Ita Era

Chapter 170 Soul Exchange
As he was pondering this, Ding Shi saw the first player besides himself attending the wedding: the Taoist priest.

The Taoist priest took off his fashionable Taoist attire from when he entered the instance, changed into a set of cotton clothes, and entered the room with Liu Niang and Hu Tou. The Taoist priest's gaze did not linger on Ding Shi. He greeted Liu Niang and the people she knew, as if he were a native of the area, as if he were Liu Niang's husband.

Villagers like Granny Liu showed curiosity. Granny Liu took the initiative to chat with her, holding Liu Niang's hand and asking about the Taoist priest's identity. Liu Niang shyly replied that he was the person she was looking for. The indifferent villagers, however, didn't care about the Taoist priest at all, only giving polite responses.

No matter how imaginative Ding Shi was, he couldn't immediately provide a reasonable explanation for the Taoist's strange behavior.

into the night.

Shanzi's family set up 7 tables for the banquet. There weren't many dishes; each table had only five dishes and a soup. The bride and groom took wine glasses and went from table to table to toast.

At this moment, in Tie Zhu's house, a young girl lay in an unpainted coffin, and Cuihua lay in a coffin next door; both were unconscious.

Sha Bi knelt on one knee and manipulated the ghost to reach his hands into Cuihua's body.

Tie Zhu, dressed in a Taoist robe, holding a wooden bell in his hand, stood on the Seven Stars and circled the two coffins, chanting incantations.

"Rise." The ghostly figure of the Foolish Dagger pulled a dark shadow out of Cuihua's body. The ghostly figure walked towards Wang Zhu, stood beside Wang Zhu, and waited for the opportunity to stuff the dark shadow into Wang Zhu's body.

Tie Zhu's eyes were bloodshot. He stopped, bit his middle finger, and used his blood to draw a talisman on Wang Zhu's body. Just as the talisman was about to be completed, a Buddhist chant came from outside the door: "Amitabha."

Ghost Shadow, Foolish Dagger, and Black Shadow all trembled. Black Shadow broke free from Ghost Shadow's restraints, turned into a wisp of black smoke, and flew back into Cuihua's body. Ghost Shadow also returned to Foolish Dagger's body.

The courtyard gate opened, revealing a monk, a young nun, a Taoist nun, Ji Shan, Ji Yue, and the Confucian woman Dong Cheng. Ding Shi, who had climbed onto the wall, was also there.

With the wooden shed blocking the view, Ding Shi jumped over the wall into the inner courtyard, stood in front of the group of players, and said, "Uncle Tiezhu, the past is the past, and some things are gone forever."

Tie Zhu calmly said, "Ding Shi, what are you talking about? We are expelling the ghost contract from Wang Zhu's body. As long as the ghost contract is destroyed, Wang Zhu can answer our questions and will not be devoured by the ghost contract. For the sake of Tianmen Village, we must find the ghost cultivator."

Ding Shi said, "Uncle Tiezhu, it's just a case of possession and resurrection, I know all that."

Tie Zhu remained defiant: "What do you mean by 'resurrection through a corpse'?"

Ding Shi said, "Uncle Tiezhu, you want to use Wang Zhu's body to revive your daughter Cuilan. In this way, not only will Aunt Cuihua be able to return to normal, but your daughter can also return to your side. You originally hoped that I would abduct Wang Zhu, so you specially taught me the Sky-Breaking Technique. If I'm not mistaken, this Sky-Breaking Technique is very harmful to the soul of the original body."

Ding Shi said, “My primal force is very strong, and I can continuously release the Sky-Breaking technique. In this way, I can use my hand to scatter Wang Zhu’s original soul, and I can also expel the evil spirits in Wang Zhu’s body. You will then be able to obtain a clean living dead. However, plans can’t keep up with changes. Feng Qiniang has seen through your thoughts and discussed with Wang Zhu to urgently marry Wang Zhu off.”

Dongcheng asked, "I don't understand this. Why marry out instead of just leaving home?"

Ding Shi replied, "Wang Zhu has an evil spirit inside her, so she cannot leave the village unless she gets married. There has been an old saying about 'marrying for good luck,' which is said to dispel evil spirits. As Uncle Tie Zhu said, the family that marries the bride will not be harmed by yin energy for three years. After the bride gives birth to a child, the family will not be harmed by yin energy for five years."

Ding Shi said, "Although I don't quite understand, if Wang Zhu leaves the village directly, something bad will definitely happen."

Seeing Ding Shi say this, Sha Bi corrected him, saying, "If you don't go home at night within three days, the evil spirit will rampage within your body. The longer you delay, the more ferocious the evil spirit becomes after nightfall, constantly devouring your soul until it takes over your body." While everyone was talking, he had already overcome the aftereffects of summoning the ghost.

Foolish Bike added, "Unless this person is a woman, and a bride. How do you know that?"

Ding Shi said, "It's half guessing, and half I talked about it with Feng Qiniang before the banquet."

Feng Qiniang is a minor boss; she doesn't understand Taoist or ghost magic, but she does understand feng shui. Before she got married, her father was a very famous feng shui master in the area. After the sacred tree in Tianmen Village was felled and strange things happened, she returned to her parents' home to ask her father to come out of seclusion. Unexpectedly, her father fell seriously ill, and even though he knew what had happened, he was powerless to reverse the situation.

During the days when Seventh Sister's father was on his deathbed, he taught Seventh Sister some magic methods.

Seventh Sister used the magic weapon her father gave her to set up a Yin-gathering array in her home.

The first purpose of the Yin Gathering Array is to collect Yin energy, preventing it from harming people during the day or entering their homes. The second purpose is to raise ghosts, keeping the malevolent spirits of the in-laws as bodyguards to prevent malicious individuals from disrupting the array. As the master controlling the Yin Gathering Array, one will naturally not be harmed by these malevolent spirits.

For the past 20 years, Seventh Sister has tried her best to marry off eligible girls from the village. Due to factors such as productivity, rural girls face certain discrimination, and most of them become slaves to evil spirits. Even if their own families don't have evil spirits, other families will pay to buy them containers.

Tiezhu sat down on a chair, picked up a hookah, stuffed it with tobacco, and lit it.

After exhaling a smoke ring, Tie Zhu asked, "When did you start to doubt me?"

Ding Shi replied, “The clash between red and white is inauspicious. Aunt Cuihua was so anxious that she fell to the ground, which shows that the situation was very serious. You can say that you are not very talented, but you can’t say that you are ignorant. I don’t believe that you don’t know the consequences of the clash between red and white. As the person in charge of the white team, you watched as the groom of the red team persuaded the white team to back down.”

Ding Shi said, "Your goal is to unleash a horde of ghosts, and your target is Wang Zhu. Through this horde of evil spirits, you want the evil spirits to devour your soul. Many villagers have experienced the horde of evil spirits, which is why they are cold and indifferent to others and lack emotion."

Ding Shi said, "Initially, I suspected Feng Qiniang, but today I learned that she was completely unaware of the consequences of the Red and White Encounter. She only wanted to reduce the harm of Yin energy to Shanzi's family. Qiniang usually receives a lot of care from Shanzi. When she noticed that Shanzi's emotions were changing, she knew that Yin energy was beginning to corrode him, so she was in a hurry to find a wife for Shanzi."

Ding Shi said, "And the shellfish soup from the first night, I don't believe you don't know the saying that you can't eat the internal organs and that shellfish have internal organs. I specifically went to the stream to check. You can dig out shellfish just by rubbing the mud and sand with your feet. Obviously, no one in the village eats this stuff; eating it will cause hallucinations. Your purpose is probably to learn more about me and Sha Bi, right?"

Tie Zhu said, "Yes, I found that he both hates and fears you. You two are two extremes. You know the hand seals to harm evil spirits, and he can control the evil spirits within his body. No matter which one of you helps, you can help me achieve my goal."

Ding Shi asked, "Why not me?"

Tie Zhu said, “You’re too smart. When we were chatting, I deliberately revealed my flaws, but you pretended not to understand. For example, when I said I was going to leave Tianmen Village after Cuilan’s death anniversary, you didn’t ask why I didn’t leave before. I knew then that you were very wary of me. He was also wary, but he could be bribed. I have what he needs.”

Tie Zhu said, "I also have what you need, which is that book of Huang's secret techniques. It's a pity that you know it's a Taoist book, but you haven't even turned a single page. He's different. He takes every opportunity to rummage through boxes and cabinets, just because I told him that my father-in-law is good at ghost-controlling techniques."

Tie Zhu said, "But I am right about one thing: the Soul Slave Talisman drawn by Wang Zhu has evil energy. If you use a furnace with the Soul Slave Talisman drawn by her, your essence, energy and spirit will be slowly absorbed by someone or something. Ghost cultivators really exist. They not only use Yin energy to cultivate, but also use Soul Slave Talismans to extract the life force of living people."

Tie Zhu said, "Besides the compatibility of Wang Zhu's birth chart, this is also the main reason why I ultimately chose Wang Zhu as the sacrificial offering." The monk asked, "Where is the ghost cultivator? Or who is the ghost cultivator?"

Tie Zhu shook his head: "I suspect that Wang Zhu was unaware that the Soul Slave Talisman she drew had evil energy. I once talked to her, and she asked me if I knew Sanskrit. I said I didn't, and she asked me, 'If you don't know it, how do you know it has evil energy?' I was speechless. In order to find the ghost cultivator, I sneaked into Wang Zhu's house."

Tie Zhu pointed to his five-clawed scarred face: "If it weren't for the talisman my father-in-law left me, I would have died at Wang Zhu's house that night. These aren't scars left by evil spirits, they were left by humans. You want to know where the ghost cultivator is? I don't know, but I suspect he's at Wang Zhu's house. After that, I knew I couldn't control Wang Zhu and the ghost cultivator, so I not only stopped asking about the ghost cultivator but also stopped having any contact with Wang Zhu."

Silly Bone sat to one side and said, "Now that you know the situation, are you planning to meddle or leave?"

The monk clasped his hands together and said, "Regardless of the reason, possession of a body is an evil art. Whether Wang Zhu is good or bad is inconclusive. Even if Wang Zhu is a bad person, the body still belongs to Wang Zhu and cannot be taken away at will."

The monk said, “The most important point is that you, Sha Bi, killed Yuan Yue and Yuan Shan. Although the law cannot punish you, your dangerousness is well known, and we cannot let this go unpunished.”

Foolish Dagger: "Me?"

Ding Shi said, "Your ghostly figure grabbed Yuan Yue and flung her away. Yuan Yue crashed into the wall and fainted. Then your ghostly figure punched Yuan Shan to death and finally broke Yuan Yue's neck."

Foolish Bone asked, "Where's the evidence?"

Ding Shi said, "Because only you can commit crimes like this; no one else can."

Foolish Bone asked, "You mean you want to get rid of me?"

Ding Shi remained silent, while the monk said, "If you wish, we can control you."

The fool asked, "How do you control it?"

The monk said, "There's a kind of herbal soup in the village that will make you sleep for 12 hours. If you drink a few bowls, you can go home."

Sha Bi asked, "Is this your collective opinion? In other words, you're going to punish me without even a trial just because others couldn't do this, which isn't even evidence? And this is after confirming the existence of ghost cultivators in the village? Aren't ghost cultivators suspects? Aren't Taoists suspects? Aren't the others suspects?"

Foolish Dagger chuckled sinisterly: "You think you're messengers of justice? Do you know that there's a ghost cultivator among you?"

The idiot pointed: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7 people. The jury needs unanimous approval for a conviction. I don't have such high demands. As long as 4 people convict me, I'll drink the herbal soup. Otherwise, don't interfere in my and Tiezhu's business."

Sha Bi picked up some wood shavings from the ground, broke them into seven triangles, and then found seven irregularly shaped pieces. He walked over and gave one to each person. Then he went to the side, picked up an empty earthenware pot, placed it on the coffin, and said, "Please line up in an orderly fashion to vote. Triangles are innocent, non-triangles are guilty. Don't peek!"

No one moved. Foolish Bone asked, "Monk, is there a problem with my suggestion?"

The monk sighed, "Can't we let her go?" He was referring to Wang Zhu.

Sha Bi said, "I have what I want, and Tie Zhu has what he wants. This is a dungeon, don't talk to me about morality. I'm already doing very well by following the rules."

The Taoist nun asked, "Did you kill Yuan Yue and his wife?" This was the crux of the matter. There were wolves outside the village, but the villagers weren't afraid. However, there was a wolf among the villagers, and for their own benefit, they would certainly eliminate it.

Sha Bi replied, "I swear on the lives of my entire family: no."

Ding Shi, speechless, questioned the heavens: "Your entire family? I've slaughtered your entire family. Most importantly, wasn't the person who hated your family the most idiot, you?"

Conclusion: Yuan Yue and Yuan Shan were killed by a fool.

Ding Shi was conflicted, unsure which side to take. Others might have the right to gang up on Sha Bi for this reason, but Ding Shi didn't.

At the start, Sha Bi spends 300 dollars to buy peace. As long as Sha Bi does not threaten Ding Shi, Ding Shi cannot attack him.

Ding Shi stepped forward a few paces, placed a triangular piece of wood into the earthenware jar, and returned to his position. All those who could be questioned have been questioned; now it's time to announce the verdict.

Upon seeing this, everyone stepped forward.

After the vote, Sha Bi tipped the earthenware pot over, and seven wood shavings fell to the ground, only one of which was not triangular. Clearly, six people believed that Sha Bi should not be convicted based on the information currently available.

Surprisingly, Sha Bi didn't push his luck. Instead, he said, "Tie Zhu has already revealed his intentions. Everyone knows what he's going to do. Are you going to stop him?"

Ding Shi said, "This is a personal task. Although I don't like Sha Bi, Uncle Tie Zhu and Aunt Cui Hua have been very kind to me, so I choose to leave." Sha Bi was being judged because he was suspected of being involved in the player's death. Tie Zhu's actions constituted a collaboration between NPCs and players, similar to completing a quest in a game. Normally, he wouldn't stop Sha Bi's quest, but the world of Ita is so realistic that some players have come to treat NPCs as equals.

Ding Shi first explained that the "foolish dagger" behavior was a personal task and did not threaten the players' survival, in order to avoid being collectively bound.

"This is my mission," said the idiot. "If you try to stop my mission, I can stop yours in return."

The most difficult part is defining the nature of the foolish behavior, but in any case, everyone feels that no one has the right to interfere in this matter.

The monk chanted a Buddhist prayer and said, "I share the same view as Ding Shi; I choose to leave."

Everyone except Xiao Ni turned and left.

Xiao Ni stood quietly at the courtyard gate, watching the coffin. Sha Bi got into a fighting stance, and Tie Zhu walked to Cui Hua's side, ready to support Sha Bi at any time.

(End of this chapter)