Chapter 91: The Fetal Light

I asked Granny Wan what I was supposed to do that night. Could I simply lie down on the mat and go to sleep?

She shot me a glare and said, “You think it’s that easy to fool a thousand-year-old ghost? Tonight I’ll use the Soul-Luring Lamp to draw one soul from your three souls and seven spirits, then hide it at random inside the lanterns held by these paper figures. That way, the body lying on the straw mat will be just like a corpse.” As she spoke, she pointed to the fourteen paper figures standing in two rows behind the boy and girl attendants, seven on each side.

These paper figures were not as finely made as the attendants, but like them, each held an oil lamp in its hand.

I asked her why she was drawing out only one soul from the three and seven, instead of taking them all.

Granny Wan told me that the human soul is divided into three: the heavenly light, the bright spirit, and the dark essence. The heavenly light is the governing soul; in traditional medicine, a person is judged dead when that soul is gone. If it is absent, the person is dead. The other two souls are less important by comparison, one governing wealth and rank, the other misfortune and decline.

As for the seven spirits, they govern joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire.

She said that if she took only the governing soul, the rest of my souls and spirits would remain in my body, and then she could help call the soul back. If all three souls and seven spirits were drawn out, that would certainly be the safest method, but she could not guarantee that she could call them all back. If I ended up missing one or two, I would either turn into an idiot or become a soulless tool.

After weighing it all up, I decided it was enough for Granny Wan to draw out only one governing soul. If I truly ended up short on soul and spirit, even reincarnation would become a problem.

Once she had explained all that to me, Granny Wan told me to go and check the windows of my place, and to touch every one of them to make sure they were sturdy.

While I idly checked the windows, I asked her why they needed to be examined, and what significance there was in it.

Granny Wan looked at the oil lamps in the hands of the two rows of paper figures, concern on her face, and said, “Your governing soul is hidden inside that lamp, but it is not foolproof. If the wind rises and blows out the lamp holding your soul, then you will truly be dead...”

“So that’s it? I could just die like that?” I hurried back to the beginning and carefully checked every window again. There was one pane with a small crack, and I even fetched tape to seal it shut.

Granny Wan looked at the ritual hall, which was already prepared, and saw there was nothing else left to do. The old woman, over seventy years old, bent her back and clasped her hands behind her, walking to the wooden door. Gazing toward the Yellow River, she let out a long sigh after a while and murmured, “Pockmarked Pi... this marriage you arranged for your grandson—was it a blessing, or a curse after all...?”

To make sure the plan would be foolproof, I made a special trip to Lu Jiu’s place. The apartment he rented had one bedroom and one living room, on the second floor, with excellent sunlight.

I looked down from Lu Jiu’s bedroom, and from that position his apartment had a perfect view of my shop.

I even wondered whether he had deliberately rented that place just to keep an eye on me.

“Have you got improper ideas about me?” I deliberately probed him, then looked up to see his reaction.

Lu Jiu gave me a sidelong glance and said, “Don’t take my goodwill for weakness. You think I don’t know what little schemes are running through your head? The principles of our Pure Brightness Sect are loyalty and filial piety. If I hadn’t watched you save my life while we were on the boat, I’d be dying to keep as far away from you as possible after all the filthy things you’ve stirred up.”

My little scheme was exposed at once, and I felt rather embarrassed. I quickly changed the subject and said, “You have nothing going on tonight, so don’t come to my shop.”