Ku Lamei instructed everyone that no matter what sounds they heard or what eerie things they saw, no one should make a sound, and everything would be handled by him.

Everyone was very nervous, and I stood next to the table, sweating profusely with anxiety.

I glanced at Fatty, who was in no better shape; beads of cold sweat rolled down his forehead like broken pearls, one after another.

Ku Lamei conducted a soul-calling ceremony, summoning the spirit of Yin Hongyi. This evil spirit had already taken three lives; would she really appear tonight?

Ku Lamei grabbed a stack of ghost money from the table and muttered some words rapidly, his pronunciation unclear, sounding like gibberish. I only faintly heard the last sentence, "Tàishàng Lǎojūn jí jí rú lǜlìng!"

Ku Lamei tossed the ghost money into the air, and as the night wind blew, the ghost money fluttered like dancing butterflies.

Ku Lamei asked Fatty and me to help light the white candles on the table, and then he lit three sticks of incense himself.

To my surprise, Ku Lamei inserted the three incense sticks into the incense burner upside down.

Then, Ku Lamei bit his right index finger, smeared blood on a chicken head, positioned it neatly, facing the main entrance of the ancestral hall.

Next, he scattered glutinous rice on the ground in front of him. This was premium glutinous rice, as white as snow, used to make delicious rice dishes during festivals.

After completing these tasks, Ku Lamei stood behind the table with his hands behind his back, motionless like a wooden stake, his face devoid of expression.

The white candles on the table continued to burn, casting alternating light and shadow on our faces, flickering.

The surroundings fell into complete silence, shrouded in a chilling atmosphere.

No one spoke; everyone stared wide-eyed at the road in front of the ancestral hall.

After about five minutes, a sudden gust of wind swept through, fast and fierce, extinguishing the white candles in an instant and almost overturning the table.

The temperature plummeted, just like the feeling I had in my bed that night, bone-chilling cold.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

An invisible pressure hit us, making it hard to breathe.

Ku Lamei took out two square-hole ancient coins from his pocket, placed them upside down in his palms, and pressed his hands firmly on the table.

The gust of wind immediately dissipated, and we felt the pressure ease off, unable to help but exhale deeply.

Looking up, we saw that the white candles held by the people had also been extinguished by the gust of wind, plunging the entire ancestral hall into chaotic darkness.

Ku Lamei said in a deep voice, "Yang Cheng, Fatty, light the candles!"

I nodded and lit the white candles on the table.

Fatty was extremely nervous and couldn't light the candles for a long time. Only the candle in front of me was burning, casting a very faint light, lonely and weak.

The moonlight tonight was originally quite bright, but now, a dark cloud drifted from somewhere, covering the crescent moon tightly, and the earth instantly became dim and dark.

What was even more unsettling was that within the black clouds, the crescent moon faintly appeared to turn into a terrifying blood-red color.

There was a folk saying: "Blood-red crescent, harbinger of demons!"

"Cackle, cackle!"

Suddenly, a few eerie laughs came from the wind, sharp and thin, obviously from a woman, seeming distant yet close, sending shivers down our spines.

Everyone left in the ancestral hall were men, with no women present, so who could be making that sound...

"She's here!" Ku Lamei said in a deep voice.

We held our breath and focused, too nervous to breathe, and then we saw footprints appearing on the glutinous rice scattered in front of us.

One, two, three...

The footprints approached from a distance, coming from the road junction all the way to the front of the table.

On the white glutinous rice ground, there were left behind a series of eerie black footprints.

The footprints stopped, and although we couldn't see any figures, we all knew very well that at this moment, Yin Hongyi, dressed in a crimson cheongsam, was standing in front of the table, less than three meters away from us.

All the hairs on my body stood on end, and the chilling atmosphere felt like needles piercing through every pore.

A foul odor faintly wafted through the air, and that cowardly Fatty actually wet his pants in fear.

As for this kind of folk occultism of soul-calling, I had heard of it before, but witnessing it firsthand today was truly incredible.

Before, I thought Ku Lamei was just a wandering charlatan, deceiving people for food and drink, but I didn't expect him to actually have some skill.

At this moment, Ku Lamei spoke, "Yin Hongyi, I understand that you have grievances, but our Hongqi Village has no enmity with you. You have already taken three lives in a row. What will it take for you to stop?"

As soon as Ku Lamei finished speaking, there was a thud, and Fatty suddenly flipped over and fell to the ground.

I was startled; could it be? Did Fatty faint from fear?

I was about to go help Fatty up, but I remembered Ku Lamei's instructions and immediately stopped myself from stepping forward.

Fatty lay on the ground, silent for a few seconds, then suddenly began convulsing, like an epileptic seizure, shaking violently all over, eyes rolling back, pupils gray as death.

As far as I knew, Fatty didn't have a history of epilepsy; I had never seen him have a seizure before. How did he suddenly become like this?

I looked at Ku Lamei anxiously, but he looked at Fatty with a cold expression, showing no intention of lending a hand.

This won't do! Someone will die at this rate. Fatty and I are brothers; should I just stand by and watch him die?

I couldn't help it anymore. I was about to speak up when Ku Lamei sternly rebuked, "If you have something to say, then say it. What do you want with this child's body?"

Possessed?! Ku Lamei's words were directed at Fatty. I sucked in a cold breath; damn, was Fatty possessed by a ghost?

"Cackle, cackle!"

Fatty let out a string of eerie laughter, and staggered to his feet from the ground.

Although Fatty still looked the same, I could clearly feel that the Fatty in front of me seemed very unfamiliar.

Fatty's gaze was terrifying, his pupils as gray as death, like a corpse.

He suddenly spoke, but as soon as he opened his mouth, I was shocked. Fatty's voice had actually turned into a woman's voice: "Old man, you're quite capable. I underestimated you!"

Fatty raised his face and stared coldly at Ku Lamei, his face clearly covered in a layer of black aura.

Ku Lamei said in a deep voice, "Let's get to the point. What will it take for you to stop?"

"Giggle, giggle!" Fatty covered his mouth and laughed, coquettish and charming. Every smile and frown was filled with thick femininity, making me feel nauseous, wishing I could slap him across the face.

Fatty stopped laughing and said coldly, "You want me to stop? Sure, you just need to agree to one thing!"