Judge of Souls - Chapter 98

The little Mountain God wasn’t as dramatic as Chu Xuanliang had described. He wasn’t stupid either – why would he cry when no one was around? He only howled a couple of times when people came by.

When Jiang Feng and Chu Xuanliang returned, he was playing happily with Tangyuan, spinning around non-stop in the circle.

Chu Xuanliang asked Jiang Feng to play with the little Mountain God for a while, saying he could stay here tonight. He went over to touch the little Mountain God’s head and pinched his puffed-up cheeks with a smile.

“Take me with you,” the little Mountain God looked up at him negotiatingly. “I’m actually older than your ancestors.”

His messy bangs slid down his forehead, and his eyes were pitch-black and bright. Chu Xuanliang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, saying he still had matters to attend to and needed to find his master first.

Just as he was about to leave, his trouser leg tightened – Tangyuan had bitten onto it.

The originally docile Tangyuan acted as if possessed, barking frantically at his chest, opening its mouth to bite.

“Tangyuan!” The little Mountain God went over to grab its neck, warning, “What are you doing? You can’t do this! Come back!”

Chu Xuanliang remembered the item in his inner pocket and took out the small bottle containing the flesh, shaking it. “Are you looking for this?”

Tangyuan’s nose twitched, becoming even more excited, barking several times in succession until even the little Mountain God could barely hold it back.

Chu Xuanliang exchanged glances with Jiang Feng.

In their view, wasn’t this just an ordinary fetal corpse? If there was anything special about it, it was probably just that it was a stillborn fetus made into a little ghost, with particularly strong malevolent energy.

Tangyuan seemed to know that being impulsive was useless and quickly calmed down, lying on the ground and letting out several sad, long whines.

The little Mountain God felt very sorry for it, stroking its fur and asking, “Can you give it to him? Who is this?”

Chu Xuanliang said, “I need to show it to my master and have him help try to eliminate the malevolent energy. Besides, there’s still a talisman attached to it, so I can’t give it to you.”

The little Mountain God said, “Oh.”

Chu Xuanliang took the item and left, while the little Mountain God stayed behind to comfort Tangyuan.

****

In the back courtyard, Taoist master Xuanyi examined it repeatedly, pondering for a long time.

“This fetus is truly strange,” Taoist master Xuanyi stroked his beard and said. “Did you feel it? The yin energy on it is so thick it’s unsettling. When you came back, did you encounter any ghosts or demons?”

Chu Xuanliang replied, “Not on the road. But it’s also possible that the little ghosts didn’t dare approach.”

Taoist master Xuanyi said, “Right.”

He directly peeled off the talisman from outside the bottle and spread it open in his hand to examine it. His fingertip traced along the pattern in a circle, making some calculations in his mind.

“Although they are different talismans, judging from the brushstrokes of drawing the talismans and the habitual characteristic marks, they should be from the same school as the talisman you showed me before. Those Taoist priests – which sect do they belong to?” Taoist master Xuanyi was very puzzled. “I don’t remember the Taoist sect producing such scoundrels. And one after another, without any word getting out – this is far too mysterious.”

Chu Xuanliang asked, “Master, what exactly is this talisman used for? Raising little ghosts?”

Taoist master Xuanyi said, “Oh, they’re not raising little ghosts, just using it to bind and seal them. So there’s no contract bound to this little ghost. But because of its miserable death, it harbors resentment and grievances and cannot go to the underworld. Plus, this little ghost has heavy yin energy – probably its fate was too light. Even sealed like this, carrying it around would easily cause trouble.”

The little ghost inside was probably too weak; after removing the talisman, the demon-subduing bottle alone could contain it.

“Not raising little ghosts?” Chu Xuanliang asked curiously. “Then why did Mrs. Miao keep this bottle?”

Taoist master Xuanyi said, “This little ghost has very strong malevolent energy. She was probably afraid of being haunted by it, so she sealed it. But it’s also strange – if there was a master teaching her to subdue ghosts, why give her this thing? Staying with ghosts is always unsafe. If you’re going to deal with it, you should eliminate it completely.”

Chu Xuanliang then recounted how Mrs. Miao had been constantly tormented by the little ghost’s haunting.

After hearing this, Taoist master Xuanyi said, “She’s not a good person either. This is her own biological child. To seal it and keep it by her side like this, listening to its wailing every day for almost a year – doesn’t she find it disturbing?”

He handed the item back. “I’ll keep this talisman to examine. You can take the bottle. Remember to be careful – it easily attracts little ghosts.”

Although this little ghost itself had no magic power, the thick yin energy surrounding it was like a great tonic for other ghosts.

So in the afternoon, Chu Xuanliang and Jiang Feng went to a place in the back mountain far from the Taoist temple to conduct an experiment.

They stuck the bottle into the soil, and in less than an hour, a ghost came over.

It seemed this child indeed had a special attraction for ghosts. This was probably the reason Mrs. Miao had been constantly haunted by ghosts. Actually, they weren’t haunting her, but the fetus in the bottle.

Just like different people’s blood types – you definitely couldn’t tell just by looking – they couldn’t see what attraction this fetus had either. When they took it from Mrs. Miao’s house, they hadn’t paid attention and hadn’t noticed anything wrong at the time.

Chu Xuanliang really wanted to open this bottle and see what the soul trapped in the fetus looked like.

He still needed to make another trip to see Mrs. Miao to verify whether this was really her miscarried child.

****

Until nightfall, Tangyuan couldn’t perk up. It lay there listlessly, not even wanting to pay attention to the little Mountain God.

The little Mountain God gently stroked along its back, asking, “What’s wrong, Tangyuan?”

Tangyuan half-closed its eyes and whimpered.

The little Mountain God thought for a moment and said, “You keep thinking about that bottle, don’t you?”

Tangyuan: “Woo——“

The little Mountain God asked again, “Should I help you get it?”

Tangyuan shook its head, its eyes lighting up as it looked at him.

The little Mountain God asked, “Do you want to return it to your master?”

Tangyuan: “Woof!”

The little Mountain God agreed and prepared to ask for the bottle.

He ran all the way to the back bedroom, still remembering Chu Xuanliang’s room, pressing the handle and pushing the door open.

Both Jiang Feng and Chu Xuanliang were inside.

“Daddy,” the little Mountain God said with his hands in his pockets, “give the bottle back to Tangyuan. It’s been crying.”

Chu Xuanliang gestured acknowledgment.

A dog that refused to reincarnate was most likely related to the vengeful spirit in this bottle.

So what did it want to do? Protect him? Watch him be born? Or something else?

They really couldn’t guess a dog’s wishes.

But perhaps it was the one who knew the most about this matter. They should see what it actually wanted to do.

Jiang Feng went over to pick him up, saying, “Time for bed. We’ll take you tomorrow.”

The little Mountain God was beside himself with excitement, his whole face lighting up as he repeated, “Really? Really really?! Daddy, I love you the most!”

****

Early the next morning, the group took the dog and rushed to Mrs. Miao’s residential complex again. Tangyuan had a good memory and remembered all the directions. Everyone entered the complex and let Tangyuan lead the way.

The public areas seemed normal enough, but going further in, Jiang Feng noticed something was wrong.

It wasn’t heading toward Mrs. Miao’s direction at all, but toward Mrs. Zhou’s direction.

Jiang Feng thought it had taken a wrong turn, but finally it stopped accurately at Mrs. Zhou’s door, patting the door panel to signal them to open it.

Jiang Feng and Chu Xuanliang fell into contemplation over this.

Whose child was this really?

Considering Mrs. Zhou’s wariness toward them, Jiang Feng and Chu Xuanliang voluntarily stayed back, telling the little Mountain God to be careful on his own.

The little Mountain God stood on his tiptoes and pressed the doorbell. Before long, someone came to open the door.

The person couldn’t see anyone through the peephole and carefully pushed open a crack in the door.

The little Mountain God stepped forward, looking at her with a smile.

Mrs. Zhou was very surprised. “Little friend, how did you get here? Did you take a wrong turn?”

The little Mountain God said, “Auntie, I have something I want to give you.”

Mrs. Zhou asked patiently. “What is it?”

The little Mountain God touched his bulging pocket, then looked at Mrs. Zhou’s protruding belly. Knowing it wouldn’t be good to scare her by taking it out, he rubbed his trouser seam and said, “Is your husband home? This is a matter between us men.”

Mrs. Zhou laughed. “You really know a lot. But he’s not here right now. How about you come into my house and wait for him?”

She unlocked the security chain and brought the little Mountain God inside, giving him a bottle of milk. She sat beside him and asked, “Where are your mom and dad? Where do you live? How did you come to my place?”

The little Mountain God said, “It’s a matter between men.”

Mrs. Zhou found it amusing but had no choice. She couldn’t intimidate such a small child, so she could only call her husband and ask him to come home if he wasn’t busy.

Mr. Zhou was very nervous about this and immediately dropped his work to rush home.

“What’s the matter?”

“Look.” Mrs. Zhou pointed at the little Mountain God. “Look!”

Mr. Zhou was shocked. “Did you steal him?”

“……” Mrs. Zhou said, “You pooh!”

Mr. Zhou took over negotiations with the little Mountain God. They went to the study.

The little Mountain God took out the small bottle, wanting to place it in the other person’s hands.

After Mr. Zhou saw it clearly, he was horrified and retreated to the edge of the study, his back hitting the bookshelf hard. After recovering, he asked stiffly, “What is this?”

The little Mountain God said, “Tangyuan told me to give it to you.”

“Who is Tangyuan?”

“A dog.”

Upon hearing the word “dog,” Mr. Zhou’s face had already changed dramatically. “No need to say more!”

The little Mountain God said, “But Tangyuan worked very hard to protect it. It just wants to return this thing to you.”

“What exactly is this?!” Mr. Zhou was nearly frantic, then suddenly froze and trembled. “Don’t tell me this is my Yangyang.”

The little Mountain God asked, “Yangyang?”

Tangyuan barked loudly, as if reminding him.

The little Mountain God tried to understand and said uncertainly, “Maybe?”

“No, it can’t be……” Mr. Zhou shook his head. “When my son died, he was already three years old. The one in this bottle has just formed. Whose is it? Who are you? Who sent you?”

Tangyuan urgently barked twice more. Mr. Zhou could faintly hear its voice too.

“Dog?” Mr. Zhou trembled with anger. “You brought your dog into our house? Take your dog and get out right now! Get out!”

The little Mountain God shrank back from the shouting and prepared to leave. But Tangyuan suddenly leaped up, snatching the bottle from his hands, then bit it with its teeth, trying to bite through the glass.

The little Mountain God hurried to grab it. “Tangyuan, let go!”

Mr. Zhou watched him struggle and asked in shock. “What are you doing?”

Tangyuan’s teeth were sharp after all. It bit the bottle and refused to let go. The little Mountain God didn’t know his own strength and his fingers got scraped as they went over, accidentally cutting a wound.

Blood stained the bottle body, and the sturdy demon-subduing bottle instantly shattered. White glass fragments scattered all over the floor, and the flesh slid out too. At the same time, a black shadow slowly rose.

The black shadow lingered in the study for a moment, its form very unstable, only reaching Mr. Zhou’s knee height. It called out weakly, “Daddy……”

Mr. Zhou couldn’t believe it. “Yangyang? Is it really you? What… what happened to you?”

The ghost didn’t dare stay long. After calling out once, it immediately left. It was afraid that staying in this place would bring trouble to its parents.

But Mr. Zhou chased after it, crying out in pain. “Yangyang! Yangyang, where are you going? Were you bullied? Tell daddy, I’ll save you, I’ll definitely save you!”