Chapter 20: Raising a Ghost
In the Head-Descending Curse, the “Flying Curse” required a Little Ghost as the dium because the younger the spirit, the easier it was to control.
Raising a Little Ghost took forty-nine days to complete all the rituals. Aside from chanting incantations, most of that ti was spent using small toys and trinkets to build a connection with the Little Ghost.
If the Little Ghost turned out too terrifying or uncontrollable, the Head-Descending Master would abandon it as a dium. Otherwise, the curse would certainly backfire.
If a Head-Descending Master chose a vengeful, wrath-filled spirit as their “Flying Curse” dium from the start, the result was obvious—the instant that malicious ghost was born, it would kill its master.
What Li Zhen was doing now was different from the traditional raising of a Little Ghost.
He rely wanted to use the resentnt in two corpses to give birth to two vengeful spirits capable of killing.
There was no need to forcibly control or pacify the spirits.
As long as he used the Head-Descending Curse at the mont of their awakening—when their resentnt was at its strongest—to point them toward their objects of hatred, they would naturally seek revenge on their targets instead of turning on Li Zhen, with whom they bore no grudges.
Besides, even if they did co for him, Li Zhen had his ways of dealing with them.
After all, they were beings born of his own Head-Descending Curse.
The two corpses had not been buried for more than seven days; their resentnt had not yet dispersed, making them perfect for birthing vengeful spirits.
In the past, when Li Zhen watched horror movies, he often had doubts—those vengeful spirits harbored imnse hatred, but didn’t the ordinary people killed by them also have strong resentnt?
Why didn’t they beco ghosts seeking revenge?
What Li Zhen was doing now was giving those two victims a chance to avenge themselves.
After checking his tools, Li Zhen steadied his breath and formally began his unusual ritual of “raising a Little Ghost.”
A Head-Descending Curse ritual could not proceed without an offering.
This ti, the offerings were only betel nuts and fresh flowers.
Li Zhen placed both offerings before the corpses.
Normally, there should have been candies and sweet foods.
But since he wasn’t dealing with Little Ghosts, Li Zhen hadn’t prepared those.
Then, he lit three white candles before the offerings.
The candlelight was faint, illuminating only a small patch near the offerings.
When the flas rose, the surroundings did not brighten; instead, the darkness deepened.
It seed that only the small area touched by the candlelight belonged to the human world, while the darkness beyond had beco an unknown and dangerous realm.
The sense of being watched from that darkness, the lurking threat—it was enough to make anyone’s scalp tingle. Yet Li Zhen’s expression remained unchanged.
Under the flickering candlelight, his right hand, steady as ever, picked up two red strings—tying one end to the corpses’ toes, and the other to two small cross-shaped figures made by binding disposable chopsticks.
After finishing, Li Zhen paused, panting heavily, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
As his body deteriorated, his stamina worsened; even the slightest movent left him drenched in cold sweat.
After resting for a mont, Li Zhen continued the ritual.
He placed the Red-Eyed Bat upon the offering of fresh flowers.
Then, he took out two small cups of prepared chicken blood and added corpse fluids from two different sources into each.
Finally, with a solemn expression, Li Zhen sat cross-legged on the ground and slowly poured the mixed liquid over the red strings.
“……The red string binds the souls. Little Ghosts, obey my command. Blood serves as the guide—mimi oma om. I summon Huang Zhiguang and Gao Han……”
While chanting, Li Zhen visualized in his mind the image of the Six-Ard Bat-Faced Demonic Statue, reciting the incantation with a particular rhythm.
His voice wasn’t unpleasant, but once that strange cadence was added, the sound beca eerie and grating.
After chanting the spell three tis, the Red-Eyed Bat suddenly gave a sharp “screech,” and its glowing scarlet eyes flickered with a soul-piercing light.
The red strings connecting the corpses and the cross figures turned even brighter.
Drops of murky, blood-tinged liquid dripped from the string, which suddenly sagged downward—as if sothing heavy now pressed upon it.
A chill wind rose from nowhere, rustling the trees.
“Very successful……”
Li Zhen lifted his gaze, then looked back at the strings.
The resentnt was indeed strong…
Outside the dense forest, Fatty Wong, who had been hiding under the bushes to keep watch, shivered again—this ti not from fear, but from the cold.
The cold wind sweeping from behind chilled him to the bone.
“So damn creepy… like I’ve walked into a freezer…”
Fatty Wong glanced fearfully over his shoulder, then looked back toward the path ahead.
Grave-digging was risky.
If the night patrol guards caught them, things would be hard to explain.
Luckily, it had been years since anything like this had happened, and the guards here had grown negligent.
The whole night passed without anyone coming by.
Perhaps soone had observed from afar, saw nothing unusual, and left without checking.
At dawn, the faint crowing of a rooster made the ever-nervous Fatty Wong jump. He quickly turned and whispered, “Master, the rooster’s crowed—dawn’s coming!”
There was no response from the forest.
Fatty Wong grew more anxious. “When daylight cos, soone’ll co here. We’ll be in big trouble by then.”
He waited for a while, but there was still no answer.
Sothing wrong?
Startled, Fatty Wong scrambled up, pinched his nose, and was about to go check.
Then, Li Zhen’s hoarse voice drifted out from within the woods: “Call your colleague surnad Cheung. Ask what his wife’s full na is and when she was born.”
Fatty Wong froze in surprise. “Why’re you asking about his wife? What’s she got to do with this?”
“The vengeful spirit is in his wife’s body.”
“How do you know?” Fatty Wong’s eyes widened. “Why would it be in his wife?”
Li Zhen gave no reply.
Fatty Wong swallowed hard and asked carefully, “Will she get hurt?”
From within the trees ca Li Zhen’s weary voice again: “If the vengeful spirit isn’t expelled, his wife will turn into a monster—neither human nor ghost.”
“But she’s pregnant, she’s fragile,” Fatty Wong hesitated.
“We’ll go to her imdiately. I’ll ensure her safety.”
Fatty Wong stood up. “Then wait here, Master. There’s a public phone outside—I’ll call right now. My colleague should already be at work.”
He ran out of the graveyard, climbed over the fence, and sprinted several hundred ters to the Public Phone Booth, panting as he fed in coins and dialed the number.
Though the place was remote, it was frequented often due to its location, so a public phone had been installed for convenience.
The phone rang for a while before soone picked up.
From the voice, Fatty Wong realized it wasn’t Cheung Kam-Keung, but another colleague.
“Hello? Ah Ding, I’m looking for Ah Keung. Is he there?”
“Fatty? Why’re you calling so early…”
“I need Ah Keung! Get him, quick!”
“Hold on!”
Shouting could be heard on the other end.
Soon, another voice ca through the receiver, groggy at first. “Hello, Fatty?”
Fatty Wong didn’t waste ti. “Ah Keung, what’s your wife’s full na and birth date?”
Cheung Kam-Keung’s voice grew alert. “Why do you need my wife’s na and birth date?”
Fatty Wong glanced at the dim sky and urged, “Hurry up, mate! Dawn’s breaking—there’s no ti! Would I ever harm you? This is for your own good!”
After a pause, Cheung Kam-Keung said, “My wife’s na is Cheung Siu-Lan. She was born on…”
“Which character for Cheung?”
“The one with ‘stand’ above and ‘early’ below.”
Fatty Wong quickly scribbled down the na and birth date, hung up, and ran back at full speed.
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