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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
What’s so surprising about this? I chuckled lightly and said, “Is someone sneaking in? Do you remember the last time at the Jin Family? That New Moon Scimitar in Wuling City was disguised in a Daoist robe.”
Qingfeng Daozhang shook his head, “A ghost. I’m over fifty years old, and I’ve performed countless rituals over the years. I've encountered all sorts of vengeful spirits and resentful souls; my courage isn’t as weak as you imagine. Since it’s strange, there must be a reason for it.”
I nodded, “That makes sense. Please continue.”
“After confirming that there was an extra person, my thoughts were similar to yours—I suspected someone had sneaked in. I grabbed a wooden stick and went to check on the nine people lying down. One by one, I examined them, and if I found a stranger, I would hit them first.” At this point, Qingfeng Daozhang's eyes were filled with confusion and fear, as if he was still lost in that moment, and he paused.
“Hmm! And then?” I prompted him to continue.
“I checked each one, and to my surprise, all nine were my disciples; they were all from Lingxu Temple,” Qingfeng Daozhang murmured.
“That means one of the seven people outside is the intruder!” Fatty interjected nonchalantly.
“No!” Qingfeng Daozhang suddenly became agitated and hissed at Fatty, “It’s not like that!”
“Brother, are you okay?” I placed my hand on Qingfeng's shoulder and gave it a firm pat. This was to help him regain his composure and also to prepare myself in case he acted strangely.
Qingfeng Daozhang was slightly awakened by my pat, but the fear in his eyes grew even more intense: “I turned around to look in the outer hall, and all seven people outside were also my disciples; they were all from Lingxu Temple!”
“How is that possible?” Fatty and I exclaimed in unison.
“You both think it’s impossible too, right?” Qingfeng Daozhang said hoarsely. “I thought it was impossible as well; I thought I was seeing things or that the people inside slipped out quickly while I lifted the curtain. I turned around and rushed back inside to count again, and there were still nine lying down. Then I counted the people in the hall again, and there were still seven outside.”
Fatty, Noodles, and I exchanged glances; this situation was indeed quite bizarre.
Qingfeng Daozhang continued hoarsely: “Although I was very frightened at the time, I didn’t panic excessively. I called out all nine people inside and had them stand together with the seven outside—eight people in a row, forming two rows.”
I couldn't help but nod secretly. In that situation, being able to think of this solution immediately showed that Ming Qingfeng was quite extraordinary. Most people would have been at a loss by then.
"How about it? You should understand what's going on now, right?" Fatty said with a smile.
My thoughts aligned with Fatty's; facing each other like this, it was clear who was a disciple and who was an outsider.
"These sixteen people are all my disciples!" Qingfeng Daozhang exclaimed hoarsely, his facial muscles beginning to twist.
"How is that possible?" I shouted. This was the second time I had said this in a short period, and feeling a bit too agitated, I quickly added, "Didn't you only have fifteen disciples? How did one more appear?"
Qingfeng looked at me with a mournful face and said, "If I knew that, why would I have called you over?"
"Your disciples really only number fifteen?"
"That's right. Ever since I adopted Meatball four years ago, our Lingxu Temple hasn't taken in any new members. So I have a total of sixteen!" Qingfeng Daozhang answered with great certainty.
"Are you sure that the sixteen people standing in front of you are all your disciples?"
"Absolutely. I've looked at each one of them; I can call out all their names!" Qingfeng Daozhang paused for a moment, a strange expression reappearing on his face. "Moreover, I called out their names one by one at that time, and each person responded to me without any repeats. I don't even know who the extra person is."
"Damn!" I couldn't help but curse; this was just too bizarre.
Looking back at Fatty, he also had a look of astonishment on his face.
"Zhong Gui, Fatty, if it were you two, is there any possibility of creating such a supernatural event?" Qingfeng's eyes revealed a strong desire; clearly, he hoped we could give him a positive answer that this was all just some trickery.
I smiled wryly and nodded, then shook my head and cleared my throat. "Qingfeng, to be honest with you, we can handle extinguishing incense and the sounds from coffins, but having an extra person appear out of nowhere... cough cough, I'll need to see it first before I can say anything. This happened the night before, right?"
"Yes."
"Then what about last night? Did anything similar happen?"
"No, everything was normal last night. Even the incense and the coffin didn't move."
"Is that extra person still at the funeral home?"
"No, they weren't. After I called out everyone's names one by one, everyone was so scared that they were stunned. Then all the lights went out, and the hall was plunged into darkness. Everyone rushed for the door, and my voice became hoarse at that moment." Qingfeng scratched his head a bit sheepishly. "I admit I was really scared."
"And then?" I had a feeling that this power outage must have some significance.
"Actually, we didn't run out of the hall. Since the Moon City Funeral Home is a public institution and we were outsiders, the staff were afraid we would steal their things or damage their equipment. So when we were leaving at night, they locked the hall from the outside, and we couldn't get out." Qingfeng said resentfully.
In my opinion, it was true that the funeral home staff had colluded with the local Taoists; they clearly intended to scare us. Of course, I couldn't say this out loud yet and could only nod repeatedly.
"About half a minute later, the power came back on. I gathered my disciples together and counted again, but I found that there were only fifteen of them again; the extra person had disappeared." Qingfeng swallowed hard. "I know you must be wondering if this was just my illusion. Yes, I had that suspicion too, but all my disciples confirmed that I wasn't mistaken; there really was an extra person at that time. Moreover, they could all affirm that among those sixteen people, none of them were outsiders."
Seeing him getting more incoherent, I smiled and patted his shoulder. "Alright, you've said enough. Let's go inside and take a look."
The three of us entered the main hall. Sure enough, the setup of the Spirit Tent was identical to Jin Manyuan's Spirit Tent. In the front hall, seven or eight Taoists were 'dancing gracefully,' with a large piece of black cloth hanging in the middle; behind it must be where other Taoists were resting.
When the performing Taoists saw us newcomers, they were a bit surprised at first, but after recognizing us, they nodded and greeted us since we had crossed paths during our time with the Jin Family.
It was afternoon when we walked in and happened to encounter a staff member from the funeral home wandering around in the hall. Upon seeing me and Fatty, he frowned slightly but said nothing and walked straight out.
Having worked in a funeral home for too long and seen all sorts of chaotic events, he knew what should be addressed and what could be overlooked.
After hearing Qingfeng describe everything, I was almost certain that there was something going on with the incense and the Redwood Coffin; it was just too early to investigate inside the coffin. We could only start with the incense. I unplugged one of the incense holders' power supply while Fatty moved another one to the resting area.
Pulling aside the curtain revealed seven or eight people lying haphazardly inside; given how small the space was, there was hardly any room for us to step around. I gestured to Fatty to use his foot to kick them away, but I quickly stopped him: "Come on, have some decency!"
Fatty helplessly placed the candlestick on the ground and was about to push awake the nearest Daoist when the curtain was lifted, and Qingfeng Daozhang walked in. He paused for a moment upon seeing the scene, then kicked the leg of the Daoist on the ground, saying, "Shoehorn, wake up a bit and make some space! And you, Sunflower Seeds, move over too..."
I stared in disbelief as I listened to Qingfeng Daozhang calling out his disciples' names: Shoehorn, Sunflower Seeds, Mullet Roe, and Meatball. What kind of names are these? Are you sure your master didn't strike you with lightning for naming them like this?
The Daoists on the ground shifted slightly in confusion. It was clear they were very sleepy; they mumbled as they made some space for us before falling back into a deep sleep.
"If there's anything you need, just call me! I'm right outside," Qingfeng Daozhang nodded at me and stepped back out.
I placed the candlestick on the ground and took out a screwdriver. In just a few moments, I disassembled the candlestick. The internal wiring was quite simple; there was a switch leading to a neutral wire and a live wire that connected directly to the lamp holder above.
After taking apart the switch, I found it contained a spring, a contact piece, and several screws—nothing resembling a remote receiver or anything I had hoped for.
Initially, I thought that since the power supply switch was fine, the issue must lie with the incense candles themselves. I imagined installing a remote receiver inside them so that pressing the remote would turn off the light, and pressing it again would turn it back on. Unfortunately, given the current situation, it seemed that wasn't the case.
Since I was already disassembling one candlestick, I might as well take apart the one Fatty brought in as well. As expected, this candlestick also showed no abnormalities inside.
If there’s nothing wrong with the candlesticks, then it must be an issue with the power supply connection. I don't believe this is caused by demons; there aren't that many ghosts in this world. Besides, what would these ghosts gain from extinguishing your lights? It's not like they're here to cause trouble for no reason.
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