"Lost his soul?"
The people present were not ordinary, so when Yan Shouyi spoke these three words, everyone's expression became serious.
Huang Hai cupped his fists in admiration and said, "Young Brother Yan is indeed knowledgeable. You've pinpointed the cause of the illness at a glance."
Zhou Yuquan glanced at the wooden bird in Yan Shouyi's hand and asked, "What kind of magical artifact is this? It's so miraculous!"
"Don't even think about it. This is a unique magical artifact of my Luban Sect, and only I can use it. Even if I gave it to you, you wouldn't be able to use it." Yan Shouyi's words were carefully chosen, leaving no loopholes, which made Zhou Yuquan chuckle sheepishly.
Yan Shouyi reached out and felt Chen Dawei's pulse. He closed his eyes, sensing the pulse, and explained:
"A person has three souls and seven faculties. After losing a soul, they may become disoriented and moody, or fall into a coma, or even die."
Huang Hai and Zhou Yuquan naturally understood this principle, so Yan Shouyi was explaining it to Long Feicheng.
Long Feicheng frowned and said, "My master is in this line of work himself. How could he have lost his soul for no reason?"
"That's right. It's impossible for rogue spirits to target someone as capable as this Daoist friend. It doesn't make sense!" Huang Hai also chimed in.
Generally, soul loss occurs in two situations.
The first is due to encountering terrifying or horrifying events, coupled with an unstable soul. Under shock, the soul flies away.
This situation is more common in young children, whose souls are naturally unstable and who are timid, making them prone to soul loss from fright. Similar incidents often happen in rural areas, where villagers even know how to call back the soul, and there's no need to hire a master for rituals.
The second situation is more special.
If a person is courageous and has a stable soul but still loses their soul, then it is highly likely that they have encountered something unclean, been entangled by it, and their soul was actively enticed away!
Yan Shouyi believed that Chen Dawei's case was definitely the latter.
Moreover, given Chen Dawei's abilities, to have his soul taken indicates that the other party was no ordinary foe.
After Yan Shouyi stated his deduction, Long Feicheng felt a chill down his spine:
"Master did mention before the incident that there was something unclean in the school."
"It's still not right," said Zhou Yuquan. "The yang energy in a school is considered quite strong compared to other places. Many schools are built on burial grounds to leverage the yang energy of young people to suppress malevolent spirits, and ordinary rogue spirits are unwilling to approach schools. How could your master encounter something unclean at school?"
Long Feicheng sighed, "My master works as a security guard at Shanghang Art School."
Upon hearing this, Huang Hai and Zhou Yuquan showed expressions of understanding.
Only Yan Shouyi was out of the loop: "What's wrong with Shanghang Art School? Is there anything special about this school?"
Huang Hai explained, "You've just arrived in Rongcheng, so you wouldn't know. Shanghang Art School is a private art institution in our Rongcheng. Its environment and facilities are first-class nationwide, and its teachers are masters from schools like Beijing Film Academy and Shanghai Theatre Academy. Most importantly – eighty percent of the students at this art school are girls, so its yin energy is extremely heavy!"
Zhou Yuquan added, "When Shanghang Art School was first established, they invited the Sect Master of our Lushan Sect to assess the feng shui. The Lushan Sect excels at sacrifices and blessings, but they are not very adept at assessing feng shui, setting up formations, or exorcising demons. Therefore, the Sect Master could only do his best to set up a Nine Dragon Refining Malice Formation for Shanghang Art School. They had to go to the school periodically to clear out the malice, otherwise, the yin energy there could not be suppressed. Even so, strange incidents have occurred at Shanghang Art School, but only people from our Lushan Sect are aware of them; the outside world just considers them accidents."
Yan Shouyi's brows furrowed, and even a hint of anger flashed in his eyes.
Knowing the situation at Shanghang Art School, the Lushan Sect still refused to swallow their pride and seek higher expertise, allowing the art school to have problems.
Yan Shouyi knew about the Nine Dragon Refining Malice Formation, which could suppress and refine evil spirits. However, the formation set up by the Sect Master of the Lushan Sect was clearly unable to digest the evil spirits at Shanghang Art School, hence the need for regular specialized clearing.
This was not a long-term solution.
"It seems that no matter what, I have to go to Shanghang Art School," Yan Shouyi said in a deep voice. "I need to retrieve the soul that Uncle Chen lost."
Long Feicheng slapped his thigh, "Brother, we have a life-or-death friendship now. If you're going to the art school, I'll go with you!"
Yan Shouyi gave Long Feicheng a sideways glance, "You just want to hit on girls at the art school, don't you."
"That's where you're wrong. I, Long Feicheng, am not that kind of lecherous fellow. The reason I'm stepping forward is partly for my master, and partly for the brotherhood of going through life and death together!" Long Feicheng said righteously. If it weren't for the fact that they were caught during a raid yesterday, Yan Shouyi would have actually believed his nonsense.
It was summer, and the girls were dressed lightly. Long Feicheng's mind was already picturing the bare white legs of those female university students.
"But Shanghang Art School is a private university, and only the children of the wealthy and influential can enter. Outsiders simply can't get in. How can we investigate?" Long Feicheng then became troubled.
Just then, a voice came from outside the ward: "I can arrange this!"
Zhang Guodong entered the ward with a group of subordinates. He warmly shook Yan Shouyi's hand and said, "Young Master Yan, I've learned about your uncle's situation. I'll cover all his medical expenses, so you don't need to worry. Also, you want to go to Shanghang Art School, right? No problem at all. Actually, Yingying is a student at Shanghang Art School, and she can help!"
Zhang Guodong only heard half of the story. He didn't know that Yan Shouyi and the others were going to deal with something unclean. If he had known the truth, he probably wouldn't have pushed his daughter into the fire pit.
Huang Hai and Zhou Yuquan, seeing Zhang Guodong barge in, looked somewhat displeased. After all, even sycophants have their pride. If they are going to fawn, it should only be them from the Lushan Sect...
Seeing Zhang Guodong again, Yan Shouyi's face showed embarrassment. He said with difficulty, "Mr. Zhang, you probably don't know what happened between your daughter and me last night, do you?"
"Did something already happen between you two?" Zhang Guodong was startled, excited and fearful at the same time.
He pondered for a moment, then slapped his thigh, "Fine, no matter how wealthy they are, it's fine to give it up. Perhaps this is all fate!"
Sensing that Zhang Guodong had misunderstood, Yan Shouyi quickly explained, "Mr. Zhang, you might have misunderstood. Zhang Yingying and I didn't go that far... Forget it, you should just call her yourself and find out."
"Okay!"
Zhang Guodong felt a little uneasy. He went to the side and made a call. After communicating with Zhang Yingying, Zhang Guodong's expression gradually worsened. In the end, he simply cursed Zhang Yingying, saying he would deal with her when he got back.
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Guodong turned around, forcing a smile, and said awkwardly, "Young Master Yan, my daughter is young and ignorant. Please don't hold it against her. Young Master Yan saved her life again last night, and I, Zhang Guodong, owe you another favor. This time, I must help you. To be honest, I am a small shareholder of Shanghang Art School. If you need anything regarding Shanghang Art School, you should come to me."
After all, he was a businessman, and Zhang Guodong's few words made Yan Shouyi feel too embarrassed to get angry.
It had to be said that although Zhang Yingying was not great, Zhang Guodong was still a pretty good person.
As the saying goes, you don't hit a smiling face. Yan Shouyi decided to let bygones be bygones and said to Zhang Guodong, "How about this, you arrange for my friend and me to work as security guards at the art school."
"Security guards?"
Zhang Guodong did not expect Yan Shouyi to make such a request.
For someone as capable as him, being a director would be no problem at all!
"Won't that be too much of a waste of your talents? At least you should be given the position of Head of Security?" Zhang Guodong inquired.
"No need. I'm not really going to work there, just to handle some matters. It will be quick, within three days, or at most a week. Once the matter is resolved, we'll leave." Yan Shouyi shook his head.
"I see, that's easy. Leave it to me!" Zhang Guodong patted his chest.
Yan Shouyi thought for a moment. He didn't want to have any more entanglement with Zhang Guodong. It would be best if, after this matter was settled, they never interacted again.
Otherwise, he might bring trouble like Zhang Yingying did.
So Yan Shouyi pointed out, "The eastern suburbs of Rongcheng are your place of prosperity. In your next project, try to look for opportunities in the eastern suburbs, and you will surely prosper."
A person's destiny is not fixed. Different places and their feng shui can have different influences on one's destiny.
Some people struggle hard in one place with no business improvement, but moving to another city makes everything smooth sailing. This is the influence of one's fate and the local feng shui.
Zhang Guodong's face lit up with joy. Wasn't this why he was trying to curry favor with Yan Shouyi?
So he quickly bowed to Yan Shouyi. If he weren't old, he would have wished he could kneel and thank Yan Shouyi.
Yan Shouyi waved his hand and said faintly,
"I have repaid your favor. It is best to have less contact with me from now on, do you understand?"
Zhang Guodong remembered Huang Hai's warning about the "five deficiencies and three harms" and suddenly came to his senses.
He looked at Yan Shouyi deeply and nodded, "I understand. Young Master Yan, if it is not a matter of life and death, I will not disturb you again."