Cataclysm Chapter 4: Human Skin Painting 4; Portrait of a Beauty

Chapter 4: Human Skin Painting 4; Portrait of a Beauty

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations 

Editor: Karai

 

Han Ke’s eyeballs rolled towards the back of her head, only showing the whites, and her face was filled with black and gray aura. Obviously, the body had been taken over. When she heard ‘Six Palaces of LuoFeng,’ she looked frightened.

The so-called ‘Six Palaces of LuoFeng’ meant the six palaces of the Liutian(six skys) demon gods of Mt Luofeng. Luofeng Mountain was the name of the Taoist mountain under the great emperor of Fengdu, ¹ the highest god of the Underworld. There were six rooms outside Luofeng Mountain and six palaces inside and were five ghost emperors under the Emperor of FengDu. They could call for ghosts and examine their souls, then they place them correctly in the Underworld. Only the most wicked ones, the worst of the worst, would be banished to Luofeng Hell.

The great emperor of Fengdu, Northern Yin emperor, Northern Hell emperor, Fengdu emperor, and Beiyin emperor were all the same.

Mount Luofeng was considered to be the residence of spirits. This was a place more fierce than the 18 levels of hell that even malicious ghosts were afraid of. Just mentioning the Six Palaces of Luofeng would make a ghost fearful. If they provoked the Northern Yin emperor or committed any of his taboos, they would be frightened enough to become mentally handicapped.

Han Ke was frightened and became cautious, but still did not believe that Chen Yang had the ability to summon Six Palaces of the Underworld. She looked down to his waist and did not see Chen Yang wearing a Tianshi wooden token, so of course he didn’t have a jade one.

“You haven’t been blessed yet?”

Chen Yang shook his head, “I am not a Tianshi.”

Han Ke was stunned and she laughed. Her eye whites stared directly at Chen Yang, without any pupils, it was extraordinarily horrifying. The black and grey aura on her face surged toward her forehead. Once it climbed up to the head, Han Ke’s soul would most likely be pushed out completely.

Chen Yang watched her quietly for a while, got up, and went to the window. The curtain was pulled open with a snap. Sunlight poured in, and Han Ke screamed and shielded her face from the sun. Chen Yang took the opportunity to lunge forward, grab Han Ke’s right middle finger, using a fingernail clipper, he poked her finger, quickly a drop of blood came out.

Han Ke trembled, her teeth clenched, eyes turned back down, and after a while, she stopped shaking and passed out, unconscious. After a while, she slowly came to and was not surprised or scared to see Chen Yang standing beside the bed.

“Another charlatan hired by my father?”

“I am not a charlatan.”

Han Ke sneered and sat back on the bed, her eyes glazed and empty.

Chen Yang could not bear it. He said, “You needn’t be too discouraged. Death hasn’t spread to your Tianling Point yet. There’s still something to be done.”

“…Tianling Point?”

“The area in the middle of your forehead.” Chen Yang pointed to his forehead and said, “Humans have three fires, as long as your yang energy is full, ghosts and demons can’t possess you. Death aura spreads upward from the soles of your feet, blowing out your two fires. You only have one left located in the middle of your Tianling point now. That ghost can only completely take you over if your last fire went out.”

Han Ke’s eyes moved slightly and stared at Chen Yang as if he had seized the only straw to save her life. “Do you really have a way to save me?”

“If you are willing to say what you know, I may be able to.”

Han Ke shed tears and all her indifference withered and decayed. She was a young girl, who had been tortured for nearly a month, hope broken again and again and gradually, she eventually lost hope. But how could she be willing to see her life and livelihood taken away by a wandering ghost, while she had to suffer the ghost’s fate? At this moment, she saw Chen Yang’s sincerity, and his comforting appearance, she felt trust towards him. 

Plus, when she was controlled by the ghost, even though she was unable to move, she knew what was happening. So she saw Chen Yang spoke a few words and managed to frighten the ghost and drove the ghost away, as such she regarded Chen Yang as a real Tianshi.

“If you can save me, I’ll pay you another hundred thousand yuan.” ²

This added up to 500,000 yuan. ³ Chen Yang, who had never seen so much money in his life, completely forgot his own code to avoid ghosts and spirits. Anyway, he had been dealing with ghosts and spirits for all of his life, one more wouldn’t make any difference.

“Let me ask you, what’s with that painting?”

“Painting?” Han Ke followed Chen Yang’s eyes and was shocked when she saw the beautiful painting hanging prominently in a pile of posters. “I’ve never seen it before?!”

Han Ke’s surprised expression was not fake, that was to say, she really did not notice the painting. Thinking again, this painting was clearly in a pile of anime posters and was particularly conspicuous, everyone who entered the bedroom should have noticed it.

It was definitely diabolic.

“Master, this painting… Is it where that thing lives? I’ve never seen this painting before. How did it appear in my bedroom?”

Chen Yang shook his head, “Your house is guarded by a door god and the ancestors’ altar in your house so it should keep you safe. I just saw a worshiping statue of Guan Sheng downstairs… Oh, it might be Guan Gong. Logically, no evil ghosts could get in.”

“Then-“

“So this painting must have been brought in here by someone.”

Han Ke was stunned, then frowned and became angry, “Someone wants to harm me? The only one who can enter my bedroom, except my parents, is a maid. Was this evil thing brought in to harm me by my maid?”

Chen Yang was silent and stared at the portrait for a while. Suddenly he asked, “Where is your maid’s home?”

“Sichuan.”

“Has she ever been to Guangdong?”

“I’ve heard her say that she only worked in the north before, but never in the south.”

“Then it’s not her.”

Chen Yang got up and went to study the portrait carefully. Staring at the eyebrows of the cheongsam woman in the painting, he suddenly saw that the cheongsam woman in the portrait moved her eyes and looked at him with slightly lifted red lips.

In a moment, the evil spirit overflowed.

Chen Yang’s heart jumped and looked at it again. The woman in the cheongsam was still glistening and picturesque. It seemed as if it was all his delusion, but he knew it wasn’t. At this moment, Chen Yang’s heart was more alert. After he had reached sixteen years old, there were not many ghosts who could lure him.

Chen Yang found that the paper was exquisite and glossy. After touching it, the slippery feeling lingered between his fingers for a long time. “Did you buy any painting paper this month?”

“No -” Han Ke shook her head but then stopped, “although I have not bought any paper, I did pick up a piece of paper. I am an art student. Usually I would paint and post my work on weibo. When I saw this paper, I immediately took a liking to it. It was so exquisite and delicate, even better than the traditional rice paper, so I brought it back and put it in the drawer.” She struggled to get up and open the drawer, but did not see the drawing paper, “It’s not here?”

Han Ke seemed to have thought of something. She turned her head and stared at the beautiful painting on the wall as if she was looking at the ghost. “I didn’t paint on that paper!”

Chen Yang, “Where did you pick up this paper?”

“Western Guangdong, in my father’s hometown.”

“Be more specific.”

“On the mountains… next to that new grave.”

Chen Yang sighed, “I can’t believe you dared to pick it up.”

Han Ke cried again, “I didn’t know, I am an atheist! I didn’t know picking it up would bring such trouble. Master, please save me!”

“For half a million, naturally I will try my best to save you.”

Somehow, this statement made Han Ke feel more secure than any eloquent words. It was probably the weight of half a million yuan.

“Master, that drawing paper… What the hell is going on?”

Looking at the way Han Ke was frightened and crying, Chen Yang could not say that he ‘suspected it to be human skin.’ Otherwise, Han Ke would be frightened to death before he could save her life. She had spent a month in a bedroom with a piece of painting paper made from the skin of another human, and it was placed in her bedside drawer next to where she slept. And from time to time, she would take it out and touch it, maybe even stick it on her face and caress it against her skin.

Just the thought of it was creepy. ⁴

Chen Yang said vaguely, “It’s evil sorcery.”

Chen Yang sat in Han Ke’s bedroom for a while, waiting for evening to come. Suddenly he got up, even Han Ke was shocked. She quickly asked, “Master, where are you going?”

“… to the toilet.”

“I’ll accompany you.”

“Do you think it’s appropriate?”

“I’ll stand at the door.” She picked up her IV bottle as she said that, showing she really wanted to go to the toilet after Chen Yang.

Chen Yang helplessly taught her a mantra. Han Ke shook her head and couldn’t learn it. Chen Yang then told her to grasp her middle finger, and if she felt anything wrong, squeeze it until it bleeds, “The blood vessels of the fingertips are linked to the heart. The middle finger is closest to the heart, and the blood contains pure Yang energy. Although the dead energy is wrapping around you, you can still resist for a while. Remember to call for help if something happens.”

Han Ke nodded hurriedly, put the bottle back on the shelf, lay back on the bed, and squeezed her bleeding middle finger tightly.

As soon as Chen Yang went out, he bumped into Mao Xiaoli, who was giving him all sorts of weird looks.

“Did a ghost possess you, too?”

“Shoo, don’t talk ominous nonsense.” Mao Xiaoli stuck to Chen Yang’s side, slightly coaxing, “Brother Chen, you are definitely a Tianshi. You must have a jade token, right? A wise-man that likes to stay low.”

A Tianshi with rank above rank three (WuLei, SanDong WuLei, ShangQing), they would not be given a wooden token, but a jade one.

“No, I’m not.”

“I just heard everything.”

Chen Yang placed his cell phone in front of Mao Xiaoli. “Do you see it?”

Mao Xiaoli looked closely at the Baidu page, [Ten ways to expel a ghost.]

The corners of her mouth fell, she was so disillusioned.

Chen Yang passed the listless Mao Xiaoli and went to the toilet. When he came back and saw Mao Xiaoli still waiting at the door, he asked, “Did you ask?”

Mao Xiaoli stood up and said, “Yes, they are not the same person.”

“After such a long time, Mr. Han can still remember?”

“It was a coincidence. When Mr. Han heard that his daughter was being possessed by an evil spirit that had something to do with the new grave, he immediately called his hometown. Mr. Han is a big contributor to the local community, so the village chief immediately told Mr. Han everything about the new grave victims as soon as he heard of the accident. He also sent a few photos, I took photos on my phone, see?”

Chen Yang looked at it. The girl in the picture was beautiful, but not as gorgeous. At least not as good as the painting in the bedroom just now.

“Brother Chen, just now, Mr. Han asked me about the woman in the cheongsam. Who hung up the painting in his daughter’s bedroom? Even he didn’t know about it. Don’t you think it’s weird?”

Chen Yang, “Go back and ask Han Ke.”

After that, he turned back to the bedroom, bringing the photos on the cell phone to Han Ke, but Han Ke says she never saw her before. 

“I saw the picture on the tombstone, but it wasn’t this person –” Han Ke suddenly stopped talking and looked sideways at the painting of the beautiful woman on the wall. The panic on her face was entirely materialized, “I remember! The woman I saw at that time was her!”

 

Author has something to say:

Eek, this chapter mentioned the gong. I know you all can guess who.

Shiya: Moral of this arc, do not pick up random things next to a grave. XD

 

 

 

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