Carrying the millet away from Yang Bao-san's house, Young Master Liu arrived at a dilapidated room at the edge of the village.

A dim oil lamp and a wretched, foul-smelling bed comprised this extremely simple home.

"Damn it, this Yang Bao-san truly is stingy beyond measure. To house his own mother in such a place—what an unfilial son." With that, he peered through the half-broken window to assess the situation inside. A nearly lifeless old woman was hunched over, mending clothes. Yang Bao-san’s garments were always patched by this mother, yet for her service, he fobbed her off with just a few mouthfuls of thin noodle soup.

Young Master Liu knew Bao-san's mother had suffered greatly with such an ungrateful son. He had already resolved to leave a little millet for her, so he quietly tossed it down through the window. Simultaneously, mimicking the voice of the heavens, he intoned, "I am the Heavenly Father. Seeing your bitter fate, I have brought you some millet. Remember, do not let your son know." Having spoken, Young Master Liu flipped over and vaulted the low, broken boundary wall.

In those days, who didn't believe in the Heavenly Father? Almost every New Year, even if they had to skip their own meal, people would set up an offering tablet for the heavens. If the heavens were now bestowing a gift upon her, how could she doubt it?

Indeed, Bao-san's mother first froze in bewilderment, then fell to her knees, weeping with gratitude, and began to worship.

Young Master Liu returned to his own home, pondering deeply. He felt this whole affair was not that simple; the corpse of the infant must be connected to the things he had encountered on Mount Bodhisattva.

With that thought, Young Master Liu concentrated, trying to recall how to capture that entity.

Suddenly, he remembered an array described in the Zhengyi Talismans used specifically to deal with infant ghosts—it was called the Qiankun Grand Array. He wondered if it would be effective against this minor infant.

He immediately set about gathering the materials required for the Qiankun Grand Array. He spent the entire day preparing. Although these items weren't terribly expensive, they were certainly rare; finding these specific things in ordinary places was nearly impossible.

A small tin box of pot bottom soot, a pair of pigeon droppings and urine—these two ingredients needed to be mixed thoroughly, and then used to form the shape of the Qiankun Bagua around the perimeter. The rest required was chicken blood and black donkey hooves for exorcism.

However, these items were quite precious, and he couldn't possibly gather them all himself. Yang Bao-san had once again become his target for extorting goods. Yet, he reasoned, damn it, this couldn't be called extortion. After all, he was doing this for Yang Bao-san; Bao-san had to contribute two liang of blood.

But Yang Bao-san was clearly at the end of his rope from torment by this thing, so he readily agreed and quickly procured the two necessary materials. Holding them, he looked at Young Master Liu and said, "What else do you need? Just ask."

"Mmm, these preparations are sufficient. Stay with me tonight; I'll take you along to catch these ghostly entities. Also, catch a few of Granny Zhang's black cats tonight; remember, they must have shining eyes."

Yang Bao-san nodded heavily, then looked at Young Master Liu with curiosity. "Why do we need cats? What's so special about those cats?"

Young Master Liu replied, "You don't need to ask about that. Just know that the cats will be of great help to us." Young Master Liu paid little mind to Yang Bao-san and began mixing the pigeon excrement and the soot. They stirred for a full half-hour before the soot and pigeon droppings completely blended, releasing an overwhelming stench that flooded the area.

Young Master Liu prepared a meal then—two fried eggs and a jin of Shaodaozi liquor. The two men sat on the heated brick bed, waiting for nightfall.

Five geng passed, and darkness fell quickly. Seeing the black sky, Young Master Liu washed his face to stay alert. He slapped Yang Bao-san twice, shaking him awake. If he were still sluggish during the ghost capture, he might get possessed, which would cause Young Master Liu serious trouble. He might even be framed for murder—he had just returned from a public denouncement session and truly didn't want to go back to that place. According to the Zhengyi Talismans, the power emitted by the Qiankun Array would be purest and strongest precisely at the third watch (sāngēng), as the yin energy between heaven and earth was thickest then.

With this in mind, Young Master Liu turned and lit an incense stick behind him, judging that the third watch would arrive when the stick was halfway burned.

The two grown men chatted idly when suddenly a strange, high-pitched call echoed. Yes, it was that very sound.

Damn it, he hadn't expected to encounter this strange thing so soon. It seemed to have arrived rather early; he hadn't even finished preparing.

But time waited for no man, so screw it. He immediately looked at Yang Bao-san and said, "Hurry up and bring those black cats in."

Yang Bao-san swiftly grabbed the few black cats from a nearby cage. As soon as the cats were out, they sensed something terribly wrong and desperately tried to scramble back into the cage. But Yang Bao-san gave them no chance; he kicked the cage over onto the ground and simultaneously gripped the leather leads around the necks of the black cats with both hands.

Miao, miao, miao, miao—as if they had seen some terrifying monster, the cats began to cry out frantically. Young Master Liu ignored them, knowing these black cats with bright eyes could see what he could not.

Miao, miao, miao, miao—the cats' cries grew more urgent, and they scrambled backward rapidly, as if figures were sprinting toward their position not far away.

Seeing the things not far off, Young Master Liu's curiosity surged. He snatched one of the black cats off the ground and brutally thrust his fingers into its eyes.

Awu, awu! The cat fainted from the pain; both its eyeballs had been popped out by his fingers, resembling two glass marbles, transparent and purplish. Young Master Liu crushed the two eyeballs, wiped the resulting fluid on his palm a few times, and then smeared it across his own eyelids.

Upon looking with this new sight, he almost suffered a shock that would bring on illness. He saw no less than a dozen infants floating above Yang Bao-san’s body, their tiny mouths wide open, constantly draining the yang energy from him.

Damn it, so that entity had used its own methods to paralyze humans and divert their attention to itself!

He immediately grabbed Yang Bao-san and sprinkled chicken blood on his neck. Instantly, the infants scattered.

Yang Bao-san was terrified, completely bewildered by what Young Master Liu was doing, and fearfully asked, "What are you doing? What is on my body?"

"Damn it, you must have done something wicked in the past, haven't you? Got some woman pregnant and then forced an abortion? Look! Look! They've come to claim your life!" Without waiting for Yang Bao-san's reply, Young Master Liu quickly sprinkled chicken blood on himself too. He then instructed Yang Bao-san, "Hurry up, grab that stray cat, smear its eye-white on your own eyes, and watch carefully. If anything approaches you, you splash chicken blood on its face, understand??"

"Understood." Yang Bao-san was nearly scared out of his wits now and dared not disobey Young Master Liu. Ignoring the danger, he immediately grabbed a black cat from the floor, plunged his hands into its eyes, and smeared the white fluid onto his own.

But touching his eyes was a mistake; he was so terrified he nearly soiled himself. With trembling legs, he looked at the infants floating before him, covered head to toe in goosebumps.

These infants looked as if they had just emerged from a pregnant woman's womb—their bodies were covered in gore; amniotic fluid and fresh blood obscured them completely. Their eyeless, vacant pupils stared fixedly at Yang Bao-san.

Terrified, Yang Bao-san snatched the chicken blood before him and splashed it onto the infants. And indeed, when he splashed them, the infants were knocked onto the ground, unable to rise again.

Young Master Liu focused on the distance. A fish-belly white color was slowly appearing in the sky. It wasn't yet sunrise, which meant this strange light indicated something highly unusual. He immediately commanded Yang Bao-san, "Yang Bao-san, hurry over here! Come help me prepare the chicken blood and tie the black donkey hooves onto my body." Yang Bao-san rushed over, secured the donkey hooves, then killed a chicken and dripped the blood into a bowl.

Young Master Liu commanded again, "When I say start, you splash the chicken blood below onto the array formations. Remember?"

Yang Bao-san nodded like an idiot and mumbled, "Remembered."

Yang Bao-san was nearly scared senseless by this point.

"Damn wicked spirits, your ancestor has come to capture you! Show yourselves now!" Saying this was primarily to boost his own morale. In reality, when the true entity appeared, Young Master Liu nearly coughed up a lung from fright. He saw that the infant he perceived with his naked eye was merely one component. When viewed through the cat’s eye-white, there were actually hundreds of infants merged together to form the shape of one single infant, drifting down from the air.

Seeing this spectacle, Young Master Liu forgot everything and shouted at Yang Bao-san, "Start!"

Yang Bao-san was also paralyzed by the sight of so many dead infants. For a moment, he forgot the danger. Shaken by Young Master Liu's shout, he regained some clarity, stared ahead, and quickly splashed the chicken blood in his hand onto the Qiankun Array.

And indeed, the moment the chicken blood touched the Qiankun Array, the formation shot out a beam of red light that instantly struck down the hundreds of infants in the air. One by one, they plummeted to the ground, smashing into a pulp.