Chapter 59

Upon reaching Zhou Gang’s house, he knocked. Zhou Gang quickly opened the door for him, as if long waiting for him to arrive.

“How is it? Is Tongtong alright?” Chen Hao anxiously enquired.

Zhou Gang replied, “She cried for a while after being scared. Your sister-in-law finally coaxed her to sleep a while ago. Oh, and the jade Buddha which you gave Tongtong suddenly broke. Is something wrong?”

What?

Chen Hao’s expression changed visibly.

He gave the jade Buddha to Tongtong because that was a magical artifact that could ward off evil spirits. This also meant that as long as dark spirits did not take the initiative to go near her, nothing would happen. For the jade Buddha to shatter meant that not only did it try to get close to her, but it even tried to harm her.

His expression turned ugly instantly. Chen Hao went into the bedroom silently and saw Yang Hui coaxing the child.

Seeing Chen Hao, Yang Hui was about to stand up, but Chen Hao stopped her and instead went over to carefully observe.

The little girl’s cute face was tear-stained and she was still sniffing. It was evident that she was really frightened.

The black cat beside Chen Hao jumped onto the bed as it quietly observed the little girl as well. It did not meow, and a strange glint flashed across its eyes.

At this time, Chen Hao saw the cracked jade Buddha.

Yang Hui cherished this item. Even if it was shattered into pieces, she still gathered them and placed them by Tongtong’s side.

It was a pity that she didn’t know that the jade Buddha lost its effects the moment it shattered.

A cold glint flashed across Chen Hao’s eyes.

From the signs of how the jade Buddha broke, he could tell that the headless female ghost wanted to possess Tongtong but was repelled by the jade Buddha. The jade Buddha broke and the headless female ghost was pushed away as well.

Although it didn’t seem like it did much harm, Chen Hao knew that for a child as young as Tongtong with a weak constitution, if the ferocious ghost possessed her, the consequence would be similar to that of murder.

For it to try its hands on such a young child, even if it was a wronged ghost, it deserved to die.

Chen Hao took out another jade Buddha from his bag and placed it in Yang Hui’s hands. “Sister-in-law, this is a magical artifact which I made recently. It has a better effect than the previous one. If you bring this around, nothing will happen to Tongtong.”

Yang Hui was elated. When she received it, she replied with gratitude, “Hao’zi, thank you very much.”

Chen Hao gave a slight smile. “You don’t have to be this polite. Sister-in-law, take care of Tongtong. I will go settle that unclean thing which came uninvited.”

After speaking, Chen Hao turned to leave the bedroom.

The black cat stared at Tongtong for a while more before it hopped off the bed and ran out as well.

Upon reaching the living room, Chen Hao circled the perimeter. The dark energy had yet to dissipate, but he couldn’t feel the presence of the ghost in this area. Evidently, it was injured by the jade Buddha and escaped.

Turning to Zhou Gang, he said, “Brother Zhou, take good care of Sister-in-law and Tongtong. I will settle this dirty thing.”

Zhou Gang quickly replied, “Hao’zi, I know who this female ghost is.”

Chen Hao said, “I have someone in mind as well. It’s probably the body that was split into pieces at the underground waterway of Zhou Village? When I guessed that, I wasn’t intending to meddle with it. After all, all debts have their owner. Someone killed her, so it was within her rights to seek revenge. However, I didn’t expect this bastard to be so vicious. She didn’t go to find the original owner and actually struck at an innocent child. It has no reasoning at all. Since that’s the case, even if she died a wronged death, I have no intention of keeping her.”

Zhou Gang smiled bitterly. “There’s more to it. This headless female ghost has been following me for a few days. I don’t know what evil spells she did which allowed me to vaguely hear a voice telling me to get Zhang Dakui out of the police station. At first, I thought I heard wrongly, but when I was affected today once again, the jade Guanyin you gave me broke. I sensed that something was off and the headless female ghost came tonight.”

Chen Hao said, “Zhang Dakui? That’s the person who murders and chops his victims into pieces? The murderer with the mole?”

Zhou Gang nodded. “That’s him. We caught him near the outskirts and sent him to the police station. I’m in charge of his interrogation, so I was probably tainted by his smell, attracting the headless female ghost to me. Hao’zi, do you think this female ghost can still be reborn?”

Chen Hao sneered. “Reborn? She can dream about it. Such a vicious thing, why should she get reborn? She should be destroyed. Then this should end once and for all.”

“This, won’t it harm your spiritual practice? After all, the female ghost was also killed by someone else,” Zhou Gang asked in a worried tone.

Chen Hao felt helpless. In the past, he used spiritual practice as a means to ask for help, but now it actually trapped him. One lie would lead to more lies to cover it.

Chen Hao explained, “Brother Zhou, perhaps you don’t really understand the cultivation world. We’re not really concerned about the Buddha’s saying about cause and effect. What we look at is for our thoughts to connect, for things to go as we wish. When we do kind deeds, normal people can do it as well. When we live in seclusion, even if the sky falls, it’s none of our concern. Helping ghosts is just one of those kind deeds, but I still mainly want to improve my cultivation. So, killing the ghost wouldn’t affect me.”

Zhou Gang was startled and felt lost.

“Oh, you interrogated Zhang Dakui, do you know where the female ghost died?” Chen Hao suddenly asked.

Zhou Gang replied, “I asked. She was killed at a pig farm near the east side of Xitou Village. The place has already been abandoned. Back then, it was a place where people gathered to gamble—a place protected by gangs. The female ghost was one of the gamblers. She borrowed money with high-interest rates because she was sore from losing, but in the end, she was scammed, causing her to lose millions of yuan in a single night. She didn’t return the money and was thinking of escaping when she was detained and killed by accident. In order to hide that from the others, she was chopped into pieces before being disposed of. The corpse was thrown into the underground waterway while Zhang Dakui said that her brain was sealed with a vicious spell. That was to prevent those people who were wronged to death to turn into a ferocious ghost to haunt them in the future.”

Chen Hao mocked. “Sealing only her head? Hehe, who is this dumb fellow who lacks proper knowledge and came up with this idea? Didn’t she still come back now?” He then continued, “Okay, I will go to that place. This female ghost is too vicious. I’m just afraid that she won’t feel settled even with Zhang Dakui’s death and will continue harming others. The best way is to exterminate her once and for all.”

Zhou Gang paused before he gritted his teeth. “Xitou Village is a little far and it has already been abandoned for a few years. Even if you called for a taxi, no one would be willing to go. Let me bring you there.”

Chen Hao frowned. “What about Sister-in-law and Tongtong?”

Zhou Gang replied, “I’ve informed Wang Zhen before this. He’s bringing a few guys and something like a deity figurine over. That should be enough to protect Huihui and Tongtong.”

Seeing that Chen Hao was still a little worried, Zhou Gang said seriously, “It’s okay for the female ghost to disturb me, but for her to want to harm Tongtong, I’m unable to tolerate it. That’s why I want to personally witness her soul turn into ashes before I can rest assured.”

Chen Hao was shocked. Looking at Zhou Gang’s murderous eyes, words of rejection wouldn’t come no matter what.

He couldn’t tell that this man who always said he wanted another son actually loved his daughter so deeply.

Not long later, Wang Zhen arrived with a few burly men. Each of them was even hugging wooden deity figurines or porcelain deity figurines.

“Master Chen, what’s the situation? I heard from Ah Gang that the headless female ghost appeared again?” Wang Zhen looked at Chen Hao as he inquired anxiously.

Chen Hao cut straight to the point. “She did come and almost harmed Tongtong. I’m going with Brother Zhou to settle this dirty thing. Guard the place with your people. No matter what strange things happen, you don’t have to care. Just hold that deity figurine closely.”

After he spoke, Chen Hao gazed strangely and pointed to a wooden deity figurine carried by one of the men—one of the eight deities from the legends, Zhang Guolao.