"Mm." Xiao Heshang nodded. "There was indeed something sealed inside the Jade Plug, but from the looks of it, whatever was inside has already escaped."
"Escaped? That can't be right." I sensed something off about his words. "Even if my Heavenly Eye didn't spot anything, that spinning motion of the Jade Plug just now, along with the ghostly wails coming from inside—it definitely seemed like something was still in there, right?"
Xiao Heshang nodded at me and said, "That was resonance caused by your bullet. This Jade Plug is no ordinary artifact. Though the talismanic inscriptions on the surface have long faded, I suspect there's a formation carved within it—designed to contain ghosts. These spirits were meant to serve the Jade Plug's owner after death. There should have been a set of nine, but somehow one of them ended up in Boss Ma's possession.
"Because the surface of the Jade Plug was covered in ghost-suppressing talismans, nothing happened while Boss Ma kept it all these years. The problem started when the three luminous pearls came into play."
Boss Ma was confused. "Didn't you say it had nothing to do with the pearls?"
Xiao Heshang explained, "These three luminous pearls are no ordinary decorations. The light they emit naturally repels evil. But Boss Ma placed them too close to the Jade Plug—just like what happened earlier with the bullet, the pearls resonated with the plug. Their forces aren't the same; in fact, they work against each other.
"When the two powers clashed, the inscriptions on the Jade Plug were likely destroyed. Once those were gone, the thing inside lost its restraints. Fearing the glow of the luminous pearls, it escaped. And just happened to run into Boss Ma during his midnight bathroom trip—you know the rest."
"What about the thing itself?" Sun Fatty asked. "From the way Old Ma's luck's been going lately, that thing must still be haunting this big house."
Xiao Heshang nodded. "It probably hasn't gone far. Still within the boundaries of this house. Maybe we missed something earlier."
Missed something? Since Xiao Heshang said so, we had no choice but to go back and check again. Fortunately, the officers who had stayed behind received a call from the precinct—autopsies on the two thieves were completed. Other than cardiac arrest, no causes of death were found. In other words, the police no longer had a reason to guard the place and returned to the station.
We returned to the darkroom, this time inspecting everything more carefully. After circling five or six times, we still found nothing. But Xiao Heshang became interested in a row of metal tubes on the shelf. During our last visit, police had been guarding the room, so we hadn't been able to open them.
"Boss Ma, are these scroll tubes? Do you mind if I take a look?" Xiao Heshang turned to ask Ma Xiaolin.
Ma Xiaolin didn't object. He replied politely, "Go ahead. They're not famous paintings or anything. You know how it is—too many fakes out there in the calligraphy and painting world. I just collect them for fun."
The butler fetched a ladder and began handing down the scroll tubes one by one. Xiao Heshang opened one and slowly unfurled the scroll inside. It wasn't a calligraphy piece, but a rubbing of a mural. His eyes lit up as he stared at it. "The Celestial Palace Painting by Wu Daozi? Boss Ma, this one's a national treasure!"
Ma Xiaolin chuckled. "It's just a rubbing, not that big a deal."
Xiao Heshang examined a few more of Ma Xiaolin's collected scrolls. While none matched the level of Wu Daozi's work, they were still the creations of well-known artists. But when Xiao Heshang opened the fifth scroll and had barely unrolled half of it, he began his usual praise: "This one's not bad either. Judging by the style…" He stopped mid-sentence. His whole body suddenly stiffened, as if a jolt of electricity had passed through him.
"Ma Xiaolin! This—what is this?! Who painted it? What era is it from?!" His voice trembled as he spoke, calling Boss Ma by his full name now instead of "Boss."
"What's gotten into you, Master Xiao?" Sun Fatty stepped over and took the scroll from his hands. With just one glance, he cursed aloud, "Damn it! That bastard again! Can't he just stay gone?!"
I took a quick look. The scroll was a full-body portrait of a man dressed in white Daoist robes. He looked to be in his twenties, but he had a head of snow-white hair and a faintly provocative smile on his lips—who else could it be but Wu Rendi?
Seeing how flustered Xiao Heshang was, Ma Xiaolin also grew nervous. "I bought this five or six years ago. The artist wasn't famous—just a court painter from the Kangxi era of the Qing dynasty. I only collected it because it had Emperor Kangxi's personal seal. Master, is this painting... tainted? Is it the one that's been causing me all this bad luck?"
Xiao Heshang sighed, his voice tinged with despair. "He can't harm you—but I'm the unlucky one here."
Ma Xiaolin wanted to ask more, but upon seeing Xiao Heshang standing frozen, glaring at the painting, he swallowed his words. His eyes turned to me instead, but I was still bitter over being tricked out of those three pearls, so I looked away and pretended not to see him. With no other choice, he turned to Sun Fatty. "Mr. Sun, what's going on exactly? Don't you think you owe me an explanation?"
Sun Fatty frowned. "Old Ma, you messed up. Of all things to mess with, you went and poked the heavens. See that white-haired guy?" He pointed at the portrait of Wu Rendi. "That's the White-Haired Ghost King. He was sealed inside this painting by a powerful master. And now he's out. Why couldn't you have collected anything else? Why this cursed scroll?"
Sun Fatty casually gave me a glance. I caught on and turned back to take advantage of it, saying, "Old Ma, just prepare yourself for the worst. Eat whatever you want, drink whatever you want, gamble and carouse all you like. At this point, it doesn't matter if you watch your diet or not—just live it up. It's only going to be these few days anyway." I paused for a moment, then glanced at Sun Fatty, who sighed in sync with me, "Ah—"
Ma Xiaolin almost broke down in tears, "I can't die this soon. Master Fang Yun (note: a Taoist priest) told me I still have forty years left. There's no way I'd die now."
"This is fate catching up with you, not your lifespan. You've heard of inescapable fate, right? Old Ma, come to terms with it—life and death are decreed by destiny, wealth and honor are determined by heaven. You'll still be a fine man in twenty years." I put on a worried face, but inside I was overjoyed — I tricked him out of three pearls for the price of cabbage, just by scaring him a little.
Just as I was about to pour on the pressure, the usually silent Xiao Heshang spoke up, "Actually, there's still a chance, Boss Ma. I'm willing to risk shortening my own life by ten years to give it a try, but…"
Hearing that, Ma Xiaolin grabbed onto the straw of hope. I knew the drill—"Master, I understand the terms. If you save me, this big house is yours." Afraid Xiao Heshang didn't know the market, Ma went on, "I had a real estate agent appraise the place a few days ago. This house is worth nearly one hundred million HKD."
Sun Fatty snorted nearby. Not just him—I understood Ma's thinking. He was trying to turn trash into treasure. Everyone in the neighborhood already knew about the haunting, and now with two deaths on top of that, the place was cursed. There's no way that villa would sell for a billion in fifty years, maybe not even a tenth. Even now, Ma Xiaolin clings to his money rather than his life.
The monk shook his head. "Boss Ma, the house isn't what we want—" Halfway through his sentence, the air pressure in the dark room suddenly dropped, and a dank, sinister aura crashed over every corner like a tsunami.
Not only we felt it, but Ma Xiaolin and his steward did too. Ma's voice trembled, "M-M-Master, that's exactly how it felt last time I saw a ghost…"
"Shut your mouth!" Xiao Heshang glared coldly at Ma Xiaolin. Actually, he was looking past him. Suddenly, a white silhouette appeared behind Ma Xiaolin. It swayed as if drunk. Ma Xiaolin hadn't noticed it, but his steward caught the oddity in Xiao Heshang's eyes. Following the gaze, the steward nearly fell to the floor.
"Boss, behind you…" The steward's eyes flicked nervously to Ma's back. Ma stiffened, guessing something was behind him, and shouted, "Master, save me!"
From the moment I saw the white figure, my right hand had slid to my waist, gripping my gun. If it weren't for fear of Ma Xiaolin flailing, I would have shot already. Now that Ma was basically paralyzed, I didn't hesitate — I pulled out my pistol and fired at the white figure's head.
As I drew the gun, Xiao Heshang shouted, "Don't shoot!" He was half a beat too late. A "bang" sounded — my bullet pierced the white figure's head, but nothing happened. The figure floated there as if nothing had occurred, completely unaffected.
"I told you not to shoot," Xiao Heshang said, irritated. He was staring at the white shadow, but speaking to me.
Sun Fatty had already pulled out his pistol, but seeing my shot failed, he put it away and drew his baton instead.
"You both put your weapons away. Your toys don't work on it. Don't provoke it," Xiao Heshang whispered, speaking to both of us.
Right now, holding something gave a bit of security, so neither I nor Sun Fatty listened. We pointed our gun and baton at the white figure.
Xiao Heshang grew anxious. "Put your weapons away! It's not a ghost — it's a god. The Misfortune Deity!"
"A god? Old Xiao, you say it's a god?" I didn't catch what kind of god exactly, but seeing Sun Fatty back up several steps to the wall, I sensed danger and took a few steps back myself. Sun Fatty said behind me, "Lazi, where's your family heirloom blade?"
I didn't dare turn around, staring at the white figure ahead. "Didn't bring it. Who knew we'd actually need it? Old Xiao, what god did you say it was?"
Xiao Heshang said coldly, "Misfortune Deity — the 'misfortune' from plague, and the 'deity' from god. Lazi, who told you to be so quick with your hands? You even dared to attack a god. Don't expect to have a good life in this one or the next."
"Misfortune Deity... the god who brings plague?" My hand gripping the gun trembled slightly. Facing a god for the first time was naturally exciting. But I think I just shot him.
A god is a god. The Misfortune Deity floated right there. Xiao Heshang didn't dare move recklessly. "It's the Misfortune Deity, not the Pestilence God. The Pestilence God spreads disease. The Misfortune Deity is what the common folk call the Broom Star; in the south, it's known as the Bad Luck Spirit. Boss Ma's recent misfortunes are clearly gifts from the Misfortune Deity."
I still had questions. "How did Ma Xiaolin anger a god? And you said before it was something inside the Jade Plug causing his bad luck. Could that thing inside the plug be this Misfortune Deity?" I hesitated to say aloud what I was thinking—where exactly is this jade plug? Who's unlucky enough to have a Misfortune Deity stuck in their behind? That's the worst kind of bad luck imaginable.
My words made Xiao Heshang blink. "Both gods and ghosts fear filth. That jade plug must not only be a Nine-Orifice Jade, but also a container sealing a ghost or deity. Someone long ago defied heaven to seal the Misfortune Deity inside it. The outside place is so bad that even if you killed the Misfortune Deity, it wouldn't escape from there. I wonder how long it's been sealed... Boss Ma's truly unlucky — not only did he take the plug, he also released the Misfortune Deity."
"Old Xiao, guess who's got such a sick sense of humor to seal the Misfortune Deity in a jade plug?" I asked, though the image of a man with all-white hair instantly came to my mind. Xiao Heshang snorted, "I don't know!"
Sun Fatty had put away his baton and lowered his voice after hearing our conversation. "Old Xiao, what do we do now? No matter what kind of god it is, we can't offend it. Maybe we should just let it be." Then, raising his voice a bit, he said to Ma Xiaolin, "Old Ma, it's okay. It's a god, it won't stoop to your level. Maybe it's even trying to repay you and stick around a bit longer."