"Trouble? What do you mean? Can you tell if there's trouble just by casting a divination?" Bai Ling'er tilted her head, looking at me strangely.
To someone as clueless about divination as her, I couldn't be bothered to explain. The astrological sign I saw was one I'd only encountered a few times in my ten years of practice, and each of those times, someone had been injured. It was a truly inauspicious sign.
To divine for a spirit, one must first cast three coins, asking for yin. Only when all three casts result in the yin aspect, meaning all six coins land on their backs, can one proceed.
While wild immortals are not spirits, they are also not considered living beings. Despite the word "immortal," they are not true immortals but rather existences between ghosts and humans. Therefore, when divining for them, the coins should form three yin and three yang aspects. However, the divination for Huang San showed an extra yin, which was clearly against the norm.
This astrological sign indicated that Huang San had likely harmed someone, otherwise, there wouldn't be an extra yin side. This was not normal.
Hearing my explanation, Bai Ling'er seemed to understand. After a moment of silence, she asked, "So, you mean Huang San is the real culprit who harmed Nannan?"
I shook my head, saying it was hard to say. If Huang San were the malevolent spirit that harmed Nannan, he wouldn't still possess spiritual energy. Wild immortals inherently have spiritual energy, which is why they are called wild immortals. If one is tainted by karma and killing, their aura changes, much like the Corpse Rat Demon.
Some wild immortals, finding their cultivation tedious and time-consuming, would venture down a wicked path. The Corpse Rat Demon was an example of this. By consuming large amounts of solid meat, its strength rapidly increased, but its intelligence also continuously diminished.
Fortunately, at the last moment, it managed to control its mind and sought to become a village shaman through Goudanzi. This would have increased its luck as a wild immortal and removed its corpse energy, a win-win situation, a path of taking shortcuts.
But it was unlucky. If it had tampered with the child before I returned and then stepped in to resolve the issue, it would have been twice as effective. However, it chose to act against these children precisely when I returned. Since I had already slain its physical body, it possessed Goudanzi to demand an explanation.
In the end, it became Huang San's meal. Every action has its consequences. Some things can deceive people and ghosts, but they cannot deceive heaven. There are gods watching from three feet above your head!
"Can you still find Huang San's location?" Bai Ling'er asked, sounding worried.
"It should be fine. Based on my judgment, Huang San is likely not a malevolent spirit. He probably changed his own fortune by consuming that Corpse Rat Demon. Huang San ate its soul, so he must be carrying the Corpse Rat Demon's aura. If we track it by its aura, we should be able to find Huang San."
When I went to the village chief's house to return the child's soul, I had buried the Corpse Rat Demon in the garden. I planned to burn it later. Since its physical body had become a corpse demon, if it wasn't burned, it could easily create malevolent spirits if eaten by other rat-eating animals.
Taking a shovel from the storeroom, I dug out the Corpse Rat Demon's body in a few strokes. I cut off its tail with the shovel and quickly reburied it. After finishing, I took a deep breath.
The main reason was the smell. Having smelled it once was an unbearable experience, giving me the urge to go on a hunger strike. Fortunately, the Corpse Rat Demon's tail didn't have much of a smell, it was more like stinky tofu.
Using the Corpse Rat Demon's tail as a medium, I began the divination. All three casts resulted in yin faces, as the Corpse Rat Demon was already dead, its astrological signs were all yin. Then, I proceeded with the formal divination.
I tossed the six divination coins into the air once, and they landed on the table. As the first and second coins fell, I began to interpret the divination...
"Direction is due east, slightly north. About three kilometers away..."
Watching the last coin spin on the table and then stand upright, I was dumbfounded.
The meaning of the last divination coin was of great importance, indicating whether the journey would be fortunate or not. Instead, it simply stood there upright on the table.
When divining with these coins, they either land on their face or back; they never stand upright or at an angle. The divination coins are very thin, less than half the thickness of a one-yuan coin. Moreover, they are ancient coins, having passed through many hands, so their edges were worn almost like a knife. Even if one tried to make them stand, it would be impossible. Yet, now, it stood up.
This indicated that the road to finding Huang San was fraught with unpredictable fortune and misfortune.
At this moment, Bai Ling'er suddenly flew onto the table, looking curiously at the upright, unfallen divination coin. "What kind of yin aspect is this? Why isn't this coin falling?" As she spoke, she blew on the coin, and it fell with the breath, resulting in a yang aspect.
"Heaven's will!" I wanted to hug Bai Ling'er and kiss her.
The divination coin standing on the table meant the astrological sign was unclear, possibly developing in a good direction or leading to a yin misfortune. Bai Ling'er's unintentional action of blowing on the coin directly changed this ambiguous sign to a yang aspect, turning an undecipherable divination into a turning point, signifying a smooth journey ahead.
"Let's go, we're going up the mountain to find Huang San. Once we find him, all the problems will be solved."
Glancing at my phone, it was almost one in the afternoon. There was still plenty of time. As long as we found Huang San before three o'clock, with his numerous disciples and followers, we would surely be able to find Nannan's physical body.
After preparing everything, as I was about to leave with Bai Ling'er, Su Jiandong and Murong Yun returned with five or six bodyguards.
We met at the entrance and were both surprised. I hadn't expected them to return at this time, and they wore expressions of suspicion. The bodyguards immediately surrounded us from both sides.
"Mr. Song, are you going on a long trip?"
Seeing their formation and looking at my own packed bag, I immediately understood their intention. I couldn't blame them for misunderstanding, as I was dressed neatly and carrying a backpack for hiking, which easily led them to believe I was running away with my belongings.
"Mr. Su, I'm also preparing to go up the mountain to help you find Nannan. I was just about to leave!" I said with an awkward smile, explaining. I inwardly sighed, thinking how unlucky it was. Why did they have to return precisely when I was about to leave? It was truly the worst of luck.
"Mr. Song, what a kind heart you have. We've been searching all morning and only now want to help find Nannan. Isn't it a bit late?" Su Jiandong said in a sarcastic tone.
My brow furrowed, and I felt displeased. "What do you mean by that? Are you blaming me for not joining the search earlier? Don't you forget, if I hadn't provided clues, you would still be at home crying. Why are rich people like this? They only know how to point fingers and blame others..."
"You..." Su Jiandong was so choked by my words that he was at a loss for what to say. He opened his mouth to order his bodyguards to attack me, but Murong Yun stopped him.
"Mr. Song, can I see my daughter again? I wonder how she is doing now?"
I shook my head, refusing Murong Yun's request. "Not yet. This is the time when the sun is most abundant and the yang energy is strongest. If you see her rashly, it might scatter her soul. By then, even an immortal descending to earth couldn't restore her soul. The only thing we can do now is to quickly find her physical body. The energy of that treasure protecting her is weakening, and based on my judgment, it might not last until dark."
In reality, Nannan could last until dark without any problem. However, I didn't want them to continue to pester me here. Moreover, there was a little demon girl lying on the lounge chair in the courtyard. If she woke up at this time, I wouldn't be able to explain myself even if I wanted to.
Having knocked out the bodyguards and tied the little demon girl to the lounge chair, coupled with the equipment I was carrying, from that perspective, I did indeed look like I was preparing to flee with my belongings.
"Wuwu..."
A soft whimper came from behind me, causing Su Jiandong and Murong Yun, who had just started to believe me, to frown. Su Jiandong even turned his head to look into the courtyard.
"What was that sound?"
My heart tightened. This damned little flat demon girl. Why did she have to wake up now? If I had known, I would have stuffed her mouth.
Just as I was about to explain, Murong Yun's eyes suddenly turned cold. As if she had thought of something, she pushed me aside and rushed into the courtyard.
"Hey, listen to me, it's not what you think..."