Occasionally, someone came for water or a smoke; Wang Ya would huddle looking unhappy or pretend to be passing by. With people coming and going, each busy with their own, no one noticed a girl like her, clearly distressed over a hospitalized family member.
Wang Ya crouched for about forty or fifty minutes when she heard the young nurse’s voice from the room she was watching:
“Let’s go, check-up!”
“Ai, move a bit!”
“Ai, help out! Give a hand!”
Then came the young nurse’s distinctive Sichuan dialect: “Your foot ain’t broken, can’t you walk? You’re so old and hurt this bad, can’t you hold your IV?”
With the young nurse’s shouting came cursing from the group, the Old Man’s stern commands, and sounds of them leaving the room.
Wang Ya pretended to be going downstairs and passed by the hallway, glimpsing with her peripheral vision. Staring directly could alert vigilant people, especially those with high alertness. Afraid to alarm them, she only glanced quickly: one sat in a wheelchair, pushed by a young man behind; beside them, someone with a plastered arm seemed to be holding an IV.
Wang Ya waited a few more minutes at the stairwell, estimating they’d gone far, then sauntered to their room door with the fruit bag. She scanned inside carefully—no anomalies. She entered. The cabinet was locked tight; she had no intention of touching it. In this line of work, one always left marks or alarms on luggage; tampering would alert them, and she had no need anyway.
Wang Ya walked to the bedsides, peering intently at the pillows where the three had slept. Sure enough, she found a few short hairs and picked up some dandruff. Without disdain, she wrapped them carefully in talisman paper like precious treasure. She spotted the trash bin under the bed and luckily found two bloody cotton swabs—likely used to press injection sites.
With what she needed, Wang Ya swiftly left the hospital and gathered other required materials. By past two in the afternoon, she had everything. She ate noodles at a nearby restaurant, found a guesthouse close to the hospital, got a room, and quickly set up.
Now, Wang Ya shed all traces of the dowdy, dazed look from the hospital. Her face was stern, a chill emanating from her entire being.
The guesthouse floor was tiled, unsuitable for incense. Wang Ya shaped half-dry soil from outside into Mud Steamed Buns to hold the incense. Then she molded the Soul-Retrieving Clay Figures, just like those used at Zheng Yanxia’s construction site to retrieve her soul—the method was nearly identical. The only difference: last time she saved a life; this time, she aimed to kill. She would retrieve and destroy all three of their Heaven-Earth-Fate Three Souls!
After setting everything up, Wang Ya ate some fruit, set her phone alarm, and went to sleep.
At eleven-thirty at night, the alarm woke her.
She got out of bed, washed her face, meditated to peak condition, and began the soul retrieval.
Killing was far simpler than saving—no worry of Talisman Soldier Dolls scattering souls, no need to protect the subject or set defensive arrays during retrieval.
Wang Ya struck ruthlessly!
She mixed mud with the three’s hair and dandruff to form Mud Dolls, drew Talismans and Blessings on them to make Talisman Soldier Dolls. After activation, the three Talisman Soldier Dolls turned into three talisman patterns, tracing the men’s auras straight to them, followed closely by eighteen Blood Talismans.
The Talisman Soldier Dolls contained their hair and dandruff, matching their innate auras, reducing rejection from protective items. The dolls seized souls up close, the eighteen Blood Talismans pursued relentlessly. Wang Ya followed with three Soul-Attracting Lotuses.
This strike would scatter their souls from their bodies. If they didn’t die on the spot, the Heaven-Earth-Fate Three Souls would linger; soul-calling could retrieve them. Scattered and panicked, the souls would be drawn by the Soul-Attracting Lotuses into the Soul-Collecting Doll before Wang Ya.
Wang Ya knew of a life-saving talisman paper called Substitute Death Talisman, which blocked disasters at critical moments. These Ghost Raisers, daring to target Feng Family descendants and forcing her grandma to flee into Yellow Springs, surely had means. Suspecting they carried Substitute Death Talismans, she spared no expense, unleashing eighteen Blood Talismans.
Truly at her own expense—drawn with her blood, burned with her essence blood.
One Blood Talisman sufficed for killing!
But this time, Wang Ya allowed no margin for error, no chance of their survival.
Through her connection with the Blood Talismans, she sensed three hit targets instantly and burst, followed by three more! In the next instant, all Blood Talismans exploded. Wang Ya’s vision blurred with blood mist, then the connection severed. The subtle feedback felt not like obstruction, but like overkill wasting extras from excess force.
Wang Ya didn’t dwell; she quickly used Soul-Attracting Lotuses with the Soul-Collecting Doll to gather souls.
Soon, the three Soul-Attracting Lotuses succeeded; the men’s souls were collected into the Soul-Collecting Doll.
Wang Ya rapidly arranged the pre-made pile of Mud Steamed Buns around the room, inserted lit incense to set the Incense Boundary, placed the Seven Ancient Copper Coins to anchor, wrapped the Ghost-Capturing Copper Bell around her wrist, and pulled the Yin Spirit Scroll from her canvas bag. With a “whoosh,” she unfurled it before the three Soul-Collecting Dolls.
Fully opened, Wang Ya feared a bit more force might tear this Feng Family heirloom.
As the Yin Spirit Scroll opened, with it as the boundary, the space before and behind became two different worlds.
Behind remained the mortal Yang Realm, though Yin Qi thickened, hinting at hauntings.
Before, within the scroll’s coverage and Incense Boundary, yin wind howled, Black Qi roiled, space filled with thick ink. Amid the ink surged endless blood, flowing white bones and corpses, countless Yin Spirits roaring and tearing—seemingly a Yin Spirit army raging in the space ahead.
