Joohyun forcibly sent Chen Yang's soul back to his body, and then raised her hand to lift off the oxygen mask on his face.
"Irin, what are you doing?" Mother Chen couldn't help but cry out in alarm when she saw Joohyun's abnormal behavior.
What was she doing?
Before coming to the capital, Joohyun wasn't very interested in learning exorcism. In the past 15 years, if there was a period she had been interested in exorcism, it was probably the winter vacation of the third year of junior high school.
"Are you doing your homework again? Stop writing and go out with me to practice magic." Elder Wu tapped Joohyun's desk with his dry pipe.
"No." Joohyun didn't lift her head and flipped another page of her test paper.
"Why do you always either read or do problems? Er Mao, next door, is in your class. Why doesn't he have so much homework?" Elder Wu didn't understand.
"That's why his grades aren't as good as mine, ah," Joohyun replied.
"You usually have no time because of school, but I'm not forcing you either. This winter vacation is hard to come by. You should hurry and learn more about exorcism from me," Elder Wu said.
"Old man, I'm about to take the midterm. Time is very tight." In previous years, Joohyun would go out with her grandpa during the winter and summer holidays, but not this year. The midterm exams were coming up, and the teacher urged them to catch up on their studies.
"You've been the number one year after year. Can't you possibly get into a high school?" the grandpa asked.
"I want to take the key class. The teacher said I can enter a key university in the key class," Joohyun said and calculated another problem. Only then did she take time to look at her grandfather. "Besides, what is the use of learning those arts?"
"Why is it useless? Don't you think it's cool?" The grandpa asked excitedly, "You can see things that others can't, and you can also do spells."
"What's the use of that? You can't tell others when you see a ghost, lest others will think you're nuts. You can use magic, but can't deal with ordinary people, lest you'll be stained with karma. What you taught me is simply meaningless, except that you can subdue ghosts." Joohyun analyzed, "Besides, expiating the sins of the dead earns no money money. You also often meet malevolent ghosts, and to make matters worse, you have to foot the medical bills."
"Don't you think sending ghosts to the Underworld and destroying malevolent ghosts are maintaining world peace??" Elder Wu asked.
"Will the world become dangerous without me?" Joohyun asked rhetorically.
"Er..." Elder Wu discovered that since this girl went to junior high school, he actually couldn't defeat her in debate.
"No!" Joohyun replied on behalf of the old man. "The world will remain the same minus us. Us performing ceremonies to help souls find peace doesn't have that much of an impact. At most, we're good people doing good deeds. "
"Doing good deeds sounds pretty noble, but what can it bring us?" Joohyun asked, "Others can be praised for giving a seat on the bus, but who would know when we're exhausted from catching ghosts? Moreover... There are so many people in the world. Why must I step forward to do good deeds?"
"Wicked girl, hasn't your teacher taught you truth, goodness and beauty?" Elder Wu obviously didn't expect Joohyun to come up with this argument. "How can you be so self-centered at such a young age?"
"I didn't say that doing good things is bad. Which time did I stand idly by when we've encountered malevolent ghosts harming people before?" Joohyun countered, "I just think that in this kind of business, we must do what is within our means. There's no need to spend so much time doing good deeds just to improve cultivation. I still have my own business to do, ah. I have to study, go to college, and work to earn money in the future."
"Exorcising ghosts is also very profitable," Elder Wu said.
"One hundred yuan minus 60 for the cinnabar, talisman paper, and candles. Will the remaining 40 be enough for us to pay for a round trip?" Joohyun glanced at her grandfather.
"That's only because I can't charge more," Elder Wu reasoned.
"It's because you can't collect it." Joohyun didn't believe her grandfather. "Anyway, I feel that exorcism is not helpful to my future life at all, so I should spend more time on studying."
"You've only learned the surface and have no idea how powerful the art I taught you is," Elder Wu said.
"Then tell me a powerful one, and I'll listen." Joohyun was in disbelief.
"Advanced spells can bring the dead back to life and directly snatch people from Yanwang (Hades, we'll call him Yanwang here)." Elder Wu was rendered speechless by his granddaughter's disdain. To defend the dignity of an exorcist, he must share a magic technique that could pin this girl down.
"Bring the dead back to life? You warned me on the very first day I studied magic that I shouldn't interfere with the life and death of ordinary people just because I have some skills, or I will suffer the wrath of Heavens," Joohyun reminded him, "Even if I have the skills to resurrect the dead, I'd be punished by the Heavens afterwards. T-That's directly offering myself selflessly as a tribute. Old man, seeing me suffering injustice on the road to collecting ghosts isn't enough, you even want me to step forward and die for someone else's."
Why is this girl's mouth becoming sharper and sharper? Elder Wu harrumphed in anger and poked Joohyun's forehead with his pipe: "That's not my point."
"Didn't you say yourself that changing fate against the heavens will be condemned?" Joohyun said innocently.
"That depends on what method you use." Elder Wu gave an example, "In ancient times, a person who caught a cold could die. Would the person who invented cold medicine be condemned by the heavens? Would a doctor be damned if he saved so many people?"
"Can they be the same?" Joohyun doubted.
"If your scoring method in snatching a person from Yanwang is reasonable, it's called curing the illness and saving the patient. If it's unorthodox, that's called reversing fate against the natural order," Elder Wu said.
"Is there an exorcism technique that can also heal and save people?" Joohyun said curiously.
"Almost." Elder Wu had always been ready to popularize the magic of exorcism to his granddaughter. "Let me ask you first, how do you define whether a person is dead or not in Metaphysics?"
"It depends on vital qi. If the person lost his vital qi, then he's dead. However, if he still has a strand of vital qi, then even if his soul leaves his body, he isn't considered dead," Joohyun replied.
"That's right." Elder Wu said, "For example, if you encounter a living soul leaving the body, then you send his soul back to his original body, that's equivalent to healing and saving the person."
Didn't you say that this technique is known to all Celestial Masters? Moreover, our sect's technique is special, and its murderous aura is particularly heavy. Even if I send a soul back, some sequelae will remain with the other party." Joohyun sincerely suggested, "So this method should be left to other Celestial Masters, and our flawed technique should be forgotten."
"But other Celestial Masters don't have the ability to go to the Underworld to rob a living soul," Elder Wu said haughtily.
"Go to the Underworld to rob a living soul?" Joohyun said in surprise.
"That's right," Elder Wu confirmed smugly, "As long as your cultivation level is sufficient, even if a living soul has already entered the Underworld, you can still enter the Underworld and bring him back."
"This sounds a bit powerful." This finally pricked a bit of Joohyun's interest.
"It's more than that." Elder Wu continued, "Most of the people whose living souls have left their bodies are people whose lives shouldn't end. Since they are fated not to die, there's nothing strange about saving them."
"Is there something more magical?" Joohyun asked.
"For sure," Elder Wu said profoundly, "Even if the name is written on the Book of Life and Death, we also have a way to snatch it."
"How can I snatch it?" Joohyun said with some disbelief.
"Of course by robbing the vital qi," Elder Wu explained, "In the process of dying, there's a time for the process of losing vital qi. Within this period, as long as that person's soul isn't far away, and you can instantly recover his lost vital qi, then he has a chance to revive."
"Doesn't this count as a reversal of fate?" Joohyun asked in confusion.
"Not exactly," Elder Wu went into detail, "The reason there's penalty for the so-called reversal of fate against the natural order is because most of the reversal of fate has harmed other parties, such as exchanging one's life for another's or robbing others of their luck. But the one I'm talking about is a different approach. It's because the vital qi we snatch is originally drained from the person, and we're retrieving it at best. It's the same as doctors using drugs to save lives in a way."
"But isn't the person's life and death already set in the Book of Life and Death?" Joohyun asked again.
"As long as you're capable of saving the person back, the time in the Book of Life and Death will change." Elder Wu said, "When the time is altered by the Book of Life and Death itself, it will naturally be recognized by the Underworld."
"Then what's the point of the Book of Life and Death? Can it be changed so easily?" Joohyun pressed.
"How is it easy, huh?!" Elder Wu cursed, "It must meet several conditions. First, the person you save must have been in an accident and is on the verge of death. That way, the moment the most of his vital qi is lost, you'll have the opportunity to recover them. On the contrary, if a person died naturally, his vital qi would have been almost gone. Even if you want to retrieve them, you don't have any vital qi to recover."
"Also, do you think snatching a lost vital qi on the verge of death can be done by anyone? Moreover, once the Underworld finds signs of change in the Book of Life and Death, they will send local ghost messengers to investigate." Elder Wu continued, "Hence, you must recover the vital qi while also resisting ghost messenger obstacles."
"That would make success difficult, no?" Joohyun imagined the scene and felt that the odds of success were too low.
"It depends on whether you have the ability. In this world, the strong is respected," Elder Wu said, "If your cultivation is so strong that you can recover a vital qi while resisting attacks from ghost messengers at the same time, then you can snatch people from Yanwang."
"Then how far do I have to cultivate, ah?" Joohyun asked.
"My level is just about right," Elder Wu boasted.
In order to increase Joohyun's interest in learning exorcism, Elder Wu taught Joohyun the forbidden technique to bring back the dead, and at the same time admonished: "This technique was created by the founding father of our Luoshan Sect, and is listed as a forbidden art not because it can revive the dead, but because it's extremely dangerous for a Celestial Master to use this art. What's more, you must not use it if your cultivation level is insufficient. "
"What is the danger?" Joohyun asked.
"If your cultivation is lacking, you can't beat the ghost messenger. The ghost messenger can detain your soul on the spot, and you may die with the person you want to save," Elder Wu added, "Moreover... When you're retrieving vital qi, your vital qi will be contaminated with many bad things, such as evil qi, resentment, hostility... and so on."
"I'm not afraid of these things." Joohyun knew her special physique.
"Your body isn't afraid of evil qi, but your soul can't resist." Elder Wu emphasized, "How can you use such a powerful technique so easily? Before you implant vital qi into the body of the person you want to save, you must first purify them with your own soul."
"When a person is alive, evil qi usually erodes the flesh before it erodes the soul. Your body isn't afraid of evil qi, so your soul is always in a protected state." Elder Wu said, "But when you use the forbidden technique, you must directly draw evil qi into your soul. If the purification isn't completed, the evil qi will remain in your soul. By then, you don't know how long it will take to eliminate it for generation after generation of reincarnation."
When the old man educated Joohyun about the scruples and hazards of using the forbidden technique, Joohyun thought that even if she learned it, it might be useless for the rest of her life. Besides, the use of the forbidden technique required a very high level of cultivation. At this time, Joohyun was still far from that high level of cultivation.
In fact, when Joohyun saw the ghost messenger at the door of the operating room, she'd been considering the feasibility of performing the forbidden technique. Reason told her that with her current cultivation level, if she forcibly used it, it would likely end up with both of them dying. She had been hesitant, but when Chen Yang was going to follow the ghost messenger to leave, Joohyun's reason instantly and completely collapsed.
If some stranger was lying there, Joohyun probably wouldn't have even considered using the forbidden technique, but not Chen Yang. Her brother was the one lying there. No matter what, she had to try.
The only people in the ward were Father and Mother Chen and the frozen ghost messenger. There wasn't much time left, so Joohyun didn't spare her parent's questioning any attention. She made a seal in front of her chest with both hands, and her compass flew out buzzing from the linen bag she had with her. Then, it stopped steadily right above the sickbed.
"Ah!" Father and Mother Chen stared at the scene incredulously.
"This is..." Mayor Chen didn't seem to know the little daughter whose hands were flying and making seals in front of the hospital bed.
"Dad, stand with mother far away. I want to snatch my Big Brother back from Yanwang," Joohyun said, with her hands constantly moving.
Mayor Chen was stunned, but quickly reacted. He helped his wife, who hadn't yet returned to her senses and retreated two meters away. Looking at his little daughter who kept changing her gestures in front of the hospital bed, Mayor Chen suddenly remembered what Chen Yang told him when they returned from Damu Village: "The one who adopted my sister is a local exorcist."
An exorcist! Mayor Chen's heart stirred, and a glimmer of hope burst from his eyes.
"What are you doing? How is this possible?" The ghost messenger shouted incredulously as he watched the changes in the ward.
Once Joohyun's forbidden technique was activated, he saw vital qi that were lost just now flowing back. The returning vital qi first entered Joohyun's body, and then returned to Chen Yang's body bit by bit through Joohyun's fingertips.
How could a person's vital qi after death be gathered and retrieved? Was she bullying him because he had just been admitted as a civil servant and was green and inexperienced?
Joohyun's cultivation was insufficient. Thus, her speed of purifying vital qi was slow, but the loss rate of vital qi was too fast. Joohyun was afraid that recovering the lost vital qi would take too long, so she gritted her teeth and sucked Chen Yang's vital qi into her soul first, regardless of whether she could purify them or not.
With vital qi and other things entering Joohyun's soul, her face turned pale in an instant. Her discomfort from the soul made her spiritual power falter.
Just when Joohyun had purified about one-fifth of the vital qi, the aura in the ward suddenly fluctuated, and a powerful Yin Qi enveloped the entire room.
"Lord Magistrate." The ghost messenger greeted joyfully when he saw Judge Wen who suddenly appeared in the ward.
Judge Wen swept a glance at the frozen ghost messenger and raised his hand to unseal him.
"Lord Magistrate, this Celestial Master is going to reverse the fate against the Heavens," as soon as the ghost messenger got free, he complained to the judge who came.
Judge Wen was here to deal with this. A few minutes ago, the City God found that someone was influencing the Book of Life and Death and sent him to deal with it. This was the first task he had taken up since he took office, so he naturally must complete it successfully. Judge Wen turned the judge's pen in his hand and was about to kill the offender with a single blow when he suddenly clapped eyes with Joohyun.
"Celestial Master Chen?" Judge Wen's hand stilled, and his oppressive aura instantly dissolved into nothingness.
"Xiang Nan?" Joohyun was also full of surprise. "Are you the ghost messenger sent by the Underworld to stop me?"
Spot on. The City God sent Judge Wen, who was none other than Comrade Xiang Nan, who just took office recently.
When favor collided with the law, which side should you choose? On his first day of work, Xiang Nan was caught in a dilemma.
"Lord Magistrate." The ghost messenger looked strangely at the magistrate who suddenly stopped.
"I can't beat her," Xiang Nan said without batting an eyelid.
"You can't beat her either?" The ghost messenger's gaze at Joohyun suddenly turned into fright. Is this woman so powerful?
Joohyun realized that Xiang Nan was planning to help her. She nodded gratefully towards him and then concentrated on purifying vital qi until Chen Yang's heart started beating again, until his chest rose and fell again.
Meanwhile, in an Internet cafe in a certain city, while Joohyun activated the forbidden technique, Elder Wu jerked up from his chair and looked nervously toward the capital.
"Old Sir, why did you suddenly stop? Yikes, you're dead," Xiao Shao looked at the fallen game character on the computer screen with pity.
"Help me buy a ticket to the capital," Elder Wu ordered.
"Are you going to the Swimming Dragon Team?" Xiao Shao was surprised.
To hell is more like it. If the Underworld detained that wicked girl's soul, this old chap must have to go to the Underworld to snatch her back.