CHAPTER 70: CHAPTER 53: MY MASTER (ALLIANCE LEADER BAI +2)

Sang Que brought out the excuse he thought of when changing clothes just now and spoke softly, "My master was Yan Daozi, who has passed away. He only taught me for three days before he died, so I don’t know much about him."

Sang Que glanced at Xu Shufen, "I don’t know much about a lot of things in this world either."

Zheng Wujun frowned, searching his memory; he had never heard of such a person. But from the name, he seemed to be from the Taoist Sect. Was he a reclusive master? Taking in a disciple before dying was indeed in line with this sort of people’s style.

Xu Shufen was also pondering, no wonder Sang Que didn’t know anything. Three days weren’t enough to impart even much basic knowledge. Seeing her ghost-busting skills were quite good, she must have learned only one or two magic techniques.

Sang Que took the opportunity to change the topic and took out the map of Black Mountain Village he found from Yan Daozi.

"Actually, I mainly came today to consult Grandma Xu about this."

Sang Que placed the map on the table for the three to see.

"I want to know what these red-marked places represent. This was found among my master’s relics."

Zheng Wujun took a glance and said in a deep voice, "This is definitely some kind of evil art. It’s meant to sacrifice all living beings in this area at a specific time."

Sang Que’s heart chilled; it was indeed so!

Xu Shufen nodded as well, "This is opposite to the rituals we perform to ask the Divine for blessings; it becomes a sacrifice instead. Where is this village?"

Sang Que calmly replied, "It’s a place where my master had traveled in the past. He wrote in his notes that the matter had been resolved. I’m just curious."

Xu Shufen expressed understanding; when she first got involved in this circle as a child, she was curious about everything.

Zheng Wujun stood up, "Since the matter here is already resolved, I’ll take my leave. I need to return and handle... handle Letian’s affairs. The rest, please explain to the relevant departments, Grandma."

Xu Shufen glanced at the time; it was just half-past ten. She stood up and nodded, escorting Zheng Wujun out of the courtyard.

Xu Shufen felt guilty over Zheng Letian’s death. Although Zheng Letian was very promising, in such incidents, caution and restraint were more important than potential.

The two went outside, and Sang Que sent a message to her mom, reassuring her that she’d be home soon.

Earlier, Xu Yichao had also received a call from his mom. Sang Que could clearly hear the angry scolding, telling him to die in the internet cafe and not come home, or else she’d break his legs.

Yet Xu Yichao, perhaps due to the emotional outburst after surviving a disaster, tearfully told his mom, "Mom, I really love you."

The other end of the phone went silent immediately, then, after a pause, came the reply, "Come home soon; I left you some food."

Moms are the easiest women to appease in this world.

Sang Que thought of her own mom. Since she had rushed out of the house that morning, her mom must be worried about her too. She needed to properly console her mom when she got back.

"Do you want to ask about the paperman later?" Sang Que asked Xu Yichao.

Xu Yichao looked outside and scratched his head awkwardly, "She’s not bad. I’m afraid Grandma Shufen might eliminate her without asking the reasons."

"But she’s in a critical condition now. If you don’t seek Grandma Xu’s help, she probably won’t make it through the night."

Xu Yichao sighed and nodded.

After seeing Zheng Wujun off, Xu Shufen came back in, "You all should hurry back too. Do not speak a word about what happened tonight to anyone. I’ll explain to the concerned people, just don’t talk nonsense, and no one will come looking for you. We have plenty of time to talk about other matters in the future."

In Xu Shufen’s words, Sang Que discerned that Huaxia certainly had departments dedicated to handling these matters. Xu Shufen would handle the aftermath so that it wouldn’t affect her life.

That was for the best. At present, she had no intention of getting involved with that department and didn’t want the secret of the Yansheng coin to be exposed, affecting her mom’s normal life, as well as the things she needed to do next.

Xu Yichao still wanted to talk about the paperman and remained seated.

Sang Que, holding the nearly asleep black cat, got up to fetch her clothes, during which the fruit knife fell out of her pocket.

"This is... a Divine Soldier Talisman!"

Xu Shufen exclaimed in surprise upon seeing the ghost soldier talisman mark on the fruit knife.

Sang Que picked up the fruit knife, "Is this called a Divine Soldier Talisman?"

Xu Shufen nodded vigorously, her emotions stirred, "No wonder you could handle the village resentment. This talisman is immensely powerful. My grandma used to say that we, who serve the Divine, initially relied mainly on the Divine Soldier Talisman to summon God’s power to help exorcise evil and slay ghosts."

"Sadly, the exact method to create this talisman was lost during chaotic times. My Xu family descendants could only reconstruct the Mountain God Talisman from scattered records elsewhere, but its power is less than one-tenth of the Divine Soldier Talisman."

At the mention of this, Sang Que suddenly thought of a question.

"Grandma Xu, are there many situations like tonight’s, with the existence of village resentment?"

Xu Shufen chuckled, "What era is it now? As I told you last time, people nowadays believe in science. It’s merely those two brothers worshipping the Evil Ghost, coincidentally situated at a yin acupoint in Xujiawan Village, that caused the anomaly. In my lifetime, I’ve encountered such a thing only once."

Sang Que nodded; it seemed the modern world was comparatively safer and couldn’t compare to the Mysterious World, where even a single Black Mountain Village harbored multiple beings capable of overwhelming the village resentment.

For instance, the Water Ghost, the Earth Ghost, and the child’s rhyme she still had no clue about.

"Grandma Xu, my master left a book with the method to create this talisman. I’ll leave you a phone number. Once you’ve handled things here, call me, and I’ll transcribe that page for you."

Sang Que wrote down her number on a piece of paper from the table, not directly suggesting that Xu Shufen move to her apartment complex.

If Xu Shufen could move in, she would have peace of mind regarding her mom.

About the affairs of Black Mountain Village, she needed to go back and remind Kou Yushan and the others since they had helped her before. Standing by idly would weigh heavily on her conscience.

Xu Shufen squinted at Sang Que, suddenly feeling that she was like a little fox. Transcribing it? It meant Sang Que still had good things in her possession, waiting for her to take the bait.

The two shared an understanding glance. Sang Que nodded at Xu Yichao and made her departure first.

After Sang Que left, Xu Yichao stood up, crying and shouting, "Grandma, please help me..."

*

After retrieving the box containing her hunting bow, Sang Que smoothly left the village. At this hour, the outskirts of the city were deserted. Unable to hail a taxi, she could only resort to the ride-hailing app, placing the box at her feet as she waited.

Meow~

The black cat mewed, and Sang Que scratched its head, asking, "What name should I give you? Little Black? Tantou? Coal Ball? Bao Zheng? Inspector? Or Luna from Sailor Moon? By the way, are you a boy or a girl?"

The black cat remained silent, evidently dissatisfied with all these names.

"Forget it. My mom is more cultured than I am. Let her give you a cultured name; you’ll surely like her."

Meow~

The black cat finally responded, then suddenly turned its head, looking to the side.

Sang Que also felt a chill wind suddenly blow from behind the lamppost.

She turned her head and saw a skinny man wobbling out, holding a liquor bottle, vomiting large patches of blood with each step, his stomach continuously seeping blood.

The man noticed Sang Que’s gaze, lifted his head, pointed at Sang Que, and approached quickly.

"You... can see... me..."

Sang Que suddenly became furious, "I see you! So what?!"

As soon as she spoke, the fruit knife slashed out, and the filthy thing didn’t even get a chance to approach her before it turned to ashes. All that was left was the bottle which clattered to the ground, rolled away, and vanished.

Meow~

The black cat, with its gleaming green eyes, rubbed its head against Sang Que affectionately, very satisfied.