Seeing that he was determined to take lives and reasoning with him to make him leave was impossible, I didn’t waste any more words. I took out brush, ink, and paper from my cloth bag, drew a talisman to expel evil, and with a loud “pa,” slapped it onto his forehead.

As soon as the talisman was attached, Secretary Baker’s previously sinister, mocking expression immediately changed. His whole body began to convulse, his eyes bulged wide, and he kept foaming at the mouth—he looked absolutely terrifying!

Just as everyone thought the talisman had subdued him, he suddenly let out a loud “woo,” and the talisman on his forehead started to emit white smoke. With a “bang,” it burst into flames and was burned to ashes in an instant.

As soon as the talisman burned up, Secretary Baker flew into a rage and began to struggle violently, shaking the entire tree he was tied to. Then, right before everyone’s eyes, the poplar tree as thick as a bowl that he was tied to was actually snapped in two by sheer force!

You have to understand, that tree was as thick as a bowl—even if you tied a bull to it, it couldn’t break it, let alone a living person! At that moment, not only were the villagers so shocked their jaws dropped, but even I was wide-eyed in disbelief.

What was even worse was that I happened to be standing right in front of him, the closest to him. Just as the tree snapped and I was about to turn and retreat, Secretary Baker suddenly let out a howl and lunged at me, his pair of icy cold hands clamping around my neck. Instantly, I felt my feet leave the ground and couldn’t breathe at all. I struggled desperately, but his strength was overwhelming—no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t break free...

Chapter 10: Reasoning (Part 2)

At this, everyone present panicked. But seeing my face turning purple from Secretary Baker’s grip, they forced themselves to overcome their fear and rushed forward, once again tackling him to the ground, and thus managed to save me.

This time, I was furious. Seeing that Secretary Baker was about to throw everyone off and couldn’t be held down, I hurriedly pulled out a handful of talismans from my cloth bag—there were all kinds: evil-breaking talismans, house-protecting talismans, ghost-expelling talismans, disaster-dispelling talismans, more than a dozen in total—and slapped them all onto Secretary Baker’s forehead...

This actually worked a bit. He immediately stopped struggling, his whole body convulsed violently again, foaming at the mouth, and his eyes kept rolling upward like a cross-eyed fish. Not long after, his head lolled to the side and he fainted!

Seeing that Secretary Baker was motionless, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief, though they still stayed on guard, ready for him to lash out again at any moment.

I said, it’s fine now, that thing has left. Hurry and help Secretary Baker up.

Hearing this, everyone relaxed and quickly helped him up and took him home.

Secretary Baker wasn’t a local; he was from Chenjia Town, more than ten li away, and was temporarily staying at the village office in our village. After bringing him back to where he was staying, I drew three talismans, dissolved them in water, and made him drink it. After all, being possessed by a ghost brings heavy yin energy into the body, and if not treated, it could easily lead to serious illness.

That night, Secretary Baker woke up, but after waking, his eyes were dull and he didn’t speak. He just muttered to himself in a daze, refused to eat or drink, and ignored anyone who called him—just sat on the bed staring blankly.

Seeing this, I didn’t know what else to do, so I stuck ghost-expelling talismans on the doors and windows of his room to prevent that thing from coming back for him.

For the next two or three days, I kept trying to find a solution. During these days, Secretary Baker would sometimes wander aimlessly around the village, muttering things no one could understand. When things got worse, he would suddenly go berserk, attacking anyone he saw or jumping onto rooftops, which was truly frightening. Each time, the whole village had to work together with all their strength to tie him to the millstone.

Actually, on the second day after Secretary Baker’s incident, his parents rushed over. Seeing their son in such a state, they wept bitterly—it was heartbreaking to watch. They tried to invite a master, but it was very difficult to get one to come. After all, in those days, no one dared to openly practice such things, especially with the campaign to destroy the Four Olds in full swing. If outsiders found out, it could cost them their lives.

In the end, they did manage to invite a master. When the master arrived and took a look, he said that the thing was no ordinary spirit and he couldn’t handle it. He left a few talismans and departed, and even when Secretary Baker’s parents knelt and begged, the master could only sigh and shake his head.

This went on for more than a week. By now, Secretary Baker, having not eaten or drunk anything for days, had become frighteningly thin. In the end, with no other options, Secretary Baker’s parents came to beg me again, pleading with me to save their son.

Although Secretary Baker had brought this upon himself, seeing his parents so pitiful, I agreed to do my best to help. At the same time, I knew in my heart that this was truly a difficult problem.

In the days that followed, I kept trying to find a solution for him. I once took Secretary Baker to the spot at the village entrance where the stone statue had been dug up, made him kneel there, burn yellow paper and incense, and kowtow to beg the spirit to let him go. But after trying all these methods, there was no improvement at all—Secretary Baker remained just as deranged as before.