Ita Era

Chapter 162 Commonplace Possession

Silly Bike asked the question he cared about most: "Our family..."

"Yes, it's attached to your Aunt Cuihua," the old man answered frankly, then asked with a smile, "Do you still dare to live there?"

Ding Shi asked, "Uncle Tiezhu, is your personality eccentric or simply straightforward?"

Tie Zhu couldn't help but laugh, "I am a bit unconventional. Look at my face, right? Not to mention you, there aren't many people in the village who dare to chat with me. But you all surround me and ask me all sorts of questions, so of course I'll tell you everything I know. This is my eldest daughter, who passed away when she was seventeen. Don't worry, as long as you don't scream loudly, you'll be fine."

Foolish Dagger: "What does 'basically' mean?"

Tie Zhu replied, "My daughter is fine, but occasionally some unclean things come to visit our house."

Ding Shi asked in surprise, "They even visit each other's homes? Aren't they earthbound spirits?"

Tie Zhu seemed unwilling to discuss the topic, saying, "I don't know the specific reasons. Please sit down, I need to finish my work."

Ding Shi kept the sixth village rule in mind and rolled up his sleeves: "I'll help you out."

Tiezhu asked curiously, "You know how to do carpentry?"

Ding Shi honestly replied, "I can only eat; I can't be of much help."

Tie Zhu laughed heartily: "Okay, then you can help me out."

Silly Bike said, "I'm going out for a walk."

The village once had a sacred tree, indicating that it wasn't a myth. Sha Bi possessed information Ding Shi was unaware of: the sacred tree wasn't in the mountains of Tianmen Village. Sha Bi's plan was to first find the location where the sacred tree was used to make coffins, as it's highly likely that seeds of the tree fell in those places. Now, the sacred tree might just be a sapling.

The idea that the divine tree is actually a seedling is a ridiculous plot device that the Ita system loves to create. Because in everyone's mind, a divine tree should be tall and majestic; who would imagine that a tree with branches the size of a toothpick and only two leaves could be a divine tree?

While sanding the wood smooth, Ding Shi asked, "Uncle Tiezhu, have you ever heard of Feng Qiniang?"

"Come with me." Tie Zhu called out, walked out of the courtyard, pointed to a courtyard with a white wall, and said, "That's Feng Qiniang's house. However, Feng Qiniang's house is not your average fierce house."

After saying that, he walked back, and Ding Shi followed him back to continue inquiring.

Feng Qiniang is nearly sixty years old this year. She is a widow who has been widowed since she was eighteen. By chance, she became a matchmaker and is quite famous in several nearby villages. In her thirties, it is said that she seduced a man and was beaten half to death, unable to get out of bed for three months. Feng Qiniang's family has two evil spirits, who are her parents-in-law.

They are considered ferocious because they can kill people even during the day.

Strangely enough, Feng Qiniang has lived in this house for so many years and is still alive and well, remaining a well-known matchmaker in the surrounding area.

Ding Shi finished polishing two coffin boards. Seeing that there was still an hour before lunch, he said goodbye to Tie Zhu and went for a stroll.

Ten minutes later, Ding Shi noticed the problem. Tie Zhu was the kindest person in the village. Besides him, Liu Niang was also nice. Even Hu Tou was a good kid compared to most of the villagers.

Most of the villagers had empty and indifferent eyes, and they barely responded when you greeted them.

The second discovery was that no one in the village raised chickens, ducks, or pigs. If the villagers wanted to eat meat, they would either buy it at the market or in the morning, when people from other villages would set up meat stalls at the village entrance with carts for two hours.

In just one hour, Ding Shi had completed the rounds. He divided the villagers into two categories: one was villagers who lacked individuality, and indifference was their defining characteristic.

The second category consists of only eight households. Although not all of them are friendly villagers, some directly drove Ding Shi away, while others prevented Ding Shi from entering the courtyard.

The villager who wouldn't let Ding Shi into the courtyard was Feng Qiniang.

Feng Qiniang stood at the courtyard gate, her attitude quite friendly: "My house is a mess, there's nothing to offer you. If you need to stay overnight, I suggest you go to Tiezhu's house."

Ding Shi asked curiously, "Is this Tie Zhu's house?"

Feng Qiniang said, "Don't let Tie Zhu's fierce appearance fool you, he's the only half-baked Taoist priest in our village. We always ask him to handle funerals, and he knows a lot."

Ding Shi said, "His house is already full."

Feng Qiniang said, "Then let's go to Liu Niang's house. Her house is fairly clean, but don't try anything with her."

Ding Shi said, "Liu Niang is so beautiful, she must be full too."

Feng Qiniang frowned and thought for a while: "And there's Liu Po's family, Gou Dan's family..." The villagers that Feng Qiniang mentioned were all villagers that Ding Shi had marked as the second category.

Ding Shi nodded repeatedly to express his gratitude and asked, "May I ask, elder sister, do you know about the Divine Tree?"

The usually kind-hearted Feng Qiniang's expression suddenly changed. She took a step back and closed the courtyard gate, saying, "I don't know anything about this divine tree. You should leave now."

Seeing this, Ding Shi guessed that Feng Qiniang had important information, so he would not give up. He walked to the side, jumped onto the two-meter-high courtyard wall, and saw Feng Qiniang with her head down, seemingly thinking about something, walking towards her home.

Just as Ding was about to jump into the courtyard, the door to the west wing opened, and an old woman with half her face showing stared intently at him. Their eyes met, and the old woman vanished into the middle of the courtyard. Sunlight shone on her, and she seemed to be steaming, but she didn't care. She then reappeared on the wall.

Ding Shi had already jumped back first, looked up from under the wall, and met the old woman's gaze again. She seemed unconcerned about the scorching sunlight on her, and disappeared suddenly after several breaths.

Ding Shi wasn't afraid at all; he was someone who had killed a ghost-like woman face-to-face before.

It seems this old woman's killing rule is that anyone who enters her domain dies. This rule is simple and brutal, yet impossible to break. However, there are no unbreakable killing rules in Ita.

Furthermore, why didn't the evil spirits harm Feng Qiniang?
As clearly stated in the treatise on ghosts, a ghost with obsessive attachments may treat different people kindly because of kinship, but an evil ghost has no feelings or thoughts.

Either there's a bug, or it's a special setting, or Feng Qiniang knows the rules of killing and has her own ways of circumventing them.

Apart from Feng Qiniang, even unfriendly villagers wouldn't prevent tourists from entering their courtyards. Even if they were unhappy, they would still ask if they wanted water or tea, and what the matter was. Although their tone and attitude might be harsh, their actions and words were generally acceptable.

So far, apart from Feng Qiniang's house, Ding Shi has not encountered any evil spirits in other people's homes.

The key point is still Feng Qiniang; she most likely knows information about the Divine Tree. Why does she refuse to discuss the Divine Tree? Is it to protect it?
"Shuanzi's family, hurry, something's happened to Shuanzi." A voice came from behind.

Ding Shi stepped aside and soon saw three adult men carrying machetes and wielding saws so flexible they could almost be folded; they seemed to be the logging team Tie Zhu had mentioned. The man in front was speaking, while the two men behind him had made a stretcher out of wood and vines, on which lay a motionless man.

The four entered Shuanzi's house. Shuanzi's parents, wife, and children came out upon hearing the noise. When they saw Shuanzi, they all surrounded him. Soon after, a deafening cry came from the courtyard, indicating that Shuanzi had passed away.

Someone said, "Get ready, I'm going to find Uncle Tiezhu."

Twenty minutes later, Tie Zhu appeared, dressed in a tattered Taoist robe and holding a bell. It looked like a common Taoist metal bell, but its sound was strange. Tie Zhu saw Ding Shi staring at his bell from afar and found it amusing. He approached and said, "This is called a wooden bell, and it uses a wooden clapper inside."

Ding Shi followed Tie Zhu's footsteps: "Why not use copper or iron?"

Tie Zhu replied, "This bell is made of peach wood struck by lightning. When it rings, the evil spirits will scatter."

Simply put, ringing the bell prevents even the most powerful evil spirits from harming someone within the rules of killing. This item is a treasure, but Ding Shi has no intention of possessing it. Firstly, Tianmen Village needs the wooden bell; secondly, he cannot take the item out of the instance. If the second reason didn't exist, Ding Shi would consider stealing the wooden bell on the morning of the eighth day.

The commotion did not attract the villagers; they seemed to be used to it or avoided it like the plague. Apart from a few able-bodied men and relatives of the deceased, no one went forward.

All 12 players have arrived. The timid ones can stay outside the courtyard and watch, while the bolder ones can enter.

Sha Bi leaned closer to Ding Shi: "I've heard some news. More than 20 years ago, the warlord asked all the carpenters in the village to help make coffins from sacred wood. The sacred wood was divided into coffin lids and coffins, and the coffins were made at two different locations. These two locations involved four households."

Ding Shi asked, "Do you suspect that the sacred tree is in one of these four households?"

Sha Bi glanced at Ji Yuan and his wife, and said in a lower voice, "Ji Yuan and his wife have found out some information. According to the county annals, the sacred tree was 300 years old and grew very slowly, only 50 centimeters in ten years."

Ding Shi expressed his doubt: "Are county annals really that boring?"

Sha Bi said, "This tree was discovered by a scholar from our village who had passed the imperial examination. For ten years, he would walk up the mountain to study every morning. During the imperial examination, he even wrote a poem about the sacred tree. It is quite rare for a county to have a scholar who has passed the imperial examination, let alone the fact that he eventually became a third-rank official. That is why there is a record of this in the county annals."

Ding Shi frowned: "And then?"

Sha Bi said, "It takes a lot of time for seeds to germinate. I estimate the divine tree is only about 50 centimeters tall, or even less. Of the four households I mentioned, two are uninhabited. One is occupied by Feng Qiniang, and the other by an 18-year-old orphan. This orphan is also a receptionist at the funeral parlor. Which household do you think we should start with?"

Ding Shi said, "A 50-centimeter-long branch isn't short. Are you sure the owner will keep this tree?"

Silly Bone: "Anything is possible. Since the clues mention Feng Qiniang, why don't we go to Feng Qiniang's house tonight?"

Ding Shi stared at Sha Bi for a while before finally saying, "I just encountered the evil spirit from Feng Qiniang's family."

Silly Bike asked in surprise, "Just now? During the day?"

Ding Shi nodded: "Rumor has it that there are two evil spirits in Feng Qiniang's house, who are Feng Qiniang's parents-in-law. They are also the only family whose evil spirits appear during the day. Go at night? The two of us wouldn't be enough to entertain them. I won't provoke Feng Qiniang until I find the rules of killing. Besides, I think Feng Qiniang knows about the Divine Tree."

Sha Bi didn't hold back, and Ding Shi also told him about what he had encountered. Sha Bi said, "Brother Shi, have you ever thought that Feng Qiniang might know that there is a divine tree in your house, so she came up with a way to create a vicious ghost that can kill people even during the day to guard the house?"

Ding Shi pondered for a moment: "It's possible, but as far as I know, only Uncle Tiezhu in Tianmen Village is a half-baked Taoist. If you're right, either Uncle Tiezhu helped Feng Qiniang create the daytime murderous ghost, or there are other Xuanmen people."

Ding Shi felt a chill in his heart. If Tie Zhu, who was warm and talkative, was the villain, then what about the beautiful Liu Niang?

Perhaps I was overthinking it, but looking back now, I can see there's something wrong with Tiezhu. Tiezhu kept talking and answering questions, seemingly enjoying himself, but he never proactively asked any questions himself, such as, "What is the purpose of your visit to Tianmen Village?" or "Where are you from?" He didn't even ask how Shabi was addressed.

Tie Zhu didn't care at all about their origins or purpose.

The more Ding Shi thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. Then he thought of the strange Cuihua and the way Cuihua looked at him.

In addition, there was Tiger Head, who recommended Tie Zhu's family to him.

Ding Shi felt that his attempt to outsmart the authorities might have backfired, and he might have ended up living in the most terrifying house in the entire village.

Should I change accommodations? Changing might not be better; I've already wasted a whole morning and haven't found the most suitable landlord yet. I also missed a crucial time to gather information: people from other villages would be selling meat at the village entrance that morning.

Is Tiezhu a good person or a bad person?

Ding Shi said, "Silly Bone, you keep an eye on this side. I'm going back to Tie Zhu's house to talk to Cuihua."

The idiot gestured, "Do as you please."

On his way back to Tiezhu's house, Ding Shi encountered a black coffin being delivered to Shuanzi's house by a funeral parlor.

Because of the need to make a coffin, a wooden shed was built in Tiezhu's yard. When Dingshi arrived at Tiezhu's house, Cuihua was sitting on a small stool in the only small spot not covered by the wooden shed, basking in the sun.

Cuihua held a cup of water in both hands, bent over, hunched her shoulders, and drank the water in small sips.

Ding Shi pulled up a small stool and sat down next to Cuihua, saying, "Aunt Cuihua, you don't seem to be feeling well?"

Cuihua seemed to realize someone was there. She turned her head and saw Ding Shi. It took her a while to remember who Ding Shi was. She shook her head at Ding Shi, stood up, and walked towards the kitchen.

Ding Shi followed them into the kitchen, where lunch had already been prepared and was covered with a bamboo woven cover. Cuihua sat in front of the fire pit, continuing to curl up and drink water.

Ding Shi asked, "Aunt Cuihua, where do you think is the safest place to live?"

Cuihua shook her head, perhaps meaning she didn't know, or perhaps she meant there was no safe place.

Ding Shi asked again, "Is Uncle Tiezhu a good person?"

Cuihua did not understand why Ding Shi was watching.

Ding Shi continued, "Do you have children?"

Cuihua still shook her head.

Ding Shi scratched his head and asked, "If I'm right, you nod; if I'm wrong, you shake your head, okay?"

Cuihua digested the information for a moment and nodded.

Ding Shi: "Living here at night will be dangerous."

Cuihua shook her head.

Ding Shi: "Staying at Liu Niang's house will be dangerous at night."

Cuihua nodded.

Ding Shi frowned, thought for a long time, and then asked, "Is the reason we're safe living here because of you?"

Cuihua was troubled, but finally nodded.

Ding Shi asked one last question: "Did Uncle Tie Zhu let an evil spirit possess you so that it couldn't do evil?"

Cuihua stared at Ding Shi for a long time, then covered her chest with her left hand: "My child, my child, we're together now."

Uncle Tiezhu wasn't lying. The heavy yin energy in Tianmen Village had caused evil spirits to breed. They had a wicked method: forcing the evil spirits to possess humans, thus preventing them from harming people.

However, doing so may lead to various side effects.

For example, Cuihua became somewhat dull-witted. And those indifferent villagers—perhaps they weren't truly indifferent, but rather lacked emotion. These indifferent villagers might be outsiders, refugees, or tourists.

(End of this chapter)