There are many kinds of plants that can ward off evil spirits, and it's not surprising that peach trees have that ability. All willow trees in the world come from the Jade Pure Gourd of Guanyin, so the willow branches also have the ability to exorcise and ward off ghosts.
Arriving at the original location with my grandfather, half of the incense had already burned. My grandfather spread out seven willow branches on the ground, then scooped some river water to dilute the blood in the bowl, and sprinkled the blood on the willow branches.
After the blood dried up, he asked me to insert the seven willow branches into the ground, and he took out a few yellow papers and tore them into the shape of little people, placing one under each willow branch.
Although nothing was pressing on the paper people, when a breeze blew by, these paper people were all lying intact on the ground, as if they were made of iron.
I couldn't help but admire my grandfather's abilities. If I had just half of his power, I wouldn't have been so flustered when I saw ghosts.
It seemed like he knew what I was thinking, and my grandfather paused for a moment, chuckling at me, "Mingyang, my bones are almost unable to move, so I will hand over this craft to you in the future."
I quickly said, "Grandpa, what are you talking about? I'm still hoping to celebrate your hundredth birthday with you."
Grandpa sighed and said, "I've already lived past my years of foreseeing destiny, and I have a sense of how long I can live."
His words made me feel inexplicably sad, and my grandpa didn't say anything more, but grabbed a handful of glutinous rice and said, "Pay attention, in the future, when you come across such things, you won't panic."
Before I could even respond, he scattered the glutinous rice onto the paper people. As the glutinous rice fell to the ground, there were sporadic strange sounds of "plop" hitting the paper people. After the rice was all scattered, the paper people seemed to come to life, standing up one after another. I rubbed my eyes vigorously, and if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it.
My grandpa didn't pay attention to me and said in a deep voice, "These seven paper people are Dufeng's seven spirits. Willow branches can fend off ghosts and also soothe souls. By staining them with Dufeng's blood, his seven spirits can be called back. As long as the paper people are attached to the willow branches, Dufeng can be awakened!"
I admired him greatly, watching as the paper people slowly moved towards the willow branches, feeling tremendously excited.
When the first paper person embraced the willow branch, I held my breath. Time passed quickly, and when the sixth paper person embraced the willow branch, the seventh one didn't move at all, just standing motionless on the ground without any movement.
My grandfather's face turned ugly, and he looked to the incense, which was only half a centimeter away from burning out.
At this moment, it was clear as day that the burning time of the incense was crucially related to the attachment of the paper people to the willow branches.
In order to save time, I quickly went over to try to forcibly embrace the paper person onto the willow branch. But as soon as my hand reached out, my grandfather coldly shouted, "Stop, don't touch it!"
I instinctively looked up and asked, "What's wrong?"
My grandpa's expression was extremely grave as he said, "This is not Dufeng's soul!"
"This isn't his?" I blurted out, and quickly pulled back my hand, nervously taking two steps back.
"Damn it, I let my guard down!" This was the first time I had heard my grandfather swear since I could remember. He was obviously very angry, glaring at the paper person standing on the ground, "Today's matter has nothing to do with you, we just want to save someone and don't want to harm any of you, leave quickly, or I won't be polite!"
The paper person remained motionless, but the next moment, a cold wind swept in from a distance. I couldn't help but shiver, quickly looking at my grandfather, whose face had become even more grim.
"No! Mingyang, quickly pull out those six willow branches!"
I didn't have much time to think. I immediately rushed over and grabbed the six willow branches and yanked them out. A wild donkey rolled on the ground, just rolling two meters away, and a deafening sound of "bang" rang in my ears.
After the dust settled, I looked back at the original spot. The last paper person had turned into pieces, and there was a small five-centimeter deep pit on the ground.
The explosion of the paper person was even more powerful than a firecracker. Luckily, I managed to avoid it in time, otherwise, I would have been seriously injured.
I quickly climbed up. Grandpa's face turned extremely red with anger. He turned around sharply and looked at the creek, sternly saying, "I spared your life out of kindness, but didn't expect you to be so stubborn. If you don't change your ways, I will make sure you can't even become a lonely ghost today!"
Grandpa was really angry, and I was too scared to breathe, quickly holding the willow branches and coming to stand behind him.
The originally slowly flowing creek suddenly churned. I nervously watched the water's surface, feeling extremely anxious. If grandpa couldn't handle it, then we, grandfather and grandson, would really be in trouble.
"Come out!" Grandpa reprimanded sharply, clearly truly angry.
The creek instantly calmed down, and then a small whirlpool appeared. As the whirlpool accelerated, a mass of dark hair emerged.
When I broke the willow branches earlier, I had seen a woman's head. Now, I was a little scared as I watched that head resurface, but this time, there were no signs of swelling, and she was actually a very beautiful woman.
The woman stood up completely, still incredibly pale, wearing a white dress. Her hair didn't cover her face this time, revealing delicate features.
Grandpa snorted coldly and said, "Hand over that child's soul to me!"
The woman, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, looked extremely frightened and said, "Master, I didn't mean to harm anyone. I was forced to."
Grandpa asked, "What do you mean?"
"I'm Yu Li. When I was alive, I came here for a leisurely outing, but I was abducted by a man to this creek and then he... " The woman suddenly started crying, "No matter how I resisted, it was no use. After he satisfied his desires, fearing that I would report him, he drowned me alive in this creek."
Grandpa frowned and looked at the woman, "So, you were murdered?"
"Yes," the woman nodded, still crying, "After death, I didn't want to seek revenge, but the underworld wouldn't take me. I could only wander in this place for half a year. One year ago, one night, a man found me and told me that if I could lure out all three souls and seven spirit of a person, then I could not only skip the reincarnation process, but also directly become human."
Grandpa interrupted her and asked, "Who is this man?"
"I didn't see him clearly. He didn't let me surface and kept his back towards me." The woman finished speaking and brushed her long hair with her hand, then continued, "Actually, I didn't really want to harm anyone, but a few days ago, I found the son of the man who killed me. I couldn't control my resentment, so I forcibly drew out all his spirits and soul."