Joohyun heard some people shouting her name and turned her head to look suspiciously. Her expression, however, instantly froze when she saw Shao Hui, Qin Yi, Zhang Wenwen and Chu Xiao.
A guess formed inside Joohyun's mind. Sure enough, before she could turn her head back, Daoist Qiu opposite her shouted, "Fellow Daoist, what's your purpose in intruding on my ritual?"
"Me? Intruding?" Joohyun wasn't about to be outdone and retorted, "It's obviously you, who have ruined my business first."
"Business?" Daoist Master Qiu was confused, "What business?"
Joohyun pointed her finger at the two ghosts behind her and said, "I was opening the Ghost Gate to expiate these ghosts, when a whirlwind suddenly swept them away. Did you create that whirlwind?"
"Expiate?" Daoist Master Qiu was visibly taken aback. He took a look at the hostile evil ghosts in puzzlement. Could such evil spirits also be redeemed?
Before Daoist Master Qiu could answer, Liu Xiucheng's expression changed when she heard that the new female Celestial Master wanted to expiate Xiang Nan, and he shouted fiercely, "Daoist Master Qiu, hurry up and get rid of that evil ghost. It's important to save people."
Joohyun followed the voice and turned her gaze in Liu Xiucheng's direction. The moment her eyes met Liu Xiucheng's, her pupils unconsciously shrank. The vitali qi around that man was unstable. It was obvious that his vital qi wasn't his own. This was the first time that Joohyun encountered a person who had successfully changed his fate in defiance of the natural order.
With Liu Xiucheng's reminder, Daoist Master Qiu raised his Qingming Sword again and pointed to the formation, where Xiang Nan was suppressed under the spiritual net against three Daoist Priests, saying, "Fellow Daoist, please get out of the way. This evil ghost has a profound dao. If we don't get rid of him today, the consequences will be endless."
After saying that, Daoist Qiu brandished his Qingming Sword and attempted to bypass Joohyun to stab the evil ghost behind her. Joohyun's eyebrows jumped. The second Daoist Master Qiu bypassed her, a dagger in her right hand slashed his arm, and her left hand stretched out to catch the Qingming Sword he released from the pain.
The instant the Qingming Sword landed on Joohyun's hand, abundant spiritual power was transmitted through her fingertips. Joohyun couldn't resist praising, Good sword.
"Daoist Friend, what do you mean?" Daoist Qiu asked angrily.
"As I said, you've robbed me of my business," Joohyun repeated.
"Such an evil ghost can't be redeemed at all. You're clearly deliberately causing trouble." When Daoist Master Qiu saw that Joohyun was holding the Qingming sword, he concluded that she came to snatch the magic weapon.
"Hong!" At this moment, Xiang Nan's Yin Qi rushed out and hit the spiritual net for the second time. The spiritual net that suppressed him shook. The three Daoist Priests couldn't help but grunt, and they could hardly keep their peach wooden swords.
"Senior Brother, we can't hold on any longer," Daoist Master He yelled.
"Fellow Daoist, return the Qingming Sword to me, and then quickly get out of the way," Daoist Qiu ordered unkindly.
Joohyun had always been open to persuasion but not to coercion. If the other party talked to her nicely, she could have explained in a few words. Now that the other party not only robbed her business, but also talked menacingly, Joohyun was instantly upset. "What if I don't?"
"You..." Daoist Master Qiu was furious, "You are a Celestial Master, but you're helping evil spirits and aiding evildoers. Which sect are you from?"
"None of your business!" Joohyun spun the Qingming Sword in her hand and said, "Today, you either let me redeem my two clients first, or beat me."
"No way!" Liu Xiucheng said sharply, "We can't let her expiate Xiang Nan."
Right off the bat, Xiang Nan roared as if he was stimulated. The Yin Qi around him rapidly swelled and began to strike the spiritual net for the third time, looking like he was about to break through the net that was suppressing him.
Daoist Master He once again pulled the soul chain. Xiang Nan's soul trembled. His skyrocketing Yin Qi instantly stalled, and the spiritual net once again pressed down.
"Senior brother!" Daoist Master He urged, "Quick!"
In just a few minutes, this evil ghost hit the spiritual net three times. His cultivation was much more than they had imagined.
Daoist Master Qiu looked at Joohyun, but Joohyun rested the Qingming Sword across her chest. Her meaning couldn't be more obvious, I'm not going to let you pass. If you have the ability, beat me first.
Along with Joohyun, Lecherous Ghost, who had been hiding outside the formation, found after some observation that one of the elder Daoist priests was holding the soul chain that was restraining Xiang Nan. Her eyes flashed at once, and a plan formed in her mind. Immediately, she drifted to the field.
"What are you doing here?" Xiang Nan was the first to notice her and couldn't help but speak angrily.
On a rare occasion, Lecherous Ghost ignored him and floated directly beside Daoist Master He.
Daoist Master He had no idea what the female lecherous ghost wanted to do. He just reprimanded out loud, "Evildoer, get lost." If all his spiritual qi hadn't been consumed in restraining Xiang Nan, he could have solved such a ghost with a wave of his hand.
Lecherous Ghost suddenly cracked a smile. Her scarlet tongue slowly licked her lips, and her expression turned lewd and ambiguous as she replied, "Daoist Priest, come closer, let me have a careful look. I found that you're actually quite handsome."
"W-What do you want?" An ominous premonition suddenly sprouted in Daoist Master He's heart.
"I've been a lecherous ghost for so many years but haven't molested a Daoist Priest yet. Hehehehe..." As she spoke, Lecherous Ghost suddenly pouted and kissed Daoist Master He's cheek.
Daoist Master He had lived for almost fifty years, but had never encountered this kind of battle. His old face instantly burst red, and in his panic, he raised his hand to swat the Lecherous Ghost away. But the moment he let go of his hand, the soul chain that was restraining Xiang Nan instantly loosened. Xiang Nan no longer had restraints. The Yin Qi surrounding him spread with vengeance and with a bang, he broke away from the spiritual net.
"Sister Weiwei," Xiao Kang warned in a shout.
Xiang Nan looked towards the female ghost flying towards him, and first used a wave of Yin Qi to lift her up. Next, she reached out to hold her in place, asking worriedly, "Are you okay?"
"Yes!" Lecherous Ghost shook her head with an unstable breath.
After they'd exchanged only two sentences, an aura-driven Sword Qi slashed down from the air. Xiang Nan paled. He caught the two and tried to dodge away.
"Urgent as the law!" Three Daoist incantations sounded at the same time, and three soul chains flew towards the field again. Two chains from the other two Daoist Priests flew towards Xiang Nan, but the chain in the hand of Daoist Master He flew towards the Lecherous Ghost who tried to molest him just now.
You dared to molest this poor Daoist??
Xiang Nan dodged the two soul chains and dragged Lecherous Ghost. He wanted to leave when he realized that Lecherous Ghost's right hand had been locked by a soul chain. The Sword Qi overhead was about to plunge down. If he were to dodge at this point, Lecherous Ghost was bound to disappear in a puff.
Xiang Nan didn't hesitate. He placed Xiao Kang, whom he was carrying, aside, and readied himself to face the Sword Qi. Just then, Joohyun abruptly leaped in place with the Qingming Sword and wielded the sword in the air. The Qingming Sword projected a golden Sword Qi and cleaved the other Sword Qi strike.
The two Sword Qis collided in the air, and the huge wave of qi made the people on the ground retreat uncontrollably.
"Huh??" A somewhat familiar voice suddenly sounded, "Student, you really are a Celestial Master. I've been wondering how someone with such spirit Qi could be such an ordinary person."
"Martial Uncle Huo Mu," When Daoist Master Qiu saw the visitor, his face instantly glowed happily.
Daoist Master Huo Mu scanned the scene. After discovering the three familiar ghosts, he looked at Joohyun again, and his eyes flashed with understanding. It turned out that they were acquainted. No wonder she didn't help him that day.
"Martial Uncle Huo Mu, you've come just in time." Daoist Master Qiu hurriedly explained, "When we were about to exterminate that evil ghost with the Soul Summoning Formation and Spirit Trapping Formation, this fellow Daoist suddenly stepped in and obstructed it. She also snatched away my Qingming Sword."
In order to get rid of the evil ghost tonight, Daoist Qiu not only prepared a lot of talismans, spells, and formations but also invited two of his fellow disciples and his Martial Uncle Huo Mu to help. Martial Uncle Huo Mu heard that the evil ghost had six hundred years of cultivation, so he first visited a brother in a Daoist temple to borrow a magic weapon. Hence, his late arrival.
"Little Fellow Daoist, why did you do that?" Daoist Master Huo Mu asked Joohyun.
"Wow, the villain sues the victim beforehand." Joohyun said, "I was originally in the grove to redeem these two wronged souls, and was about to open the Ghost Gate, when your nephew and fellow masters suddenly used the Soul Summoning Formation to sweep them away, so I chased them here."
"And you," Joohyun pointed to Daoist Master Huo Mu and said, "Before you arrived, you wielded a sword openly and almost chopped my client's soul. If I didn't block, you would have smashed my name. Are you Daoist priests deliberately trying to antagonize me?"
"Sorry, this poor Daoist was abrupt," Daoist Master Huo Mu apologized.
"Martial Uncle, you shouldn't listen to her foolishness." Daoist Master Qiu almost kicked the bucket from excessive anger. His innocent Martial Uncle was about to be fooled. "That evil ghost has 600 years of dao and is seething with hostility. How can he be redeemed? Besides, he's now carrying two lives."
After hearing this, Daoist Master Huo Mu asked, "Can Fellow Daoist redeem that evil ghost with 600 years of dao?"
"Did I say I'll redeem him? What I'll expiate are the two next to him," Joohyun said.
"You..." Joohyun was simply killing Daoist Master Qiu. Go ahead and expiate those two next to him. Why did you stop us from killing the one in the middle?
"Then, take the two wronged souls next to him and leave him." Daoist Master Huo Mu was quite reasonable. "But the evil ghost in the middle must be exterminated today."
Hardly had Daoist Master Huo Mu's statement faded when Xiao Kang and Lecherous Ghost each clung to Xiang Nan's thigh and neck.
Seeing this, Joohyun innocently spread her hands and said: "You see, they can't be separated. How about this? Today, I will take these three away first, and when I'm done with the two, you can catch the evil ghost."
"This..." Daoist Master Huo Mu hesitated.
"Martial Uncle, there's only one name card with the eight characters of the evil ghost's birthday. We also can't use the Soul Summoning Formation any long after today. If he escapes, we may not find him again." Daoist Master Qiu said anxiously, "There isn't much time left for Young Master Zhang and Miss Liu."
"Moreover, Martial Uncle, every time you meet an evil spirit with profound Daoism, you have to go to Changhong Temple to borrow the Changhong Sword. Don't you want our Daoist temple to have such a magic weapon?" said Daoist Qiu.
Daoist Master Huo Mu looked at the borrowed Changhong Sword in his hand and then looked at the Qingming Sword in Joohyun's hand, and once again wavered.
Concurrently, outside the field, seeing how Joohyun's appearance disrupted the smooth ritual, Liu Xiucheng pondered for a moment and whispered to Chief Zhang beside him, "Chief Zhang, this woman disrupted our ritual. If we let that evil ghost escape, Ziyang will be in danger."
When Chief Zhang heard this, his eyes flashed. He raised his hand to call two uniformed police officers and ordered, "Escort that woman away."
Hearing this, Shao Hui hurriedly spoke out and stopped, "Uncle Zhang, no. Joohyun is Uncle Chen's daughter."
"Mayor Chen?" Hearing that Joohyun was the mayor's daughter, Chief Zhang hesitated.
"Chief Zhang, Ziyang's time is running out." Liu Xiucheng advised, "You're just asking someone to ask Miss Chen to leave. I don't think Mayor Chen will be angry."
When Chief Zhang heard that, he thought Liu Xiucheng made sense. Chen Jianxun couldn't possibly find trouble with me just because I had someone invite her daughter out of the square. So with a wave of his hand again, he continued ordering the two policemen around him to move and invite Joohyun away.
Joohyun, who was confronting the Daoist Priests, suddenly saw two policemen striding over and was instantly confused. As a good law-abiding citizen, Joohyun wasn't afraid of ghosts, not afraid of zombies, not afraid of hoodlums, not afraid of murderous criminals, but afraid of the police, ah.
"Miss Chen, you're trespassing on private property, suspected of fighting and brawling, please come with us," one of the police officers accused out loud.
What? I've committed crimes??
When the two policemen noticed the unresponsive Joohyun, they received a signal from Chief Zhang. They were about to move forward to take Joohyun's arm, so that they could escort her to leave the scene, but the moment their hands were about to touch Joohyun's arm, two stones suddenly flew over and hit them on the arms.
The two police officers yelped in pain. They alertly drew their pistols out and pointed in the direction of the flying stones. They shouted, "Who's there?"
Gun...Gun out?? When Joohyun saw the guns, she became even more alarmed.
"Ta-ta-ta..."
The crowd fixed their eyes into the dark, only to see a burly seven-foot strong man coming out of the darkness. The visitor completely ignored the two guns pointed at him and walked straight to Joohyun. He smiled apologetically and asked, "Miss Joohyun, are you all right?"
"You...You're..." Joohyun was a little excited.
"I'm the assistant on duty on Thursdays, Pan Feng," Pan Feng introduced himself with a smile.
"Why are you just standing there? Take the man away." Chief Zhang outside the field saw another person appear and became anxious.
"Right away!" The two policemen were about to go forward again. However, as soon as they moved, Pan Feng, who had just turned his back on the two men and talked to Joohyun, suddenly turned around. Without seeing how Pan Feng's hands moved, the guns in the two policemen's hands were snatched, and then with a couple of swishes, he dismantled the firearms and threw them to the ground.
"Chief Zhang," Pan Feng looked past the two police officers, who were dumbfounded, and looked at Chief Zhang, saying, "Miss Joohyun is protected by our military department. She's not someone you can just take away."
The military department? Chief Zhang froze, along with Shao Hui, Qin Yi, and Zhang Wenwen.
"Chief Zhang, Ziyang only has two days left," Liu Xiucheng couldn't help but remind him again.
"The object of Zhang Ziyang's life exchange is related to you, right?" Joohyun had long been displeased with this Liu Xiucheng. How dare he urge someone to use the police to arrest me? Joohyun was fuming when she questioned him.
Liu Xiucheng was stunned and didn't answer Joohyun. Instead, Qin Yi, a spectator, answered for him, "Yes, the object of Ziyang's life exchange is Mr. Liu's daughter."
Joohyun showed understanding, and then looked at Chief Zhang who looked torn and said, "You're Zhang Ziyang's father, right? Then do you know that it was I who set the seal on Zhang Ziyang's body four days ago?"
"What?" Chief Zhang wasn't present that day, so he didn't know about it. Shortly after Joohyun left that day, Liu Xiucheng came over with two Daoist masters, so Mother Zhang and Zhang Wenwen didn't have time to talk about this matter.
"From the start, Zhang Ziyang himself did not want to wake up, that's why I gave up forcefully interrupting the Life Exchange Technique. But..." Joohyun looked at Liu Xiucheng and sneered, "Since this gentleman is so worried about Zhang Ziyang's safety, I think he's also unwilling to let him exchange his life for his own daughter. I'll go to the hospital to retrieve Zhang Ziyang's vital qi."
"You dare!!!" Liu Xiucheng roared with a grimace.
"Liu Xiucheng!!!" Chief Zhang growled angrily. If he hadn't said that the Life Exchange Technique couldn't be interrupted easily, lest both children would die, many things wouldn't have happened here and there. He even almost offended Mayor Chen and the military department!
"Chief Zhang, please don't listen to her one-sided account. She's saying this to save the evil ghost. If the ghost is allowed to escape, we'll lose everything." Liu Xiucheng had been in business for many years and was the most capable of pinching people's weakness. At this reminder, Chief Zhang hesitated again.
"Uncle Zhang, the seal on Ziyang was really placed by Joohyun. If she says she can undo it, she can definitely do so," Qin Yi couldn't help but assist.
"That's right," Shao Hui nodded beside him.
Chief Zhang glanced at the two children and finally dropped his gaze to his daughter, Zhang Wenwen. She was obviously easier to believe compared to others.
"I ...Joohyun set up the seal, but I don't know if she can save Big Brother," Zhang Wenwen confirmed after a moment of hesitation.
"Chief Zhang, life and death is at stake. You can't bet on it," Liu Xiucheng added.
"Miss Joohyun," Pan Feng, who had just received an instruction, ran towards Joohyun and whispered in Joohyun's ear, "When, approximately, will you finish here? Third Young Master said a few lobsters had just been sent home. He's asking if you want to go for some snacks. If not, he will let the kitchen preserve them first, so you can come over and eat tomorrow."
When Joohyun heard that there was lobster food, her eyes instantly brightened. She then looked at the two people, who were still dilly-dallying indecisively, and suddenly felt impatient, "Blah-blah-blah, how annoying."
Joohyun walked to Lecherous Ghost with the Qingming Sword, raised her hand, and cut off the soul chain tied to her arm and said, "Aren't you leaving yet?"
Xiang Nan froze and then disappeared with the two ghosts in a whoosh.
Seeing that Xiang Nan had run away, Liu Xiucheng turned pale. Chief Zhang stopped wavering and said, "Joohyun, right? Go to the hospital with me now."
"I'm not free. I'm going home to have a snack," Joohyun tossed the Qingming Sword back into Daoist Qiu's hand. Immediately afterwards, she, of course, followed Pan Feng, confident and at ease.
The author has something to say:
This Daoist Priest has been a monk since childhood. I thought I'd be free from the clutches of women for life, but against odds and expectations, I almost lost my job in my old age!!