Just as Feng Fei and Yuan Jue were about to examine them more closely, they heard the innkeeper's horrifying voice: "Hey, this Ding San and that out-of-town merchant look quite a bit like my son! Look, look, the first little figure is my son. The third is Ding San, and the fourth is that merchant! You probably don't know, these little figures aren't made of ordinary clay, they're made from their flesh and blood! And then they're kept warm with their blood, that's why they're so lifelike!"
Then, the innkeeper reached out his wrinkled, old hand and stroked the first little figure. Suddenly, he looked up at Feng Fei and said, "Do you know who the second and fifth people are?"
Without waiting for Feng Fei's reply, the innkeeper continued on his own: "The second one is my wife, and the fifth one is my unborn grandson!"
Chapter Twenty-Three: Ghostly Subjugation
Feng Fei and the others couldn't help but look into the black box. Sure enough, the second figure was a lifelike beauty, while the fifth was a newborn baby.
When Feng Fei saw the second little figure, he was struck dumb, and his whole body froze on the spot.
Yuan Jue was the first to notice that something was wrong with Feng Fei. He quickly pulled Feng Fei into his arms and asked in a low voice, "Feng Fei, what's wrong?"
Feng Fei ignored them and stared straight at the little figure inside the black box.
He glanced at the second figure, then at the first, and finally at the fifth. In the end, Feng Fei recognized a slight sense of familiarity. After a long pause, Feng Fei murmured, "Boss, is your son Xuan Lang? And your wife—" He hesitated before continuing, "Is she Yuan Qing?"
The innkeeper, without even looking up, replied casually, "Yes, how did you know? Ah, I was young and reckless back then, leaving my wife in the countryside. Only a few years ago did I find out I had a son in his mid-twenties, who had married a beautiful woman! Ah, and a lovely grandson, hehe—"
The innkeeper let out a strange laugh, which sent chills down the spines of everyone except Feng Fei.
After receiving confirmation from the innkeeper, Feng Fei collapsed into Yuan Jue's arms as if he had breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, the innkeeper was no longer concerned about Feng Fei and the others; he was lost in the past. Yuan Jue glanced at Ming Feng, then carried Feng Fei back to the room.
Just after settling Feng Fei in, Jin Ming returned looking disheveled, repeatedly asking for water.
"I'm so exhausted!" Jin Ming, who had just finished drinking a large pot of tea, sat down at the table panting. "Damn it, guess what happened?"
Yuan Jue ignored Jin Ming's topic and instead said, "Let's take a look at Feng Fei first."
It was only then that Jin Ming noticed Feng Fei lying on the bed, his face full of discomfort.
Jin Ming hurriedly stepped forward and carefully took Feng Fei's pulse. After a while, he let go of her hand and frowned, saying, "What's going on?" He seemed to be talking to himself, or perhaps he didn't understand the reason. Jin Ming couldn't help but pace around anxiously.
After a while, Jin Ming seemed to suddenly remember something and quickly grabbed Yuan Jue's wrist, saying, "Where's the piece of red string you picked up earlier?"
Although Yuan Jue's expression did not change, Jin Ming, who knew Yuan Jue well, saw the surprise in his eyes.
"Hurry up and scoop it out!" Jin Ming urged repeatedly.
Yuan Jue flipped his right hand, and the red rope appeared in his palm. He handed it to Jin Ming and asked, "What is the reason?"
Jin Ming hurriedly took the red rope and immediately got busy, pulling out a stack of cinnabar, then herbs, and finally even a peach wood sword.
"What exactly happened!" Yuan Jue's voice involuntarily became stern.
Jin Ming was taken aback, then turned to Yuan Jue and asked, "What? What happened?" He then slapped his forehead, "Oops, I forgot to give it to you!"
Under Yuan Jue's increasingly hostile gaze, Jin Ming finally said slowly, "When entering Yangzi Town, Feng Fei was under a spell that led him to the right path, and there was also a ghostly technique called Ghost Subduing."
Upon hearing the words "Ghostly Subjugation," Yuan Jue's expression changed drastically, and his heart tightened. He looked at Feng Fei with extreme worry and asked, "How can we resolve this?"
"Ha, luckily you found this red rope. I was wondering how the ghost-guiding spell suddenly broke, but I didn't expect it was actually a spell to hide a ghost, and this red rope is the key to breaking the spell!" Jin Ming's words were full of joy, as if breaking the spell was extremely simple.
However, this Ghost Subduing Technique is not an ordinary technique like Ghost Guiding the Way.
Although the Ghost Concealment Technique is based on the non-human-harming Ghost Guide Technique, the final stage of the technique allows the victim to directly experience all the ghost's experiences before death. If the victim was hanged before death, they will hang themselves with a rope in this final stage.
If this Ghostly Concealment Technique cannot be broken, the person afflicted will undoubtedly die.
That's why Yuanjue's expression changed drastically when he heard that Fengfei had been poisoned by the ghost.
Knowing that the ghostly spell that Feng Fei was afflicted with was not an insurmountable problem, Yuan Jue felt slightly relieved and took a step back, quietly watching all of Jin Ming's actions.
Mingfeng remained by Fengfei's bedside. As a fire-type divine beast, he possessed excellent restraint against evil and yin forces, so Jinming instructed him to sit by Fengfei's bedside and not leave casually.
Logically, Feng Fei's cultivation technique also contains fire-type spiritual power, as well as noble jade-gold spiritual power, but because of her beloved nature, it was deeply suppressed within her body and could not exert its effects.
Jin Ming looked at the huge pile of things on the table and took a deep breath.
flattery?p>
He wasn't as relaxed as he appeared on the surface. In fact, this Ghostly Concealment Technique couldn't be broken with medical skills. Fortunately, he knew more than just medical skills.
He took out the yellow paper from the table; he always carried it with him, just in case. He never expected it would actually come in handy.
He then picked up the jade-colored brush that was lying aside, dipped it in cinnabar, and began to draw strange runes on the yellow paper. The moment he finished writing, the entire rune suddenly lit up, then dimmed again, as if it would be forever ignored if left in a corner.
"Yuan Jue, light a fire for me."
Upon hearing Jin Ming's words, Yuan Jue stretched out his right hand, and a cluster of black flames shimmering with an eerie light appeared in his palm.
Jin Ming chuckled, scooped up the newly completed talisman, and held it to the black flame. Soon, a corner of the talisman ignited. However, it seemed to burn with great difficulty, so Jin Ming placed the talisman into a jade-colored dish beside him, letting it burn slowly.
Seeing that Jin Ming no longer needed to light the fire himself, Yuan Jue slowly withdrew his spiritual power and watched what Jin Ming was about to do.
Jin Ming then scooped up the peach wood sword again, dipped it in the cinnabar, and immediately, specks of red light filled the air. Jin Ming murmured softly, and after a moment, he drew a rune in the air with his left hand, and the spreading red light slowly merged into the rune.
The entire rune was blood-red.
Next, Jin Ming seemed to exert great effort to press the rune onto the red rope placed in a basin of dog blood. Soon, Jin Ming was covered in sweat, and at this time the rune had only slowly fallen less than three inches.
As Jin Ming struggled more and more, the red rope slowly bounced in the dog blood, its speed increasing.
Jin Ming gritted his teeth and plunged the peach wood sword in his right hand into the rune. The rune instantly shone with a bright red light, and the gold within the red light could be faintly seen.
Perhaps because of the addition of this peach wood sword, Jin Ming's expression was no longer so strained, and the speed at which the runes fell increased considerably.
Just as the rune was about to be pressed into the basin, a sudden change occurred.
Suddenly, the door was kicked open, and the innkeeper, his face contorted with rage, entered.
"You—you are all murderers who harmed my children and grandchildren!"
The innkeeper suddenly lunged at Jin Ming, wielding a cleaver in his right hand. Jin Ming had no time to dodge; if he were hit, he would be seriously injured. However, Jin Ming was completely unaffected and continued to focus on pressing the runes into the basin.
At this moment, Xiao Bao, who had been guarding the side, made his move.
He pulled out a small fan from his head and gently fanned the innkeeper, who was then sent flying backward as if out of control. A moment later, he was blown out of the room, and the door slammed shut behind him.
The two boys, Da Bao and Xiao Bao, exchanged a glance. Da Bao went to guard the door, while Xiao Bao watched the scattered windows to prevent anyone from breaking in and ruining things.
As the innkeeper was slapped away, Jin Ming successfully pressed the rune onto the red rope. Then everyone in the room heard a shrill female voice coming from the south of Yangzi Town.
Jin Ming exchanged a glance with Yuan Jue, but the next moment Jin Ming continued with what he was doing.
Jin Ming used his peach wood sword to lift the red rope wrapped in runes and placed it into the jade dish where the runes were burning.
At this moment, the talisman in the dish had not yet completely burned out; it seemed that the talisman, which was only the size of a corner, could not be burned completely. However, just as the red rope fell into the dish, the eerie black flame suddenly surged and instantly burned away the remaining talisman.
Jin Ming finally breathed a long sigh of relief when everything was finished.
"alright?"
Jin Ming shook his head. "It's not fully completed yet. The demon of the lower arts is probably coming soon. Let's make some preparations first."
Yuan Jue nodded, "Let's begin over there!"
Then, Yuan Jue and Jin Ming began to fight. Although he did not know how to break the spell of Ghost Subjugation, he still knew how to trap ghosts.
With Yuanjue's help, Jinming's movements became faster and faster, and in no time, a ghost-trapping spell centered on Fengfei was set up in the room.
Yuan Jue walked to Feng Fei's bedside and sat down. He touched her forehead and frowned, asking, "When will Feng Fei wake up?"
"Feng Fei is alright now. Wait a moment, I'll prepare some medicine for her so she can wake up faster." Jin Ming's hands were already moving. Being hit by ghost magic is extremely taxing on one's yang energy. If it gets serious, it could even damage one's life.
Before long, Jin Ming used the herbs he had scooped out earlier to refine three cyan pills.
"Quickly, make Feng Fei take it!"
Yuan Jue did not hesitate and helped Feng Fei swallow the three pills together.
The pill seemed to have excellent effects. As soon as it entered his mouth, Feng Fei slowly woke up and eventually swallowed it on his own.
"I—" Just as Feng Fei was about to ask himself what was wrong, a strong wind suddenly blew outside the window.
Xiao Bao, who was guarding the window, couldn't help but go forward to check, but was knocked to the ground unconscious by the suddenly opened window.
Seeing how "fragile" Xiao Bao was, Da Bao couldn't help but widen his eyes.
Just as Jin Ming was about to step forward, Yuan Jue stopped him, saying, "Look carefully!"
Jin Ming looked closely and realized that Xiao Bao's body was covered with red ropes at some point!
Yuanjue slightly blocked Fengfei's way, while Mingfeng also leaned closely against Fengfei.
The five people still awake inside the house stared intently at the window.
Before long, the figure of a graceful woman slowly materialized in the raging wind.
"I am—Yuanqing!" The woman's voice was not only pleasant to the ear, but it also gave people a chilling feeling.
"I am—Yuanqing—oh—I am—a—female—ghost—"
"Love is in vain—I am so wronged and aggrieved—!"
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Ghostly Love
The female ghost Yuanqing's voice grew increasingly mournful, making the five awake people in the room wish they could cover their ears.
When Yuanqing's figure was fully revealed in the room, the raging eerie wind dissipated.
The window behind Yuanqing closed, but this was not what Fengfei and the other four were paying attention to; their attention was entirely focused on Yuanqing.