Chapter 91
Chapter 91 Paper Effigy
Zhou Jingru walked closer to Ye Shaoyang and said, “My father has been having nightmares lately . He is so scared; he can’t even sleep . To make things worse, he has a fever, and his mind is always wandering . We tried to get him checked at the hospital, but they could not find anything . I suspected paranormal activity, but he would not believe in such a thing until yesterday night . ”
“Let me tell him the story myself,” Zhou Ming interrupted her in a weak voice, “I was trying to get some sleep yesterday night . As usual, I had a nightmare, and I woke up in the middle of it . I opened my eyes and saw a figure covered in white . It was sitting on the floor like a dog . It had no features on its face, and no hair either . But I could feel it staring at me . It made me feel so horrified, and my whole body turned cold . ”
Fear was evident in Zhou Ming’s eyes, as he continued his story, “Then, I found myself frozen . I could not even move a muscle . When I finally managed to move, I wanted to switch on the lights, but I was afraid it would attack me . We stayed in the same position for a very long time . Then, a nurse came in for her routine check . When she switched on the lights, the figure suddenly disappeared into thin air . ” He finished his story and stared at Ye Shaoyang, “Mr . Ye, am I really in some sort of paranormal trouble here? Please help me . I’ll surely repay you . ”
This account informed Ye Shaoyang of the situation . Zhou Ming was a rich man who could afford to pay Ye Shaoyang a fortune . Just as Ye Shaoyang wanted to seal the deal, Zhou Jingru innocently interrupted, “Daddy, what are you talking about? Brother Shaoyang is my friend; he is definitely not here for money . ”
Zhou Ming slapped the back of his own head, “What a fool I am . I’ve been a businessman for too long . My apologies, Mr . Ye . You are a powerful sorcerer, and my daughter’s close friend . I should not disrespect you with money . Please just help me, Mr . Ye . ”
“No problem, no problem . ” Ye Shaoyang’s heart sank in helplessness . The money that was supposed to enter his pocket had flown away before he could do anything . Nevertheless, he still wanted to help them . He slowly walked along the wall in the room with his hands behind his back . Suddenly, he stopped and looked up at the wall surface, as he seemed to search for something .
Although It looked like an empty wall that lacked peculiarities, Ye Shaoyang seemed to have discovered something . He sneered and his hands instinctively reached for his belt . He frowned when he remembered that he had left his belt and pouch at home . He looked around and saw a coffee table with a stack of Xuan papers on it . A small rack with two Chinese writing brushes on it stood beside the stack of Xuan papers . A sheet of Xuan paper with freshly written calligraphy on it laid at the top of the stack .
[Xuan paper, Shuen paper, or rice paper, is a kind of paper originating in ancient China used for writing and painting . ]
Ye Shaoyang’s eyes brightened up with an idea . He walked over to the coffee table to have a closer look at the writings, “Mr . Zhou, did you write this?”
“Yes . When I was admitted to the hospital, I was actually feeling better than I am now . I got bored, so I decided to write a few writings . I’m kind of into this type of thing . ” Zhou Ming smiled bitterly, “And please, just call me Uncle Zhou . ”
“Sure . Your writings are quite good, Uncle Zhou . ” Ye Shaoyang said, “Uncle Zhou, since you like writing, I’m sure you have seen many kinds of paper before . But there is one type of paper you have never seen yet . ”
Zhou Ming felt a little confused . He did not know why Ye Shaoyang had suddenly brought up this topic, but he answered, “What kind of paper is it?”
“Living paper . ”
As he spoke these words, Ye Shaoyang proceeded to take up a cup of tea . Then, he poured some of the contents into the inkstone . He ground the inkstick for some ink and dipped a writing brush the mix . He walked over to the part of the wall he had previously stopped at . He quickly wrote on the wall a character ‘Chi’ and drew a circle around it . He threw away the writing brush and formed a hand seal . Next, he slapped the character with his palm .
When Ye Shaoyang’s palm reached the wall, a white dot abruptly appeared . It was the white figure of a little man . It struggled in the circle of ink, unable to escape .
“Stop struggling . ” Ye Shaoyang chanted a soul seizing chant . Then, he lifted up his hand to pull the figure out of the wall . It expanded in size and became as large as a grown man . Then, it suddenly rolled up its four limbs together like a ball and knocked at Ye Shaoyang .
“It’s useless to fight against me . ” Ye Shaoyang lifted up his right hand and slapped the figure . He curled up his fingers and grabbed the figure’s neck and lifted it into the air . The figure fruitlessly struggled and wiggled its limbs in the air, as it tried to escape .
This scene terrified both Zhou Ming and Zhou Jingru . Zhou Ming backed away in fear and yelled, “That’s the figure I was talking about! I saw it yesterday night!”
With his hand still grasping the figure, Ye Shaoyang said, “Don’t worry . It can’t hurt you now . Why don’t you come and see what it’s made of?”
Zhou Ming’s heart grew calmer after he heard these words . He took a closer look at the figure . It stood quite tall, but it had no any features—no hair, no hands, and no legs . It had a completely white body . Its limbs were rather stiff, and it writhed in the air like an octopus . It was a scarily weird creature .
Had Zhou Ming not come across this creature the night before, he would have definitely thought that this creature was nothing but a magician’s trick .
“Oh G.o.d! It’s a paper effigy!” Zhou Jingru screamed out .
Ye Shaoyang nodded, “This is a paper effigy made of talisman paper soaked in corpse oil . It was given some level of consciousness . It can turn invisible and morph in shape . Mr . Zhou, this is the cause of all your recent misery . ”
“Is it dangerous? What should we do to get rid of it?” Zhou Ming’s face paled . Ye Shaoyang’s words had shaken him .
“If it continued to stay here without being discovered, your life would have been in danger . Luckily, we found it in time . ” With his right hand still on the paperman, Ye Shaoyang’s left hand instinctively reached for his belt again . He smiled bitterly to himself when he remembered again that his belt was not with him . He took a sheet of Xuan paper from the coffee table and added his blood to the ink . Then, he dipped the writing brushed into the mixture . He drew a h.e.l.lfire rune on the Xuan paper and stuck it onto the paper effigy . Although Xuan paper was not as powerful as talisman paper, it was sufficient for Ye Shaoyang to get rid of such a low level creature . Ye Shaoyang closed his eyes and chanted . A flash of blue flames burned the paperman . Within half a minute, the fire had incinerated the paperman into ashes . A flash of silver light rose from the spot and flew out of the window .
“Is it over now?” Zhou Ming asked, still stunned .
Ye Shaoyang did not respond . He closed his eyes and counted with his right fingers pressed against each other . The Zhou parent-child duo watched him intensely, as they did not dare to interrupt . After a little more than a minute, Ye Shaoyang suddenly opened his eyes and inhaled deeply, “Fifty-eight miles away, south-east of here . That is the location of the culprit . ”
Zhou Ming felt stunned . He thought for a while and asked, “The culprit, are they a sorcerer too?”
“This is just a lousy trick . Any sorcerer can perform this if they know your Bazi . ” Ye Shaoyang continued, “I can only trace the person up to this location . You have to find out the rest yourself . ”
“That sounds impossible . ” Zhou Ming thought hard, but he could not come up with a solution .
“Daddy, I have an idea!” Zhou Jingru switched on the computer in the room and clicked the satellite mapping program . She set the hospital building as their starting point . Then, she opened the distance measuring program within the software and moved her cursor in the south-east direction .
Zhou Ming immediately understood his daughter’s idea . He moved himself closer to the computer, and his eyes followed the cursor . He pointed at a spot on the map, “Yao Yuan Corporation, this must be it!”
He formed a fist with his right hand and punched the bed in fury . He said in an angry voice, “Someone named w.a.n.g Cheng owns this company . We competed in a few biddings before, and I won every time . I knew he hated me for this, but it’s despicable for him to seek revenge in such a crooked way!”