A Prophet - Chapter 11 (Part 1)
Chapter 1 - Uninvited Hedgehogs
Grandpa Zu made a rare misjudgment, as the Tiansheng Dao remained strangely calm. Zuo Yongchan, Zhang Jiyao's eldest disciple, ascended the throne just a few days later to become the seventh sect leader of the Tiansheng Dao. He still preached the end of the world, but this time the slogans differed somewhat from before. Previously, the chant went: "Great disasters strike heaven and earth, the last days have arrived upon our heads. Tiansheng saves all living beings, and each shall attain an undying body." Now, it went: "Great disasters strike heaven and earth, the last days have arrived upon our heads. Fortune comes from the east, and with a whole heart we save the living."
Grandpa Zu sank into deep contemplation. Such a towering figure had died just like that, dying inexplicably. Who possessed such immense energy to cover up the death of a generation's grandmaster with such tranquility?
The ascension of Master Xuanzi to immortality, the sudden death of Zhang Jiyao, the coffin covered in human hair, and the uninvited Fourth Master Jia—all of these seemed to connect into a single line. Thinking of this, Grandpa Zu felt a chill run through his entire body.
The scheme involving Boss He's daughter still had to proceed. Grandpa Zu knew that there was no turning back now; only by pressing forward would the truth reveal itself. Yet how to proceed required careful consideration.
According to the procedure, the first step was undoubtedly to summon the spirit, appease the departed soul, and perform rituals. They would claim that the girl's resentment had dissipated, and then persuade the groom's family to take the girl as a wife in accordance with the previously agreed-upon pact, performing a posthumous marriage. If the groom's family disagreed, it mattered little. Second Boss Ba would casually employ some paper-effigy techniques to stir up ghostly apparitions and fox shadows in the other party's house at night, claiming that the girl had come looking for them, and that if they refused, the whole family would die. That would suffice.
None of these things were truly important. What mattered was that Grandpa Zu always felt a pair of eyes watching him from behind all of this—greedy as a wolf, ready to pounce at any moment and take a bite out of him!
Grandpa Zu spent the entire night pondering bitterly.
When daylight broke the next day, Grandpa Zu arranged for Second Boss Ba to lead the way to Boss He's house. Grandpa Zu was going to perform the spirit-summoning ritual in person!
Grandpa Zu had Boss He tear up massive amounts of white cloth and hang them from the roof beams. Front rooms, southern rooms, eastern wing, western wing—a complete circle was hung around the entire courtyard. In the center of the courtyard, an altar table was set up, complete with an incense burner, candlesticks, three fresh offerings, and yellow paper talismans.
Using a handful of millet and a narrow-mouthed earthen jar, Grandpa Zu poured the millet into the jar, sealed the mouth of the jar with red paper, pierced a yellow paper talisman with his sword, burned incantations while chanting spells, paid homage to the Three Pure Ones above and sacrificed to the netherworld below. Afterwards, he poked a hole in the red paper covering the jar's mouth, and with a loud cry, the ghost slipped into the jar.
Then Grandpa Zu ordered Second Boss Ba to scoop the millet out of the jar and put it into the deceased's mouth. There was no flesh left on the corpse's mouth, only a bare skull, so Second Boss Ba simply poured the millet directly into the gaps of the skull.
Grandpa Zu then pasted a soul-pacification talisman onto the female corpse's head, which supposedly anchored the girl's soul in place.
After that, following the plan, he persuaded the groom's family to have the two of them buried together.
Everything seemed to go swimmingly—so smoothly that it made Grandpa Zu feel a sense of dread. In the dark and unknown, Grandpa Zu always felt something was wrong, yet he could not put his finger on it.
The date for the joint burial had been chosen by Huang Farong. Con artists also paid attention to auspicious days and times. Using Qimen Dunjia divination techniques, Huang Farong had cast a chart and set a favorable date.
On the appointed day, Grandpa Zu arrived at the scene in person, directing a group of men to carry the large red coffin toward the burial pit.
Suddenly, a rustling sound arose from the bushes, resembling rain pattering on lotus leaves, moving from afar to near. Everyone froze, cocking their ears to listen and wondering where the sound came from. Abruptly, a mass of pale white things emerged from the weed patches. Who knew when they had set out, but a whole swarm rushed out with a flurry. When the crowd looked closely, they saw they were hedgehogs! These little creatures held their bristling white quills erect, their bellies distended, and charged directly toward the coffin as if something inside it were attracting them. Several hundred hedgehogs quickly surrounded the coffin, emitting ghostly squeaks.
The laborers were all terrified. A few brave ones used wooden clubs and pickaxes to drive them away, but to their surprise, these hedgehogs acted as though they were under a curse and showed no fear of humans whatsoever. One by one, they glared with scarlet eyes, leaping up and down with bright red little snouts, ready to launch an attack on the humans at any second. Those few men were so frightened that they dropped their tools and fled far away.
Immediately afterwards, the hedgehogs launched an assault on the coffin. Several hundred hedgehogs instantly overwhelmed it, their teeth gnawing incessantly against the coffin planks. The red paint on the coffin was scraped away in no time, exposing fresh wood. Judging by this display, even if the coffin had been buried just before the hedgehogs arrived, these hedgehogs would have burrowed and dug until they clawed the coffin wide open.