Chapter 26: The Whole Village Eats Snake
Chapter 26: The Whole Village Eats Snake
The old man smacked his lips and described the shapes of the two jade plugs. One was a truncated cone shape, thick at one end and thin at the other. The other was a short pointed gui-tablet shape.
The truncated cone-shaped one had been drilled through and was hanging around Mei Lixiang’s neck, while the short pointed gui-tablet-shaped one had been placed in her bag.
Mei Lixiang’s face was so dark it looked as though ink could drip from it.
She had originally thought her luck had exploded and that she might have picked up an antique that could be sold for a fortune. She had never expected it to be something so filthy!
Zhou Huirong tried to persuade her, “Even if those two things are made of jade, you still can’t take them.”
Things used to plug a dead person’s lower passages, and she wasn’t disgusted wearing one on her body?
The old woman curled her lip.
“It wasn’t taking, it was stealing!”
The old man followed up with another stab.
“Exactly. Taking something without asking is theft!”
Mei Lixiang could not hear the two ghosts, but Zhou Huirong’s words alone made her wish she could sink into the ground from shame.
The more she listened, the worse her expression became. In the end, she covered her mouth, turned around, and ran to the washroom to vomit. Even from far away, the sound of retching could still be heard.
Urgh, urgh, urgh...
“I’m very curious. Those two items should have been buried with you in the tomb. How did she steal them?”
No matter how she looked at it, Mei Lixiang did not seem strong enough to rob tombs.
The old woman was afraid of Pei Ye, but ghost logic was just that baffling.
If she could not see where Pei Ye was, then Pei Ye definitely could not see where she was either.
What was there to fear if she could only hear a voice?
“A tomb robber dug into our grave and moved some burial goods to the entrance of the tunnel. Then, when that fellow was climbing out, a whole village eats snake fell into the tunnel.”
Pei Ye: “???”
She deeply felt the generation gap between herself and these ghosts. She genuinely could not understand what they were talking about.
She, Pei Ye, an outstanding graduate of the Federation’s highest institution of learning, had come here only to feel like an illiterate person.
“What does whole village eats snake mean?”
The old man revealed a trace of dissatisfaction.
“It’s a phrase she recently learned. It means a highly venomous snake. In the past, when someone died and a funeral was held, the entire village would be invited to eat, so it’s called a whole village eats snake. I’ve also heard of a prison-for-life snake. These days all kinds of snakes are protected animals. Eat one and you’ll get arrested and end up eating prison meals.”
Pei Ye nodded in understanding.
“I’ve learned something new.”
In short, it was the story of an unlucky tomb robber who stole from the two elders’ grave and ended up bitten to death by a venomous snake that had crawled into the tunnel.
Coincidentally, there was a torrential rainstorm over the following days.
The tomb tunnel collapsed and was buried, while the burial goods dug out by the tomb robber were washed down the mountain by the rain.
Mei Lixiang had returned to her hometown to reissue her identity card and happened to visit some elderly relatives on the mountain.
By accident, she picked up the two jade plugs.
The quality of the jade was extremely good. Even though Mei Lixiang knew nothing about jade, she could tell they were valuable.
She thought they were antiques and planned to take them to a major city to see whether she could sell them at a high price.
The two elders could not stand hearing that.
If she wanted to sell something, why did it have to be the plugs used for their lower passages?
It was the same as stripping off their underwear and selling it for money!
Thus, the two elders angrily followed Mei Lixiang all the way, accompanying her on a high-speed train from the south to T City in the north.
That was truly persistent and determined.
After vomiting for quite a while, Mei Lixiang finally returned looking pale and sickly.
She removed the anal plug hanging around her neck, then took the genital plug out of her bag and threw them onto Pei Ye’s bed.
Her expression clearly said, if I’m disgusted, then I’ll disgust you too.
“Take them! Are you happy now that you’ve made a joke out of me?”
Pei Ye could not be bothered arguing with her and directly made a phone call to Zhu Chun’an.
“There’s something I’d like your help with. I don’t know whether you’re free.”
Zhu Chun’an: “???”
He wanted to help, but his department happened to have business to deal with, so Zhu Chun’an could only teach her the method.
If Pei Ye could not handle it, he would help resolve it after returning.
“Many thanks!”
Ordinary people could not possibly make an underworld messenger courier appear, but Zhu Chun’an did not believe Pei Ye was ordinary.
Even if she was not a Celestial Master, she was probably some ancient ghost from an unknown mountain.
Summoning an underworld messenger courier should not be difficult for her.
Pei Ye did not know any of this.
She had assumed anyone could learn it.
Looking at the hand seal diagram Zhu Chun’an had sent, she formed the same gesture before her chest and recited the incantation once.
“...Serve under my command and do not delay! Swiftly, by decree of the Great Emperor of Fengdu of the Northern Yin Mysterious Heaven!”
This was an incantation used to summon the myriad ghosts under the command of the Great Emperor of Fengdu.
Depending on the strength of the caster, the summoned underworld messengers from various departments would differ in power and rank.
As soon as she finished chanting, everyone held their breath and waited for the underworld messenger to appear.
As a result, one second, two seconds, three seconds...
Nothing at all.
Zhou Huirong thought Pei Ye had failed to summon anything. Wanting to help her save face and ease the awkward silence, she asked, “Who is the Great Emperor of Fengdu of the Northern Yin Mysterious Heaven? I remember that in those old Taoist zombie films, they always chanted things like ‘Swiftly by decree of the Supreme Lord Laojun’ or ‘Supreme Lord Laojun, swiftly by decree.’”
Pei Ye could not answer that question either.
She had only recited the incantation Zhu Chun’an gave her.
How would she know what sort of ghost the Great Emperor of Fengdu of the Northern Yin Mysterious Heaven was?
Oddly enough, the ghosts actually did know.
“The ruler of Fengdu City on Mount Luofeng, the chief of ghosts and spirits who governs the underworld and oversees the punishment of evil. Heaven has the Four Heavenly Emperors and the Jade Emperor, while the underworld has the Four Ghost Emperors and the Great Emperor of Fengdu. Some older ghosts say the Great Emperor of Fengdu is also an incarnation of the Great Ziwei Emperor of the North Pole. Whether that’s true or not, who knows. The gods of China love having multiple identities. Incarnations and true forms come in piles.” The old man clicked his tongue. “The little girl is using an incantation that summons the myriad ghosts under the Great Emperor of Fengdu?”
The old woman said nervously, “Old man, if an underworld officer really comes, will they drag us off to reincarnate?”
The old man curled his lip.
“Fengdu’s population has exploded. Housing prices are so high the ghosts complain endlessly. Even queuing for reincarnation requires a lottery. Reincarnation isn’t that easy.”
The most likely outcome was that the underworld messenger would arrive and completely ignore them.
He had heard that some dark-skinned ghosts in Fengdu waited more than ten years without winning a reincarnation slot and ended up applying to move back into their own graves.
However, there were so many living people in the human world now, with development projects and commercial housing everywhere.
Many unlucky ghosts had their homes dug up by the living.
The old woman had never possessed a particularly good memory when alive, and after death she would still forget things from time to time.
Reincarnation was one such thing.
Pei Ye frowned deeply, unsure which word she had mispronounced.
She intended to try chanting again.
Before she could speak, Lei Yating suddenly cried out.
It turned out that a circular vortex had appeared on the ground.
The yin energy was so dense that even a half-trained person like her could see it clearly.
A thick mass of yin energy drifted out from the vortex and condensed into a man dressed in black.
The man’s face was unnaturally pale, yet unlike other ghosts, his eyes still possessed white sclera.
Even so, his gaze was equally lifeless.
Soul-binding iron chains coiled around his arms.
“Who has summoned me? For what purpose?”
“It was me. I’d like to ask you for a favour. Please deliver these two items to the two elders over there.”
The man’s eyeballs rolled within their sockets.
His gaze landed on Pei Ye and the direction she indicated.
For an instant, his expression cracked.
The black-clothed man, who had been maintaining the bearing of an expert, could no longer keep a straight face.
“The people are standing right there. Why are you sending a delivery!”
Black Impermanence: She must be sick in the head!