Lin Corporation Building.
Lin Wushui sat behind a large rosewood desk, his face as cold as water.
While delivering tea, Lin Ming kept stealing glances at the Taoist on the sofa.
He was a young man with a handsome face like jade.
His hair was tied up with a green bamboo stick the length of a palm.
His plain grey Taoist robe looked simple, but his unique aura kept people from underestimating him.
Aside from his overly handsome face, he was definitely a qualified Taoist.
Lin Ming had never heard of his boss believing in Taoism before.
As he set the tea down, he dragged his steps reluctantly, wanting to stay and eavesdrop more.
“Close the door on your way out,”
Lin Wushui ordered coldly from behind the desk.
The boss’s merciless order crushed his curiosity.
Lin Ming left, disappointed, closing the door behind him.
The spacious office was now left with only two people.
“The seal has broken again. This time it happened earlier than expected, and it seems three students have been affected,” said Xie Dingxin from the sofa.
His expression was shrouded in gloom, and he looked terribly pale.
Lin Wushui leaned back in his large leather chair, tapping his fingers on the table as he thought.
After a moment, he said: “Blocking it off is useless. Since we can’t seal it, we might as well solve it once and for all…”
He made a chopping motion with his hand, his face icy cold.
“Otherwise, the longer it festers, the worse it gets.”
“Are you confident?”
Xie Dingxin asked, slightly tempted.
He had long wanted to level that cursed place, but the entities inside had been nurtured for so many years—numerous and hard to deal with.
Since they couldn’t be thoroughly eliminated, all they could do was seal it temporarily and rely on the students’ yang energy to suppress it.
Lin Wushui shook his head.
“At best, 70%. We won’t really know what’s inside until we go in and take a look.”
Xie Dingxin rubbed his fingers together and gritted his teeth.
“70% is enough! I’ll head back to the temple and gather people. Tonight, we’ll go in and probe the situation.”
“Danqing, come here…”
Luo Danqing, puzzled, moved closer to the iron gate, looking at Zhang Xianyu inside.
“What is it?”
As he spoke, he felt a soreness in his neck and instinctively reached up to rub it.
Behind him, a ghostly shadow twisted unnaturally.
Its neck stretched long, mouth splitting all the way to the back of its head, seemingly ready to bite off his head at any moment.
But it hesitated, wary of something, and held back.
Luo Danqing had no idea what was happening.
He was still tightly clutching the talisman Zhang Xianyu had handed him.
Although he was a little suspicious, he held onto it anyway.
Zhang Xianyu stared intently at the ghostly figure behind him, his voice calm and emotionless.
“Tear up the talisman I gave you and eat it.”
“Huh???”
Luo Danqing stared at the yellow talisman in his hand, the red ink forming strange symbols.
He gulped and forced a smile.
“Eat it? Won’t I get food poisoning…?”
Talisman paper was supposed to be burned to ash and mixed with water before being drunk.
But in desperate times, swallowing it directly would also work.
Zhang Xianyu nodded solemnly.
“Now. Eat it. Don’t move after that.”
Luo Danqing’s grin faded.
Hearing the seriousness in Zhang Xianyu’s tone, he realized it wasn’t a joke.
He looked at the talisman, then at Zhang Xianyu.
His forehead veins bulged.
Taking a deep breath, he shoved the talisman into his mouth, chewed it with great difficulty despite the revolting taste of paper and cinnabar, and finally swallowed it down.
“I swallowed it…”
Face green, Luo Danqing had just gulped it down and was about to speak, when his pupils suddenly shrank—
A blinding bolt of lightning flashed past his face, shooting behind him—
The crushing pressure on his neck suddenly vanished, replaced by a faint burnt smell.
Luo Danqing turned instinctively, but there was nothing behind him.
“It’s over,”
Zhang Xianyu said, supporting Zheng Pang,
“There was a minor accident midway. I’ll take you both back now.”
Luo Danqing’s words died in his throat.
Seeing Zheng Pang’s weak face, he asked worriedly: “Is Zheng Pang okay?”
“He’s fine,”
Zhang Xianyu replied apologetically.
“He got a bit of a scare from the incident, but it’s nothing serious now.”
Just a scare?
He looks half-dead.
But seeing Zheng Pang leaning weakly on Zhang Xianyu, and the latter clearly unwilling to say more, Luo Danqing had to swallow his frustration.
The three returned to their dorm.
The white fog on the way had already dissipated.
The dormitory door was ajar; they went upstairs smoothly.
Luo Danqing poured hot water from a thermos and handed it to Zheng Pang.
Holding the steaming cup warmed his hands, and the chill in his body finally faded.
“You two rest here. Don’t leave the dorm tonight.”
Zhang Xianyu pasted the last few talismans on the windows and door, placed a triangular talisman under Zheng Pang’s bed, then retrieved a bundle of yellow talisman paper, a bottle of cinnabar, and a brush from the bottom of his suitcase.
Without worrying about the setting or timing, he laid out the talisman paper on the desk, stirred the cinnabar with the brush, and began to draw.
His strokes were swift and fluid.
Nine sheets were done in moments, then he laid out another nine, repeating the process like a printer—clearly a seasoned hand.
Zheng Pang and Luo Danqing were both dumbfounded.
Luo Danqing muttered,
“That’s not how talismans are drawn, is it?”
Zheng Pang, barely able to speak, whispered,
“N-no way…”
Even TV shows wouldn’t dare depict it like this.
It looked nothing like a solemn ritual—more like a street scammer selling fake charms.
Zhang Xianyu didn’t have time to explain.
He focused on drawing high-power talismans.
Within ten minutes, the whole stack was finished.
He stashed the finished talismans in his pocket.
Then, reverently, he took out three pieces of purple talisman paper and carefully laid them on the table…
The three talisman papers were clearly different from the yellow ones—everything about them screamed “precious” and “valuable.”
The deep purple paper had faint, flowing patterns that seemed to shimmer.
Luo Danqing only glanced at them once and already felt like he was being drawn in.
Zhang Xianyu drew three Five-Thunder Talismans on those purple papers.
These three talisman sheets were treasures he had found among his mentor’s relics.
The dark patterns on the purple talisman paper were infused with Qi by the paper maker.
This kind of talisman paper could best channel the Qi of heaven and earth, maximizing the power of the charm.
He had asked around about the price before—just one sheet of this kind cost several thousand yuan.
Because they were so expensive, he had never been willing to use them.
But now, he had no choice but to take them out just in case.
After carefully storing the talismans, Zhang Xianyu prepared to go investigate the air-raid shelter again.
Before leaving, he looked at the pale-faced Zheng Pang and hesitated: “If you don’t want to remember what happened tonight, I can turn it into a dream for you.”
Zheng Pang froze, then shrank back and shouted: “I don’t want to forget! This is a badge of honor for a man! Don’t you dare erase my memory! Even if we’re good buddies, I won’t forgive you!”
Standing off to the side, Luo Danqing listened to their banter with a thoughtful expression.
Zhang Xianyu shrugged helplessly: “Alright, I’m leaving. Don’t go out again. Get a good night’s sleep.”
“Where are you going?”
Luo Danqing frowned and stopped him.
“Back to the shelter. Something’s wrong with that place.”
Zhang Xianyu didn’t elaborate and left hurriedly, his pocket full of talismans.
Meanwhile…
“Someone went in before us,” said Lin Wushui, sniffing the air, eyes narrowing.
“And they even killed a ghost shadow.”
Xie Dingxin looked at the iron lock that had been forcefully broken and thrown to the ground.
He wondered when Jiangcheng had gotten someone like this without his knowledge.
“Who could it be?”
“Let’s go,”
Lin Wushui replied with a smirk.
He already had someone in mind, but didn’t want to tell Xie Dingxin.
He found the person first, and if Xie found out, he’d definitely try every trick to recruit them into his own Taoist temple.
Without another word, the two pushed open the iron door and ventured deep into the shelter.
Not long after they entered, Zhang Xianyu also arrived.
Seeing the already-opened iron gate, his eyebrows twitched, and he cautiously walked in.
He didn’t take any side routes, instead retracing his original path.
When he reached the spot where he had placed the barrier, he found it had been broken.
Three Five-Thunder Talismans lay on the ground, dampened by moisture.
The monsters were nowhere to be seen.
Zhang Xianyu pressed his lips together and continued following the path the ghost shadow had taken.
Since the Invisibility Talismans were useless against these monsters, he walked boldly through the pitch-dark corridor, using himself as bait to attract whatever lurked in the shadows.
From one of the tunnels, a soft, sobbing wind echoed.
Zhang Xianyu paused, scanning his surroundings—but saw nothing.
He furrowed his brows, thinking for a moment, then closed his eyes to sense any disturbances in the air using intuition.
Slowly, he turned in a circle.
When he reached his back, he suddenly stopped and opened his eyes—meeting a stark-white face.
The face was truly pure white, not only bloodless but also faceless.
Like a lump of dough hastily shaped, with only a few faint depressions where the eyes, nose, and mouth should be.
Zhang Xianyu instinctively stepped back to widen the distance.
This thing was good at hiding; he had no idea how long it had been following him.
If not for his spiritual sensitivity, his naked eye alone would never have detected it.
The faceless ghost tilted its head.
Its grotesque blank face twisted.
Suddenly, the long hair behind it spread out like a spider web, attempting to engulf Zhang Xianyu from all directions.
But Zhang Xianyu didn’t back down.
Instead, he charged forward, pulled out a Five-Thunder Talisman from his pocket, and slapped it directly onto the ghost’s face.
The dancing hair froze for a second—then turned to ash, strand by strand.
Putting his hand back into his pocket, Zhang Xianyu continued moving deeper.
Until this moment, he hadn’t known where the ghosts were taking people.
But now, he didn’t need a guide—he could already feel the overwhelming ghostly energy ahead…
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Xianyu walked toward the source of that burst of ghostly energy, his expression calm.