The rain was pouring, the wind howled, and deafening thunder roared. Crimson lightning streaked across the sky above Henderson Village, raging wildly. In the distant mountains, a fire had already broken out.
Heaven and earth had changed. The torrential rain seemed intent on flooding the world. Henry Henderson led all able villagers toward the river embankment. The seeds they had just sown—if the mountain flood washed over them now, everyone would go hungry this year.
Maggie Mute was in her room, struggling through labor with the help of a midwife. Victor Wu and Victor Fan had already arrived outside the house.
At this moment, Victor Wu's heart was in chaos. He tapped his fingers, calculating, his eyes fixed on the sudden changes in the sky.
"Heaven will not allow it. The heavens are still furious."
Victor Wu spoke, glancing into the house. The situation was dire. He had seen powerful ghosts before—some would tamper with unborn children, attempting to replace the baby in the womb. Yet because the child was still inside its mother, protected by innate forces, ghosts rarely succeeded.
But now, inside, there was only a faint trace of ghostly energy—nothing else could be sensed. Victor Wu asked Victor Fan how many days it had been. Victor Fan told him it had been over a month.
The baby inside was about to be born. In the heavy rain, Victor Wu took out an Octagram Mirror and some ritual implements, arranging them around Maggie Mute’s room. The rain grew heavier. The talismans, once pasted, were immediately torn away by the wind. After several attempts, Victor Wu gave up.
Victor Fan stood woodenly to the side, letting the rain wash over him. He was deeply uneasy, tormented. Victor Wu’s recent words echoed in his mind.
"I have done something irreversible."
After a long silence, Fan Li muttered to himself. Wu Zheng turned his head and called out.
"Instead of waiting to die, why not help me? Here, take this. Hold the red string tight—no matter what you see or encounter, don’t let go. Remember that."
Wu Zheng wound loops of red string around the outside of the house, then handed one end to Fan Li. Tied to it was a delicate silver bell.
Wu Zheng waited quietly outside, holding a small awl that glowed faintly blue in his hand.
"Mr. Wu, what should we do now?"
"A ghost trying to take over a child's body isn’t something that happens overnight. I suspect Miss Xi Shi has been slowly eroding that child’s body through some method for a long time. But to fully possess it—there’s no way it could happen so quickly. It would take at least three years."
Fan Li looked at Wu Zheng in astonishment, a flicker of hope appearing in his eyes.
Wu Zheng sighed and shook his head. That didn’t mean the child in Yagu’s belly was safe. When a ghost possesses a human body, it takes a long time to adapt. For the original soul to expel the ghost is extremely difficult.
Once inside a human body, a ghost loses much of its power. Only after completely driving out the original soul can it use its full ghostly abilities.
And once the body is overtaken, there is almost no way to resolve it. If the child is harmed, both the soul and the body will suffer damage.