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Grandpa had no idea what kind of relationship existed between Old Wang and me. He also did not know that Old Wang had slapped me twice during the day. Perhaps what happened this time did not have much to do with Old Wang hitting me, either.
Old Wang might have thought that the scream I let out had startled the donkey, causing him to fall from the donkey cart and ultimately lose his life. That was probably why, after his death, his vengeful spirit refused to disperse and instead became attached to me.
In any case, this incident was extremely serious. It was the most serious incident I had encountered in the nine years since I was born.
Afterward, Grandpa also woke up my parents. They were in the same condition Grandpa and the others had been in earlier. They had been affected by the death aura emanating from Old Wang's body and were sleeping extremely deeply. It took quite a while before Grandpa finally managed to wake them.
Back when we were at the hospital, Granny Liu and I had both noticed the death aura spreading from Old Wang's body. It seemed that even then, the death aura had already begun affecting us.
At this moment, the entire family had gathered around me. Seeing my current condition, they were extremely worried and desperately begged Granny Liu to think of a way to save me.
Granny Liu had never encountered a situation like this before, either. She could not understand why Old Wang, who had only just died, was so vicious that he immediately possessed me. Judging from my condition, it seemed that I would not even survive until dawn.
The entire family was filled with sorrow. In the end, we had still failed to escape this tribulation, the Three Calamities.
“Little Sister, we've raised this child for so many years. He can't just disappear like this. You have to think of something. Please save the child.”
Grandpa's eyes were red as he spoke.
“I've watched this child grow up since he was little. Even if there were only the slightest chance of saving him, I'd still have to try. But I've never encountered a situation like this before. What exactly was Old Wang doing? Why is he so vicious immediately after dying? Why did he possess Xiao Jie the moment he died?”
Granny Liu spoke gloomily.
“Old Wang spent his entire life as a bachelor. He never had a wife or children, and there wasn't anything particularly unusual about him. Why would he become attached to Xiao Jie?”
Dad asked in confusion.
“What did you just say? Old Wang never got married?”
Granny Liu suddenly became agitated.
“That's right. Everyone in the village knows it. His family was so poor when he was young that even mice wouldn't visit his house. That year, there happened to be a famine, and both his parents starved to death. What does this have to do with Xiao Jie's situation?”
Grandpa asked.
“Brother Wu, do you know Old Wang's Eight Characters of Birth and his full name?”
Granny Liu asked solemnly.
Old Wang was about the same age as Grandpa, and the two of them had even played together when they were young. Naturally, Grandpa knew these things. He then told Granny Liu Old Wang's Eight Characters of Birth and his full name.
After hearing them, Granny Liu's expression changed repeatedly. She said in a deep voice,
“I learned some Yin-Yang arts and numerological techniques from a wandering Taoist priest many years ago, including the art of fortune-telling through Zi Wei Dou Shu. I've never actually used them before, but today, this old woman is going to calculate this man's fate.”
With that, Granny Liu began making deductions based on Old Wang's Eight Characters of Birth.
After finishing her calculations, Granny Liu suddenly sucked in a cold breath and said,
“That explains it. That explains it... Just as I thought. This Old Wang really isn't an ordinary man.”
“Granny Liu, what exactly is going on?”
Dad could not help asking.
“This old man was born in a Yang year, a Yang month, a Yang day, and a Yang hour. He possesses the exceedingly rare Four-Yang Fate, with an entirely Yang nature. It is an extremely rare ‘Sha Po Lang’ destiny. This refers to the Seven Killings, Army Breaker, and Greedy Wolf, three star deities, gathering in his Life Palace and its three directions and four cardinal positions.
“People with this kind of destiny experience many changes and ups and downs throughout their lives. While they are alive, it isn't necessarily a problem. But once they die, their obsessions become extraordinarily strong. Especially if they die harboring resentment, their soul power becomes extremely powerful soon after death, more than ten times stronger than that of an evil ghost.
“Once someone becomes entangled with a person like him, they will basically be certain to die within a single day.
“Actually, there is a way to resolve the fate of someone like him. As long as he marries and has children, Yin and Yang will be balanced, which can neutralize his purely Yang destiny. After death, he would not have such a powerful obsession.
“But Old Wang happened to remain unmarried his entire life. He maintained his purely Yang destiny until the very end. That is why, after his death, his obsession became so powerful, and Xiao Jie ended up being caught in it.”
Granny Liu spoke helplessly.
“Why would Old Wang become attached to our Xiao Jie? And why is Little Fatty, who was staying in the same hospital room as him, completely fine?”
Grandpa asked.
“We can't determine that the child is truly fine right now, either. Today happens to be the day of Xiao Jie's Three Calamities. It isn't surprising that Old Wang became attached to him. Besides, Xiao Jie's own destiny is also extremely unusual.
“I once tried to calculate his fate, but everything was completely blurred. I couldn't see anything at all. Perhaps my cultivation is simply too shallow.”
Granny Liu said.
“Granny Liu, you just said that once Xiao Jie becomes entangled with Old Wang, he will die within a day. Is there really no way to save him?”
Dad asked again.
Granny Liu let out a sigh and said,
“There may be a way, but my cultivation is too shallow. Even the Immortal Being I worship is helpless. Old Wang's Four-Yang Fate is simply too special. He is naturally capable of suppressing evil spirits and demons. Don't even mention the Chang Immortal I worship. Even the Immortal Being inside Xiao Jie's body has been suppressed by Old Wang. Its spiritual soul is extremely weak, leaving it completely powerless to do anything.”
At this point, it seemed that there was truly nothing they could do.
Just as Granny Liu had said, the Three Calamities was the greatest tribulation I had ever encountered. If I could not survive this calamity, my life would be over.
Hearing Granny Liu say this, the entire family fell into immense sorrow. Mother lay over me and cried bitterly, while Grandpa and Father repeatedly sighed in despair.
Granny Liu was in a heavy mood. She could not bear the oppressive atmosphere in the room, so she walked outside alone and lit her pipe.
She inadvertently glanced up at the sky, and her eyes immediately widened.
The crescent moon overhead had somehow turned red at some point, a blood-red color. The Big Dipper had gathered together, while the Ziwei Star flickered unpredictably.
Even more bizarrely, at some point, a large number of yellow weasels and foxes had gathered on the roof of our house. They were continuously bowing and worshiping the blood-red moon overhead, performing the grand ritual of three prostrations and nine kowtows.
The Yellow Immortals Worship the Moon; the Red Moon Hangs Overhead.
Granny Liu had never witnessed such a bizarre sight before.
As the saying went, when something abnormal happened, there had to be something supernatural behind it. When strange celestial phenomena appeared, it meant that some major event was bound to occur.
Granny Liu stared at the strange phenomenon in the sky, as well as the yellow weasels and foxes kneeling and worshiping the moon. For a moment, she stood there in a daze.
My condition grew increasingly severe. I had a high fever that would not subside throughout the entire night. I babbled incoherently and repeatedly let out old-man-like coughing sounds.
My family and Granny Liu did not close their eyes for the entire night. According to Granny Liu's judgment, there was no way my little life could hold out until midnight, the Zi hour.
However, by noon the next day, the situation suddenly took a huge turn.
Our ordinary little village, which could not have been more ordinary, suddenly became lively. More than a dozen cars drove into the village all at once.
(End of Chapter)
Footnotes:
TN1: Eight Characters of Birth (Ba Zi): A traditional Chinese method of fortune-telling based on the year, month, day, and hour of a person's birth. These four elements are each represented by two characters, giving the system its name, “Eight Characters.”
TN2: Zi Wei Dou Shu: A traditional Chinese system of astrology that uses a person's birth date and time to construct a chart and predict aspects of their fate.
TN3: Sha Po Lang: A special configuration in Zi Wei Dou Shu involving three major stars: Qi Sha (Seven Killings), Po Jun (Army Breaker), and Tan Lang (Greedy Wolf). It is traditionally associated with a turbulent and changeable fate.
TN4: Life Palace: One of the important sections of a Zi Wei Dou Shu birth chart. It represents a person's fundamental character, destiny, and overall life path.
TN5: Three Directions and Four Cardinal Positions: A term used in Zi Wei Dou Shu to describe the relationship between the Life Palace and several other important palaces in the astrological chart.
TN6: Three Prostrations and Nine Kowtows: A traditional ceremonial gesture of deep respect in which a person bows three times and performs three kowtows during each bow, for a total of nine kowtows.