214: Chapter 210: Need to Pay More?
214: Chapter 210: Need to Pay More?
Taoist Wang held the compass in his hand, its needle being a product of iron.
With the palm that held the magnet, he placed it beneath the compass, and the needle on the compass immediately began to spin wildly.
Glancing surreptitiously, Taoist Wang shot a look at Old Man Li, Butcher Zhang, and others nearby, and saw that they had not noticed his slight maneuver.
With feigned nonchalance, he walked to a spot a few meters away from Old Man Li and the others.
Halting in his steps, the color drained from Taoist Wang’s face in an instant.
“Old Li, you all, quickly look at the needle of the compass in my hand.”
“It has come, the entity occupying this courtyard, it has truly arrived…”
“Such heavy resentment, no good, it has developed animosity towards me and intends to strike at me!”
…
With a scream, Taoist Wang, at some point, had taken tomato juice into his mouth, and now, with an opening of his lips, he sprayed it forth directly.
Apparently unable to stand steadily any longer, he simply sat down on the ground with a thud.
“Taoist, Taoist, are you alright?”
“What exactly is attacking you, why can’t we see it?”
“This courtyard is truly too sinister.
Even a master like Taoist Wang cannot cope, what are we supposed to do?
Could it be that we really have no choice but to move away disgracefully?”
…
Gathered at the entrance of the courtyard, ready to witness the otherworldly master, Taoist Wang, perform an exorcism, Old Man Li, Aunt Liu, and others were all in a panic, their faces changing colors.
Of them, truly concerned about Taoist Wang’s condition, there was only Old Man Li.
For the others, judging from their words, no matter how dire the condition presented by Taoist Wang might have been.
For them, what they truly cared about was the matter of the courtyard, how could it be resolved?
“Don’t worry, Old Li, I have simply sustained some drain on my vitality, it’s nothing serious.”
“I have been in Tao Cultivation for nearly fifty years, what kind of situation have I not seen?”
“Once upon a time, I alone, took on a gang of those things, battling fiercely for three days and nights, and in the end, it was I who had the upper hand and vanquished them all beneath my sword.”
“The thing inside your courtyard is formidable, but there’s still a way to deal with it.”
“Just now, it ambushed me and succeeded, injuring my vitality, but when I sprayed out that Pure Yang Tongue Blood, it too was not left without injury.”
“Alas, although it was temporarily repelled by me, it was not completely resolved, which ultimately is only treating the symptoms, not the cause.”
“Old Li, had I known earlier that the situation here was so grave, not to mention 330 yuan, even three thousand three hundred yuan would not have enticed me to take on this task.”
“To thoroughly resolve the thing inside your courtyard, my mere injury to the vitality is likely not enough.”
“There’s a good chance that it could consume several years of my life…”
Feigning a great drain on his vitality, Taoist Wang staggered to his feet.
Having said this much, he paused his speech and did not continue further.
Whether to help Old Man Li, Aunt Liu, and others resolve the thing that occupied the courtyard, he neither said yes nor no, merely sweeping the people inside with a meaningful glance.
“Ah…
is it that serious?
Taoist, please show mercy and help us!”
“Yes, Taoist Wang, judging by what you said, if that thing inside the courtyard is so fierce, then for us to continue staying here, it would surely mean a dead end.”
“If you don’t help us, we will have no home to return to and will end up homeless in the streets!”
Aunt Liu, Butcher Zhang, and others were all frantic and uneasy.
They pleaded with Taoist Wang in a good-natured and pitiful manner, showing their miserable state.
Taoist Wang silently cursed them as fools and squinted his eyes, feigning profundity without uttering a word.
Old Man Li, who had shared a cowshed with him, understood his thoughts better.
Noticing his demeanor, Old Man Li tentatively spoke up, asking, “Taoist, are you suggesting we need to increase the payment?”
Hearing this, Taoist Wang, who had pretended to be meditating, finally slowly opened his eyes and gave a slight nod.
“Heaven has the virtue of protecting life, and as one who cultivates the Tao, to vanquish demons and exorcise evil spirits is our duty, I am certainly obliged to help.”
“However, navigating this realm of mortal troubles, one cannot get far without money, even for someone like me, traditions cannot be ignored!”
“If it were simply some low-level pests causing disturbance in your courtyard, I would have easily dispelled them and that would have been that.”
“But now, the thing we are dealing with is far too powerful, and it would take a few years off my life for me to have enough confidence to vanquish it.”
“Having to pay such a high price to assist you all, I believe, you wouldn’t want to see me toil in vain.”
“The agreed upon 330 yuan, based on that, surely you should add a little more!”
…
With a lamenting tone, Taoist Wang sighed deeply and said.
“330 yuan is not enough?
We need to pay more, how much more?”
“I work myself to death, stay busy for a month, and usually, I’d only make two or three hundred yuan for performing an exorcism or a ritual.
330 yuan is already more than enough.”
“We might as well do like Shoe Maker Wu and just move away if we have to pay more money.”
“Right!
If we have to up the rent, we might as well stop the ritual and just move out.
After all, the house isn’t ours, let whatever that powerful thing is plague that Chen guy instead!”
…
Apart from Old Man Li and his wife, who didn’t make a sound,
Butcher Zhang and Aunt Liu’s families were the first to start discussing fervently among themselves.
“You fools!”
“The entity that’s taken over the yard, since it’s latched onto you, do you really think you can escape it just by moving away?”
“I’m telling you, no matter where you move to, that thing will definitely not let you go easily.”
“If you don’t want to pay more and hire me for the ritual, I can simply turn around and leave, it won’t affect me at all.”
“When that time comes, it’s you who will really be out of luck!”
“To us Tao Cultivators, money is just an external possession.
Whether or not you want to pay more for me to conduct the ritual, the decision is yours to make.”
“Think it over carefully and discuss it among yourselves.
If you really don’t want to pay, I definitely won’t insist!”
…
With a long sigh, after Taoist Wang had said his piece, he sat down on the chair, once again closed his eyes, and started to rest.
When Old Man Li had gone to invite him, the 330 yuan pooled by the several families had already been handed over to him.
That money, he was certainly not going to return.
After all, tomato juice costs money, and acting is exhausting – he deserved to be paid for his troubles.
Having already forked over 330 yuan, and now asking people like Aunt Liu and Butcher Zhang to chip in a bit more, this was like cutting meat with a blunt knife.
In Taoist Wang’s view, he was confident that he had more than an 80% chance of making another profit off these same people.
Time ticked by, and the sky was already darkening when Taoist Wang arrived.
At this moment, the setting sun had finally dipped below the horizon, and night began to shroud the earth.
“Why should we pay more, this yard isn’t even ours?”
“That’s true.
That Chen kid is the real landlord here.
If anyone should pay up, he should contribute the most.”
“As tenants here, the fact that we, several households, gathered 330 yuan is already going beyond our obligations.
If Taoist Wang wants more money, it should all come from that Chen.”
“Who knows how to contact that kid?
We need to get him here.”
“His house is so bizarre and he still dared to rent it to us.
We’re already letting him off easy by not asking for emotional damages.”
“Just let him pay Taoist Wang for the ritual.
If he dares refuse, we’ll take the fight right to his doorstep and ensure he can’t live in peace.”
…
When it came to money, the tenants in the yard couldn’t reach a consensus no matter how much they discussed.
Led by someone, they quickly switched to talking about Chen Hai.
Just at this moment, with the yard’s door already wide open, Chen Hai, along with Bai Xiaohang, Xiang Dong, and a few others, walked in at a leisurely pace.
Bai Xiaohang and Xiang Dong, who had been hanging around nearby since Taoist Wang’s arrival, had witnessed the whole scene and informed Chen Hai, who had returned to West Mountain Villa.
After a brief consideration, Chen Hai then asked Tian Mingjian to drive him over.
“Chen, you’ve timed your arrival perfectly.
Your courtyard has been extremely odd these past few days!”
“We’ve lived here for many years without any issues before.”
“But ever since you bought this place, it’s been nothing but unrest.”
“You must’ve provoked something and brought it here.
You must take full responsibility for this.”
Old Man Li was the one speaking.
The old man played on his seniority and referred dismissively to Chen as “kid,” blaming all the trouble on him.
He really had a knack—his baseless accusations for the sake of getting Chen to pay up inadvertently hit the nail on the head.
“Old Man Li, our boss has been telling you to move out, but you insist on staying put.”
“Now that there’s a problem and the yard is haunted, you’ve brought it upon yourselves.”
“To blame our boss?
Have you no shame?
It seems to me that you’ve lived your years in vain!”
Bai Xiaohang, who usually would rather use his fists than his words, wasn’t the one talking; it was Xiang Dong by his side.
With schadenfreude and a sneer, Xiang Dong pointed accusationally at Old Man Li’s group, not sparing any feelings.
“This is…” Chen Hai’s gaze, however, fell directly onto Taoist Wang, who was still closing his eyes and resting.
Seeing his garb, Chen Hai knew what he was here for!
He had initially thought the man before him might actually have some real skill.
But when Chen Hai’s Divine Soul departed from his body and circled around Taoist Wang, he got no reaction at all.
Just a simple test was enough for Chen Hai to be sure that this person in front of him was nothing but a swindler with no real abilities, just a charlatan.