"Yaoyao, you're finally here! If you hadn't come, I'd have been driven mad by this kid's constant startled outbursts."
The moment Yaoyao stepped into the main hall, her Senior Uncle rushed over, his face mournful, complaining bitterly, his wrinkles practically blooming with worry.
Yaoyao comforted him, "Senior Uncle, leave this to me." Ever since she came down the mountain and met her Senior Uncle, she knew that he was merely at the threshold of cultivation, not even having stepped into the first level. His cultivation was barely enough for physical fitness, let alone dealing with troubles involving the mystic arts; he simply couldn't help.
"Big brother, you asked Senior Uncle to find me, and I'm here now. You can speak." Yaoyao looked at the young man sitting at the table, her small face serious. The young man, seeing who had arrived, stood up immediately without a word, "Thump!"
"M-Master, you're finally here." The young man's expression immediately became excited. He was a loyal fan of the livestream, so he naturally recognized Yaoyao. Hearing the Master ask about the matter, he paused, then, as if grasping a lifesaver, he poured out his story.
"It's like this: I won a Talisman of Peace from Master in the livestream before, and I've been wearing it for safety. I never dared to take it off except when bathing." As one of the five lucky viewers in the livestream, this made the young man very confident in his luck. He wore it and showed it off to all his friends.
However, a problem arose during this showing off. After passing through who-knows-whose hands, the Talisman of Peace suddenly had a corner burned off. The young man thought someone had lit it with a cigarette and immediately became angry and furious, cursing everyone. But he couldn't find out who it was. The main reason was that there were too many people present at the time.
He was very annoyed, wondering if the talisman was still effective with a missing corner. This was his precious life-saving treasure, and to be safe, he decided to go to Huoyun Temple to get another one on Friday afternoon since he had no classes. His school campus wasn't far from Huoyun Temple. He was thrilled when he saw the address from the livestream.
However, on the night he planned to go, he encountered a ghost. Speaking of this, the young man's voice was filled with terror. "I ran into it while washing up. It... it crawled out of the mirror in the washroom."
"I didn't react in time and it choked me. My handprints haven't faded yet." The young man said, pulling open the buttons of his high-collared shirt. A clear purplish-black mark was starkly visible around his otherwise fair neck.
"Whoa, if an unknowing person saw this, they'd think you tried to hang yourself and failed!" Qingyun, who was nearby, couldn't help but exclaim at the sight.
The young man forced a bitter smile. This was also why he had to wear high collars, as seeing the same reaction from his classmates, he was tired of explaining. Fortunately, the weather was getting colder, so wearing a high collar wouldn't seem out of place.
"Its strength was immense; I couldn't struggle free at all." At the moment the young man thought he was about to suffocate, the Talisman of Peace on his chest suddenly became scorching hot. The thing seemed to be injured and instantly retreated back into the mirror. It looked at him with venom, but the young man didn't dare to look back. He didn't even bother with his toiletries and bolted back to his room.
His roommates were terrified by his appearance and asked what happened. He explained, but the entire dormitory didn't believe him. Not until he took off his outer shirt, revealing the empty red string. The yellow talisman that was originally on it had disappeared, and the inside of his clothes was stained with ash. Only then did his roommates believe him. They knew how much the young man treasured that yellow talisman; even a small burn made him complain all night. Now that it had suddenly burned away, and he looked so terrified, it could only mean he had encountered something unclean.
The whole dorm was so scared that no one dared to sleep. They stayed up until dawn. The young man couldn't wait until Friday. He had his roommate answer for him during roll call and secretly slipped away to the Taoist temple.
"Who knew, the few talismans Daoist Priest Qingyun gave me, they... burned away on their own..." The young man's face was ashen, as if he were attending a funeral. Even if he didn't understand mystic arts, he knew without thinking that this was not a good sign.
Yaoyao's expression also changed slightly after hearing this. A yellow talisman self-destructing meant only one thing: what it had provoked exceeded its limits. A talisman's power is finite, especially for a common Talisman of Peace, as the talisman core doesn't carry much spiritual energy. Yaoyao had tried her best to infuse spiritual energy when she drew it, but it could only block ordinary Red Ghosts. If they encountered a more powerful one, no matter how many Talismans of Peace there were, they wouldn't be effective. This was undeniable. Moreover, Red Ghosts weren't as common as cabbages, let alone the powerful ones among them.
"Big brother, don't worry. I'll go with you!" Yaoyao looked at the young man and spoke slowly. The method the malevolent spirit had used to mark him had worn down the Talisman of Peace to a negligible degree. With only a faint connection, it would be difficult to find it from too far away.
She had been eating功德 (virtue/merit) recently, which solved the hunger problem, but eating too much of one thing made her want to change her diet. A Red Ghost that even a Talisman of Peace couldn't handle... it must taste very good.
"Then... then I'll trouble Master. I'll lead the way for you." The young man was completely excited. Before he came seeking help, he only hoped to get two talismans. He never expected the Master to personally come. His heart finally settled back into his stomach.
The two of them left the Taoist temple and descended the mountain, one after the other. The young man told the Master the location of his school. Then, he was about to take out his phone to call for a car. After all, he had called the Master to help him, so it made no sense for the Master to pay. Besides, at the Master's age, she probably wouldn't know how to hail a taxi.
But before he could even open the app, he heard the Master say, "Little brother, you don't need to go to all that trouble. You can just hold my hand!"
The young man looked left and right, confirming there was no car in front of them, and couldn't help but be puzzled. However, he didn't ask further. He obediently held the Master's small hand, his eyes curiously anticipating what would happen next.
Yaoyao had seen this expression before when she first took her Seventh Brother out. A smile appeared on her chubby little face. She took a small step forward, skillfully activating her spell. The young man watched the scenery flying backward in horror, his heart nearly leaping out of his throat. He clenched his lips tightly, not because he didn't want to speak, but because he was afraid that if he opened his mouth, he would swallow a belly full of wind.
A few minutes later, looking at the familiar school buildings, the young man's face was pale, but his eyes were astonishingly bright. It wasn't that he hadn't seen the world, but he was truly too shocked by the Master's display. Unlike the livestream, this personal experience shattered his worldview.
"Big brother, don't just stand there blankly. Keep up." Yaoyao walked a few steps away, then turned back to see him standing frozen, her small eyebrows raised slightly.
She could sense that the feng shui of the big brother's school was problematic; the yin energy was strong while the yang energy was weak. Yet, it wasn't a naturally isolated yin terrain. If it wasn't the work of heaven and earth, then it could only be man-made.
A powerful ghost of the Red Ghost level, with yin energy as dense as ink, indeed had the ability to distort feng shui into an ominous place. This also proved that the thing was still here. Yaoyao was naturally pleased that she hadn't come for nothing, even revealing her tiny, sparkling canine teeth.
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