August 4th.

Haishi.

Tan Shisan was lying on the couch in his uniform, tossing and turning, getting up from time to time and looking at the incense drain. The incense thread gradually burned past Haishi, getting closer and closer to Zushi. He made a few rumbles and lay down again, unable to fall asleep no matter what.

He just stared straight into a pair of swollen eyes.

finally.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A drum-like sound of kicking the door sounded outside, accompanied by Huang Tail's urgent shout.

Finally here!

He immediately jumped up from the couch, and hurried to the door without caring about putting on his shoes.

When it's time to open the courtyard door.

He stopped quickly, straightened his clothes, coughed a few more times, and then opened the door with a calm demeanor.

"Why are you panicking? Shouting in the middle of the night, isn't that..."

"Oops! Tan Shisan, Tan Dawu! It's already imminent, what else are you trying to do? If you delay any longer, it will be useless to give you money!"

Before he could finish his words, Huang Wei rushed in and interrupted him. Then, he was half pulled and half dragged into the shrine, followed by Li Changan, the salesman, the scholar and the masons filing in.

The shrine is still the same, small and messy, but the black cloth has been pulled back, showing that the Ghost King and his followers are becoming more ferocious under the dim candlelight.

Huang Wei poured a few ingots of silver and a large pile of copper onto the tribute table.

"Here's the money! Are the rituals ready?"

Yes, giving gifts to the Ghost King on his birthday is not just about paying money, there is also a simple ritual.

"Why are you panicking?"

Tan Shisan pointed to the incense drain - there was a long incense stick placed horizontally on the copper plate, and copper coins were hung on the incense. Whenever the incense string burned and the copper coins fell, it meant that a moment of time had passed.

"There are still three coins left on the incense, which is more than enough."

As he said this, people knelt down to the altar, offered incense, kowtowed, and asked for a ruler.

Made of bamboo and wood, two fingers wide and half an arm long, with some crooked and black characters painted in blood.

"Which comes first?"

…………

The old shopkeeper was the oldest, and the ghosts chose him as the first one.

Tan Shisan asked him to roll up his sleeves, then held his wrist and put the ruler on the old salesman's arm.

All of a sudden.

The old shopkeeper's eyes widened, his body trembled violently, his teeth creaked in his mouth, as if he was suddenly frightened to the extreme, and he was about to jump up and run away from the door.

Li Changan had quick eyesight and quick hands, so he went up and held him down.

Tan Shisan nodded gratefully to the Taoist priest. It was his first time doing this job and his hands were very good.

He tightened his grip on the old man: "Bear with it!"

The old shopkeeper nodded heavily, but his body was still shaking, as if even the "August Eight" tattoo on his wrist was shaking.

No.

Li Changan could clearly see that the tattoo was indeed trembling, twisting, deforming, and messing up the strokes under the rule, converging into something like earthworms and scurrying around on the old man's wrist.

Was it actually alive?

After getting this "tattoo", the Taoist priest also did some research and found that although this thing is obviously manifested in the soul body, if you carefully perceive it, it is between presence and absence. The existence is weak and almost undetectable. After several attempts, it cannot be eliminated.

, and found no harm, he had no choice but to let it go. Although there were still some violent methods that he had not tried, he was not a scientific madman, so how could he conduct random experiments on himself?

The "earthworm" seems to be very afraid of the ruler, and immediately jumps away as soon as it approaches.

Based on this, Qin Shisan drove it from the forearm to the wrist, and then transferred it from the old shopkeeper's wrist to his own arm.

Then he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Next."

…………

The scholar, the mason, and Huang Wei passed by one after another, and finally it was Li Changan's turn.

The copper coin has fallen twice.

On August 5th, it was close to my ears.

Qin Shisan wiped the sweat from his face, grabbed Li Changan's wrist, and carefully attached the ruler.

At this moment, he understood why Huangwei and the others were trembling. It was not because of pain or cold, but because he sensed an extreme ferocity from the contact of the ruler, as if they were placing their necks under the fangs of a tiger.

It makes people instinctively want to scream and run away.

The Taoist priest slightly adjusted his sitting posture uncomfortably, and then became calm and composed.

Also at this very moment.

The writing on the forearm moved, and the originally weak sense of existence became stronger. The Taoist priest vaguely noticed that it seemed to be really alive! It was not a trace of magic power, nor a wisp of filth, but a strange and weak soul.

I don’t know if it’s because Tan Shisan is out of energy, or because this “earthworm” in Li Changan’s hand is particularly difficult to deal with.

It cannot be driven away by life or death.

Tan Shisan frequently glanced at the incense leak from the corner of his eyes, and soon he was sweating profusely again.

The Taoist priest was really nervous when he saw him.

"Where did your ruler come from?"

Tan Shisan was attentive and silent.

"I saw you kowtow, so I took it and used it. Don't you need to make a gesture or recite a spell beforehand?"

Tan Shisan stared.

"What is it made of? How is it made? Can other people use it?"

Tan Shisan's face trembled.

Finally, the "earthworm" was driven to him.

Dang~

The last copper coin fell, and the hour had come.

Tan Shisan seemed to have lost all his strength, half-slumped on the futon, took a few breaths, and after feeling better, he pointed the ruler at Li Changan's nose and scolded him.

"Are you such a verbose person? You keep asking questions here and there. Do you want to be a wizard?! If I am really distracted and wasted time, what will you do?!"

"I believe in Qin Dawu's ability."

Tan Shisan opened his mouth, but was speechless and hummed for a long time.

"You're really sharp-tongued and a good material for chanting spells. Anyway, there's no harm in telling you."

"This ruler is called the 'Soul Expelling Ruler'. It was given by the envoy after the wizard made an offering to the Ghost King."

"There is no need to recite incantations or make incantations, just remember to pay money every year to replace it with a new one."

"What is it made of? How is it made? His grandma's, how do I know?! As for whether others can use it? Ha! Apart from wizards, what else can others use this thing for? I hate the chance of having such a smooth life and want to bankrupt it. Put it on yourself?"

He sneered a few times and began to count the silver and copper coins on the spot, waving his hands at the ghosts as if to ward off flies.

"Go and have a rest, go and have a rest."

"You ghosts stayed up most of the night, but I, as a human being, need to rest early."

Seeing this, all the ghosts thanked him one after another and left.

It was dark and gloomy at this time. When we came out of the shrine, the wind was blowing and it hurt like hell, and the fog was so cold that it was so cold. But everyone was happy. The crisis that had been weighing on their heads for a month was finally lifted, and a big stone was lost in their hearts. I feel relaxed all over.

"That man surnamed Cao has a vicious mind, but he is a softie! We didn't ask any questions, so he told us where the money was hidden."

"It's a pity that he doesn't have much silver in his hands. He traveled a few places and could barely collect the one hundred taels."

While talking and laughing, everyone left the yard one after another.

But suddenly, the laughter in front of him stopped abruptly, and his body seemed to be caught by something, making him stiff and motionless.

Li Changan frowned and pushed his companion aside and stepped out of the courtyard.

Just one step.

It was like falling into the cold river from the warm shore, and a chill suddenly invaded the soul.

Oh, what a vicious resentment!

He looked coldly, and saw pairs of green eyes lighting up in the dark night fog in front of him. Accompanied by the low growls in the throats of dogs, monsters emerged from the fog one after another.

These monsters sound like dogs, have fur, heads, limbs, and bodies like dogs, but they are definitely not dogs.
To be continued...