"Creak!"
With the sound of the door opening, the seven assistants outside the door looked at the door in unison.
When Lisa pulled open the door, he was confronted by seven pairs of gazes filled with intensity and as if their eyes would shine like laser beams...
"Third Young Master!" The seven iron-blooded men looked at Lisa with bloodshot eyes and excitement, scaring Lisa into taking a step back.
Alarmed for a moment, Lisa subconsciously looked behind him. When he saw that Joohyun was still asleep and wasn't roused, he heaved a sigh of relief. Then he quickly walked out of the room and smoothly closed the door.
"Keep your voices down," Lisa frowned and commanded.
The seven assistants immediately quieted down.
Lisa looked at the people who were crowded together at the door early in the morning and suddenly remembered something. He squinted at the seven assistants in front of him and asked, "You...have you all been staying up here since last night?"
The assistants nodded.
Lisa's face drastically turned ugly again: "Did any of you enter?"
Relying on the crisis awareness the assistants accumulated from life and death lines, they shook their heads in unison.
Only then did Lisa relax. He grunted before he turned around and walked downstairs, with the gazes of his assistants filled with guilt glued on his back.
Seeing that Lisa was awake, the assistants were in the best spirits. Knowing that their Third Young Master was alright, they all left the small building and went back to their dormitory, leaving only He Qi behind, the assistant on duty for the day.
Lisa sat on the sofa in the living room, looked up and asked, "Who did you notify about the incident last night?"
"We notified Master Mao. Master Mao is currently out of town, so he should be arriving in the morning," He Qi answered. He looked at his watch and said, "He should be here soon."
"Only Master Mao?" Lisa asked.
"Miss Joohyun said she has a way to cure you, so we...we chose not to notify the Minister," He Qi replied.
A hint of surprise appeared on Lisa's expression. He was obviously surprised that He Qi did not notify his father at the first opportunity after he fell unconscious: "Why?"
"I've been your assistant for so many years, yet you've never made any special requests to us, nor even given us specific orders," He Qi laughed bitterly, "It was only anything in regards to Miss Joohyun that you 一一 this was the only time you made demands of us."
"Young Master, no matter who arranged for us to come here, all of us are here as your assistants. As long as your life isn't threatened, we will put your orders first," He Qi solemnly added on with his response.
Lisa obviously did not expect to hear such words. After a moment of silence, Lisa could not help but express his thanks, "Thank you!"
"This is our duty," He Qi finished and gave a standard military salute to Lisa.
Just then, a sudden commotion erupted at the door. They turned their heads and saw Master Mao in Daoist robes barging into the living room. While running, he shouted, "Where's Lisa? How's Lisa now?"
"Master Mao." The moment Lisa saw Master Mao, he immediately stood up and greeted him.
"Lisa!!!" Master Mao's shocked pair of squinting eyes bulged into round and large eyes: "You...Aren't you supposed to be hibernating?"
"I just woke up from a nap," Lisa replied with some amusement.
"..."
After knowing that it was a false alarm, Master Mao, whose heart was torn with anxiety all night, sat in the living room together with Lisa and had a conversation about the situation last night.
"What happened last night?" Master Mao remarked, "You never leave the small building around the winter solstice."
"A very powerful malevolent ghost appeared in the vicinity last night," Lisa said.
"Couldn't Little Friend Chen subdue it either?" Master Mao asked with a frown.
Recalling last night's events, Lisa's eyebrows scrunched up unconsciously, and slowly he shook his head in disagreement.
"So... you left the building to save Little Friend Chen?" Master Mao asked.
"It's not only Irin. There are a lot of people in this compound, and it's always unsafe for a very dangerous, powerful malevolent ghost to haunt the neighborhood," Lisa said, "Besides, my evil spirit will lie dormant in a low-temperature state. Hence, even if I went out, I shouldn't have been able to discharge too much evil qi."
"You've thought everything through, except for one thing...," Master Mao reminded, "You forgot about yourself."
"..." Lisa fell silent.
"Lisa, you care more about Little Friend Chen than I thought," Master Mao suddenly said out of the blue.
"I didn't do it only for Irin's sake, but for..."
"Please don't rush to explain first," Master Mao interrupted Lisa and said, "Before Little Friend Chen returned to this compound, this compound had been very clean. Not even a single wandering spirit had appeared. If you truly care for the wellbeing of the compound's residents, you should inform your father about this and then have Mayor Chen's family move out of the compound."
Lisa's face changed, and his palms clenched into a ball of fists.
"You have always been aware of the dangers of the evil spirit in your body. Right from the beginning, when we talked about letting you live here because there was abundant spirit qi in this small building, you disagreed to reside here, considering that it was right smack in the city center, and there were also other people living in the compound. You were afraid that your evil spirit will suddenly get out of control one day and hurt the the surrounding people," Master Mao said, "Later, I repeatedly assured you that the arrays I set up in the courtyard can guarantee that as long as you do not step out of the courtyard, even if your evil spirit breaks out, it will not affect the people outside of the array in the the compound. So you reluctantly stayed."
"Yet now, you took the initiative on your own to step out of the small courtyard and unlock the jade clasp for the sake of Little Friend Chen alone."
Lisa suddenly raised his head. His face was pale, and there was a trace of panic in his eyes. Lisa's panic did not originate from Master Mao's questioning, but from the sudden realization that everything Master Mao said was right. He did care about Joohyun...
"Your care for Little Friend Chen is abnormal. What exactly do you..."
"I'm done for! I'm done for! I'm done for!..." A series of screams that wailed from the second floor interrupted Master Mao's unfinished sentence. The two turned their heads and saw Joohyun, running down from the second floor in a panic.
"Third Brother, how are you feeling now?" Joohyun ran to the living room and saw Lisa sitting downstairs at a glance.
In fact, before going to sleep last night, Joohyun had already checked Lisa's condition that his vital qi and evil spirit had recovered. It was only because she did not see Lisa wake up with her own eyes that she still felt slightly uneasy.
"I'm fine. What's wrong with you?" Lisa asked.
"I was in too much of a hurry when I came out last night, and I didn't return home afterwards, so my parents right now must be anxious," Joohyun had been thinking for a while as to how to explain herself, but she still couldn't come up with a reasonable excuse after pondering for a long time.
Just then, He Qi, who heard Joohyun's voice, arrived with a beige down jacket and handed it to Joohyun, saying, "Miss Joohyun, you don't have to worry too much. Young Master Chen came by last night and said he would notify Mayor Chen and Mrs. Chen that you had an emergency last night and went back to school."
"My brother?" Joohyun remembered. She seemed to have dropped her down jacket in front of her elder brother last night: "Did my brother say anything else?"
"No," He Qi shook his head.
Seeing Joohyun holding her down jacket in a daze, Lisa walked to her and said, "Since Chen Yang has explained it for you, you don't need to hurry home. Let's have breakfast first."
"I'm in!" Joohyun gave it a thought and felt that what Third Brother said made sense. Hence, she greeted Master Mao and sat down on the sofa in the living room.
"Go and prepare breakfast, and bring the medical kit by the way," Lisa instructed He Qi.
"Roger." In a short while, He Qi brought the medical kit back.
Lisa took the medical kit and walked over to Joohyun, who raised her head in confusion.
"The wound on your forehead needs to be treated," Lisa said.
Joohyun couldn't help but lift her hand and touch her forehead, causing her to gasp in pain. Her reaction made Lisa frown: "Don't touch it."
"Oh." Joohyun immediately sat down obediently.
Lisa carefully disinfected Joohyun with iodophor, and then put on the gauze.
Master Mao, who was sitting aside and drinking tea, silently watched the scene. The more he watched, the more serious his expression became.
Not long after the wound was bandaged, Joohyun smiled sweetly at Lisa: "Thank you, Third Brother."
"Be careful in the future," Lisa couldn't help but admonish.
"En." Joohyun nodded obediently, and then took the big apple on the coffee table and began taking bites on it. While nibbling, she also asked Master Mao nearby, "Master Mao, why does Third Brother's evil spirit lie dormant around the winter solstice?"
Master Mao shook his head and answered, "I don't know the exact reason why. I just grasped the pattern through observation."
"Winter solstice? The winter solstice indicates that winter is coming. The weather will become colder, and animals will hibernate..." Joohyun frowned, "But none of this seems to have anything to do with evil spirits."
"I have studied this for a long time, but still cannot find the answer. However..." Master Mao looked at Joohyun and asked, "Once Lisa hibernates, he will fall completely asleep and will sleep until the next beginning of spring. I'm curious. Little Friend Chen, through what method did you wake up Lisa last night?"
"I..."
"Cough!" Lisa, who was listening to the two in silence, couldn't help but to cough awkwardly. When the two looked at him in surprise, Lisa calmly interjected, "Breakfast is ready. Let's go eat first."
"Mm-hmm." The moment Joohyun heard that there was food, she jumped up happily and ran away.
Master Mao glanced at Lisa, and the corners of his mouth curled up in a smile. He also followed and walked to the dining room.
Lisa awkwardly touched his nose, slowly trailing behind.
After eating breakfast, Master Mao asked again, "I heard Lisa say that last night, Little Friend Chen met a tough and powerful malevolent ghost?"
"It's not a powerful malevolent ghost; it's a Ghost King," Joohyun shook her head and said.
"Ghost King?" Master Mao's expression changed: "Someone invited the Ghost King of the underworld?"
"It's not the Underworld's Ghost King," Joohyun explained, "That Ghost King last night was artificially refined."
"There is a Celestial Master refining a Ghost King?" Master Mao cried incredulously.
The formation of a Ghost King could only rely on devouring souls, so the formation of a Ghost King corresponded to the disappearance of countless souls. Even in the underworld with countless souls, there could only be one Ghost King among millions of Yin soldiers, not to mention in this world full of living people.
"His name is Qi Changming. Have you heard of this person, Master Mao?" Joohyun asked.
"That Ghost King last night was sent by this Celestial Master named Qi Changming?" Lisa asked.
"Yeah, I have fought with him before and have seen this Ghost King," Joohyun nodded and replied.
"You have fought with him before?" Master Mao was surprised.
"Then were you okay that time?" Lisa thought of the Ghost King's ferocity and couldn't help but worry.
"I'm alright. At that time, he summoned the Ghost King through a ghost token. I smashed the ghost token into pieces with one foot and the Ghost King disappeared right after, so he didn't hurt me." Joohyun huffed: "I can't believe he's so petty. He couldn't beat me, so he went so far as to summon a Ghost King to assassinate me afterwards."
"Master Mao, have you ever heard of this person?" Lisa's impression of this Qi Changming plummeted nethermost.
"I've never heard of him." Master Mao shook his head and said, "But nowadays, there are few sects that still use the Soul Refining Formation to refine malevolent ghosts, not to mention refining a Ghost King. I'll go back and ask someone to further investigate. There should be news soon."
"Master Mao, can you please do me a favor?" Joohyun suddenly looked at Master Mao.
"Little Friend Chen, do say," Master Mao was a little curious about what Joohyun would ask of him.
"Here's the thing. That Qi Changming is bad. I'm not afraid of him, but I'm afraid he will do something against my family, so..." Joohyun said, "Master Mao, I don't want any money for those jades, but can you send me three pieces of amulets?"
"What jade? What money?" Master Mao felt that he couldn't understand a word.
"Oh, that one. Didn't you say that the jades which Assistant Tian brought back the other day were particularly suitable for amulets?" Lisa hurriedly picked up the conversation.
"Yeah! That's the one." Joohyun nodded in agreement at the side.
Master Mao blinked, and after adding and subtracting the two's meanings, he finally comprehended: "You want me to use those dead jades and help you make a few amulets?"
"En." Joohyun immediately nodded happily, while Lisa let out a long sigh of relief.
Master Mao always felt that something was wrong, but in the end, he did not refuse.
When Joohyun left home, her phone was forgotten in her room. Joohyun, without her phone, always felt uneasy, so she stayed for a short while before getting up and leaving, intending to go back and secretly fetch her phone, and then go back to school.
Lisa watched Joohyun leave, and then met Master Mao's probing gaze.
Lisa pondered for a moment and admitted particularly dryly, "I do care about her."
"No more denial?" Master Mao was instead a little surprised.
"I can't hide it from you anyway," Lisa replied with a bitter smile.
"Although Little Friend Chen is not afraid of your evil spirit, the gap between you is too much. On age alone..."
"Master Mao, you're overthinking it. I have no intention of doing anything," Lisa said with a smile, "I just care about her, and I want to protect her."