Wong said that when he wasn't home that day, a white snake had suddenly appeared in their chicken coop.
Emma, afraid the white snake would kill the chickens, beat it to death with a thick bamboo pole.
White snakes being valuable, Emma greedily sold the dead snake to a restaurant.
Within days, Emma began acting strangely - often in a trance, flicking her tongue like a snake, and at night her eyes would roll back with greenish ooze.
Though Wong knew something was wrong and wanted to take her to the hospital, Emma hanged herself the next day.
When Emma died, a small snake-like shape protruded from her belly, resembling a green vein that still moved.
This was so terrifying that the family buried her hastily that same night, which was why few knew of her death.
Wong told me something even more disturbing - that night when carrying the coffin past my tattoo shop, it suddenly tipped over. The corpse sat up violently, its face turned toward the shop door.
The pallbearers were terrified and froze in place. Only after Wong knelt and burned three incense sticks did the body relax, allowing them to return it to the coffin for burial.
After hanging up, my mind buzzed with shock as cold sweat covered me. I'd actually encountered a ghost during daytime and even given it a Tattoo of Gods and Ghosts.
The man, seeing I'd learned the truth, said nothing and turned to leave.
As he stepped out, a GLOOMY WIND suddenly blew in, slamming doors and windows shut. I thought I heard eerie whispering laughter, though it felt unreal - like hallucinations. Yet the wind's icy sting felt all too real.
I'd disobeyed Grandpa's warning. Though I didn't know the consequences, Grandpa had implied they'd be severe.
Then I remembered his other instruction: if someone asks for a Tattoo of Gods and Ghosts, do it - that person would save my life.
This man wasn't ordinary. He might be my salvation. I couldn't let him leave.
"Sir, wait!" I shouted urgently. "I'll do the Tattoo of Gods and Ghosts!"
True enough, the man returned moments later, frowning as he asked, "Is that true?"
Strangely, the gloomy wind ceased immediately upon his return, the eerie sounds vanishing completely.
I nodded earnestly, claiming I'd mastered all the techniques. I confessed my earlier lie stemmed from caution, explaining everything about Emma and my ghostly encounter through the tattoo work.
The man sighed and said, "The white snake was spiritual. Killing it was already a grave mistake, but to then sell it to a restaurant for people to eat its flesh and drink its blood - how could there not be retribution?"
I could understand the supernatural nature of Emma's death, but that was between her and the snake. What did it have to do with me? I held no grudge against her - why would she come to harm me?
The man explained that Emma hadn't meant to harm me. When a human fetus turns into a snake fetus, the spirit naturally cannot rest in peace after death. That's why she sought the Tattoo of Gods and Ghosts - to restore the fetus and find peace. If she'd wanted to harm me, she could have killed me long ago. She simply didn't know that Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts shouldn't be given to ghosts.
His last statement made my eyes light up with realization. I quickly asked how he knew Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts couldn't be done for ghosts.
He said he'd heard stories about these tattoos. While he didn't know exactly why they couldn't be given to ghosts, he knew of one case where a Tattoo of Gods and Ghosts master tattooed a ghost. In the end, a hundred ghosts ate him alive - devouring his organs and brain, leaving only an empty flesh shell. He died an extremely gruesome death.
This terrified me, bringing cold sweat to my brow. Did this mean I'd be surrounded by a hundred ghosts too?
The man shook his head, then his eyes sharpened like an eagle's, staring at something - though there was nothing outside to see.
"Today is Ghost Festival," he said, making me tremble. "You should expect more than a hundred ghosts."
I immediately dropped to my knees before him, begging for help. This man was clearly extraordinary - just as my grandfather said he would be my savior.
The man helped me up, saying he would save my life... but only if I saved him first. Then I remembered - he'd come here for a tattoo.
At that moment, the man flipped down his collar, revealing a ring of oozing red hair around his neck and patches of corpse spots below it.
I recoiled in fear, taking several steps back. Aren't corpse spots only found on the dead? Was he a ghost too? And what was that terrifying red hair? Do living people have such things?
"Don't be afraid," the man assured me. "I'm definitely not a ghost. I'm a Celestial Master. This condition was caused by three corpses."
He introduced himself as Philip, a Celestial Master who practiced Yin magic. A week ago, someone had dug up three coffins in a deep forest - extremely evil ones. Everyone who touched them either went mad or died, and no one dared open them.
No one dared open the coffins. Originally, they were to be reburied, but some wealthy skeptics paid Philip to open them instead.
After casting a spell, Philip opened the coffins and discovered the three corpses inside were completely intact - not decayed at all.
There were two men and one woman: an old man and a middle-aged couple. Judging by their burial clothes, they were modern coffins. Philip estimated they'd been buried about twenty years. The complete lack of decomposition was truly unnatural. Who were these people when alive, and why were they buried here?
As Philip pondered these questions, the three corpses suddenly leaped from their coffins. They scratched Philip's arm before fleeing into the deep forest.
Philip never found those corpses again. Suspecting they might be zombies and that their scratches carried corpse poison, he immediately treated the wound with glutinous rice to draw out the toxins.
Unexpectedly, though the corpse poison was completely removed, red hairs and corpse spots still appeared on his neck.
This suggested either: 1) This corpse poison exceeded Philip's ability to cure, or 2) It wasn't actually corpse poison, since Philip didn't turn into a jiangshi (zombie).
Either way, unable to cure himself, Philip recalled the Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts. After extensive searching, he finally came to me.
His purpose was simple - to use the tattoo's power to remove the red hairs and corpse spots.
As Philip finished speaking, the GLOOMY WIND returned, stronger than before, knocking items off tables with loud crashes.
Philip warned that as night deepened, more ghosts would gather. By midnight, countless ghosts might surround us.
"Then will you save me if I give you the Tattoo?" I asked, picking up a photo among the scattered items - my only family photo.
It showed my parents (whom I'd never met), with my mother holding me as a baby and grandfather standing behind them. The only missing person was my grandmother.
Though incredibly precious to me, Philip stared at the photo with an extremely strange expression.
"Those corpses...those three corpses..." Philip suddenly said, pointing at the photo.