Banquet of a Hundred Ghosts

Chapter 33

At the same time, Chen Kai felt as if someone had given him a hard push in the chest. He lost his balance and fell to the ground, the impact caused by the turbulent airflow.

Feixiao, standing in front, had her clothes and hair billowing in the air currents, as if she were facing a storm. The doors on both sides of the corridor swung open with a "bang" sound as the air currents surged.

"Wow, be gentle!" Chen Kai cried out in fright, feeling as if a heavy stone was pressing on his chest, making it hard to breathe.

"Alright!" Fei Xiao said, lowering her hands, and the airflow stopped. Chen Kai quickly got up from the ground and saw that despite the fierce impact of the airflow, the door had only opened a small crack, revealing only darkness inside.

"Let's go in!" Fei Xiao said, pushing open the door and walking inside.

Chen Kai hurriedly followed closely behind him, afraid that if he accidentally lost him, a demon would come from the darkness to take his soul.

When he pushed the door open, he realized that the thin door seemed to weigh over a hundred pounds, and it was not something an ordinary person could push open.

"What is this door made of? It's so heavy!" Chen Kai tried twice, but the door still wouldn't budge.

Feixiao smiled at him, then reached into the door and pulled down a piece of iron. "A mere trifle!"

As soon as he lifted the lid, Chen Kai pushed the door open completely, revealing it to be no different from an ordinary door.

Feixiao threw the piece of iron away. "I want to see who's hiding in there!"

After saying that, she turned around and pulled Chen Kai forward.

The road seemed to have no end, and the two of them began to turn repeatedly. Moreover, it was pitch black, completely different from before.

Chen Kai grew increasingly frightened and disheartened as he walked. "Feixiao, haven't you noticed we've gone too far? Is this house really that big?"

“We are now in a barrier set up by someone else, which is different from the real world!” Feixiao said from the front.

"What?" Chen Kai was taken aback. "Then why are you still going in? When did we come in?"

"From the moment you stepped through that door, the space inside has been distorted. Didn't you notice?"

"How...how did I find out?" Chen Kai exclaimed. He was just an ordinary person, unlike him, who was an old monster who had lived for so many years.

"It's just ahead!" Fei Xiao said, pointing. Sure enough, following the direction of his finger, a cluster of lights could be seen.

The further the two walked, the brighter the cluster of lights became. After a while, it was practically a blazing inferno. Someone had lit a hundred or so candles in the open space, and in the center of a large bronze cauldron, a ball of flame was burning fiercely.

A small figure stood before the flames, scattering handfuls of paper talismans into the cauldron. The talismans, as if alive, fluttered into the flames like butterflies, not a single one falling out.

"What's going on? Who is that?" Seeing this, Chen Kai couldn't help but timidly grab Fei Xiao's sleeve and ask him in a low voice.

Before Feixiao could answer, the person in front of the flames turned around and smiled at them: "You've come?"

The person in front of me was dressed in light pink clothes, with two small braids tied beside her head—it was the little girl who had led the way! Her eyes glowed with an eerie red light in the reflection of the flames.

"How could it be you?" Chen Kai was shocked when he saw her face. He never dreamed that such a delicate and timid girl would be a demon who eats people's souls.

"Why wouldn't it be me?" The girl chuckled, and with a swift movement, she grabbed at Chen Kai from behind Fei Xiao. "You've delivered yourself right to my doorstep!"

Chen Kai felt a wave of dizziness, as if his soul was about to be sucked into the girl's palm.

"Stop!" Feixiao grabbed her hand.

The girl glanced at Feixiao: "How could I forget you? Oh right, you're here too!" She giggled as she spoke, her laughter unusually pleasant. She pulled her hand away, took a step back, and stood far away.

Chen Kai had no idea what trick she was playing, but he felt her giggling laughter filling the air. Then he felt someone tugging at his arm. Looking down, he saw the girl, her light pink dress particularly eye-catching.

"What's going on?" Chen Kai shook off her, and when he looked up, he found that dozens of people had appeared around him at some point, all wearing the same pink clothes and with the same eerie expressions.

"It's an illusion!" Fei Xiao then said to Chen Kai, "Don't leave me!"

Chen Kai would never leave Fei Xiao now, clinging desperately to his sleeve, completely terrified.

"Trying to play these tricks on me is like showing off your skills before an expert!" Fei Xiao laughed, looking at the group of identical-looking people around her. Suddenly, she shook off Chen Kai, jumped up, and stretched out a long hand, grabbing at one of them like lightning.

The hand pierced through the girl's chest in an instant, with unstoppable force. Chen Kai was stunned. Even if it were an evil spirit, he couldn't bear to harm such a young girl.

Everyone around disappeared after Fei Xiao's attack, and even the laughter ceased to be heard. Chen Kai breathed a sigh of relief and rushed to Fei Xiao, "How is she? Is she alright?"

Upon closer inspection, however, they found Fei Xiao with a solemn expression. Looking more closely, they realized that what Fei Xiao was holding in her hand was not a living person at all, but a paper puppet the same size as a real person, dressed in pink clothes and with two small braids.

"What's going on? Is this a ghost?" Chen Kai asked, pointing at the puppet.

"No!" Fei Xiao exclaimed, shaking off the puppet and looking around nervously. "The barrier hasn't been lifted yet! We've fallen for their trap! This is just a puppet!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Kai's heart suddenly tightened. Looking at the broken wooden puppet on the ground, he felt that this matter was too strange. He thought the truth had been revealed, but he found himself in an even more complicated situation. Who was lurking in the shadows in this room, waiting to devour the souls of people?

"Come out now!" Fei Xiao shouted loudly into the surrounding darkness, "What's the point of this game?"

After a while, no one appeared. The surroundings were silent, except for the crackling sound of the flames burning continuously in the bronze cauldron behind them.

"Let's forget about this and go home!" Chen Kai was gripped by fear. He just wanted to escape this place as soon as possible. As for who the evil spirit was, what did it have to do with him?

"Shh!" Fei Xiao said, holding up one finger: "Coming!"

Chen Kai looked around and saw only the shadows of two people cast by the darkness and firelight; there was no one else there.

But slowly, one could feel a chilling aura approaching, and then, a pair of feet slowly emerged from the darkness.

Chen Kai was so frightened that his eyes widened, staring at the feet without daring to move. After a while, he saw a pair of long, slender legs, which suggested a beautiful woman. Then, her entire face was revealed in the firelight.

As Chen Kai stared at that face, he suddenly felt as if he had been struck by a sledgehammer in the chest, and his heart stopped beating. That red dress and long hair, that smile—it was clearly someone he had seen before.

He looked at the person and stammered, "Ximan, is that you?"

"Why wouldn't it be me?" Xi Man smiled at him and said the same thing as the girl from before.

Yes, yes, something was off from the very beginning. How could he not have thought of that? In that living room, Ximan immediately called out Chang Qing's name. She couldn't possibly recognize Chang Qing, because she was an imposter. Only one person knew she was Chang Qing—the little girl who saw the invitation—but that little girl was a magical substitute. Could it be? Could it be? Was she the one who did all of this? From the moment she stepped into this courtyard, everything was part of her scheme?

"Who are you? Why are you taking people's souls?" Fei Xiao shouted.

"Hehehe!" Xi Man chuckled, his face full of confidence: "I'm a medium!"

"How is that possible?" Fei Xiao's handsome face showed an incredulous expression. "Spiritual mediums are all things, who actually works as a spiritual medium?"

"Why can't people do it?" Xi Man said with a sad laugh, a hint of sorrow in her eyes.

Upon hearing this, Fei Xiao's expression changed drastically. "Could it be? Could it be? How could such a thing happen?"

"What's going on?" Chen Kai asked Fei Xiao curiously, "What is a medium?"

"A medium is something that can communicate between the supernatural world and the real world, like a passage between the living and the dead. Many things that embody human thoughts can act as mediums!"

"Then what did she transform into? What is she?" Chen Kai continued to ask.

"You're no good!" Fei Xiao said, pointing at Xi Man. "Humans can't be mediums, but there's one type of person who can!"

"Who is it?" Chen Kai looked at Xi Man's face, a beautiful face, but lacking a vibrant life.

“It’s a dead person!” Feixiao and Ximan said at the same time.

Chen Kai was so frightened that his legs went weak. Xi Man? Xi Man was dead? How could this be? How could such a beautiful girl die so young?

Xi Man, standing before him, uttered these words, let out a long sigh, and a sorrowful expression froze on her face, making her exceptionally beautiful in the flickering firelight.

When Chen Kai saw her face, he suddenly remembered a saying: "Beautiful women have always had tragic fates; their beauty is like a flower, but their lives are like leaves!"

"Why? Why did this happen?" Chen Kai stared blankly at Xi Man in front of him. No one wants to die, right? Living is such a wonderful thing.

"Don't you know? Life is full of helplessness sometimes!" Xi Man said, lowering her head. "A long time ago, probably several hundred years ago, the elders of the family discussed a way to revitalize the family business. They wanted to find the person with the strongest spiritual power to communicate between the Yin and Yang realms and fulfill people's wishes through the dark world!"

Xi Man gave a bitter laugh as she spoke: "How foolish I was back then! I went just because someone asked me to, never imagining I'd pay with my life!" She then turned to look at Chen Kai: "You're quite interesting; you have the souls of two people inside you!"

"So what? I didn't ask for anything." Chen Kai looked at her, puzzled.

"Hehe, you didn't ask, but I did!" Xi Man said, reaching out to grab Chen Kai. "Give me your soul, and I can use it to exchange for what I want!" His expression instantly turned ferocious.

"Whoa! What are you doing?" Chen Kai was startled. Why did your expression suddenly change when you were talking so nicely?

"Stop! What are you doing?" Feixiao said, reaching out to block Ximan's attack.

"You stinking fox!" Xi Man glared at Fei Xiao: "Don't stop me, I'm going to use his soul to exchange for a human body!"

"Isn't this just a human body?" Chen Kai pointed at Fei Xiao from behind her back.

“She has no physical form; it’s just an illusion!” Fei Xiao replied. “It’s probably her soul attached to something!”

"What about your own body? You're so powerful, why don't you find it yourself?" Chen Kaichao exclaimed happily. Even though he had one more soul than others, he didn't want to become a bargaining chip for evil spirits.

"My...my body?" Xi Man withdrew her hand upon hearing this, tears streaming down her face. "In these hundreds of years, in these hundreds of years, my body has long since turned to dust. Where am I supposed to find it now?"

"Can't you reincarnate? Even if you get a different body, it's not a solution." Fei Xiao felt sorry for her and kindly advised her.

"How can I be reincarnated? Tell me! When I died, my soul was thrown beyond the Three Realms. Only in this way can I freely travel between the Yin and Yang realms, but there is nowhere for me to stay!" Xi Man said, crying even more bitterly, "How could you understand the loneliness and wandering of the past few hundred years?"

Feixiao's expression grew even more serious upon hearing this, a dark cloud seemingly gathering over her beautiful face. After a long pause, she finally said, "Let me see if I can help you think of a solution?"

"Find a way? I'm a medium, if I had a way, I would have already figured it out! Why bother going to exchange it for someone else's soul?" Ximan said, raising her head to look at Feixiao's face. Although she said this, her eyes were full of longing, a longing for survival.

“Come with us, Ximan, staying here isn’t a solution!” Chen Kai said softly to her, seeing her pitiful state.

“Yes!” Feixiao nodded in agreement. “You’re always helping those people outside with those terrible deals. When will it ever end?”

Xi Man glanced at the two people in front of her, then gave a bitter smile. Looking at the surrounding darkness and desolation, she said, "I can't leave this house. Someone once cast a spell on it to restrict my freedom!"

"What will happen if you go out?" Chen Kai asked her curiously.

"My soul will be completely destroyed, and I will never be able to reincarnate!" Then he added, "It's annihilation; there will be no place for me in this world!"

"That's easy!" Fei Xiao was delighted to hear this. He had thought it was some big problem. He took out a small bottle from his pocket and said, "I'll help you collect your soul here. You can come out when the time is right!"

"Really?" Ximan smiled through her tears and looked at Feixiao with great joy.

"Trust me, everything will be alright!" Fei Xiao said, extending a hand to gesture for her to take it.

"Thank you!" Xi Man said, her eyes welling up with tears again. She turned back to look at Chen Kai and said, "I am so happy. After hundreds of years, I finally have the opportunity to gain freedom!"

After saying that, he reached out and took Feixiao's hand, a happy expression on his face.

Feixiao smiled at her, tightened her grip, and pulled her into her arms. Ximan entered his embrace, but disappeared in an instant, leaving only her last words: "Changqing, your sister once made a deal with me, and it seems to have been successful~" Her voice was full of joy, it seemed that she had really been looking forward to this hard-won opportunity for freedom for a long time.

"Did she go in?" Chen Kai asked Fei Xiao curiously when he saw that Xi Man was gone.

"Not bad!" Fei Xiao said, putting the bottle cap back on. Before he could even remove his hand, light suddenly shone in, illuminating the surroundings. The darkness, the campfire, and the candles all disappeared.

The two looked around and found themselves in a dusty warehouse that looked like no one had been there for a long time.

"What's going on?" Chen Kai looked around, not remembering when he had been to a place like this before.

"Xi Man's power has been sealed, and the barrier has disappeared!" Fei Xiao said, covering her nose and brushing the dust off her clothes. "If I had known this would happen, I would have preferred not to let the barrier disappear; it would have been cleaner!"

Chen Kai rolled his eyes at him after hearing his words, unsure of what to say, and pulled him along, saying, "Let's go! I really don't want to stay here any longer!"

As soon as I lifted my foot, I felt something hard under my feet. Looking down, I saw a stone figurine, very similar to the terracotta figure I had seen earlier, with a flat face and a helpless smile.

"Is this what Ximan possesses?" Chen Kai asked Feixiao, holding up the stone carving.