Volume One: The Old Corpse in the Mountain Village
Evil Spirit Upcoming Screening
Human greed is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant, indeed it is so.
[“人心不足蛇吞象” is a Chinese idiom/proverb that literally means “unsatisfied human heart, snake swallowing elephant” – used to describe excessive greed or ambition beyond one’s capacity]
The building started becoming restless, at night there were always sounds of a woman crying and a baby wailing.
After Akita Kyoko became a vengeful ghost, she couldn’t remember clearly how she gave birth to that ghost baby.
Its appearance was not like a human, with sunken eyes, and its cheeks were full of pitted holes.
Akita Kyoko died from being sexually assaulted, her resentful energy [怨气: grudge/hatred] could not find peace in this building for a long time.
She held the wrinkled ghost baby, muttering: “Hanako, just stay quietly with mama forever…”
How did that ghost baby come out of her body?
Swollen body, protruding belly, the child in her stomach was from those thugs…
When the ghost baby was born, she only felt some shameful fluid sliding down her legs, intense struggling pain swept through all her limbs.
The glory of motherhood was displayed vividly through her, she cherished this child deeply.
Akita Kyoko didn’t let those people who harmed her go, after becoming a ghost she killed all of them completely.
The one who died most horribly was that Qin wretch [瘪三: derogatory term for a worthless person], he was found dead in a public toilet.
(Death details specifics not allowed to describe)
The building since then became widely rumored to be haunted, the number of people who moved away was not small.
Everyone spread rumors that this building was previously built on an abandoned construction site, and a worker had died there, attracting a yin ghost [阴鬼: malevolent spirit/ghost]…
The yin ghost was Akita Kyoko.
Akita Kyoko was no longer satisfied with killing, she decided to seek revenge on Wei Jinbao’s family.
Wei Jinbao’s household also started becoming unsettled, his wife would often see a woman standing at her bedhead saying: “Everything you possess should have originally been mine.”
Bean-sized sweat drops emerged from her forehead, she saw that woman wearing a kimono singing Sakura to her.
The wife’s mental state completely collapsed, she covered her ears to stop herself from hearing, closed her eyes to stop thinking, believing this way she could avoid Akita Kyoko.
The relentless Akita Kyoko, holding her Hanako, played tricks on her in the villa all day long, she was nearly killed by Akita Kyoko several times.
The wife had no choice but to seek help from Wei Jinbao, with a grief-stricken face she said: “Jinbao, there are others in the villa… she wants to kill me.”
The safe and sound Wei Jinbao asked her: “Are you perhaps too tired from taking care of the children, thinking too much about everything?”
The wife shook her head and said: “No… there’s a woman, she’s here in our villa, wearing a kimono, with long hair…”
As time passed, Wei Jinbao also noticed some unusual phenomena.
Things in the house would appear in disarray [乱七八糟: messy/chaotic], and the child would inexplicably start crying.
In the villa, one could hear a woman’s footsteps, she would call out beside his ear.
She said she would make him watch his wife die, make him live alone in this world suffering through the loss of wife and children, and complete ruin [家破人亡: family destroyed and people dead].
The most torturous thing is not death, but living in pain.
The wife was finally tortured to sleeplessness by that woman, so they invited a ghost-removing high monk Xuanmin.
High Monk Xuanmin had traveled far and wide, and was widely experienced and knowledgeable.
From childhood he learned Yin-Yang secret arts from his master, he has Yin-Yang eyes that ordinary people don’t have.
Xuanmin cut his finger to draw blood and dotted it on his eyes, in his pupils appeared the reflection of a woman ghost in kimono, she lived in this villa.
“Mr. Wei, are you still hiding something from me, this female ghost I fear has an unavoidable connection to you.” Xuanmin pressed his palms together saying Amitabha [阿弥陀佛: Buddhist prayer], his ritual tool ghost-summoning banner wavered subtly.
Wei Jinbao saw that paper couldn’t contain the fire [纸包不住火: truth cannot be hidden], had no choice but to tell High Monk Xuanmin everything completely and thoroughly.
The wife after hearing cursed him as a heartless [薄情寡义: lacking in feeling and righteousness] bastard, shouting about wanting to divorce him.
Wei Jinbao pressed on his wife’s shoulders saying: “We already have a child, could you bear to let her be without a father?”
The wife’s heart softened again, she took a breath and said: “Master, what should we do now?”
Xuanmin looked around examining this villa, shaking his head saying: “Mr. Wei’s evil deeds are now all bringing retribution onto your wife and daughter, the only solution now is…”
High Monk Xuanmin lowered his head meaningfully, Wei Jinbao asked straightforwardly: “Master, what difficulty is there in speaking, please just say it.”
Xuanmin said without hesitation: “Return to that building, I will perform a ritual on the rooftop, we can only seal her in a painting, then you must guard this building year after year…”
Xuanmin said that painting was by a famous Japanese artist, it could be used perfectly to suppress the ghost of Akita Kyoko, the painting contained the flavor of her hometown, to lure her into the painting and then seal her.
Wei Jinbao spent a large sum to buy that building, his entire body was covered with talismans.
Wei Jinbao feared his shameful deeds would be exposed, he dispersed the building’s residents, making them all move away.
The ritual ceremony lasted one day and one night.
Wei Jinbao clutched his wife’s hand on the rooftop watching Xuanmin perform the ritual, they saw with their own eyes Akita Kyoko’s ghost being summoned by Xuanmin to the top floor.
Xuanmin saw this evil spirit still wanting to entangle herself [作茧自缚: lit. “cocoon oneself in silk”], he pinched a golden talisman making Akita Kyoko unable to move.
Akita Kyoko muttered: “You old man who helps the tyrant do evil, may you die terribly…”
Akita Kyoko’s ghost was being torn apart, her twisted body swaying, Xuanmin seized the opportunity to collect her into the banner and then sealed her ghost in 《Hell Scroll》.
Before leaving, Xuanmin said to him: “The sealing power can only last forty years, after forty years she will reappear in the building…”
Wei Jinbao pulled at Xuanmin’s sleeve saying: “Master Xuanmin, is there no way to eliminate her?”
High Monk Xuanmin’s nostrils kept twitching as he shook his head saying: “Xuanmin’s spiritual powers are limited, being able to suppress this fierce ghost for forty years has already exhausted my spiritual power.”
After Xuanmin finished speaking, blood foam slowly seeped from the corner of his mouth.
He held the ghost-summoning banner and turned to leave.
From then on, Wei Jinbao lived peacefully for a period of time.
Retribution eventually fell upon his head, his wife and daughter both contracted incurable illnesses one after another, dying in succession.
Wei Jinbao began to play in the mortal world [游戏人间: live a playboy lifestyle], established nightclubs, he became addicted to the flower world [花花世界: world of pleasure/entertainment] toying with women.
Too much time had passed, he had almost forgotten about Akita Kyoko.
In the blink of an eye, forty years passed like an arrow, she returned.
When Wei Jinye spoke to this point, his lips twitched slightly, his eyeballs intentionally or unintentionally glanced toward the 《Hell Scroll》 painting in the living room.
The burning woman in the picture seemed to flash with spiritual light, the colors staining her dress seemed to be Akita Kyoko’s blood…
The story takes a turn, the time was exactly forty years, no more no less.
Ning Lan listened to this story all the way through, she shook her head saying: “Wei Jinye still won’t tell the truth even now, as far as I know, that year, that Qin wretch didn’t die in a public toilet, you’re lying again.”
Around 1920, the historical background of the story indicates that a murder case occurred in the building, the case was several thugs being beaten to death and thrown into the river by [censored] people.
Analyzing it this way, those thugs must have died before Akita Kyoko became a vengeful ghost.
Wei Jinye’s mouth is full of lies.
Last time when talking about the Lanfang family there were logical inconsistencies, this time he’s beautified the story again.
He is determined to craft his personal image as having not wronged Akita Kyoko even the smallest bit.
Wei Jinbao said with trembling fingers: “Yes… Auntie Mei and that Qin wretch and those thugs were disposed of by people I arranged…”
To silence those people’s mouths, Wei Jinbao invited some powerful people to deal with them.
Human greed is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant, indeed it is so.
Ning Lan continued asking: “The Lanfang family didn’t leave one after another as you said, but disappeared, right?”
Wei Jinbao, as if someone had struck his spine [被人戳中了脊梁骨: hit a sensitive spot], said: “You… how did you know?”
Ning Lan exhaled and said: “I found something wrong in her diary, the handwriting looks like it was forged by someone.”
Ning Lan flipped through the diary back and forth, then moved her attention to the signed psychiatric diagnosis form.
The writing in the diary clearly differed from the signature’s handwriting.
Analyzing it all together could only prove one point:
Lanfang having a mental illness was true, but the diary was forged by someone.
The last paragraph in the diary:
May 23, 1973. Our whole family’s mental state has changed, Jiajia also has shadows [阴影: psychological trauma] in her heart and rejects being in this home, we’ve decided to move away from here.
The truth of the matter is:
For a family urgently wanting to leave their house, how could there be no traces of packing up in the home?
The only explanation that makes sense is one truth, because they hadn’t planned to leave immediately, but instead encountered some sudden incident.
Analyzing further, who knew there was a female ghost in this building? Besides this seemingly righteous [道貌岸然: having a dignified appearance but corrupt inside] Wei Jinye before her.
“I also don’t know where they went, really don’t know!” Wei Jinye, strongly suppressing his remorse, muttered repeatedly.
Ning Lan stepped forward to carefully observe the 《Hell Scroll》 painting, the brush strokes connected together looked like a sealing talisman pattern, the pattern had cracked.
So this was the fundamental reason why Akita Kyoko could crawl out from the painting.
Comparing it with the puzzle piece of 《Hell Scroll》 in her phone, the woman’s face had gradually split apart, one half was Akita Kyoko, one half was another face.
“Not good, Akita Kyoko is coming!” Ning Lan saw the woman in the painting becoming lifelike, she was about to be completely released from the painting.
Wei Jinye, holding his head, couldn’t help but confess to the woman in the painting saying: “It was all my fault back then, I shouldn’t have abandoned you for my own selfish interests, please spare me…”
A cool breeze blew from the balcony, on the living room wall suddenly appeared a woman in a kimono singing about cherry blossoms.
The woman extracted herself from the wall, she violently possessed Wei Jinye’s body.
Wei Jinye felt his body being wrapped by strands of hair, he was wrapped like a mummy by black hair…
Wei Jinye’s neck was entangled by hair strands, he breathed heavily.
Akita Kyoko strangled his neck, whispering: “Spare you? Come down and keep me company!”
Wei Jinye whimpered: “You… why… can’t you just… let me go… Akita.”
Akita Kyoko grinned saying: “I gave you a chance, but you didn’t want it!”
She should have been released from the seal in 1964, but that High Monk Xuanmin had added an extra talisman seal in between.
For revenge delayed a full ten years, Akita Kyoko poured all her resentment onto his body.
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