The Lame Daoist Priest - Chapter 9

Ch9. Evil Spirit?

Cheng Dong took a stack of paper money out of his wallet, about 2000 RMB and spoke to me: “If you can make me see ghosts, then the money is yours. Otherwise I’ll have you reported to the police immediately and will sue you for spreading rumors and deceiving people”

I only smiled and smirked: “It’s easy if you really want to see the ghosts, but I have to warn you; when you see the ghosts, pretend that you can’t see them. Don’t become too excited or surprised, and you absolutely cannot scream. If they know that you can see them, they will haunt you and you will be in big trouble.”

Xu Xiaoling stepped back with both hands covering her chest, and asked in a low trembling voice: “Is there really a ghost here?”

I waited for a while and saw his expression change slightly, then gave a straight look at Dong Cheng and said “If you are afraid, just back off and take your money, I don’t need it” I deliberately provoked this man since he just ruthlessly ridiculed me in front of Xu Xiaoling, and if he bit the bullet then I would play him well enough.

He bit it! Dong Cheng complexion changed and his eyes revealed some fear seeing my confident manner, but he braced himself and said: “Who?… Who say that I’m afraid? I don’t believe in superstitions! It’s illogical! Come try me!”

I took a piece of the Moon Charm from out of my trouser’s pocket…

I brought several charms this morning, 3 Moon Charms, 3 Sun Charms, and 3 Heart and Mind Purifying Charms. I held the Moon Charm with my forefinger and middle finger’s right hand and spoke to Dong Cheng: “You can see that there’s nobody on the street and there are only several traffic lights here right?” Then I directed a strand of Yang Qi from my Dantian and lit the Moon Charm. The charm instantly burned and emitting a green light flame.

Cheng Dong and Xu Xiaoling’s face showed a shocked expression because they saw that I didn’t use any tools to ignite the Moon Charm. They had only seen this kind of act in the movies before, and now they suddenly saw it in real life, so it’s not that strange if they were to be surprised. My mouth slightly curled and smiled, as I quickly touched Dong Cheng’s left and right shoulder with my two fingers.

…

Dong Cheng complexion instantly changed. He looked like he was about to wail and was violently trembling. He quickly handed the stack of 2000 RMB in his hand to my hand and weeped in fear: “Master…. I believe you! I really believe you! Just… just don’t make me see these things again!”

I quickly received his money without hesitation and took a Sun Charm from my pocket and ignited it and lightly touched both of his shoulder. A tiny part of Yang fire was pasted and ignited on both of his shoulders, I then talked to him casually, “If I’m not mistaken, the ghost that haunted Miss Xu is very ominous, I advise you to go home quickly because it could be dangerous if you continue to follow me”

Dong Cheng swallowed his saliva back down into his throat and said: “Great Master, I ask you to grant me a magical charm, otherwise after seeing those things a moment ago… I don’t even dare to go home… and please forgive my manner previously!”

I took a glance over the money he gave me, and pull out another Sun Charm and handed it to him as I then explained: “Actually, under normal circumstances, ghosts will not harm humans, as long as you ignore them and are not showing any expressions that you can see them. I’ll give you this Sun Charm; if someday you feel a cold sensation and your body suddenly shivers, just burn this paper charm and pour the ashes into a glass of water and drink it. If you encounter an extreme urgent matter you can immediately come to see me, with the condition that you absolutely cannot reveal my identity; otherwise this will be our last meeting.”

Cheng Dong immediately took the charm and thanked me profusely. He then apologized to Xu Xiaoling and ran like hell.

Xu Xiaoling, who after seeing the great changes from Cheng Dong with her own eyes was shocked. A trace of fear could be seen on her face. She quickly walked forward and stood beside me while she spoke in a respectful and scared tone: “Great master, is there really a ghost around here?”

Seeing Xu Xiaoling’s complexion, I couldn’t help but remember the scene with the old swindler. At that time I was so scared and instantly fainted. Now that I have become accustomed to seeing the ghosts, it was natural that I wasn’t afraid anymore. However facing high-leveled ghosts and evil spirits with a dense Yin Qi aura like Miss Daiyu is, still made me frightened. I tried to comfort Xu Xiaoling who was still in shock and spoke: “Don’t be afraid, there are some ordinary wandering souls around here, but they have no ability to harm people. Anyways, I must go home first to get some weapons and tools to cope with the ghost which is haunting you.”

“Great master, I really thank you for your help, but I don’t know how much I have to pay you?” Xu Xiaoling’s voice was weak and timid as she continued to speak: “I have only worked for more than a month. I really don’t have much money….”

I started to walk toward the direction of my house and talked to her at the same time: “I don’t need any compensation. I’m the successor of an orthodox Daoist school, not some kind of swindler.”

“But great master, why do you want to help people without any rewards at all?”

“Ah… please don’t call me great master, it’s too awkward. My name is Zhang Xiaolong, although I’m the successor of an orthodox Daoist school, this is actually the first time I’m exorcising a ghost.” I told her the truth and explained that I was originally a young disciple who had just finished an apprenticeship.

“Eh? What?” Xu Xiaoling seemed surprised and was a little disappointed but she still followed me as she kept a close distance, and then spoke: “Xiaolong, am I really being haunted by a ghost? I know that these last few days, I have been dreaming the same dream every night. I dreamt that I was putting on some makeup and looked into a mirror, but the face inside the mirror was not mine. Last night when I left for the toilet at midnight, I accidentally looked at myself in the mirror and the face that was reflected from the mirror was exactly the same as the face that appeared in my dream! But when I looked at the mirror again, that face is gone, so I thought to myself that I was hallucinating and it was an illusion. But somehow I felt that was real and not an illusion.”

After listening to her description, I nodded and said: “According to your story, the problem should be in your apartment. When did you moved into your current apartment?”

“2 months ago, but the strange dream had only started repeatedly a few days ago.”

We were still talking when we arrived downstairs at my house, I said to Xu Xiaoling: “Wait here, I’ll go get my things upstairs!”

“Great… err… Xiaolong, can I go up with you?” It was obvious that after she knew that ghosts really existed and that they were even haunting her, she didn’t want to stay alone downstairs to wait for me.

I could only sigh slightly: “Well, okay.”, then I opened the door and walked upstairs.

When I opened the door, Dad and Mom seemed to have been waiting for me for some time. They seemed baffled seeing me bring a girl back home. Dad gawked for a while before enthusiastically giving a warm greeting: “Oh, it’s Xiaolong’s friend, please have a sit quickly”. Mom also hurriedly greeted her. I quickly introduced Xu Xiaoling briefly and said that she worked at the museum nearby, and came to visit especially to identify the damaged sword hilt and to appraise it. To see whether it was antique or not.

After the small talk, I quickly entered my room and took with me a black backpack and carefully put the Shadowbane sword, along with 30 Sun Charms and the remaining half vial of the cattle tears’ and walked out of the bedroom. I told Mom and Dad that I am going out to the museum to identify the hilt and would perhaps be back home very late. So I told them to not wait for me then led Xu Xiaoling out of the house.

Before we left Mom warmly held Xu Xiaolong’s hands and spoke enthusiastically: “Girl, please visit us frequently!”

Mom’s manner was too enthusiast and it was very obvious to see what her true intent was, this made me somehow blush and ir also made Xu Xiaoling slightly embarrassed.

We walked downstairs and went out of the house with an awkward atmosphere between us. Xu Xiaoling kept silent and only after a long while did she break the silence: “Xiaolong, why do I think that this garbage can feels strange? I think we had passed it 4 times already.”

Hearing Xiaoling’s careful reminder, I immediately discovered that something was really out of place. I have been strolling around this block every day, running and jogging for morning exercise. It seemed that we were walking in circle which convinced me that we had run into a ghost wall!

Why would we encounter such a situation? The answer was very simple, when a person’s luck was extremely low, it would be very easy for ghosts and evil spirits to seize the opportunity to posses or mess with that person’s life. It’s very obvious that Xu Xiaoling’s luck must have been extremely low recently.

Hmmph… this ghost’s wall was only a worthless small trick before this great patriarch.

In “Niu School’s Past Records on Demon Subjugation”, there were dozens of methods that could be used to break a ghost’s wall! I calmly took the time to look at the terrified Xu Xiaoling and spoke to her in a comforting tone: “Don’t be afraid, it’s just an easily broken ghost’s wall.”

Who would have thought that when I mentioned the ghost’s wall, Xiaoling’s eyes immediately became teary like she was about to cry. She then instantly forgot her embarrassment and tightly held onto my body. I was really baffled as to whether I should laugh or cry. (T/N: If I were this MC…hmmmm… :P)

Because I was not in the “Opening Eyes” mode, I couldn’t see the ghost that wanted to confuse us. In fact, I really didn’t want to see it. I just drew a circle on the ground with my left toe and then stomped the ground powerfully… Damn…My leg was so damn numb, but we got out from the ghost’s wall.

This method was invented by one of my ancestors. Actually I could also use Sun Charm to break the ghost wall or use the “Opening Eyes” method to negotiate with the ghost. However I felt that stomping my own foot was much simpler… the most mysterious… and the most beautiful method… I  just never expected this method to make me feel so numb… really… I reaped what I had sow…

We arrived at the road with great difficulties… because of my numb leg… we called a taxi and went straight to Xu Xiaoling’s apartment.

No one spoke a word along the way…

The moment we arrived at Xu Xiaoling’s apartment, she suddenly asked to see the ghost that was haunting her. I told her that she should not let her curiosity win, since doing so might leave some trauma for her.

But she insisted that she must see it! Therefore I could only take out a few of my precious cattle tears and coated her eyes with it.

I didn’t use the Moon Charm “Opening Eyes” method on her because Xu Xiaoling’s Yang Qi had been weakened already and if I use the Moon Charm to extinguish the Yang qi on both of her shoulders, she would be inflicted by some serious illnesses of which her already weakened body couldn’t afford to handle. And as for me, because I had cope with this ghost, it seemed that I had to use my head cleverly since I estimated that my Yang Qi was not strong enough. I just finished my apprenticeship after all. I absolutely could not screw up because it was my first time exorcising the ghost by myself.

After using the “Opening Eyes” method on myself, I took out my Shadowbane sword and held it in my left hand while I clamped a Sun Charm with two fingers from my right. I walked upstairs slowly with Xu Xiaoling.

We were both very nervous, therefore it took more time to go upstairs than usual. This caused one of the light bulbs to extinguish. Xu Xiaoling let out a small scream nervously, so I relit the the Yang fire light bulb once again. Shortly we arrived on the 3rd floor as Xu Xiaoling was panting, she immediately pointed at room 381, indicating that she lived there. I took a deep breath before I said: “Open the door.”

Xiahoui anxiously opened her apartment door and quickly hid behind me as she grabbed my clothes with an expression like she was going to her own burial.

This was also a first experience for this great patriarch… and seeing how anxious Xu Xiaoling was… it made me get infected by her… and perhaps more so… even the two fingers that were clamped onto the Sun Charm trembled slightly.

The moonlight was shining through the windows and illuminated the room. The living room was empty, so Xu Xiaoling and I quickly entered the room and turned on the lam. That relaxed all the nerves that had been tempered by anxiety.

It was human instinct to fear the dark and unknown. We are easily frightened when we are in darkness because we don’t know what kind of “things” will appear. Even encountering other people in the dark would scare one to death.

I slowly inspected several rooms, including the bathroom, kitchen and closet. However I couldn’t discover any traces of the ghost anywhere. This even made more anxious! Miss Daiyu once said to me that the cattle tear was not omnipotent, high-leveled ghosts can conceal their body shape and even their aura. I had done an experiment with Miss Daiyu before… and it was impossible for me to see her if she didn’t want to be seen by me.

But the evil Yin Qi on Xu Xiaoling glabella was absolutely the most obvious evidence that she was really being haunted by a ghost! And after listening to her explanation a short while ago, the ghost must have been in her apartment, but why can’t I discover any trace of the ghost anywhere? Was it really a high-leveled ghost? Errm… I really forget that I was born with the Red Arrow fate mark; bad luck always followed my everywhere, and it will for a lifetime… I would likely run into one bad ass-dreadful-evil spirit today!

Damn… I’m dead… so very dead… what kind of troubles did I incite now?

~~~~~~~~~~End of Ch.9~~~~~~~~~~