Chapter 157 Four Directions 4 Rules
The candlelight flickered in the dimly lit hall, and the talismans hanging on the walls trembled gently in the wind.
The father, sitting in the center, clasped his hands together and lowered his eyes.
The firelight softened his features, and in the blink of an eye, you felt as if he had become a different person.
You look at him, and he looks at you.
“You have attracted such a thing…” he began, seemingly understanding your weak resistance in this confrontation. “Child, you have acted far too recklessly. You possess the ‘Binding Words’ bone structure, yet it has proven so powerful here.”
"Others' words simply dissipate with a breath, but yours take root and become reality. Aren't the things that have happened in the country enough to wake you up? Once you speak, they become 'laws.' You know what that means, don't you?"
“But I tried to solve it,” you said, looking at the person in front of you.
"Once it's said, there's no going back," he said.
He wasn't lying.
As you ponder his words, a chilling sense of absurdity washes over you.
This ability is both incredibly powerful and unsolvable. It's unsolvable because who knows how your casual remarks might come true in a way that even you yourself cannot be certain of?
If your role in this instance is like this, then the challenges you will face will only increase exponentially.
After listening for so long, Meiling hurriedly said, "Please perform the ritual for us. I feel very uncomfortable."
“Yes, yes,” Huimin and Jinglian echoed.
You fell silent.
The man in front of her stood up, wearing a robe that looked like it belonged to both Taoism and Buddhism, the hem of which brushed against the talisman array on the ground.
“That thing,” he said in a low voice, his eyes cold, his body swaying back and forth with each word, “a candle, a mirror, a paper figure…right? A red rope, a copper bell, a Buddha head, a ceramic jar…right?”
It was as if he had seen it with his own eyes!
"Yes, it left a tail... Hmm, you guys are clever, but you'll fall for it sooner or later. You guys, so young, yet so bold!"
He clapped his hands three times, the sound of which echoed in the room like the tolling of bells.
"Uncle... Master, please help us..." Meiling murmured, her hands clasped together.
“Alright.” The father sat down again and said in a deep voice, “Tonight, there is only one way to force it out completely: the rotation of the incantation. Follow my order and do as I say, and no one should make a mistake.”
“Listen carefully—” he began, his voice hoarse and deep, “The rules for passing on the incantation do not require you to chant incantations. Even if you are slow, as long as you maintain the rhythm of the ‘inheritance,’ the ritual will not go wrong.”
The four of you exchanged glances, and no one said another word.
He held up a black wooden plaque with crooked, intertwined characters engraved on it, and then gently tapped the bronze bowl three times.
"Clang—clang—clang—"
Echo oscillation.
The four of you sat down under his guidance, all facing Ajarn in the center. To your left is Mei Ling, to your right is Jing Lian, and directly opposite, at the diagonal corner, is Hui Min.
“You start.” He stared at you, his gaze deep.
You hold your breath.
The father demonstrated by extending his hand: with his five fingers together, he first placed them on his forehead, then against his lips, and finally pressed them against his chest.
“Heart, mouth, and mind,” he said, his movements as if sealing these three places together.
As the movement ended, he lightly touched the roof of his mouth with the tip of his tongue and uttered a spell in Greek:
“Anamsama, Kunlopata, Suwaha.”
The pronunciation is full of nasal and aspirated sounds, unlike any other language you've ever encountered. You can only repeat it softly, awkwardly but as much as you can to imitate his intonation.
The incantation rolled down word by word, overlapping with the pounding of your heart in your chest.
Surprisingly, the moment you finish chanting the incantation, you feel as if your throat has been washed, a cool and refreshing sensation flowing out with your breath, which is inexplicably comforting.
You have more faith in this ritual.
"Pass it on," the father nodded.
You turn around and put your hand on Jinglian's shoulder.
Her eyes were tense, and her lips trembled, but she still followed along: her fingers pressed across her forehead, lips, and heart in turn, and as for the incantation, she recited it with difficulty, but still managed to complete it satisfactorily.
However, as the incantation was uttered from her mouth, you could clearly see the candlelight in the room cast her silhouette slightly swaying in the firelight, as if some force was pressing down on her.
But the next second, she exhaled sharply, calmed down, and looked somewhat dazed, as if she had truly been purified.
Next up is Huimin.
She was timid, but that made her work faster.
Touch the forehead, mouth, and chest in succession, and the incantation will come out in one gulp.
You secretly worried for her, but you saw that your father only frowned slightly and did not stop her. The bronze bowl echoed with a deep hum, as if responding to her haste.
Finally, it's Meiling.
She knelt upright, her hands clasped together in front of her forehead, as devout as if she were truly worshipping in a Buddhist temple. The incantation she recited was more steady than anyone else's, with the last syllable drawn out, which carried a pleasant rhythm.
As her last note faded, she relayed the action back to you.
Father lit a handful of black herbs, and the smoke swirled above your heads like a slender snake, meandering among the four of you.
Meiling's fingers left your shoulder, and you reached out to touch your forehead again—your own arm and body seemed to form a closed circle, with an indescribable force flowing through them.
The moment the incantation is uttered, it feels as if your entire body is being washed by an invisible stream of water, and the dullness, tension, and even resistance to "father" that started a few hours ago are all diluted.
It felt like... a huge weight had been lifted from my heart.
"Very good." The father's hands continued their small, quick movements, picking up one prop and quickly switching to another. "You didn't make any mistakes in the first round."
Yes, there were no mistakes. It's just that you have a vague feeling that this smoothness is too strange.
From beginning to end, there was a subtle sense of unease lingering on the edge of your mind, but when you really wanted to find clues to uncover everything, you didn't know where to start.
The candlelight continued to flicker, and the father's voice rang out: "One more round."
As usual, you were the first to complete your actions: forehead, mouth, chest, and uttered the incantation. No problem.
Then, you patted Jinglian on the shoulder. As soon as your hand touched her, your eyes widened.
The touch beneath her fingers was soft and boneless. Jinglian—
She shakily raised her limp arm and weakly touched her forehead.
When the incantation was supposed to come out of her mouth, her lips trembled, but the sound that came out of her throat was like a choked groan.
A tiny ripple appeared in the bronze bowl in the middle, but at this moment, not a breath of wind entered the room.
You looked at your father, but he offered no guidance and just stared at you coldly.
How could this be? So his intention—no, whatever his intention may be, the problem now is—your thoughts are fragmented, just as everything is moving forward so logically yet leaving you bewildered and unsure where to begin—and in that instant, it's as if your mind has been struck hard: This is a spell! I told you, the most crucial thing is that the ritual is not interrupted.
The fact that you were placed in front of Jinglian is itself a kind of hint.
So you decisively changed your position, and while sitting firmly on the futon, you leaned your body to the side, reached out and grabbed her wrist.
You try your best to ignore the feeling in your hand, which is like holding a soft tube, and grasp her to complete the path from your forehead to your mouth and then to your chest. At the same time, you utter a spell between your lips and teeth, keeping it extremely low and soft.
You helped her say what she "should say".
A force transformed into a damp wind, like a twisting snake, instantly gliding along the point where you touched.
The ceremony was successfully completed, but Jinglian's body suddenly trembled.
Her eyes rolled back suddenly, and you glimpsed tiny bulges rising on the sides of her neck, which then burst open with a gurgling sound, spilling out mud, mud everywhere.
Mud cascaded down her body like a waterfall, dripping onto the runes on the floor and quickly seeping in.
The runes on the floor, which had originally emitted a soft white light, were now being gradually eroded by the murky liquid. No, they were being covered up.
Your prayer mats are also starting to get soaked in mud, and you feel a cold, sticky sensation under your feet. With each bit more, it feels like fingers are trying to pull you into the ground.
Your heart suddenly tightens—you can't move!
You suddenly look up at Huimin and Meiling.
Huimin was so frightened that her face turned pale, and she swayed as she tried to stand up; Meiling, on the other hand, was gripping her hands tightly and gritting her teeth to hold on.
You said coldly, "Sit down! Don't move! Follow me!"
Whether it was your "ability" or not, the two of them finally managed to sit down again.
You grasped Jinglian's hand again, completing the final movement, and patted her hand toward Huimin.
Jinglian collapsed, her eyes vacant. She grew shorter and shorter; her body was gradually melting away.
The ceremony must continue.
Then came Huimin.
She muttered a spell, her voice sounding somewhat strange.
Listen carefully; this is completely different from before. She's actually—chanting the incantation backwards!
"Huimin!" Meiling also noticed that something was wrong with Huimin. She tried to wake Huimin up, but Huimin just shook her head frantically!
What, isn't it just Jinglian who has a problem? But you clearly remember her—
I remember now!! The Buddha head she retrieved before was broken and only half intact, which was extremely dangerous in itself. And it seems that... yes, she didn't do what you did, even rolling up her clothes or using a layer of fabric to retrieve the Buddha head. She touched it directly with her bare hands.
Her situation should be better than Jinglian's; at least she seems to have only been afflicted by evil spirits.
But you immediately realize: this order is not good at all!
If Mei-ling had been ahead of her, she could have completed Hui-min's ceremony just like you did for Jing-lian. But now it's too late.
The father's chanting didn't stop at all; his gestures even became more rapid. His eyes swept over you: "Continue!"
There is no room for compromise; even if the situation were reversed, we must continue!
Huimin had completely reversed the action. The incantation, like water flowing backward, impacted the formation.
To continue... it will be explained that reversing the order does not break the tradition!
You acted immediately, gripping Jinglian's arm, which was practically limp and mangled, once more. There was no room for error.
Chest, mouth, forehead—the order is all reversed.
But the incantation is stuck in your throat. You can't make a mistake. Slow down, and you can't mispronounce it.
"Ah-heh ah-wu-wu-si, ah-te..."
Someone tapped you on the shoulder.
who?
In the blink of an eye, the hall disappeared.
All that's left in front of you is a dark swamp, and you're "floating" alone on this filth.
All the sounds, the firelight, and the room full of companions vanished.
You're half-open-mouthed, still stuck on a fragment of the obscure, reversed incantation, but when you look down at your hands, you vaguely realize that your fingers no longer belong to you.
Ten fingers twisted and overlapping, a jumbled mess, making it impossible to discern the direction of the movement. Forehead? Lips? Chest? Which side is front, which side is back?
This is an illusion caused by the reversed spell; if you make the slightest mistake, you will be completely lost.
You can't make mistakes, and you can't panic.
You immediately bite your tongue, using the intense pain to force yourself to stay awake. The taste of blood fills your mouth, and you force yourself to orient yourself:
You press down the ten dangling strips of meat one by one, carefully considering each word before uttering it, and finally grit your teeth to complete the action.
In an instant, the world before your eyes is restored.
You were breathing heavily, as if you'd been submerged in water. Anyway, you're back.
Now, it's Meiling's turn.
You immediately and quickly tell her the key point from earlier: "Don't be afraid! Stay calm, take it slow, and don't make any mistakes!"
Meiling nodded, closed her eyes, and began to move.
It's up to her now.
Time seemed to freeze, each second stretched infinitely. Your gaze was fixed on her fingers, listening to her incantation.
Those few dozen seconds felt like an eternity.
Finally, as her last syllable fell, the array lit up again, connecting the four corners.
You felt a wave of relief wash over you; your back was soaked with cold sweat. You had narrowly escaped death this time.
“Continue,” the father said.
And you finally found that slight sense of unease that made you feel like you had a thorn in your side.
It's still Jinglian.
Her body was completely liquefied through round after round of rituals.
Mud gushed from her eyes, nostrils, and mouth; her chin drooped to her chest, and no muscles could support her any further movement.
Even you can no longer hold her hand. Under such circumstances, even if Huimin and Meiling are perfectly normal, she will not be able to make any gestures or utter a single syllable.
Originally, you thought this was a good thing.
Of the four of you, Jinglian was clearly the one who was already "out of the game." Wasn't the purpose of the ritual to exorcise evil spirits? Then her destruction justifies the ritual, doesn't it?
Your breathing is rapid, and your mind is racing.
But the four corners—all four corners must be present. This was a rule set by the so-called "father." In reality, one of the four was practically reduced to mud, and he clearly knew this from the beginning… This ritual was simply impossible to complete!
If it is destined to be impossible to complete, then what is its meaning?
Four corners, a legacy...
What if the associations you made in your mind while in the classroom influenced more than just the appearance of that ghost?
—The Four Corners Game, a well-known ghost-summoning game. When you were envisioning a ritual to scare people, did this game really not come to mind for a fleeting moment?
You can't be sure, but if you have to find an object to associate with, yes, it can only be the "four corners game".
The four people occupy the four corners. The first person leaves their corner and taps the second person on the shoulder. After the second person goes to the third person's corner, she stands in the second person's original position. The second person then taps the third person, and so on, until the fourth person stands in the first person's empty spot. She then needs to clap her hands to complete one round of the game.
The scary thing is that after playing for a long time, some people will forget which number they are or not know which corner should be empty.
At that moment, the "fifth person" will occupy the empty corner, and everyone will continue to treat the ghost as a person without understanding why.
The result? An extra "person" is added, and the original four people will be quietly replaced.
A sudden chill ran through you.
Yes, isn't this just a four-corner game? It's just been given a different form, called "Rotating the Spell".
The only difference is that, from the very beginning, at least you and this so-called father knew that Jinglian was the fifth person in this house.
You've been playing games with ghosts all along.
Next, it was Huimin's turn. But after Huimin, it was Jinglian's turn.
“Meiling! Listen to me! Have Huimin do it again following the ‘first positive direction’! You do the gesture for her, just like I did for Jinglian before, force it to turn right!” you shout.
Meiling was stunned; she didn't understand.
"Quick! She's flipped over, you need to turn her right back! That way the order will go straight back to me!" you command.
Meiling nodded. She was a brave and intelligent child. She knew that what you said must make sense. Even if she didn't understand what you wanted to do, she still did as you said.
She practically dragged Huimin, forcing her to go through the gestures again, pulling the originally reversed flow back to the forward direction.
In this way, the order becomes: Huimin to Meiling and then you.
The formation suddenly trembled and returned to its original state.
Now it's your turn.
After you finish your actions, the mantra rolls down, closing like a ring around your forehead, mouth, and heart.
Something inside your chest was trembling violently, as if you were being pounded by a heavy hammer, but you held on.
The next step—which should have been sent back to Jinglian—was to reveal that she was no longer human. The muddy puddle churned and bubbled on the prayer mat, emitting a foul stench. An empty corner had appeared.
You suddenly look up at your father in the middle.
He continued to sit cross-legged, casting spells, his hands constantly turning and his mouth chanting incantations, completely ignoring everything else.
—He was the one who should have been in the fourth position!
You simply reached out and patted him on the shoulder.
"It's your turn." You spoke coldly, the incantation rolling down like a verdict.
The candlelight crackled and popped, the flames suddenly lengthening and illuminating the father's face.
The face was twisted grotesquely in the firelight, and the wrinkles at the corners of its eyes cracked, revealing a texture that should not belong to a human.
He is not a real person; he is also a product of your imagination.
He is a terrifying illusion that you created based on Meiling and the others' descriptions of him, combined with your aversion to interacting with "blood relatives" in the instance.
How interesting! You just staged a small, fake ceremony, and it actually triggered such a real butterfly effect.
Ajarn narrowed his eyes, a strange smile curving his lips: "Child... do you know what you're saying?"
“You’ve made a mistake,” you said. “I’ve already given it to you; you should just do those actions and then recite the incantation.”
Ajarn's face instantly darkened.
"The ritual has ended with you," you said. "All the backlash will fall on you, and all the real people who are still alive will be safe and sound."
You are not adept at using your abilities.
In those few short breaths, the floor of the hall suddenly trembled. The mud on the ground churned and rolled, resembling countless mouths opening and closing simultaneously.
Jinglian's body completely collapsed, turning into a pool of black mud, swelling into a human-shaped bubble, which then burst.
Huimin woke up as if from a dream and screamed in terror. Meiling rushed forward and covered her mouth.
You forcefully flung Ajarn's body out of the formation, forcing him to kneel in Jinglian's position. In that instant, the entire room seemed to accept him as the missing fourth member.
The suffocating noise, like gasping for air, drew the flame from the candle, condensing it into a huge fireball that crashed down on him.
His expression changed drastically in an instant, and his body stiffened abruptly, as if he were being crushed by a tremendous force.
Black mud surged up from the ground, climbing up his robes and binding him tightly.
Countless twisted fingers grew out of the black mud, grabbing his limbs and pinning him firmly to the "corner".
He looked up and let out a howl that ripped through the heavens and earth, his voice mixed with the wails of countless ghosts and wolves.
boom!
The formation suddenly lit up, with all four corners complete.
Darkness solidified, and the swamp shrank.
The three of you were thrown heavily and landed on the cold floor.
Just as you were seeing stars, you suddenly heard a series of whispers.
It doesn't come from the outside, but rather it seeps out from deep within your brain, blood, and bones.
—These are the rules for copying.
They appear in your mind one by one, and with each one you read, you feel as if your body is being tightly bound.
1. Always put your palms together in a gesture of respect, even if you don't know who the other person is.
2. You can love anyone, but you must pretend you know nothing.
3. Beautiful things shouldn't be exposed.
4. You must accept the arrangements, even if you don't understand why.
5. Meat has different prices.
6. When you feel lost, vibrant colors, coconuts, and mangoes can solve everything.
7. Learn to be devout. Learn to be content. Learn to be loyal.
8. Man? Woman? Look in the mirror.
9. Gold is a sacred color. You cannot say "no" to anything gold.
10. Some people stay young because they never question anything.
11. Find your role, and then play it.
12. ?
The last one wasn't displayed. There was only a blurry shadow.
You open your eyes and find only two girls around you, their faces pale and their eyes vacant.
And you are no less impressive.
This is your sixth copy.
But now, this is the true beginning of the story.
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Author's Note: So satisfying! This all-nighter is so enjoyable! If I hadn't stayed up all night, I really wouldn't have been able to write. Hahahaha, I love staying up all night so much! Hahahaha!
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