Chapter Twelve

-Yu Shaohan-

...It seems like the six of us have stumbled into the territory of some cult.

The story is a bit long, so let me tell you slowly.

The six of us sneaked out of school and headed straight for the former mission location of Otsu and Maki. Although a long time had passed and the aura of the Oni Bride had faded considerably, we could still faintly sense that she had been there.

I slapped Xiao Lan's back so hard it made a loud thud: "Close the door! Let Xiao Lan go!"

Xiao Lan stared at me with a blank face: "...I'll bite you."

Of course, this was just a joke. There's absolutely no way I would actually let Xiao Lan sniff around like a dog searching for the Ghost Bride's whereabouts—even if she has a really keen nose. I swear, if I really did that, I would never see the sun rise the next morning, and by the time the others from the Cursed High find me, the grass on my grave would be two meters high.

Panda and the others knew I was joking. Maki pointed to a low wall near the entrance: "That's where we saw the ghost... the ghost bride."

Panda scratched his head: "There's no point in going back here, since the ghost bride has probably already retreated, right?"

"Of course I know the ghost bride retreated a long time ago." I shrugged, focusing on taking out yellow paper and an inkstone from my storage bag. "After all, the ghost bride isn't a wooden person; she couldn't stand here all day. But it's good that she ran away; it'll be easier to find that guy's headquarters!"

"Salmon roe?"

"Heh heh heh heh!" I put my hands on my hips and laughed wildly at the elementary school gate. "Just you wait and see! The moment of truth is about to arrive!"

“I don’t know if the moment of witnessing a miracle is coming next,” Xiao Lan pointed out incisively. “I only know that if you have another episode of your madness, the gatekeeper in the security booth will definitely grab a broom and sweep us away immediately.”

I immediately muted myself—it's terrifying! How could I possibly imagine being swept out of my home by the gatekeeper with a broom and dustpan?!

"Alright." I lowered my voice sheepishly, "Next, please pay close attention to the masterpiece of the top talisman cultivator of the Hengshui Sect—clang clang clang clang! The Ten Thousand Mile Tracking Talisman!"

"Why does it suddenly sound like Doraemon taking out a gadget?!" Maki complained. "And where's the talisman? I can't see it!"

"Shut up—calm down and watch my painting."

Inhale, exhale, hold your breath and concentrate. The white-to-blue gradient brush gradually materialized from my consciousness. The soft tip lightly dipped into the ink twice, and the brush moved swiftly and gracefully, writing a flowing, elegant talisman on the yellow paper. The whole movement was fluid and beautiful.

Xiao Lan had seen me draw talismans on the spot before, but this was the first time Panda and the other three had ever seen it. "Wow!" Panda's mouth dropped open, his astonished expression greatly satisfying my vanity. I'm sure if I had a tail right now, it would be wagging incredibly high. I held up the talisman, the ink not yet completely dry, and put the brush back into my mind: "How is it? Not bad, right!"

“Impressive,” Panda nodded. Dog Roll added “salmon” to express his approval. Maki’s attention was clearly not on my dashing and unrestrained movements; she squinted at my talisman: “Is this really useful? Don’t let it be just a pretty face that’s all show and no substance.”

I felt like a cat whose tail had been stepped on: "How could it be useless! Are you insulting me?" Her words were a huge insult to someone as proud as me, a talisman cultivator. I rolled up my sleeves: "Watch closely, I'm about to show you what a genius among geniuses truly is! Every talisman I casually draw is top-notch; there's no way it could be all show and no substance!"

"Wait a minute..." Xiao Lan, who was watching the scene unfold, covered her face. "Shaohan, is it really okay if your ink isn't completely dry?"

"You don't believe me either? Let me tell you, you brat Xiao Lan, the idea that ink not drying out will render the talisman ineffective or cause it to be useless or have a poor effect is nonexistent with me! Who am I? Hmm? Look into my eyes—who am I!"

“Isn’t drawing with ink a bit too much trouble?” You Tai said. “Back in my school, some classmates often talked about cultivation novels. I remember that talisman cultivators could draw talismans directly in the air, right?”

"It's possible, but I only have the technique, not the cultivation level, so drawing talismans in the void isn't as effective as drawing them with ink. Anyway, drawing talismans in the void is a gamble, a gamble on whether the result will be useful or not—I would never use it unless absolutely necessary."

I used a long-range tracking talisman to pinpoint the ghost bride's aura, then led my underlings off triumphantly. Turning left and right repeatedly, I thought to myself, "It hasn't been that long, and the ghost bride's already got quite a few tricks up her sleeve; she's even learned to go in circles." After circling around in several large loops, we finally arrived at our destination.

“This is it,” I said confidently. “The ghost bride’s trail stops right here. The Long-Range Tracking Talisman is only suitable for large-scale searches, you understand what I mean?”

"Got it." Panda nodded in agreement. "Now it's up to us to figure it out ourselves, right?"

Xiao Lan sniffed hard twice: "There's no mistake, there are indeed traces of the ghost bride here."

"Oh," Maki asked, "Then is Deng Xiqi, whom you're talking about, here?"

"Barring any unforeseen circumstances."

"Is it really here?" Yigu Youtai looked at the three huge characters beside him, somewhat uncertain. "Panxing Sect?"

With a "click," Gou Juanji raised his phone, opened an image search app, and took a picture of the huge skyscraper in front of them. He then showed us his phone screen. We all crowded around to look, and wow, it was densely packed with foreign ants—in short, we couldn't understand a thing.

"Has anyone considered how Shaohan and I feel, working so hard to learn this new language?" Xiao Lan looked like she was about to cry. "I can't understand it! Please translate it!"

Yi Guyou checked the characters on the webpage again and again, his tone very uncertain: "This is... the official website of the Panxing Sect? As for its business scope, it's exorcising curses, praying for blessings, changing one's luck, and ensuring safety..."

"Ah." Xiao Lan clenched his left fist and punched his right fist, looking as if he had just realized something. "In the end, it's just a cult."

"..."

Although your words are rough but the reasoning is sound, Xiao Lan, your words are a bit too rough. They caught me completely off guard.

"Should we still go in?" Panda asked cautiously. "The news says cult members are difficult to deal with. If we get into a conflict with them, it'll cause trouble for the righteous path, won't it?"

"Go in, why don't you go in?" I said nonchalantly. "We're already here. A few little Karamis, are you afraid you can't beat them?"

“I agree with Shaohan.” Maki nodded. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Dog-shaped spiny: "Salmon."

Yi Gu: "Um... I abstain, it's up to you guys."

3 to 1... or maybe 2, but it doesn't matter. I took the lead and walked into the building first, with Maki and the others close behind. Just as we reached the entrance and were about to open the door, I suddenly realized Xiao Lan hadn't followed. I turned around and saw her standing there, covering her right eye, completely still.

"What's wrong? Are you scared?" I asked.

"How could that be?" she retorted instinctively. "It's just that my right eyelid has been twitching since just now, and I have a bad feeling about it."

Xiao Lan's premonitions are always very accurate. I calmed down and carefully surveyed the scene in the building. There was nothing unusual, except for one room with its door tightly closed that gave me a somewhat familiar feeling—it wasn't Deng Xiqi—but I naturally ignored it.

"What's there to be afraid of?" I casually comforted you. "As long as the two of us are together, we are the strongest. And what's there to be afraid of with your right eyelid twitching? Clinically, it's called persistent blepharospasm, which is just a repetitive, involuntary twitching of the eyelid muscles. It's probably because you've been staying up late reading novels these past two days, and your eyes are too tired, so don't worry about it."

"...He said a lot of nonsense. My left eyelid was twitching at first too."

"Hmm, not bad! A twitching left eye means good fortune! We're going to be rich!"

In short, Xiao Lan sighed and obediently followed. This is the whole story of how we accidentally entered the territory of a cult.

"Why..." Panda slowly exhaled, "I feel like there are a lot of other messy magical powers here?"

Panda is a mutated cursed corpse created by the headmaster, so its perception of cursed power is much stronger than ours. Maki gripped her spear warily: "Aren't you going to mistake our cursed power for some random, nonsensical cursed power?"

"How could that be!" Panda retorted angrily, "I remember your magical powers very clearly, including Yu Shaohan and Xiao Lan's special abilities!"

Xiao Lan: "Thank you."

"Ah...you're welcome. Did you hear me, Maki? I made sure you understood—"

"Mentaiko!"

Panda didn't finish his sentence. He suddenly looked up, his eyes fixed on the shadow in the corner; Dog Roll roared, his right hand slowly moving to the collar that had been blocking the spell; Maki raised her spear, assuming a wary stance ready to attack at any moment; I pulled out a stack of immobilization talismans and fire blast talismans from my Qiankun bag; Xiao Lan had somehow taken out the Instantaneous Sword again, its tip pointing forward at an angle to the ground.

Wow.

Upon hearing that sound, I suddenly felt everything go black.

Following the sound, he saw familiar small eyes, familiar strange bangs, and the two (crossed out) arrogant girls standing beside him...

Isn't this the Monkey King?

I finally understand where that inexplicable sense of familiarity came from when the room wasn't Deng Xiqi's at first! Who knows?! I came to visit a good friend but accidentally wandered into the Monkey King's evil lair! What's this called? Just left the beginner's village but accidentally entered a high-level game?

I gritted my teeth inwardly and held Deng Xiqi accountable for this.