Part II: The Secrets of the Temple
The rain of early autumn blanketed the city.
After the incident at An Hoa Hospital, Luc Minh had barely had any time to rest.
Half of the purple talisman was still in his pocket.
Every night, it radiated a strange warmth.
As if it were guiding him somewhere.
Just then...
Tran Hai's phone rang.
He had been on the call for less than ten seconds when his face went pale.
"Minh..."
"There's been a case."
"This time... it's really strange."
The Man Who Had Been Dead for Ten Years
The house stood on the northern outskirts.
Inside, more than twenty people had gathered.
No one said a word.
In the middle of the living room,
a man around fifty sat drinking tea.
His clothes were clean.
His expression was calm.
But everyone stared at him in terror.
A woman burst into tears.
"That man..."
"...is my husband."
"But..."
"He died ten years ago."
Luc Minh looked up at the ancestral altar.
The man's memorial portrait still sat right in the center.
His name was Lam Quoc Thanh.
He had died at the age of fifty.
Exactly the same age as the man sitting before them.
The Man Who Came Back
Lam Quoc Thanh slowly turned his head.
He looked at everyone and smiled.
"Why..."
"...are you all crying?"
"I only went away for a little while."
His son trembled.
"Dad..."
"...your grave is still out in the cemetery."
The man looked confused.
"My grave?"
"I've never died."
With that,
he picked up his teacup.
He raised it to his mouth.
But...
The moment the tea touched his lips, it poured straight onto the floor.
His mouth...
hadn't opened at all.
It was as if his face were nothing more than a layer of skin stretched over something else.
The Heavenly Eye
Luc Minh silently opened his Heavenly Eye.
In an instant,
he saw a horrifying sight.
The thing standing before everyone was not Lam Quoc Thanh.
It was...
a shadow figure covered from head to toe in muddy earth.
Hundreds of white maggots writhed beneath its skin.
The stench of death spread throughout the room.
Luc Minh lowered his voice.
"He's..."
"...not human anymore."
A Family Reunion Dinner
Despite everyone's attempts to stop him,
Lam Quoc Thanh still walked into the kitchen.
He took out bowls.
He served the rice.
Then he called his wife and children to sit down and eat.
"Family..."
"...should eat together."
His voice sounded perfectly normal.
But his eyes...
were utterly empty.
Suddenly,
he picked up a piece of meat and put it in his mouth.
The sound of chewing was crisp and loud.
Crack... Crack...
Fresh blood trickled from the corners of his lips.
He kept smiling.
"Delicious."
His son screamed.
"That's not meat!"
Everyone looked down.
Between his chopsticks...
was a decomposing dead rat.
The Parasite
Luc Minh drew his peachwood sword.
"Back up!"
Mr. Thanh slowly stood.
His head tilted to one side.
Then...
his mouth stretched open all the way to his ears.
Something black slowly crawled out.
It was a gigantic worm.
Its body was nearly a meter long.
All over it were human faces screaming in agony.
To Nhuoc stared in horror.
"What is that?"
Luc Minh tightened his grip on the sword.
"Corpse Demon Gu."
"A lost dark art."
"It takes over corpses..."
"...and impersonates the living."
A Sign of the Huyen Ling Society
The worm lunged at Luc Minh.
The peachwood sword came slashing down.
Thwack!
The worm was cut in half.
But from each half of its body...
another worm grew.
Four.
Then eight.
Within seconds,
the entire room was crawling with Corpse Demon Gu.
Just then,
a blue talisman flew in through the window.
Boom!
Every Corpse Demon Gu turned to ash at once.
Ha Van Son appeared.
He looked at the pile of ash on the floor.
His expression grew grim.
"Just as I thought..."
"The Huyen Ling Society has begun to make its move."
Luc Minh asked,
"You know this dark art?"
Ha Van Son nodded.
"Only one person knows how to raise Corpse Demon Gu."
"Truong Bach Uy's closest disciple."
The Black Flag
Just when everyone thought it was over,
Lam Quoc Thanh's corpse suddenly collapsed.
In his palm
was a small black flag.
Embroidered on the flag was a red eye.
It was the same symbol Luc Minh had seen many times on reverse-written talismans.
On the back of the flag,
there were only four words written in blood:
"Go to the cemetery."
The Dug-Up Grave
That night,
Luc Minh, To Nhuoc, and Ha Van Son went to the cemetery where Lam Quoc Thanh had been buried.
The grave...
had been dug out from the inside.
The coffin lid was shattered.
Inside, there was nothing at all.
Only one thing remained.
A small wooden tablet.
Carved into it were the words:
"The next one..."
"...is you, Luc Minh."
A cold wind swept past.
In the distance,
within the thick fog,
a shadow figure holding a black umbrella stood silently among the graves.
He did not approach.
He only smiled faintly.
Then he vanished.
Ha Van Son watched the figure disappear.
The black hand trembled slightly.
"It's him..."
"Truong Bach Uy."
Luc Minh tightened his grip on the peachwood sword.
For the first time,
he knew he had truly stepped into a war with the Huyen Ling Society.
End of Chapter 11.