Chapter 094: Money Can Make Even the Devil Turn the Millstone

Countless shadows circled around Song Zhong and me, but they did us no harm. They merely swayed from side to side, drifting about us without end.

At that moment, Song Zhong did not even dare breathe. He forced himself to stay calm and lifted his head toward the bright moon in the sky.

Then, all at once, a bloated face blocked his view, its eye sockets empty and crawling with maggots.

Song Zhong held his breath. He scarcely dared let air escape his lungs.

Who could have guessed that in the next instant, it would actually reach out and place both hands on his shoulders? Its mouth opened, inching closer and closer to him.

Song Zhong’s lips parted, and a faint, pitiful whimper rose in his throat.

Seeing this, I snickered to myself, then said gravely, “What are you afraid of? Didn’t you say you can see them? This fat one is thanking you for everything you did earlier.”

Song Zhong drew in a sharp breath and turned stiffly to look at me.

I went on, “That’s the one who possessed you in the daytime—the one you were trying to send on.”

“I… impossible… it should have been… a woman…”

Hearing that, I was left speechless. “What is this? If you want to do a good deed and send off a lonely spirit, does it still have to be male or female? At this point, I don’t think you were ever truly sincere about it.”

Song Zhong was helpless. In his heart, ten thousand alpacas were stampeding, yet he could not find a single word to fire back at me.

“Enough. They won’t hurt you. Go and light the offerings.”

Most of these unclaimed wandering souls would not go about harming people. They were only waiting here for their own chance.

It wasn’t that they could never become vengeful spirits. Perhaps the age in which they died was so harsh that even after death, they lacked the courage to turn into malicious ghosts.

Given enough time, they could only remain in this drifting state between worlds.

Under my guidance, Song Zhong used trembling hands to light all the paper ingots, incense candles, ghost money, spirit-house offerings, and burial garments.

What unsettled him even more was that the flames were an eerie ghostly green.

After all this was done, Song Zhong instinctively retreated behind me.

I tilted my head and glanced at him. “What, scared now?”

“I… I’m not…” Song Zhong nervously pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, but did not bother to argue further.

I shrugged. Since everyone had basically arrived, it was time to begin.

Those unclaimed souls were scrambling to snatch up the things burned for them.

I formed seals with both hands and chanted, “What has an owner will not wander. In the Western courts, all is weighed and measured. Wear your clothes, put on your shoes, and walk westward. May the road ahead be smooth, and may your next life be peaceful. Everyone, it is time to depart!”

As soon as the last syllable fell, a vast black whirlpool slowly appeared at the western edge of the fire circle.

The whirlpool was like a man-eating monster, staring hungrily at the wandering souls.

When it appeared, all the unclaimed spirits merely watched from where they stood. Only after one of them led the way and stepped inside did the others begin entering the whirlpool one after another.

I watched in silence and said nothing, because this was their only chance, and their last chance, to be reborn.

If they missed this opportunity, they would drift the human world forever.

The other side of the whirlpool was the destination they spoke of with longing: the underworld.

As the wandering souls entered the vortex, Song Zhong kept his eyes wide open, staring at everything as though terrified he might blink and miss something.

When the last unclaimed soul had gone in, the whirlpool did not vanish.

All at once, a huge black hand reached out from within it and extended straight toward me.

Yet I did not blink.

I bared my teeth in a smile at that raised hand and said, “Honored sir, these offerings were prepared especially for you. I beg your indulgence.”

“Aaah!”

A shrill, piercing scream jabbed straight into the hearts of Song Zhong and me.

I was still all right, but Song Zhong was different. He clutched his ears in agony, and even so, black blood still seeped from them.

In the next moment, a gigantic, grotesque human face appeared within the black whirlpool.

It looked as though it had slammed into some kind of membrane, leaving the outline of its features pressed into the surface, yet preventing us from seeing its true appearance.

It opened its huge mouth and roared.

At that point I could no longer afford to care about much else. I could only steady myself and wait in silence, even as Song Zhong rolled on the ground beside me in unbearable pain.

Because I understood clearly: if I made any unnecessary move, both our lives would be forfeit today.

The face and hand that had emerged from behind the whirlpool belonged to none other than the grim underworld enforcer who came to claim souls.

At this moment, it was bargaining with me, hoping to extort more.

What it meant was simple: by sending off so many unclaimed souls at once, I had forced it into exhausting labor, and the small amount of offerings in the fire circle was nowhere near enough.

I did not want to agree, but if we kept deadlocked any longer, Song Zhong’s ears might not survive.

Clenching my teeth, I said, “Honored sir, I’ll make it up to you with two more mountains of gold and silver!”

The wailing stopped abruptly. The giant face and enormous hand withdrew into the whirlpool at the same time, and the gateway vanished without a trace.

I gave a helpless, bitter smile.

So the saying was true after all: money could make even a ghost grind the millstone.