up from their seats and floated back and forth in the air, making blood - curdling howls.
The blood - curdling howls of the ghosts were so loud that my ears were ringing. A stabbing pain spread from my earholes to my head, as if someone was drilling into my head through my earholes.
I jolted upright in bed. I was drenched in cold sweat. I glanced around the room and saw Jiang Lixin's handbag on the bedside table, but she was nowhere to be found.
I got up and went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face. After calming myself down, I left the room and knocked on Huang Po's door next door.
"Chen Zi, you're finally up. It's almost shichen. Let's go to the witch's place quickly."
As I recalled the birth date and time I'd revealed in the dream, looking at Huang Po, I couldn't help but wonder: Who on earth had leaked my birth date and time?
"Where's Jiang Lixin? Where did she go?"
"She said she'd go ahead to ask the witch something. She told me to call you and go there together when the shichen was right."
"What's she asking about? Didn't she already have her fortune told?" I was a bit confused.
"Girls, you know. I guess she probably wants to ask if you'll still go out and have a wild time after getting married. It was awkward to ask in front of you this afternoon, so she went ahead to ask first." Huang Po shrugged and said.
"Oh no! This is going to be a real headache!"
I'm not the kind of guy who can stay faithful. As long as there's a chance, I'll probably stray.
If Jiang Lixin goes to ask the witch now and finds out I'm a potential scumbag, then our relationship is definitely over.
Thinking of this, I immediately got anxious. "What are you standing there for? Let's go there right away."
When we two arrived in front of the witch's yard, we found it was pitch - black and there was no light at all.
Is she asleep? Didn't she say she'd help me ask after eleven o'clock?
Just as Huang Po and I were filled with doubts, an old woman's hoarse voice came from inside the house: "Come in."
As the voice faded, the old woman lit a dim oil lamp with a match. Under the illumination of the oil lamp, her face looked even paler.
For a moment, there was an illusion that it was hard to tell whether she was a human or a ghost.
This is because practitioners of Walking in the Underworld spend too much time in the Underworld and frequently shuttle between the Yin and Yang worlds, which allows too much yin energy to enter their bodies.
After we two sat down in front of the witch, I couldn't help asking: "Granny, where's our friend? She said she wanted to come and ask you something."
"Oh, she left just a little while ago. She said she had some things to think about."
I immediately had a bad feeling: It was obvious that she'd asked something troublesome.
"At this time, you should focus on saving your own skin first. We'll talk about your relationship later." The old woman rolled her eyes, looking utterly frustrated with me.
"By the way, I went straight to sleep when I got back to the hotel this afternoon. I had a dream of a wedding - ceremony. The betrothal letter the other person brought had my birth date and time on it, and this time it was correct."
As I said this, I was observing the old woman's facial expressions and also secretly watching Huang Po's reaction.
"How is this possible? I have Dharma protectors enshrined here. No evil things could eavesdrop on our conversation." The old woman said with a strange look on her face.
Huang Po also looked shocked. "Chen Zi, aren't you in danger then?"
"Stop talking for now. I'll go down and ask. Let's see which powerful being you've offended." The old woman said as she reached out and grabbed my hands.
The old woman was quite plump, but her hands were extremely emaciated, feeling as if there was no flesh on them.
Her hands were incredibly cold, without a trace of warmth, just like those of a dead person.
The old woman's dry and cold hands clasped mine. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through me. Instinctively, I tried to pull my hands back, but she held on even tighter.
"Don't move. No matter what happens later, stay calm and don't struggle recklessly."
After the old woman finished speaking, she began to mumble inaudible incantations in a low voice.
As she mumbled, the temperature around us began to plummet, and the flame of the oil lamp in front of us started to dwindle.
The flame gradually changed from its original yellow color to a strange green.
Under the illumination of the green flame, I saw that on the white wall behind the old woman, her shadow slowly stretched and wriggled, as if trying to break free from some restraint.
The old woman's expression also contorted horribly, as if she was in great pain.
I held my breath and didn't dare to move a muscle. I stared fixedly at the terrifying shadow on the wall, my heart in my mouth.
A gust of cold wind blew, and the oil lamp suddenly spat out a shower of sparks. Suddenly, a shrill scream came from the old woman's mouth.
She opened her eyes, and her black eyes had turned a murky gray. Her expression was also full of terror.
"Please, stop..."