The Priest Kept a Ghost in His Gourd and Let Him Out Every Night novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: The Bell Array

The array stood on the ferry dock by dusk.

Nine bronze bells hung from a ring of black poles, each as big as a washtub.

Every bell was tied to a centre bell by a red cord.

Under the centre bell sat a white jade jar with a sealed lid.

Shao stood beside it, hands folded, smiling at the river.

"When the ninth bell rings," he told the crowd, "the thing will come to the sound, and the jar will take it in."

"And Zhuoran?" Pingan asked.

"The jar is not for him."

"The thing wears his face."

"Yes," said Shao. "I find that very convenient."

Pingan turned to the tall man at his shoulder.

They had decided it in the loft, without ever saying so aloud.

If the jar took the Ferry King, it would take the last piece of Zhuoran with it, and he would never be whole.

He would be a ghost with a hole in him for as long as the Bureau kept a jar in a cellar.

"Now?" Zhuoran said under his breath.

"Now."

Pingan ran.

He went across the boards with his left hand already full of a yellow charm, and his right arm held tight against his ribs.

Zhuoran went the other way, in a flat black blur, with the Rain Needle drawn.

The first cord parted with a note.

The second followed it.

"Stop them!" Shao said, still smiling.

Bureau priests came at them from three sides, with the white-and-gold sleeves flying.

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