Erik Lee and Lu Guilin had to resort to the talismans they had prepared for the “main bad guy” of the hotel - the dried corpse. Fire talismans, lightning talismans and even one talisman made with precious purple paper that released a powerful shockwave along with bright, white light. But none of those were as powerful as they had hoped.
“Something’s not right here! It’s suppressing all of our talismans and our power!” Erik Lee looked around: “Master?! We need to break the suppression here!”
Lu Tianyi did not respond, and only continued with her chant. The aura grew more expansive, pushing the grim, negative energy in the space away inch by inch.
“
Rip
!” “
Rip
!” The wallpaper tore, and more of the ghostly figures climbed out of the tar-filled cracks on the wall. Now almost out of options, Erik Lee and Lu Guilin tried to lead the group to back off, but they could not go very far, for their way back was also blocked by the ghostly figures - pale, slender, clothless and crawling like insects.
“Protect the master!” Erik Lee raised his voice at the two police officers as he pulled out his final weapon from the bag - a cherry wood short sword: “Please! Just stand by her!”
Du Bai roared and swung his canister against one of the figures, and the hit caved the figure’s head in like bashing a doll made of cardboard boxes. He tried to take another swing, but a bone-chilling cold shot through his lower body and almost made him drop the canister - another figure had its hand on his left ankle.
“Get off!” Detective Brian Tracy tried to help Du Bai, but his legs were grabbed by two ghostly figures as well. Before the coldness could overtake him, he grabbed the canister from Du Bai’s hands and threw it on the figure holding Du Bai’s ankle. The canister crushed the figure’s head, releasing the officer from its grasp. Du Bai gasped and almost collapsed, but he grabbed the detective’s hand and pulled him back at the last moment, almost breaking him away from the hold of two figures.
“Master, do something!” Erik Lee swung his cherrywood short sword to slice a ghostly figure’s head in half, while Lu Guilin tried to strike the figures closing in on him with a short whip made of red threads and old Chinese copper coins.
Lu Tianyi did not respond nor act, but continued her chanting. Her forehead was covered in sweat. The golden aura was still expanding, but it was simply not enough to weaken those ghostly figures to any meaningful extent.
But if anyone was to keep a close eye, they would see that when the ghostly figures got in contact with the aura, the parts of their bodies lit up by the light would begin flashing, sometimes in iridescent light and sometimes in a red and orange glow.
Just as all four members surrounding Lu Tianyi were just seconds away from fully succumbing to the freezing grasp of the ghostly figures, a low, muffled explosion occurred on one of the walls, pushing both the grimness in the hallway away and obliterating several ghostly figures.
Lightning sparks shot out from the center point of the explosion, burning treeroot-like burn marks in an outward radiating fashion. A couple of ghostly figures cried, as the lightning sparks burned and decimated their bodies.
The dried corpse let out a hoarse and gurgling roar inside the Queen’s Suite. It expanded its arms out, seemingly in an attempt to control the energy in the hotel. More cracks and fissures glowing in purple and green appeared on the ground, crawling towards the group of five.
“
Boom
!” “
Crack
” Another explosion appeared on the other side of the wall, followed by another surge of lighting sparks and sudden occurrence of charred cracks. More of the ghostly figures were annihilated - it was as if someone or something invisible was giving them some much needed aid.
The ghostly figures holding down Du Bai and Detective Brian Tracy were also destroyed, and they immediately crawled to Erik Lee and Lu Guilin’s side - they were both freed right now, but it seemed they needed a bit more time to recover due to them having taken on more of those ghostly figures earlier.
“Fuck off!” Du Bai threw the empty canister at a ghostly figure that was still crawling his way. It crushed the figure’s left shoulder and disfigured its pale, barely human face. Its entire insect-like body flashed a few times before its movement stopped for a short moment. But with its right arm and two legs still working, it continued pulling itself towards the group.
“
Boom
!” “
Crack
!” “
Boom
!” “
Crack
!” The explosion and electric spark combo happened a few more times, each time closer to the position of the Queen’s Suite, and seemingly, the glowing cracks on the ground were dimmed by them.
The dried corpse growled, with palpable frustration and anger. But right at this moment, Lu Tianyi finally finished her chant. She raised the metal plaque in her hand up and roared with Mandarin: “The Heavenly Generals of Tianpeng, we as your humble followers and students here plead for your assistance. Your name shall echo in all corners where no evil shall hide; Your power shall break through all the illusions, all the deceptions and all the shelters of the unclean. Heed my command - BREAK!”
The entire hallway went completely soundless for a brief moment, as the aura around Lu Tianyi exploded into waves of bright golden shockwaves sweeping through the entire area. The remaining ghostfly figures around were instantly turned to smoke and dust. The glowing fissures on the floor closed up, and the cracks on the wall disappeared leaving only traces of smoke behind. The lights on the walls became much brighter in an instant, that everyone needed a moment to get used to it.
More explosions blasted the walls on both sides as sound came back to the hallway. The golde shockwaves also warmed the bodies of the group of five, alleviating the cold paralysis inflicted on them by the ghostly figures.
“Quick! To the suite!” Lu Tianyi coughed and panted: “This spell can only work for a short while. Now!”
The group rushed forward, Du Bai even took the moment to pick up the empty canister. They charged into the Queen’s Suite. At this moment, the dried corpse was not in there at all, neither was anything or anyone who could have been there to stop them.
“Start looking - the corpse is nothing but a conjurer. Look for a conduit, or any kind of power beacon that could be used to summon beings from beyond. But be careful, use gloves if you can.” Lu Tianyi commanded.
“Okay - what would it look like?” Detective Brian Tracy asked.
“Anything, but usually it’s something symbolic - a piece of jewelry, a personal photo or - ”
“Uh - a book?” Just this moment, Lu Guilin raised his voice.
Lu Tianyi rushed over to Lu Guilin’s side, which was just beside the wooden nightstand. The top drawer was open, and the base was lifted, revealing a hidden compartment. Inside this compartment, laid a book with a blank, thick and pale white cover.
“Human skin?” Erik Lee asked, frowning.
“Looks like so - ” Lu Tianyi sighed: “These cultists - they’re all the same. I think this is it, the conduit.”
“We’re dealing with a demon then? Who’s it belong to?” Lu Guilin asked: “How do we know the name?”
“No time or energy for that, I’m afraid. We need to cut the connection right now.” Lu Tianyi sighed and extended her right hand at Lu Guilin: “The jade medallion.”
Lu Guilin nodded and reached into his chest pocket inside of his shirt. He took out a small round jade medallion with red arcane symbols written on it and handed it to his mother. Lu Tianyi bit her own left hand middle finger, then dripped a droplet of blood onto the center of the medallion. She then held in it her left palm, while still holding the metal plaque from earlier.
“Rice? Wine? Cherrywood sword?” Erik Lee asked.
“Give me something red, maybe a piece of cloth, find a way to light it on fire.” Lu Tianyi nodded: “And give it to me quick!”
Erik Lee nodded back, as he went to the bed to pull out the bedding.
Lu Tianyi turned to Du Bai and the detective: “And officers - please stand by me with your badges out. Officer Du Bai - you’re still a virgin right? If you can, please pee into that container.”
“What?” Du Bai’s voice was high like a teenage girl.
“Male virgin urine, surely you know that’s like sulfur acid to malevolent spirits and monsters, right?” Lu Guilin answered on his mother’s behalf.
Lu Tianyi closed her eyes once again, raised the same metal plaque above her head, her blood crawling onto the plaque from her fingertips and palms. “The great Heavenly General Tianpeng, while your power is still here, your students humbly pray for your hand in breaking the bounds of evil cast upon our realm. We request your assistance, your presence, and your grace. The power of the great heavens, heed my call. BREAK!” She slammed the jade medallion onto the book with a pale cover.
“
Crack
!” Golden lightning sparks shot from the book’s cover and the round jade medallion, Lu Tianyi was pushed back by an invisible force. Blood dripped from her nostrils and corners of her mouth. A round, glowing red mark was left on the cover of the book. Before long, smoke arose from the mark and the edges of the cover.
“Red, fire!” Erik Lee brought over a piece of duvet he tore from the luxury bed, lit on fire by a spell.
“Officer! Where’s the canister!” Lu Tianyi grabbed the cloth with both hands, unperturbed by the fire. She walked up to the book, wrapped the book with the burning cloth.
“Here!” Du Bai did not even get a chance to pull up his zipper as he handed the canister to Lu Tianyi. Detective Brian Tracy grimaced, but followed him with his badge in hand.
“Put it on the ground and back off!”
Du Bai did as he was asked, then backed away like the rest of the group.
Lu Tianyi threw the book into the canister, still wrapped in the burning cloth. There was only a little bit of liquid at the bottom, but it immediately began boiling as if a huge fire was under it.
Blinding golden light flashed from inside the canister, forcing everyone to close their eyes for a moment. The entire space went completely quiet again, as if all the sounds in the world were swallowed.
The calming yet strange serenity lasted only a second, before a hoarse roar full of frustration and anger echoed in the room, followed by flapping sounds coming from behind every wall in the room - as if hundreds of pairs of hands and feet were slapping and stomping on them from the other side. This also did not last long, as the sounds faded away into an ethereal distance.
Pale white color covered up the surface of everything in the suite - from the bed, to the carpet, to the windows and the nightstand.
White ash fell from the ceiling, everything in the room began to tarnish.
“It’s over.” Lu Tianyi let out a breath of relief.