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As Brother Mao began preparing for the Ritual, I took out my compass and focused on the supernatural responses displayed on it. At first, the needle pointed towards the altar, but after a few seconds, it shifted to the small doorway on the right side of the Large Wooden Platform. After shaking several times, it slowly returned to point at the altar. I thought to myself, this is bad; there is more than one Spirit God here. The offerings on this altar are meant for a single Spirit God, and now they are competing for food.
Everyone knows about hungry ghosts fighting over food; it's just a way to set the atmosphere. More accurately, it should be Wandering Souls fighting over food. Many Wandering Souls and wild ghosts will rush to claim unguarded offerings without regard for order. As soon as they see something, they will seize it at all costs because they lack consciousness and act purely on instinct. It's like when we worship at a crossroads; occasionally, some Joss Paper breaks free from the burning pile. If those Joss Papers flutter and burn, it means wild ghosts are fighting for money.
While I was contemplating what to do, it was already too late. A pair of red candles that had been burning suddenly extinguished, and one of them even toppled over. Brother Mao clearly understood what was happening and quickly shouted, "Hurry, let's get out!" After saying this, he grabbed his Peach Wood Sword and dashed outside. Xiao Yu and Zhang Min were evidently startled by Brother Mao's shout and hurriedly followed him out. Since I was positioned further back, I didn't want to block their escape route, so I rushed out first. The moment I stepped over the threshold, Brother Mao jumped out right after me. Next was Zhang Min; perhaps too nervous, she took a small step and ended up stumbling into Brother Mao. Fortunately, her light frame didn't knock him down. However, unexpectedly, Xiao Yu did not jump out as anticipated; instead, he stepped over the threshold with one foot but then froze...
His face turned beet red as he struggled to speak, seemingly held back by the Spirit God. After colliding with Zhang Min, Brother Mao managed to stabilize himself and saw this scene unfold. They both understood what was happening; Brother Mao remained calm while Zhang Min's mouth gaped open as if she had swallowed a jujube that got stuck in her throat.
After a moment of shock, Brother Mao approached Xiao Yu with his Peach Wood Sword in hand but did not enter; instead, he reached in and began hacking behind Xiao Yu with the sword repeatedly. In his panic, he forgot that his Peach Wood Sword hadn't been activated with talismans or spells yet, so it had no effect—Xiao Yu remained as he was.
I snapped back to reality and walked over to them, reaching into my Cloth Bag to grab a handful of Cinnabar Incense Ash and leaned over Xiao Yu's head apologetically. I said it was alright; I understood.
"Your hand is injured," Brother Mao pointed out. I raised my right hand to take a look—it was indeed hurt. It seemed that when I fell earlier, I had pressed my hand against the ground and scraped my skin; that spot had quite a few small blood vessels, which explained why it bled so much.
"Do you want me to bandage it? I have emergency supplies in my backpack. It's just that I'm afraid to go in there," Zhang Min asked.
I had supplies too—in my bag—but we couldn't go back in now. We needed to wait until they finished fighting before we could enter again. If we went in now, we would face the same situation as before. Speaking of which, I turned to look at Xiao Yu again. He appeared dazed, cold sweat beading on his forehead as he seemed lost in thought. His lips trembled slightly; clearly, he was overly frightened and had some evil energy entering his body. I wanted to exorcise him but realized we hadn’t brought anything with us when we left—not even a container for water—and there wasn't any water nearby...
Seeing me staring at Xiao Yu made Zhang Min look over too. After observing Xiao Yu's expression, she nervously asked, "Is Xiao Yu possessed by a ghost?" She looked at Brother Mao while asking this question, hoping for an authoritative explanation from him. Since she directed her question at Brother Mao, I stayed silent as well; I wanted to hear his thoughts on it. After watching for a moment, Brother Mao finally said five words: "It shouldn't be that." His tone ended with uncertainty; clearly he wasn't very sure either. After saying this, he looked at me.
I forced a smile and replied, "No, it's not possession by a ghost; it's just evil energy entering his body along with excessive fright. A little exorcism and some rest should do." After saying this, I pinched a pressure point on Xiao Yu's Yintang area. This method might not wake him up but could help alleviate his condition somewhat. Then I asked Brother Mao, "What should we do next? We're in the middle of nowhere."
Brother Mao glanced at Xiao Yu again before looking at me and Zhang Min before saying decisively: "Let's go inside and grab what we need first; then we'll find a place outside to set up camp and come back during the day."
"I'm sorry, Brother Mao, but we can't go in right now. We'll have to wait for an hour," I suggested to Brother Mao.
Brother Mao nodded without asking why and simply said, "Then let's wait." It seemed that Brother Mao had lost his sense of direction, which made me suspect that he might be a novice Taoist priest.
The four of us stood silently together. Zhang Min suggested we go back to the car and wait there; at least we'd have somewhere to sit. Brother Mao shook his head, "The car keys are still in the backpack."
"Why do we have to wait an hour before we can go in?" After about twenty minutes, Brother Mao asked his question, still puzzled. Zhang Min looked at me as if she also wanted an answer.
I cleared my throat and explained, "The time for ghosts to seize offerings is generally determined by the quantity of the offerings. A few scattered Joss Papers can be taken in just a few seconds, but a complete set of offerings usually takes about half an hour to be completely consumed. The ritual you performed earlier, Brother Mao, was an unowned worship, which doubles the time for the ghosts to seize the offerings. The reason it takes so long is that you not only provided offerings but also performed a worship and recited incantations. This makes them even more frantic. Imagine two lonely ghosts who have never received any offerings from the living suddenly experiencing a ritual; who wouldn't instinctively want to claim it for themselves? So in this case, I believe it will take at least an hour for them to finish seizing everything. Only after that will they return to their previous state, which poses no threat unless we provoke them."
Brother Mao nodded thoughtfully. Suddenly, Zhang Min asked, "How do you know so much? That's impressive." I replied, "I started following my master in junior high school." After saying this, I noticed Zhang Min looking at me with newfound admiration.
"Then you're much better than I am. I'm just a novice; I've only been learning from my master for less than two years before he retired," Brother Mao suddenly chimed in, confirming my earlier suspicion. However, considering that Brother Mao had only been studying for less than two years and had reached this level of skill was quite impressive. When I had studied for two years, I still felt scared when encountering Spirit Gods.
This chapter is dedicated to my classmates Chen Yuxin and Support Soul Sending for their support. Thank you both and good night.
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