The Marshal’s mansion was far more generous than Old Master Wang’s, starting at hundreds of silver dollars with every task.
It was a job that couldn't be refused; if they were a moment late, they might lose it to their peers.
Several hours passed, and dawn arrived.
The knocking at the door of the Yi Zhuang (mourning hall) woke the master and his two disciples.
“Quick, open the door! Someone has a letter for you.”
“A letter?”
Shi Jian quickly got dressed and hurried outside.
Not many people knew he was in Chen Family Town, so how could someone send him a letter?
The only possibility was that something had happened at the Fierce Ghost Academy, and Uncle Jiu was no match, sending for help from the Soul Catcher Sect.
However, Uncle Jiu’s Daoist cultivation had improved significantly by now; he could have used Daoist methods to communicate.
Why resort to letters, which took time and money?
Filled with doubt, Shi Jian walked to the Yi Zhuang’s main door and opened it.
“Wasting time. The Marshal’s mansion sent a letter for you. Take it.”
The man handed the letter to Shi Jian, then took a canteen from his waist and drank several large gulps.
Afterward, he shouldered his bag and quickly rode his bicycle out of Chen Family Town.
“The Marshal?”
“This benefactor comes uninvited, saving me the trouble of going to meet him.”
Shi Jian opened the envelope and skimmed through it. It roughly stated that the Marshal had encountered a zombie on his way back to the mansion.
After a fierce fight, he was scratched by the zombie and poisoned.
He had recently heard that a Daoist priest had opened a Yi Zhuang in Chen Family Town and was thus seeking help.
“Poisoned by a zombie, the poison must be reaching his heart soon. We need to hurry, or the silver dollars will fly away.”
Shi Jian put away the letter, threw on some casual clothes, and instructed Ah Wei to bring some magical artifacts and glutinous rice.
The Marshal was an ordinary person who hadn't cultivated Daoism; he couldn't use lightning spells to remove the corpse poison.
The methods for removing corpse poison were essentially limited to glutinous rice and corpse powder.
If lightning spells were used for treatment, the Marshal would likely be dead before the poison was expelled from his body.
“Master, the magical artifacts and glutinous rice are ready. We can depart for the Marshal’s mansion.”
“I know. You wait a moment. I need to say a few words to your senior brother.”
Mao Xiaofang walked up to Shi Jian and asked, “Master, do you have any instructions for me?”
“Don’t forget to offer incense to Ling Ying daily, and take good care of the Yi Zhuang.”
“Don't let me return and find the Yi Zhuang turned into ruins by you.”
After giving Mao Xiaofang a few important instructions, Shi Jian used teleportation and rushed off with Ah Wei towards the Marshal’s mansion.
About thirty minutes later, Ah Wei’s eyes were spinning, unable to withstand the speed of teleportation. Foam appeared at the corners of his mouth, and he vomited up everything he had eaten that morning.
“Master, I can’t take it anymore.”
Under duress, Shi Jian had to drop Ah Wei onto the ground.
“Master, your speed is truly too fast. I can’t handle it.”
“I haven’t even reached the Marshal’s mansion, and I’ve already lost half my life.”
Ah Wei lay on the ground, vomiting frantically. After a few minutes, his pale face regained some color.
“Are you done? I still need to rush to the Marshal’s mansion.”
“Wait a moment, Master. What is that?”
Ah Wei, lying on the ground, saw wisps of white mist rising from both sides of the mountain road. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he was hallucinating.
“Master, it looks like we’re in big trouble.”
Confirming it wasn't a hallucination, Ah Wei quickly tugged at Shi Jian’s sleeve and pointed in the direction where the white mist was appearing.
At some unknown time, a chilling wind began to blow, and the white fog on both sides of the mountain road became more apparent.
As the two masses of white fog dispersed, more than ten ferocious ghosts, clad in straw hats and white robes, with white paper scattered from their hands, approached Shi Jian from the right side of the road.
Among them, four ferocious ghosts were carrying a black coffin.
Atop the black coffin sat a White Fiend ghost, with its arms crossed, looking at Shi Jian and Ah Wei before them.
On the other side of the mountain road, there were also more than ten ghostly figures.
The difference was that the ferocious ghosts on the left side were all dressed in red, carrying a red sedan chair, within which sat a Red Fiend ghost.
“Red and White Fiends!”
“Master, what do we do now? There are spirits on both sides, and we can’t escape.”
Ah Wei’s soul nearly left him upon seeing the Red and White Fiends.
According to legends, White Fiends were those who drowned before death and became water ghosts, and relatively high-level water ghosts at that.
Red Fiends were formed from brides who died tragically on their wedding day.
Therefore, the chance of encountering Red and White Fiends was extremely rare, almost negligible.
“Ah Wei, quickly get the mourning stick!”
Ah Wei’s legs had gone weak from fear of the Red and White Fiends. Clumsily, he retrieved the mourning stick from his backpack.
Upon seeing the mourning stick, the Red and White Fiends and the ferocious ghosts immediately stopped, not daring to advance further.
The ferocious ghosts beside the Black Fiend also stopped scattering the white paper in their hands, looking at Shi Jian and his disciples with terror.
“Master, these ferocious ghosts are afraid of the mourning stick in my hand.”
“Isn’t that obvious? Otherwise, why would I have you take out the mourning stick?”
The mourning stick, as the weapon of ghost messengers, was feared by both ghost kings and Red and White Fiends.
Ah Wei merely swung the mourning stick slightly, and the ferocious ghosts around the Red and White Fiends retreated a few steps, scared by it.
“Mourning stick! Run!”
Seeing the mourning stick, the ferocious ghosts beside the Red and White Fiends quickly scattered in all directions.
They even abandoned carrying the coffin and the sedan chair, leaving the Red and White Fiends behind.
“Still trying to run? You’re lucky to have run into this Daoist priest.”
Shi Jian gave the ferocious ghosts no chance to escape. He snatched the mourning stick from Ah Wei’s hand and used teleportation to collect all the ferocious ghosts into it.
As the Red and White Fiends tried to flee, they were also absorbed by the mourning stick.
“Wow, Master, the mourning stick is so powerful! Just a few swings, and those ferocious ghosts were collected.”
“If the mourning stick wasn't powerful, why would I have you keep it for self-defense?”
Shi Jian tossed the mourning stick back to Ah Wei and continued towards the Marshal’s mansion.
The reason he had extorted the mourning stick from the ghost messenger before was to find a powerful artifact for Ah Wei’s self-defense.
At that time, he encountered ghost messengers and the Black and White Impermanence. The mourning stick was a nemesis to sinister and evil objects, perfectly fitting this requirement.
Therefore, he had extorted the mourning stick from the ghost messenger to be used by Ah Wei for protection.
As for Mao Xiaofang, he already had the Grand Purity whisk for self-defense and needed no other magical artifacts.
“Only Master is good in this world. His disciples are like treasures.”
“Alright, quickly put the mourning stick back into your bag.”
“I still have important matters to attend to!”
Shi Jian turned towards the coffin and the sedan chair, placed a few talismans on them, and burned them to ashes.
“Master, where are we going to look at Feng Shui and catch zombies this time?”
“To the Marshal’s mansion to save someone!”
Ah Wei was overjoyed upon hearing they were going to the Marshal’s mansion.
Because they had left the Yi Zhuang in a hurry, he hadn't known the objective of this outing.
“It’s about time. We can start.”
Seeing that the coffin and the red sedan chair had been mostly burned, Shi Jian grabbed Ah Wei’s arm and used teleportation to vanish from the spot.