Chapter 5：Southeast Asian Black Magic

Ana called in the early morning and said she had also been targeted.

I could tell she was panicking, and without thinking, I hurried to drive to her.

She told me the address over the phone, not the coffin shop, but the rental house where she lived.

I rushed all the way, partly because I was afraid something had happened to Ana, and partly because she said she could save me, and I was anxious.

I quickly arrived at Ana's rental apartment. I looked up and saw that one of the apartments had a light on, while the rest of the place was still dark.

I honked the horn, and the apartment with the light on opened the window. Ana poked her head out to look at me, then she came downstairs, opened the iron gate, and led me up the stairs.

I could see that she still looked terrified, so I hurriedly asked her what was wrong. She looked a little pale, and she led me into the rental unit and locked the door before she spoke: "That man in black stood downstairs in the middle of the night, staring at my room. I could even hear the sound of a baby crying. He wanted the little ghost to kill me. Luckily, I called the police, and he disappeared after they arrived."

I felt terrified just listening to her. Was the man in black a human or a ghost?

"He must have known that I helped you. I ruined his plan, so he wants to kill me. There's nothing I can do. I have to go find my master,"

Ana said fearfully, and I was stunned. You have a master? She said yes, he's very powerful.

I was a little impatient and said, "Since you have a master, why didn't you say so earlier? I would have gone to see him earlier."

Ana's expression became strange, and after hesitating for a long time, she said, "This is a personal reason, I don't want to talk about it. This time I'll take you to see him. You have to talk to him yourself. I'll warn you in advance, he's got a screw loose. If you see that things aren't right, just run."

She sounded serious, and I was convinced. I said, "How can you say that about your own master?"

Ana told me not to ask any more questions, and that I should just take me to see my master when dawn broke, and run if anything went wrong.

I felt really bad. I had finally found a savior, and he was mentally ill?

But I had no choice. I had to listen to Ana.

I stayed in her rented room, and before long dawn broke. Then I drove her to her master.

She pointed the way all the way, and we were out of town and driving up into the mountains.

I said, "Your master lives in the mountains?" He said he lived at the foot of the mountain, all alone. I thought to myself, this feels a bit like a recluse, he should be quite reliable.

But when I got there, I was disappointed. It was just a broken wooden shack, surrounded by rubbish, and there was a stench in the room, as if it hadn't been cleaned in a long time.

Ana hesitated when she arrived and didn't know whether to go in or not. I also hesitated and asked, "Who exactly is your master?"

Ana sighed and said, "He's just a lunatic. Back then, he even tried to take my life. I really didn't want to come back."

Ana was so rude to her master, so it was clear that she didn't like him.

I felt cheated, but I was already here and had no choice. I said I would go in by myself and you wait for me outside. She nodded, "Remember what I said, if anything goes wrong, run."

I understood and let out a small breath before quickly going in. The hut felt like it was about to collapse, and the inside was full of plastic bags, fast food containers and other household waste.

Obviously, there was no electricity or running water here, and I wondered how this person managed to survive. It was already very dark when I entered, and I saw a bed on which there seemed to be a person lying.

But what caught my attention was the boxes placed on the bedside table. These boxes looked familiar to me, because they were urns.

There must have been five or six urns, all of them high-end and expensive. One of them was made of crystal, but I don't know if it was real crystal.

The fact that this person had placed an urn by the bedside really gave me the creeps. It seemed that he was indeed mentally ill.

I plucked up the courage to approach him, but the person on the bed moved a little and spoke directly to me: "Stop, you're dirty."

I was taken aback, and then thought to myself, where am I dirty? But I stopped, smiled awkwardly and bowed again: "Hello sir, I..."

"Stop, my daughter is still sleeping,"

He interrupted me, and I froze for a moment. My daughter? I couldn't help but look around, but there was no one else there.

But I didn't dare ask. He sat up, his eyes fixed on the urns on the bedside table, one after the other, and finally he just stared at the crystal urn.

I stood there waiting, but in the end he didn't say anything. The sun was out, and the light shone in, and my legs went numb from standing.

But he just ignored me, staring at the urn. The light shone on the urn, giving it a crystal-like luster. I tapped it, and I was sure that it was real crystal, very natural, and probably worth a fortune.

I was a little surprised. Is this guy rich?

I thought about it for a while, and then it must have been about 9 o'clock when he suddenly gave a gentle smile, then touched the urn as if he were greeting something.

I looked at him in confusion. After he finished touching the urn, he got out of bed and finally got up.

I let out a sigh and spoke again: "Sir, I want to beg you..."

"I know, you're going to die in two days."

He stood in the light and looked at me. I saw his messy beard and dull eyes. This person seemed to be on his deathbed.

His words also made me shudder. Sure enough, as I had guessed, I would also die once the sixth day arrived. Becoming a vegetable was not much different from death.

I hurriedly begged for help, saying that I could sell the house to pay you. The house is worth half a million dollars. He went to drink a glass of water, didn't brush his teeth, and grabbed a potato from a rotten pot and nibbled on it.

I waited until he finished chewing, and he seemed to have had enough after one potato. In fact, he kept looking at me the whole time, and I knew it was because he could see right through me.

"When were you born?"

he asked, clapping his hands. I answered truthfully, "October 31, 1999."

He smiled inexplicably, as if he were very happy. Then he asked, "You've been under a spell. How do you feel?"

I didn't understand, so I said I felt very bad. My parents and younger sister were unconscious, and I was afraid I would be too in a couple of days.

"Oh?" This time he was surprised, and then he laughed: 'Impressive, the person who cast the spell has probably been practicing black magic in Southeast Asia for many years, and they can cast this kind of black magic."

I really didn't understand, I just wanted to know what I should do. I said, 'You're so amazing, you can definitely save me, right?"

He didn't say anything, and his gaze turned to the crystal urn again and stayed there for a long time. I noticed that he had been distracted the whole time, as if he were about to die, and was not afraid of death. But when he looked at the urn, he was full of tenderness.

I waited quietly. Finally, the man stopped looking at the urn and muttered something, pinching his fingers together. Then he asked me, "Where is the medium for casting black magic?"

I said, "What medium?" He said it was the medium. I thought about it and understood, and hurriedly said, "I burned the paper figure and the hair, so it should be fine."

He even violently coughed and sneezed, and then laughed heartily as if he had heard something really funny.

I immediately felt bad. Shouldn't I have burned it?

I hurriedly asked what was wrong, and he went to the rotten pot again and grabbed a sweet potato to nibble on. He just sat on the bed, head down, nibbling on the sweet potato like a beggar.

I was very anxious, but there was nothing I could do as he kept saying one thing after another and stopping every now and then. I had to keep waiting. After he had finally finished eating, he said, "I guess you were born at midnight on October 31."

I was taken aback when he suddenly said this, and I said that I was born at night, but I don't know if it was midnight.

He was very sure: "You were born at midnight, October 31st midnight, that's November 11th, not a minute or second off. You're amazing too, as soon as the gates of hell opened you dove right in, who do you think they'll get if they don't get you?"

November 11th is indeed Halloween, but I never thought it would be related to me. Could it be that I have a special constitution?

I felt a chill in my heart again, and he laughed softly, "That person obviously has his sights on you, and he's even scheming against your loved ones. The black magic of the loved ones category has almost become extinct in Southeast Asia. Has he nailed the souls of your loved ones to your soul?"

I felt that there was still hope, and my mind was particularly sharp. I thought it through. I said that the four paper figures had indeed been nailed to the coffins, four coffins in total, and mine was among them.

He held out his hand and asked, "Where are the nails?" I quickly took out the nail and gave it to him.

He looked at it for a while and nodded. "The tomb nails lock your loved one's soul and lock it to you. When you die, the souls of four people will be locked together, and they will still be related by blood. Wow, that's amazing. Even if a fairy comes down to earth, they won't be able to defeat him."

His tone was still carefree, but I was terrified. I said, "What should I do then?" He shrugged his shoulders and said, "There's nothing you can do. Black magic can be counteracted, but unfortunately you've burned all the mediums, so how can you counteract it? And it's useless for you to burn them, because the black magic has already been cast. You'll be finished in two days."

He was gloating, and I felt a chill run down my spine. Is there no hope? I couldn't say anything, and he looked up at me, then at the urn, and his face softened.

I didn't know whether to go or not. I was completely at a loss as to what to do. He looked at the urn for a long time, as if he was considering something very important. Then he stood up and said, "Young man, I'll tell you a secret. Casting black magic to harm a person requires a great deal of magical power. If I were to destroy that person's magical power for ten years, then he would have to wait ten years before he could harm you. Do you think that's a good idea?"

I was full of surprise when I heard this, and I hurriedly said, "Yes, thank you so much." He shook his head, sniffed his nose and said casually, "That person is so powerful, if I were to destroy his magical power for ten years, I would have to risk my life. That's not a good idea."

I was stunned and said, 'Then you..."

His eyes suddenly sparkled, no longer yellow: 'I will trade my life for the life of your loved one. You will raise my daughter with your life. The ten-year period is almost up for my daughter. Are you willing?"