Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Specter in the Bronze Mirror

At this moment, the situation was dire—without the constraint of the formation, the Five Odd Ghosts could escape at any time, and Song Nianqiang had just obtained the talisman stained with pipe oil, ready to stick it onto the ghost within seconds. However, the Five Odd Ghost had been struck dizzy by Song Nianqiang’s Thunder Break spell and was disoriented, unable to distinguish east from west. It rolled over, sat up from the ground, and promptly pressed the talisman onto the head of the One-Eyed Ghost among the Five Odd Ghosts. With a hiss, black smoke rose from the One-Eyed Ghost’s forehead.

The wavering One-Eyed Ghost immediately ceased all movement, standing quietly in place. Seeing this, Song Nianqiang finally breathed a long sigh of relief—capturing this Five Odd Ghost had been no easy feat. He nearly let it slip away. Approaching the freezer, he released the Fatty.

“Damn it! You dared lock me inside!” As soon as he was out, Fatty unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks at the immobilized Five Odd Ghost. Their original plan had been sound, but the Five Odd Ghost had gone straight for the freezer where Fatty was kept, for reasons unknown, and locked it, almost suffocating him.

“Let’s seal it up for now; we’ll deal with it properly at home.” Song Nianqiang leaned against the freezer, exhausted from relying solely on his own abilities for this ordeal. Fatty, upon hearing Song Nianqiang’s words, sullenly took out a talisman meant for temporarily housing ghosts and slapped it onto the Five Odd Ghost. Instantly, the talisman bore the image of a ghostly head.

After taking down the bronze mirror hanging from the ceiling, Song Nianqiang and Fatty left the morgue. The director had been waiting outside anxiously, unable to sit still. Upon seeing the two emerge, he hurried over. Before he could speak, Song Nianqiang nodded at him, confirming the success. The director’s tense heart finally relaxed.

“Excellent! Wonderful!” The director rubbed his hands together, overjoyed and at a loss for words. “But I must tell you some bad news,” Song Nianqiang said, “we still don’t know the whereabouts of the body. But don’t worry, I expect we’ll have an answer by tomorrow.” The director’s smile faltered, but he forced a grin. “No problem, no problem!”

Song Nianqiang nodded to the director and left with Fatty. Their task tonight was only a third complete; the most important matter still awaited them.

The hospital’s official car delivered Song Nianqiang and Fatty to their rented apartment. Once home, Fatty placed the ghost talisman in a specially prepared porcelain bowl and burned it. The bowl was wrapped in fine red threads, incense burning around it, a talisman laid beneath, and beneath that, a handful of glutinous rice.

Soon, the Five Odd Ghost’s shadow appeared above the bowl, though it was much smaller than usual. If not for the incense smoke, it would be nearly invisible—yet even now, its form was vague and indistinct.

“Speak. Where did you take the body?” Song Nianqiang, exhausted after a long night, was famished and eating a bowl of instant noodles. The Five Odd Ghost paid him no heed, repeatedly attempting to escape the bowl but failing each time.

“Don’t waste your effort. If you manage to break out, I’ll call you grandfather!” Song Nianqiang glanced at the struggling ghost, finished his noodles, and drank the soup, letting out a long, satisfied burp.

“Qiangszi, let me handle this!” Fatty, still brooding over being locked in the morgue’s freezer by a ghost, was determined to take charge. He approached the table, pulled out a talisman from his pocket, and waved it before the Five Odd Ghost. “Know what this is? Stick this talisman on you, and you’ll beg for life and be denied death!” But the Five Odd Ghost seemed not to understand, still desperately trying to escape.

“Damn! Won’t listen to reason? Fine, I’ll show you some real pain!” With a wave, Fatty ignited the talisman above the bowl, which suddenly shone brightly, like red-hot iron.

A screech erupted from the bowl as the Five Odd Ghost cried out in agony. Song Nianqiang was startled, but Fatty quickly tossed another talisman onto the bowl, then turned with a sheepish grin. “Oops, my mistake!”

Now the Five Odd Ghost battered the bowl with renewed frenzy, yet the bowl remained motionless, unaffected by its strikes. “Serves you right for locking me in the freezer!” Fatty shouted viciously at the ghost, clearly still holding a grudge.

“Letting that unruly ghost taste a bit of suffering isn’t bad at all,” Song Nianqiang said, sitting on a stool and examining the bronze mirror in his hands, turning it over and over.

“Qiangszi, stop fussing over that old mirror. It’s probably nothing special—why else would its power be so weak? It’s likely just a modern thing made to look old!” Fatty plopped into a chair, which creaked under his weight, but Song Nianqiang shook his head. “This mirror is definitely unusual. Maybe its true purpose isn’t what we thought.”

He set the mirror on the table without a second thought, and no one noticed a ghostly shadow flicker within it. In a matter of minutes, the Five Odd Ghost had been tormented into a sorry state by the two, but it remained stubborn, refusing to reveal where the body was hidden.

“Fatty, show it something even tougher!” As Song Nianqiang spoke, a chill ran down his back—not from the wind, but a coldness that pierced to the bone. He shuddered involuntarily, then quickly turned. In the bronze mirror, a ghostly figure with disheveled hair was emerging.

“Fatty!” At this critical moment, Song Nianqiang ignored the Five Odd Ghost. The ghost from the mirror was clearly a formidable foe, and Song Nianqiang was still drained, unable to use his Maoshan techniques. He would have to rely on Fatty’s talismans.

Fatty, seeing the ghost, wasted no time. He grabbed a talisman and slapped it at the apparition, but it had no effect. With a sweep of its arm, the ghost hurled Fatty across the room, crashing him against the wall with a heavy thud. Even Fatty’s considerable bulk was no match for its strength.

The ghost’s target was evidently Song Nianqiang. Ignoring Fatty, it floated straight toward him. Though Song Nianqiang couldn’t use Maoshan arts, his strong body remained, and he dodged the ghost with a swift sidestep.

The apparition had long black hair, but aside from that, its entire body was white—just like in the movies. Yet one detail the movies never showed was its long, sharp fangs and iron-hooked nails, which glowed with an eerie blue light. Song Nianqiang had no doubt that a single scratch from those claws would mean never seeing the sun again.

“Fatty! The purple and silver talismans!” With no means to combat the ghost, Song Nianqiang pinned his hopes on the silver talismans. Fatty understood, snatching the two talismans from the wall. The ghost, focused solely on Song Nianqiang, gave Fatty ample opportunity to act.

But soon, Fatty discovered a shocking problem—the two talismans had no effect whatsoever on the ghost from the bronze mirror. Only then did Song Nianqiang realize that this was not a traditional ghost at all. It had a name.