A look of horror flashed across Old Man Ge Wang's face; he seemed extremely unwilling to bring it up.

He paused for a moment, then said, "There was a woman's corpse in that coffin. Her neck was tightly wrapped with hemp rope, which had already cut into her flesh!"

"It's digging into your flesh?"

Hearing this, I couldn't help but ask in confusion.

She's been buried there for who knows how many years. Logically, all that should be left is a skeleton. How could there be any flesh?

The old man noticed my confusion:

"That's right, it was cut into her flesh. Her exposed skin was whiter than paper. We were all stunned."

"Those who had gone to university and were quite sensible were so frightened by this scene that they stumbled backward and fell to the ground."

Ge Wang emphasized the word "wise person" in his speech, which seemed to indicate his disdain.

The old man's disdain was not without reason; after all, what that guy was talking about was all feudal superstition.

Upon seeing what was inside the coffin, he was terrified, just like a grandson.

The men, women, and children watching were all terrified, but none of them were as unsteady on their feet as he was.

"What's even more terrifying is that blood was overflowing from the coffin, and the scarlet blood instantly stained the ground below."

"So how did you do it?"

I asked, puzzled.

The old man gave a bitter smile:

"After something like this has happened, what else can we do? Of course, we have to find a way to get her away."

“At the time, we found a shaman from our village to preside over the funeral ceremony. She initially disagreed, but the villagers finally persuaded her, and each family contributed some money.”

“We removed the rope from the woman’s neck. The rope was still stained with blood, and the people who removed the rope were terrified.”

"We put the rope into a bag and sealed it tightly with talisman paper."

"We don't have a Zhong Kui costume in the village, so we can only use the prince's costume as a substitute."

"We started the ritual to remove the evil spirits that night, and then, the unexpected happened."

I pursed my lips. There are many things to prepare and many things to consider for the ritual of sending off evil spirits. It's hard to be thorough in this small village.

If it's just a regular zongzi (a type of Chinese rice dumpling), then it's so-so.

But with something like this, it would be strange if nothing unexpected happened!

Ge Wang took a few puffs of his pipe to catch his breath before continuing in a terrified tone:

“At that time, we scattered paper money, salt, beans, nails and other things along the way. Granny Wang was leading the way when suddenly a cold wind blew up, and the paper money flew everywhere, blocking our view.”

"When the eerie wind stopped, our procession of those who had sent away evil spirits was scattered, and someone noticed: Granny Wang had disappeared!"

"We were furious at the time, thinking that Wang Po had run away. We searched everywhere until we found out that Wang Po had actually been hung from a locust tree we passed on the way!"

Old Man Ge's hands began to tremble uncontrollably, and he didn't even notice that the pipe in his hand had slipped from his grasp.

His eyes were unfocused, as if he had returned to that night when the spirits were sent away.

"Wang Po was dressed in the prince's costume, hanging straight up on the locust tree. Her face was twisted so distorted that it was unrecognizable, her eyes were bulging out of their sockets, and blood was flowing from her seven orifices down to the ground through the costume."

"Some sharp-eyed people noticed that the rope used to hang Wang Po was the same one we put in a bag and sealed with talisman paper!"

"But the rope was clearly sealed up, sealed up! And two strong men were specially assigned to carry it."

Ge Wang couldn't help but shout it out.

My face turned pale, and I felt a chill run from the soles of my feet all the way to the top of my head.

Although the ceremony of giving meat-filled rice dumplings was somewhat simple, it included all the essential elements.

Moreover, Wang Po was the one who presided over the ceremony, so logically, she shouldn't have gotten into trouble if anyone else did!

What gave me the creeps even more was that, according to our previous plan, I was supposed to personally preside over the ritual to send off the evil spirits!

He cried out, and only then did Ge Wang realize that he had dropped his pipe. His already hunched body bent down to pick it up, still talking:

“We were terrified! So much so that not a single person in the entire village dared to take down Wang Po’s body; she just hung there all night.”

The old man straightened up, and I noticed with my sharp eyes that his eyes were glistening with tears.

He turned his back, wiped his face, and continued:

"We didn't dare approach until dawn the next day and took Wang Po down. Her expression was even more terrifying than that night. Her eyeballs had fallen out, leaving her eye sockets empty, and a strange smile was curled at the corner of her mouth."

"Furthermore, we also discovered that the family member who had attended university was also found hanged in the room."

Hearing this, I felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

No wonder Master Zhang Qingxiao said that if I feel I can't handle it, I should prioritize saving my life.

"When his parents came to wake him up, they were terrified when they saw what he saw."

"Later, several more people hanged themselves in the village, and even the nearby villages suffered as a result. The couple seemed to have a premonition; whenever someone died, they would go to that family early in the morning to mourn and call out their son's name in a mad manner."

At this point, the outline of the village can already be seen.

I frowned. Ge Wang seemed to have finished saying what he wanted to say and fell silent. I couldn't help but ask:

"Didn't they say two Taoist priests died? How did they die?"

"them?"

The old man glanced at me and said, "One of them died while presiding over the ritual of delivering rice dumplings, just like Wang Po died. The other one was performing exorcisms during the day and was found hanged in his room the next day."

I clenched my fists. This evil spirit was far more ferocious than I had expected.

Those two Taoist priests died just like ordinary people, seemingly having no ability to resist the evil spirit!

"By the way, where are the coffin and the rope?"

As we drove slowly into the village, Luo Tianhe suddenly leaned out of the window and asked.

"After that Taoist priest presided over the ceremony of sending meat dumplings, he was also hanged from a locust tree branch. We put the rope back into the coffin and buried it with the evil spirit of the dumpling."

The old man answered with his head down.

"Why do this? Is there any special meaning behind it?"

Li Huai scratched his head and asked.

Upon hearing Li Huai's question, the old man grinned, managing only an awkward smile:

"Of course it's useless, but who would dare take that rope home or put it anywhere? As for burying the evil spirit back, no one would dare leave its body exposed in the wilderness."

At this moment, the villagers also noticed us. When they saw us walking with Ge Wang, hope welled up in their eyes.

“I told them I had found a master. I just didn’t expect that Master Zhang Qingxiao couldn’t spare the time, so I had to send you.”

Ge Wang explained somewhat listlessly.

Just then, a rather burly middle-aged man came up to us, respectfully offered us a few cigarettes, and asked:

"Are you the masters Uncle Ge was talking about?"