"Method...Grandfather, what can I do..."
Lao Gong paused, tilting his head slightly upwards and uttering a soft "hmm?" with a sly glint in his eyes that quickly transformed into vibrant contemplation.
"Men dread the solitary celestial stem, women fear the solitary constellation; Great Defeat, Disarray, Sky-high Disarray, and the Eight Defeats..."
"Eight Defeats in the birth chart, and it's said one could lose eight husbands. The parents would suffer from incurable diseases and pass away, and for women, everything would be inauspicious."
Lao Gong mumbled to himself, then looked at me and licked his lips.
"Grandfather... I do indeed have a method."
"Say!" I replied with a clean and decisive word.
A wave of uncontrollable joy surged through my heart, although my facial expression did not betray too much of this feeling.
"I observe the fate of this young widow. Her fontanelle has a gap, and her soul is barely clinging on. The gap can be mended, but it has now broken, causing her soul to slowly dissipate."
"To keep the young widow's soul from dissipating, one must subdue the soul that has been dismembered. The fontanelle holds the responsibility for restoring the soul, and if her body and soul remain whole, she can endure in this world."
What Lao Gong referred to as the fontanelle, its breakage, and dispersion, I only understood half.
I only understood one phrase: subdue the soul that has been dismembered.
Lao Qin's methods with the headless woman and Yu Xiu seem to be identical; they separate their souls and control a small part of them.
The rest cannot be controlled, so they are left in other places.
For example, the headless woman is near me, while the corpse spirit is in the back mountain of the old crooked village.
Yu Xiu is in the village, so her other soul parts should be in the town where she died.
The slight difficulty is that I don't know where that town is.
Putting aside my thoughts for now, I will ask Lao Gong first if he can tell where the other soul parts of Yu Xiu are hiding.
Lao Gong responded that it was the place where she died, and that part of her soul would undoubtedly be filled with dissatisfaction, resentment, and hatred, equivalent to most negative emotions. Her own part of the soul is the only clean soul left. If those souls are pressed back onto Yu Xiu, her personality will change drastically and will be completely different from now.
I fell silent.
Lao Gong's words verified my thoughts.
However, the supplement Lao Gong added made me extremely difficult.
"Is there no way to keep Xiu calm and alert, suppressing those resentments?" I asked Lao Gong again.
Lao Gong laughed dryly and said, "Grandfather, the widow young lady is only now not clear-minded. Her hatred is what keeps her clear-minded. She has been stripped of everything."
"Your meaning is that if we want to resolve her hatred, it will be very, very difficult."
"Let me think..."
Lao Gong slightly raised his eyelids, looking upwards as if he were rolling his eyes.
After a long time, he finally said, "Unless you find a Daoist to chant the forty-nine-day incantation for her, that is, what the exact incantation is, my mind has gone blank. That old man is getting old and his memory is not good."
I only just understood that Lao Gong indeed gained everything from Wu Zhongkuan, but since Wu Zhongkuan couldn't remember things, Lao Gong naturally wouldn't be able to recall them either.
Before I could speak, Lao Gong muttered again, "Daoist... Huh... Grandfather you..."
Lao Gong's eyeballs immediately became round as marbles!
At this moment, I was still wearing a green Daoist robe, and in my heart, I was even more aware that it was not the Daoist robe that caused Lao Gong's such state. He himself can see through many things, and at this moment, he must have seen the Yangshen Command in my body.
"Only one life left..." Lao Gong was mixed with joy and concern.
I did not pick up the thread of the conversation and looked at Yu Xiu again.
"I can recite the spell," I replied, "and as for the specific spell, I can also try to find a way." I continued Lao Gong's previous topic.
"It's too late... She doesn't have that much time. Grandfather, you can't recite it now, and even if you can, you won't be able to restrain her at that time." Lao Gong shook his head and retracted his strange expression.
My face changed again.
Lao Gong was essentially saying that I lacked the strength.
Before I could speak, Lao Gong whispered again, "Sending her away is enough. If you have the ability, bringing her out is also better than having her part soul become a wandering spirit without any chance. Once she is brought back, she will only be eaten by other souls. I think she still has some consciousness left. At least, she recognizes you as Grandfather and still has things in her heart that she cares about."
After a long silence, I knew Lao Gong was right.
"Can you find a way to perceive her and see the name of the village in her nightmares?" I asked Lao Gong again.
Lao Gong licked his lips and said he wanted to taste a little bit of blood from his fingertips.
Before I could speak again, Lao Gong suddenly leaped out of the inkpot and hung on Yu Xiu's hand in the next second. His mouth bit onto one of Yu Xiu's fingers.
Before he could show a soul-devouring expression, Yu Xiu winced in pain and forcefully flung her hand forward, causing Lao Gong to slam into the wall with a loud thud.
After landing, he rolled groaning and groaned.
The next moment, Lao Gong's head rolled to my feet, his eyes slightly glazed as if he had fallen into some deep contemplation.
Yu Xiu on the side had her eyeballs also twinkle with a faint green light.
Inside the room, it became extraordinarily quiet and heavy, and a chill permeated the air.
I picked up Lao Gong's head and placed it back on the inkpot. Lao Gong showed no reaction, and Yu Xiu, too, seemed to have lost consciousness and showed no reaction.
Time ticked by, and I thought a few minutes would be enough, but half an hour passed and Lao Gong still hadn't woken up.
At this time, I received a call from Huāyíng.
Huāyíng sounded extremely choked, as if she was crying.
"Something's wrong with you?" My heart sank slightly, and I immediately asked Huāyíng.
She whispered back, "I couldn't find anyone to help, but by chance, I saw Huāqí."
My face slightly changed, and I asked, "Is something wrong with Huāqí?"
In the first place, Huāqí was not at the Huā family and had been missing for some time.
"No... No..."
"She..." Huāyíng sounded more tormented and distressed.
After a long time, Huāyíng finally told me that she had been secretly watching Huāqí. She should have joined the large Xiangjiang city's ghost cult organization without a doubt, because there were people around Huāqí, and she dare not get too close, lest something unexpected happened.
My face suddenly changed.
Huāqí actually did such a thing?
The people of the Ghost Nook are mostly related to corpse ghosts, either turning themselves into zombie ghosts or raising ghosts.
"In the family, the requirements for Qímèi are too high. Due to her destiny, she always uses Dí magic poorly and cannot control the Dí mice well, so she is always criticized."
"If it wasn't for this, she wouldn't have made such a mistake..." Huāyíng added.
"You return first. We need to consider this carefully. Lao Gong is fine now, and there's a temporary solution for Xiu's problem." I said in a hoarse voice.
After Huāyíng agreed, she hung up the phone.
After about an hour, I saw Huāyíng, tears streaming down her face, with eyes red and swollen.
Long ago, I had already understood that the Ghost Nook organization is widespread, including in the city god temples, and each is located in a specific territory.
The difference lies in the Daoist sects and forces similar to City God Officials, whose names may not be City God Officials, but their group compositions should be similar.
I whispered to comfort Huāyíng, telling her not to be upset yet. Huāqí is very intelligent; even if she has temporarily taken a wrong path, she won't be in any trouble. As long as we can act in time to turn her back, she can pull herself together.
Huāyíng, however, kept shaking her head, saying it's not that simple. The things I experienced in Qin Yang and the current state of Qin Yang's Ghost Cult must have been known to the Ghost Cults in other regions. As long as I appear, they will definitely gather to attack me, so I can only secretly contact Huāqí and let her come back on her own.
Closing her eyes, Huāyíng pursed her lips and looked extremely complicated.
"Have you made a call?" I asked Huāyíng.
Huāyíng shook her head and said that under the previous circumstances, it was not convenient, and she didn't know if Huāqí was alone now.
"Yeah, I'll make this call. Since she recognizes me as her sister-in-law, she will at least listen to what I say."
"Please keep an eye on Lao Gong and Xiu." I glanced at the inkpot and Xiu.
Huāyíng wanted to say more, but I didn't wait for her to speak and pushed the door open, stepping out of the room, and then closed the door behind me.
