CH 89

He subconsciously wanted to turn his head, but found that he couldn’t move at all, then realized that he in fact had no body.

Yamamoto Kiyoshi’s blood-red eyes turned and fell on Hong Rui and Dong Qiaolan.

“You found a body for me? The woman is too fat, but the man will do. Let me use him!”

Hong Rui’s body shook. He suppressed the fear and kept silent as he lowered his body and didn’t dare to move.

Then he heard Songen gentle voice said, “You almost lost your soul. The problem isn’t your body. With this, you can’t be like normal people so don’t give them any ideas.”

Hong Rui breathed a sigh of relief involuntarily as his body had almost collapsed.

He didn’t care that the word “useful” was equivalent to an insult to him. The most important thing at this moment was to escape.

No one knew better than him how Songen’s methods were, and he didn’t want these methods to be used on him one day.

It was purely accidental that he would get to know this witch doctor. At that time, he and his business rival, Lin Ji were competing for a piece of land in the south. In terms of contacts and financial resources, the Lin family from Lingnan oppressed him. Hong Rui had prepared for that piece of land for a long time but had to hand it over to the Lin’s in vain. Naturally, he was unwilling. At that time, Dong Qiaolan introduced him to Master Songen. The other party claimed he could make Lin Ji automatically withdraw. Hong Rui was half-convinced, but it didn’t take long for him to hear that Lin Ji had fallen ill and the Lin family was exhausted trying to find a cure for him. As a result, the battle for the land naturally ended with him unscathed. Hong Rui had successfully won the land and took his career to the next level.

From then on, he worshipped Songen and respected him like a God. After that, whenever he asked for something, Songen would take action to ensure he got what he wanted.

A local friend in Thailand once told Hong Rui that witchcraft was extremely popular in Southeast Asia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. There were countless sects of witchcraft and Songen was among the top that specializes in black magic. He was ruthless and excellent with his means and had all kind of spells readily at his fingertips. Not to mention ordinary people, even other witches and witch doctors were unwilling to easily offend him. This made Hong Rui more awe of Songen and he would never dare to offend.

Songen told Hong Rui and Dong Qiaolan that he himself was a servant of Lord Mara. When Lord Mara wakes up from his deep sleep, he would need a suitable body. He asked them if they were willing to assist him. If they were willing to help, when Lord Mara completely resurrect, they would be granted supreme power.

A status that is above all others or countless money would be readily available to them.

As a businessman who by nature chased interests, Hong Rui wasn’t willing to agree to this illusory request for an unknown date, but he didn’t dare disobey Songen. In contrast, Dong Qiaolan was much more pious than him. After she went back, she carefully selected the “vessel” for Lord Mara and eventually chose Han Qi.

As Han Qi’s former agent, Dong Qiaolan was privy to all her private information. She sent this to Songen who was satisfied, so without Han Qi’s knowledge, a conspiracy was tailored for her.

Dong Qiaolan first brought Han Qi, who was troubled by the entanglement of the infant spirit to Songen. Songen personally looked at it and helped her expel the infant spirit, locked it in the jade charm, and painted her a bright future. After returning, Han Qi’s career drastically improve, with the secret support from Hong Rui. She then met Hong Rui who was considerate and affectionate to her, and she began to trust Songen, and gradually became convinced. After Han Qi got pregnant, Hong Rui also took her to Songen, who injected her with traces of qi and told her that her birth will bring her blessings, and would make her immeasurably rich in the future, so she should take good care of it.

Han Qi believed it and was full of expectations for the fetus she was carrying, until she had a little accident at this time.

Her expectation of the child affected the infant spirit whose soul was locked into the jade charm. That infant spirit was the one she had aborted in the past. Seeing that its mother had used it as a tool and loved the current child, it couldn’t help but become full of resentment and it finally broke through the jade charm’s restraints, leading to the changes that occurred on the plane and also to a series of later events.

Naturally, Hong Rui didn’t know that Dong Zhi had inadvertently destroyed Songen’s arrangement for Han Qi. He only knew that Songen was ruthless and vicious, and now that he had broken Songen’s plans, he might also be punished. Since he was born, he had never been as worried and frightened as now.

But Songen ignored him and was still talking to the head.

“I told you a long time ago that China is full of capable people, and you can’t easily provoke them. You don’t listen to advice and just went there to kill people. This time, you were taught a lesson,” Songen said.

“I could have brought back the souls of a few cultivators that are adults, but I didn’t expect to be spoiled by one person. When I find a body, I’ll go to him and break all his bones!”

Yamamoto Kiyoshi’s cruel and distorted expression made Dong Qiaolan tremble when she saw it, and she hurriedly lowered her body and didn’t dare to look at it again.

Songen: “What’s that person’s name?”

Yamamoto paused and said, “It’s a Chinese, named Dong and Zhi!”

Puppetry was actually a combination of yin and yang technique and witchcraft.

Although Yamamoto was lucky enough to escape Dong Zhi’s sword, his body was already dead. At a critical moment, he could only steal the dragon and turn the phoenix* to save his current head.

*(偷龙转凤) Refers to using despicable means to exchange the original product with a fake one to deceive people.

All his cultivation base had been destroyed, and now he didn’t even know if he could find a suitable body to come back from the dead. Yamamoto could only stay in this dark little house every day and survive. It was no wonder he was about to collapse and go crazy.

Songen’s expression move slightly. “I remember you had an accident in Lucheng, China?”

He turned to Hong Rui. “Do you know where Han Qi is these days?”

Dong Qiaolan looked confused.

Hong Rui thought about it carefully and said cautiously, “Before I went abroad, I seemed to have heard that she was filming in Lucheng.”

Songen looked at Yamamoto and smiled calmly. “It seems that this isn’t a coincidence. I didn’t expect it to be wrong. However, you don’t have to be angry. I think your hatred will be avenged soon.”

Yamamoto was extreme upset. “Now I want to know when you’ll find me a body!”

Songen comforted him. “Don’t worry. Even if you can’t find a suitable body, you can certainly be reshaped when Lord Mara is resurrected.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Songen’s expression suddenly changed. His eyes looked straight ahead but there was no focus. It seemed as if he was looking at something in the distance through Yamamoto.

After a while, his body relaxed and he breathed a sigh of relief and said to Hong Rui, “My lord wants to see you.”

Hong Rui couldn’t believe his ears, he thought he had heard it wrong.

“Yes, that great one?”

He didn’t even dare to say his name, not out of respect, but fear. The sense of fear that spawn from the bones.

Songen, however, wasn’t afraid to say the name. He smiled gently at him. “Yes, Lord Mara. How lucky you are.”

Hong Rui didn’t feel fortunate. He only felt scared, but he didn’t dare disobey Songen. He began to regret deeply. He regretted that he shouldn’t have obeyed Dong Qiaolan’s temptation and set foot on this pirate ship in the first place, but now this ship had sailed into the vast sea. If he wanted to disembark, he would only drown.

He had an intuition that it wasn’t a good thing for Lord Mara to summon him. This intuition came from human hunting instincts for millions of years. However, Hong Rui knew that he couldn’t back down. He could only slow down as much as possible, in return for the subtle hope that the great one would change his mind in the next moment. On the other hand, he couldn’t help but secretly look back at Dong Qiaolan, hoping that the other party would suddenly make some noise, so he didn’t have to go and become an audience.

Songen smiled when he saw his small movements. Instead of interrupting him, he watched with great interest.

Hong Rui was taken aback by a cold snort. He raised his head and saw that the human head was staring at him, showing a kind of malicious look. He couldn’t help but feel a sudden shock, but he didn’t dare linger any longer, so he quickly got up and followed Songen.

In another passageway.

In fact, the surrounding scenery wasn’t bad with green mountains and waters, banana leaves swaying gently in the wind, and white clouds floated overhead, revealing the blue sky from behind them.

But Hong Rui was sweating coldly, and he didn’t have the mind to see anything at all. He was just thinking about how he could deal with this situation.

He had wandered in the political and business circles and saw many big leagues, but what he was about to face was already beyond the scope of humans. With mysterious and unpredictable power, it could help lift him to the heavens, but also instantly beat him down to hell, making his life worse than death.

“Master Song— Songen, later…” Hong Rui couldn’t help asking.

“Shh.” Sogen made a gesture and Hong Rui immediately fell silent, not daring to go on.

They have reached their destination.

The entire room in front of him, which was tightly covered by a black veil, was the place where the soul of the heavenly demon was nurtured.

Hong Rui thought fancifully that this place was located on the border and belonged to a zone that no one cared about. It was surrounded by dense jungles that covered and blocked out the sun. Coming here, let alone a road sign, if there were no locals to lead the way, one would definitely get lost and die out here. Even satellite positioning may not be able to find this forgotten corner, but this place wasn’t completely isolated from the world. The needs of resources could always be moved from the prosperous world outside at any time through Songen and his servants. Perhaps it was precisely this that the great one chose to be reborn here.

There was only a moment of distraction. When Songen uncovered the corner of the black veil and bent over to enter, Hong Rui immediately withdrew his attention, and followed Songen’s example. He cautiously leaned into the room from the small corner that was uncovered.

Fragrance overwhelmed him.

The light in the house was very dark, and a few candles swayed unsteadily, but the aroma was a hundred times stronger than when he first entered the stockade. It penetrated all the organs Hong Rui used to communicate with the outside world and almost choked him out of breath. After trying to control his cough, he felt dizzy, and his hands and feet went soft.

There were many things scattered inside, including glass jars containing various animals such as snakes, scorpions, insects, rats, and other animals that Hong Rui couldn’t name and didn’t know what their purpose were. He just thought everything was strange. Of course, since entering the stockade, all the furnishing was weird as the world of this witch doctor was very different from ordinary people.

On one side, there was a jar that was smaller than pot but larger than an average jar. A middle-aged man was sitting next to it. In the dark, he could make out the typical Southeast Asian appearance, that was, his cheekbones were relatively high, his eyes were somewhat concave, but his entire body was completely wooden, and he wasn’t sure if this man was dead or alive.

Then Songen knelt down towards the jar, with his forehead against the floor, and said something in a weird tone that Hong Rui couldn’t understand.

Hong Rui didn’t dare to look too much, so he followed Songen, kneeling on the ground like him.

A series of long and fast words burst out of Songen’s mouth. Hong Rui was confused, but he suddenly felt something moving ahead. His curiosity was overwhelmed, and he quietly looked up and glanced at it from the corner of his eyes. He saw a black mist vaguely rising from the jar, getting thicker before it finally jumped into the nostril of the man next to it.

The man’s body shook slightly.

In the dim light, his expression seemed to be distorted. His eyes turned white, and the corner of his mouth pulled out a cold arc. Hong Rui dared not take a closer look and hurriedly lowered his head.

He heard a strange voice, as hoarse as sandpaper grinding on an object.

“Tell me what happened outside.”

Hong Rui was able to understand it. The sound hammered heavily in his heart, shaking his body. His heart ached, and his throat was bursting with heat. He was dizzy and his brain swelled. He couldn’t help covering his mouth for fear that there would be blood coming out.

He felt that the burning gaze fell on him, like a hunter looking at a prey at his fingertips.

Songen lowered his body even more.

“Lord Mara is here. Your devout servant Songen Shawang sincerely reports to you that according to the news brought back by Yamamoto, the demon is dead.”

“Dead?”

The strange tone was echoed, as if it came from the mouth of the man sitting but was directly penetrated into one’s eardrums and knocked into the mind. Hong Rui felt even more dizzy, and he didn’t know if it was because he was inhaling too much fragrance.

Songen said respectfully, “Yes, without the command of the Archfiend, all the Sneaky Yaksha seemed to disappear overnight. Although I can still perceive the existence of the remnants of the Archfiend, it will take at least more than a hundred years in the human world for it to reform and take shape.”

“So, what about the earth demon?”

Songen: “There has been frequent movement on Toyo side recently. It’s said that they have clues from the stone tablets, and Yamamoto said that several groups of Japanese people want to attack them, so I think that earth demon may also awaken.”

“The Archfiend is too useless. You can’t count on it. Since the earth demon is going for the stone tablets, you can provide it with clues about them at the right time. You know what to do.” The man’s mouth opened and closed, conveying a magic voice like it came from the end of the abyss.

Songen became even more respectful. “Yes, please rest assured. I will never reveal the location of Lord Mara’s place. I am your most loyal servant to my lord. I am dedicated to resurrecting you as soon as possible. No matter the earth demon or Archfiend, they are not the object of my allegiance.”

The man laughed. His laughter was cold and chilling, enough to make a strong man shudder from the bottom of his heart.

Songen trembled slightly involuntarily.

The man said slowly, “You can speak easily now. What if you knew that the earth demon is looking for the stone tablets for a greater goal?”

Songen was so powerful in front of Hong Rui and Dong Qiaolan, but he could only shake like a sieve in front of the great one.

“This servant— This servant is stupid and doesn’t understand what your excellency means…”

The man said, “When magic is abundant, it will gush out from the cracks in the ground. The red magic moon will arrive in the world and the door of the abyss will open again. The earth demon will not submit to me. What he wants to surrender to is—”

He suddenly read a string of very strange characters that Hong Rui didn’t understand. He quietly raised his head and glanced at Songen, guessing that the other party might not understand either.

Although he got a lot of information here, Hong Rui only became more confused.

He knew that this great one was a legendary heavenly demon. After hearing it from Songen last time, he also went back to check the information and found that the heavenly demon was the demon king in Indian Buddhism. He was called Bo Xun or Mara*. From ancient times to present, he was an extremely powerful monster. It was rumored that there had been many natural and man-made disaster in history that were planned by this demon from behind the shadows.

*Note: In Chinese, Mara is also referred to as Bo Xun (波旬) or Bo Beiye (波卑夜). I’m using the translated name Mara for all these instances.

In the past, Hong Rui would scoff at these supernatural legends, but after he met Songen and seeing the treacherous scene that could not be described in words with his own eyes, he couldn’t help but believe it.

It was only after listening to the conversation between this great one and Songen that he knew that in addition to the heavenly demons, there were also earth demons and Archfiends in the world.

The Archfiend was now dead, and the earth demon seemed to be looking for stone tablets. This great one wanted to be resurrected as soon as possible. Although it was also a demon, it didn’t seem to be on the same path.

Songen lowered his body. The low words echoed in the space filled with strange aromas.

“No matter how the world changes, no one can match my devotion to you. I will always be loyal to you!”

Hong Rui didn’t dare to pretend to be dead, and hurriedly followed up when he heard the words: “Me, me too. I am willing to give everything to your excellency!”

Only then did the man seemed to notice him.

The white eyes of the man quivered, and his head turned slightly to stare at Hong Rui.

Songen seemed to feel something and hurriedly said, “This is the person you wanted to see. His name is Hong Rui, a Chinese businessman.”

The man said slowly, “You just said that you are willing to give everything for me?”

Hong Rui was sweating like rain, and stammered, “Yes, yes. I am quite successful in business. If you need money…”

“I don’t want money.” The man slowly raised his right hand and pointed at him. “Your body is good. I’m tired of using this one. Lend me your body.”

Hong Rui’s teeth chattered. How could he not know that his loan would not be repaid!

“My lord! Please let me find a better body for you! Stronger and better-looking than me. I can find anything you want!”

The man said gloomily: “I don’t want them. I just want you.”

Without saying a word, Hong Rui got up and turned his head and ran out, but as soon as he ran to the door, he suddenly had an abdominal pain like a strangulation, and he couldn’t take another step. He couldn’t help but scream in pain, bent over, and covered his stomach before rolling directly to the ground.

“Master Songen! Help me! I don’t want to die. Please help me plead with the great one! I can do anything for you!”

He grabbed Songen’s trousers. His nose was full of snot, and he no longer had the demeanor of a successful person. He was more like a stray dog begging for mercy, begging for others to let him go.

Songen squatted down and shook his head mercifully. “Do you remember the water you drank on the way here just now? You were already hit by a curse at that time. I wasn’t going to let you leave, because if you go back, you’ll definitely be caught. Those who have discovered Han Qi will find clues about the great one from you. I can’t let you expose my lord.”

He touched Hong Rui’s face, almost gentle, but Hong Rui shook even more severely.

“I have done a lot for the great one… Please…”

Hong Rui found that he couldn’t move so he could only let Songen slender hand touch his abdomen as softly as if he was stroking his own child.

The next moment, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. Songen had tore open his shirt, split his flesh with his hands, and caught a three-meter-long white worm inside.

Hong Rui opened his eyes wide in horror, watching the long worm squirming slowly on the floor after it came out. He felt sick and wanted to vomit and turned his head to spit out a few big mouthful of blood on the ground.

“Go to sleep. If you fall asleep, you won’t know anything.” Hong Rui’s last memory was of Songen putting his hand over his eyes.

He wanted to struggle and wanted to escape, but all his actions were beyond his control in the eyes of others.

Hong Rui heard Songen asked, “Does your excellency want to use this body to go out and see the outside world?”

The man said, “No, I just want to change to a more comfortable body. My current strength is not strong enough…”

Hong Rui’s consciousness gradually became chaotic and blurred, his head tilted, he fell softly to the ground, and never woke up again.

The man watched him completely lose consciousness and couldn’t help but smile happily.

“When the moment the carnival comes to an end, these ant-like humans will crawl under our feet. We will have countless food and slaves. Songen, as my most faithful servant, I will allow you to enjoy all this with me.”

The black mist slowly flowed out of the man’s body, condensed and sank in the air, and gradually penetrated into Hong Rui’s hair, skin, and internal organs.

The man who had lost the black mist slumped on the chair as if all his bones were taken away, while Hong Rui slowly opened his blood-red eyes.

“Yes, thank you, my lord, for your gift.” Songen knelt down on the ground and kissed his feet.

Dong Qiaolan waited outside. From when the sun was still in the middle of the sky to the evening, Hong Rui and Songen hadn’t return.

An ominous premonition gradually rose in her heart. Her palms were sweating, and her anxiety was unbearable.

She wanted to run away but she dared not because Songen’s apprentice was staring at her coldly.

Seeing the sun set a little bit, the already dim room lost the last bit of natural light.

The head on the table suddenly sneered, “Do you want to run?”

Dong Qiaolan trembled slightly, and hurriedly pulled out a reluctant smile. “No, I dare not…”

Yamamoto snickered and smiled strangely. “Your companion won’t come back anymore. I don’t know if you will survive tonight.”

Dong Qiaolan’s face turned pale as she flopped on the ground and began pleading with Yamamoto and Sogen’s apprentice. “Masters, I have always been loyal to the master and have introduced many guests to him and taken no credit for the hard work. I—I will help the master do more things in the future!”

Yamamoto said coldly, “The person surnamed Dong is from the Special Administration Bureau. They found Han Qi and they will find you sooner or later. If you go back, you will be caught!”

Dong Qiaolan murmured, “I will be very careful. I can change my name…”

Yamamoto laughed. “Why bother? Just stay here. I guess Songen won’t mind another vessel to practice his witchcraft on, right, Songen?”

He said to the person behind Dong Qiaolan. Dong Qiaolan subconsciously looked back, and as a result her head spun so fast that her body directly fell to the ground.

Songen stepped in from the outside.

“My lord said Hong Rui’s body is better than the original one.”

Yamamoto Kiyoshi turned his eyes. Now he only had his head left, and even the perspective of his body was limited, so he wasn’t used to it.

“Where’s my body. When will it be ready for me!”

Songen said lightly. “Your soul is severely damaged. Even if you have a body now, it’s useless. You should recuperate here. Maybe you can return to business as usual in three years.”

Yamamoto said irritably, “Three years! I have to wait three years?! If it weren’t for that person surnamed Dong, how could I become like this now! I want him to die! Died a hundred times worse than me! No, I want his body, just let him be my new body!”

“What’s the use of yelling at me?” Even though he was furious, Songen remained calm and ordered his disciple, “Zabigan, send this woman to me. My spell is just short one last prop.”

The obedient disciple nodded slightly, got up and dragged Dong Qiaolan away. The woman weighing more than three hundred kilograms was dragged away by him with one hand, without any effort.

—

Lucheng.

It was another fine day.

When most of the north had already begun to snow, there was still a slight warmth from the sea breeze. The fallen leaves weren’t necessarily withered and yellow, and the branches were still full of green, making people suspect that winter wasn’t coming, but spring.

Without the dry sand, dust, and haze, there was only the fragrance of flowers and the faint smell of the sea. Both Dong Zhi and Liu Qingbo yawned at the same time, trying their best to curb the drowsiness caused by the afternoon sun on their bodies.

It was just that one person was lying down, and the other was still sitting in front of the computer typing a report.

Liu Qingbo couldn’t help but showed a blank look at Dong Zhi. “You’re so relaxed. As a leader you don’t have to do anything!”

Dong Zhi yawned again, pulling up the thin blanket a little.

“Who said I don’t have anything to do? Without me, can we change to a new office so quickly?”

The author has something to say:

The most terrifying thing in the world is nothing more than greed that blinds your eyes, and it is difficult to turn back.

Do you remember Lin Xuan? The Lin family in Lingnan, his father was cursed by witchcraft. Now the causes and consequences are connected…

Kinky Thoughts:

Lin Xuan appears in chapter 50. He helped the Japanese kidnapped Dong Zhi. He’s trying to get dragon powder to save his father who’s been cursed by witchcraft. Now we know who’s behind it.