Cataclysm Chapter 12: A Skeleton Under Clothing 5; Bathtub Summoning

Chapter 12: A Skeleton Under Clothing 5; Bathtub Summoning

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations 

Editor: Addis

 

Chen Yang was sleeping on Du Shuo’s arm and suddenly woke up from his deep sleep. When he opened his eyes, the bedside lamp light was enough for him to see the alarm clock, it was 12:23. He sat up, put on his coat, got out of bed and put on his slippers. Du Shuo woke up as well when Chen Yang got up, he also got out of bed without asking and put his slippers on.

“You felt it too?” Chen Yang asked Du Shuo.

Du Shuo said, “Let’s go and have a look.”

“Hmn.” He opened the door and walked out of the room. He found that Kou Xuanling had a palm-size compass in his hands. He was opening the room door and saw them coming out as well. First, he nodded respectfully at Du Shuo, he seemed like he had something to say, but he didn’t. Then he looked at Chen Yang and said, “You also detected something wrong?”

Chen Yang depended on gut feeling, not tools. However, at this time, it was not convenient to specifically explain, so he just vaguely nodded. The three men quickly set out. Chen Yang and Du Shuo walked behind, while Kou Xuanling walked in front following the direction of the compass.

Just when they stepped on the third floor, they suddenly heard a shrill scream, cutting through the quiet night of the villa. Chen Yang paused for a moment, then sped up and ran. Kou Xuanling had already put away the compass and was running towards the room where the sound came from.

Kou Xuanling rushed to the door and kicked it open. As soon as the door opened, Chen Yang frowned.

Such thick ghostly aura!

Things in the room were almost frozen by the ghostly aura, it sensed living beings full of Yang auras, and immediately rushed over, it had sharp fangs and claws, and seemed to be a fierce evil ghost.

Kou Xuanling threw out a talisman and it stuck onto the ceiling beam. He made a sign with his right hand, as he chanted, “Heaven and earth Xuanzong, root of all Qi, quickly descend golden light, covering Zhengren. Quickly as YuHuang GuangJiang commands.”

As soon as the chant ended, the talisman on the beam emitted golden light, breaking through the gloomy ghost aura, and gathering lively auras, so that the room was no longer cold.

What Kou Xuanling chanted was the Taoist Golden light mantra, which had the effect of dispelling evil, increasing Yang aura and clearing the Yin aura, it also helped prevent the Yin aura from entering the body. The Golden light mantra was the most suitable for dispelling the ghostly aura in the room.

Since the scream was loud, other people in the villa were awakened as well. Feng Yuan, Ge Qing and the others arrived soon after hearing the scream. Mao Xiaoli was a step faster than them, and she also felt the ghostly aura, she was very surprised.

“How could there be such a thick aura?”

Most of the Tianshis could not feel the ghost aura and Yin aura directly. If they could feel it without any tools, it meant that the Yin aura and ghost aura were too thick, and they would have to dispel them with talismans.

Feng Yuan and the others couldn’t feel the ghost aura, but felt the freezing cold air around the bottom of their feet. They were shivering, “Why is it this cold? Did Ren Lin turn the air conditioner to zero degree celsius ², she chanted, “Heaven and earth Xuanzong, root of all Qi, quickly descend golden light, covering Zhengren. Quickly as YuHuang GuangJiang commands.”

The three of them immediately felt that their heads were clear and bright, the coldness faded away, and warmth gradually spread to all parts of their body. Their eyes looking at Mao Xiaoli and the others were now laced with awe. Before this, they had never met with Tianshis, nor had they seen Chen Yang and the others take an upfront attitude. Now, Mao Xiaoli showed a small part of her hand, and they were all shocked by it.

The most obvious one was Ge Qing. Now she felt very regretful. Judging from the situation in the house, it was obvious that there were dirty things. If she agreed to having a room with Mao Xiaoli, then she would not have to be afraid of ghost attacks.

Feng Yuan asked, “This is Ren Lin’s room. Is there something wrong with Ren Lin?”

“Probably.” Chen Yang stared at the bathroom door and walked over to open it. After a definite look, he walked away and walked back to Du Shuo. ³ He turned his head to them slightly and said, “He’s dead. Do you want to go and see the body?”

Feng Yuan’s expression changed, and the others were all extremely pale.

Kou Xuanling and Mao Xiaoli both went in to have a look around, they left the room with a displeased expression, they looked slightly annoyed and disgusted.

Ge Qing didn’t dare go in to see the body but Wei Changping and Feng Yuan went in to have a look and they came out vomiting.

They saw Ren Lin’s body naked in the bathtub. The bathroom walls were splattered with blood, and the bathtub was also full of blood. Ren Lin was immersed in the blood. His head was raised up at the ceiling with his mouth open.  Noodles were stuffed full into his mouth and nostrils. His face was twisted in horror. He seemed to have seen something terrible. One eyeball was gouged out and its whereabouts couldn’t be found. His whole body was naked, and all the skin below his neck was stripped off, revealing muscles and blood.

Maybe that explained why the bathtub was full of blood. There were also two broken porcelain bowls and a bottle of fragrance oil on the bathroom floor.

Seeing him like this and smelling the iron odor of blood, Ge Qing also felt like vomiting.  She cried while asking, “Ren Lin was killed by those demons, right? Aren’t you Tianshis? Aren’t you supposed to protect us?”

Her crying made Feng Yuan and Wei Changping feel desperate as well. They had hired the Tianshis to save their lives, but someone still died.

Chen Yang, “He was not killed by the JingGuai.”

“What killed Ren Lin then?”

“A ghost.”

“Wha..what?”

“He played a game to summon ghosts.”

All of a sudden, they were silent. This was a sensitive time already, but Ren Lin actually dared to play a game to summon ghosts? It was as if he didn’t want to be alive.

Chen Yang’s face was not pleased, he had a faint disgust in his eyes. He hated people who took their lives as a game. Before the age of sixteen, the most important thing he thought about was how to stay alive. His biggest wish was to stay as far away from ghosts as possible. Yet, some people didn’t cherish what others couldn’t get.

It was not just Chen Yang who hated it. Most Tianshis hated this. This was equivalent to a drug addict standing in front of an anti-drug police officer. Other people wanted to be far away from death, but some people tried their best to contact them just for the sake of excitement. But towards Ren Lin, they didn’t have that much hatred, as they all could guess the reason he played the game. He had the closest relationship with Lu Nan among the four. According to Feng Yuan, they seemed to have grown up together, and they were like brothers.

Ren Lin must have wanted to see Lu Nan again, so he played the game to summon ghosts. Unexpectedly, what he summoned was a fierce ghost that killed him.

“What game did Ren Lin play?”

“The bathtub game.” Chen Yang glanced at the direction of the bathroom and said, “The player enters the bathtub naked and prepares a bowl of longevity noodles, a bowl of chicken blood and fragrance oil. They Kowtow ⁴ three times and pour the fragrance oil into the noodles. Kowtow three times, then pour chicken blood into it and kowtow three times again. Finally, they need to pour the mixture into the bathtub and lay in it. You’ll see something you shouldn’t see.”

During this period, no matter what one hears, they shouldn’t look up. Otherwise they would see something and it would discover them. The consequences were unknown.

Feng Yuan called the police and everyone sat in the living room waiting. The living room was lit up with lights, and a team of policemen arrived at the scene which had been especially informed by Kou Xuanling. These kinds of supernatural cases were better left in the hands of veterans who had dealt with these types of cases before, so their speed was also very fast.

The captain asked if any special treatment was required for the body. Kou Xuanling looked at Du Shuo. Du Shuo lowered his eyes and was completely focused on Chen Yang’s slim fingers. Without lifting his head, he replied, “No. Just inform the family to do a ceremony for him.”

People who were killed by ghosts would be so scared that their souls would become scattered. If a ceremony was not held to lead them, they would not know the way to reincarnation. They would soon forget the past and become a wandering ghost, eventually disappearing.

The captain nodded his head, saying that they would try comforting the family. Then they left with the body.

Chen Yang was looking down, deep in thought.

Kou Xuanling had something to say to Du Shuo alone. Du Shuo glanced at Chen Yang and walked to the corner away from Chen Yang, Kou Xuanling followed. Seeing Chen Yang alone, Mao Xiaoli said, “Brother Chen, when did you notice something wrong?”

She remembered that Chen Yang said he could feel the ghosts. The ghostly aura was so thick, so Chen Yang must have sensed it already. However, even though the distance was just one floor, he could not save the person in time.

Chen Yang was thinking about this as well. He said, “I noticed at 12:23, I think Ren Lin should have started playing the bathtub game at around 12:00 and was killed at about 12:20. However, I did not notice the ghostly aura until Ren Lin died. However, by this time, what Ren Lin summoned had already fled.”

“In other words, can it block ghostly auras?” Mao Xiaoli took a deep breath.

Normally ghostly auras and Yin auras could not be blocked, and most people could not detect it. But there were still some people who could feel it, and there were objects in the Tianshi community that could collect ghostly aura and Yin aura, and there were actually methods to block the auras from detection. 

Some ghosts, through cultivation, developed the ability to cover up said auras. There were also some ghosts that cover up the auras using naturally Yin objects. Among them, the most common way was to attach themselves to objects with heavy Yin auras, such as willows by the river, or locust trees in the courtyard, etc.

The willow by the river and the locust tree in the courtyard were full of Yin aura. If one stands under the tree, the tree could cover up their Yang aura as a human. Therefore, ghosts attached to the tree could also cover up their own auras.

Since Du Shuo mentioned ghost locusts just now, Chen Yang suspected that what Ren Lin summoned was not Lu Nan, but a ghost locust. That was the most likely reason why he did not detect the aura in time to save him.

“Is there really a ghost locust?” Mao Xiaoli searched all afternoon in the daytime, but could not find the ghost locust.

“Look for it again today after the sun sets. In the daytime, we only looked for it in the woods, but there are still some locust trees planted in the courtyard that we haven’t searched yet, right?”

“Yeah, I know. This case is really difficult.”

Just one day, and there was another death. There were four Tianshis and two of them were third grade, yet the ghost still dared to run rampant. Many people had been killed by them before.

Chen Yang looked at the frustrated Mao Xiaoli and patted her on the head, “If you solve this incident, you will get 10 million yuan and accumulate merits for promotion. Maybe you can be promoted to a grade five Tianshi soon.”

Hearing that, Mao Xiaoli’s eyes immediately lit up, “I hope so.”

She had stayed in the sixth grade of DuGong for four years, and had reached the three-year requirement for a DuGong to become a Mengwei, but she still couldn’t be promoted. At such a thought, Mao Xiaoli was quite energetic. When Ge Qing came to make friends with her because she was afraid and asked to sleep in the same room, her whole head was filled with the thought of ten million yuan and promotion, so she agreed without much thought.

Feng Yuan and Wei Changping were very jealous. So they looked at Chen Yang, who replied, “I already have a roommate.”

When they looked at Du Shuo, they were given a cold and indifferent gaze. They were in awe and did not dare ask to room together with him. As a result, only Kou Xuanling was left.

“I don’t mind if you don’t.”

“No, no, we don’t mind at all.”

Soon, however, they did mind.

 

 

 

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