Cataclysm Chapter 2: Human Skin Painting 2; Worshiping Ancestors

Chapter 2: Human Skin Painting 2; Worshiping Ancestors

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai

There were two other groups of people in the villa, a total of three people. A group of one, and a group of two. The group of two seemed to be a teacher and an apprentice. The two groups of people were looking at each other before they saw Mao Xiaoli and Chen Yang, so they all raised their guard.
Mao Xiaoli muttered, “They will be on guard against us, for fear of us robbing them of their business. The opening offer is high since it is a three-star job.”
“It will also be challenging.” Chen Yang was honest and had no intention of worrying at all. Anyway, he was sure he couldn’t take up this job and pass this examination now. “I’m afraid there won’t be a chance for us to solve this.”
Hearing him mentioning this, Mao Xiaoli asked, “What’s your rank?”
“…Does zero count as a grade?”
Chen Yang and Mao Xiaoli looked at each other with blank faces.
“You are not a Tianshi?”
Chen Yang shook his head, “I was originally applying for the post of director of a community subdistrict office, I thought you were hiring civil servants.”
“No, is there a mistake in the recruitment document?” Mao Xiaoli collapsed. “How could the main office send us an ordinary person to become the director of our office? Even if our office is not directly related to the main office, the differential treatment should not be that obvious.”
Chen Yang grinned bitterly and did not know how he got chosen. He always avoided ghosts and spirits, trying to stay away from them as much as possible for his entire life. It was obvious on his resume that he had just graduated and to get a job offer so soon made him excited. Who knew that it was actually a job dealing with ghosts and spirits, he had to refuse this offer.
Even if the job package was excellent, he must refuse. It was a pity that he would lose the money, pension, housing package, retirement package, and all the other excellent benefits from the job.
Mao Xiaoli saw that he wanted to quit, and quickly pulled on him, “Brother, brother Chen, help me a little. Even if we lose we must lose in the best way. If you leave now, word will spread around that our Dafu branch office’s staff are a bunch of wimps who flee upon meeting evil spirits. We will lose face so terribly that we will lose everything until we go bankrupt.”
Chen Yang snatched her hand off his arm, smiled, and quietly rubbed his own arm.
The little girl was thin and small, but the strength she had in her wrists was strong.
“Fine, I won’t leave.”
The other two groups looked at Chen Yang and Mao Xiaoli for a while and didn’t recognize them. It was obvious that those two weren’t big shots. So they let down their guard, no longer putting the two people in their eyes.
Mao Xiaoli breathed a sigh of relief, pulled Chen Yang and whispered, “Did you see those two people?”
“Not three?”
“You can ignore the younger one. I bet he hasn’t even received a blessing yet.”
There was a teaching among the Tianshis: If without blessing, no call was heard. After blessing, God heeds the call. That is to say, only an individual who had received a blessing could be called a Tianshi. After being blessed, official certifications and inscriptions would be issued, and their names would be recorded in the heavenly altar, which was a place where the Gods could see. Allowing them to communicate with the Gods and to use the Gods’ power to drive away evil spirits and expel ghosts.
Mao Xiaoli said, “Look at their waist tokens; they are MengWei Tianshis. A cyan tassel, meaning they are just fourth grade Tianshis. They are surely not from the main office, or else why would they take this three-star only order? They must be greedy for money.”
Chen Yang looked over and found that the two middle-aged people indeed, as Mao Xiaoli said, had a wooden token on a string tied around their waists. The token was engraved with dense words, and under it was a cyan tassel.
He did not know much about the world of Tianshis, but he could guess, Tianshis had ranks. It seemed that to distinguish their grades, they used the wooden token and the colored tassels to distinguish themselves.
The higher the grade, the stronger the Tianshi.
Chen Yang subconsciously asked Mao Xiaoli, “How do you know that they are MengWei?”
“Look at the scripture on their cards and the color of the tassels.” Mao Xiaoli took out her wooden token that was tied with a white tassel. “See?”
Chen Yang glanced at the wooden token in her hand, which also had dense scriptures.
“‘TaiShang SanWu DuGong Jing Zhuan?'” ¹
“Oh, you can see the inscriptions. Are you a Tianshi after all?”
“I’m not.”
Mao Xiaoli’s face was full of suspicion, Chen Yang waved his hand to deny it. “I’m really not. I just know a little folklore. A subject in my previous university major was related to folklore. So I know a little.”
Mao Xiaoli quickly accepted that explanation, but if someone other than her was in this situation and heard this, they would definitely still have doubts. Because even if they knew folk customs very well, there would still be no way they could read the scriptures. Unfortunately, Mao Xiaoli came from a distinguished family of Tianshis, whose kith and kin couldn’t be any more familiar with Taoist scriptures.

Thus, she didn’t know the common folk’s understanding of Taoist sutras, so she quickly dispelled her suspicions. As Chen Yang breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed, he decided not to ask more questions and give himself away.
At this time, the owner of the house, Han Jiashan, went downstairs and saw them, hurriedly offering them seats, “You should all know the difficulty when you took the task. Four Tianshis have already taken up the task before, and none of them could solve my daughter’s problem. If you can save my little girl, the Han family will give you our utmost gratitude.”
Han Jiashan was a well-known domestic entrepreneur specializing in the food industry. Although he started from scratch, he was a person with culture. Just a few sentences made people feel happy.
“Mr. Han, rest assured. My master has gone from South to North, is there even any wicked matter my master has not seen? My master even participated in the Lousi jieding exorcism event.”
Han Jiashan looked over, “Master Luo, you are truly impressive.”
Mao Xiaoli exposed a white tooth and whispered, “The cowhide is too big.” ²
“I’m leaving my daughter’s wellbeing in you Tianshi’s hands. If you can save my daughter, I will pay a reward of 400,000 yuan. ³
What? Four hundred thousand?
Chen Yang moved his feet and stood in front of Mao Xiaoli with a lovely smile, “Mr. Han can rest assured that exorcizing evil spirits and descending ghosts is our first duty. As the industry leader, our business level is first-class, and we pledge to never leave customers with future troubles. We guarantee customer satisfaction, five stars, no less.”
Maybe Chen Yang was too handsome, with a friendly and sincere smile, which made people unconsciously trust and feel goodwill from him.
Han Jiashan, “You are?”
“My name is Chen Yang.”
“Master Chen. I wonder which faction you are from? Zhengyi, Quanzhen, or Maoshan…”
“We are the Dafu office, specially organized for people who have troubles like you, Mr. Han. There are innumerable excellent Tianshis in our organization, such as the one behind me, who is from the Maoshan faction and is from a long lineage of Tianshis. Xiaoli, give Mr. Han a business card.”
Mao Xiaoli was totally dumbstruck and did not respond for half a day.
“Xiaoli?”
“Oh, oh, business card.” Xiaoli pulled out a black and white business card from her pocket. It looked very simple. There were only the words Dafu office and a series of contact numbers on the business card.
Simple yet elegant, the black and white color appeared simple and noble. Simplicity gave it a mysterious aura…⁴

Chen Yang had already come up with a hundred excuses in case Xiaoli couldn’t hand over a business card. Suddenly, the only “one person group” among them interrupted their conversation, and said to Han Jiashan, “Mr. Han, can you tell me the details?”
“Oh, ok.” Han Jiashan then talked about the specific situation of the matter. He had only one daughter named Han Ke. Han Ke had a lively and outgoing temperament, but ever since she returned to her hometown last month, she had fallen ill, and her personality changed significantly as if she had become a completely different person, quiet and obedient, often hiding in her room and not going out.
Several times she got up in the middle of the night and sang Cantonese opera songs downstairs. The tragic tone was so exuding, Mrs. Han turned on the lights and found it was her daughter, Han Ke, who she then scolded and made her go back to bed. The next day when Mrs. Han mentioned it, Han Ke said she had no memory of it. After a series of strange acts, Han Jiashan realized that his daughter might be possessed.

Originally they thought it was just a common possession; after all, there were no casualties in the family so far. Until he invited the first Tianshi, and they tried exorcising the evil presence. The carp and pet dog in the family died inexplicably and miserably.
After that, Han Ke’s body quickly lost weight, and her skin withered.
Only then did Han Jiashan realize that it might not be just a simple matter of a spirit, fearing that a powerful ghost would kill Han Ke.
The Tianshi who was alone was surnamed Lu, he asked, “Miss Han became possessed last month, was it right after she had returned to your family’s hometown, or before that? Has she ever been to any special places during that time?”
“Many Tianshis have asked that before. She might have been possessed when she went back to our hometown to pay respects to our ancestors, the specific time is uncertain.”
Tianshi Luo’s younger apprentice exclaimed, “Go back home to pay respects to ancestors? Did she offend your ancestors there?”
Mao Xiaoli, “Which ancestor would be that stingy? It’s the life of their offspring after all.”
This was obviously impossible. The ancestors who were worshipped by their descendants and died of old age (natural cause) wouldn’t harm a soul, let alone their descendant’s lives. If the descendants were not filial, they would at most teach them a lesson, but they would not go so far as to take lives.
Chen Yang, “Mr. Han, do you know if anything strange happened on the way there or back? Has Miss Han ever done anything disrespectful to the dead?”
Han Jiashan was in deep thoughts and said, “At that time, there were many people at the graveyard. My hometown is in Western GuangDong. Last month was the QingMing Festival, it is a custom to pay respects to ancestors up in the mountains during that time. I don’t think she did anything strange or disrespectful. Oh, I remember. At that time, KeKe walked past a new grave and saw a photograph on the gravestone. She thought the deceased was beautiful and praised it.”
Just as Tianshi Lu just opened his mouth, when Tianshi Luo took the first step and asked, “What happened after that?”
Tianshi Lu gave him a resentful look, and the latter was unmoved.
For 400,000 yuan, who cares about others’ resentful looks?
“After that… There was a youth beside KeKe who said, ‘It’s a pity she died young’, but then KeKe said, ‘It doesn’t matter if I die young, if I was this beautiful.’ Then the head of the village reprimanded the two of them saying that their words would attract the attention and regret of the dead. I didn’t think much about that then, was it only because of this sentence that KeKe is going to die?”
Mao Xiaoli shrugged, “You can’t reason with ghosts.”
Han Jiashan, “So what exactly is going on here?”
Mao Xiaoli looked at Chen Yang and motioned for his explanation.
Chen Yang said, “We can extract some information from your words. The grave is new, the deceased was beautiful, and died young. In other words, the deceased died recently while she was still in her prime. Generally, those who have died prematurely have a longer age after death (YinShou) so they haven’t entered reincarnation yet. Moreover, when one dies so young, they would feel resentful. The deceased was beautiful and proud of her appearance, yet didn’t have the chance to enjoy her life, which made her grievances even heavier. What your daughter said was actually a disguised exchange.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your daughter would rather be beautiful forever, so she traded an early death for beauty.”
“KeKe’s remark wasn’t serious.”
“The ghost took it seriously.” ⁵

The author has something to say:
“Zhèng yī fǎ wén tài shàng wài lù yí”《正一法文太上外籙儀: When not being instructed, there is no call, after being instructed, the voice of God is serene.
In this chapter, the word “Cantonese Opera” is used. It is mainly because the Cantonese Opera in the west (Guangdong) is quite famous and full of characteristics. Another main reason is the Hong Kong ghost movie 《山村老屍》(Old Corpse of a Mountain Village) ⁶, the cantonese opera sang by the female ghost was extremely heart-chilling.
T/N:
Shiya: Don’t worry, I can vouch that visual-wise there is nothing scary, since it’s just a black screen (Yes, I’m a scaredy cat).
This is the opera song in the ghost movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxmVIVG6St0
Basic background of the female ghost who sang this:
A bearded old man who lived in the village reluctantly told them the story of Cho Yan-may (the ghost), a Cantonese opera singer who treated him like her nephew and gave him a bracelet. Cho’s husband framed her for adultery so that he could get rid of her and marry another woman. The villagers believed that Cho was guilty so they beat her to death and abandoned her body in the wilderness. Lee approached her dead body, cried and told her the truth about her husband. Cho’s hands suddenly sprang up and stretched towards the sky. Over the next three days, Cho’s vengeful ghost caused 66 villagers (including her wicked husband) to die in unnatural ways. On the third day, Lee pleaded with her to spare everyone and attached the bracelet to her wrist. Her arms fell back to the ground and she became peaceful. (from wiki)
Lyrics:
《賣肉養孤兒》(Raising an orphan with flesh)
郎在歡心處, When you (indicative of a male) are at a place of pleasure,
妾在腸斷時，I’m suffering from a pain likened to the breaking of intestines,
委屈心情有月知, the moon knows of my suffering,
相逢不易分離易，encountering is difficult but departure is easy,
棄婦如今悔恨遲，it is all too late for you to regret abandoning me.
君憶否當日鳳凰欣比趣，Do you remember the times when we laughed as partners?
又記否續負恩情過別枝，Do you remember your betrayal as you moved to another branch?
又情否舊愛已無身宿處，Do you remember the love that has no where else to go?
又念否有娘無父一孤兒，Do you remember not having a father and being an orphan?
猜君呀，Oh my husband,
你又可知否我久病成癆疾，do you know I have been sick for so long?
不久會為你傷心死！Soon I will die from sadness for you!

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