The disciples of Master Peng were like cats with their tails stepped on, their fur bristling. "You little brat, your master has eaten more salt than you've eaten rice, and he's not as good as you? Who was it just now, begging your master to stay and learn? Is this how you learn? You almost got us killed by summoning demon fire, and now you're spewing venom... We'll have the entire Xuanxue Association of Haicheng collectively ban you tomorrow!"
His voice, raised several decibels by anger, sounded like a rooster being choked. The atmosphere turned tense, and the air was thick with gunpowder.
"Heh, ban me? If I were to reveal your ugly faces to the public, you wouldn't just be banned, you should all be in jail!" Ye Huohuo tilted her head up slightly. Despite her small stature, her presence was in no way inferior. Her cat-like eyes, in particular, gleamed with a chilling cold light.
"Presumptuous! I, old man, saw you were young and didn't want to bother with you, yet you are so aggressive, treating human lives as a joke. It seems I really must teach you a lesson! Lest you go down the wrong path at such a young age!" Master Peng still maintained the tone of an elder educating a disobedient junior. Truly righteous and awe-inspiring!
He clasped his hands together and quickly formed a mudra. In the blink of an eye, a whirlwind stirred within the room.
A cold smile played on Ye Huohuo's lips. "Truly, the heavens help those who help themselves! What I sought everywhere for and could not find, has now come to me effortlessly!" As she spoke, her left hand moved slightly, a talisman held between her fingertips. Her right hand formed a mudra, and a powerful light emanated from her palm. She then tossed the talisman with her left hand, and struck it with the light from her right palm.
The paper talisman, carrying a bright yellow glow, stopped in mid-air. Immediately, everyone heard a scream. The light on the talisman intensified, and the screams grew louder, more tragic. The talisman also leaped up and down in the air.
Master Peng's face grew increasingly unsightly. He chanted words and his hands trembled more violently as he formed mudras, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
"Master! What's wrong?" His disciple, seeing Master Peng's veins bulging, didn't know where to put his hands in his fright. His usually calm and composed master was now glaring with rage, looking like a demon from hell.
In contrast, Ye Huohuo on the other side appeared relaxed. "Master Peng? Should I call you a master of Xuanmen or a master of the Ghost Gate? You don't cultivate proper righteous methods, but instead practice evil and crooked ways, using ghosts to earn ill-gotten gains. Tell me, how many people have you harmed with this painting?"
A fiery glow appeared in Ye Huohuo's eyes as she asked, while simultaneously channeling power into the talisman. The golden light on the talisman intensified further. The screams also grew more pronounced. As if sensing a connection, Master Peng's complexion grew paler, and blood began to seep from the corners of his mouth.
"Who exactly are you? How can you break my spells?" Master Peng gritted out the words through clenched teeth.
"Shouyang Mountain, Wuji Guan!" Ye Huohuo simply stated the name of the Taoist temple.
Master Peng's face immediately turned ashen. "You're from Wuji Guan?" After saying this, he suddenly pulled something from his embrace and hurled it to the ground. A blinding flash of light instantly filled the room. Everyone felt their vision turn white. When their eyes adjusted, Master Peng and his disciples had vanished without a trace. Even the painting hanging on the screen was gone.
"What... what happened?" Sun Fu looked around in confusion, utterly bewildered.
"The painting is gone. What a shame, we can't find out who the artist behind it is," Li Moyan sighed softly, looking at the empty screen.
"Grandpa woke up, why don't we just ask him?!" Li Mochen asked, not understanding.
"Are you stupid?! Who would personally deliver such a troublesome painting? It must be through someone else. Given how insidious this person's actions are, it will be very difficult to find him." Li Moyan's mind was second only to Li Mohan among the four, and he understood issues much more clearly. Li Mochen was stunned into silence by the rebuke.
"He didn't take the painting away. I snatched the painting ahead of them just now. We still need it to save Grandpa!" Ye Huohuo extended her hand, and everyone saw that she was holding a rolled-up painting.
"Wow, your technique is too fast! Are you a magician?" Li Mochen was somewhat impressed by this girl who looked younger than him.
"It's not magic. I just calculated that they were going to run, so I made a small arrangement beforehand," Ye Huohuo raised an eyebrow.
"You knew they were going to run, why didn't you catch them? Didn't you just say you would send them to jail?" Li Mochen inquired.
"How can I stop two people by myself? It was already difficult to keep the painting here," Ye Huohuo shrugged, with an expression that conveyed she had done her best.
"Is that so?" Li Mohan suddenly spoke, lowering his gaze to look at Ye Huohuo, his expression clearly one of knowing but not revealing. Ye Huohuo nervously pulled at the corner of her lips. "Of course! Do you think I would deliberately let them escape?" Li Mohan's gaze was too sharp, and she felt as transparent as glass before him, her petty scheming completely exposed.
"It's not impossible, quite likely! So you'd better have a reasonable explanation. Otherwise, I can hand this painting over to the police as stolen property. After all, it was meant for Grandpa, so I am technically half the owner." Looking at Ye Huohuo's rather clumsy acting, Li Mohan's eyes held a trace of amusement.
Seeing that she could no longer maintain her facade, Ye Huohuo decided to spill everything. "I did want this painting, but not for any nefarious purpose as you might think. On the contrary, you've seen how malevolent this painting is. To be frank, there isn't just one ghost that came out of this painting; there are countless others trapped inside that haven't fully emerged. If we call the police, this painting will become evidence and be confiscated by the police. It's highly likely that improper handling could lead to unnecessary casualties. Moreover, even if Master Peng is arrested, what evidence do we have to prove he harmed people? His method of making money with this painting is very covert. First, he sells it as an antique to others, then he manipulates the ghosts inside to cause trouble and disrupt households. After that, he steps in to resolve the problems. Finally, he claims the painting has issues and that he needs to take it away to cleanse the ghosts. This way, he makes money effortlessly, and also builds his reputation. No one knows that what he cultivates is not ghost-catching magic, but the evil art of commanding ghosts to serve him. That's why I deliberately let him go. Firstly, catching him would be useless, and it would only result in the painting falling into the hands of the police. Would the police believe us if we said there were ghosts in the painting? Secondly, without the painting, he can no longer harm people, so him escaping poses no great danger."
Li Mochen nodded. "Your concerns are valid. If I hadn't witnessed these events myself, I wouldn't have believed them. Therefore, according to standard procedure, if we reported it to the police, this painting would have to be handed over to them for safekeeping until the case is concluded."
Li Mohan looked at Ye Huohuo. "Alright, as long as you can wake Grandpa up, this painting will be yours. Even if someone comes to claim it later, I will definitely help you keep it." Ye Huohuo's previously anxious heart finally settled upon hearing his words. In truth, she hadn't revealed the entire story. The reasons she gave earlier were only part of it; she also had her own selfish motives and genuinely wished to keep the painting for herself.
So she quickly said, "It's a deal!" As if afraid Li Mohan might go back on his word, she immediately hung the painting back on the screen. The talisman from before was still suspended in the air. She reached out and grabbed the talisman, as if something was being tugged along by it, and that something was reluctant to follow her. Ye Huohuo pulled at the talisman, appearing to struggle. After a long tug-of-war, Ye Huohuo finally gained the upper hand.
"Dust to dust, earth to earth. Return to your rightful place and give me what I want, or I will burn this painting to ashes and condemn you to eternal damnation." With that, she forcefully slapped the talisman onto the face of the figure in the painting. The talisman stuck to the painted face, shimmering with golden light.
Although the others couldn't see, they seemed to feel something enter the painting. After a moment, the painting wobbled, as if something else had emerged. Then, the talisman lost its glow, detached from the painting, and turned into ash that fell to the ground. Less than two minutes later, Old Master Li, lying in bed, let out a groan, "Ai yo!" and woke up!