After Ye Chen left, Li Mazi and I wandered around the villa. Perhaps Mr. Jin’s oddness had scared people. Except for a few bodyguards, there was only one chef in this vast villa.

The chef didn’t look anything special. After taking a first glance, I didn’t pay any more attention to him.

After touring one round, I found no problem with the villa’s geomancy. It meant Mr. Jin’s sickness wasn’t accidentally caused by a wandering ghost. It pointed to the characteristics of an otherworldly item! Besides the guest rooms, most of the other rooms were locked. I didn’t find anything strange.

A moment later, the chef brought us two sets of French lunches. This man didn’t look that nice, but his French food was excellent. Li Mazi and I had to compete for the last piece. After dinner, we got on the big bed and slept.

At around twilight, we heard the roar of a car engine outside. I thought that Mr. Jin had returned. I woke Li Mazi to prepare.

Indeed, Ye Chen soon came to fetch us.

As soon as I crossed the threshold of the lobby, I smelled a faint floral aroma. It wasn’t hard to recognize that it was Yin energy.

The smell came from Mr. Jin. It seemed the spirit had been following him day and night. I couldn’t help but frown.

Li Mazi reached the lobby before me. He suddenly screamed, “Oh hey, why does Mr. Jin look so familiar? Oh, he is…”

I hurried to follow him. I was thrilled when I saw the so-called Boss Jin. He was the strange pedestrian we had seen while passing the Eastern Qing Tombs. If we didn’t need to follow the young man in the suit, we would have stopped to talk to him.

Mr. Jin looked at the two of us in surprise. He asked skeptically, “You are Master Zhang and Master Li, right? Why do you look so surprised to see me?”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Jin. I am Zhang Jiulin.” I shook his hand. “I saw you on the way here.

Jin Shengqing nodded. “Yeah, I have a routine of running in the Eastern Qing Tombs area.”

I didn’t want to linger on this topic and went straight to the point. “What happened to you? How is your situation?” Although Ye Chen had told us about the situation, it wasn’t as sufficient. I needed to hear it from the victim.

Mr. Jin forced a smile and talked slowly. “It’s embarrassing. I don’t know why I have turned into this. At night, I can’t control my body. I will weep like a girl. My consciousness is clear, but I can’t control myself. I get an extremely sorrowful feeling but can’t tell what has caused it. I just want to cry…”

No matter what, Mr. Jin was a successful businessman. Although he was scared, he didn’t show his panic. He continued, “Moreover, every time I cry, I feel like someone is strangling me. I can’t see anything, but when I get up the next day, I see new bruises on my neck.”

Then, Mr. Jin pulled the collar of his shirt to show us his neck. I saw many finger bruises on his neck. His skin was scalded.

I felt anxious after seeing that. Although I had accepted many otherworldly item cases and dealt with extraordinary evil spirits, I knew this otherworldly item had harmed its host.

I decided to look and see what kind of otherworldly item it was.

“Mr. Jin, tonight, you should rest as you normally do. I’ll be by your side, watching. Don’t worry,” I said to Mr. Jin.

Mr. Jin thanked me a lot. I recognized that his eyes were bloodshot. It seemed he had received enough torment these days.

Soon, the chef brought us dinner. It was beefsteak and foie gras. After dinner, I asked Mr. Jin and Ye Chen to wait for us downstairs. Li Mazi and I would go to his room to arrange something.

Since the spirit was a female and she wept all the time, I guessed she had suffered grievance before her death. I wrote the name, Dou E, on a sheet of paper and posted it on the wall.

Whether the Yin spirit was from ancient times or modern-day, she would know about Dou E. Everybody knew the Injustice to Dou E [1], right?

Then, I sprinkled a layer of the best cinnabar underneath his bed to protect him. After everything was done, I asked Mr. Jin to come to his room. When he tucked into his bed, I turned off the lights in the corridor and his room. Then, Li Mazi and I hid in the closet and quietly waited.

As the night grew darker, the room became quieter. At the same time, the plants outside rattled in the mountainous wind.

The clock hand ticked. I felt tired at around midnight; I wanted to take this time to puff a cigarette to relax. Then, Li Mazi suddenly nudged me.

I was surprised and followed his finger. The door had opened a little bit. We heard low footsteps from the corridor. The figure was approaching the room.

I pulled myself together and held onto the Sirius Whip tightly as I waited for that thing. However, the footsteps disappeared when they reached the door.

I thought it had recognized me and Li Mazi, so I hurriedly adhered two Yang Concealing Talismans to our bodies. It would help cover our Yang energy.

The ghost still had not entered the room. I was skeptical and craned my neck out to check. There was nothing else in the room.

“It seems she has spotted us…” I told Li Mazi, feeling a little lost. Then, I crawled out of the closet and found two lines of faint footprints. It was really hard to wait for her, so how could I let her go like this? After clearing my head, I followed the lines of footprints.

Those footprints led me around two kilometers away from the villa. I stood and looked around for a long time. I didn’t find anything strange, so I decided to return.

However, a flow of cold air blew behind me. Instinctively, I turned to see. A pair of bleeding eyes were gazing at me. Subconsciously, I took a step backward and lashed the Sirius Whip at her.

Before the Sirius Whip hit her, the ghost disappeared. I was stunned.

Then, Li Mazi’s voice from behind me. “Little Brother Zhang, she’s right behind you!”

Before I could react, a bluish pair of hands reached my neck. Her fingernails sparkled. They were really sharp like daggers.

At the moment my life was at stake, I riskily threw the Sirius Whip. The female ghost subconsciously grabbed the whip. She screeched as her hand started to turn into smoke. The ghost flashed then disappeared. Perhaps she thought she wasn’t my opponent.

“It’s so freaking strange. We were almost done for!”

Li Mazi spat, “What should we do next?”

“We have to go back first. I’m worried about Mr. Jin.” I shook my head.

As soon as Mr. Jin’s name came up, I suddenly saw the light. Li Mazi had the same reaction. The female ghost had lured us on purpose. She wanted to make us leave Mr. Jin! I didn’t have time to nag here. I turned and ran toward the villa.

As soon as we entered the villa, I felt thick Yin energy shrouding the place. Then, I heard a woman crying upstairs. I didn’t have the mind to worry about anything else. I immediately ran upstairs.

At the moment I walked through the threshold, a cold wind blew right at my face. I quickly lowered my head to dodge it, but I could still feel my scalp tingling!

A loud thud echoed behind me. I moved aside and saw that a fiery red arrow was stabbed into the door. The arrow was burning, and it eventually disappeared.

It seemed the ghost was in the room and had ambushed me with that arrow. I switched on the light and looked in the direction of the thickest Yin energy. A woman wearing Manchurian traditional clothes floated. Her feet were bound, and she was holding a flaming bow.

I didn’t know what kind of status she had while she was alive, so I had to be ready. I held the Sirius Whip tightly!

The female ghost wasn’t surprised. She raised her bow, aimed at me, and pulled the string. Another fiery arrow was immediately shot toward me. She had made me her prey.

At first, I had the Sirius Whip with me, so I could dodge around seven or eight arrows. After the power of the Sirius Whip was used up, I became passive. I had to jump and bounce around to avoid her attack.

Mr. Jin was no longer snoring. I guessed he had fainted.

I couldn’t just leave him like this. At the same time, I couldn’t let the ghost shoot me as though I were a rabbit. At this moment, I felt restlessly anxious!

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Injustice_to_Dou_E