“Senior Sister, where are we going now?” Fu Xue asked early in the morning.
Yun Qing didn’t know where to go either.
She had wanted to visit Qingyun Island to ask about the situation, thinking perhaps people there might know about her master’s past. Unfortunately, the waters surrounding Qingyun Island were blocked by thick fog, with the sea route opening only twice a year for half a month each ti. The most recent opening had closed ten days ago.
With no other choice, she picked up a few small stones and cast a divination. The on indicated that going north would be favorable.
Yun Qing, still uncertain, let Fu Xue cast another divination. Her reading suggested they should go south.
Since the results were so contradictory, she had Jiang Baiyu cast one more.
Jiang Baiyu’s divination showed they should head west.
Yun Qing shook her head at this and with a wave of her hand declared, “We’ll go east.”
Jiang Baiyu looked at her pensively, “Are you trying to eliminate all the correct answers?”
Yun Qing replied, “You wouldn’t understand.”
Fu Xue said, “What would he understand? He’s just a pretty face.” She didn’t understand either, but she would never question her senior sister – that was the difference between her and the pretty boy.
Jiang Baiyu had a good temperant. Even after Fu Xue’s jab, he didn’t get angry but instead asked, “I still don’t know your nas.”
Yun Qing said, “She’s Little Fairy Maiden, and I’m Big Fairy Maiden.”
Unable to get their nas, he beca sowhat defiant, “And I’m Big Mushroom.”
Yun Qing burst into laughter, “Alright, no more jokes. My na is Yun Qing, and she’s Fu Xue.”
****
The three traveled eastward for about a day and a half before reaching Guangling City.
Guangling City was the largest city in Jiangdong, its prosperity naturally surpassing that of Immortal-Seeking Town. They entered through the west gate and soon reached the West Market.
This West Market mainly sold grain, tea, wine, cloth, and various daily necessities. Large shops and small stalls with colorful banners displayed dazzling arrays of goods, creating a lively atmosphere.
Fu Xue was srized by the sights, wanting to buy candied haws one mont, crab kites the next, and then beautiful flower lanterns, constantly tugging at her senior sister’s sleeve.
Yun Qing felt her deflated money pouch and advised, “My good junior sister, those who practice cultivation value a clear mind with few desires. These are all worldly distractions that disturb our spiritual nature. We mustn’t be tempted by them. Let’s go, quickly.”
“Oh.” Fu Xue nodded obediently.
Just as Yun Qing was speaking, she noticed soone at the roadside setting up a small pot selling maltose candy, freshly cooked with a delicious fragrance wafting through the air. Her eyes imdiately lit up. “I want to buy this!”
“Senior Sister, didn’t you just say these things are worldly distractions?” Fu Xue asked.
“Yes, and today your senior sister happens to be in the mood for so worldly indulgence.”
Yun Qing emptied her money pouch, finding only two copper coins, enough to buy four pieces of maltose candy.
The elderly woman selling candy, seeing these three attractive young people, took a liking to them. Smiling, she threw in an extra half piece. Yun Qing and Fu Xue bead with joy, thanking her repeatedly.
Yun Qing picked up a piece of maltose candy and put it in her mouth, savoring the unique sweetness spreading across her lips and teeth, a feeling of happiness filling her mouth and then spreading throughout her body.
She could never resist this direct and pure joy, squinting her eyes in contentnt.
Jiang Baiyu stood aside, staring in amazent. Could this female kidnapper really smile so tenderly? Just for a piece of candy?
Noticing Jiang Baiyu staring at her, Yun Qing generously placed the extra half piece of candy in his hand. “Here, eat it.”
Jiang Baiyu looked down at the small piece of golden-brown maltose candy in his palm and smiled.
Seeing this, Fu Xue said, “My senior sister is truly the most benevolent person in the world.”
“Indeed,” Yun Qing accepted her praise.
“Senior Sister, I really want to indulge in worldly pleasures every day.”
“Alas, who doesn’t?”
Jiang Baiyu kept his hands behind his back, his long clean fingers playing with the piece of candy, listening to the two banter, unconsciously curling his lips into a smile.
A six or seven-year-old child stood by the roadside, watching them eat the maltose candy, unable to resist putting his fingers in his mouth to suck, while swallowing his saliva.
As Jiang Baiyu passed by the child, he casually slipped the half piece of maltose candy into the child’s mouth.
Yun Qing didn’t notice his small gesture. She held her money pouch upside down, shaking it, and said, “We’ve spent all our money. We need to find a way to make so silver.”
“Yes, how do we make money?” Fu Xue thought for a mont. “Catching demons, banishing evil spirits, capturing ghosts – we know how to do all these things, but I don’t know where to find people who need such services.”
Yun Qing had another idea. “We could also set up a stall on the street to perform. You could do magic tricks, and I could demonstrate my invulnerability to knives and spears.”
Jiang Baiyu sincerely suggested. “You could ask the Huayang Sect for money. With in your custody, they wouldn’t dare refuse.”
The response was two blank stares.
Fu Xue secretly leaned close to Yun Qing’s ear and whispered, “Senior Sister, is this pretty boy dim-witted? Whose side is he on? We’re kidnappers.”
Yun Qing thought the sa. Perhaps all his bodily essence had gone into his face and figure, leaving his brain… sowhat deficient?
As they were whispering, suddenly soone nearby cupped their hands in greeting to the two won. “Ladies, did I hear you say you know how to catch ghosts?”
Yun Qing took a closer look. The speaker was a thin, middle-aged man with dark skin and a goatee. Deep wrinkles marked his face, and his back was hunched like a bent bow. A carrying pole with bamboo baskets lay beside him.
Fu Xue returned his greeting and answered, “We do indeed know how to catch ghosts. This big brother, is your ho haunted?”
“Well, yes and no.”
“What do you an?”
“It’s a long story. Would you mind sitting down so we can talk about it at length?”
The group found a teahouse and sat down. The goateed man called for the waiter and ordered four bowls of plain tea.
He rummaged through his coarse cloth belt for a while, took out a small, worn brown cloth pouch, opened it, and counted out four copper coins, which he handed to the waiter.
The waiter took the still-warm copper coins and quickly brought four bowls of steaming tea.
The goateed man said, “This lowly one is surnad Sun, given na Xingliu. I’m a peddler who usually buys goods at the West Market to sell in the countryside, so people around here call Peddler Sun.
Noble guests, since you’re new to this place, you may not know that Guangling City has been haunted for quite so ti, probably five or six years now. The haunted place is—”
The haunted place was called Mingyue Tower, located on Changming Street in the east part of the city. It was the property of the Fan family, who had previously rented it out for business.
Though Mingyue Tower wasn’t built with the finest materials, it was sturdy and elegant, and its location was good. By all rights, business there should have flourished. Unfortunately, because it was haunted, all businesses that operated there lost money, and eventually no one was interested in renting it anymore.
Not only Mingyue Tower but also the neighboring shops on Changming Street were affected, with fewer and fewer custors visiting over the years. After several years, the entire street showed signs of decline.
The other shop owners were very dissatisfied with the Fan family, but they dared not say anything because, first, the Fan family was powerful, and second, it was difficult to find evidence for supernatural matters.
Fu Xue, hearing this, asked, “How exactly does this haunting manifest?”
“So people who pass by that place will have nightmares.”
“What kind of nightmares?”
“All kinds. So dream of being chased and devoured by evil ghosts, so dream of tumbling through mountains of knives and seas of fire, and others dream of falling from the sky, endlessly falling…
Trapped in nightmares they can’t wake from, usually lasting all night. A whole night of delirious speech, terror, and distress, extrely torturous. So are lucky and only suffer for three to five days, while others with worse luck might endure for a month or two.”
Yun Qing rubbed her chin, pondering.
Jiang Baiyu glanced at her and asked Peddler Sun, “If rely passing by causes nightmares, how can you be sure it’s Mingyue Tower that’s haunted? Why not the neighboring buildings?”
“The rchants who previously rented Mingyue Tower saw it with their own eyes and spoke of it themselves, so it should be true.”
Yun Qing suddenly spoke up, “You ntioned earlier that ‘so people’ who pass by there have nightmares, which implies that so people don’t have nightmares even after visiting Mingyue Tower?”
“The lady is observant. Indeed, that’s the case. As for who will have nightmares and who won’t, there seems to be no pattern.
So say those with weak birth charts will be affected, but my son’s birth chart isn’t weak…” At this point, his voice began to choke up.
“Your son?”
“Yes, to be honest with you all, my useless son has also been affected. He has had nightmares for seven consecutive nights now. He’s lost a lot of weight, and we’ve tried dicine and even consulted a spirit dium.
He’s had poor health since childhood, and I fear he may not survive…I, I had no choice but to stop you and ask for help.
Please, lady—no, fairy maiden—I beg both fairy maidens to save my son’s life!” After saying this, Peddler Sun fell to his knees with tears in his eyes.
Yun Qing quickly helped him up, “Let’s go see your son first.”
The teahouse waiter, a skinny teenager about fifteen or sixteen, was wiping the counter with a cloth while listening to their conversation. He now leaned against the counter and interjected:
“Ladies and gentlen, you should be cautious. While Peddler Sun is an honest man, his son is no good. He loves gambling, and when he loses all his money, he turns to theft. Who knows if this curse is because he offended so spirit? It’s not good to oppose the spirits for soone like him.”
“This…..this…” Peddler Sun, upon hearing this, wanted to defend his son but didn’t know how, his face turning red with embarrassnt.
Yun Qing thanked the waiter, “Thank you for your warning. We’ll see for ourselves before deciding.”
Peddler Sun led them away from the West Market, winding through streets and alleys while telling them about his family situation:
His wife had died early, leaving him and his son to rely on each other. Since he went to the countryside nearly every day to sell goods, he neglected his son’s education, and his son grew up to be a scoundrel.
When his son was sixteen, Peddler Sun arranged a marriage for him, hoping he would settle down and live a good life. Who would have thought that not long after, the son went gambling and actually wagered his new bride.
Peddler Sun spent all his savings to redeem his daughter-in-law but was too ashad to keep her, so he had to sign divorce papers and let her return to her family.
As for how his son beca afflicted, a few days ago he passed by Mingyue Tower and, for unknown reasons, began having nightmares. When asked what he had done, he replied that he hadn’t done anything, that soone was trying to harm him.
……
Peddler Sun’s ho was a small courtyard with three rooms in the western part of the city. The house was relatively clean.
Sun’s eldest son was thin and dark, already sowhat deranged. He now lay in bed cursing and swearing. Yun Qing found the noise irritating and placed a silencing spell on him, then she and Fu Xue took turns examining him.
After they finished, she also invited Jiang Baiyu to take a look.
After all three had examined him, they exchanged glances, reaching the sa conclusion—he had been cursed.
The thod to break the curse was simple. Fu Xue used a bowl of clean water to tap the gambler’s forehead three tis.
This ritual was perford for Peddler Sun’s peace of mind. In reality, no ritual was necessary; they only needed to use their cultivation to dissolve the curse.
“If it weren’t for pitying you, we wouldn’t save him,” Fu Xue emphasized.
Peddler Sun expressed his gratitude profusely and again reached for his well-hidden small purse. Yun Qing stopped him, smiling, “We won’t take money, but we want sothing else in return.”
“Oh? What do the fairy maidens want? Just na it.”
“Having broken one curse, we want to place another on him.”
Yun Qing had Peddler Sun cut a lock of his son’s hair. She held the hair, waved it toward the east, and murmured incantations. Then she burned the hair and buried the ashes under the wutong tree in the courtyard.
In truth, with her and Fu Xue’s cultivation level, cursing an ordinary person without cultivation didn’t require such elaborate steps. They did it this way to prevent the curse from being easily broken, cutting off any escape route for the young man.
After placing the curse, she discreetly made a gesture to clean her fingers, then explained to Sun’s eldest son:
“From now on, whenever you gamble, you’ll experience stomach pain so severe you won’t be able to bear it. Oh, and you also can’t steal, ****, harass won, and certainly not commit murder or arson. In short, whenever you do sothing bad, your stomach will hurt. Do you understand?”
Sun’s eldest son still seed sowhat defiant, glaring and refusing to respond. An invisible force attacked him, roughly grabbing his hair and forcing him to nod. Only then did he feel fear and awe.
……
Even after the three had left the Sun family’s ho and walked quite far, Peddler Sun was still kneeling at his doorway, kowtowing to them.
Fu Xue said, “With a son like that, wouldn’t it be better if he died?”
Yun Qing sighed, “Not loving a child more because they’re good, nor loving them less because they’re bad—perhaps this is the purest parental love.”
Jiang Baiyu smiled, “It seems your parents loved you very much?”
Yun Qing’s gaze turned vacant, “They killed when I was four years old.”
Jiang Baiyu’s smile disappeared, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Let’s go check out Mingyue Tower first.”
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