Spirit Hunters of Maoshan Sect - c1

Chapter 1: Mother and Child Corpse Evil

On the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month in 1990, the Ghost Festival coincided with a full moon. The Chinese almanac stated: “The Star of Greed enters the chamber, yin energy is at its peak, all endeavors are inauspicious, especially digging in the earth.”

In Yuzhou’s Huaishang County, in a remote mountain village called “Ye Family Village,” following custom, every household burned two thick stacks of paper money at their doorstep at dusk. One stack was for ancestral worship, the other for wandering lonely ghosts – taking money from a household meant they would hurry along and not trouble that family.

After burning the paper money, every household tightly closed their doors and windows, retiring early. Those who believed in Buddha or Tao would say prayers, asking for a peaceful night.

Deep in the night, rain began to fall, pattering on tree leaves with a rustling sound like lonely ghosts moving about. The wind moaned mournfully, adding an eerie atmosphere to this unusual night.

On the village path, a shadowy figure moved through wind and rain, leaving the village and heading straight up the back mountain into a graveyard.

This graveyard was the Ye family ancestral burial ground, where generations of Ye family dead were buried. The shadow finally came to an unmarked grave, where a soul-summoning banner stuck in the grave swayed like a ghost’s hand in the wind.

The fresh earth on the grave and the still-standing banner indicated this was a new grave.

“Second sister-in-law, today is your seventh day after death, coinciding with the Ghost Festival. I see you’ve come.” The voice was hoarse, belonging to someone no more than forty years old.

After standing silently at the grave for a moment, the man took a red silk umbrella from his back, opened it and stuck it in front of the grave to block the night rain. He carefully took out three incense sticks, lit them and planted them in the mud under the umbrella. Ignoring the mud, he knelt and kowtowed three times, then stood and took out a folding spade, beginning to dig up the grave.

The grave earth was fresh and rain-soaked, very soft. In less than twenty minutes he had dug out a long opening. Wiping away a layer of mud revealed a bright red coffin board, as if dripping with fresh blood.

Generally coffins were painted dark red, but bright red was used for those who died violently – their resentful energy was too strong, and the redder the color, the better to suppress evil.

Moreover, thirty-three red ropes were wrapped around the coffin, crisscrossing like a net, firmly binding the entire coffin, as if afraid the person inside would climb out.

The man kowtowed deeply to the coffin, saying: “Second sister-in-law, I’ve come to help you.” Taking out a dagger, he cut the red ropes one by one, then used a crowbar to forcefully remove seven seven-inch coffin nails. Taking a deep breath, he opened the coffin—

A female corpse wearing white burial clothes lay stiffly at the bottom of the coffin.

In the dim light of the incense, he saw the female corpse’s face was deathly pale, but her clouded eyes were wide open like a dead fish’s. Her expression was terrifyingly fierce, and her entire body emanated an extremely cold aura – death energy.

“Hiss…”

The man drew in a sharp breath. Despite being prepared, seeing this scene made his legs weak. He quickly knelt down and kowtowed three more times to the female corpse, saying in a trembling voice:

“Second sister-in-law, you died in childbirth, a double death, but those people insisted on ancestral rules, ignoring human relationships, forcefully separating you and your child, burying you in different places. Tonight is your soul’s return, I, Ye Dabao, risked digging up your poor child to return it to you…”

Speaking thus, he took out a cloth bundle from his chest, unwrapped it to reveal an infant’s corpse!

Placing the corpse on the female corpse, Ye Dabao backed away respectfully, kneeling on the ground, anxiously waiting. Suddenly, a woman’s wailing cry rang out in the wind and rain.

The female corpse “whoosh” sat up in the coffin, both arms tightening, ten withered fingers firmly gripping the infant’s back. Facing Ye Dabao, her face broke into an extremely eerie smile.

Ye Dabao knelt with both knees on the ground, bowing again: “Second sister-in-law, I’ve fulfilled your wish. After this I’ll help you close the coffin and refill the grave so no one will notice. Please consider my efforts and fulfill my wish too!”

After speaking, he pulled up the three incense sticks from the ground, held them to the female corpse’s face, using the smoke to heat her chin, while his other hand had already prepared a bronze bowl, catching what dripped below.

The female corpse actually stretched her neck forward, staying completely still, cooperating with Ye Dabao.

Drop by drop, corpse oil fell into the bronze bowl, filling the bottom completely after ten minutes. The female corpse’s brows gradually furrowed, her expression becoming terrifying.

Ye Dabao quickly withdrew the incense and bowl, wrapped the bowl in plastic and tucked it in his clothes, watching as the female corpse slowly lay back in the coffin, holding the infant with a satisfied expression. He also breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“Second sister-in-law, now that you have your child, after forty-nine days you’ll become a mother-child corpse evil, able to take revenge. Dabao will now close your coffin, you rest well and cultivate…”

Ten minutes later, Ye Dabao looked at the grave he had reburied, showing no signs of disturbance from the outside. Only then did he bow once more before turning to hurry down the mountain.

One month later, at Village Chief Ye Dagong’s house in Ye Family Village.

In the eighth lunar month’s scorching heat, while other homes kept their doors open for ventilation and used electric fans, the back room of Ye Dagong’s house had its doors tightly shut, with three coal stoves burning inside.

On the bed, a child of five or six years lay wrapped in thick cotton quilts, yet still shivered with cold, lips turning purple, teeth chattering as he kept crying about being cold.

Ye Dagong stood in the room briefly before breaking into a heavy sweat, sighing as he walked outside, forcefully wiping away both sweat and tears from his face.

“Father, how is Shaoyang…” A woman in her twenties approached, looking at Ye Dagong with tear-swollen eyes. She was Ye Dagong’s daughter-in-law and the sick child’s mother.

“Let’s wait for Xiao Bing to return.”

Ye Dagong shook his head helplessly. Having been a barefoot doctor for decades, he had no solution for his grandson’s illness. Over the past half month, he had carried his grandson to hospitals in the county and city, even to the provincial hospital, but they found nothing wrong. Ye Dagong began to suspect his grandson wasn’t sick at all but had encountered something supernatural. Earlier, they had invited a village spirit medium to perform a ritual, but it had no effect. So this morning he sent his son to the city to find an expert.

Just then, his son Ye Bing returned, bringing an elderly man dressed as a Daoist priest.

“Who is this…”

“This is a Daoist master I found in the city. He heard about our Shaoyang’s condition and was willing to come take a look.”

“Thank you for coming, Master.” Ye Dagong bowed respectfully while sizing up the visitor.

This old Daoist looked around sixty, very thin with a pointed chin, arched eyebrows, and triangular eyes. His Daoist robe was extremely worn, and he carried a canvas bag. As soon as he entered, his eyes darted around everywhere, showing none of the dignified bearing expected of a Daoist master.

Ye Dagong secretly frowned. These days there were too many charlatans, with fake Daoists and monks among them. Looking at this old Daoist, he didn’t seem capable at all. However, when illness becomes desperate one tries any cure, and since the person was already invited, they should at least give it a try. So he politely invited the old Daoist to see his grandson in the back room.