The young girl Jingjing lay on the ground, flailing her arms and legs, struggling and screaming with a look of despair on her face.
It turned out that high-end materials, even when used in the simplest way, could still prove effective.
Our little black dog, though lazy, took superb care of itself, and the quality of the black dog blood it produced was definitely top-notch.
“Auntie, help me! Auntie, help me! Brother Liangliang, save me! Brother Liangliang, save me!”
Jingjing began to cry for help.
She didn’t feel any threatening aura from the young man, but his swift and decisive actions greatly frightened her.
When Li Zhiyuan kicked Jingjing to the ground, Xue Liangliang was taken aback, and Luo Gong swiftly stood up from the sofa.
As Li Zhiyuan smashed the black dog blood onto Jingjing, both Xue Liangliang and Luo Gong retreated a step.
When Li Zhiyuan shouted that Jingjing was possessed, and she cried out for help, Xue Liangliang and Luo Gong each held down one of her arms and one of her legs.
In just a moment, the two science-focused men sorted out their thoughts and knew exactly what they needed to do.
The deep relationship between Xue Liangliang and Li Zhiyuan was no secret.
Even Luo Gong had witnessed many strange incidents in engineering, and he had seen Uncle Qin’s methods in the hospital ward with his own eyes.
Jingjing noticed that these two did not help her but instead assisted the young man in subduing her, and her eyes expressed intense anger and confusion.
“Slap!”
Aunt Zhao Hui came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of freshly stir-fried dishes.
Upon seeing the scene in the living room, the plate fell to the ground.
“Auntie, help me! Auntie, help me! Auntie, help me!”
It seemed Jingjing had finally found a savior she could rely on.
Aunt Zhao Hui rushed over, asking while running, “What’s going on? What’s happening?”
Li Zhiyuan replied, “She’s possessed.”
Zhao Hui, who was about to rush towards Jingjing, halted and turned to Li Zhiyuan:
“What should we do?”
“Get a rope and tie her up first.”
“Oh, right!”
Zhao Hui hurried inside to find a rope.
Jingjing: “…”
In fact, Zhao Hui’s reaction could be understood from an ordinary person’s perspective:
Would you believe a girl was possessed, or would you think that the province's top student was crazy?
Nonetheless, Zhao Hui's decisiveness also hinted to Li Zhiyuan that she might have noticed some abnormal things while taking care of her niece during these days.
The rope was retrieved, and Xue Liangliang and Luo Gong worked together to tie Jingjing up.
Then, Jingjing was laid on her side and tossed onto the bed.
Zhao Hui closed the windows and pulled down the curtains, making the side room feel very enclosed.
All three gazed towards Li Zhiyuan.
Before they could speak, Li Zhiyuan said first:
“An altar, candles, offerings, yellow paper, yellow wine… If there’s no yellow paper, find me white paper and a brush or a pen. If there’s no yellow wine, beer or white liquor will do.”
“Alright!”
The three replied in unison and all went out to prepare.
In the side room, only Li Zhiyuan remained with Jingjing, who was still fiercely struggling despite being tied up.
Seeing the bewilderment in the girl’s eyes, Li Zhiyuan asked in return:
“Do you really think I would pretend not to know and deliberately act out this scene with you?”
Li Zhiyuan had taught Tan Wenbin that when one feels unable to cope with the situation, one should pretend not to see the evil forces.
During his return to his hometown in Nantong, he had acted this way.
At that time, he was utterly confused, unable to handle the dead, and could only choose to protect himself by avoiding harm.
Thus, he spent an entire year reading.
Knowledge changes fate.
Now, when facing such evil entities, he was no longer that naive boy who could only wear a bewildered expression while playing along.
Xue Liangliang and Luo Gong brought a table over, already set with candles, and there were not just yellow papers, but also gold and silver ingots along with ghost money.
Not long ago, Aunt Zhao Hui’s sister and brother-in-law had died in a car accident, so it was normal for her to have such things at home.
After everything was arranged, Zhao Hui suddenly felt her legs weaken and collapsed to the floor, fortunately caught by Luo Gong in time.
“My Jingjing, my Jingjing…”
Having gone from tying up offerings to having nothing to do, her emotions finally surged forth.
Luo Gong looked at Li Zhiyuan, asking: “Xiaoyuan, can you handle this? What should I do next?”
“Teacher, after the incident at the riverworks in my hometown, my great-grandfather taught me some methods that should work. You…”
Li Zhiyuan glanced at the side door.
Luo Gong understood, turning to his wife: “Ah Hui, didn’t you mention on the phone that Jingjing was acting strange? Finding out there’s a problem is a good thing for her. We can’t complicate matters now, so I’ll stay with you outside and trust in Xiaoyuan.”
“Yeah.” Zhao Hui nodded vigorously, wiped away her tears, and smiled apologetically at Li Zhiyuan, “Xiaoyuan, please take care of her.”
Luo Gong and his wife stepped outside.
Xue Liangliang stayed behind, lighting candles while saying:
“Our aunt is a clear-headed person. The teacher is truly lucky.”
“Yeah, you’re not so bad yourself.”
“I mean, brother, this is never-ending, right?”
“I’m serious.” Li Zhiyuan pointed to Jingjing, who was still writhing on the bed like a maggot, “Earlier, she showed disgust when she smelled the Bai family scent on you.”
“Eh, does it really have that effect?”
“It’s like having a camphor ball in your pocket.”
“Xiaoyuan, can’t you pick some more elegant metaphors?”
Li Zhiyuan shook his head.
A young man might have no feelings for the Bai family, but he could never actually like them or say anything favorable.
The day after tomorrow, Liu Yumei would be moving, and it would also be Li Zhiyuan's introduction rite.
The Dragon King of the river would never look kindly on a water mouse hiding below, dreaming of ascending to the heavens in broad daylight.
“What’s next?” Xue Liangliang asked, “Should we call Runsheng and the others to come over?”
“No need.” Li Zhiyuan shook his head, “Her body is even younger than mine.”
“Ha ha ha.” Hearing this, Xue Liangliang couldn’t help but laugh, “Keep going, please.”
Li Zhiyuan lit the yellow paper with his fingertip, waved it a couple of times, and placed it in a bowl of yellow wine to extinguish it.
“Since you can understand speech, I won’t look for evil now. I’ll offer you the last chance beforehand. Leave the girl’s body, enjoy this table of offerings. Then go wherever you need to go, but don’t attach yourself again and do evil.”
Forcing an evil entity to leave its host was the easiest way with the least harm to the host's body.
Li Zhiyuan was not Lin Shuyou; he did not have the obsession to eliminate every evil spirit, as that was exhausting.
Xue Liangliang nodded in agreement, recalling when Xiaoyuan had set up the altar in his room to worship, his tone was much softer, akin to a pleading request.
Hearing him now, it was clear that after gaining skills, his attitude had changed.
Jingjing suddenly stopped struggling, lifted her head, and questioned the young man, “Who exactly are you?”
Li Zhiyuan calmly replied: “Say one more useless word, and I’ll exorcise you directly.”
Jingjing: “I can give you this favor, but you must find a woman born on a yin day and time for me to inhabit.”
Li Zhiyuan nodded.
Jingjing was filled with joy: “You agreed?”
Li Zhiyuan: “You can go die.”
Jingjing’s expression suddenly turned fierce, her eyes flashing red as they began to swirl.
Xue Liangliang felt dizzy and stumbled back two steps, leaning against the wardrobe.
Li Zhiyuan, however, seemed completely unaffected as he walked over to the bed, sweeping a finger across the young girl’s body.
Since there was plenty of black dog blood on her, he simply used it as paint.
With a hand shaped like a crane, he traced a spell from the girl’s brow to her throat and then to her abdomen, drawing a seal along the way.
Finally, he clenched his fist and struck the girl’s abdomen!
“Bang!”
Blood-red markings spread from Jingjing’s abdomen all the way to her brow.
“Ahhhh!!!”
Jingjing let out a cry even more piercing than before, her eyes alternating between fierce rage and confusion.
Li Zhiyuan had many other methods he could use, but worried about harming the host, he could only resort to this clumsy one.
But it didn’t matter; thanks to the prior pouring of black dog blood, her menace was dulled, and this simple method was sufficient.
Having overcome his dizziness, Xue Liangliang leaned closer, able to clearly see the alternating emotions on Jingjing’s face, as if they were about to separate.
Jingjing spoke, “If I hadn’t possessed her, she would have died in that car accident long ago. If you drive me out, she will die!”
Li Zhiyuan replied, “There’s neither death energy nor corpse spots on her body; she’s already a car accident survivor. You merely snuck in while she was weak; do you take me for a child with this kind of lie?”
Suddenly, green eerie eyes surfaced in Jingjing’s gaze, her voice no longer that of a young girl, but rather hoarse and sinister:
“Yin and Yang preserve a thread; let’s meet again in the future. I will retreat a step. You simply take this body to my cave, and I shall leave, without clinging to her.”
“Oh, where is your cave?”
“In…” Just as she was about to say it, Jingjing hesitated, “You must not follow; let her go there on her own!”
Li Zhiyuan was too lazy to bicker with her.
He pressed his finger to the girl’s philtrum, continuing to force the evil within her to expel itself.
“Friend, do you really want to cut off all ties?”
“I have obsessive-compulsive disorder.”
Li Zhiyuan’s other hand touched down, closing the girl’s eyelids before gently pulling them up, knocking three times on her forehead with his knuckles.
The girl’s body trembled; her mouth opened, and a stream of black smoke rushed out, the curtains billowed, and the window opened as if the winds were blowing.
Jingjing’s body gradually relaxed, a cold sweat pouring down, quickly soaking the bed sheets.
From her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, also oozed black pus, emitting a foul odor.
Xue Liangliang immediately said, “Is she dying?”
Li Zhiyuan looked at Xue Liangliang in surprise, “Your companion has this smell too?”
It was normal for Runsheng and Yinmeng to detect it, but Xue Liangliang was an engineer, not a corpse collector.
“How is that possible?”
“Oh.”
“I didn’t smell it; just look at how much water is dripping from her—it’s clearly dying!”
“This water isn’t actually much.”
“Alright, so I misunderstood; I’m dumb.”
After a pause, Xue Liangliang added,
“Also, she doesn’t smell.”
“Alright, Liangliang, turn her over. Don’t let her choke; untie her ropes as well.”
Xue Liangliang first turned Jingjing over and asked while untying, “Is it alright now? Can we call the teacher and auntie in? They must be worried sick in the living room.”
“Not yet, wait a bit longer.”
“Wait for what?”
“It hasn’t left yet.”
After Li Zhiyuan finished speaking, he opened his eyes and entered a state of seeing evil.
Earlier, the wind and the curtains moving were just its tricks; it was still in this room.
Of course, even if it wanted to leave, Li Zhiyuan wouldn't let it.
He was just looking out for the girl’s health and deliberately pretending to be blind for a moment.
In his state of seeing evil, Li Zhiyuan noticed a black snake coiled on the ceiling.
Oh, it turned out to be a corpse demon dying.
In his memory, corpse demons often had more intelligence compared to other dying entities and were easier to communicate with, like the cat-faced old lady he had encountered back home.
The black snake flicked its tongue, initially relaxed, but after making eye contact with the young man, it was startled.
Perhaps after crawling into the girl’s body, it thought Li Zhiyuan would follow the dusty, earth-like methods, regarding him as some folk magician.
Just like when Liu Xiezi had used ashes to perform exorcisms on Li Zhiyuan.
So, it had wanted to wait for everyone to leave before returning to the girl's body.
Now it finally realized it had miscalculated; this young man had substantial abilities!
The black snake quickly slithered away; this time, it was truly attempting to escape.
Li Zhiyuan spread his palm.
The twelve commands of Fengdu—Four Ghosts Lift the Palanquin.
The snake's body became uncontrollable; it was abruptly pulled down when it was trying to flee, crashing down at Li Zhiyuan’s feet, pressed to the ground and unable to move, as if truly trapped under a palanquin.
Li Zhiyuan bent down and grasped the black snake in his hand.
In this state, he could feel the black snake trembling violently.
Li Zhiyuan took a small compass from his pocket.
He had two types of compasses.
The purple compass was too large to carry around easily, and he usually kept it in the dormitory.
Whenever needed, it was brought along by Runsheng or Tan Wenbin.
The smaller compass was made by himself.
It was portable, but the downside was there was a fixed error it carried, which he had to mentally correct each time he used it.
This error seemed to have been set from the very beginning when he made the compass, and later as his skills improved, the errors in the compasses he made still remained unchanged.
He walked to the altar, lifted the bowl filled with ashes, and poured it over his palm.
The black snake immediately became sluggish, as if drunk and lost its consciousness.
Li Zhiyuan slapped the black snake into his compass, then walked to the girl’s side and rubbed some more black dog blood off her onto the compass to create a seal.
According to Wei Zhengdao’s “Exorcism Guide,” generally, one could simply stick a pre-drawn seal paper on for this kind of task.
But like with his homemade compass, Li Zhiyuan was also not proficient in drawing charms.
Initially, he suspected that it was because he hadn’t learned from a master, which amounted to not being spiritually empowered in the field of talismans.
Later, he vaguely sensed that this might be related to his own limitations, similar to how he struggled to summon spirits.
According to fate theory, it was like the full moon wanes; when water fills, it overflows, so there had to be some symbolic opening left, or it would be prone to early demise.
Without talisman paper, things would always be inconvenient.
Li Zhiyuan decided to let Ah Li try helping him draw some talisman papers in the future.
The wooden flowers she carved for him had always yielded strong effects.
The ancestor tablets and materials could only provide an enhancement effect; otherwise, if they were truly effective, everyone would have to carry a tablet during fights in the future.
Li Zhiyuan opened the side room door and stepped outside, saying to Luo Gong and Zhao Hui, who were sitting in the living room:
“Jingjing is fine now, but her body is a bit weak. It’s best to send her to the hospital for observation. She may have some mild headaches or minor illnesses soon.”
Zhao Hui immediately rushed into the bedroom to check on the girl.
Luo Gong sighed in relief and smiled at Li Zhiyuan: “You’ve worked hard, Xiaoyuan.”
“Teacher, it’s what I should do.”
“However…” Luo Gong organized his words, “Your skills in this area should be kept discreet; when resolving certain issues, you should involve outsiders. Otherwise, it might impact your future development.”
“Teacher, you’re not an outsider.”
“Ha ha.” Luo Gong patted the young man on the shoulder, “Having a good brain is enviable. You can work on your graduation project and still learn these things.”
Luo Gong went inside to check on the child as well.
Li Zhiyuan walked to the balcony, took out his compass, and roughly calculated the direction, estimating a location.
Then he walked to the living room telephone, picked it up, and dialed the local shop’s number.
Yinmeng answered the phone.
Li Zhiyuan gave her a time and place, asking her to notify Runsheng and Tan Wenbin to bring their gear and meet him there.
That previous scene at the General Temple was undoubtedly spectacular, but in the end, it was just a simple wrap-up, and Runsheng hadn’t been there that night.
This corpse demon's essence had already been investigated by Li Zhiyuan beforehand; its strength was moderate and met the standards.
Xue Liangliang came out at that moment, leaning against the wall and expressing some regret: “I really want to go with you all.”
“Who would bring camphor balls to fight?”
“Are you saying I’m useless, that I’d be a liability if I went?”
“Hmm, unless you could invite her out from the bottom of the river.”
“She could never come out.” Xue Liangliang said confidently.
“Do you trust her that much?”
“I know she’s terrified. She has told me that the Dragon King’s family on the river is already watching her.”
“Then Brother Liangliang, when you visit your hometown next time, you could kindly let her know that the Dragon King’s family is essentially your maternal family.”
Xue Liangliang raised his head, a proud smile on his face: “Oh, am I that important?”
“Yeah, being a son-in-law isn’t easy; it’s tough when you don’t have backing.”
“Ha ha ha, you little brat!” Xue Liangliang laughed and scolded while wrapping an arm around the young man’s shoulders, “Thanks, Xiaoyuan.”
“Don’t mention it; you’re the big boss here.”
“What big boss?”
The boss of the “bandit lair” at the local shop of Haihe University is Xue Liangliang, according to the business license.
Luo Gong and Xue Liangliang would first accompany Zhao Hui to send Jingjing to the hospital, and then they had to rush to Mount Huang that night.
Li Zhiyuan did not share a ride with them but instead chose to call a taxi for himself.
Sitting in the taxi, he admired the night scenery of the city.
When he reached the place, he paid the fare.
Just as he turned around, he spotted Runsheng, Yinmeng, and Tan Wenbin in the distance, carrying their equipment under the streetlight, their figures elongated.
Li Zhiyuan turned around, waved his hand, and shouted,
“Let’s go, team building.”
(End of Chapter)