After breakfast ended, Dean Armitage left the dining room, went upstairs, and entered his study.
The family members were already there, waiting for him.
They said nothing, just watching the head of the household, waiting for him to speak.
Dean Armitage knew exactly what they were all waiting for, so he gave them the news they’d been itching to hear.
“The exorcism is set. It’s happening tonight.”
Hearing that, the heavy, stifling atmosphere in the room finally eased a little.
Seeing the relief on their faces, Dean Armitage allowed himself a faint smile.
After tonight, those three outsiders would be completely useless to them.
They wouldn’t have to keep bowing and scraping, pretending to be friendly anymore.
“Once the exorcism is done tonight, we make our move.”
“We’ll stick to the plan. Mom, Dad, you two take the handguns and shoot those two bastards point-blank…”
“Hold on.”
Just then, Missy, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up.
“I want to shoot those two brothers myself. Get me a gun too.”
This woman, over half a century old, had hatred burning in her eyes.
The moment she recalled the humiliation she’d suffered at the dinner table, she gritted her teeth in fury.
“I’m going to cut off their heads and toss them into the estate’s outhouse!”
“I’ll help you, Mom.”
Jeremy’s lips curled into a cruel grin.
“But we can’t let them die too easily.”
“You can do whatever you want with those two brothers, but be careful not to damage the Asian young man’s body.”
Seeing his wife and son so fired up, Dean Armitage reminded them.
“Don’t forget, the buyer’s coming to pick up the goods tomorrow. If there are any scars on the body, there won’t be enough time for them to heal. The price will take a big hit.”
“Got it. Don’t worry, kid. This isn’t our first rodeo.”
The black gardener on the side gave the old white man’s shoulder a gentle pat. The scene was eerie and bizarre, yet no one in the room found it strange at all.
“And don’t forget to pull the checks I wrote them out of their pockets.”
Dean Armitage thought back to the million-dollar deposit Su Fan had demanded at the dinner table earlier, and let out a cold sneer.
The Armitage family’s money—anyone can take it, but good luck trying to spend it.
…
Nightfall.
It was time for the promised exorcism. The whole family gathered in the living room to watch Su Fan’s performance.
“Here, this is what you asked for.”
Jeremy, who had gone out to run the errand, came back and handed a bag over to Su Fan.
As he spoke, there was a hint of doubt in his eyes.
“Will this stuff actually work?”
“Of course it will. Just like how your legends say ghosts fear salt and demons fear holy water, I have my own methods of exorcism.”
Su Fan took out the contents.
A brush, ink, pieces of cloth in five different colors, and five ordinary-looking objects.
He picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and casually drew the Primordial Eight Trigrams on the floor. He arranged the five colored cloths in the appropriate positions: green in the east, white in the west, black in the north, red in the south, and yellow in the center.
Then he placed the five objects representing the Five Elements on top of their corresponding cloths.
Finally, he dripped a single drop of snake blood onto the central eye of the formation.
After that, he stood up and dusted off his hands.
The family, who had been watching intently, saw him stop and do nothing more. They grew puzzled and couldn’t help but ask.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Su Fan nodded, looking completely casual about it.
“Are you just messing with us?”
“You’ll find out soon enough whether I’m messing with you or not.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than everyone suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold wash over them.
This familiar sensation was undoubtedly the eerie, cold wind that accompanied the appearance of spirits.
But unlike before, this cold wind came in wave after wave, all from the same direction, with no sign of stopping.
And it was growing stronger by the moment.
Although Dean and Sam were exorcists, their spiritual abilities were weak. They couldn’t see what was happening in the room right now.
If a medium like Elise were here, she would have been scared out of her wits by what was unfolding before her eyes.
An endless stream of black mist poured in from all directions, converging on the formation Su Fan had drawn.
And with that black mist came spirits—faces twisted, hideous, and terrifying!
Not far away, the Armitage family huddled together instinctively.
These spirits could previously only be seen after rubbing that liquid on their eyes, but now they were manifesting right in front of them!
Their faces were a grotesque mixture of white and black features, with misplaced eyes, noses, and mouths.
Some of the spirits didn’t even have eyes or mouths on their faces.
They drifted through the hall, walking along the walls and even crawling across the ceiling.
As the black mist grew denser, their once-dull eyes gradually began to show traces of awareness.
Then, as if drawn by some force, they all turned their heads in unison toward the Armitage family!
Even the Winchester brothers, who had seen their fair share of strange things, broke out in cold sweat at this horrifying sight.
“They’re appearing… A-aren’t you going to do something?!”
Dean Armitage’s legs were trembling.
Even though he’d seen a similar scene before, the sight of things that didn’t belong to the living world still made his heart pound with fear.
“Do something? Like what?”
Su Fan turned around, smiling at Dean Armitage across from him.
“Debts must be paid, and murderers must pay with their lives. Isn’t that only right?”
Hearing Su Fan’s words, the Armitage family, who had clustered together in fear, felt as if they’d been plunged into an ice cellar.
They could no longer hear the howling cold wind. All they could see was the mocking smile at the corner of Su Fan’s mouth.
“W-what are you talking about?”
Dean Armitage’s throat went dry. He tried to say more, but a ghost suddenly lunged down from above and slammed him to the ground!
“Dad!”
Jeremy rushed forward to help his father, but two familiar figures blocked his way.
When he made out their clothes and faces, Jeremy’s complexion turned ashen.
These two were victims he had knocked out and brought back for the brain-swap surgery!
Both of them had no eyes—just hollow, empty sockets—and their hideous faces were fixed directly on him.
A chill rose from his feet, surged up to his brain, and his legs gave out. He collapsed to the ground!
He scrambled and crawled, desperate to escape, but the swarm of ghosts around him pounced all at once, pinning him down.
Amidst a chorus of screams, Jeremy’s body was torn to shreds!
Desperate screams echoed throughout the entire building. The remaining family members scattered in panic, but the spirits were hot on their heels, giving no quarter.
“So, that formation you drew…”
“The Yin-Gathering Array. Literally, a simple formation for gathering yin energy.”
Normally, in a standard Spirit-Gathering Array, the central eye would be something else, but Su Fan had replaced it with cold, yin-natured snake blood, completely altering the effect.
The gathered yin energy amplified the power of the already vengeful spirits, even allowing them to manifest directly before ordinary people.
Although Dean and Sam knew this family was no good, they still couldn’t bear to watch the gruesome scene. They turned away and let out a heavy sigh.
Su Fan watched the whole thing unfold, his expression calm.
A person has three souls and seven spirits. The three souls are the Heavenly Soul, the Earthly Soul, and the Life Soul.
The Heavenly and Earthly Souls often reside outside the body, while only the Life Soul remains within.
What people call a “ghost” is nothing more than the Life Soul that has left its physical shell.
The Life Soul is also closely tied to the seven spirits; it is their root, while they are its branches and leaves.
And the body is intimately connected to the seven spirits as well.
Back at the hospital, Su Fan had noticed something unusual about the deceased old man’s Life Soul.
His body was intact, yet his face was twisted and mismatched, his expression blank.
The Corpse Dog Spirit, one of the seven, had actually been swapped with someone else’s. That truly piqued Su Fan’s interest.
Such an abnormality could only be caused by one thing—a brain-swap surgery.
When they decided to trade in innocent lives, climbing the ladder to power and wealth over the bones of their victims, they should have known that this day would come.
