Cataclysm Chapter 65: Deserted Village 7; Nuo Ritual

Chapter 65: Deserted Village 7; Nuo Ritual

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

The moon rose into the sky and a dark cloud drifted over to block the moon. The white moonlight that poured onto the ground disappeared instantly, and the ground fell back into darkness and dead silence. The old professor raised his watch, “It’s almost midnight. Water burial time is generally between 11:00pm to 2:00am.  Legends say that this time has the most Yin aura, ghosts and demons, everything will come out. It is also the easiest time to come in contact with the supernatural.”

Zhao Yao came up and said, “Professor, I also feel that the time between 11:00 pm and 2:00 am is the most evil. Every time I have to stay up late to finish the homework you gave me, the next day I wake up in a very poor state of mind like the essence in my whole body is sucked away. Can you give me less homework next time?”

“Of course.” The old professor was kind and said, “You can retake this class next year.”

Zhao Yao hurriedly put on a smile, “I love staying up late, I love this subject, and I love the professor.” The professor indifferently told Zhao Yao to stay in the corner and not to make a sound, so Zhao Yao squatted in the corner.

Chen Yang glanced at the sky outside and turned back towards Chief Wu Yi and said, “Let’s go to the ancestral hall now.” The three young people who were tied together were picked up. The three young men did not cooperate and refused to move. Chief Wu Yi took a drop of blood from their bodies and wrapped it in a charm to control their movements.

They had learned from them that two of the other four companions were not villagers from this village and that they did not know where they were now. It was likely that they would be leading the other two to the ancestral hall as sacrifices right now. Chen Yang asked Du Shuo, “Brother Du, will you come with me to the ancestral hall?”

Du Shuo said, “Yes.”

Chen Yang said, “In that case, Tianshi Liu and Tianshi Zhong will stay here to protect the others while we go to the ancestral hall’s altar with Chief Wu Yi.” Liu Quanning and the others did not object, and the matter was set.

Chen Yang and his party controlled the three young men and went to the ancestral hall, which was so dark that they could not even see their fingers. At that moment, the dark clouds dispersed and moonlight fell onto the patio. The narrow well on the patio had swallowed many innocent lives, and hundreds of burial tablets were standing on the altar facing the well. The three young men were so weak and fearful that they would have fled if they hadn’t been unable to control their own bodies.

Du Shuo looked up at the moon and suddenly whispered in Chen Yang’s ear, “I’ll go up to the roof and take a look.”

Chen Yang nodded his head and responded, “Be careful.” Before Chen Yang could look at Du Shuo, he had already disappeared from sight. Looking up, Du Shuo stood on the roof looking down at him. Chen Yang smiled and waved at him.

With the moon at his back, Chen Yang could not see the expression on his face, but he could guess that he must be smiling. Chief Wu said, “You guys must have a good relationship.”

“Well, we’ve been married for almost five years.” Chen Yang crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall to hide in the dark. Chen Yang replied to her happily, then suddenly thought of something and asked, “How come you guys know brother Du is director Du? He looks different now than when he was the director, and last time he said he was married, I didn’t come forward to admit it, but you guys still look very calm.”

Chief Wu Yi said, “The number of times I’ve seen him in the past three years is very small, but his aura is impressive. Later I was responsible for your ceremony, and I saw that the two of you are very close to each other, so I asked my elder brother. My brother said that you guys are in a husband and husband relationship. Last time the Taoist Association held a meeting, the bureau director revealed the news of his marriage. Then I thought of the two names, Du Bei and Du Shuo, and the relationship between the two of you. I also remember Temple Head Meng telling us about the special relationship between the Branch Bureau Director Chen Yang and the Director of the Main Bureau.”

The elder brother of Chief Wu is the Head of Sichuan Province Changdao Temple, while Temple Head Meng is the Head of the Fire God Temple. At that time, he was the only one who knew that Chen Yang was the partner of Director Du.

Chen Yang, “What did he mean by ‘special’ relationship, it sounds so wrong.”

“Temple Head Meng said it.” She quickly drew a line between herself and the Head of the Fire God Temple, Meng Fu. “The “thing” between you two has been known in the Tianshi world for quite a while already. With Meng Fu’s big mouth, all secrets that are known to him will be known by the world. Also as revenge against you guys for shocking him, he used many weird adjectives to describe your relationship, he made it sound like your relationship is a big taboo topic.”

Chen Yang was speechless, “He didn’t seem like someone like that.”

“Just get used to it. People in the Tianshi world are quite inconsistent, especially Meng Fu’s big mouth. He especially loves to add oil and vinegar. When it comes to serious matters, he is quite serious. For other things, just believe a fraction of them.”

Chen Yang glanced at the Witchcraft doll that assimilated blood. The doll that was full of softness and moe, in fact has a big temper. People in the world of Tianshis are really inconsistent inside and out. The Witchcraft doll saw Chen Yang peeking at her, she was immediately overjoyed, “Yang Yang, kiss and hug~”

The Witchcraft doll opened its arms for a kiss, but suddenly felt the danger. Her hair all exploded when he saw Du Shuo’s face against the moonlight. Between Yang Yang and life, the doll chose Yang Yang. She quickly kissed Chen Yang on the cheek, and quickly fled back to Chief Wu’s pocket and pretended to be dead.

Chief Wu Yi sighed, “The doll really likes you.”

Chen Yang laughed, “I also like the doll.”

The doll shyly covered her face, with a small voice, she cooed, “The doll also likes Yang Yang.”

Du Shuo moved his gaze away from the doll, his gaze landed on the side. There was a black cat squatting there, and when it came into view, it arched into a defensive posture. The black cat saw that Du Shuo had no intention to fight, so it stepped back and tried to escape. Only when it saw that Du Shuo was still not moving did it jump through the roof and escape. Soon after it had escaped, a big fat meat mountain followed closely behind.

When the dark clouds dispersed, moonlight fell again. From the greenery covered towers crawled out a thin throated, large belly hungry ghost. Its torso deformed in horror. Some hungry ghosts were only nine inches large and some were two meters tall. They wandered in groups in the paths of the deserted village, looking for people. Some of them came towards the ancestral hall, but the eerie ghostly atmosphere made them wander around the entrance several times and finally chose to leave. Instead some headed in the direction of Liu Quanning, Tianshi Zhong, and the others hiding in the watchtower.

Today during the day, there were numerous dark clouds in the sky and there was no sunlight in the morning and afternoon. The Yang aura in the watchtower was weakened, plus they have two additional people in the watchtower now, so the human aura overpowered their fear of the Yang aura. The hungry ghosts marched towards the watchtower confidently.

Du Shuo’s right index finger tapped on the back of the left hand, his gaze indifferent. In the cold silence of the alleyway, the restoration of calm ended in less than a few minutes. Another set of dry corpses appear one after another. These dry corpses hobbled out of the forest and came towards the ancestral hall. The first corpse reached the ancestral hall and used its own body to open the door.

The door opened and the corpses poured in. When a corpse stepped into the hall and reached the patio, it suddenly stopped and shrugged its long-rotten nose to smell the human aura in the air. Chen Yang and Chief Wu Yi each put a talisman on their own bodies to hide their aura, and looked back at the three shivering young men. They finally gave them a talisman as well. The dry corpse that had smelled the human aura quickly stopped moving toward and went around to the coffin behind the altar and dragged out the two corpses from inside.

Chen Yang took a step forward and saw the corpse that he had seen during the day, and another one…… That person was still breathing. It was a living person. The dried corpses were more excited to see the living person, so they surrounded the living and made excited and hoarse sounds. The living man slowly woke up and saw the dry corpses surrounding him and screamed in terror. The sound attracted all the dry corpses outside, and when he saw even more dry corpses, he fainted.

The dry corpses abandoned the mutilated corpse, grabbed the living man’s ankle and dragged him to the narrow well on the patio. Two other dry corpses came around, carrying sharpened wooden knives. Four other dry corpses held the living man’s limbs, while the other drew incense and candles from the altar, lit the incense and offered them to the burial tablets on the altar.

The action was very devout, as if they really regarded the hundreds of burial tablets in front of them as the Bodhisattva who saves people from suffering, and believed in them with devotion. It didn’t matter if the people were willing to be their Bodhisattva or not, they didn’t care if the person wanted to use their own life to save these animals.

The burial tablets on the altar were still, and underneath it were groups of dried corpses kneeling and worshiping, a picture of total irony.

The living man who was caught quietly opened his eyes and saw Chen Yang hiding in the shadows and tried to call for help. Chen Yang raised his index finger to his mouth, and the man opened his mouth, but finally did not make a sound.

After the offering, the dry corpses grabbed the living man’s limbs, and another dry corpse raised a sharp wooden knife to cut down the living man’s joints. The living man could no longer pretend to sleep and struggled and screamed, “Help!”

Seeing this, the corpse moved the wooden knife in mid-air to the man’s throat. The wooden knife was raised up high, the tip of the knife pointed downwards and was ready to strike down. Before Chen Yang could do anything, Chief Wu Yi pushed out the three young men, who screamed. All the dried corpses in the ancestral hall looked at each other and remained still.

The three young men turned around and ran towards a small door in the ancestral hall, and the corpses surrounding them grabbed them and set them up by the well. They cried out that they were also villagers of the deserted village and begged the corpses to spare their lives. But the corpses only knew how to dismember living people or corpses for the river god in the well, nothing else.

Chief Wu Yi sneered, “They themselves are also afraid.” The next moment, Chief Wu Yi stepped out of the darkness and exposed herself to the moonlight. The group of dried corpses swarmed again, but they fell down one after another before they got within three meters of Chief Yi. Within two minutes, the dry corpses that had fallen to the ground slowly melted into white bones.

In the abdominal cavity bones of the corpses were some black matter, which swarmed and dispersed into the other dry corpses. This was actually the Gu worms placed by Chief Wu Yi.  The Gu worms bore into the body of the dry corpse and will devour the dry corpse into white bone. The parasite avoids the living and only eats the rotting flesh.

The Chief Wu Yi said to Chen Yang behind her, “I will first deal with this group of dry corpses so that they do not come to cause trouble and add chaos. But the ghosts in the well, how do you solve it?”

The ghosts in the well were originally created by the nameless souls who died in vain while cursing their enemies not being able to reincarnate. Once they were eaten, their souls would be scattered. Now that they are all turned into ghosts and grievances, it is very difficult to redeem them even if they wanted to.

Chen Yang: “Do you have a solution?” He had a solution, but he didn’t think it’s safe. The Chief Wu Yi often worked with ghosts, so she may have a solution.

Chief Wu Yi , “Have you heard of the Nuo Ritual?”

“To ask the ten divine soldiers and officials of Jiuzhou from the four Yin and eight directions to expel the ghosts and perform exorcism. To present their petitions to the Heavenly Court and to the Underworld?”

“Yes.”

The so-called Nuo Ritual was a Taoist ritual that invited the divine soldiers and generals, the eight spirits of the Heavenly Court and the Underworld Officials, to come down to suppress all the ghosts and to present the complaints to the eight spirits and ask for a verdict. In different places, there were different ways to perform the Nuo Ritual. Chief Wu Yi is referring to the Nuo Ritual ceremony of the Wu tribe.

Chen Yang didn’t know how to perform the Nuo Ritual ceremony, so Chief Wu Yi said, “I’ll teach you. You will follow my instructions. Now take the Nuo Ritual paperwork out from my backpack, the Three Qings Portrait, the Horse Marshal Portrait, the Wang Ling Official Portrait, the Teacher’s Altar Portrait, and the Seven States and Five Temples Portrait. You put out all of them to set up the Nuo Ritual.”

The backpack of Chief Wu Yi was a white cloth bag placed on the ground. It looked flat, but it actually had many Taoist God Portraits hidden inside. Chen Yang took out the seven God Portraits, then took out the Nuo Ritual paperwork, which was not yet written. Then, according to the instructions, each of the seven portraits were hung up to make a simple Nuo altar.

After looking at the seven sacred portraits, Chen Yang turned back to Yi and said, “Is there no sacred portrait of the Great Fengdu Emperor?”

“No, there is not. The Fengdu Emperor……” After looking up and down once, Chief Wu said quietly to Chen Yang, “You can’t invite the Emperor. As a person with experience I’ll tell you, don’t invite the Fengdu Emperor, no one can invite him. I’ve bribed the soldiers below to ask, and I heard that he doesn’t like to come to the yang world.”

Chen Yang’s eyebrows raised a little, “So basically he is a shut-in?”

Chief Wu Yi looked at him quietly, “You are excellent.” Such insightful summary.

Fengdu Beiyin Emperor Du Shuo watched them silently from the roof of the building, and Chen Yang gave him an ingratiating smile. Then he hurriedly hung up seven divine portraits, and the altar was divided into three levels. The uppermost level being the statue of the Three Purities, followed by the portraits of Wang Ling Official and Horse Marshal, and lastly, the portrait of the five temples and the seven states in the third level. The seven states and five temples map also became the Gong Cao portrait, with 19 idols divided into five layers. The main function of the portrait was to transmit the petition statements from the Yang world to the Heavenly Court.

Then those gods dispatched other gods to chase spirits and catch ghosts who were known as the Gods of the Five Passages, popular evil deities in the southern part of the country. There are many gods, and the God of Five Rampants in the Nuo altar was the evil god in charge of the five roads and five camps of the yin soldiers. Therefore, it was necessary to set up a five rampants platform next to the Nuo altar and hang a portrait of the five rampants and soldiers.

After the setting of the Nuo Ritual was completed, the gods and horses on the Nuo Ritual were invited. The first gods are the 4 gods of Gong Cao and the 5 Gods of War and horses. The Five Rampant Soldiers and Horses deter and catch the evil spirits, while the Four Gong Cao conveys the documents to the Gods in heaven.

The Chief Wu released all the Gu worms creating a vacuum zone with a radius of three meters. The three young people who were scared shitless and the living man who pretended to be dead were dragged into the vacuum safety belt. The living man pretending to be dead immediately jumped up when he saw he was safe, he beat up the three people who brought him here. He then introduced himself, “My name is Xie Ranran. The sun rises in the east, Ran Ran. It is that Ran.”

The Witchcraft doll asked, “Why are you not called “rising” instead?”

“Good question.” Xie Ranran said seriously, “I also want to know why I am not called ‘sunrise’, ‘east’, ‘rising’, but is called Ran Ran…… Eh, who was speaking!?”

The Witchcraft doll hid in Chief Wu Yi’s pocket and didn’t say anything, causing Xie Ranran to look at the Chief Wu Yi with a frightened face. The Chief Wu Yi asked him, “Why are you here?”

Xie Ranran said, “I’m their classmate. They lied to me saying that the village is a complete and primitive ecological park. They put me in a coffin in the middle of the night while I was sleeping, and then I met you and the dried corpses.”

Chief Wu Yi, “You did not meet the hungry ghosts?”

“What the hell? There are hungry ghosts?” Xie Ranran could not hold back, and beat up the three classmates again. “Bullshit ecological park, it’s all weeds! Even if an insect was rare, if you were gonna trick me, at least give me something real!”

Chief Wu Yi said a few words, telling him to be careful not to kill anyone. After that, he told Chen Yang about the tips for invoking the gods: “Nuo Ritual can be found in the north and the south, and there are differences between the minority Nuo Ritual and the traditional Taoist Nuo Ritual. At least the spirits invited will be different, and so will the five rampant gods’ mantra, follow the paper step-by-step.”

Chen Yang followed the instructions and chanted, “Worship the Lord, worship the gods, worship the five gods of the five directions…… East Road Five Rampant, South Road Five Rampant…… The Five Rampant Gods with spears and swords. Edict!” He just finished and wind came from all sides as clouds covered the moon tightly. The people could only vaguely see the shadow of a dry corpse inside the ancestral hall, and the tall Yin soldiers appeared one after another.

They could also hear the sound of chains clashing and dragging in their ears. The gusty wind was blowing, bringing the shrill sounds of wailing and begging for mercy. After a moment of chaos in the darkness, calm returned. The dried corpses all lay on the ground, not daring to make a scene in front of the Underworld soldiers and officials.

The Five Infernal Gods, who commanded the five divisions of underworld soldiers, stood at the four corners, their tall figures towering as they gazed down at the ancestral hall below. The central Infernal Lord stood on the rooftop, noticing a figure standing before him. Yet, unable to sense any trace of yang energy, he assumed it was a starving ghost daring to challenge the ghostly envoys.

The central Infernal Lord approached the figure, prepared to wield the mourning staff in his hand. Just as he was about to strike, the figure shifted slightly to the side. Dressed in dark robes trimmed with gold, the figure exuded an unparalleled air of nobility.

The central Infernal Lord’s heart trembled, and he immediately cupped his hands respectfully, saying, “Greetings, Great Emperor.”

Though the Five Infernal Gods were minor deities, they frequently dealt with disturbances among myriad ghosts and had thus been fortunate enough to encounter the Emperor of Fengdu before. Just a glimpse of the figure’s profile was enough for the central Infernal Lord to recognize the Great Emperor. Shocked, his thoughts turned to the ritual taking place in the ancestral hall below. Could the one performing the exorcism be the rumored “Great Consort”?

The central Infernal Lord dismissed the notion that the Fengdu Emperor had been summoned by the ritual below. It was well-known that the Emperor had not left Fengdu for a millennium. A recluse by nature, who else but the “Great Consort” still living in the world of the living could have drawn him out?

Du Shuo withdrew his gaze and gestured silently, indicating for the central Infernal Lord to refrain from speaking. The central Infernal Lord immediately stood quietly behind the Emperor, maintaining complete silence.

Below the ancestral hall, Chief Wu Yi instructed Chen Yang in the art of “Bu Gang Ta Dou”, the ritualistic Taoist stepping technique. Bu Gang Ta Dou, also known as Yu Bu, is a Taoist ritual step originally attributed to the legendary Emperor Yu the Great. Over time, it evolved into a ceremonial step for Taoist rituals, also called “Treading the Nine Provinces” or “Treading the Eight Trigrams.”

The Nuo altar version of the Gang Step includes 72 variations, but Chief Wu Yi was teaching Chen Yang the Five-Step Ghost-Saluting Step, which shares similar principles with the Taoist Northern Dipper Seven-Star Step. Using the Taoist Eight Trigrams and Nine Directions, it symbolized the nine provinces, controlling the eight gates and subduing all ghosts and spirits.

As Yi demonstrated the Gang Step, she recited, “Step to Yizhou’s first Kan, leave two-nine to Nanyang… bow to the central palace, stand at Yuzhou to summon soldiers.”

This was part of the Yu Bu method for “Treading the Nine Provinces.” Following that was the Eight Trigrams and Eight Gates of the Nine Provinces, where eight Laojun deities presided. Following Yi’s lead, Chen Yang recited, “Lingbao Laojun governs the Qian Gate… now presiding over the city of Yuzhou.”

On the Nuo altar, treading the Nine Provinces was akin to stepping across nine heavenly levels. The Gang Step resembled walking the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams diagram, as though summoning divine spirits to subdue evil and banish countless ghosts. Chief Wu Yi then instructed, “Now take up the pen and write the memorial document to report to the Heavenly Court.”

Chen Yang picked up the brush, dipped it in cinnabar, and began writing the memorial scroll. “I pray for divine approval… humbly offering incense, flowers, fruits, and five offerings before the altar. I beseech the gods to descend and display their divine might. … There is an unnamed soul who has died unjustly, becoming a vengeful ghost unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation. I humbly request the gods of the Nine Provinces and Ten Directions to deliberate together…”

After completing the written petition, it was burned as an offering to the Heavenly Court, and they awaited a response.

On the rooftop, Du Shuo’s thoughts stirred. Before him appeared the memorial document that Chen Yang had just burned. With a glance, he read through the familiar handwriting at lightning speed. After confirming the details, he picked up a pen, wrote “Approved”, and stamped it with his seal.

Below the ancestral hall, on the Nuo altar, the first golden character “Approved” appeared on a piece of paper. Shortly after, dozens more glowing “Approved” characters appeared in succession, indicating that the gods of the Nine Provinces and Ten Directions had unanimously agreed to allow the vengeful ghosts to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation. Seeing this, a faint smile appeared on Chen Yang’s lips as he looked up toward Du Shuo, standing on the rooftop.

With the agreement of the gods, all that remained was the ritual of transcendence. Chief Wu Yi took charge of the transcendence process, while Chen Yang assisted the five rampants soldiers in handling the corpses. They burned the corpses into ashes and extracted the trapped three souls and seven spirits still hidden within the remains. The five rampants soldiers locked these spirits and returned them to the underworld to await judgment.

During the process, Chen Yang discovered the reason the corpses could trap spirits and prevent them from reincarnating—each had consumed diluted jianshi blood.

It appeared that Wu Lingjiu had poisoned the well with jianshi blood and used secret techniques to refine the corpses into these undead abominations. Chief Wu Yi and the others had eaten fish from the same well water, but without the necessary conversion through the secret methods, they should be safe.

No… Chen Yang suddenly recalled Tianshi Zhong, who had been scratched by a hungry ghost.

Tianshi Zhong had been infected with corpse poison and had also consumed fish soup laced with jianshi blood. No wonder his wound symptoms were so similar to those of jianshi poisoning. Tonight, with the moonlight at its peak, it seemed likely that a corpse transformation would occur.

Quickly finishing up with the corpses, Chen Yang noticed that Chief Wu Yi was still performing the rituals to transcend the vengeful spirits. He leaped onto the rooftop in a few quick strides and said to Du Shuo, “I’ll head back now to help Tianshi Liu and the others. Can you stay here and handle things?”

Du Shuo pinched the back of Chen Yang’s neck gently and replied, “Go ahead. The sooner you leave, the sooner you’ll return.”

“Alright.” Chen Yang turned and jumped off the rooftop, running through the alleys on his way back to the watchtower. After running for a while, he realized he might encounter hungry ghosts blocking his path and thought it would be faster to travel via the rooftops. As soon as he jumped onto the roof, he saw the hulking figure of Big Fatty in the distance.

Curious, Chen Yang approached and found that Big Fatty seemed to be sitting on something—a small, weak, and helpless black cat pinned under his weight.

Chen Yang called out, “Big Fatty?”

Big Fatty turned his head, licking the blood beads on his paw, and asked, “What is it?”

“What’s that?” Chen Yang pointed to the black cat struggling under Big Fatty’s body. It looked like the cat could hardly breathe.

Big Fatty replied, “A ghost cat.”

“Are there more of them?”

“Xu Ani’s soul is attached to this ghost cat. She’s strange, not like a typical Maojiang.” Big Fatty tilted his head in confusion but then added with a reserved sense of pride on his otherwise indifferent, chubby face, “She mocked me for being a fatso who couldn’t climb walls, so I sat on her and squashed her.”

Chen Yang paused for a moment and replied, “…Oh.”

 

 

 

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