Spirit Hunters of Maoshan Sect - c3

Chapter 3: Burning the Corpse Demon
At this point, he suddenly changed his serious demeanor and grinned at Old Man Ye: “Old fellow, let me tell you something – in this world, there aren’t more than five people who could save your grandson. Fortunately, you encountered this poor priest. This is also the destiny between your grandson and me, hehe, destiny indeed.”

Old Man Ye didn’t understand his meaning and was still pondering when Qing Yun Zi changed the subject: “Your grandson’s corpse poison is temporarily under control. Now the most urgent matter is to find the owner of this corpse oil paste. With such deep resentment, its owner must be a fierce ghost that cannot be allowed to remain. Think carefully, has anyone died an unnatural death in this area during the past six months?”

With only a few dozen households in Ye Family Village, as village chief, he couldn’t possibly be unaware of any major events, whether celebratory or mournful. Old Man Ye immediately said: “Yes, a month ago, a woman in our village died in childbirth – both mother and child died. Would that count as an unnatural death?”

“Of course! What date did she die?”

Old Man Ye thought for a moment: “I can’t quite remember… oh, right! I remember her seventh day memorial fell exactly on the Ghost Festival, July 14th!”

Qing Yun Zi felt a jolt through his heart and hurriedly said: “Quick, take me to her grave!”

Old Man Ye dared not delay and led Qing Yun Zi up the mountain. A quarter hour later, they arrived at Widow Zhang’s grave. Qing Yun Zi used his spiritual energy to test the area and muttered: “This grave isn’t right – how are there two ghost energies inside, and one of them is an infant! Oh no! Quick, dig up the grave and open the coffin, I must see what’s going on!”

Old Man Ye showed reluctance, “This… Widow Zhang’s husband died half a year ago, and she was carrying his posthumous child. There are no other relatives to cause trouble, but digging up a grave without cause… if the villagers find out, it will be hard to explain.”

Qing Yun Zi angrily retorted: “If we don’t open the coffin, once this corpse demon fully forms, your entire village will die!”

Old Man Ye was stunned, finally realizing the gravity of the situation. He asked Qing Yun Zi to wait while he ran down the mountain to call several young men, each carrying shovels, to come to the burial ground. On the way, the young men had learned the basics of the situation from Old Man Ye, and with his promise of reward and guarantee to take full responsibility, they began digging without hesitation.

During this time, Qing Yun Zi took out five small flags in gold, green, brown, white, and red, corresponding to the five elements’ positions, and planted them in a circle around Widow Zhang’s grave. He then lit soul-capturing incense at the Qian and Kun positions. By this time, the grave was open, and when the young men saw the bright red coffin boards, they all hesitated.

“Step back, retreat beyond the Five Elements flags, and remember not to come inside.” Qing Yun Zi walked to the grave and felt waves of yin and killing energy hitting his face. He was quite shocked: even through the coffin boards, such strong negative energy was seeping out – whatever was inside must be extraordinarily evil.

Qing Yun Zi noticed the coffin wasn’t nailed shut. He gathered his spirit, drew the character for “command” on his right palm with cinnabar ink, silently recited an incantation, pressed his right palm against the coffin lid, and shouted: “Rise!”

The coffin lid, weighing several dozen jin, was lifted by his single hand and tossed aside.

Old Man Ye and the young men craned their necks curiously to look, but after one glance, they froze in place. After more than ten seconds, one youth finally cried out in shock: “Heavens, she’s grown fangs!”

In the female corpse’s mouth, two rows of canine teeth interlocked – not just two fangs, but two complete rows! They gleamed with an eerie cold light in the sunlight.

Qing Yun Zi’s gaze flashed like lightning across the female corpse, landing on her swollen belly. His expression changed drastically as he turned to glare at Old Man Ye, shouting: “She’s pregnant?”

“That’s not right, she died in childbirth,” Old Man Ye said in surprise. “Because her death was violent, we consulted a spirit master. He said mother and child must be buried separately, or they would become ghosts, so we buried the child in the mass grave on the western hillside.”

Qing Yun Zi nodded, sighing: “That person wasn’t wrong. In deaths during childbirth, mother and child cannot be buried together, lest they cling to each other, their spirits unable to disperse. Trapped within the corpses, they gradually absorb yin energy and become mother-child corpse demons. Moreover, their seventh-day memorial falling on the Ghost Festival made the negative energy even stronger.”

Old Man Ye stared at the female corpse’s two rows of terrifying fangs and trembled: “Then this corpse…”

“The forty-nine days have passed, and the mother-child corpse demon has formed – this is no ordinary ghost.” Qing Yun Zi pointed at the corpse’s belly, “The infant demon is in her stomach!”

“Ah!” Old Man Ye and the others cried out together. “How… how is this possible?”

Qing Yun Zi sighed, “Obviously, someone retrieved the infant and buried them together. Only this way could they successfully extract the corpse oil. This is originally a Miao region black magic technique – I never expected someone would actually do this. Old man, the person who bears this grudge against your family is no ordinary foe!” He suddenly looked up at the sky – it was already five or six o’clock, the sun setting, another day almost over.

“Opening the coffin today has disturbed the corpse demon. We must deal with it before dark, or endless troubles will follow. Quick, go prepare some gasoline and firewood, and cinnabar too – the faster the better!”

Under Old Man Ye’s orders, several young men ran down the mountain to gather the materials. Old Man Ye trembled as he asked Qing Yun Zi: “Master, you said this mother and child have become… some kind of corpse demon, why aren’t they moving?”

“Even the strongest corpse demon fears sunlight. Come nightfall, it will be terrible – even I would struggle to subdue it.”

Qing Yun Zi shooed Old Man Ye aside, took off his backpack, and retrieved various demon-catching and ghost-capturing implements, beginning to set up a spirit altar.

Just as he finished the preparations, the young men returned, carrying a large basket of firewood and several cans of gasoline, followed by a crowd of villagers who had come to watch. Ye Bing and his wife were among them, and upon seeing his father, Ye Bing reported: “Shaoyang has taken the medicine the master prepared and is much better. Mother returned to look after him, and we came to see if we could help.”

Old Man Ye felt somewhat relieved hearing Shaoyang was better, but scolded the young men: “Who told you to spread the word and bring everyone here!”

“No matter, the more people, the better.” Qing Yun Zi’s eyes flashed with a hint of cunning as he glanced over the crowd.

Time was of the essence. He ordered several of the braver ones to come forward and pile the firewood around the coffin, pour two cans of gasoline over it, then spread a layer of cinnabar on top. He lit a talisman paper, silently recited an incantation, and threw it on the pile.

The fire blazed up instantly.

Qing Yun Zi sat cross-legged before the spirit altar and began chanting loudly: “I, Qing Yun Zi, thirty-eighth generation disciple of Maoshan, by the command of the ancestral masters, pray to the Three Pure Ones above, announce to the netherworld below. From the blue heaven to the yellow springs, witness my dao heart. Cleanse all demons and evil, bring clarity to heaven and earth. Six Ding and Six Jia, attend before the formation. Black Tiger of the Dark Altar, the Celestial Master calls. Today I open this altar, to completely eliminate all evil!”

As he performed the ritual, he added a stream of Daoist pure yang energy to the fire to assist in refining the corpse demon.

Ten minutes passed, and the coffin had burned to charcoal, yet the female corpse’s appearance remained unchanged – even her clothes hadn’t burned. Streams of white, cold yin energy continuously leaked from her body, keeping the flames at bay.