He Lao and Wang Furen were buried together in a simple grave, made of just a few concrete bricks piled up into a mound with drainage ditches on either side. The soil was good yellow earth, and Cha Wenbin took a handful of it and sprinkled it carefully over the urn containing their ashes, shouting: "Enter the earth!"

  Next was Chao Tzu, and then all the other relatives, in order, each took a handful of earth and scattered it on Ho Lao's coffin.

  Cha Wenbin saw the auspicious time had arrived, and carefully placed the ashes in the urn, sending them into that small tomb. Chaao refused to leave, wanting to rush over, but was held back by Zhuo Xiong and others. A tragic farewell between life and death truly made tears the best expression tool.

  After entering the tomb, the filial sons and grandsons began to burn paper and incense for the last time. After this time, they had to wait until New Year's Eve to go up the mountain again. The several bamboo baskets of ingots brought up were snatched by people to be ignited, Zha Wenbin muttered: Old He, you can rest assured to go on your way.

  Only a few bricklayers were left on the scene to be responsible for the final burial, and others went down the mountain in groups, crying. Zha Wenbin supervised the final construction alone, and when everyone was gone, he still stayed there alone, perhaps he also wanted to accompany this forgetful friend.

  Cha Wenbin returned to the village again, and it was already late at night. He ate a simple bowl of noodles at Wang's house and asked to take a nap, also saying hello to Zhuo Xiong and asking him to wake him up around 11 o'clock. Chaozi had been grieving excessively for the past few days, so he had already been put on an IV drip by the village barefoot doctor to provide some nutrition.

  When the time came, Cha Wenbin got out of bed, bathed and changed his clothes, washing himself from head to toe until he was spotless. Only then did he drag his tired body to the Hu's house, where another important matter awaited him.

  The village of Wangzhuang, which had just experienced a great funeral, was quiet and still, with every household sleeping early. The past few days had indeed been exhausting. The sky above was shrouded in thick clouds, not a single star could be seen, and even the chirping of insects had disappeared without a trace. He and Zhuo Xiong walked together to Hu Changzi's house, but there was no one at home. Hu Changzi's wife had taken her children and fled to her parents' home in fear. Before they approached, they heard the hearty laughter of the two men and the clinking of wine cups.

  Cha Wenbin pushed the door open and entered, just as Heng Niufang and Tie Niu were in high spirits while drinking. With their faces flushed red with embarrassment, they stood up to explain, but Cha Wenbin interrupted them with a smile. Which one of Zhang Fei and Li Kui is not good at drinking? If it's Zhang Fei who drank wine, he might be even more fierce than when he was sober. Hu Changzi had already shrunk under the quilt like a small cat, not daring to make a sound.

  "Was there anything unusual during the day?" Cha Wenbin asked.

  "No, he hasn't eaten yet. We fed him and he couldn't even hide, just like that, he slept for the whole day." Tie Niu replied.

  "Both of you go back and rest first, Zhuo Xiong, guard the door and don't let anyone else in. The knife will stay here, Tie Niu brother, come back tomorrow morning to take it."

  Two big men let out a loud "ai" and leaned on each other's shoulders, swaying back and forth, seemingly ready to continue their search for another place to drink.

  After De Zhuo Xiong left, Cha Wen Bin immediately retracted his smile, and Hu Chang Zi also sat up at some point, staring straight at Cha Wen Bin.

  The two of them stared at each other like this for a while, and it was Cha Wenbin who spoke up first: "Having fun? If you've had enough, you can leave. I'll come visit you in a few days."

  Hu Changzi smiled, his throat emitting a crisp "heh heh" sound, then shook his head and made a face at Cha Wenbin.

  Cha Wenbin shook his head helplessly, took out a small, unremarkable pellet from the already repaired bagua bag and waved it at him, then pulled out another symbol. Hu Changzi immediately put away his playful smile and shook his head repeatedly, like a rattle drum.

  "What are you waiting for? Do you want me to send you off? Since you've left the mortal world, it's best to reincarnate as soon as possible. Lingering here will only harm people. I'm letting you off easy because of your youth, but don't mess with the rules of humans and ghosts." Cha Wenbin made a beckoning gesture, then slowly placed his right hand on the Seven Star Sword. If Hu Changzi showed any disobedience at this moment, the sword would immediately be unsheathed and burn away the talisman paper. Ever since these events, Cha Wenbin felt that his Taoist powers had greatly improved compared to before. He couldn't quite put his finger on why, but previously, after performing a ritual, he would need to rest for a week to recover. Now, whenever he encountered these filthy things, he became excited and full of energy, as if he had been injected with chicken blood."

  Hu Changzi listened, then got up from the bed and slowly walked to Cha Wenbin's front. With a "thud", he knelt down and kowtowed three times, pointing his finger at his own forehead, then kowtowed again several times. After finishing, he didn't get up, but instead resumed his usual smiling face and looked at Cha Wenbin.

  "Are you saying it's been sealed off and can't get out?" Cha Wenbin asked in puzzlement.

  Hu Changzi, who was kneeling on the ground, nodded vigorously at Cha Wenbin.

  Cha Wenbin realized that Hu Zhangzi's soul was lost when he came during the day, and there was something attached to his body. However, with so many people around during the day, Cha didn't have the energy to bother with it much, knowing that as long as the two of them were watching, nothing major would happen. It wasn't until nightfall that he discovered a small doll, and initially thought it was just some deceased child's spirit who refused to be reincarnated, temporarily playing tricks on him. He didn't expect there to be more to the story than that.

  "I'll help you find out, but you've been stuck in this person's body for a bit too long. If his soul doesn't return soon, it might harm his physical body. So why don't you go back to your original place first? I promise I'll look into it.

  According to Zhang Wenbin's calculations, Hú Chángzǐ's soul should have been gone for three days now. That means he was possessed by this doll the day he went to deliver the funeral notice. If a person's soul is away from their body for more than seven days, they might lose all connection with their physical body, and if it goes on any longer, they might not be able to return at all."

  But unexpectedly, Hu Zhangzi's head started shaking again, and he gently patted his chest with his finger, his expression also changing to a terrified look.

  "Are you saying you don't dare go back?" Cha Wenbin could only guess at the general meaning and asked.

  Hú Changzi immediately regained his smile and nodded vigorously at Zha Wenbin, but suddenly his expression changed, and he became very frightened. However, Zha Wenbin could tell that earlier he was just pretending, but this time it was real. Just as he was about to ask what he was afraid of, Hú Changzi pointed out the window with a trembling finger, then quickly ran onto the bed, pulled up the quilt and wrapped himself tightly, shivering with fear.

  At this time, Zhuo Xiong shouted loudly outside the door: "Who!"

  Cha Wenbin took a look at Hu Changzi's behavior, hastily pulled open the door, and Zhuo Xiong had already rushed into the courtyard. Cha Wenbin shouted: "What happened?"

  Zhuo Xiong, who had chased into the yard, returned and walked up to Cha Wenbin, saying: "It seems like someone threw something into this yard. I gave chase but there's no one in sight now."

  "What's lost?" asked Cha Wenbin.

  "I don't know either," Cho Xiong replied, "I only heard a 'pa' sound, it felt like a ripe watermelon hitting the ground."

  Hu Changzi's family was indeed very poor, and there wasn't even a streetlight in the courtyard. Cha Wenbin took out his lighter and lit it up, and the two of them went searching in the direction that Zhu Xiong had pointed. Suddenly, they heard a "crack" sound, and when they looked down, they saw that someone's skull had been trampled into several pieces.

  "Something's wrong!" Zhang Wenbin muttered under his breath. He turned back to look and saw that the white incandescent lamp in the room had gone out at some point.

  "Get the tiger out of the mountain! Zhuo Xiong, come with me quickly!" Cha Wenbin pulled his leg and rushed back, kicking open the door, lighting up the kerosene lamp that was originally placed on the dresser used by Hu Changzi's mother. He picked up the lamp to take a look, only to find that the pig-killing knife that was originally inserted in the head of the bed had fallen to the ground at some point, while Hu Changzi lay motionless on the ground. The bedding on the boat was in disarray, with clear signs of struggle.

  Zha Wenbin carefully probed and found that Hu Changzi was still breathing. He and Zhuo Xiong quickly lifted him onto the bed. Zha Wenbin hastily fetched a small bowl, poured some kerosene into it, and then pulled out some cotton wadding from the bedding to make a fuse. He lit it and placed it under the bedhead, where the small flame, about the size of a green bean, flickered and danced, threatening to go out at any moment.

  Then, he took out seven copper coins from his sleeve and quickly placed them in a circle on Hu Changzi's body according to the layout of the Big Dipper. He took out the Bagua mirror and placed it opposite the small bowl under the wound, just right to make the flame appear in the mirror, and the flame finally returned to its normal appearance and burned up.

  Cha Wenbin let out a sigh and said to Zhuo Xiong: "Tomorrow morning, you go gather the villagers in the outer courtyard."

  Zhuo Xiong responded with a sound, then went out to inform every household. The cloth that Cha Wenbin had laid down was the Seven-Star Life-Extending Lamp used by Zhuge Kongming back in the day. A person's seven apertures correspond to their seven spirits, forming the seven-star lamp within the human body. To light the life-extending lamp, one must use the oil-addition method. Therefore, he cannot leave tonight. The burning speed of this small bowl of oil will be seven times faster than usual. He has to keep an eye on it and not let the oil dry up; otherwise, when the lamp goes out, the person will die!

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