Chapter 7
“…Become a monk?!”
Su Xiaqing was so struck by Chu Ning’s suggestion that she doubted her very existence, remaining silent and dazed for a long while.
She furrowed her brows, thinking of the 800 terabytes of retouched photos of male celebrity models she hadn’t finished browsing, the concert tickets of her newly favored idol she hadn’t managed to snatch yet, and the chain of cat cafes her male idol just opened which she hadn’t visited…
No, no, no!
She was far from pure, still indulging in her love for handsome men—this was definitely not the path for her!
Besides, even the Buddha might not be willing to accept her!
“Of course, this is just one suggestion,” Chu Ning explained, watching Su Xiaqing’s head bob up and down like a rattle. “Dealing with the Peach Blossom Fiend spirit isn’t difficult, but if you continue as before, it’s only a matter of time before another one entangles you.”
Su Xiaqing’s face flushed red. With a deep breath, she swore to the heavens, “Th-then I’ll turn over a new leaf. I won’t have any boyfriends for the rest of my life!”
At worst, she’d live with the retouched photos of her male idols.
Beside her, Zhao Kexin glanced at her best friend and instantly understood her thoughts, shaking her head in disbelief.
She then looked at Chu Ning and whispered, “Chu, what do you plan to do about this Peach Blossom Fiend spirit? Will there be a ritual?”
“To banish the Peach Blossom Fiend spirit, it must be done during the dead of night, when all is quiet.”
Chu Ning glanced at the sky and left them with a single word: “Wait.”
…
As midnight approached, the crowd in the market gradually dispersed, and most vendors began packing up.
Only in front of the fortune-telling stall did Chu Mingming, somehow armed with a deck of playing cards, gather with three others around a black and white cloth painted with the Bagua diagram, playing a game called “Drawing the Turtle.”
Midway, Su Xiaqing’s phone rang several times again. She dared not answer and handed it directly to Chu Ning.
Chu Ning was unfazed, answering every time the phone rang. However, each time he picked up, only a faint, eerie static or a busy signal was heard.
Su Xiaqing, trembling, clenched the cards and asked, “What does this mean?”
“Probably nothing,” Chu Ning replied casually. “Maybe the signal on the other side is just bad.”
Su Xiaqing’s eyes widened suspiciously. “Even calls from the underworld depend on signal strength? Could there be 5G towers or Wi-Fi hotspots over there?”
Chu Ning blinked. “I was joking.”
Su Xiaqing opened her mouth to retort, but just then, a sudden gust swept across the overpass. The street lamps flickered wildly and then abruptly went out!
“Ah! Why the sudden power outage?”
“Are you kidding? I haven’t even packed up yet! Scared me!”
“Maybe there’s a wiring fault somewhere…”
“Cutting power in the middle of the night is too much.”
A few complaints echoed here and there in the market. Soon, some turned on their phone flashlights, only to find the light barely illuminated a foot ahead.
“What the heck is going on?”
“Maybe the phone’s battery is running low?”
“My battery is full and I still can’t see anything!”
“Is there smog tonight? The visibility is terrible!”
…
At the creative market, people continued chatting amidst the dense darkness.
The once bright moonlight was hidden by clouds, and a biting cold mingled with an indescribable fear crept silently closer.
The clock’s hands slowly inched toward 11:59 p.m.
When the eerie call sounded again, Su Xiaqing and Zhao Kexin clasped talismans tightly, huddling together. Chu Ning formed a sword sign with his hand but frowned slightly.
The Peach Blossom Fiend spirit was born from obsessive attachments, weaker than vengeful ghosts or malevolent spirits.
Yet unexpectedly, this mere obsession summoned such a spectacle.
Chu Ning’s gaze returned to Su Xiaqing’s phone as he seriously considered whether to first greet the spirit politely or strike swiftly.
Suddenly, the phone’s ringtone morphed into a piercing, wailing scream, followed by a sorrowful, eerie male voice echoing in their ears:
“Qingqing, where have you run off to again…”
“Why don’t you answer your phone…”
“I’ve been looking for you so hard…”
“Qingqing…”
The Peach Blossom Fiend, apparently pent up all night, sensed the dwindling human presence around Su Xiaqing and eagerly followed the phone’s location to the fortune-telling stall, gazing at her with profound grievance.
Su Xiaqing, with mortal eyes, heard the spirit’s voice but could not see its form. Upon hearing it, she buried her head in Zhao Kexin’s chest, covering her ears tightly.
Seeing this, the Peach Blossom Fiend thought:…
What to do? It seems even more resentful now.
Since his previous life, Chu Ning’s senses had been extraordinary, allowing him to see all spirits and souls clearly.
At a glance, he saw the true form of the Peach Blossom Fiend.
It was a pale, rigid-faced man with strikingly handsome features.
“Qingqing, why do you hide from me?” The man’s hair floated in the windless night. Seeing Su Xiaqing’s desperate avoidance, his resentment surged, his lifeless eyes reddening as he cried bitterly, “Why won’t you look at me?”
With his piercing shout, a chilling wind swept through, rustling everything around. The playing cards at the stall flew into the air. Chu Ning couldn’t catch them all and simply threw a few talismans at the man.
“Cut it out,” Chu Ning said annoyed. “Don’t you know why she can’t see you?”
The Peach Blossom Fiend, caught off guard, was hit by the talismans and his human shape dispersed into a vague mist.
Losing form enraged him, and he charged at Chu Ning, shrieking, “Who are you, this stinking Taoist? Mind your own business!”
“Humans and spirits are different paths. Why bother?” Chu Ning shook his head, forming a sword sign and sweeping sharply through the air.
At that moment, except for Su Xiaqing who kept her eyes tightly shut, Chu Mingming and Zhao Kexin simultaneously saw a thick fog suddenly explode in the darkness.
Dust swirled as if something heavy had fallen from the sky!
A muffled grunt of pain sounded. As the dust settled, the invisible chilling aura dissipated.
…
Under the overpass, the street lamps flickered again before returning to normal. At the creative market, those about to call city maintenance burst into powerless complaints.
“What’s going on?”
“Typical city works failing at the crucial moment. Just get used to it.”
…
Cold dissipated, lights restored.
Zhao Kexin widened her eyes in disbelief. “Chu, is the Peach Blossom Fiend spirit gone already?”
She mimicked Chu Ning’s hand gesture excitedly. “Just like that with a wave?!”
“Something like that,” Chu Ning said, fingers twitching, his expression uneasy. He intended to first force the spirit back before subduing it with talismans, but now he wasn’t sure.
Was the spirit just weak, or did he hit too hard?
Rubbing his nose, Chu Ning looked at the excited group and then at Su Xiaqing, who looked like she’d narrowly escaped death. “By the way, the Peach Blossom Fiend still has some breath. Want to see him?”
Su Xiaqing froze. “See… see who?” She covered her face in panic and shook her head vigorously. “No way!”
Chu Ning glanced at the spirit, which was lying on the ground, a misty cluster barely holding life, dripping gray droplets and softly sobbing, “Eee…oooh…”
Chu Ning was speechless. “Brother, where did your murderous aura go?”
The spirit whimpered again, “Wah!”
Chu Ning covered his ears, smiling awkwardly. “You’re a male spirit, why are you crying?”
The misty Peach Blossom Fiend twisted and writhed on the ground, sobbing before finally speaking clear words.
“Just kill me! Qingqing won’t even glance at me! I’m so sad.”
Formed from the obsessive attachments of Su Xiaqing’s forty-eight ex-boyfriends, the spirit had lost all rage after Chu Ning’s attack and was rejected repeatedly by Su Xiaqing, feeling hopeless, lying there like a defeated fish.
Though others couldn’t see the spirit, they saw Chu Ning talking to empty air, hairs standing on end with fear. “Chu, who are you talking to?”
“To the Peach Blossom Fiend,” Chu Ning replied, recalling the spirit’s human form. “Come to think of it, you’re quite handsome.”
“Could I be ugly?” The spirit lay on the ground, nostalgically touching his vanished human face. “I was formed from Qingqing’s forty-eight exes’ attachments, and I always chose the face she liked best! Yet she still won’t look at me.”
Tears streamed down again.
“Oh,” Chu Ning said, puzzled. “So your obsession is just to have her look at you?”
The spirit nodded sincerely, “Yes!”
Chu Ning was speechless. “What a strange obsession.”
The spirit sobbed repeatedly, “Why won’t she even glance at me?”
Chu Ning had initially planned to exorcise it outright, but if the spirit’s obsession could dissipate naturally, that was better than forced exorcism.
After careful thought, he told the spirit to be quiet and explained the situation to Su Xiaqing.
“Just one look, and that’s enough?” Su Xiaqing’s eyes widened, conflicted. “Once I see its face, it won’t bother me anymore?”
“It’s a spirit formed by obsession. Once the obsession is fulfilled, the spirit will vanish into the world.”
Su Xiaqing hesitated but finally decided, “I’ll look once, and try.”
Chu Ning prepared to cast the eye-opening spell—a Taoist charm that temporarily allows one to see beyond the veil between worlds.
Before he could begin, the defeated spirit suddenly spoke up.
“Wait, wait!”
Chu Ning asked, “What is it?”
The spirit shyly wriggled beside Chu Ning’s foot, pleading, “Master, could you lend me some power? I want Qingqing to see my very best face.”
Chu Ning sighed, “Fine.”
He formed a sword sign, lightly touched the misty form at his feet.
With a soft “bang,” the mist transformed into the handsome man.
“Thank you, thank you!”
The spirit froze briefly, then joyfully tidied his illusionary clothes, hesitating before standing beside Chu Ning’s wheelchair.
Chu Ning had Su Xiaqing close her eyes and silently recite the spell.
Seconds later, with a cool breeze brushing her eyes, she opened them to see beside Chu Ning a young man whose face was both strange and strangely familiar.
“You are…” The Peach Blossom Fiend?
Su Xiaqing’s voice faltered, disbelief washing over her.
She glanced nervously at the oblivious Zhao Kexin and tugged her sleeve. “Keke, do you see anyone standing by Chu?”
“Where?” Kexin looked puzzled.
Su Xiaqing bit her lip and looked again.
The spirit smiled nervously, pale and rigid, “Qingqing, it’s me.”
“Why do you look like this?” Su Xiaqing, sensing no harm, dared to look longer. The more she looked, the stranger she felt. “Your eyes, nose, and mouth…”
“The eyes are from your little idol,” the spirit said. “You once told seventeen exes you liked his eyes best. If their eyes were better, you wouldn’t have broken up.”
Su Xiaqing stammered, nearly biting her tongue. “And your nose?”
The spirit touched his nose bridge, smiling. “That’s from your idol. You told over twenty exes their noses weren’t as good as his, and they all got discouraged.”
Su Xiaqing blushed, “I was just saying that casually, nothing serious.”
The spirit didn’t mind. “And the eyebrows, mouth, ears—I molded them all from the features you liked most.”
Su Xiaqing: …Well, okay then.
The spirit saw her embarrassment, paused, then pointed to his eyes seriously.
“Qingqing, I mean no harm. I just want to ask, if I look like this, would you like me?”
By “me,” he meant the amalgam of those forty-eight exes’ obsession and attachment.
Yet faced with this question, Su Xiaqing couldn’t answer.
The spirit’s face was indeed handsome, a perfect combination of all her preferred features, but strangely, she felt no flutter of affection—only discomfort.
Seeing her silence, the spirit understood.
“So you still don’t like me.”
He sighed, losing the last of his human form, turning instantly into a dense mist, collapsing into Chu Ning’s hand.
Su Xiaqing gasped. “What’s happening to it?”
Chu Ning pinched the spirit, kneading it casually. “Maybe its obsession is fulfilled?”
The spirit weakly said, “Fulfilled, but heartbroken.”
Chu Ning patted it, comforting, “Then disappear.”
The spirit whimpered reluctantly. Its misty form gradually became transparent.
It was about to vanish but kept murmuring, “It’s strange. I’m heartbroken, yet I feel happy.”
“…Qingqing never loved that perfect face.”
“…But she truly liked me once.”
Then, faint overlapping male voices echoed, sighing deeply before disappearing.
Moonlight broke through the clouds. Chu Ning’s mist vanished.
Su Xiaqing stared after the spirit, lost in thought.
After a long moment, she said hoarsely, “It… really disappeared?”
Chu Ning nodded. “Its obsession is gone. Its spiritual and malevolent energy returned to the world.”
Su Xiaqing nodded, feeling somewhat lost.
With the matter settled, Zhao Kexin and Chu Mingming finally breathed easy, especially Kexin, who, although unclear about the details, hugged Su Xiaqing excitedly.
“It’s over, it’s over!”
Relieved that the spirit’s entanglement was broken, Su Xiaqing felt a strange unease after hearing its final words.
“Keke, am I really that terrible?” she reflected. “When I dated, I always thought there were so many handsome men out there. If I didn’t try them all, how would I know who truly suits me, who I love most? So I unconsciously started to pick faults, breaking up as soon as something displeased me…”
Her gaze drifted to the empty spot beside Chu Ning’s wheelchair.
“Did I really do something wrong?”
Zhao Kexin glanced at her and hesitated. “Qingqing…”
Su Xiaqing sniffled. “What is it, Keke?”
Kexin couldn’t hold back anymore. She grabbed Su Xiaqing’s shoulder and said seriously, “Though you sound carefree, what you just said is exactly what I’ve heard in bad-boy quotes.”
Su Xiaqing felt guilty. “…I was wrong.”
“Keep reflecting and fix what’s wrong,” Kexin said, ruffling her friend’s hair. “It’s okay now. The past is past. You’re safe.”
“Yeah.” Su Xiaqing nodded gently, then stood and bowed solemnly. “Thank you so much, Chu.”
Chu Ning smiled warmly, pushing the QR code that had been blown down back onto the table. “No need to thank me. It’s my duty.”
…
Su Xiaqing had spent eighty thousand buying talismans before. After resolving the Peach Blossom Fiend, she transferred two hundred thousand to Chu Ning without hesitation. Zhao Kexin followed suit and nervously asked if she could buy some “Clear Heart” talismans as well.
Compared to the “Six Jia Divine Talismans” for exorcism, the Clear Heart talismans were easier to draw. Chu Ning liked his first two customers and gave them a handful of Clear Heart talismans as a bonus.
Kexin blushed, regretting her earlier refusal and prejudice, and thanked Chu Ning repeatedly, saying she’d use the talismans while studying.
Since it was late and unsafe for the two girls to walk alone, Chu Ning had Chu Mingming escort them partway while he waited at the stall.
“I’ll be quick,” Chu Mingming promised.
The night was chilly. Chu Ning massaged his legs, holding his phone, counting the zeros in his bank account with satisfaction, eyes crinkling in a smile.
Suddenly, a cold breeze passed by.
Looking up, Chu Ning saw a familiar figure walking past.
Clad in dark robes with a gentle aura, clutching a yellow-covered book with an unreadable title—the same dark-robed underworld official who had helped him once on the ghost bus.
Surprised by the coincidence, Chu Ning waved and greeted, “Honored Underworld Official?”
The passerby looked puzzled. “?”
Who could see him?
The dark-robed Jiang Yutan frowned and tilted his head, surprise flickering in his eyes. “It’s you.”
“You remember me?” Chu Ning smiled more genuinely, curious. “Are you here to collect someone’s soul?”
“No.” Jiang Yutan stopped. “The underworld judge predicted a fierce demon would appear here tonight, threatening the area. I was sent to investigate.”
A fierce demon in this place?
Chu Ning was stunned. Could it be a coincidence? Quickly he asked, “What kind of demon?”
Jiang Yutan glanced at Chu Ning’s thin frame, as if a breeze could blow him away, then looked away. “Humans shouldn’t meddle. That demon is extremely vicious, beyond your curiosity.”
“Oh,” Chu Ning said, pondering that if so, it probably had nothing to do with the Peach Blossom Fiend.
Seeing Chu Ning’s thoughtful expression, Jiang Yutan said, “It won’t be peaceful here tonight. You should leave soon.”
Chu Ning touched his wheelchair armrest but didn’t move.
“Why not leave?” Jiang Yutan frowned. “Is this human really that bold?”
“I can’t walk well. I’m waiting for my brother to pick me up.”
Jiang Yutan’s brow furrowed deeper. “It’s so late. Your brother hasn’t come?”
“He had to take some girls back to school first, then come for me.”
Jiang Yutan’s expression darkened. That brother sounded unreliable.
In such a case…
The dark-robed official frowned, thinking if the fierce demon truly appeared, he’d have to lure it away to protect innocent people like this young man.
Chu Ning felt a kinship with this official and dared to ask, “Sir, since we’re connected, may I know your name? You helped me on the bus before; I should offer incense for you…”
“No need.”
Jiang Yutan’s expression remained unchanged, seemingly indifferent to offerings.
Then, his expression shifted slightly. “Your brother has arrived.”
Just then, Chu Mingming came running back, out of breath. “Brother, I hope you weren’t waiting too long?”
“No,” Chu Ning shook his head, glanced at the official, and secretly gave him a thumbs-up. Seeing a flicker of a smile in Jiang Yutan’s eyes, Chu Ning turned to his brother. “Why so fast?”
Chu Mingming was honest. “I just took them to the intersection; they took a taxi from there.”
“Then let’s go home.”
“Alright.”
Chu Ning smiled, about to bid farewell to the official, but when he looked back, the figure was gone.
Chu Ning was stunned. “...This official really comes and goes like the wind.”
What a pity—he hadn’t even asked for his name…