Chapter 053: Reasonable Irrationality

The chilling wind blew for a full twenty seconds. Captain Cui told me he had been here several times before. Every time the door was opened, the same eerie gust swept out, without exception.

I followed Captain Cui into the ancient temple. As soon as we stepped inside, I saw three bodies kneeling in unison before the moss-covered, blackened Buddha statue. My stomach churned violently when I caught sight of the heads arranged neatly on the altar.

Captain Cui was still explaining something, but I had no mind to listen. I turned and hurried outside, retching uncontrollably. My vomiting was so loud that it drew the attention of the officers guarding the scene. Captain Cui heard me and came out as well.

He expertly took out a cigarette, lit it, smoked, and exhaled. The whole sequence was smooth and practiced. He patted my back twice with one hand, then shoved a cigarette between my lips. Without asking if I smoked, he lit it for me.

As the faint fragrance of tobacco drifted into my nose, the nausea subsided considerably. I stood there, cigarette in mouth, hands on hips. Captain Cui finished his cigarette and looked at me. "Feeling better? I couldn't tell. You weren't nearly this timid when you were cutting my flesh."

"Uncle, I'm only eighteen..."

"I know, eighteen. You're an adult now, otherwise I wouldn't let you smoke." He paused, then strode toward the temple doors, waving for me to follow. "Come on, be a man."

Am I not a man? No, I am a man.

Some things, the first time you witness them, are sickening; but the next time, the shock fades. The tobacco's scent steadied me. Facing those three girls' corpses, my face was pale, but nothing else seemed amiss.

Seeing me circle the bodies, Captain Cui asked, "Do you notice anything?"

I didn't answer him, but kept observing. Suddenly, I moved behind one of the corpses and kicked her in the back.

"Jiang Huai! What are you doing!"

Captain Cui dragged me aside, but my kick had already landed, leaving a faint red footprint on her clothes.

"What was that for!"

I offered an awkward smile. "I just wanted to see if they truly couldn't move."

Captain Cui wanted to speak, but I beat him to it, grinning as I explained, "The combined ages of these three girls aren’t even as old as the two of us together. They definitely couldn't be three lifetimes of virtuous souls."

"The reason things are like this is that someone is casting a spell, arranging an altar."

"A spell? An altar?"

My brow furrowed as I grabbed my hair and began to explain to Captain Cui. From the moment I first saw this scene, I'd wondered about it. If it was mere murder, there was no need to treat the bodies this way—it was time-consuming and unnecessary.

It wasn't until I kicked the corpse that I noticed where incense sticks were inserted in the heads on the altar, and that all the faces with wide-open eyes were turned westward.

This reminded me of a ritual described in the Wild Maoshan teachings—a method for cultivating resentment. That resentment is the lingering grievance.

To speak plainly, the incense inserted into the crown of the head is known as sealing the heavenly gate. After death, the soul exits from the crown, but it doesn't immediately leave the body—it takes time. If incense is burned atop the head before the soul departs, the ashes seal the heavenly gate, trapping the soul inside, never to escape.

The wide-open eyes facing west are symbolic of the soul gazing westward, longing for departure. Everyone knows that the dead should close their eyes in peace. Forcing the corpse to keep its eyes open, gazing toward the western path, while sealing its soul inside, is like a fly seeing the distant horizon but blocked by a pane of glass.

When seven days pass, after a violent death and subsequent sealing, the resentful, vengeful soul is nurtured within the body. When the spellcaster returns to break the seal and collect the resentment, the ritual is complete.

As for why anyone would cultivate resentment—other than to harm others, I can't think of another reason.

Captain Cui listened closely and suddenly grasped something. "Jiang Huai, according to you, the murderer has to return? To collect the resentment? And does this collection have to be done here? If the bodies are moved, does the spell fail?"

Captain Cui was certainly a seasoned officer—quick-witted. I nodded and continued, "That's why the bodies are arranged to mimic three lifetimes of virtue, making them impossible to move."

Still, I was uneasy. Turning ordinary corpses into virtuous ones—can that really work?

Unless someone truly lived three virtuous lifetimes, everyone carries some karmic burdens.

To transform a corpse into a virtuous soul, one must first erase its karmic debts.

Erasing karma?

Suddenly, a thought struck me. Zhang Sheng from Sichuan—before his capture, he said that if he obeyed and transferred the backlash and consequences, he could succeed.

After hearing that, my grandfather abruptly left, and then these events occurred.

Before coming here, Yunié had mentioned something about transferring karma and escaping debt.

In a sense, karma, backlash, and consequences are all the same.

Lost in thought, I felt Captain Cui's hand on my shoulder.

He glanced around, frowning, and sniffed the air.

"Jiang Huai, do you smell something fragrant?"

I looked at him in confusion, imitated his sniffing, and indeed noticed a fragrance. It was coming from the three corpses.

"Captain Cui, how many days since this place was discovered?"

"The third day."

I nodded, then tried to move the bodies, but still couldn't budge them.

That confirmed my suspicion—the spellcaster doesn't want the corpses moved. Otherwise, with the fragrance already wafting out, they shouldn't be immovable.

"Jiang Huai, so as long as we guard the bodies, the murderer will definitely appear?"

I agreed, at least in theory.