San Francisco is an important cultural center in Northern California and the Bay Area, featuring a Mediterranean climate, with the renowned Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman's Wharf. Winters are warm, summers are cool, and the area receives abundant sunshine. It is close to Yosemite National Park and California's wine country, Napa Valley, honored as the most favored city by Americans.
The Spanish discovered this place in 1769, and by the mid-19th century, the Chinese gold rush was booming, leading to the area's nickname 'Jinshan'. To differentiate it from Melbourne, Australia's 'New Jinshan', it was renamed San Francisco.
Currently, San Francisco has a population of about 880,000, with 180,000 being of Chinese descent, making it one of the areas with the highest density of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, second only to New York.
Sun Yan's grandfather came to North America by ship from the Mainland during the San Francisco gold rush.
The Mercedes GLE sped swiftly along the highway, Sun Yan sat in the back seat, flipping through his notebook.
——
Bounty Task [The Secret of the Hanging]
Task Difficulty: ☆☆☆☆☆
Task Introduction: There was a flaw during the ghost-sending ritual; the soul filled with resentment was not sent away. It remains hidden in the village with an indescribable grudge.
Task Objective: Exorcise the evil spirit
Task Reward: Nuo Mask Legacy (random draw)
——
"The place we're visiting this time is called Chen Family Village. Most residents are of Chinese descent, descendants of the gold-seeking Chinese people who came to San Francisco back in the day. The village mainly practices Min Nan culture, with ancestors hailing from the Mainland and Guangdong regions."
As Zhou Haidong drove, Zhao Chuan Yi introduced the village's specific circumstances to Sun Yan.
"The deceased Folklore Association member was originally from this village. Most of the temple personnel participating in the ghost-sending ritual are villagers, with a small portion coming from outside. Surprisingly, after the ritual, those claiming to experience strange occurrences were all locals from Chen Family Village."
Sun Yan looked up and asked, "What sort of strange occurrences?"
Zhao Chuan Yi turned from the passenger seat and said, "One temple staff said that while watching a live stream at home, he glimpsed a woman's silhouette flash past the window, though his room was on the third floor with no balcony outside the window.
Another temple staff claimed his rarely used landline received a call at midnight. Upon answering, he heard a woman's voice asking for someone unknown, whom he knew wasn't there, assuming it to be a wrong number and hung up. However, the next day he discovered that the telephone line had long been disconnected, making it impossible for any call to come through.
Yet another temple staff said that upon returning home from work, he saw his wife cooking in the kitchen and wanted to ask what they were having for dinner, but the voice that came out was of an unfamiliar woman. He later found that his wife didn't recall such an occurrence."
Sun Yan couldn't help but click his tongue, "That gives me goosebumps."
"You're too modest; slaying ghosts is your expertise, isn't it?" Zhou Haidong laughed while gripping the steering wheel.
He had witnessed firsthand how quick, ruthless, and decisive Sun Yan was at exorcising, never hesitating for even a moment. The evil spirit would be instantly vanquished the moment it appeared.
Zhou Haidong felt that even if he encountered an evil spirit unexpectedly, he couldn't possibly remain as composed as Sun Yan.
"Haha, I do my best." Sun Yan chuckled nervously, feeling inexplicably guilty.
Next time, when he has some free time, he plans to call Geralt to see if he can procure another Demon Exorcism Shotgun, equipping himself as well.
When the Mercedes GLE arrived at Chen Family Village near San Francisco, it was already dusk with the sun setting in the west.
An enchanting sunset spread across the sky, casting a purple-red hue over the entire silhouette of Chen Family Village.
Sun Yan alighted from the car, stretched robustly, expelling a breath of stagnated air accumulated from the ride.
"Let's enter the village first. I've already informed the temple manager that we've arrived, and he's sending someone over to lead us to where we'll stay tonight." Zhou Haidong stepped out of the car, carrying a travel bag on his back.
As a Spirit Medium of the Cyan Stone God, Zhou Haidong could only harness the powers of the Cyan Stone God. He was chosen by the Cyan Stone God, making him complement and complete each other from a certain viewpoint.
Therefore, when going out for exorcism, Zhou Haidong needed to carry a part of the Cyan Stone with him to conveniently receive the Cyan Stone God's assistance anytime.
Zhao Chuan Yi didn't carry much, except for an old-looking green cloth crossbody bag, which seemed to have some years on it. There was also a red five-pointed star pattern on the bag's front.
"Shouldn't we investigate the site where the ghost-sending ritual was held right away? Perhaps we can uncover clues about why the ritual failed." Sun Yan asked puzzledly.
"Let's take a break first, there's no rush to investigate now since we might be staying up to investigate tonight." Zhao Chuan Yi handed several yellow talismans to Sun Yan, "Keep them with you, if you encounter any danger, these peace talismans can help repel the evil spirit."
Since inheriting the Graveyard, Sun Yan hadn't interacted properly with other exorcists.
The Priest, belonging to the Western God system, can only obtain True Words' power from the Bible through faith, making objects symbolizing God like the cross and Bible paper possess exorcism ability, but the method appeared far too singular, and was incompatible with Sun Yan.
Now seeing the peace talisman given by Zhao Chuan Yi, Sun Yan curiously observed it for a while before putting it in his pocket.
The talisman is a Taoist spell known as talisman writing, ink talisman, or elixir book. A talisman is a combination of a symbol and talisman.
Originating from the Witch, the talisman technique first emerged during the Eastern Han Dynasty, capable of summoning gods, controlling ghosts, vanquishing demons, restraining evil, healing diseases, and averting disasters.
Ancient Eastern practitioners believed talismans to be the fundamental of mountain, medicine, divination, fate, and physiognomy arts, serving as a mediator and channel for communicating with the heavens, leveraging this channel to command the divine spirits and dispel ghosts, bless and prevent calamities, and heal diseases.
Talismans consist of five elements: the talisman head, main deity, talisman belly, talisman foot, and talisman core. Talisman painting is complex and challenging, requiring a mentor for hands-on guidance to master it effectively.
When Sun Yan followed Zhou Haidong into Chen Family Village, a robust young fellow quickly ran towards them, greeting enthusiastically, "Chairman Zhou, Uncle Dong instructed me to guide you to the inn, follow me, it's on that street."
As Vice Chairman of the Folklore Association, Zhou Haidong is highly distinguished in the circle of Eastern Exorcists; being recognized by someone is not unusual.
Following the robust young fellow around two streets, Sun Yan and his party found themselves at a quaint, homestay-style decorated inn, but before entering the door, the young fellow's pocket phone rang suddenly.
He picked it up, talked for a couple of seconds, then expression changed drastically, hurrying to say to Zhou Haidong, "Chairman Zhou, something's wrong. A temple staff suddenly went berserk at home, Uncle Dong asks for your help to check it out."
With a stern look, Zhou Haidong said succinctly, "No time to waste, lead the way."