bookpub Chapter 6 Tomb Sweeping Day, Human Skin Lanterns
Chapter 6 Tomb Sweeping Day, Human Skin Lanterns
The rain falls in torrents during the Qingming Festival, and the travelers on the road are heartbroken.
On the morning of April 5, Jiang Jun, carrying a bag and holding an umbrella, arrived at the No. 3 Cemetery in Qingjiang City.
The cemetery and funeral home are connected, all shrouded in a dark cloud, giving off an eerie atmosphere.
Inside the backpack, "The Ghostly Sorrow" was stirring restlessly.
Jiang Jun used his divine sense to soothe its spirit, while the power of suppressing things within his body was gathering strength, ready to deal with any unforeseen circumstances.
He stood outside the cemetery gate, gazing intently into the distance, where he saw eerie energy churning and pouring into the graves like a funnel.
In the cemetery built on the hillside, rows and rows of tombstones, hidden in the mist and rain, stand out conspicuously.
Jiang Jun vaguely sensed that beneath the tomb complex, there was a powerful force suppressing and devouring the vast and eerie energy, leaving nothing untouched.
This prevented Cemetery No. 3 from being haunted during the day and causing irreparable damage.
He nodded slightly and walked forward slowly.
As he passed by the funeral home, he keenly noticed that many people in the crowd seemed to have a sinister aura.
The older ones may seem like ordinary people at first glance, but upon closer inspection, their steps are steady and silent, and even their pace is consistent.
The younger ones, though dressed in casual clothes, had an upright air about them, and their bright eyes frequently scanned the crowd.
He recognized two of them; they had clear eyes and were the young men who had followed Zhao Chen yesterday.
Jiang Jun raised an eyebrow: "People from the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs?"
He remained calm and followed the crowd to the cemetery behind the funeral home.
There are also plainclothes officers from the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs patrolling and on duty here.
Outside the two rows of tombstones on the left, a middle-aged woman broke down in tears, crying, "Mom! My mom! You just left like that, leaving me in this world..."
Jiang Jun remained silent. He had experienced this kind of pain himself, so he naturally empathized with it.
While parents are alive, life still has a source. Once parents are gone, life is only a journey back home.
Suddenly, a strange and eerie aura appeared out of nowhere and landed on the woman, as if it were some kind of mark.
Jiang Jun's pupils contracted: "Is this... being targeted by a monster?"
Before he could react, a plainclothes officer from the Bureau of Mystic Arts walked up to the woman.
"Auntie," he knelt down, placed a tissue beside her, and gently comforted her, "I know you're reluctant. But if you cry too much, the old lady will hear you."
He glanced at the tombstone, his tone calm yet resolute: "If you hear that, you won't be able to leave; if you can't leave, you won't be able to go to paradise. You wouldn't want Grandma Ding to suffer on the road to the underworld, would you?"
The woman was stunned.
The plainclothes officer from the Department of Mysteries seized the opportunity to push the tissue forward: "Here, wipe your tears. Silently wishing her 'rebirth in paradise' is more effective than anything else. Only after hearing you say that will she be at peace and leave this world."
The moment the woman took the tissue, a faint, yet not malevolent, aura swept by, erasing the mark left by the strange creature.
Similar scenes occur frequently in the cemetery.
The plainclothes officers from the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs were adept at their work and nipped the tragedy in the bud.
Jiang Jun nodded slightly, showing more trust in the Department of Supernatural Phenomena of this world.
As he observed and searched, he soon arrived at his parents' graves.
Looking at the photo of the handsome man and beautiful woman, he was about to say something when he remembered the notice issued by the Department of Mysteries.
"Dad, Mom, may you be reborn in the Pure Land and enjoy bliss in heaven. I am doing well on earth, don't worry about me!"
After standing there for a moment, he methodically bent down to sweep away the fallen leaves and weeds, then cleaned the tombstone and used a rabbit hair brush dipped in vermilion ink to repaint the faded inscription red.
Steamed buns, tangerines, and tea were placed in front of the tombstone, with fresh flowers on either side.
He lit the candle, held the incense sticks in his hands over the candle flame, knelt down and kowtowed three times, then steadily stuck the incense sticks into the soil.
The wisps of cigarette smoke rose and disappeared into the rain.
Only when the incense and candles were almost burned out did Jiang Jun pick up a teacup and circumambulate the tombstone three times: "Mom and Dad, I'm going back. Love each other well in heaven, and practice your trumpet again. Don't miss me."
After saying this, he took out three sheets of straw paper according to tradition, sandwiched peach leaves and mugwort leaves in the middle, and pressed them down on the grave with a clod of earth to "guard the place" and prevent the offerings from being eaten by wild ghosts.
Just as he finished, Jiang Jun was startled: "Look at me, I've been confused again. The strangeness of this world is not the same as the ghosts I used to understand. I guess there's no need to eat offerings..."
He shook his head and bowed again before the grave: "Then I... I'll head back now."
He held up his black umbrella and turned to leave without looking back.
Suddenly, four lines of bloody tears streamed down the couple's photo on the tombstone.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..." A gust of cold wind blew by, and the incense and candles went out at the same time.
The straw paper on the grave, along with the mugwort and peach leaves inside, was swept up by the wind and scattered everywhere.
The steamed buns and citrus fruits quickly rotted and grew mold, as if their essence had been instantly sucked away.
"Ah! Something's fishy!" exclaimed a citizen who witnessed the scene.
But soon, various strange changes occurred at the graves they were paying respects to.
For a time, screams and wails rose and fell throughout the cemetery.
Dark clouds rolled in over the cemetery, creating an eerie atmosphere.
"Ghost Cult, how dare you!" A majestic and angry shout rang out.
"Boom—" A thunderclap resounded, followed by an earthquake.
Jiang Jun had already left the cemetery when he heard the commotion behind him. He activated the power of the protective object to shield himself while taking out the "Ghostly Sorrow".
"The villains may be late, but they've arrived, haven't they? The Ghost Cult? They sound like no good!" he thought to himself. "I knew it. At a festival like this, in a place like this, someone's bound to cause trouble!"
Suddenly, a thick fog swept in front of him, enveloping him.
The world is spinning!
The next moment, Jiang Jun appeared in a hazy, gray world. With him were a dozen or so passersby.
Countless lanterns made of human skin flew erratically in mid-air.
They resemble human heads, with eerie smiles painted with blood, inside which are eerie green flames that emit sinister and piercing laughter.
Sensing the fresh human presence, the human skin lanterns swarmed over like flies smelling a cracked egg.
"Holy crap!" A human-skin lantern flew right up to Jiang Jun's face, startling him so much that he hurriedly activated his power to suppress it.
With a "whoosh," a purple needle shot out, piercing the lantern to pieces.
"This is the human skin lantern that wreaked havoc in Huaiyang City, killing over a dozen people. It doesn't seem very powerful after all?"
"Help!" People around were frantically running away, creating chaos. They were all unlucky souls like Jiang Jun, who had been swept into the fog.
With lives at stake, Jiang Jun disregarded his identity and tossed "The Deceptive Sorrow" into the sky.
The white light shimmered, and a strong aroma of garlic filled the air.
Humans find the smell too pungent.
The human skin lanterns seemed to have encountered their natural enemy, emitting terrifying screams, and their eerie smiles turned into expressions of horror.
Jiang Jun's spiritual communication with "Gui Jianchou".
In an instant, countless purple light needles shot out from the bracelet, "whoosh whoosh whoosh" and shot straight at the human skin lanterns flying all over the sky.