Judge of Souls - Chapter 65

“I can pay you, I still have money,” Yang Huan said as she bent down to rummage through her handbag, turning everything inside into a mess, and finally pulled out a wallet.

She took out her bank card and handed it over. “Ajarn. My film payment will be transferred in three months, and I’ll give it to you then. I’ll give you my house too. Please, I’m begging you.”

The black-robed Ajarn kept his eyes tightly closed and remained silent.

A disciple wearing ceremonial robes came up from downstairs and said in stiff Chinese, “Come down, my master needs to rest.”

Yang Huan placed the card on the ground, straightened the loose strands of hair on her face, and carefully stood up to leave.

The disciple stared at her intently and roughly pulled her arm as she was leaving the room.

Yang Huan: “What are you doing?!”

“Shut up!”

The disciple lifted the heavy curtain and unceremoniously pushed her out.

Yang Huan was shocked. “Where is my child? Ajarn hasn’t answered my question yet. What’s wrong with all of you?”

The disciple said, “After losing the most precious Kumantong, don’t bother coming back. You can’t afford Ajarn’s price.”

She drove Yang Huan away, then bowed and walked to the second floor, kneeling before the Ajarn.

“Such a pity,” the black-robed Ajarn’s eyes flashed with cold light, “That little ghost was made with the most special efficacy. I had originally planned to let her keep it to absorb more life energy before taking it back, but I never expected she would be so careless and let someone steal it.”

The disciple asked, “Should we go and get it back?”

“So China still has meddlesome Taoist priests, how troublesome, I really don’t like that. I originally wanted to coexist peacefully with them, but they came and interfered in my affairs. No matter who interfered this time, I want them to know the price of offending a black magic master. Take the items and go,” the black-robed Ajarn said severely. “I want little ghosts, many many little ghosts, to enhance my magical powers. I will become Southeast Asia’s most formidable Buddhist successor, and make everyone regret it. Luang Por An who dared to cut off my hand, I will cut off his head and let him suffer the pain of being gnawed by ten thousand ghosts for life.”

He raised his hand, his right hand looking like a puppet sewn from white cloth. A ghost face full of sharp teeth suddenly appeared in his palm, cackling at the two people, then quickly disappeared.

****

Yang Huan hugged her arms, trembling as she walked back to the main road. She stood aimlessly under a signpost. Her vision swept from one end of the street to the other, and tears welled up due to the dry, cold wind.

She took out sunglasses from her bag and put them on. When her hand touched the corner of her lips, there was a strange sensation. She suddenly shuddered and carefully touched her face.

The skin was loose and sagging, and there were crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes even though she wasn’t smiling.

This couldn’t be possible!

Her whole body trembled, and she took out a small mirror.

She had aged.

In those few short hours, she had aged at least twenty to thirty years.

She originally had features prone to aging, but with the Kumantong by her side, even without proper skin care, her skin had been aging backward. Now her apple cheeks couldn’t hold any flesh; someone who was barely in her early thirties looked like she was fifty.

Backlash.

That word suddenly came to mind.

It was indeed retribution.

She collapsed weakly, lowering her hand, and suddenly laughed at the busy street with cars coming and going.

She had debuted at twenty-one, and was now thirty-one years old.

She remembered when she was young, like every pure and passionate youth, filled with hope for the future and sharp criticism of society.

She despised those who gained fame by selling their bodies. She despised those who abandoned principles for money.

She thought she would never change and sneered at the advice of those who had been through it all.

But unknowingly, she had become the very person she despised.

The online saying “use money to humiliate me” wasn’t just a joke. When you have beauty and capital, and are constantly spinning on this unstable surface, you can accidentally board a ship heading into the abyss.

And then sink deeper and deeper.

She fell in love with a rich man, but that rich man would never like her. No matter how beautiful she was, she had a price tag on her, and he wanted to marry a pure and beautiful woman.

She got pregnant, then was forced to have an abortion.

She suddenly realized that the closest and most reliable person to her was actually the soul of the child she had aborted and turned into a Kumantong.

He would be her last relative in this world, who would accompany her through the latter half of her life.

Only him.

She once had a Kumantong that she acquired from a renowned Luang Por in Thailand. He gave her an amulet container and a wooden carving, telling her to adhere to her true heart and do good deeds.

She didn’t even know what her true heart was, but she did do good deeds. Yet it was of no use. She was still unfortunate, despised and ridiculed by everyone. She felt guilty and didn’t even have the courage to refute people’s accusations.

If only she were Kong Su.

She told the black-robed Ajarn: “I want to become beautiful. I want Kong Su to never be better than me.”

“I want to become rich.”

“I want more people to like me.”

“I want that man to love me and be unable to leave me.”

The Ajarn promised her all these things.

Later, she told the black-robed Ajarn again: “I want to get that movie resource.”

The black-robed Ajarn agreed once more.

After that, Kong Su began to exhibit strange behaviors, which netizens and passersby described as “being under a curse.”

Indeed, she was under a curse.

But Yang Huan wasn’t happy at all; she even felt somewhat afraid.

After that period, she didn’t seek out the Ajarn again. Shortly after, she heard Kong Su had died.

Yang Huan wavered between selfishness and justice, ultimately choosing to pretend she knew nothing.

Finally, retribution came.

She forcefully wiped her face, supporting herself as she went to hail a taxi.

****

“Sir, your soda water.”

The waiter placed a can of drink in the middle of the table and served two plates of cold dishes.

Kong Su pushed the sunglasses on her face and made sure no one was around. She said, “Has Yang Huan gone crazy? Is she under a curse like I was? Why does she seem so neurotic?”

Zhang Yangyang poured a glass for everyone. Kong Su had no interest in drinking and put it aside. “Was she really the one who put a curse on me? And even turned her own child into a Kumantong? Not even a donkey could kick out such an exquisite brain idea, right?”

Jiang Feng took a sip and gently shook his head.

In his peripheral vision, a figure in red swayed toward their direction. The person seemed to have no strength left in their body. In the last two steps, she couldn’t hold on anymore and directly collapsed, kneeling in front of him.

“Give him back to me, please. I just want him now.” Yang Huan looked up, begging desperately. “I’ll do good deeds, be a good person from now on, I swear. I’ll atone for my sins, really. That girl, I wronged her. I’ll build a memorial for her, kowtow to her, offer her food every day. I’ll treat her well in my next life too, how does that sound?”

“Yang Huan?” Kong Su also lowered her voice, putting her hat on her head, exclaiming in shock. “Did your plastic surgery go wrong? What happened to you?”

Yang Huan pressed her lips together, quietly sobbing.

Jiang Feng said, “Yang Huan, if you truly care about that child, don’t think about bringing him back and turning him into a Kumantong to carry around. You’re harming him.”

“What?” Yang Huan’s lips trembled as she spoke, “He was aborted, he can’t reincarnate. If I don’t keep him with me, he won’t meet good people and will wander forever without being able to reincarnate.”

“That Kumantong method is malicious, carrying resentment and malice, and one day he will turn into an evil ghost. If you continue to keep him, he will never be able to reincarnate. Let him slowly resolve his resentment, and he still has a chance for rebirth,” Jiang Feng said. “Not all souls are suitable to be made into Kumantongs. The one you raised is no longer a simple Kumantong; if it develops further, it will become a little ghost.”

Yang Huan waved her hand, unable to accept this reality. “No! That’s impossible!”

Kong Su handed her a glass. “Drink some water and calm down.”

Yang Huan hadn’t drunk any water on her journey, so she took big gulps from the glass, emptying half of it, then breathed heavily as she sat on the ground.

Gao Yuqing left his seat to help her up, while Zhang Yangyang nearby let out a forceful dry heave, clutching his chest.

Kong Su said, “A gentleman wouldn’t do that, brother. Your sound is too fake.”

Zhang Yangyang continued to vomit, so forcefully it seemed like he was about to squeeze out his organs. He bent halfway over and directly knelt on the ground. His hand knocked over that glass of water, which spilled wetly on the floor.

Kong Su finally realized something was wrong. “Zhang Yangyang!”

With his esophagus blocked and unable to breathe, his face turned red, and blue veins bulged on his forehead. He grabbed Jiang Feng’s pants with one hand, tears welling in his eyes, but unable to make a sound.

Jiang Feng asked, “Where’s your talisman?”

Zhang Yangyang pounded his chest forcefully to indicate.

Jiang Feng took it from his neck and asked, “We need to burn it. Does anyone have a lighter?”

“I do, I do!” Gao Yuqing said, clumsily reaching for his pocket.

Jiang Feng lit the talisman on fire, and Kong Su, not daring to use anything from their own table, went to the next table to get a pot of water. Jiang Feng mixed the paper ashes into the water, grabbed Zhang Yangyang’s jaw, and forced him to drink it.

After drinking a glass of water, Zhang Yangyang felt a burning pain in his stomach, but at least he could breathe again.

Just as he started to recover, Yang Huan began showing the same symptoms.

Zhang Yangyang had vomited everything he ate in the morning. Yang Huan’s condition was worse. She only had stomach acid, her esophagus was burning, and her body was weak.

Jiang Feng took out another talisman that senior brother had given him, followed the same procedure, and made Yang Huan drink it too.

“Is it the water?” Kong Su supported Yang Huan and carefully recalled, “What are you going to do? You drank it too!”

Jiang Feng: “I’m fine.”

If there had been a problem, it would have manifested already.

Kong Su urgently said, “Damn, maybe you just have a longer resistance time? What’s that Taoist priest’s number from yesterday? Quickly call him to send over two more talismans!”

The waiter came over after hearing the commotion, holding a tray and carefully asking, “Do you need help calling an ambulance?”

Fortunately, there weren’t many people in the restaurant at that time. Kong Su used her body to block those people’s view and waved her hand to indicate it wasn’t necessary.

Zhang Yangyang vomited again, and actually expelled a black insect-like creature resembling a centipede.

The creature was no longer moving and had been broken into two pieces, apparently killed by the previous talisman. After being vomited out, it slowly dissolved and shrank due to the talisman ashes, eventually disappearing.

The waiter was completely frightened. She screamed and ran away to call an ambulance.

Jiang Feng asked Kong Su and Gao Yuqing to watch over the two injured people, while he walked aside to contact that senior brother.

There was a rustling sound on the other end, indicating the signal wasn’t very good.

“Mm.” The senior brother waited for him to finish, “I’ve found their location and I’m here now. If you want to come over, wait for me at the intersection. I’ll come out to find you then.”

He reported an address and quickly hung up.

Jiang Feng grabbed the scarf hanging on his seat and ran out of the restaurant.

Kong Su shouted, “Hey, Jiang Feng! Where are you going?”