Chapter 34: Exorcism is still so unlucky! (＾v＾)...
"I accept the loss, Shunian. I'll talk to your senior sister." Before Shunian could react, the girl's clear laughter gradually faded away.
Just as Shunian was about to chase him out, Chang Xile slammed the door shut from the outside. He pushed again, but the door didn't budge at all. Even the slight looseness caused by the gaps between the joints of a normal wooden door was gone.
Shunian peeked out from behind the door through the crack in the wooden door, and unexpectedly saw a door-closing talisman firmly stuck on it.
When had Chang Xile drawn a door-closing talisman right under his nose in such a short time?! Didn't she just glance at it from a distance, and already remember it?
Feeling like his senior sister was about to scold him for being inferior, Shunian was so anxious that he was spinning in circles. He sat back on the stool and pulled out another yellow talisman from his pocket. He glanced at his well-worn ink pen, which had been banged countless times. He scratched his head and said in confusion, "This is no different from usual. Is it consecrated?"
He buried his head and began to write painstakingly. The intricate strokes of the door-opening talisman required a heavy, slow stroke. After a moment, a drop of sweat dripped from his forehead, nearly landing on the talisman, only to be caught by his left hand. Shunian let out a soft breath. He placed the newly drawn talisman on the door again and pushed, but it still wouldn't budge.
Although it was common for impromptu talismans to be useless, and perhaps because he was shocked and his mind was disturbed, Shu Nian was still greatly shocked.
Wow! What about the days he spent getting up before dawn to practice and studying late into the night?
Shunian slumped back in his chair, finally acting like a child. He realized that he really couldn't get out this time.
After Chang Xile went out, she felt a little lost.
To be honest, she has a poor sense of direction. This was evident when she got lost during military training and met Anping at Linhuan Lake.
Normally, Shunem led the way wherever she went. Chang Xile was so engrossed in chatting with others on the way that she had completely forgotten the route. Now, looking at the unchanging landscape of vegetation around her, she felt a moment of disorientation.
Where does Chang Leguan usually exorcise ghosts?
Chang Xile walked in one direction for a while, but didn't meet anyone along the way. The entire temple was empty. This was strange, because at this time of year, you can usually see Taoist nuns meditating outside.
When she turned to the gate of a small courtyard, she suddenly saw a figure. She was about to call the Taoist nun to ask for directions, but then she remembered that Tang You and the others didn't allow her to go to the scene to watch the ghost exorcism ceremony. So she didn't rush to disturb her.
The Taoist nun seemed to be late. She was jogging along a small path and almost dropped her cloth bag once, not to mention noticing Chang Xile.
When she entered through an archway on the side of the wall, Chang Xile discovered that Changleguan actually had such a large open-air square.
Or, dojo?
If Chang Xile could fly with a sword and look down from the sky above the entire Changle Temple, he would find that the entire ground of the Taoist temple was painted with a huge Bagua image using some special paint.
It seemed as if all the relevant personnel from the temple had gathered here, forming several circles around the center of the temple. The late Taoist nun slipped into the crowd, but Chang Xile couldn't do that. Her casual clothes were too conspicuous, so she could only observe the situation from behind the wall.
But she soon realized that this was not going to work. The crowd showed no sign of dispersing, and she had no idea what was going on on the field.
Maybe Tang You and Yang Guisi are right in the middle of the dojo.
Chang Xile simply found a way in from the outermost circle. At first, the group was loose, making it easy to get in. But the crowd grew denser the further in, and Chang Xile couldn't squeeze in. She rolled her eyes and yelled, "There's hot water! It's freshly boiled, be careful!" She intimidated people into making way for her along the way.
When Chang Xile finally reached the center of the crowd, he realized that the people in front of him were all strangers.
Everyone noticed this uninvited guest who had stayed in the temple for a few days. Many people had looked for her in the mountains in the previous nights. Even if they had never seen her, they knew that she was the niece of Master Kuxin.
"Kuxin Master Nun!" "Niece!" These two words combined together created a strange and unique existence. So the crowd that had been bustling with noise just now now looked at her quietly, curious about how this little girl came here.
Only the two people sitting cross-legged in the center didn't notice anything was wrong. They were concentrating on picking things up in a porcelain jar with a thin branch each, and making clicking sounds from time to time.
"Are you guys... fighting crickets?" Chang Xile, having painstakingly secured the best viewing spot, finally saw the two men's movements clearly. He chuckled dryly, almost wanting to shout a question from the bottom of his throat - so many of you, gathering in such a sacred place, just to watch a cricket fight, a cricket fight?! Is this right?
Look me in the eyes and say, is this right!
"That's right!" An enthusiastic, round-faced woman nearby burst into laughter and embraced Chang Xile. "It's rare that Senior Sister is busy, and Master is away on a long trip. If not now, when else would we play?" Before she could finish her words, the outcome of the battle was decided. Without even catching her breath, she announced loudly, "Red Overlord wins! Next!"
"You rarely see this kind of activity down here, right? I tell you, cricket fighting is a lot of fun. You really should give it a try!" The people nearby were bored while waiting for the show to end, and immediately started chattering. They hugged Chang Xile and asked her like she was their own junior sister, "Hey, does Senior Sister Kuxin also like to keep a stern face when she's down here?"
"You look like her! But I really can't imagine what that cold face would look like when it smiles as sweetly as you do!"
"Your name is Chang Xile? What a nice name! You must be related to our Chang Leguan."
"Tell us more about Master Kuxin. We want to hear it!"
Chang Xile was so confused by the constant talking that she didn't know who to answer. It was only after a while that she remembered why she came here in the first place.
She smiled again and tried to gently brush away the hand that embraced her, but she had underestimated the power of the crowd surrounding her. Chang Xile was now much more interesting than the cricket fight. Those who hadn't seen her in the back were standing forward, wanting to see her in person. This was not a scene that could be escaped by simply shouting "Hot water available."
Chang Xile was getting a little anxious, suspecting that if he continued like this, he wouldn't be able to get out until noon.
After a while, she looked towards the outermost area and shouted across the air: "Auntie!" This shout was very powerful and very shocking, both in terms of volume and meaning.
The crowd immediately fell silent for a moment, and when they realized that the person calling "Auntie" was actually that person, they immediately made way for her as if they were scalded by boiling water.
Chang Xile smiled politely, pointed in a random direction and said, "I'm going to talk to my aunt about something. I'll be leaving first."
As for whether Tang You was there and where she was, the group of people, who were afraid of being criticized for gathering to fight crickets and therefore huddled like quails, did not dare to check.
Chang Xile finally ran out of the encirclement, and when he walked on the same path again, he felt a little stupid.
Exorcism is always a risky endeavor, otherwise Renxin and the others wouldn't have asked Shunian to watch over Chang Xile. How could they allow so many people to gather in such a circle to watch the exorcism ceremony, with only room for three people standing in the center?
But if the exorcism ritual is performed in a secluded area and requires only a small number of people, it would be even more difficult to find. Chang Xile searched for a while like a headless fly, but to no avail. After standing there for a moment, a sudden inspiration struck him.
She looked up and kept saying to herself, "If my aunt knew that I ran away without listening to her, she would definitely scold me. This is terrible, terrible."
Chang Xile tried to convince himself that this was a terrible thing, repeating it silently ten times. Although he couldn't imagine Tang You's fury, he could probably get a glimpse of it by putting himself in the shoes of Chang Xile's mother, Ms. Tang Shixin, when she got angry. The thought gave Chang Xile goosebumps.
The thought of "I must not meet my aunt" just flashed through her mind when she heard a shrill scream coming from the courtyard she was passing by.
And Tang You's classic cold voice: "Stop."
Chang Xile: Oh wow.
As expected, she is still so unlucky. God is so cruel to her.
Hearing this order, Chang Xile felt guilty for no reason. She slowly walked into the courtyard and saw Yang Guisi with disheveled hair fainted in the woman's arms. Tang You glanced at Chang Xile coldly, picked up Yang Guisi with one hand and walked into the door, asking: "Didn't I forbid you to come? How did you find this place?"
Chang Xile was too embarrassed to admit that she had tricked Shunian into teaching her how to draw the talisman. She crossed her fingers a few times, and after Tang You had settled Yang Guisi on the bed, she immediately changed the subject and asked, "Auntie, has the ghost in Guisi been exorcised?"
Tang You glanced at her sideways, didn't say much, just hummed. After the two of them were silent for a while, she asked again: "How did you two know each other?"
"She was my college roommate," Chang Xile replied.
"Oh." Tang You looked a little surprised. "She's in the same university as you?"
"Yes." Chang Xile didn't know why Tang You had to repeat herself, but she was more concerned about, "How is she now? When will she wake up?"
"...I don't know." Tang You reached out and smoothed Yang Guisi's bangs. After coming back to her senses, she instructed Chang Xile, "I still have things to do. You stay here with her. If she wakes up, find someone to tell me as soon as possible."
"Okay..." Chang Xile nodded. Seeing that Tang You was about to leave, he quickly grabbed her sleeve again, "Wait!"
"how?"
"So... what will happen after the demon in her body is exorcised?" Chang Xile asked, "Will it disappear completely?"
"What do you mean by completely disappearing?" Tang You tilted her head and asked back.
"So... from now on, there is no trace of it in the world anymore? It no longer exists?" Chang Xile recalled that he seemed to have heard stories about ghosts being beaten to death.
Tang You laughed with an ambiguous tone.
This room seemed to have been unused for a long time and was only being used temporarily to exorcise ghosts. She casually touched the table and scraped off a handful of ashes, then asked Chang Xile, "What did you see?"
"Black dust." Chang Xile answered honestly.
Tang You put her palms in front of her face and breathed lightly toward the door, and the dust flew up and dissipated in the air.
"Can you still see them now?"
Chang Xile shook his head.
"But they haven't completely disappeared. One day, perhaps the dust will be carried by the wind to a place and rebuilt into a sand castle. The soul is the same, it is broken up, but one day it will come together again." Tang You said this and asked her, "Do I understand?"
Chang Xile nodded, then shook her head. She asked, "But even if it's reassembled, it won't be the same soul anymore, right?"
Tang You was silent for a moment before saying, "So, this is the punishment for the guilty."
The evil spirit wandering in the mountains wants a life of constant joy.
She turned her head and looked down at Chang Xile who was sitting at the head of the bed. Seeing that the girl looked a little confused, she couldn't help but reach out and touch her cheek: "Forget it, it's okay if you don't understand. Call your mother when you have time and tell her you're here with me."
Chang Xile watched Tang You leave, shuddering at the thought of the two ghosts' possible fate. She looked down at Yang Guisi, who lay unconscious on the bed. Her eyes were tightly closed, sweat on her forehead, as if she couldn't rest even in her dreams.
How could this happen? Logically, the evil spirit had been captured, so he shouldn't be feeling bad anymore, right?
Chang Xile pulled out the handkerchief Sister Renxin had given her from her pocket and wiped the sweat off Yang Guisi's face. She heard her mumbling something. Chang Xile leaned over to listen carefully, but couldn't make out anything.
As the sun set, Yang Guisi still hadn't woken up. Chang Xile stood up and stretched, then subconsciously reached for his phone. When he saw the time, he suddenly exclaimed in grief, "Oh no!"
They have classes today, and Chang Xile originally asked Fang Xin'ai to ask the teacher for leave on their behalf, but the other party has not responded until now.
This is really unusual considering the other party's high-intensity online personality.
At this moment, except for Fang Xinai who did not respond, the class monitor, the student committee member, the counselor and several good classmates came to ask why their roommates did not come to class.
After Chang Xile finished explaining hurriedly, she wrote a leave note for her and Yang Guisi respectively, and then realized something was wrong: Didn’t Fang Xinai go to class either?
Monitor: [When I went to the dormitory to look for you, I found Xiao Fang unconscious on the bed. However, she woke up on the way to the hospital, and the doctor said she was fine.]
After finally finishing the work here, Chang Xile still felt that something was wrong.
In a subtle corner, a boy leaned against the door and knocked weakly, "Why won't you let me out? I haven't committed a crime so heinous that I deserve house arrest, have I? Sister Xile—Senior Sister Renxin—Master—!!"
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