In the evening, the sky was filled with red clouds and the breeze was blowing.

Jian Jing walked along the alley until she reached Zhang Family Garden. This scenic spot was not very popular, and few people stayed until dusk except for tourists who were taking photos.

She avoided the security guard and turned into the back room.

This was the former residence of the daughter of the Zhang family, and also the home of the legendary female ghost. At this moment, an incense table was set up in the small courtyard outside the room. Master Long, who had said before that he was leaving, was preparing the ritual utensils there.

"Master, are you going to try to exorcise the ghost again?" she asked.

Master Long said, "I have to do something after I get the money."

Jian Jing said "Oh" and looked at the empty scenic spot room. To be honest, although this kind of scenic spot has roughly retained the framework of the past, it has basically been renovated. Some craftsmen have good skills and still look like the old days, while some have poor skills and are much newer than grandma's old house.

The former residence of Zhang's daughter is also the same. The embroidery building of the past has long been destroyed in the war, and the renovated ancient building has never been lived in.

Why did Master Kelong hold a ceremony here?

Jian Jing wondered, but did not ask.

The red sun set in the west, the sky turned completely dark, and the noise of tourists was taken away by the evening breeze, leaving only the tranquility of the courtyard. The small lights in the bushes lit up, but it seemed that the contact was not working. The white light flickered and made a "hissing" sound from time to time.

Master Long arranged the incense table and turned to look at her.

Jian Jing smiled but refused to leave.

Master Long did not say anything and started the ceremony.

Today's exorcism process was exactly the same as the day before, with the same scriptures and the same hand gestures. However, compared to that day when the smoke changed and the cinnabar disappeared, nothing happened this time.

Yes, there was no evil wind, no bad smell, no vomiting of blood. It just started normally and ended without any surprises.

Master Long was very calm throughout the whole process.

Jian Jing complained in her heart: There were so many things that day, was it really a performance?

"Not bad." Master Long suddenly spoke, and actually saw through her muttering, "I was not attacked by the female ghost that day, but I directed and acted it myself."

Jian Jing was not too disappointed: "Why?" "

I took the money to do the job." Master Long still said this.

"I know who I took the money from and what I did that day. But what about today?" Jian Jing asked, "Previously, the ghosts were all man-made, what ghosts are you exorcising?"

Master Long was calm: "Whatever ghost Li Pei asked me to exorcise, I will exorcise that ghost."

"Is it driven away now?"

"If she no longer does evil, then she is driven away."

Jian Jing: "..."

It is hard to say whether this person has real skills, but the column of Jianghu experience is definitely full.

"What do you mean when you say I'm still alive?" She didn't bother to figure out the truth, and went straight to the point, "Don't say you spoke too quickly, you clearly said it specifically for me to hear."

Master Long didn't comment, but said faintly, "You're in big trouble."

"So what?" "

Someone wants you dead," he told her clearly, "Based on my experience, you should have died, but I don't know why you're still alive."

After a pause, he added, "But I feel it won't be long."

"What?"

Master Long looked at her, his eyes flashing with an elusive deep meaning, and he spoke almost like a prophecy, "Death is closer to you."

Squeak.

The street lights in the bushes flashed and went out at the same time, and the endless shadows came to an end.

The sky and the earth were pitch black.

Jian Jing checked Master Long's information and found that he was indeed well-known in the Nanyang area. He was mentioned in many true and false urban rumors.

Even the ugly bull she met at the auction last time, whose real identity was the son of a wealthy businessman in Nanyang, said that Master Long was very famous and very effective, and rarely failed.

He had many legendary experiences, such as catching ghosts, asking fox spirits, and exorcising evil spirits, which could be filmed into a ghost movie series.

However, Jian Jing was still skeptical, including his last reminder.

Death is closer to you.

It sounds scary, right? But if you think about it carefully, who is not closer to death?

So she fell into Schrödinger's idealism again.

If you really believe it, it seems to be true, but if you don't believe it, it doesn't matter.

[System, why is this happening? Give me an explanation]

[Sorry, this is not within the scope of the system's work, please explore it on your own]

Jian Jing was a little confused.

The countdown of the curse was frozen, she was not in a hurry, but it was impossible for anyone who carried such a time bomb on his back to not care.

However, there was nothing strange about going to pray to the gods and asking for help to remove the curse.

After thinking it over, Jian Jing decided to go to Longhu Mountain, where Taoist He, who she had contacted several times before, was practicing.

That day, Taoist He was broadcasting live.

He is not only a Taoist priest, but also a writer. In the past two years, short videos have become popular, and he has also started shooting videos to explain Taoist culture. He is considered a well-known Internet celebrity.

"Today I will tell you about the history of the Tianshi Temple in Longhu Mountain..." Taoist Priest He spoke eloquently in front of the camera, citing anecdotes and humanities at will, attracting the attention of many tourists.

Jian Jing followed the crowd and explained on the side.

Half an hour later, the live broadcast ended.

Taoist Priest He turned his head and saw Jian Jing. After recognizing her for a while, he asked hesitantly, "Teacher Jian Jing?"

"Hello, Taoist Priest." Jian Jing smiled slightly.

"I almost didn't recognize you. You look better in person than on the screen." The two had chatted several times and could be considered netizens. Taoist He was very familiar with them. "Are you here to travel?"

"I guess." Jian Jing looked him up and down and smiled. "I didn't expect you to be so..."

"Stylish?"

"Handsome."

Jian Jing was not complimenting. Taoist He was in his early twenties, with red lips and white teeth. He wore a blue gown and looked very elegant. He could directly play a role in a fairy tale drama.

"Thank you, thank you." He gladly accepted the compliment. "Since you are here, Teacher Jian, you have to take a good look at the scenery on our mountain. Do you want me to be your tour guide?"

Jian Jing came here to find him, and she was very happy to hear his words: "I couldn't ask for more."

Taoist He straightened his sleeves, acted as a temporary tour guide, and took her to visit the scenery of this famous river. In order to avoid tourists, he specially chose an area with fewer tourists, and the two of them walked and chatted.

Jian Jing asked him if there was anything different about her.

Taoist He thought for a moment and pretended to be surprised: "Have you done cosmetic surgery?"

Jian Jing: "..."

"Something metaphysical." She hinted.

Taoist He had to explain again that he did not engage in feudal superstition.

Jian Jing said, "I met a master from Nanyang before, and he said I would be in big trouble."

"And how much money did he cheat you out of?" Taoist He

said, "I didn't spend any money, and he didn't ask me to donate or buy anything."

"If you don't cheat me out of money, you're just going to cheat me out of sex." Taoist He said earnestly, "Don't believe these things. If you are really interested in Taoist culture, why don't you come to our Longhu Mountain to study for a few days?"

She smiled, "I'm here now, aren't I?"

Taoist He looked at her with a look of disbelief.

"Okay." Jian Jing admitted readily, "I came here because of the follow-up of the Seven Star Sealing Coffin."

Speaking of this, Taoist He was immediately shocked. He has written some books on Feng Shui and metaphysics. Of course, they are not about promoting disharmony, but about introducing past tombs and culture from the perspective of folklore.

The Seven Star Sealing Coffin is a very rare evil technique even in the history of Feng Shui.

"Have you found another similar tomb?" He asked with great interest.

"It was the caster." Jian Jing hesitated and said, "He cast a curse on me."

Taoist He stopped and turned to look at her.

Jian Jing spread her hands.

He looked her up and down, left and right, for three to five minutes before asking, "Have you been particularly unlucky recently?"

Jian Jing: "?"

"Do you feel like someone is watching you? Or someone is calling your name? Do you feel uneasy for no reason?"

She: "... No."

Taoist He was surprised: "No?"

"I don't have any special feelings." She said expressionlessly, "So it's not a psychological effect, don't worry."

Taoist He smiled awkwardly.

"Of course, you can say I want to seek psychological comfort." Jian Jing thought, "I want to perform a ritual."

Performing rituals is a basic skill for Taoists, and Taoist He agreed immediately: "No problem."

The rituals of the Tianshi Mansion are naturally completely different from the ones of Master Long to exorcise ghosts and catch monsters, and are full of the word "orthodox".

The venue is dedicated, the high priests are certified, the incense and incense burners are specially provided, and the words are either poetry or ancient Chinese, which is completely incomprehensible at first.

What impressed Jian Jing the most was the sound of Bu Xu. Although she couldn't understand the words, the melody was beautiful, and it sounded like heavenly music to her ears, which was very enjoyable.

Then, the system quietly went online.

[Status column: Qi Tian's Curse (Countdown: 10)]

Jian Jing: "..."

After the ritual was over, Taoist He asked her: "How do you feel?"

She said: "Much better."

He couldn't help laughing: "That's good, that's good." As he spoke, he nodded seriously, as if it was a matter of fact.

Jian Jing waited until he had laughed enough, and then said: "But the curse didn't disappear."

Taoist He's muffled laughter stopped abruptly, and he looked at her in surprise.

"Since rituals cannot come into contact with curses, what should I do?" she asked.

Taoist He blinked rapidly, his brows slightly wrinkled.

In fact, he had never felt how serious the curse Jian Jing talked about was. First, he did not believe it, and second, she herself was very calm, as if she was not afraid. She would rather believe it than not, and performed a ritual just to gain peace of mind.

But at this moment, her attitude made him realize that things did not seem that simple.

He had to think about it seriously, and after a while, he said seriously: "The curse you are talking about is actually witchcraft. Although I don't know much about this, but generally speaking - cough, please note, it's just generally speaking."

Jian Jing looked like she was listening attentively.

"In history, the art of witchcraft is more of a disease or poisoning than a supernatural power. A snake is originally an insect, so being infested by a snake is actually a parasitic disease, the most famous of which is schistosomiasis." Taoist He said, "This is an objective existence. The ancients did not understand it and called it a snake. You cannot deny it."

Jian Jing nodded in agreement.

He continued, "But if it is the art of puppetry, I think it is more of a psychological suggestion. Because of emotional instability, anxiety and depression, physical diseases are indirectly caused."

"What you said makes sense. To sum it up, believe in science." She sighed.

Taoist Priest He shook his head: "Then what do you want to hear?"

"If there really is an unscientific curse, how to solve it?" Jian Jing went straight to the point, "Just think of me as drawing material for a novel, the setting is everything."

"If you say that," Taoist Priest He thought for a while, "either destroy the carrier of the curse, that is, the puppet or paper figure used to cast the curse, or get rid of the person who casts the curse."

Jian Jing said "Oh", and her voice suddenly became happy: "I knew it, just let him die."

"Yes." Taoist Priest He nodded before he realized something was wrong. He looked at her in shock, and spoke incoherently, "Wait, what do you mean just let him die?"

Jian Jing turned her head nonchalantly and sighed: "The scenery of your Longhu Mountain is really nice."

Taoist Priest He: "Teacher Jian, things that violate the law and commit crimes..."

"Let me take a call." Jian Jing took out her cell phone. "Hello, Mr. Kang, I'm going to travel for two days. I'll be back soon, and I'll go home tomorrow."

She looked apologetic and said, "I'm sorry, Taoist priest. Mr. Kang urged me to go back and finish the manuscript. Thank you this time. I'll transfer the fee to your card. See you next time."

Taoist priest He: "..."