We and Mo Ting clashed over a dozen swords and even used talismans to swat at the black mist child.
Yet, we couldn't kill it, and the talismans were useless against the black mist.
"Brother Qin, what do we do?
Is this little ghost immortal?"
Mo Ting frowned, utterly perplexed.
After all, we had both only recently taken our masters.
This was our first encounter with a Duoming Tong.
But I knew that in this world, nothing was truly immortal, not even ghosts.
"It's impossible not to kill it; we just haven't found the way."
I spoke, looking at the trembling black mist child.
Finally, my gaze landed on the shattered ceramic doll.
A thought sparked, and I found my direction.
We had been preoccupied with this black mist child, completely overlooking its physical vessel.
If we couldn't disperse the mist, why not destroy its golden body?
With that in mind, I snatched the broken-headed ceramic doll from the shrine.
"Perhaps burning its golden body will make it disappear."
Mo Ting's eyes lit up upon hearing my suggestion.
The black mist child turned its head at that moment.
Its features coalesced, forming a ferocious appearance.
It lunged at us, its black mist claws repeatedly striking my feet:
"Give it back, give it back! Give me back my golden body..."
Mo Ting and I paid no mind to the black mist child.
Although we couldn't dispel the mist, we'd also discovered it posed no harm to us.
Its black mist claws dissipated automatically upon contact.
Previously, it was only after the black mist entered the golden body that it could use the ceramic doll to exert its influence on us.
Now that the ceramic doll was broken, it had lost all its power.
I examined the doll in my hand.
Inside, there was a dried, shriveled infant corpse, covered in a layer of golden powder.
It was very small, barely larger than a fist, likely only three to five months old.
At this size, it probably hadn't even formed a human shape in its mother's womb.
It could have been a natural miscarriage or an abortion.
Regardless, after this ghost child was aborted, it was made into a dried corpse, placed inside this ceramic doll, and nurtured into a Duoming Tong.
This was my first time seeing such a small desiccated infant.
I couldn't help but frown.
Mo Ting even exclaimed:
"Truly a cruel fate..."
The ghost child's spirit, which had been attacking us, continued to rage and roar:
"Give it back! Give back my golden body!
You will all die..."
Mo Ting and I ignored it, letting it shriek.
I then took out a talisman to suppress evil and directly affixed it to the ghost child's remains.
Magically, as soon as the talisman touched the ghost child's remains,
the ghost child kneeling before us dissolved, vanishing into a wisp of smoke.
However, I knew this wasn't the true demise of the ghost child.
Its physical body, its golden shell, had to be thoroughly cremated.
Only then would the Duoming Tong truly vanish.
"All done. We can leave now and find a place outside to burn it!"
I said.
Mo Ting nodded in agreement:
"Alright!"
With that, we withdrew from the main bathroom.
Surveying the ransacked room, I found a pillowcase.
After wrapping the ghost child's golden body in it, we left.
It was past nine o'clock, and few of the people who had been out for walks or dancing in the square earlier remained.
Mo Ting and I, acting as if nothing had happened, carried the child's corpse out of the residential complex.
We planned to burn the item in the nearby Shuanghu Park.
However, the park was kept very clean, so we couldn't find any firewood.
Mo Ting had to go to a supermarket outside the complex and buy some charcoal, lighter fluid, and packing sawdust.
After a delay of about ten minutes, we proceeded to Shuanghu Park.
After all, other places were streets with too much foot traffic.
Upon entering Shuanghu Park, we found a secluded spot.
It took us a while longer to fully ignite the charcoal.
As the flames grew, I directly tossed the ghost child's remains from the ceramic jar into the pile of charcoal.
The intention was to burn this thing and put an end to it.
The talisman dissolved in the fire. The ghost child's spirit, which had previously vanished, reappeared from within the remains.
As soon as it manifested, it let out a hoarse cry:
"No, my golden body, my golden body..."
With that, it attempted to leap into the fire and retrieve the remains.
But it was just a mass of black mist; not only could it not retrieve them, it couldn't even get close to the flames.
Meanwhile, the ghost child's remains crackled and burned in the fire, quickly consumed by more than half.
Seeing that it could not rescue its golden body,
the ghost child's spirit turned its gaze to Mo Ting and me, roaring in fury:
"I will kill you, kill you..."
It lunged towards us.
Mo Ting and I stood motionless, watching it silently.
But before it could reach us, its remains were completely consumed by the fire.
The ghost child's furious cries abruptly ceased.
Its black mist spirit vanished into thin air in an instant...
This time, it truly dissipated, never to reform.
Looking at the gone ghost child, I couldn't feel any joy.
Based on the information we had, this ghost child's origins were likely quite tragic.
The remains were so small; it was undoubtedly a child lost by its mother.
Whether it was a natural miscarriage or an induced abortion,
this child, lost before it was even born, was indeed pitiable.
But even after death, its body was made into a dried corpse by a sinister practitioner and sealed in a ceramic jar, raised as a Duoming Tong.
Once a vengeful spirit, it was difficult to reverse its fate.
Master had made it clear: once such Duoming Tongs matured, they would become merciless, killing demons.
With no room for redemption, Mo Ting and I had no choice but to utterly eradicate it.
If blame were to be assigned, it could only be to the perpetrator behind the scenes, the evil Daoist Miao Nanzi.