After completing the procedure, Li Sanjiang asked, "Where is the other stuff, especially that bottle?"
"They were taken by the boss."
"Where does he live?"
"He lived here, in that room. After he disappeared, we searched for him. Then my parents started having health issues, and we realized it was the stuff in the coffin causing trouble. We also searched his room, but didn’t find those things, nor that bottle."
Li Sanjiang furrowed his brows. Originally, he planned to put everything back, hold another ritual, then seal the coffin and push it into the river. That should have settled the matter.
After all, the requirements on the human woodcarving were clear. Now that at least two, maybe three lives had been lost, blood had been shed, whatever resentment the object held should have been vented.
But that’s only on the condition that everything is returned. Or, it’d be fine if a piece of jewelry was lost, but that bottle with talisman paper on it must not be missed.
The inscription on it was very clear, it was meant to suppress the evil spirit with its own corpse!
At this moment, Li Zhiyuan spoke up, "Uncle and Auntie, does the boss have any other connections here?"
Li Sanjiang suddenly realized and asked further, "Right, right, any other acquaintances? I’ve heard these businessmen from the south love to keep mistresses."
Chen Xiaoling shook her head, "I haven’t heard anything."
Zhou Hai scratched his head, "Seems like there are two, one is a widow living in Jiwei Port Town, and the other a singer in the city area."
"Can you find them?" asked Li Sanjiang.
Zhou Hai shook his head, "I’ve only heard my parents talk about it during meals, but I don’t know exactly where these two live, can’t find them."
Li Sanjiang took out a pack of cigarettes, pulled out two and tossed one to Zhou Hai, and said:
"Call the police, let them find the items."
Zhou Hai and Chen Xiaoling were stunned.
"I said call the police, report the disappearance and this incident." Li Sanjiang pointed at the coffin, "Let the police look for it, ask if the items are with them. I suspect that the boss might be gone too."
"Grandmaster, if we call the police..."
"You guys didn’t kill anyone, what are you afraid of! Ha, even if I managed to smoothly send the coffin back to the river today, I would still have told you guys to report it.
This matter, with government involvement, will be handled much better, and you’ll be safer.
If you don’t want to call the police, that’s up to you, just don’t end up like your parents ended up today."
"We’ll report, call the police!" Zhou Hai resolved.
"Alright, move the coffin and the offering table inside for now, and before the authorities take over, don’t extinguish the candles or the burnt offerings, try to make amends as much as you can.
You guys divide the tasks among yourselves."
"Got it, Grandmaster, Xiaoling, go call the police, I’ll stay here and watch the offering table."
Following that, Li Sanjiang sat with Li Zhiyuan on the front steps, continuously smoking.
"Grandmaster, aren’t we going home?" Li Zhiyuan asked.
Li Sanjiang pointed behind at the house, "If I leave now, leaving Zhou Hai alone with that coffin, I’m afraid he might wet himself."
After a pause, Li Sanjiang continued, "Last night, your Grandmaster, I also had a dream."
"Hmm?" Li Zhiyuan finally realized the gravity, "Grandmaster, you had a dream too?"
"I dreamed about being on the rooftop of the town’s health center, that girl standing in front of me, asking why I’m helping them, on what basis. She also told me, since I intervened, I should die with them too."
Li Sanjiang took a fierce drag of his cigarette, exhaling slowly through his nose:
"Damn it, I was also scared by today’s events."
Li Zhiyuan nodded understandingly; today’s scene was indeed frightening.
Moreover, he felt that the Bai Family’s Lady dredged up from the river and this girl Bai Family’s Lady, though likely from the same family, clearly had different temperaments.
The Bai Family’s Lady from the river accepted the compensation and offerings, even tolerated Mr. Luo’s chatter.
You could say she was quite reasonable.
But this Bai Family’s Lady here, much harsher, killing like drinking water.
"Actually, what does it have to do with me? She blames me for coming to the health center that day and saving those two elderly, but I couldn’t just stand by and watch them die, could I?
Nevermind, I wasn’t involved much. Once the police arrive, I’ll give a statement, get exposed to the officer’s presence, and she probably won’t bother me anymore."
Li Zhiyuan now understood Grandmaster’s plan.
No wonder; the previous encounters, whether with Little Huang Ying or the cat-faced old lady, were within manageable limits, nowhere near as fierce as this Bai Family’s Lady. Grandmaster was out of his depth.
Li Zhiyuan suddenly frowned, recalling a passage in the "Jianghu Chronicles" mentioning someone similar to this Bai Family’s Lady.
That was about Xuanmen practitioners, using their own bodies as vessels, sealing and nurturing themselves to ascend immortality in another form.
Such Corpse holds some mystical abilities from life, though not as terrifying as a General’s, but extremely difficult to handle because it knows the tactics living people might use against it.
Recalling the engraved script again: The corpse suppresses the evil spirit, and Merit helps ascension.
This matched completely, even without a tangible form, it remained a Corpse... and it was even more uncertain how to deal with it.
Li Zhiyuan felt Grandmaster was right to call the police.