I studied the frown on the man’s face and asked, “Where are the two vengeful spirits that you were charged to subdue?” The man replied that the spirits were kept in urns that he had left at his hotel room. “Did you not ask them about the whole story?” I asked again and the man replied, “I did but to no avail. The spirits refused to answer me.” I shook my head, exasperated, and said, “I’ll have my colleague first divine your condition before we decide what to do then.” Realizing his cue to act, Yuan Chongxi asked the man about his birthdates and time of birth and began working. The man must surely had begun plying his trade despite being fully-trained, I thought. Surely the matter was one beyond his skills and abilities to handle; hence his need for help. But I was wrong. Beside me, Yuan Chongxi calculated and augured the truth of the two vengeful spirits, his expression darkened, gradually turning into horror. By the time his calculations were finished, his face was of genuine fear! Immediately I asked, “What are the results, Chongxi?” He acknowledged my inquiry, his eyes first glancing at me before transfixing upon the man. Gulping hard, Yuan Chongxi croaked. “Y-you… Y-your end is near…”

“Ah?” Everyone present cried in unison. None of us understood what he meant by his stuttering mumbles. The man from the North-East cried. “No, wait. Please! Speak plainly! How is it that my end is near!” Yuan Chongxi began stammering incoherently. “Th-the… th-this… th-that is wh-what, wh-what the omens show… Good Heavens! I can say no more!” But I knew full well what Yuan Chongxi was trying to convey: the man’s end was nearing, although Yuan Chongxi did not dare speak openly for the fear of the very same karmic retribution that had befallen his teacher. But the man, not understanding Yuan Chongxi’s reservations, pressed on, demanding to know the truth. At last, Yuan Chongxi relented, but he said only this, “You have, by your own hand, sold your life away for 1.2 million yuan!” Immediately when he had finished, Yuan Chongxi began slapping himself on his mouth, muttering, “Touch wood! Touch wood!” His complexion seemed to return at least, whereas the man’s face paled instantly, a stark contrast to Yuan Chongxi as the latter’s words, which had hinted him of his transgressions, dawned the truth upon him. Yuan Chongxi whispered softly into my ears, asking, “Do you think this counts as a sin, Shiyan?” I shook my head dubiously; it was a question best directed at Old Man Chen rather than me. “I cannot say,” I said under my breath, “But it is blessed to deliver one into salvation. Being able to save him might prove to be a boon to us in the future.” Somehow, the man heard me. But just when he was about to rejoice at his renewed hopes of redemption, Yuan Chongxi let slip again. “But it’s impossible. The auguries do not deceive! His name has been marked by the Underworld!” Recognizing that he had misspoken again, Yuan Chongxi gave himself another slap.

I patted Yuan Chongxi on his shoulders lightly and said, “Let’s not be hasty. Come. First, find out the whole story about this.” Yuan Chongxi nodded without a word and began calculating again. Only this time, he took a longer time. In the end, he placed his hand on his lap and said to the man, “You fool! Of all the jobs that you could have accepted, why this! Did you not suspect why would anyone offer 1.2 million just to subdue two ghosts?” Yuan Chongxi showed me the man’s birthdates and we double-checked the calculations to make sure no mistakes.

We stood aside and re-examined the calculations. When everything was done and we were sure that all was right, I turned to the man and said, “I’m afraid this matter of yours is beyond my abilities to handle. Please seek help somewhere else!” Seeing the man opening his mouth to speak, I snapped. “I’m sending you off since you came as a client. Else you would have already been nothing but a corpse for your transgressions! Go before I change my mind, lest you’ll find my wrath no gentler than your seniors and colleagues up at North-East!” The man scrambled out the door, running as quick as his legs would carry him. “Why the harsh words?” Yuan Chongxi chastised me, feeling that I had been a tad severe. “Surely there’s a better way to convey our refusal to take his case. Look at you, your words are even blunter than mine!” I pursed my lips and snorted. “This is the best way to drive him away. People like him can smell compassion like sharks sensing blood,” I said. “It’s for our own good that we sent him away. People like him are the scourge of our trade! The cancer of our stock!”

Thus ended our morning session. We then adjourned for lunch. We had just re-opened the center afternoon when the doors swung open again. It was Lin Feng’s aunt, the very same who had attended our opening ceremony, also the student of the wife of Uncle Quan’s teacher. In she came, followed by a familiar face: the man whom we had earlier driven away! I was astonished. There would be no way to drive him away this time, I scowled. We invited Lin Feng’s aunt in and ushered her to a seat, the blithering fool following clumsily behind. How bloody coincidence was this, I wondered. The fool knew Lin Feng’s aunt! I poured them tea, and Lin Feng’s aunt cut right to the chase, saying, “This nephew of mine is a fool, Shiyan. I’d not deny that. But I come today, hoping that I would be able to persuade you to help him…” I cut her off with a benign smile. “There’s no need for such heavy words, Auntie. At your request, we will take his case and help him with the best we can. Nevertheless, I implore that you have him seek a more honest job. He’s hardly suited for this trade of ours. He’s an able-bodied man; there are surely opportunities for him elsewhere instead of risking himself here!” The man replied hastily, embarrassed beyond words, “Yes, of course!” I took a gulp of water and began my tale.

There was a village, where two families, one by the name of Song and the other by the name of Wang, who lived at the peripherals of the settlement. The eldest son of the Song family was a rich man who owned several factories of his own while the second son of the family was an officer at the local police station. Their youngest son, the third of the lot, never got a place at the university when he had finished high school. Every day he idled around uselessly, the prodigal son and the black sheep of the family. With strong connections established by the second son at the police station, operations at his factory continued pleasantly without hindrance for the eldest son and his business began booming. But the same could not be said for their neighbor, the Wang family. The husband and wife of the Wang family, a farming household that lived by the land, had only a single child—a daughter, who was still in middle school. Stricken by poverty, the family depended solely on the meager profit of farming stock. Their more affluent neighbor, the mother of the Song brothers, was a notorious woman with a very fiery temper that no one dared offend; hence the Wang family, as if the plight of their indigence was hardly enough, suffered more abuse as the old menace of the Song family would frequently hurl insults and slander over her fences in her sadistic urge to proliferate misery and anguish to them. One day, the daughter of the Wang couple was defiled by the youngest of the Song brothers. The vicious beast had even gnawed at her face, causing several scars on the once-fair appearance of the girl. She was taken to a hospital for treatment, not knowing of her disfigurement until she saw herself in a mirror when she reached home. Overcame by shame and sorrow, the girl took her own life. The husband and wife of the Wang family went to the police station to seek justice, only for their complaints to fall upon deaf ears, no thanks to the second of the Song brothers who worked at the police station and the pretense that the death of their daughter was a suicide, and there was no way to prove the rape incident which had elapsed more than half a month ago.

At the same time, the Song family intruded upon the lands owned by the Wang family. Without prior permission, the Song brothers had another factory built on Wang lands. The village authorities stepped in and ruled that the Song family should relinquish another piece of land of similar area to the Wang family. However, the crops that were planted on the Wang lands when the Song brother began building their factory were all harvested and kept by the Song family at the behest of the unscrupulous old lady of the Song family. The loss of Wang family’s harvest spelled the loss of their means for income. Again, they went to the village authorities for help, hoping that they would help by demanding the Song brother to recompensate the Wang family for the loss. Only this time, the Song brothers had not neglected to pay off the village council, who paid lip service to the Wang family’s pleas for help, yet did nothing in return. Feeling frustrated and angered, the husband and wife of the Wang family sought help from the local petitioning bureau. But their hopes were slashed when the second son had arranged for somebody to intercept the representative of the bureau and had the Wang husband and wife detained with false charges at the police station. When they were released later, the town council requested that the Song brothers repaid the Wang family for the damages they had incurred, but yet, the process was caught up in red tape. The husband and wife went to the residence of the Song brothers to ask for their payment, but instead, the Song brother set loose their dogs on them, biting and tearing at the poor man and woman who had to hold on to each other as they staggered their way home, crippled and broken. Embittered, angered, and disheartened to the point of despair, the poor man and woman, with their own blood scrawled a message on the wall, saying that they would never stop haunting the Song family in the deaths before they both hung themselves. Still, the man and his wife’s folly of leaving a message on the wall written in blood had sent shivers of fear down the spines of the Song family. Fearing danger, they offered a rich sum, 1.2 million yuan, for a medium who then subdued and trapped the vengeful spirits of the poor man and woman. With the help of his magical instrument, the undertaking was successful, and the medium, unsuspecting of the expense that came with his rich reward, left cheerfully.

By now, as everyone would have well guessed, the young man, now fidgeting with fear, was that medium who had helped subdue the vengeful spirits of the Wang husband and wife. Oh the wonders that money could do, I mused. Lin Feng’s aunt raised an arm just then. Much to our surprise, her hand smacked hard on the cheeks of her nephew. “Of all the money you could have robbed!” She roared and snarled. “Let no else suffer the cause of this swine’s doing! I’ll destroy his powers!” Yuan Chongxi and I quickly lunged at her and held her back. But our abilities in combat were only as good a child’s before an experienced practitioner like her; desperate for help, we began yelling for Lin Feng. Lin Feng came rushing down from upstairs when he heard our voices calling for him and quickly came over. It might have due to his uncanny resemblance to his father in his youth, that the elderly woman immediately calmed down when she saw him helping us to hold her back. She sank back to the cushion, panting hard, but her keen eyes, sharp as a razor, were still riveted upon the figure of her nephew, who was now writhing on the ground, sobbing painfully!

“Surely you know,” I said, “that Heaven watches us from above. Your actions have caused an uproar among the Plane of the Dead that all foul beings and spirits are now thirsty for your blood, eager to deliver you to the Underworld themselves! To make matters worse, the depravity of your transgressions had caused even the deities and goodly supernatural beings wish ill upon you. They who are supposed to act as keepers of the Underworld to help keep these malignant spirits in line, have decided to ignore any spirits or ghost that want to haunt you! You have committed an atrocity so heinous and hateful that both deities and ghosts want you dead! Nothing escapes the notice of Heaven, you should have known about this! You have foolishly accepted this assignment, thinking that it was an easy job with a fat payment, unaware that you had just sold your own life for 1.2 million yuan!” I went over to Lin Feng’s aunt and said to her, “Calm your anger, Aunt. Skinning him alive would hardly help any bit now! I have an idea, however. I’ll go with him to collect the souls of the two vengeful spirits and I’ll speak to the spirits to see if they can convince the rest of the other foul beings to withdraw. But your nephew will have to surrender the 1.2 million yuan. He’ll have to use the money to hire an investigator to gather all proofs of the Song family’s crimes and submit the proofs to the authorities through proper channels and make sure that the second of the Song brothers is arrested! What do you think of my solution?” Lin Feng’s aunt, now finally able to set aside her anger, for now, all thanks to Lin Feng consoling her, gave a deep and heavy breath and replied, “I’ll leave it to you then, Shiyan. I trust your abilities to handle this matter.” She turned sharply and snarled at her nephew, her finger thrust furiously at him. “Get up, you swine! Go now with Shiyan to collect the two souls!”

And so we went to the hotel room and collected the urns that held the two spirits. Outside of the hotel, I held the hand of the elderly woman and said, “Under common circumstances, it is only right for us to keep you for dinner. But now that our center is now surrounded by foul spirits, For the sake of your safety, I’d suggest that you leave as quickly as you can with your nephew! I’ll come with Lin Feng next time to visit you and convey our apologies for the discourtesy!”