Chapter 41: Soul Calling (2)

“We’re following them,” Old Man Jiang whispered into my ear, then released the hand covering my mouth.

“Master, there are so many ghosts following my mom,” I also whispered back to Old Man Jiang. To me, this scene felt terrifying for some reason, like my mother was walking forward with a group of ghosts, all heading toward our house.

“The Soul Guiding Lantern your mother is holding looks like the only light in a vast darkness to these wandering ghosts. It is not strange that some are drawn to it. And not all of them are ghosts. Some of the lighter mist you see, not black but gray, are souls that people in this village have lost over the years. They are not harmful. Once your second sister’s soul returns to her body, a simple dispelling will clear them,” Old Man Jiang said without any concern for what looked terrifying to me.

Just like that, my mother led the group of ghosts forward while Old Man Jiang and I followed behind.

When we were almost home, Old Man Jiang suddenly took me down another path and rushed quickly toward our house.

“Master, what are you doing?” I could not understand.

“Shut your mouth, you’ll know soon enough,” he replied impatiently, then grabbed me and slung me over his shoulder. His speed was astonishing.

When we reached the doorway of our house, I looked back and saw my mother was less than fifty meters from the entrance. She clearly saw us too, but did not dare lose focus.

Old Man Jiang rushed straight into my second sister’s room with me. When he reached her bed, he immediately began undoing the Soul Locking Knot while saying, “If we do not open the Soul Locking Knot, your second sister’s soul cannot enter her body. After two days of being locked, the remaining soul should be relatively stable now. The trouble is still ahead.”

“What trouble?” I watched his hands move like two flying butterflies weaving through flowers, unbelievably fast and strangely beautiful, but the knot was too complicated for me to understand at all.

“After the living soul enters your second sister’s body, the Soul Locking Knot must be tied again immediately. Since the living soul was forced out of the body before, it is unstable. Moreover, your second sister’s living soul has been wandering in the wilderness for so long, so it is even more unstable. That is why it must be bound again. But your second sister has lost one soul and four spirits, so it must be opened five times and locked five times. During this process, I am afraid the living soul may escape again. This cannot be risked lightly. The living soul is fragile. A normal person’s interference could scatter it. It can only rely on your second sister to hold it in,” Old Man Jiang said with clear concern.

After all, my second sister had lost five parts of her soul. Most people would lose one or two at most, and that would already be serious. This required tremendous willpower. Old Man Jiang had a method, but even by his explanation, it was extremely risky and he did not want to proceed unless absolutely necessary.

My heart rose to my throat. I could only pray my second sister was strong enough.

At that moment, the voice of “Xiao Juan, Xiao Juan” came from outside. It seemed my mother had already entered the courtyard. Old Man Jiang shouted, “Everyone step away.”

With that, he also grabbed my eldest sister, who was still sleeping beside my second sister, and carried her out before she could react. He took her to the room where my father was.

After a brief explanation, the four of us hid in my father’s room and watched my second sister’s room through a crack in the door.

My mother entered the room, still followed by five ghosts. This time I counted them clearly.

My mother entered my second sister’s room.

My mother came to my second sister’s bedside.

Standing there, my mother kept calling out “Xiao Juan…”

Then something miraculous happened. The living soul that had been following my mother stood blankly in front of my second sister’s bed. Then, as if pulled by an unseen force, it suddenly rushed into her body.

“It worked,” Old Man Jiang said. Then he quickly ran out of the room where my father was. The three of us followed closely behind him. I did not even care that there were still four ghosts left in that room.

Old Man Jiang quickly retied the Soul Locking Knot on my second sister’s chest. Our family stood nearby, not daring to make a sound. Then I noticed something strange. From the moment my father, Old Man Jiang, and I rushed in, two of the ghosts in the room simply fled.

It felt like they were blown away by wind, or as if they had drifted off on their own.

This was probably what people meant when they said ghosts fear ordinary human yang energy. It was not only men; some women also had strong yang energy, but generally speaking, men tended to have stronger yang energy than women.

After finishing the knot, Old Man Jiang let out a long breath and ignored the remaining wandering ghosts in the room.

“After dawn, living souls will hide themselves and become hard to find. Tonight we must bring all the souls back. Hurry up,” he said.

At that moment, I turned and saw my mother’s face looked somewhat pale, almost grayish. I said nothing because I did not understand, and because no one else could do this except her. My second sister, who had been lying in bed for so long, was truly pitiful.

I just hoped everything would go smoothly.

Hearing that we needed to continue calling back my second sister’s soul before dawn, my mother did not even drink a sip of water before picking up the lantern again to set out.

To her, the living soul of her daughter was still her child. What mother could bear to see her child suffer outside, especially when danger could come at any moment?

Old Man Jiang had once said that living souls are fragile and easily scattered. That is why they usually hide in remote, rarely visited places. Of course, these places were only relatively remote, within the range of where the person’s body and life activities were centered. My second sister’s soul could only wander within our village.

So “remote” and “rarely visited” were only relative terms.

Because of this, my mother became even more worried and afraid.

“Xiuyun, wait a moment,” my father called out, handing her a bowl of hot rice porridge.

This was my father and my mother. They were not romantic, nor were they good at expressing emotions. Their life was just firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea, along with their three children. But I never doubted their feelings. Even many years later, I still firmly believed my parents’ love was deep.

Their mutual devotion was shown in these everyday details. This was love without words.

My mother took the porridge, drank a couple of mouthfuls, then quickly returned the bowl to my father. As he took it back, he touched her hand and exclaimed, “Why is it so cold?”

My mother did not have time to explain. She hurried out with the lantern. Old Man Jiang followed closely behind, because he had to lead the way.

I paused and looked at my father, hesitating as if I wanted to say something, but in the end I followed them out.

I understood the reason. My mother was wearing a Soul Locking Knot, which restricted her yang energy. How could her body not feel cold? And with a group of ghosts following her, how could it have no effect? But I still could not say it. Saying it would not help, and would only make my father more worried.

I did not know why I had suddenly become more sensible overnight. In that era, children generally matured early, and I had already been relatively slow to mature. But after everything that happened, I could no longer afford not to understand.

Walking along the road, I felt heavy-hearted. My father’s eyes of suppressed worry kept appearing in my mind. At that moment, I silently swore that in this lifetime, I would never let my parents suffer. I would make sure they lived a good life.

That night was especially busy. We kept running back and forth, repeatedly guiding my second sister’s living soul home.

Apart from my mother, Old Man Jiang was also under great pressure. I could see that opening and closing the Soul Locking Knot was not easy at all. After watching it several times, I understood that not a single detail could go wrong during the process, or the soul could not be locked back properly.

Each time Old Man Jiang opened the Soul Locking Knot, he treated it like a life and death moment. Each time he closed it, he would finally relax slightly. I knew he was worried that my second sister’s living soul might escape again. Fortunately, this did not happen.