Chapter 1136 - 1102: The New Soul Summoner

“I’m resurrected?”

The young woman sitting inside the coffin murmured uncertainly at this moment.

She lifted her hand to take a look.

No longer pale and cold, instead it carried a hint of warmth, the aura of the living. Besides all this, her body was somewhat different from before; it seemed that the supernatural powers within had vanished, leaving only this very special piece of clothing.

She recognized this clothing; it was from the tailor shop in Taiping Town.

At this moment, Boss Liu returned. He heard the commotion in the back hall, and upon seeing the young woman, he paused in surprise.

Yet it all seemed to be expected.

“He used the method of summoning souls, along with some other supernatural powers, to bring you back to life.”

Boss Liu fell silent for a moment before speaking: “But He Liansheng is dead, killed by a youngster moments ago. If you’re alright, come out and take a look at him. You might as well help bury him; it’s fortunate this coffin can still be used, so it won’t go to waste.”

He Liansheng is dead?

The young woman showed an expression of astonishment upon hearing this news. “How could Grandpa He possibly die…”

“Everyone dies, no exceptions. The former generation is all gone, let alone us few.” Boss Liu said.

“I don’t believe it.” The young woman’s emotions grew agitated; she couldn’t accept He Liansheng’s death.

She hurriedly turned and jumped out of the red coffin. She almost stumbled into a pool of water but was caught by the looming Faceless Person nearby.

The young woman waded through the cold, stagnant water, quickly heading toward the ancestral hall.

Sure enough.

Upon arriving at the ancestral hall, the young woman saw it: standing in the center was a headless corpse, motionless and showing no signs of falling, while a Dead Man’s Head was picked up by Boss Liu earlier and placed on the offering table of the ancestral hall, covered with a piece of red cloth.

Witnessing such a gruesome scene, the young woman’s eyes narrowed, her entire body stiffened, and tears began streaming down uncontrollably.

He Liansheng was not merely an elder of Taiping Ancient Town.

He was also her grandfather.

Though not blood-related, she bore the surname He too, having grown up in Taiping Town from a young age. Guarding the ancestral hall, He Liansheng had always been the most important memory of her childhood.

She’d never thought that, upon returning here today, upon coming to this ancestral hall, she’d be met with such a scene.

Boss Liu and the Faceless Man followed along. They paused in silence, then spoke: “Don’t be too sad, folks like us meet our end sooner or later. Letting go lightly, he wouldn’t live many more years anyway. Dying now could be considered a release; at least he managed to resurrect you, bringing closure to a grudge.”

He now somewhat understood why He Liansheng was killed by Leuk San. Besides holding back, he feared He Liansheng hoped to end the entangling grudge between the old and new generations through his death, allowing the descendants of Taiping Town to appear cleanly outside.

If He Liansheng killed Leuk San today.

Then the headquarters behind Leuk San, and those formidable newcomers around him, would probably not spare He Liansheng.

Killing back and forth, eventually everyone in Taiping Ancient Town would end up finished.

Thus, He Liansheng used his death to end all the conflict.

“Who, who killed Grandpa He?” The young woman stopped crying, revealing her vengeful fury.

Boss Liu was about to speak.

Suddenly.

An unusual fragrance wafted through the surrounding ancestral hall.

Someone had lit incense.

Boss Liu’s expression shifted, he immediately scanned around, finally discovering in an inconspicuous corner of the ancestral hall a stick of incense that was burning.

The incense was inserted into the wall.

Unlike ordinary incense, it was the ancestral hall’s treasured Soul Summoning Incense.

“Who lit the Soul Summoning Incense?” Boss Liu asked in bewilderment.

But then he discovered that this incense had already burned halfway, not as if it had just been lit. It had been lit earlier.

“Do not shout in the ancestral hall; I lit the Soul Summoning Incense. This is the final soul summoning.” At this moment, an ethereal voice echoed within the ancestral hall.

Through the swirling smoke, the apparition of a one-eyed old man appeared.

Undoubtedly, this elderly man was the Soul Summoner, He Liansheng.

“You…”

Boss Liu, taken aback, pointed at him with his hand: “You actually lit your own Soul Summoning Incense ahead of time; you were already prepared to die?”

The Soul Summoning Incense is a single-use supernatural item; once lit, it can summon the deceased, enabling them to reappear in this world, but only for the duration of one stick of incense.

This doesn’t count as resurrection, only an unfathomable supernatural phenomenon.

“Grandpa He.”

The young woman, surprised and delighted, rushed over quickly.

He Liansheng, looking at the familiar ancestral hall, familiar faces, and his own corpse standing not far away, smiled, revealing a few kind looks: “Yiner, my time is longer, I have some things to entrust, afterwards I can rest in peace.”

This young woman had her own name.

Her name was He Yiner, but in the headquarters’ files she was Silver, a pseudonym for convenience in outside activities.

“Grandpa He, speak.”

He Yiner bit her lip slightly, holding back her sorrow, listening to his final instructions.

He Liansheng said: “My death is inevitable, don’t grieve for me, but the secrets of Taiping Ancient Town must be passed on and not buried because of this. This ancestral hall I’ve guarded for decades, since my youth till now, so at this last moment, I wish to entrust this burden to you.”

“Yiner, you will take up the role as the next Soul Summoner.”

He Yiner paused, about to speak, but was interrupted by He Liansheng.

His time truly was short, less than half a stick of incense remained, so he continued: “Whenever a Soul Summoner takes over, the previous one dies, that’s the tradition and the rule. I’m the third, you’re the fourth now, and I’ll tell you how to become the new Soul Summoner.”

“Don’t refuse, this is something you must undertake.” Subsequently, He Liansheng became stern.

“Okay, alright Grandpa He, I will guard the ancestral hall for you, I’m willing to become the Soul Summoner.” He Yiner nodded in agreement, not wishing to betray this last wish.

“To become a Soul Summoner, one must tame the Soul Summoning Ghost, which is stored in my left eye’s eyeball.”

He Liansheng said: “Gouge out my eyeball, then place it in your own eye, that’s the first step to becoming a Soul Summoner.”

“But even that’s not enough; the more terrifying the ghost, the easier it loses control, so you need to become the anomaly in their mouth, and I’ve paved all the paths for you.”

He Liansheng’s ethereal figure flickered, appearing ready to disappear at any moment: “Once you control the Soul Summoning Ghost, use the supernatural power of summoning souls to call forth your own soul.”

“She’s a living person, how could she summon her own soul.” Boss Liu immediately said.

“She’s already died once; it’s completely fine.”

He Liansheng said: “This is the Soul Summoner’s secret; one must first die once to accomplish all this.”

Boss Liu was startled, finally understanding the meaning behind He Liansheng’s words.

A living person can’t summon a soul, but a dead person can.

He Yiner is someone who has died once, so she can successfully summon a soul.

This is a loophole.

What happens if you summon your own soul?

He Liansheng explained, “Once you summon your own soul, let it use summoning again. Don’t worry, even though the souls are different, the supernatural power is connected. Everything is linked through the medium of the Soul Summoning Ghost, so the summoned soul can still use the power of summoning.”

“Although the summoned soul can only exist for one incense stick’s duration, if repeated, the time of this incense stick will be extended infinitely. It’s like gears; when the outer gear rotates once, the innermost gear slows down by countless times.”

“Eventually, the summoned soul will dissipate, but the period before it vanishes is the length of your life. When I first became a Soul Summoner, the best I could achieve was to extend my life by forty years. Living to sixty meant inevitable death, but you are different. You rely on that garment to resist the intrusion of the supernatural, so you can summon more often than imagined. I believe you can live at least a hundred years, maybe even longer.”

He Liansheng revealed the secret of the Soul Summoners.

He wasn’t afraid of this secret being revealed because He Yiner would be the longest-living Soul Summoner. Once she dies, everyone who knows the secret will cease to exist.

Time can bury everything, no exceptions.

And if Yang Jian had heard these words, he would surely be astonished because this was no tradition of Soul Summoners, but a method to harness fierce ghosts and become a supernatural being.

He Yiner nodded, “I understand.”

“Don’t blame me for putting you on this path; we had no choice.” He Liansheng sighed and glanced at the Soul Summoning Incense on the wall.

Only a small piece was left.

He Liansheng continued, “Forget about the ancestral hall in Taiping Town, take the spirit tablets and leave, find a place to rebuild. The stories of these spirit tablets I told you in childhood were not fictional, but events that actually happened in the past. When necessary, use the spirit tablets as a medium to summon the souls of the deceased.”

“They are the most terrifying Ghost Riders. Once revived, they can solve all problems for you. But remember, summoning requires a medium, and the spirit tablet is their final medium, so you can summon only once. After that, unless you find the items they used in life, you can never summon them a second time.”

“Those most taboo spirit tablets, I’ve never summoned even once; I leave them to you, hoping they’ll be of help in the future.”

At this point, Boss Liu realized why He Liansheng didn’t go all out against Leuk San.

He didn’t want to involve the last few people of Taiping Town, waste a medium for summoning, nor did he want to ruin the legacy of the fourth Soul Summoner. Most importantly, he didn’t have much longer to live.

So, when faced with death, he chose to be killed by Leuk San.

Of course, Leuk San was truly terrifying. Even though He Liansheng held back, that guy genuinely did him in.

“Lastly, don’t avenge me. My death was arranged by myself. Seeking revenge means forgetting the responsibility of a Soul Summoner. That would prevent me from resting in peace, as Soul Summoners exist to guard the ancestral hall, avoiding worldly affairs and grudges.”

“I broke the rules, and thus I died. This is a cautionary tale.”

In the end, He Liansheng earnestly reminded He Yiner not to seek revenge on Leuk San, fearing she’d get entangled in a web of grudges and unable to escape, ultimately ending the legacy of the Soul Summoners.

He didn’t want to see Taiping Town’s last descendant die or witness the end of the Soul Summoners’ legacy.

“I promise you, I won’t seek revenge.” He Yiner didn’t say much, just bit her lip and nodded repeatedly.

At this moment, she would agree to anything He Liansheng said.

Because this was the last summoning.

Despite multiple uses being possible with a medium, those summoned souls carried risks. Only the Soul Summoning Incense was most reliable, and it could be used by a person only once.

Which meant, with He Liansheng’s absence now, his reappearance was unlikely.

“Very good, you are the most outstanding descendant. In these years of wandering, you have grown, putting my mind at ease.” He Liansheng finished speaking, then addressed Boss Liu and the Faceless Person.

“You two must take care of her in the future, support her for a time until she truly grows. Remember, Taiping Ancient Town hasn’t vanished. As long as a Soul Summoner exists, there’s always hope for rebuilding.”

Boss Liu sighed, “Even in death, you can’t rest, assigning such a task. Oh well, my inn got flooded, no place to go. Moving elsewhere is fine; at least there’s someone to collect the bodies after we die. Just not sure what his opinion is.”

The Faceless Person gestured with his hand, “I have no problem.”

“Very well, since the matter’s settled, I should leave. Handle my body well, don’t let it cause calamity.” He Liansheng said, then turned away.

He looked back at He Yiner once, without any attachment, moving further away.

The Soul Summoning Incense on the wall gradually extinguished.

The smoke slowly dispersed, making He Liansheng’s figure increasingly blurry.

With the last incense stick burnt out, the smoke vanished, and nothing was left before them.

He Yiner watched He Liansheng leave, not crying, only feeling a sense of reluctant farewell.

Quickly.

He Yiner turned wordlessly back to the altar, uncovering the red cloth.

He Liansheng’s head appeared.

His eyes were open, unresigned in death, yet one ghastly white eyeball still restless and moving.

Without a word, He Yiner plucked out the ghastly white eyeball, then, gritting her teeth, gouged out one of her own eyes.

Blood gushed, pain unbearable.

But she didn’t care about any of it.

Enduring the pain, He Yiner inserted the ghastly white eyeball into her socket, then carried the Dead Man’s Head and the headless body off to the back hall, wordless.

Boss Liu wanted to follow but was stopped by the Faceless Person.

The Faceless Person shook his head, signaling him not to go.

“I understand.” Boss Liu sighed, finding a place to quietly wait.

Time ticked away, second by second.

Soon, it dawned.

At exactly eight in the morning.

He Yiner walked out from the back hall expressionless, her eyes strange, one pitch black, one ghastly white, with an inexplicable eerie aura surrounding her.

“From now on, I am the fourth Soul Summoner of Taiping Town.”

No doubt, she succeeded.

With He Liansheng’s plan, He Yiner, with no mishaps, became an anomaly, inheriting the title of Soul Summoner.

Boss Liu and the Faceless Person turned serious, cupping their hands in respect, acknowledging her identity and status.

“Pack and take away all the spirit tablets,” He Yiner instructed.

“No problem, but where are we going?” Boss Liu asked.

He Yiner replied, “To Dayuan City, I will rebuild Taiping Town there.”

“Why Dayuan City?”

He Yiner answered, “Because I previously was responsible for Dayuan City, and I’m also a team leader at headquarters. Rebuilding Taiping Town there will be the easiest.”

“Yes, it’s a big city, a good choice,” Boss Liu nodded, agreeing with the new destination.

Quickly.

The last few people of Taiping Town got busy.

They took the spirit tablets, significant mysterious items, and Old Liu didn’t forget to retrieve his hidden savings book from the flooded inn.

After they left.

In the room at the back of the ancestral hall.

The red coffin remained quietly placed on the bench.

The coffin contained He Liansheng’s body.

He was left in Taiping Ancient Town, to be buried with the ancestral hall he guarded his entire life.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com

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