What I just did was recite a Song family mantra. I didn’t know what it meant or how it worked exactly, but it was something that Grandpa taught me. A Traditional Coroner had to deal with death a lot after all, and we often stumbled upon unclean and evil spirits while doing our job. Thus,  Grandpa armed me with this mantra.

With the disappearance of the ghost, the crisis was averted for the time being. Dali stopped bouncing the ball and returned to normal. Xiaotao yelled at Dali and asked what had gotten into him and why he scared her like that. Dali explained what he saw to her, causing Xiaotao to freeze in fear.

“D-Did that ghost really hold a knife against my neck?” she asked.

“There’s no reason to be scared,” I assured her. “There’s no way a ghost could do you any harm!”

“But ghosts can attack our souls directly and kill us without spilling our blood!” Dali argued. “It’s like when you’re walking down the street and then suddenly you feel a chill down your spine—it means...