I hid the phone back in the room, then headed out with Huang Jiu and got into Chen Kai's car. However, when I was on the way, I hadn't felt any fatigue from practicing my internal energy, but as soon as I got into the car, I started dozing off and fell asleep.
When Chen Kai woke me up, the car had already stopped in front of a villa. The living room inside was brightly lit, and there were people waiting. I rubbed my face, wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth, and followed Chen Kai into the villa, with Huang Jiu and my bag of tools in tow.
I didn't recognize any of the people inside, but their occupations were quite different, and their mannerisms and attire made them easy to distinguish. There was a middle-aged man in his forties wearing a suit and tie, looking anxious. He immediately stood up when he saw me. He was Zhang Zong, someone I had never met before.
Beside him stood a man in his fifties, dressed in traditional Chinese attire, playing with a string of beads. This man was the master from Hong Kong. Alongside him stood a young woman, likely his disciple, about eighteen or nineteen, with a delicate appearance.
I walked up to Zhang Zong and greeted him, imitating my second uncle's tone: "Zhang Zong, it's a pleasure to meet you!"
However, my politeness made Zhang Zong frown. He shook my hand and asked, "Where's your second uncle?"
"His phone is unreachable. I think we won't be able to contact him until tomorrow morning," I replied.
When Zhang Zong saw me, a young man, his confidence faltered a bit. Luckily, Chen Kai hurriedly chimed in, "Zhang Zong, Master Li Yang here is actually the true disciple of the Li family. His skills are even greater than his second uncle's!"
I didn't bother addressing Chen Kai's exaggeration. Instead, my attention turned to the master beside Zhang Zong.
The master was also observing me and, after a while, he spoke up. "Young man, I heard from Ah Kai that you're an exorcist. I hold great respect for exorcists, and I wonder if I could take a look at your spiritual companion?"
"Exorcist?" I frowned slightly.
But soon, I realized that it was probably a misunderstanding. Chen Kai must have mentioned Huang Jiu when he talked about me but didn't explain things clearly, leading the master to believe that Huang Jiu was my spiritual companion.
However, I didn't mind that he wanted to see Huang Jiu. I put down my bag, took Huang Jiu out of it, and shook it awake, pulling it out while it was still half-asleep.
Huang Jiu cursed loudly as soon as it woke up. "Damn it!"
The Hong Kong master seemed stunned for a moment and asked curiously, "Young man, is your spiritual companion from Hong Kong?"
I was speechless. Huang Jiu had probably been thinking about the Hong Kong master the entire trip and accidentally used a common Cantonese phrase.
I shrugged and clarified, "It's not from Hong Kong. It's a yellow weasel from our mountains."
The master watched my every move carefully. He had seen exorcists before, but all the ones he knew treated their spiritual companions with extreme reverence. My behavior was quite different, and he seemed somewhat surprised.
After a brief pause, he introduced himself, "I'm Tang Quan, and this is my disciple, Xu Wanrong."
I nodded politely in response.
Zhang Zong, seeing that we had introduced ourselves, grew impatient and said anxiously, "Master Tang, Li Yang, Ying Ying and her classmates…"
I understood that it was time to act, but Chen Kai hadn't fully explained the situation, so I interrupted Zhang Zong and said, "I just arrived and don't know what's happening yet. Master Tang, could you give me a brief introduction?"
On the way here, I had been worried that the people accompanying me might be enemies, but after a few exchanges, I felt that Master Tang seemed like a decent person. As for the fact that he called me "young man," I didn't take offense. First, my age was indeed young, and secondly, his Mandarin wasn't very standard. If I made a big deal out of it, it would only make me seem petty.
However, to my surprise, Master Tang's explanation was extremely brief. He simply said four words: "Evil spirits entering the body."
Those four words made my brows furrow.
"Evil spirits entering the body" could be separated into two issues. "Evil spirits" meant what we usually refer to as a ghost possession, or in Western terms, "demonic possession." The affected person often behaves abnormally, and in severe cases, they might hurt themselves or others, but this usually doesn't last long because living beings naturally carry some yang energy, which weakens the influence of the evil presence.
"煞气入体" or "evil aura entering the body" is far more troublesome, as the malevolent energy erodes the soul of the person. Initially, the affected individual might seem conscious at times and erratic at others. Over time, they lose their sanity completely, becoming a mere shell controlled by desire.
When Tang Quan mentioned "evil aura entering the body," I suspected both issues were happening simultaneously. This situation was much worse. The ghost, aided by the evil aura, could resist the person's yang energy, essentially overtaking the body. If not dealt with in time, this was similar to Daoist practices of "soul transference" or possession.
If I ever saw someone who was seemingly mad one moment but suddenly became calm, I'd be sure that person was no longer themselves.
As Tang Quan was talking to me, several luxury cars arrived at the entrance of Zhang Zong's house. The people getting out appeared to be anxious couples.
Zhang Zong quickly stood up to greet them.
Tang Quan glanced over and said to me, "Li Yang, this place is going to get quite chaotic. Would you like to come upstairs with me?"
I glanced at Tang Quan. Using my spiritual vision, I could tell that his Daoist energy was pure and strong, comparable to Liu Changxuan from Laoshan.
With his ability, he could handle this issue alone, as long as it hadn't reached the level of soul transference. He didn't need to share the task with me.
It seemed that Tang Quan was intentionally lowering his status in front of Zhang Zong and Wang Zong to elevate mine.
I now suspected that the incident involving Zhang Ying and her friends was related to the haunted building in East City.
Despite my efforts to avoid it, it seemed that I couldn't escape my past actions. I had sold charms to Zhang Ying and her friends, and now they were in trouble. I couldn't just ignore it.
Tang Quan and his disciple led the way upstairs. I followed behind them, and I overheard Xu Wanrong muttering in dissatisfaction, "Master, we could handle this ourselves. Why do we need to bring this country bumpkin along? Working with someone like him will lower your reputation!"
Her voice was low, but I heard her clearly. It seemed she was deliberately speaking so I could hear.
Tang Quan replied, "There's money to be made, and food to be shared. Don't be so petty."
His words, though direct, gave off a feeling of honesty. But I didn't believe him entirely.
As my grandfather once said, there are good people in the world, but aside from charity, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
Aside from handling the haunted building in East City, there must be other motives for this Hong Kong master getting close to me.
And the biggest thing he likely had his eyes on was the ten-thousand-year-old mountain associated with the female corpse.
Now that I thought about it, his curiosity about Huang Jiu wasn't just about intrigue.