The candlelight was dim and yellow.
Sparks occasionally popped from the wick, making the hunched shadow on the dirt wall flicker along with it. Soft, almost inaudible murmurs echoed faintly in the nearly completely sealed secret chamber.
"...The sun, moon, and five stars are the Seven Luminaries... Their essence shines above in the sky, and their spirits govern people below. Thus, they preside over good and evil and control fortune and misfortune..."
A pair of hands, dry and wrinkled like an eighty-year-old's, busied themselves on the table, gnarled knuckles sweeping over yellowed pages.
.
Earthworm-like veins bulged under his leaf-like skin. His movements were subtle and cautious. Only after repeatedly confirming the details in the ancient text did he light the rows of red candles neatly arranged on the table.
His voice was hoarse, but his enunciation was clear, as if he were chanting some spell.
"Soak jade in blood, lock life and connect soul, draw the constellations on the ground, and Heaven shall answer its wish."
A dagger repeatedly cut across his scarred wrist. Dark, slow-flowing blood dripped down, little by little immersing the comma-shaped jade pendant in the bowl.
Putting down the blood-stained dagger, he casually picked up a bandage to wrap his wrist wound. Then he held two talismans inscribed with the Lodging Star Master's birth details to the flame of a nearby candle, letting them catch fire, burn to ash, and scatter into the bowl. He stirred it evenly with his finger, the scent of incense mingling with rust.
"The hour is approaching. Begin the ritual..."
Holding the bowl of bloody comma-shaped jade, he turned around. Illuminated by the candlelight, his face was revealed – a haggard middle-aged man's face that seemed severely inconsistent in age with his ancient hands.
He wore a neat and clean national uniform, a foreign brand watch of considerable value on his wrist, and his hair was meticulously styled, yet he could not hide the deep weariness emanating from him, inside and out.
This place was a sealed underground room, about two zhang long and wide. At a glance, there was no obvious exit.
In the center of the secret chamber was a raised rectangular stone bed. On it lay a boy of eleven or twelve, with closed eyes and even breathing, wearing a red, ill-fitting robe.
The middle-aged man continued to murmur, kneeling on the ground. He picked out the comma-shaped jade pieces from the bowl one by one, arranging them around the stone platform in a shape resembling a flower spike. Then, he placed the lit red candles on top of the jade pieces in order.
His hands were extremely steady. He first used wax water to moisten the jade pieces as bases, then adhered the candles to them.
"This child is willing to perform the Soul Exchange with me. Today is the eleventh, an auspicious day. This hour, after midnight, is also auspicious. The ritual begins now!"
The man let out a long sigh, supported his waist to stand up, and greedily eyed the boy who was still asleep. His gaunt, wrinkled hand caressed the child's delicate face. The soft skin unique to a child made him reveal an uncontrollably excited and perverted smile.
His precisely calibrated mechanical wristwatch showed the time had arrived. He took a deep breath and slowly sat down on the iron seat facing the stone platform.
The iron seat was very sturdy, with some rust on it. Its legs were deeply embedded in the ground, connected to who knew what, and the man remained motionless after sitting on it.
Click.
The man locked his hands and feet onto the iron seat himself, then stared fixedly at the boy. His chanting became more rapid, his hoarse voice revealing a fervent hope and desire for vitality.
The wax tears of the red candles silently dripped onto the blood-stained comma-shaped jade. In the quiet stillness, they gradually began to emit an eerie dark red light.
The man's smile grew brighter.
After tonight, he would be reborn!
He would no longer have to endure the suffering of the terminal illness in this decaying body!
It wasn't in vain that he had gone to such lengths, searching many places to find such a suitable vessel.
From now on, the sky is high and the earth is wide, free as a bird to fly. Damn royalty and nobles, damn American soldiers, nothing could stop his—
Crack...
A subtle cracking sound came, so jarring in the silent space, interrupting his fantasy of soaring through the sky.
The man's smile instantly froze on his face, his eyes slowly and incredulously shifting towards the source of the sound.
It was one of the candles.
The next second.
Crack, crack, crack—a series of continuous shattering sounds rang out, each one seemingly striking the man's heart.
It was the dark red comma-shaped jade, serving as the candle base, that had suddenly and inexplicably exploded, shattering directly into powder.
The shockwave caused the surrounding candles to break into several pieces. A gust of wind swept through, instantly extinguishing more than half of them, leaving only a few fallen red candles still stubbornly burning.
He was so startled by this sudden change that he froze for several seconds. His lips trembled uncontrollably from fear, and his hands and feet rattled, trying to break free from the iron seat cage he had built for himself.
"No, no!! The ritual can't be wrong! It can't be wrong! I clearly went through—"
Before he finished speaking, in his stunned and disbelieving gaze, the little boy who had been lying peacefully on the stone platform had somehow opened his eyes.
The boy calmly sat up, his eyes, which did not belong to his age, staring directly at him. A strange smile played on his face, and his tone was playful.
"Muteng Uncle, the Soul Exchange technique has two key points."
"First, neither party resists and does not view the other as an enemy."
"Second..."
The little boy jumped down from the stone table, extinguishing a weak candle flame with his bare foot. He walked to the table where the man had just been, gently stood on tiptoe, and picked up a dagger and a tattered thread-bound book.
Turning back, he gave the man a chilling smile:
"The Lodging Stars of both parties must not clash."
The middle-aged man stared in disbelief at the little boy who had always been obedient in front of him, now so utterly strange.
His fists clenched silently, his teeth bitten tight. He stared fixedly at the boy, then slowly relaxed his grip after a few seconds. He didn't inquire about the reason for all this; it was meaningless now.
Instead, he coughed heavily a few times, a flush spreading across his face, revealing a look of failing vitality and impending death.
"Ueda, Ueda, Uncle knows he was wrong. Please, spare Uncle. I know you are a very, very good child... Oh, right, weren't you always curious about Uncle's identity? I'll tell you the truth, Uncle is the last line of Lodging Star Masters from the Shingon sect, and I also know some Onmyōdō techniques. Uncle promises you, as long as you let Uncle go, Uncle will teach you everything..."
As the man spoke, the little boy walked closer to him step by step, his eyes seemingly showing a struggle as he listened.
Seeing that it seemed to be working, the man's voice became even gentler, not hesitating to use his little remaining life force to add a special seductive ability to his voice.
"Good child, help Uncle get the key. It's too uncomfortable sitting here. Let's go home, go home and slowly—"
The little boy stood in front of him, his eyes changing from the previous struggle to a look of mockery. He indifferently plunged the dagger directly into the man's thigh.
Pfft.
"Ah ah ah!!"
Muteng screamed violently, thrashing his body desperately, trying to break free from the iron seat's confinement.
"Damn little beast! An ungrateful ingrate!"
"If it weren't for me, you bastard would have starved to death in the countryside! Torn apart by wild dogs!"
"You owe me this! The life you've had these past few months is something you could never have in your entire life! Do you think you got it for free?! That was the price of your life!"
"Kill me, if you have the guts, just kill me directly!"
"And your Lodging Star couldn't possibly clash with mine, otherwise I would have exploded just now! Liar! Bastard! Scumbag!"
Under the severe pain, perhaps the man knew he had no chance of winning, so he simply gave up, cursing wildly and venting his emotions.
"That's right, I didn't say the reason for your failure was a clash of Lodging Stars," the little boy said with a smile, gripping the dagger's handle with both hands and pressing down harder.
The man's screams intensified, his body trembled, and his toes curled.
"It's just that, while the Lodging Stars don't clash, they also don't align. And... I'm also quite resistant. So... Uncle, you set up the ritual incorrectly," the boy said with a shy smile, "Because from the beginning, I lied."
The man panted heavily, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the child he had spent several months with, who had acted so filial, as if he were not the same person at all, as if...
He had already been possessed by someone else before the Soul Exchange!
Otherwise, how could this child, who barely knew any Chinese characters, have seen through his plan and understood the Soul Nurturing Sutra?
"Do you know how many times I've played this game to achieve this perfect ending?"
"You—crack!"
The man didn't understand what he meant and seemed to want to ask something, but the little boy didn't give him another chance to speak. He pulled the dagger out of his leg with a 'pfft' and deliberately cut his throat with one stroke.
"Gurgle, gurgle..."
The boy casually dropped the dagger, stepped back a few paces, sat on the stone platform, and quietly watched the middle-aged man die.
As blood gushed from his throat, the candlelight reflected in the man's pupils, filled with unwillingness and fear of death. His mouth made a few 'kaka' sounds, unable to utter a single word, only spitting out bloody foam. The vitality in his eyes rapidly drained away, and finally, his pupils dilated, his head completely slumped to the side, and he became utterly silent.
【You have successfully cleared the novice game "Soul Exchange"】
【Ending evaluation: Perfect Ending】 (Hint: A perfect ending does not necessarily represent the true ending)
【Game overall trophy progress: 100%】
【Congratulations to player "Game Domain God" for obtaining the Platinum Trophy】
【Platinum Reward "spiritual fire eyes" has been issued】
【Score settlement: 100, has reached the maximum score for this game, automatically settled】
【Obtained lifetime achievement: Budding Perfectionist, Reward "Possessing Paper Figurine * 5"】
【Soul Exchange: Shadow Seizing Chart to Extend Life, Trigram Plate Burned to Summer Ash, Bones Covered in Cold Frost】
A series of messages popped up in the boy's vision. He showed a thoughtful expression, and slowly, his vision plunged into darkness.