Chapter 21: Casting Spells to Capture Ghosts
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Chi Shuyan followed Yang Hongsheng and they rushed to a mansion. As soon as she entered the door, she heard a racket amidst several crying women.
“What the h.e.l.l happened to Kunxiong?”
“Didn’t that last Exorcist Master say he was going to get better?”
“Bah, I think every single one you’ve invited here is just fis.h.i.+ng for fame. I must send these crooks to jail.” Father Zhou was so angry that he turned around and was about to walk out, but with a twist of his head, he saw Yang Hongsheng’s group coming in.
Mother Zhou’s fury ignited the moment she saw Yang Hongsheng. She wished she could whack him and she raged, “What are you still doing here? I’ve always told Kunxiong not to make friends with a gang of scoundrels. Look what happened now. Hurry and just get…” Before she could say “get out”, Father Zhou interrupted her first and said, “Hongsheng, don’t take offense.”
Although Father Zhou also blamed Yang Hongsheng, he still had some sense. The talisman last time was from him, plus a ghost possessed him too. This matter could be easily solved if he’d brought in a Warlock to exorcise the ghosts. His sharp eyes s.h.i.+fted behind Yang Hongsheng, however, after discovering that it was just Su Yeran and a strange young girl, Father Zhou was somehow disappointed.
“Didn’t you go and invite the Master? Where is she?” Dong Junming also asked anxiously.
Yang Hongsheng felt bitter. He had been subjected to the family’s hateful and embittered gazes last week, so he quickly revealed Chi Shuyan behind him: “This is the master who drew the talisman last time.”
The Zhou family and Dong Junming’s faces flashed with surprise, their eyes filled with scrutiny and suspicion.
Chi Shuyan ignored these sizing gazes from all sides, feeling too lazy to probe, but it was quite annoying to be stared at constantly. Impatience crossed her face.
“Uncle, aunt, this master drove away the ghost in my body.” Yang Hongsheng quickly explained. Sure enough, the eyes of the others immediately changed after his clarification. There were still some doubts though.
Father Zhou mused for a moment. He was at his wit’s end now, anyway, so he might as well try this last resort. He immediately led Yang Hongsheng and the others to Zhou Kunxiong’s room on the third floor.
As soon as Chi Shuyan entered, she saw a young man strapped solidly on the bed. He must have been Zhou Kunxiong.
Chi Shuyan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As she had expected, the ghost wasn’t 1,000 years at all, just 100 years.
“Master Chi, do you need to prepare anything?” Yang Hongsheng saw that Chi Shuyan came empty-handed and didn’t know how she was going to exorcise the ghost. In the past, those so-called masters had come with countless magic weapons.
Chi Shuyan didn’t even look at Yang Hongsheng, shook her head and took a few steps forward. She actually saw the red-clothed female ghost possessing Zhou Kunxiong upon entering the room.
She had studied the ancient texts and arts, which recorded that there had once been a type of ghost cultivation that boosted strength by relying on subduing malevolent spirits, training them into magic weapons and so on. Thus, ordinary people might find ghosts unbearable to handle, but for them, it was a resource that everyone fought for. The Ghost Gonfalons she made were essentially the same. To say the biggest difference between Chi Shuyan and many Celestial Masters was that she was keen on researching. She didn’t care about taboos; she only cared whether or not they worked.
She wasn’t a ghost cultivator, but ghosts were a resource for her to improve her strength. Although this ghost wasn’t high in attainment, no matter how tiny a mosquito was, it was still meat. It was also higher in attainment compared to the ghosts she had captured in her Ghost Gonfalon.
Yang Hongsheng stood nervously and waited for a long time, but Chi Shuyan never made a move. He frowned. He didn’t know if it was just his illusion, but he always felt that Chi Shuyan’s eyes seemed to be glowing, as if she was communicating with that female ghost.
“Master Chi, why aren’t you doing anything yet?” Su Yeran was also uneasy and confused.
“Let’s just be polite and ask this female ghost about the specifics first.”
“And what did you ask?” Yang Hongsheng stared in surprise, not expecting her to actually communicate with the ghost.
“This female ghost was an opera singer during the Republican Period, who fell in love with a poor man. They married and she sang in the opera to support the man. Then the poor guy fell in love with a rich girl, dumped her, and married the rich girl. The rich girl was jealous and knew about her husband’s affair with this ghost. So, she let other people go to great lengths to force her to hang herself.
“But why is she pestering Big Brother? Big Brother isn’t that heartless man.” Su Yeran was baffled.
Chi Shuyan blinked: “Maybe your big brother resembled that heartless rat a bit. Either that or your big brother looks more to this ghost’s liking. But honestly, this female ghost is pretty good looking, you guys really have good taste.”
Su Yeran: “…” I can’t afford this kind of luck with girls!
Yang Hongsheng: “…” This Master Chi’s focus is too strange!
Chi Shuyan advised the female ghost to leave, but she was impenetrably thickheaded, so she took out a Ghost Ward Talisman with a stern brow and threw it over. The ghost screamed as if roasting in flames and her red figure loomed over Zhou Kunxiong. ‘Zhou Kunxiong’ writhed even more dramatically, that even the tight ropes that bound his taut body sharply gaped.
The female ghost obviously sensed the danger and Chi Shuyan’s power, and freaked out. After loosening the ropes, she attacked Chi Shuyan with a malevolent, white, crazy face.
Seeing that the ghost was still occupying the body, Chi Shuyan knitted her brows and cast a few spells towards her. This time, the ghost couldn’t stand it any longer. ‘Zhou Kunxiong’ let out a blood-curdling screech as if burning in flames and couldn’t wait to fly out.
“Holy sh*t, ghost!” Yang Hongsheng still had the guts, but when the red-clothed female ghost suddenly flew in his direction with a rotting grimace zooming in front of him, he paled in horror and couldn’t help but scream.
The others hastily recoiled even more. Ordinary people couldn’t see ghosts, except in special circ.u.mstances, like just when Chi Shuyan cast her spell, and the ghost manifested. They had already seen the ghost on ‘Zhou Kunxiong’, but now that the ghost had flown out, she was even more shockingly clear.
As soon as the ghost tried to escape, Chi Shuyan immediately cast a Ghost Binding Spell to pin her on the spot, after which she swiftly wielded her Yin Ghost Gonfalon. It spun in circles and quickly wrapped the ghost in the middle. Soon, the ghost shrieked miserably, and with utterly dreary cries and screams was sucked into the Yin Ghost Gonfalon, disappearing without a trace.
After Chi Shuyan collected the ghost, Yang Hongsheng almost sat paralyzed on the floor with shaky legs.
“Master Chi, where is that female ghost?” Su Yeran asked in a nervous whisper.
“There.” Chi Shuyan pointed at the Yin Ghost Gonfalon. Her five fingers flexed and spread as she commanded, “Reap!” The Yin Ghost Gonfalon that was spinning mid-air immediately shrank and entered Chi Shuyan’s palm.
The crowd stared in shock at Chi Shuyan’s move and were secretly in awe, looking at her empty palm.
Yang Hongsheng and Su Yeran, in particular, glanced at Chi Shuyan repeatedly. Yang Hongsheng secretly said: No wonder Master Chi came empty-handed. Those sets of magic weapons of those so-called Masters are nothing. Master Chi’s magic weapon can even pop out of thin air, and looks extraordinary that even ghosts are sucked.
“Master Chi, is our big brother alright?” Su Yeran looked worriedly at unconscious Zhou Kunxiong.
Chi Shuyan looked at Zhou Kunxiong and said, “I guess he’ll wake up in a little while, but…”
“But? But what?” When Chi Shuyan swallowed back her words, Yang Hongsheng asked promptly.
Chi Shuyan smiled faintly, shook her head, and said nothing more.
That female ghost’s yin energy was heavy. After possessing this young master for a few days, he would likely lose several years of life. But since they were fearless, undaunted and valiant, and even ventured to the cemetery in the middle of the night to find hook up with ghosts, they shouldn’t be afraid of death. They wouldn’t mind losing a few years of birthday hair. Anyway, life was long. Chi Shuyan shrugged, disinclined to stir the family’s festive mood.
Chi Shuyan was escorted to Yang Hongsheng’s car with a group of grateful people, and Yang Hongsheng volunteered to send her back.
She sat in the back seat and reclined with her eyes closed.
“Master Chi, what are you going to do about my case?” Yang Hongsheng asked apprehensively. He got chills down his spine at the thought of that hungry ghost stalking him.
“Yours is easier than Zhou Kunxiong. I’ll come to your door anytime when you’ll indulge in extravagant eating and drinking.” Chi Shuyan’s eyes remained shut.
Yang Hongsheng with a black line: “…” Indulge in extravagant eating and drinking? Why did that sound like I’m having a good time?
“Master Chi, you faltered earlier. Could it be that my big brother would be suffering some after-effects after being possessed?” Yang Hongsheng was a coa.r.s.e, yet subtle man. He kept pondering about what Chi Shuyan hadn’t finished saying, and always felt that it wasn’t anything good.
Hearing his query, Chi Shuyan opened her eyes and laughed lightly. “You have a pretty good sense of smell, but are you sure you want to know?”
Seeing her like this only fueled Yang Hongsheng’s curiosity, so he nodded: “Yeah, yeah, go ahead.”
Chi Shuyan looked at the scenery outside the car window and spoke lightly of it, “It’s not really a big deal, but these few days when your big brother was possessed, he was tainted with too much yin energy, so he will lose a few years of life. Not only him, but you’re better off than him, so you’ll only lose a few months of life. Your other brother is much luckier than you, and will only lose a few dozen days of life.”
Yang Hongsheng stepped on the brakes and the luxury car came to a sudden stop. Because of the inertia, Chi Shuyan was jolted forward, speechless: “Why are you so excited?”
“Master Chi, why didn’t you say so earlier? We won’t be short-lived, will we? I still haven’t lived long enough, why is my lifespan shortened?” Yang Hongsheng howled in panic, “You must save us, I am the only lifeblood of our family for three generations.”
Chi Shuyan looked at the terrified Yang Hongsheng, speechless: “I thought you were bolder than all the rest, valiant and fearless, that you even ventured to the cemetery to fool around and flirt with female ghosts. You should be able to see through life and death. It’s only a few years short of lifespan, so there’s nothing to be afraid of. Besides, you guys have a long lifespan, it’s actually nothing.”
Yang Hongsheng: “…” He was purely bored and with a playful disposition, thinking that there were no ghosts in the world. He wasn’t bolder than the rest, valiant or fearless. Besides, he didn’t want to die young and had long been regretful. Who would dislike to live a longer life?
“Master Chi, you can’t see me dying and not save me. I’m the only seedling of our Yang family for three generations…” Yang Hongsheng continued wailing like a ghost.
Chi Shuyan held her aching forehead and said, “Okay, okay, I’ll try to find you some medicine to replenish your yang energy and patch you up, all right? But the herbs are a bit expensive and hard to find, so I’ll make a list for you by then.”
Yang Hongsheng immediately stopped howling, his eyes filled with grat.i.tude: “Master Chi, you really are a good person of exemplary conduct and n.o.ble character.”
If it weren’t for the money he was paying, Chi Shuyan really would have rejected this label and laughed in his face – This idiot!