Chapter 0074 Five Pure Yin Materials
A figure stepped through the small palace door and vanished to the left. I rushed in after them, only to hear two coughs coming from behind the hall. I scrambled up and sprinted around the back of the building, but there was still no one in sight. Suspicion gnawed at me; this was far from normal. Just as I went on high alert, a voice spoke from behind: "Brother Tien, what are you doing here?"
It was Sun Xicai's voice. I spun around, already on guard. I saw someone swinging a wooden stick toward my face. I instinctively raised my arm to block; the blow landed hard on my forearm. The pain made my vision swim, and I stumbled back several steps. The attacker raised the stick again, but by then I could see him clearly: it was indeed Sun Xicai.
"Sun Xicai! What the hell are you doing?" I roared.
Sun Xicai looked startled, likely surprised that I had reacted so quickly and that his sneak attack had missed. I questioned him again, and after a few seconds of silence, he tossed the stick aside and chuckled. "Oh, it's just Brother Tien! I thought you were a prowler. I almost hit the wrong person."
I pointed a finger right at his nose. "Stop the bullshit! You clearly called my name before you swung!"
Sun Xicai put on a look of utter confusion. "What? No way. Did I really call your name?" I stared into his eyes, searching for even the slightest hint of a facade, but I saw nothing. His gaze was calm and seasoned, as if he had done absolutely nothing wrong.
After a few minutes of standoff, Sun Xicai turned to leave. "Brother Tien, let's head back. Jiao is worried sick."
I nodded and followed him slowly. After twisting through several paths, Sun Xicai pulled out his phone, powered it on, and yelled into it: "Jiao? Where are you? Brother Tien and I got lost. Meet us at the Shenwu Gate exit!"
As he spoke, a staff member spotted us and hurried over. "Comrades, how did you get back here? This isn't a tour area. Get out, quickly!" I apologized, claiming we were lost. The staff member escorted us out of the restricted zone and pointed the way to the gate.
When we reunited with Wang Jiao, she was livid. "Xicai, why do you always have to go wandering off when we're busy?"
Sun Xicai just grinned. "I just wanted to see more of the sights. Let's go."
After dinner, lying on the hotel bed, I called Frank Fang and told him everything. Frank Fang thought it over and said, "That Male Undead spirit clearly can't tolerate you anymore. It's made two attempts on your life because it wants you dead. If you had been knocked unconscious today and left in some corner of the Forbidden City until nightfall, you wouldn't have seen the sun tomorrow."
I asked him why. Frank Fang explained, "Given the nature of a Male Undead, spending the night in a place of extreme Yin and Yang like the Forbidden City... even if a ghost didn't kill you, you'd likely be scared to death."
I pleaded with him, "Brother, you have to help me get rid of this thing for good. I don't care if it costs tens of thousands of yuan—I'll pay!"
Frank Fang replied, "Finally willing to part with your money to save your life? I'll ask around. By the way, the Male Undead will be on guard. Do you think you can get him to Thailand? You need a plan."
"No way," I answered bitterly. "That bastard is too cunning. Unless I knock him out, it's a no-go."
Frank Fang said, "Even if you knock him out, it's hard to get him on a plane. It looks like the only way is to have an Arjan Master fly to Shenyang." I told him that didn't feel safe either; last time, when Arjan Pe came to Shenyang to help with the taxi driver, I tried to deal with Sun Xicai, but the spirit of Zheng Yonggui sensed it and fled to Dandong with Wang Jiao.
Frank Fang pondered. "Though ghosts have telepathy, they aren't omnipotent. Even if they can sense thoughts, they usually need to be close by." I couldn't understand it, but as I racked my brain, a memory surfaced. On the day Arjan Pe arrived in Shenyang, Wang Jiao had called to complain about Sun Xicai being cold to her. I had mentioned on the phone that the Master was in town. No doubt, Wang Jiao had mentioned it to Sun Xicai, tipping off the Male Undead spirit.
Knowing this, I felt a bit better. Frank Fang promised to find an Arjan willing to travel to Shenyang as soon as possible.
During the rest of our stay in Beijing, I had no heart for sightseeing. I simply played along to avoid tipping off Sun Xicai. On the train back to Shenyang, I set my phone to vibrate. Frank Fang called, but I didn't dare answer. Soon, I received a text. I hid in the train's restroom to read it:
"Arjan Somchai from Saraburi is willing to come to Shenyang. The price isn't too high—200,000 Baht. If you can provide the materials yourself, I can knock 50,000 off the price."
I did the math: 200,000 Baht was about 40,000 RMB. It hurt my wallet, but saving 50,000 Baht meant saving 10,000 RMB. I texted back asking what materials were needed. Frank Fang replied:
"Menstrual blood of a young virgin; the underwear a childless middle-aged woman wore when she was buried; corpse oil from a female infant who died prematurely; hair and pubic hair from a pregnant woman; and gravestone powder from a female decedent over eighty years old."
Reading the text, I nearly vomited. Where the hell was I supposed to find those things? Someone knocked on the restroom door. I hurried out only to find Sun Xicai. He looked at me with suspicion. "Brother Tien, are you constipated? You were in there forever."
I didn't give him a friendly look. "Is constipation that weird? Since when do you monitor my bathroom breaks?" Sun Xicai chuckled. "Constipation is fine, but if you're blocked up every day, that's a lot of suffering." I didn't understand his double meaning and just glared at him before returning to my seat.
Once back in Shenyang, I called Frank Fang and told him it was impossible to collect those items in mainland China. Frank Fang said, "Those are Five Pure Yin Materials. To save 10,000 RMB, you should come to Thailand. It's much easier to gather them here." I refused immediately, telling him that after the 'corpse kilns' in Ban Nam Rong, I was done with graveyards.
Frank Fang asked, "When did you go to Ban Nam Rong?" I realized I'd let it slip and had to explain how Uncle Xie took me there. Frank Fang snorted. "Did it work?" I said it did, but it was useless now.
I went straight home, haunted by the incident in the Forbidden City. If I had been even slightly less vigilant, I wouldn't have made it back. That afternoon, I wired a 50,000 Baht deposit to Frank Fang to get things moving.
Half a month later, Frank Fang informed me that the materials were ready and he would be flying to Guangzhou with Arjan Somchai the next day. Two days later, I picked up Frank Fang, Arjan Somchai, and a disciple from Taoxian Airport and checked them into a hotel near the amulet shop. Arjan Somchai was quite handsome, looking like a mixed-race man with a vibe similar to the actor Anthony Wong.
The four of us sat in the hotel room. Arjan Somchai explained: "Men are of the Yang element. As they age, their Yang energy weakens. At the age of eighty-one, their Yang is entirely gone. That is why men at that age are most susceptible to ghosts and illness. If they survive past that, their Yin energy begins to rise, allowing them to live several more years. A man who dies at eighty-one is called a Male Undead. Being a man with no Yang, such spirits crave Yang energy more than ordinary ghosts. Once they possess a living person, they are hard to remove. To deal with one, we use the Five Pure Yin Materials—derived from female infants, girls, women, and the elderly—to help bind the spirit into a Yin object, such as an amulet."
I looked at Frank Fang with gratitude. If it weren't for his connections, I could have searched for a year without success. Arjan Somchai pulled out two small glass vials containing a substance that looked like thick, greasy black honey. Frank Fang said, "Once these materials are mixed into a paste, we just need to get Sun Xicai to ingest it. Then, the Master will perform the ritual to bind the Male Undead spirit to an amulet. That will be the end of it."
I thought for a moment. "In that case, we have to give this task to Wang Jiao. Besides her, no one can get close enough to Sun Xicai to pull it off."
That afternoon, I went to the amulet shop with a few Positive amulets. I claimed I had just returned from Thailand with the latest styles blessed in Bangkok and asked Sun Xicai if he wanted them. He looked at the stock but complained the price was too high. It didn't matter; it was just a cover. While his back was turned to grab his phone, I caught Wang Jiao's eye and gave her a subtle signal before making my excuse to leave.