Chapter 51: Exorcism, Drawing Back the Reins into a Salute

When Shen Qinghe returned, he had already gathered everything Lang Jiuchuan requested. There were a few fingerprint marks on his face, but everyone acted as though they saw nothing.

The cinnabar was used for drawing talismans in temples; it could not be called the finest, but it was free of impurities. The incense ash from before the Buddha was kept in a small porcelain dish, taken straight from the censer in front of the statue of Sakyamuni Buddha in the grand Mahavira Hall. That spot received the most kneeling worshippers and prayers, meaning the incense smoke was thick and the power of vows was abundant.

Lang Jiuchuan then had someone fetch mountain spring water from the temple, put it in a bowl, and mixed it with the incense ash, turning the water murky. She looked at Shen Qinghe: "Aside from you and your wife, everyone else may leave. There is no need to stay here."

Hearing this, the others looked at Shen Qinghe, and seeing him nod, they hurriedly retreated.

Having mixed the mountain spring water with the Buddha's incense ash, Lang Jiuchuan personally prepared the cinnabar juice. Afterward, she purified her hands, burned incense, formed a complex incantation seal with both hands, and cast it onto the dish of cinnabar juice.

Shen Qinghe and his wife watched closely from the side, holding their breath and exchanging glances, thinking it certainly looked quite professional.

Jiang Che was different. It was seeing Lang Jiuchuan perform sorcery for the first time. Initially, it had been watching the spectacle with the mindset of seeing how she would put on a flashy show to bluff people. But as Lang Jiuchuan's fingers wove through the incantation seals, its eyes began to blur.

The fingers she used to form the seals were nimble and exceptionally fast, her fingertips carrying a faint, golden light invisible to ordinary mortals, moving so quickly they dissolved into golden afterimages. Finally, she struck the cinnabar juice, and what was originally a dull red concoction transformed into a golden-red liquid, within which surged a pure and righteous Daoist intent.

Shen Qinghe observed this, the profound meaning in his gaze ambiguous and unreadable.

Madam Shen gripped her handkerchief tightly, a look of shock crossing her face.

This was far too esoteric.

Sitting on the bed, Shen Peng looked somewhat restless, as though forcibly enduring something, his hands clenched into fists.

With the specially prepared cinnabar liquid ready, Lang Jiuchuan flipped her right hand, and the jade-boned talisman brush materialized in her palm.

The moment this brush appeared, Jiang Che also reined in its aura, not daring to act presumptuously.

With a thought from Lang Jiuchuan, supreme Daoist intent settled onto the brush. She dipped it into the cinnabar liquid and began to trace and carve over the original talisman patterns on the talisman paper.

The golden light sank into the talisman patterns and instantly vanished.

Jiang Che: "..."

She certainly knew how to recycle; she was actually modifying someone else's talisman. Tsk, she even saved on talisman paper.

Lang Jiuchuan's entire mind and soul were focused on drawing the talisman, so she naturally remained oblivious to Jiang Che's silent complaints. Even if she had known, she would merely have retorted: What is wrong with recycling? Not wasting any mildly useful talisman—was she wrong to do so?

This was thriftiness, a fine virtue!

Having flawlessly modified the talisman paper, with a flash of golden light, the talisman instantly transformed, brimming with spiritual energy and an oppressive might.

Lang Jiuchuan's lips curved slightly. Not bad, simply perfect.

She halted the technique. Her spiritual platform felt somewhat exhausted, and her complexion grew even paler, her mental energy barely able to sustain her illusion-concealing spell.

With a frail body and an incomplete soul, employing such sorcery to draw talismans was indeed quite strenuous.

Jiang Che was filled with worry: "Are you alright? Don't end up losing the bait without catching the fish—before you even manage to save the person, you'll be finished yourself."

Feeling the fluctuations in her mental energy, Jiang Che felt this transaction was turning out to be a bit of a loss.

Oh, at this moment, it felt not a shred of the overwhelming emotion it had felt earlier; this was simply risking one's life!

It suddenly understood why Lang Jiuchuan had said that revitalizing her physical body was her primary task.

If she couldn't survive, everything else would be for naught!

And her demands were, after all, completely reasonable. Working for free? Even a merchant wouldn't give away goods for free, let alone when it concerned matters of life and death!

"Is it done?" Madam Shen walked over, her breath catching as she looked at the spiritual talisman on the tabletop.

How should she put it? The talisman paper was old, and the patterns originally on it had long been completely covered by the new ones. Logically speaking, since the talisman paper was aged, the entire talisman should have looked old as well, yet the one before her eyes was different.

It was clearly old talisman paper, but those talisman runes, which seemed to carry golden light, inspired a sense of reverence and reassurance, as though all fear and bewilderment had been suppressed, leaving behind only peace and comfort.

Madam Shen did not even dare to reach out and touch it.

Lang Jiuchuan said, "We just need to perform the exorcism ritual."

She stood up, but her head felt somewhat dizzy. Her body swayed, and she braced her hand against the table, taking a slight breath.

Seeing this, Jiang Che's conscience suddenly stirred. Feeling remarkably generous, it voluntarily contributed a portion of its gathered vow power, letting Lang Jiuchuan absorb a few mouthfuls. After all, they were poor souls stranded in the same boat; it couldn't let the boat sink.

"Are you alright?" Madam Shen anxiously supported her.

Everyone present witnessed Lang Jiuchuan's pale complexion. Having finished drawing a single talisman, she appeared even frailer than before; it was clear she was utterly exhausted.

She simply could not afford to have anything happen to her, or what would become of Shen Peng?

Shen Qinghe walked outside the door and ordered someone to fetch ginseng slices. Since his son was recuperating here, such precious medicinal herbs were kept in constant readiness.

"I am fine."

Lang Jiuchuan gave Jiang Che, her teammate, an approving thumbs-up. Very quickly, she used the remaining cinnabar to draw a formation in front of the statue of the Medicine King Bodhisattva, had Shen Peng sit within the center of the formation, and placed three lamps lit with lamp oil around him, representing the three fires of Shen Peng's life force.

"It's just a case of being possessed, why is it so troublesome?" Jiang Che felt something was amiss.

Lang Jiuchuan replied, "The evil entity has already entered his spiritual citadel and formed a minor climate of its own. Moreover, that malevolent aura is intermingled with a trace of vow power, making it no ordinary evil spirit. To deal with it, naturally we cannot be careless."

Jiang Che was startled: "Could it really be a mountain god playing the mischief?"

People in Daughter's Village had all spoken of worshipping the mountain god, even going so far as to offer sacrifices, and there was also the power of vows involved. It could only be the mountain god.

"Mountain gods born from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth rarely turn into evil entities, unless something has changed. Since I haven't gone to see it yet, it's hard to jump to conclusions. All I can say is that it is trickier to handle than ordinary evil spirits."

The fact that it used an accessory as a medium to push Shen Peng's destiny to the brink proved that it had already gained some atmospheric power.

Hearing this, Jiang Che hesitated for a long time before asking, "Aren't we getting the short end of the stick in this deal?"

Mere decades of lifespan—even the lifespan of a virtuous person with great karmic merit—did not seem to measure up to the extent of the work she was putting in.

"Too much is as bad as not enough. My rebirth is already an act of defying the heavens and altering destiny. If I were to harbor excessive greed and forcefully snatch another's lifespan, it is hard to say whether I could bear the backlash, and the denizens of the Underworld would also hold me accountable."

Jiang Che glanced sideways at her: "I never took you for someone who knows how to be grateful."

Salute.

"Mostly because I don't want to die over and over again. It's somewhat exhausting."

Jiang Che: "!"

It hurriedly retracted the salute; it had overestimated her.

Lang Jiuchuan said no more. She lit three sticks of incense, held them against her forehead, and bowed three times to the statue of the Medicine King Bodhisattva. In truth, had her divine soul been complete and her body healthy, she would not have needed to borrow power from the deities; was it not precisely because her body was broken and weak?

Once the deity-summoning incense was offered, she unclasped the imperial bell from her waist. With a flick of her incantation seal, the bell rang out, resembling a peal of thunder that shook all directions.

Shen Qinghe and Madam Shen's eyes popped wide. That utterly unremarkable little bell—which they had assumed to be nothing more than a ragged piece of decoration without even a clapper—was capable of producing a bell chime so loud it was deafening.

As for Shen Peng, who had been sitting quietly until the moment the bell rang, he let out a harsh roar, his face contorted in ferocious lines as he tried to violently lunge at Lang Jiuchuan. However, a flash of golden light swept across the cinnabar formation, making him recoil in dread. He glared at Lang Jiuchuan, hurling vicious curses in a coarse, grating voice that sounded neither male nor female: "Wretch, how dare you ruin my plans!"