Chapter 17 No Moon

"There's such a saying, but it's said that the ritual process is very complicated. Not only does the practitioner need considerable Daoist skills and be proficient in numerology, but the person whose yang fire is borrowed must also willingly bear a great price. So it's been a long time since I've heard of anyone using it."

"Can you do it?" What Jiang Cheng really cared about was this point.

Li Bai shook his head. "I can't."

For some reason, after hearing Li Bai's straightforward admission, Fatty actually felt a sense of relief. Staying in this bizarre world for too long seemed to gradually assimilate his spirit into something abnormal. If it weren't for the belief in saving people supporting him, and the doctor by his side, he might have had a mental breakdown.

Suddenly, Li Bai's phone rang. It was Luo Tianhe calling.

Luo Tianhe notified Li Bai to gather at a courtyard near the gate of the Wu mansion. He had something to explain about tonight's mission, and also asked who was with Li Bai.

"Yao Shunyu is with me, the two of us will set off now."

Not long after hanging up, Jiang Cheng also received a call, but it wasn't from Luo Tianhe, but from Lin Qianqian. She was also asking where they were, and told them to go to the Wu mansion gate to meet up immediately.

Jiang Cheng replied that he was with Fatty and would head over right away.

"What's wrong? Is something amiss?" Li Bai looked at Jiang Cheng, who looked preoccupied ever since hanging up the phone.

Putting away his phone, Jiang Cheng looked thoughtfully towards the door. "Something's not quite right. Lin Qianqian's voice was too calm. She doesn't seem worried about the upcoming mission at all."

"Didn't we discuss this before? The fact that she can live with Luo Tianhe shows that they've reached some kind of agreement in private. She's confident that Luo Tianhe will protect her," Yao Shunyu explained bluntly.

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng sighed. "Maybe so, maybe I'm overthinking it."

He told Li Bai and Yao Shunyu to go first, and then he and Fatty would go around in a circle and head over from a different direction.

Without further delay, Li Bai and Yao Shunyu left.

On the way, Jiang Cheng stretched a little to clear his head, preparing to welcome tonight's mission. Seeing this, Fatty couldn't help but worry. "Doctor, you don't look so good. It's like you're the one who's cursed, not me."

"Don't, it's better if it's you. You have good luck. Even Luo Tianhe praised you for the rainbow between your eyebrows."

Hearing that Jiang Cheng was still in the mood to bicker with him, Fatty finally felt relieved. The two of them went around a long corridor, and after about ten minutes, they entered a courtyard together.

At this moment, there were already people waiting in the courtyard: Li Bai, Yao Shunyu, Luo Tianhe, Lin Qianqian, Yuan Shanyuan, Bai Yu—five people and one ghost, not a single one missing.

Seeing Jiang Cheng and Fatty come in, Lin Qianqian acted rather enthusiastically. "Brother Jiangcheng, you're finally here. People from the Wu mansion came to find us earlier, saying that you came looking for me and Mr. Luo, but we were already resting at the time and were sound asleep, so we didn't hear the knocking."

"Oh, by the way, is there anything important?" Lin Qianqian blinked her lively eyes, asking a little embarrassedly.

Seeing Lin Qianqian acting, Jiang Cheng didn't mind playing along. He took her hand, his eyes filled with concern as he looked at her. "I'm not worried about Mr. Luo. I'm just worried about you. Mr. Luo is a profound cultivator. Even if you and Mr. Luo encounter danger together, you'll be the one to die."

Lin Qianqian's smile froze on her face, but Jiang Cheng's smile remained lively.

Yuan Shanyuan, who knew where he had gotten a cane, tapped the ground with one end of the cane. "Everyone, we've all been summoned by Mr. Luo. Let's have Mr. Luo explain the task for tonight."

Hearing this, Luo Tianhe didn't refuse. His gaze slowly swept across the crowd. "Everyone, the strange happenings in the Wu family mansion have now been basically investigated. The one causing the trouble is the resentful infant, and to completely get rid of the resentful infant's entanglement, we must dig out the infant remains buried deep under the threshold of the main gate."

"I know everyone's concerns, and I'm well aware of the danger of doing this tonight, but this matter is like an arrow on the string and must be done."

"Please rest assured, tonight our task is not to clean up all the infant remains. Most of the resentful infants are still sleeping, and we don't need to provoke them. We only need to find those resentful infants that are causing trouble in the Wu mansion."

"Dig out their remains, suppress their resentment, and ensure that nothing happens during our stay in the Wu mansion, and that will be enough."

"According to my calculations, the number of resentful infants that have awakened is at most close to the number of us, which means that one person is responsible for digging out one, which is enough."

"To avoid too many people with strong yang qi colliding with the resentful infants, we can only go one person at a time tonight. The next person can only set off after the previous person returns."

"And I can promise you one thing. Since I proposed this matter, then I, Luo Tianhe, will naturally take the lead and go first."

"After arriving at the main gate, I will perform divination at the time of meiyue (when the moon is completely obscured), and deduce which resentful infant is most compatible with your bazi (eight characters of birth), and then leave a mark on it. After you arrive at the scene, just dig it out."

Luo Tianhe's words were very煽动性 (shāndòngxìng - inflammatory), and in a few words he put himself at the height of a leader and someone who would sacrifice himself for the collective good, but these small tricks were completely useless to those who were qualified to stand here.

"What is the time of meiyue?"

Fatty whispered to the doctor beside him, but unfortunately, Yuan Shanyuan heard him. He turned his head to look at Fatty, seemingly very interested in the latter.

"Meiyue refers to the time when the moon is completely obscured by dark clouds. At this time, yin qi rises. If you perform divination to calculate the yin gate, the hexagrams are surprisingly accurate."

"Mr. Yuan is right." Luo Tianhe calmly nodded, and looked up at the night sky. "It's getting late, I'm going to prepare to set off. There is one more thing to tell you, after the divination results come out later, I will send the hexagrams to the group. You can go in order, and after taking back the container containing the infant remains, return to the room immediately. Do not have any further communication with anyone on the way."

After speaking, Luo Tianhe no longer hesitated, stepped out of the small courtyard, and went straight to the main gate of the Wu mansion.

Watching Luo Tianhe's back, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but sigh. "Mr. Luo's righteousness is truly a model for us."

Lin Qianqian didn't bother to pay attention to him at all.

Time passed by minute by minute. After about 20 minutes, Fatty seemed to sense something, and suddenly raised his head to look at the night sky. He saw a large cloud floating from somewhere, gradually devouring the moon.

Soon, the moon completely disappeared, and the night sky turned into a dark void.

"The time of meiyue... has arrived."

The one who exclaimed was Yuan Shanyuan. At this moment, a strange smile appeared on his face, and Bai Yu, who was always used to lowering his head, actually slowly raised his head, holding a large white lantern in his hand, with the black character 奠 (diàn - funeral) on it being very glaring.