Hell Demon - Chapter 13
For some reason, when Zhang Wen looked at the paper faces of the two paper children, he suddenly felt as if a white reflection flashed across the paper faces, which made him dizzy and he took several steps back.
In the midst of this dizziness, Zhang Wen suddenly heard a faint, echoing child's laughter drifting past him. This eerie, resonant laughter immediately made Zhang Wen's heart race, and a strange sense of dread washed over him.
Zhang Wen quickly closed his eyes, shook his head, and regained his senses. The eerie child's laughter that had been flying past his ears disappeared automatically, and the surrounding air seemed to return to normal.
Zhang Wen opened his eyes again and looked at the pile of paper effigies of boys in green robes. What he saw terrified him; he froze, his face stiff with horror! Good heavens! One of the paper effigies, the boy in green robes, had changed its face from facing him directly to turning to the left, looking at Zhang Wen. Most incredibly, its expressionless face now wore a smile, as if it were smiling at him. One of its paper arms, which had been hanging down, was now raised straight up, pointing directly at Zhang Wen. Good heavens! Zhang Wen remembered that it had been facing him directly with its arm down, expressionless. How could it have changed so drastically in just a moment of dizziness, its facial features, expression, and arm movements, as if it had miraculously come to life!
"No...no!" Zhang Wen screamed and backed away in fright. At the same time, that eerie and sinister "hehehe" sound of a child's laughter rang out again! Good heavens, it was coming from the smiling face of the paper figure pointing at him, and the eyes drawn on its plain face even winked at him!
Magpie Bridge Fairy
Reply [50]: Too long.
leexiaohei
Reply [51]: Zhang Wen, who was stunned by this incredible scene, screamed and tried to turn around and leave. With a "bang", he bumped into the straw hat man who walked in!
"Mr. Zhang, what's wrong!" The man in the straw hat quickly helped Zhang Wen up, who had fallen to the ground in fright.
"A ghost! A ghost! There's a ghost on that paper figure! It's alive! It's staring at me!" Zhang Wen screamed.
"It's alright, it's just your imagination!" The man in the straw hat patted Zhang Wen on the shoulder and said slowly, "If you don't believe me, turn around and take a look!"
Zhang Wen turned around and stared in disbelief. The paper effigy of the boy in blue robes who had been pointing at him and laughing moments before had returned to its original form, its hands hanging limply at its sides, its face staring straight ahead, expressionless. In the dim light around them, the paper figure seemed to have lost its life in an instant, returning to its lifeless state; it had become an inanimate object again.
"What's going on?" Zhang Wen asked, scratching his head.
The man in the straw hat smiled mysteriously. Seeing that Zhang Wen had returned to normal, he slowly said, "Mr. Zhang, because you're having a bad run of luck, you're prone to seeing some terrifying illusions and easily communicating with supernatural beings. Actually, what you just saw was just a ghost child playing a joke on you, like those fairies that flew by the fountain in Central Park last time. You don't need to take it to heart. They're not malicious; they're just too mischievous and like to play pranks!"
“Paper dolls!” Zhang Wen exclaimed, pointing at the four paper figures.
“Yes, everything in the world has a spirit. Although these paper children were originally just inanimate objects made of paper, under the influence of Buddhist teachings, they can develop a spirit over time and become paper child spirits. But don’t worry, they won’t harm anyone,” the man in the straw hat said.
"Let's get back to business!"
As they talked, the two arrived at the center of the Buddhist hall in the living room. At the invitation of the man in the straw hat, Zhang Wen burned incense and bowed three times to the authentic bronze statue of the Hundred-Handed Buddha.
After finishing his prayers, Zhang Wen asked, "Master, what kind of Buddha statue is this? I don't think I've ever seen one like this before!"
The man in the straw hat said, "This is the Hundred-Armed Vajra Subduing Demon Buddha, the wrathful form of the Vajra Subduing Demon Buddha in Tantric Buddhism. It is a deity who specializes in subduing demons and evil spirits. As long as we use the secret mantras and the divine power of the Vajra Subduing Demon Buddha, we can defeat this spider demon!"
"Then what kind of Buddha are the six small white jade Arhat statues on the left and right tables?"
"This is not just a simple Buddha statue. It was given to me by a reformed Thai sorcerer. Inside are the spirits of the Seven Fiends Bats. The sorcerer caught six large white bats in the mountains of northern Thailand and raised these bat spirits with their ashes. Later, after he reformed, he put the ashes of those white bats into these six white jade Arhat Buddha statues, added incantations to protect them, and made them Dharma protector spirits," the man in the straw hat said solemnly.
"What's the use?"
"These bat spirits are specifically for catching ghosts. Don't underestimate them; they are extremely effective against ghosts and evil spirits. No matter how versatile those ghosts and evil spirits are, they cannot escape their spiritual eyes and have nowhere to hide. They are the greatest nightmare for ghosts!" The man in the straw hat invited Zhang Wen to sit down on the west side. He then began to introduce himself: "My Buddhist name is Wuyun, and I am the twelfth head of the Fengyun Sect of the Maoshan School. I have been in Hong Kong for over ten years since I came from Jiangxi! Originally, I had the idea of retiring from the sect, but I never expected to encounter this calamity this year. As a disciple of Maoshan, I naturally cannot ignore the evil spirits causing trouble at the New Kangli Hospital. If I do not intervene in this matter, my sect's founder in heaven will certainly not let me off the hook!"
“Master, so you are a Taoist, but why do you worship Tantric Buddhist statues?” Zhang Wen couldn’t help but feel strange. People from the Maoshan sect should worship Zhang Tianshi and Laozi.
"Haha," Wu Yun said with an uneasy expression, "To be honest, this Buddhist villa doesn't belong to me. It belongs to my fellow disciple, Master Fali. Ten years ago, he gave up practicing Maoshan magic and joined the Tantric Buddhism sect. He practiced the Tantric mantras and supernatural powers of the Great Sun Dharma. Later, he discovered that when he used the power of the Tantric Buddhist statues in conjunction with my Maoshan Taoist exorcism techniques, it was like adding wings to a tiger, with astonishing power. So when he turned this place into his Tantric Buddhist training ground, he invited me here. With me, a Maoshan disciple, once you embark on the path of cultivation, you're bound to be poor and lonely! And since I'm unemployed, I have no choice but to stay at my junior brother's place temporarily!"
He then said in a deep voice, "Let's get back to the main point! Through the divination of the ghost child and the dream of the celestial child, I learned that the demon in the New Kangli Hospital is a spider demon king with five hundred years of cultivation. Its magic is comparable to that of an earth god. Generally, demons, in order to escape the cycle of heavenly tribulations and reincarnation, and ascend to the celestial realm as demons, only need to turn one hundred mortals into demons on the night when the three demon stars shine, which occurs once every five hundred years. Then it can ascend to heaven and become an evil god, wreaking havoc on the celestial and immortal realms. Therefore, the consequences are extremely serious. Tonight is the night when the three demon stars shine, which occurs once every five hundred years. So tonight it will go on a rampage, killing people. If I don't help you subdue it tonight, you and those it kills will become demons. Then the consequences will be endless, and Da Yao Mountain will become a mountain of demons!"
"No, Master, I don't want to become a demon! You must save me!" Zhang Wen screamed. The thought of becoming a demon tonight sent chills down his spine. For him, it was a fate worse than death!
"Mr. Zhang, you can rest assured. Tonight, I will ask my junior brother to come down from the mountain with me. Tonight, he will perform a Great Vajra Subduing Demon Hundred Bright Mantra ritual here, using the Sanskrit chants of Tantric Buddhist scriptures to suppress the demon's power and suppress it in the New Kangli Hospital. At that time, I will perform a Maoshan Bagua Six Jia Heavenly Altar Formation here, using the Five Ghosts Transporting Great Method to take me to the ruins opposite the hospital. Then, I will use the demon-slaying divine method in the formation to kill this spider demon, rid the people of a scourge, and save the people from a calamity!"
Wu Yun stopped talking and looked towards the door, saying, "My junior brother is back."
At the same time, footsteps came from outside the door, and then a tall, white-browed monk in a yellow robe walked in from the open space outside the door with a hearty laugh. Behind him were six young monks in their twenties wearing monk robes.
He was clearly a disciple of the white-browed monk.
The laughter, brimming with powerful inner strength, made Zhang Wen dizzy. He quickly turned his head and saw that the leading white-browed monk had a sharp, imposing face, and his sharp, eagle-like eyes flashed with a menacing aura. He had bat ears and a pointed nose, and his whole body emanated a sinister and terrifying aura. Clearly, this master of magic was a hermit cultivator.
“This is my junior brother, Master Magic!” Wu Yun said.
“Amitabha Buddha, benefactor, this humble monk was just performing a Buddhist ritual at a friend's house, so I am late. Please forgive me!”
The magic master clasped his hands together in front of his chest and bowed to Zhang Wen.
"Master, you are too kind. I was in trouble this time, and you two experts were willing to lend a helping hand. I don't know how to express my gratitude!" Zhang Wen couldn't help but stand up and return the greeting.
“As the Buddhist saying goes, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. Moreover, the demon in the hospital is going to open the gates to kill tonight. Subduing the demon is our Buddhist duty. Helping you is actually helping myself. You don’t need to thank us,” said the Master of Magic.
Magpie Bridge Fairy
Reply [52]: "I believe that with my fellow disciples joining forces, we will definitely be able to subdue this spider demon tonight," Wu Yun said. "Mr. Zhang, I don't know much about your situation either. Could you tell us how you came to have a grudge against this monster from Xinkangli Hospital, so that we can learn more about this monster's situation!"
So Zhang Wen recounted his experiences in detail, including the tragic deaths of Father Mott and Father Wright.
After hearing this, Wu Yun and Fa Li looked at each other in disbelief, their faces showing a look of horror. Clearly, the spider demon was more terrifying than they had expected.
“Judging from what you’ve said, this spider demon should be related to the black-clad sorcerer who came from Yunnan sixty years ago. I’ve heard before that sorcerers in that area have a custom of raising ghost children and demons to help them. Perhaps in order to enhance the demon’s magic, this sorcerer didn’t hesitate to feed it pig’s blood, dog’s blood, and even baby’s blood. In the end, the demon may have turned the tables and killed the black-clad sorcerer. No wonder there’s a saying among foreigners: ‘He who wields the knife will surely die by the knife,’” Wu Yun said.
"If this is true, it's troublesome." Fali's expression changed. "This monster might know how to deal with all kinds of exorcism spells!"
"No way! That powerful?" Zhang Wen exclaimed in surprise.
“Of course, one is influenced by one’s company. If this demon has really been raised by the wizard for so long, it will naturally be very knowledgeable about various witchcraft and spells. Once a demon spirit worshipped by a wizard becomes king, it is much more powerful than a demon that has become a spirit in the wilderness over time. This kind of demon spirit is the one that we cultivators fear the most. No wonder Father Wright died so tragically?” Wu Yun frowned.
"What should I do now? Oh right, I have something to do this afternoon!" Zhang Wen remembered that he had to go to his father-in-law's house to comfort him this afternoon.
“If you absolutely must go out today, then remember that you must return here before midnight tonight so that my junior brother, Master Fali, can protect you. However, just in case…” As Wu Yun spoke, he walked to the altar and pulled out a gleaming short sword, slightly longer than a dagger, which was placed inside. He then presented it to Zhang Wen.
"This is the Big Dipper Seven Star Exorcism Blade, our sect's treasure for suppressing demons. Before midnight tonight, it can protect you from this demonic spirit. However, you must remember to return here before midnight, because after midnight, the three demonic stars will flash, and this spider demon's magic power will increase greatly, becoming incredibly powerful. I'm afraid even this blade won't be able to protect you then." Wu Yun said as he handed the exorcism blade to Zhang Wen.
Zhang Wen quickly clasped his hands together and accepted the knife. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the blade was indeed covered with various strange Sanskrit characters and a seven-star diagram, gleaming with a chilling, sinister light under the lamplight. It made his heart race inexplicably! After taking the knife, he put it in his pocket and took his leave.
Watching Zhang Wenyuan's departing figure, Master Fali turned to look at Wuyun and slowly said, "Senior brother, we have cultivated for so many years, and we have probably never encountered such a terrifying and unfathomable demon opponent. How confident are you in defeating it tonight?"
"I don't know, but don't worry, junior brother, tonight I will use the Bagua Liujia Heavenly Altar Formation, which is our sect's most powerful demon-subduing formation."
"It is said that he has never lost before." Wu Yun appeared very confident.
"But senior brother, what if we unfortunately fail to subdue the demon tonight?"
Wu Yun turned his face to look at the magic power, and said expressionlessly, "Then, we will all die, and Zhang Wen and the people from Xinkangli Hospital will become monsters, wreaking havoc in the human world!"
This is the sentence that Wu Yun uttered that made Fa Li tremble the most.
A mountain breeze was blowing across the Xinkangli Hospital on the mountainside of Dayao Mountain. After noon, the sky above the hospital changed drastically, from bright sunshine and cloudless skies in the morning to gloomy and overcast! It made people inexplicably uneasy!
Since the tragic murder case involving intern doctor Wang Ming a few nights ago, many patients have cancelled their hospital stays.
The hospital, which originally had more than ninety patients, now has only about forty left. Including the remaining doctors, nurses and other staff, there are only about seventy people left. The hospital has fallen into a state of desolation and loneliness.
Even stranger, two more patients died inexplicably in the ward last night. They were the two patients in room 307 on the third floor, where nurse Ayan was on duty. Ayan remembered that one of the patients, who had a goatee, had told her that he often heard people singing at night and that unseen voices were talking to him. He had originally planned to be discharged within a few days, but when Ayan made rounds this morning, she found the two of them dead in bed without a single scratch on their bodies.
This series of events has caused widespread panic in the hospital. Ah Yan remembers that whenever she made rounds late at night, she always had a creepy feeling, as if there were invisible eyes watching her. But every time she turned around, she could not see anyone monitoring her.
There were other things she hadn't mentioned. She had seen white lights flash in the dark corners of the corridor late at night, and she had seen some medicine carts miraculously move automatically in the deserted corridors without anyone pushing them. They would stop automatically as soon as someone saw them. She had been terrified by these strange occurrences several times! Each time, she had to muster up her courage to push the carts that had walked into the corridors on their own back into the pharmacy.
At this moment, she was sitting alone in the nurses' office, looking at the sky outside, which had turned as dark as dusk, with thick clouds that seemed about to collapse at any moment! Gusts of strong mountain winds made the undulating green forest sway and rise and fall like waves, while the aluminum alloy windows beside her rattled loudly, creating a scene of impending storm!
Looking at the terrifying sky, she had a strange feeling that the weather was warning them not to leave New Conley Hospital.
Suddenly, she felt a strange dizziness wash over her, and she involuntarily closed her eyes to rest. With a "pop," the lights in the nurses' room went out automatically, plunging her into darkness. Almost simultaneously, a sinister voice faintly echoed behind Ayan, "Ayan... Ayan... come quickly... come quickly..." The voice startled Ayan, and she turned around abruptly. Good heavens, she couldn't believe her eyes! The wardrobe door behind her had opened automatically, revealing a dark space filled with a blinding white light. The elderly nurse surnamed Yi, who had committed suicide at home two weeks prior, was now flashing a white light in the darkness, beckoning and calling to her. Her face was blurry and pale, ethereal and bizarre! It was like a slow-motion scene in a movie!
With a whoosh, before Ayan could even understand what was happening, the swivel chair she was sitting in inexplicably slid automatically toward the cabinet door. In an instant, she was in front of the cabinet door. At the same time, a man's devilish laughter rang out above her head, "Hahaha!" Good heavens, the old nurse surnamed Yi's face instantly turned into a hideous, bloody pig's face, emitting terrifying hoarse breathing sounds.
Magpie Bridge Fairy
Reply [53]: "You can't leave, hahaha, you can't leave, hahaha!" The hideous pig-faced demon made a terrifying sound, and at the same time, its eyes flashed with a terrifying red light, shooting out two terrifying blood-red beams of light to Ayan's face. With a whoosh, the demonic pig-headed face opened its blood-red mouth and sharp teeth, spitting out a large patch of red flames at Ayan! The flames surged towards her head... "Ayan let out a final scream as the flames pierced her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, leaving her in a sea of heat! The flames were so intense they seemed to be engulfing her head..."
"Huff, huff, huff," she gasped for breath, turning to look at the wardrobe behind her, but the wardrobe was perfectly normal, the doors were tightly closed and there was nothing unusual! The room was also brightly lit.
She stared at the wardrobe with terrified eyes, her whole body drenched in cold sweat, her hair as wet as if it had just come out of a pool!
She sat down limply, her whole body ice-cold. A terrible intuition flashed through her mind: this hospital was becoming increasingly terrifying, as if it were alive! She seemed to sense that this nightmare was warning her not to try to leave New Conley Hospital. This morning she had received news that Uncle Long, who had resigned yesterday, had strangely suffered a stroke at home and been admitted to another hospital. She remembered Uncle Long telling her last night before leaving that this hospital had become cunning and he was afraid he wouldn't be able to leave if he was too late! It seemed that Uncle Long's stroke was rather bizarre!
Meanwhile, in the corridor of the underground lobby, nurse Li Lili, who had just come out of the underground pharmacy warehouse, was pushing a medicine cart into the corridor bathed in orange-yellow light.
For some reason, the corridor was empty and silent today, like a graveyard, lifeless and desolate! Every five meters, a yellow light lamp cast a gloomy, dim reflection, which made Li Lili instinctively feel a strange and inexplicable sense of unease.
With a creaking sound, the wheelbarrow slid across the floor, the wheels screeching against the smooth surface, a loud, piercing noise that filled the otherwise quiet corridor! For some reason, Li Lili felt the noise was particularly shrill today, unlike usual.
After pushing the cart for about twenty meters, when Li Lili reached the door of the underground morgue, she suddenly stopped. She seemed to feel, no, she strongly felt, that there were eyes watching her from behind.
She involuntarily turned around sharply and looked back, only to find an empty corridor behind her, without a single person in sight! But she still instinctively felt that the air in the deserted corridor under the yellow light seemed unusually cold, making her feel inexplicably dizzy.
She turned around, intending to continue pushing the cart forward, when suddenly she heard a strange, eerie dripping sound, faint and elusive, coming from all around her.
She calmed herself down and listened carefully, only to discover that, oh my god, the sound was coming from the morgue next to her. For some reason, Li Lili's heart suddenly started pounding again, and a nameless fear rose within her. On a strange impulse, she involuntarily let go of the cart and tiptoed to the morgue door. She listened again, and this time she could hear it more clearly: a gurgling sound was coming from inside.
"Strange? Why is there a sound coming from the morgue?" Li Lili remembered that two bodies of patients who died in ward 307 had been brought in from the third floor this morning. Those two patients had died inexplicably this morning, which terrified Ayan, the nurse on the third floor! Li Lili unconsciously pushed open the door gently, stepped inside quietly, and took a closer look!
She was fine until she saw it, but once she did, Li Lili was so frightened that she froze, her hair stood on end, and a terrifying chill ran through her body.
Good heavens! What she saw was the hospital director, Bai Wen, dressed entirely in a white doctor's coat, facing her, frantically embracing the pale corpse of a patient with a goatee, and frantically sucking blood from the corpse's neck with his mouth. Large clumps of bright red human blood were gushing from the corners of his excited mouth. Good heavens, he was sucking the blood of a dead body! And making terrifying noises!
Suddenly, Dean Bai raised his head and stared at him menacingly. Good heavens, his blood-soaked mouth was flashing with terrifying zombie fangs. Good heavens, he had become a vampire! At the same time, he also noticed Li Lili!
Before Li Lili could scream, the now terrifyingly white Wen let out a sinister, echoing laugh, followed by a piercing howl. He leaped high into the air, over the morgue, and pounced towards Li Lili.
Li Lili let out a long scream and instinctively turned around, bursting through the door and flying out to escape. The white-clad Dean Wen missed his target, his waving arm slamming against the door, producing a terrifying howl and sparks flying like rain!
"Oh no! The hospital director is sucking people's blood! Oh no! The hospital director is sucking people's blood!" Li Lili frantically rushed into what she saw as a shaking corridor, letting out a scream that shattered the air in the hospital lobby. She abandoned her trolley and scrambled towards the lobby.
Suddenly, her terrifying screams echoed throughout the lobby, startling Dr. Lu Manlin and the other doctors and nurses in the lobby so much that they almost jumped up, their hearts nearly bursting. The screams were truly terrifying.
At the same time, they involuntarily rushed towards the corridor, bumping into Li Lili who was screaming and rushing out. "What happened? What happened?" some people hurriedly helped up Li Lili, who looked terrified!
Li Lili was trembling all over as she shouted "Back off!" and pointed to the morgue door in the distance of the corridor, "The director has become a zombie! The director has become a zombie!" She was clearly still not calm.
Lu Manlin and several interns immediately rushed toward the morgue in the direction Li Lili pointed.
With a loud bang, the morgue door was suddenly kicked open by the crowd. When Lu Manlin and the others turned on the lights, they saw that the morgue was completely silent except for the two bodies of patients who had died that morning on the morgue table. There was no one else in sight. It was empty. Where was Bai Wen?
When Lu Manlin arrived at the mortuary, he was completely stunned. On the mortuary, he saw a patient's body with a goatee whose neck had been bitten open with two horrifying holes. Bright red blood was gushing out of the holes, flowing onto the mortuary, and then cascading down to the ground in a straight line. It was a gruesome scene.
"What...what happened?" an intern doctor asked in horror, pointing to the blood scattered on the ground.
Magpie Bridge Fairy
Reply [54]: “I don’t know!” Lu Manlin, who answered him, also responded in horror. Obviously, something had been sucking the blood of the corpse.
"Listen, everything you just experienced was a hallucination. Dr. Lu and the others have searched the entire morgue and corridors, but they haven't found a trace of Dean Bai!" A white-haired head nurse was reprimanding Li Lili in the lobby.
“No, head nurse, it’s definitely not a hallucination. I really saw Dean Bai sucking people’s blood!” Li Lili said earnestly.
"Shut up!" With a slap, the white-haired head nurse gave Li Lili a slap. "Dean Bai left work at five o'clock this morning. The security guards all saw him drive away. Don't talk nonsense!"
"You're talking nonsense! I saw it clearly, plainly and unmistakably, Dean Bai turned into a zombie!" Li Lili was clearly also angry.
*Slap!* Another slap landed. "Shut up! You're not allowed to spread rumors about Dean Bai anymore! Dean Bai is a great man, a true gentleman! Handsome, dashing, and unrestrained—a real man among men! I won't allow you to say anything bad about my idol again, or I'll suggest to the dean that you be fired! Do you hear me, you stupid bastard, dumber than a pig?!" The white-haired nurse was furious, grabbing Li Lili's pretty face with both hands and shaking her while yelling. She didn't want Li Lili's affair to ruin her job.