Thinking of this, I felt a chill in my heart. Given the arrangement of these coffin nails, this was undoubtedly a ghost-riding door.
Seven coffin nails, one at the neck, one for each of the hands, and the remaining two, each nailing a foot. The whole person was arranged in the shape of a large character, unable to move, with both feet straddling the door.
If the door was ridden by a ghost, how could this village not fall into disrepair?
"What a vicious method," I couldn't help but draw in a breath.
Without hesitation, I reached into my backpack and took out two candles, three sticks of incense, and a piece of paper money. I lit the candles and incense paper: "Offer incense in the temple, burn incense at the door."
Then I threw the paper money into the house, and placed the incense and candles in front of the door.
At this point, it was already dusk. It was dark in the woods, and even darker inside the house. After I lit the incense paper, there came footsteps from inside the door. In the firelight of the burning paper money, a stooped old man walked out.
"Ah," seeing the old man, Wang Qian screamed and grabbed my arm, while even Plump hid behind me, "Duanmu, how come there's someone in this house?"
Seeing the two like this, I frowned slightly and said, "He's not a person, just a puppet."
As I was speaking, the old man walked to the door step by step. His face was like a sculpture, with no expression, and he looked at the three of us, mouth open, and spoke in a hoarse voice, "Whom are you three looking for?"
A puppet, in fact, is a kind of wicked creature that was refined by someone and under their control.
Hearing the old man's voice, I smiled and said, "Oh, Grandpa, we're just passing by here. We're hungry and want to come in for a meal. I wonder if it's convenient for you, Grandpa?"
Hearing this, the old man actually showed a look of surprise on his face, "Oh, is that so? Come on in, I'll find you something to eat."
With that, the old man turned and walked back into the house. I silently watched his back, then suddenly followed him and slammed my hand into his back, stabbing the small sword in my hand directly into his back.
"Ah." A scream, chilling to the bone, was heard. The old man turned around and glared at me savagely, "You despicable person."
But before he could finish speaking, the old man's body began to disintegrate, and in an instant, he vanished completely. Upon hearing the scream, Wang Qian and Pang Dun were completely terrified, staring at me in shock.
I was speechless for a moment, "What are you standing there for, come in."
"Duan Mu, what on earth is that?" Pang Dun asked in amazement.
Without looking back, I said, "It's nothing, just a little evil spirit. Probably something left by Nie Wei to guard the village."
As I spoke, I started to leave and suddenly noticed that Wang Qian had not followed. Helplessly, I turned to look outside and saw Wang Qian standing foolishly in place, with the white cloth in her hand already loosened. Visible to the naked eye, a large mass of evil energy was heading towards Wang Qian from behind.
I frowned in secret and quickly stepped out, grabbing Wang Qian's hand and leading her into the house, "What are you doing, Captain Wang?"
As soon as we entered the house, Wang Qian finally came to her senses, took a deep breath, and then erupted into her angry tirade.
"Duan Mu."
"Yes?" I asked puzzled, "Captain Wang, did something scare you? Why are you so timid all of a sudden?"
Wang Qian glared at me fiercely, "I was scared, I was scared by you. Before you do anything, can you let me know first? I thought you had killed someone."
"Uh," I was speechless for a moment, "If you're a scaredy-cat, just admit it, there's no need for excuses."
"You are really too much..." Wang Qian looked at me with resentment, finally turning her head away and not saying another word.
I ignored her, surveyed the room, and suddenly took out a candle and handed it to Pang Dun, "Light it."
Pang Dun glanced at me and immediately lit the candle. As it burned, the room was immediately illuminated. The whole room was already dilapidated, and I frowned and said, "The evil spirit guarding this room must have a reason, search the room carefully, see if there's anything to be found."
In fact, before entering this room, I had already sensed that this was the most heavily polluted of the three houses in the village. It's very likely that the pollution in the village originated from this room.
Wang Qian snorted, "Duan Mu, what about Zhu Jie and the others, don't you forget about them."
Hearing Wang Qian's words, I rolled my eyes, then suddenly handed a candle to her and Pang Dun, also giving each of them a handful of soybeans, and said, "At regular intervals, throw a soybean into the candle, remember?"
"Hmm?" Pang Dun was a bit puzzled and wanted to ask, I quickly made a quiet gesture, "I just said, no questions allowed."
I reckoned that today, I truly made an enemy of Wang Qian. Just as I finished speaking, I saw Wang Qian glowering at me fiercely, looking as if she wanted to eat me. I looked at Wang Qian speechlessly, "Captain, do you have any other questions?"
"I..." Wang Qian stared at me, "I was asking about Zhu Jie and them..."
"Captain, remember, if something happens, yell," Before Wang Qian could finish, I took out my flashlight and walked away in the opposite direction.
"Duan Mu..." Wang Qian yelled after me.
Pretending I didn't hear her, I quickly walked toward the dark corner. The room was indeed very heavy with gloom, but the reason I was able to confidently let Pang Dun and Wang Qian each go to one side was because I had already seen that although the room was heavy with gloom, the interior was very clean, with no ghosts.
But there seemed to be some faint aura of righteousness?
I furrowed my brow, took a flashlight, and walked straight towards the direction where the positive energy was emanating. Before I had taken two steps, I saw the source of the positive energy, and indeed, there were living people.
In the corner of the room, I saw three people lying there, namely Zhu Jie and Wu Bei. All three of them were in critical condition. Among them, Wu Bei was the most severely affected, with a pale face and negative energy already invading his body.
With his condition, I was afraid that he wouldn't live much longer, and now, even if I wanted to save him, I couldn't. Helplessly letting out a sigh, it's all because of his own cleverness that he's suffering retribution.
As for Zhu Jie and the other person, they had been chewing beans, so even though they had absorbed some negative energy, it wasn't very severe, and they would recover after a big illness when they returned.
Thinking about this, I shook my head helplessly and then took out a red string, surrounded the three people with it, and placed a candle next to them, then stuffed four or five yellow beans into the candle before leaving.
Just as I had taken a couple of steps, I suddenly heard Wang Qian's shout: "Come here, quick!"
"Hmm?" Wang Qian sounded very urgent, as if she was in a hurry. Hearing her, I hurried over. At this time, Pang Dun also shouted, "Duan Mu, come and take a look quickly.
"Hmm?" I furrowed my brow and quickened my pace. After just a few steps, I saw Pang Dun and asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
At this moment, Pang Dun's face was surprisingly pale, and he pointed to a room not far away, saying, "You'll know when you go and see for yourself."
Puzzled, I looked at Pang Dun and walked towards the room he had indicated. Before I had even approached, I smelled a stench that was enough to make one nauseous.
Suddenly, Wang Qian rushed out of that room, and as soon as she stood still, she actually started vomiting.
"What's happening?" I asked incredulously, seeing Wang Qian's face turns pale from vomiting.
Wang Qian cast a aggrieved look at me and pointed to the room, saying, "There are mice, there are mice inside."
"I..." I almost burst out with a big curse: "Seriously, Wang Captain, a few mice have scared you like this?"
"No." Wang Qian looked a bit aggrieved and a bit angry, earnestly looking at me, "Go in and see for yourself."
"Uh." I looked at Wang Qian speechlessly, covered my mouth and nose and walked towards the room with a sense of helplessness.
But who would have thought that upon entering the room and seeing the situation inside, I was actually taken aback.
As Wang Qian had said, there were indeed mice in the room, but it wasn't just a few mice. The entire floor of the room was densely packed with mice, countless in number, and all the mice were already dead, rotting.
Seeing this scene, I was shocked.
Wang Qian looked at me with an aggrieved expression: "Hmph, I told you and you didn't believe me."
"Hmm." I nodded, covered my mouth and nose, and muttered in a low voice, "It looks like this is the source of the negative energy."