Caught off guard, Li Huai staggered and nearly fell when I suddenly kicked him.
I looked at him with some surprise. I hadn't used much force, so why was this kid so weak?
"Damn, what kind of grueling training did Dr. Sun give you? Your steps are so unsteady."
"Ah, haha, it really is grueling training, and I just work harder."
Li Huai chuckled awkwardly, looking guilty.
I immediately realized something was wrong.
Even if Old Man Sun values him highly, he can't keep training until midnight. After all, Dr. Sun is an elderly man with limited energy; how could he possibly endure such high-intensity training for so long?
I squinted at Li Huai and said, word by word.
"You little rascal, you didn't go out to have fun at a bar after studying medicine, did you?"
"That's slander!" Li Huai stared wide-eyed, then looked at Luo Tianhe, pointing at me with a wronged expression.
"Look, he's slandering me."
Luo Tianhe pursed his lips. He knew Li Huai well and could naturally guess what had happened.
The thought of Luo Tianhe and I being terrified like cowards by the ghost bride while he was having a blast at the bar made me tremble with anger.
"Damn it, with your lecherous looks, you should be the groom."
Li Huai looked at me with disbelief.
“Brother Yan, I have no grudge against you, how could you say such vicious things?”
"Alright, alright, stop fooling around, let's talk about serious matters."
Luo Tianhe tapped on the table, his gaze fixed intently on the wedding invitations.
“I just checked, there’s a date on it, it’s in three days.”
I craned my neck to look, and Luo Tianhe was right; there was a line of small traditional Chinese characters in the lower right corner.
My lips twitched involuntarily.
"She probably told us to get to the mass grave within three days and hand over the human skin sachet to her."
"What should we do? Do we really have to go?"
Li Huai scratched his head, asking without any sense of direction.
Seeing Luo Tianhe's expectant gaze, I was speechless for a moment.
Seeing that the funeral home had fallen silent again, Li Huai suddenly had a brilliant idea.
"Why don't we go and ask Master Zhang Qingxiao? He must have some insights."
"But disturbing someone's sleep so late at night, isn't that a bit..."
I hesitated for a moment, but Li Huai immediately interrupted me.
"What are you thinking, Brother Yan? This is a matter of life and death. What's a little disturbance to your sleep? If it were Daoist Zhang Qingxiao suddenly came to you in the middle of the night with some unsolvable problem, would you complain that he didn't pick a good time to come?"
Of course not!
I blurted it out, then smiled with relief, realizing that I had just been worrying myself unnecessarily.
I patted Luo Tianhe on the shoulder and said:
"Let's go and see what Master says. Maybe if he finds out how eager this ghost bride is, he'll agree to go ahead of schedule."
Luo Tianhe looked at me and asked with utmost seriousness:
"Chen Yan, tell me the truth, what do you think is the probability that the Taoist priest will agree to go within three days?"
Hearing him say that, I didn't know how to respond for a moment. After thinking for a while, I replied:
"It should be about half and half."
Upon hearing this, Luo Tianhe seemed relieved, picked up his car keys, and led us downstairs.
In his view, a 50% chance is not far off, which is undoubtedly good news for him.
I followed behind him, secretly pursing my lips. Although I knew the Taoist priest well, I couldn't predict his reaction to this kind of thing.
After all, these things are too strange, and the Taoist priest might have some reservations about them.
Since there are only two possibilities—either go or not go—I said it's half and half, which isn't wrong.
Soon, we drove to the secluded courtyard of Daoist Zhang Qingxiao. We knocked on the door and found it unlocked, so we pushed it open and went into the courtyard.
"Master?"
As soon as I entered the courtyard, I felt the temperature drop several degrees instantly, though I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination.
I couldn't help but brush away the goosebumps on my body.
"Don't you guys feel that it's a bit cold in this yard?"
After a pause, I couldn't help but ask.
Luo Tianhe and Li Huai were both dressed more warmly than me, so they didn't feel much of a change in temperature.
Li Huai glanced at me.
"It must be because there's air conditioning in the car that you felt cold when you got off. I suggest you wear something warmer."
is that so?
I frowned and continued calling out "Master" in the courtyard.
"Alright, alright, stop shouting. Master is probably resting."
Li Huai reached out to stop me, then jogged over to knock on the door at the end of the courtyard.
Is Master asleep?
But I clearly saw that there were still candles lit inside the room.
I was a little confused. Could it be that my master didn't put out the candle before going to sleep and just left it burning?
Sometimes I'm scrolling through my phone at night, and I fall asleep without turning off the lights.
But how could someone as accomplished as Master Zhang Qingxiao experience what happened to me?
Before I could think much of it, Li Huai had already run to the door and was knocking on it repeatedly.
"Master Zhang Qingxiao, are you resting? We have something urgent to discuss with you."
But after knocking for a long time, there was no response from inside the door.
Li Huai stopped knocking, turned to look at me, and seemed puzzled.
"Could it be that the Taoist priest has gone out on business?"
I shook my head and took out the spare key that the Taoist priest had given me.
"I don't know either. We'll find out by opening the door. If the Taoist priest has something to do outside, we'll wait for him here."
The Taoist priest had previously asked me to perform a ritual to deliver zongzi (sticky rice dumplings). He said I could use any of the amulets in his house that were meant to ward off evil spirits, so he gave me a spare key.
I inserted the key and then easily opened the door.
As soon as the door opened, the three of us, including Luo Tianhe, were quite surprised.
Inside the room, in front of the statues of the Three Pure Ones, Taoist Master Zhang Qingxiao sat upright on a futon.
As the lamplight flickered, it cast the Taoist priest's shadow, sometimes long, sometimes short.
"Master?"
I called out tentatively.
Just then, the Taoist priest finally reacted, turning his head to look at me.
"Oh, it's Chen Yan. What brings you here so late?"
Was the Taoist priest in deep meditation just now, which is why he didn't react to anything outside?
I had some doubts, but I didn't think too much about it, since I didn't know much about Taoism.
The concept of entering a meditative state is quite mysterious, and it seems somewhat similar to Western meditation.
Some people say that entering a meditative state is a form of spiritual practice.
Since one is cultivating, it is normal to have a reduced perception of the outside world.
When I heard my master ask me that, I told him everything that had happened that night, like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.
"Oh? A ghost bride, that's interesting."
After listening, the Taoist priest curled his lips into a strange smile, which made me feel a little uneasy.
But for a moment I couldn't quite put my finger on what was strange about it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
