bookbashuk Chapter 30: A Sound Behind the Door, Human Sacrifice
Chapter 30: A Sound Behind the Door, Human Sacrifice
It was 6 PM on the 12th day of the seventh lunar month.
Chen Mo hurriedly led Liu Xiaoyu back to Qing Shi Lane.
The light in the alley was dimmer than usual, and the shadows seemed to spread from the old houses, shrouding the entire alley in a gloomy atmosphere.
The door to the old house was ajar, and a dark red light shone through the crack.
As Chen Mo pushed open the door, a chilling current rushed towards him.
Grandma Wang sat upright beside the octagonal table in the main room, clutching a string of peach wood prayer beads in her hand, her face solemn.
The earth spirit hovered at the top of the stairs leading to the basement, and fine cracks appeared on the surface of the small blue stone figure's body.
Grandma Wang looked up at Chen Mo.
"They've arrived. The noise inside has stopped, but the situation is worse."
"What happened?"
Grandma Wang gestured for him to look at the spirit, "Let it speak."
The earth spirit floated in front of Chen Mo, its voice unusually weak, "Landlord, just one hour after you left, the bronze door started to shake, the kind of shaking that comes from the inside. The seven-star pattern on the door, the part with the 'yaoguang' light turned completely black, but the red light on the other six points grew brighter and brighter. At its brightest, this seeped out from the crack in the door."
It points to the floor of the main room.
Chen Mo looked down and saw a pool of dark red liquid on the bluestone floor, which had already partially solidified and emitted a smell of rust mixed with sandalwood.
It's not blood, but it's thicker than blood.
Liu Xiaoyu squatted down and reached out to touch it, but Chen Mo stopped her.
"Don't touch it."
Chen Mo used his spiritual vision to observe the pool of liquid. In his spiritual vision, the liquid presented a strange dual vision: the surface was dark red, but inside there were countless fine golden runes flowing. The runes formed the shape of chains, which were slowly breaking and reforming.
He asked the spirit, "Is this... the blood of the formation?"
"To be precise, this isn't blood, it's a manifestation of the formation's foundation," Grandma Wang continued. "Part of the Seven Star Locking Dragon Formation is alive, relying on the contents of the seven anchor points' coffins as its energy core. Now, the core of the Yao Guang position, that tear anchor, has dissipated along with Liu Fengchun, damaging the formation's foundation. In order to preserve the entire formation, the other six anchor points have started desperately drawing energy—this puddle is what leaked out after drawing too much."
"What will the consequences be?"
Grandma Wang took a deep breath.
"The consequence is that the things in the coffins at the other six anchor points will awaken more quickly; Zhao Shouyi's granddaughter is just the beginning."
Chen Mo recalled the unusual phenomena recorded in Su Jingwan's diary at seven locations every year on the fifteenth of July.
If the previous strange phenomena were merely the movements of things inside the coffin, now that the formation is out of balance, they may be about to fully awaken.
He walked towards the basement stairs.
"I'll go check the door."
"Be careful," Grandma Wang cautioned. "The door is very hungry now. It has run out of energy from the light source and might steal food from any living creature that comes near."
Chen Mo nodded, indicating that Liu Xiaoyu should stay upstairs, and went down the stairs alone.
The temperature in the basement was at least ten degrees lower than usual, and the air was filled with a musty, earthy smell.
The bronze door stood silently at the end. The seven-star pattern on the door panel was indeed as Grandma Wang had said—the spot in the halos was completely dark, while the other six spots were dazzlingly red.
Chen Mo stopped three meters in front of the door.
He noticed some words had been added to the door panel.
The extremely faint silver-gray characters spread outwards from the edge of the door crack, forming ancient seal script.
Chen Mo only recognized a few of them: Zhen, Hun, Shi, and Ji.
He slowly approached and reached out to touch the writing.
Just as her fingertips were about to touch the door panel, the rouge mark on the back of her hand, hidden in her skin, suddenly became intensely hot.
Chen Mo abruptly withdrew his hand, and at the same moment, a whisper entered his mind.
"...The time...is almost here..."
The voice was old and hoarse, unlike a human voice, hollow and empty.
A chill ran from Chen Mo's tailbone to the top of his head.
He immediately activated the tenant resonance, connecting with the consciousness of the old house itself. In the past, this connection would have given him a sense of gentle protection from the old house, but this time, he only felt chaos.
The old house is afraid.
This ancient house, which had existed for countless years, conveyed a sense of fear to him for the first time.
Chen Mo asked the door, "Who are you?"
There was a few seconds of silence inside the door, then another sentence was uttered.
"...Chen...Banshan...the...debt...should be repaid..."
Chen Mo's heart suddenly tightened. "What debt does my third great-uncle owe?"
no answer.
But the seal script characters on the door panel began to flow, twisting and rearranging themselves.
A few seconds later, it formed a sentence that he could understand.
To replace one of the seven stars, a living soul must be sacrificed. On the fifteenth of the seventh month, offering one person can temporarily stabilize the situation for three months.
The writing remained for about ten seconds before slowly fading away.
Chen Mo stared at the door panel, and a fine layer of cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
The door was speaking to him, and its proposed solution was the sacrifice of a living person.
He turned to leave, but another sigh came from inside the door. It was the sobbing of a young woman, faint and intermittent, mixed with indistinct murmurs.
"...Father...I'm scared..."
"...The water is so cold..."
"...The lotus...the lotus has bloomed..."
It was Zhao Xiaolian's voice.
Chen Mo turned around abruptly, "Zhao Xiaolian? You're inside?"
The crying stopped.
Instead, a ripple appeared on the surface of the door panel.
At the center of the ripples, a scene emerged: a dim space, a stone coffin, the lid half open, inside lay a little girl, wearing a red cotton-padded jacket, her eyes closed, her face pale, and a silver bracelet on her left wrist gleaming faintly.
The image lasted only three seconds before it collapsed and disappeared.
But Chen Mo could see clearly that the lid of the stone coffin was engraved with the Jade Balance pattern from the Big Dipper.
Zhao Xiaolian's soul is indeed in the coffin at the Jade Balance position.
Moreover... judging from the appearance, it was forcibly sealed inside and put to sleep.
Now, due to the imbalance of the formation, the seal has loosened.
Chen Mo quickly walked back downstairs and told Grandma Wang what he had seen.
Upon hearing this, Grandma Wang's peach wood prayer beads snapped with a crack, scattering the beads all over the floor.
"Oh no..." she murmured. "That madman Zhao Shouyi sealed his granddaughter's soul in the coffin at the Jade Balance position, intending to nurture it with the power of the formation and wait for a chance to be resurrected. Now the seal on the coffin has loosened, and the soul is leaking out. That leaked soul power will flow along the formation's channels to other anchor points..."
"What will happen?"
"It will pollute," Grandma Wang said, her face pale. "Think about it, Zhao Xiaolian was only seven years old when she died. Her soul was pure, but her obsession was also deep. She drowned in the pool near the Jade Balance position. Before she died, she kept shouting that she didn't steal it. This kind of pure and strong obsession is the best catalyst for the things in the other anchor coffins."
She stood up and paced around the main room.
"The seven things sealed by the Seven Star Dragon Locking Formation were originally balanced and suppressed each other. Now that the Yao Guang position is empty and the Yu Heng position has started to leak out the obsessive soul power, the entire formation is about to be derailed."
Liu Xiaoyu asked softly, "What...what's in the other coffins?"
Grandma Wang stopped and looked at Chen Mo.
"You really want to know?"
Chen Mo nodded.