Lying on the bed, I was neither asleep nor awake, my mind racing with chaotic thoughts. One moment, the Hu Kui Seal was snatched away by someone else; the next, my father’s stern face appeared, questioning why I hadn’t raised enough money to save his life. Was I truly a filial son?
As the night lamp cast its first glow, I finally awoke from my nightmares. Primarily, I was hungry. Apart from a bowl of rice porridge in the morning, I hadn’t eaten anything since, and the hunger gnawed at me.
The room was pitch black.
Subconsciously, I reached for the light switch, but my hand stopped abruptly as it touched the switch.
By the light from outside the window, I saw that Huang San, lying beside me, had undergone a startling transformation.
Huang San’s body was covered in countless red threads, each thread extending outwards like a blood vessel from within his body. The red threads converged in mid-air to form a human silhouette, which was then filled with some unidentifiable substance like cotton. After the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the physical body Huang San had transformed into the previous night reappeared, and the change ceased.
As I pondered in surprise whether to wake Huang San, he let out a huge yawn and stretched lazily, waking up. Seeing me staring intently at him, he instinctively pulled the blanket over himself.
“Young Master Song, you don’t have any peculiar hobbies, do you? I’m not that kind of person.”
Still in shock, Huang San’s words completely threw me off balance. You scoundrel, if you were a beautiful woman, I might have been tempted to turn into a beast and savor your beauty. But you’re a man, and a lecherous old man transformed from a weasel. If I were interested in you, it wouldn’t be me who’s abnormal, it would be you insulting my intelligence.
The only way to deal with this perception of Huang San was to beat him up. Only then would he understand how treacherous the human world is, something a newly transformed weasel couldn’t possibly comprehend.
I stopped only when my hands felt sore. Huang San was also bruised and swollen. Before I could even offer him an apology for hitting him too hard, the bruises on his face vanished at a visible speed, as if I hadn’t hit him but someone else.
Seeing the surprise on my face, Huang San quickly explained, “There’s nothing to be surprised about. A manifestation is not the true body, it’s just a visible physical form, or you can think of it as another form of energy.”
Huang San’s words left me dumbfounded. I instinctively asked, “Why did it feel like my punches landed with solid impact, and my fists felt very painful?”
“That’s because you hit the Dao principles. Fortunately, we are on the same side. If I had resisted, it wouldn’t just be your fists that hurt, but your entire body.”
“What do you mean?” I frowned and pressed further.
“I can’t explain it clearly. It’s just that after transforming, more things entered my mind, and this is how I explain it,” Huang San said, looking at me seriously.
“Never mind, I’ll ask Bai Ling’er later. She should know more than you. Will the fox spirit you mentioned come tonight?” I changed the subject. After all, I owed the boss a karmic debt, and helping him resolve it was the right thing to do. After dealing with the innkeeper’s problem, I still had to sneak into the fox spirit’s shrine at night.
Transformed into human form, Huang San exuded a hint of wisdom, as well as a touch of stability. He was completely different from his weasel form. After I asked, he didn’t answer immediately but carefully sensed something.
“The fox spirit will definitely come to the inn tonight because it will sense our presence. After all, we embarrassed it during the day, so it will surely come looking for us. However, the timing is a bit uncertain. If possible, it would be best to have the innkeeper leave this place.” Huang San gave a definite answer.
“What do you mean by that? Is the fox spirit planning to use the inn as a battlefield?” I asked, confused.
“It’s hard to say. The fox spirit behind that shamaness harbors great hostility towards me. Moreover, this inn has the aura of the resident fox spirit. I’m afraid this matter is not simple,” Huang San replied after a moment of contemplation.
“Are you saying that Madam Sun uses the fox spirit’s methods to control the inn’s business and then profit from it?” I asked Huang San in surprise, seeking confirmation.
This wasn’t me maliciously speculating, as it wasn’t an impossible scenario. With the advancement of modern cognition, fewer people believe in ghosts and spirits. Apart from those in specific professions, even ordinary people’s belief is declining.
Perhaps some might say that wild spirits are all evil, always intending to harm people, to snatch their yang energy, vitality, and even their essence and spirit. But this is false.
Wild spirits seek a verbal acknowledgment for better cultivation. In return for the acknowledgment, they only seek some gold and silver. If they encounter someone not greedy, they can bless that family for thousands of years without illness or disaster, until the family dies out, provided they haven’t committed grave sins.
However, human hearts are wicked and greedy. Few people think of their descendants’ future and choose gold and silver instead. But one must know that once evil enters the heart, it becomes a bottomless pit. Infinite desires lead to the emergence of wicked spirits, and the result is that wild spirits kill, and no one dares to seek acknowledgment anymore.
Therefore, I had to use the most malicious mindset to speculate that Madam Sun was not such a person. Otherwise, why would other people’s shrines only receive a few visitors occasionally, while hers is a constant stream of people?
What’s even more infuriating is that people have to pay first before their matters are looked into. Otherwise, they won’t even be seen. What if someone is seriously ill with an evil spirit? Wouldn’t that cost them their life?
Huang San didn’t say anything about my judgment, merely touched his nose as if tacitly agreeing with what I said. Such matters are not extremely common, but they do happen.
The most wicked things in the human world are not evil spirits or ghosts, but human hearts.
Taking Huang San out of the room, I felt that the Yin energy within the entire inn had increased significantly, but I couldn’t pinpoint its source. We went to the front desk, where the innkeeper was slumped over the table, watching television, but constantly glancing around as if searching for something.
Seeing us appear, the innkeeper’s face first lit up with joy, then contorted with fear. He clearly remembered that I was alone in the room, so how could there suddenly be another person?
“Mr. Song, are you going out to eat?” He spoke to me, but his eyes kept darting towards Huang San, his unspoken question evident.
Towards me, Huang San was very humble, but towards outsiders, he displayed a cold and aloof demeanor. He gave the innkeeper a cold glance, which almost made the innkeeper collapse.
“Innkeeper, we’re going out to get something to eat and will be back. By the way, can I discuss something with you?” I blocked Huang San’s gaze, preventing the innkeeper from being embarrassed, and used this opportunity to make my request.
“Discuss something?” The innkeeper was taken aback for a moment, then seemed to recall something and quickly said, “What is it, just say it. Why do we need to discuss it?”
Seeing that the innkeeper was a sensible person, I didn’t beat around the bush. I directly told him not to stay at the inn tonight, as something ominous was likely to happen.
The innkeeper was also a perceptive person. Although my words were not explicit, seeing Huang San’s appearance made it clear that something bad was likely to happen tonight. So, he directly stated that he could give us the keys right away and that he would go home to be with his wife tonight.
Seeing the innkeeper’s understanding, I nodded and handed him a Yang Charm. I drew it myself, and though it was inferior to the one my master drew, it could still increase the innkeeper’s Yang energy and serve as a means of avoiding disaster.
Then, I took Huang San and left the inn.
The place we chose to eat was not far from the inn. After the innkeeper left, Huang San set up a scent-based warning at the entrance. As long as any evil spirit entered, he would be able to sense it.
As we were heartily eating, a furtive figure appeared at the inn’s entrance. After looking around left and right, it quickly slipped inside.
“They’re here already?”
Huang San shook his head and said, “It’s not the fox spirit; it’s that kid you beat up during the day.”
“What is he doing here?” I asked Huang San, confused.
“You ask me, who should I ask?”
As we were speaking, the figure rushed out of the inn, followed by the blaring of the inn’s fire alarm, and then thick smoke billowed out.