Chapter 25 Soul-drying Curse "Master Zhang, you can really see me..." When Old Master Cui saw Zhang Jiuyang looking at him, he seemed very excited and almost burst into tears. "Please, Taoist Zhang, save me!" He bowed deeply. Zhang Jiuyang released his seal-bound hand, looked at him quietly, and said, "Grandpa Cui, I have already said what I should say three days ago. It is useless for you to come to me." He doesn't have the ability to bring the dead back to life. Old Master Cui regretted, "I regret not listening to the Taoist priest. I should really divorce that vicious woman!" After a pause, he continued, "Taking advantage of the strong Yin energy during the Ghost Festival, I was able to come and see you, Master. I am not here to save my life, but to ask you to help me get rid of my guilt!" "This old man... is in so much pain!"
As he spoke, he unbuttoned his shroud, revealing his skinny upper body. Zhang Jiuyang's eyes suddenly fixed. I saw that half of his body was severely burned, and the other half was a black and purple color like frostbite, with some frost hanging on it. "How is this going?" Zhang Jiuyang asked. Just as Old Master Cui was about to speak, he suddenly trembled, let out a cry of pain, and his figure became fainter and fainter. "Master Zhang, please save me. I have a 300-year-old ginseng in my home. I'd like to give it to you—" His voice became smaller and smaller, and finally stopped. The paper money flying around slowly fell down, and everything returned to calm. Zhang Jiuyang remained silent for a long time, and finally sighed softly. "I didn't expect that the first guest today would be a ghost." …… Before reaching the door of his house, Zhang Jiuyang saw a figure circling at the door from afar, looking a little abnormal. He was a middle-aged man with a goatee, wearing silk clothes and looked to be in his forties. He kept circling around Zhang Jiuyang's door, making panicked sounds. It was ridiculous, but he seemed lost. "Where's the door? Wasn't it here just now?" "Where am I? Why do I keep going around and around on this road?" "Is there anyone here? Help!" Zhang Jiuyang coughed.
Ah Li, who was standing on the man's shoulder, came over, held Zhang Jiuyang's hand, and said, "Brother Jiu, he is a bad guy. He tried to enter our house when you were not around!" Just now she was standing on the shoulders of this middle-aged man and covering his eyes with her hands. A ghost covering your eyes is also commonly known as a ghost wall. As soon as Ali left, the man was pleasantly surprised to find that he saw the familiar door again, and even his shoulders didn't hurt as much anymore. "who are you?" Zhang Jiuyang suddenly asked. The man turned around and saw Zhang Jiuyang wearing a green Taoist robe. He seemed to have seen a savior and stepped forward and said excitedly: "You are Master Zhang's disciple, right? I'm looking for Master Zhang Jiuyang!" "I am." "No, I'm looking for—" The man paused, then widened his eyes and asked, "Are you Zhang Jiuyang?" Zhang Jiuyang nodded again. "Master, your house is haunted! Just now——" Before he could finish his words, he saw a small figure suddenly appear in front of him. It was covered in blood and was looking up at him with a pale face. "The ghost you're talking about...is it me?" The man's legs trembled and he almost fainted from fright. Zhang Jiuyang knocked on Ah Li's head and said, "Don't become so ugly!" "Oh." The next moment, Ali turned into the delicate little girl again, wearing a white dress, with her black hair braided into two exquisite braids, full of spirit. She was born like a porcelain doll, and recently she has been collecting moonlight every night, practicing diligently, and her spiritual energy has been gathering day by day. Unlike ordinary wandering souls that cannot be seen by people, she can actively appear in front of people and is not even afraid of the three fires of humans. According to the classification of the Imperial Observatory, Ali is now considered a ghost-level existence. Although she has only just entered this level, it also shows how high her aptitude is in the field of ghost cultivation. Zhang Jiuyang sometimes even thought that maybe she would really be able to cause a big disturbance in the underworld in the future? Ghost, evil, disaster, abyss, according to the experts, when one reaches the level of disaster, it is equivalent to a great cultivator in the seventh realm, and the abyss... is even a country-destroying level existence. It is said that the Dajing Dynasty before Daqian was the result of a great catastrophe, which caused the national power to plummet and soon fell apart. This allowed Liu Xuanlang, the founder of Daqian, to take advantage of the situation and rise. If Ah Li became a great being... Tsk tsk, I dare not think about it. "Master Zhang, you are truly a god. I came here this time to ask you to go to Qingzhou City and see my master." The middle-aged man looked at Zhang Jiuyang with respect and fear. He could actually make a ghost so obedient, which showed that he was really capable. Qingzhou City... Hearing these three words, Zhang Jiuyang's eyes were a little dazed.
A month ago, Lao Gao went to Qingzhou City to investigate the fire that killed 32 members of Lu Yaoxing's family, and there has been no news since then. The truth behind the Yunniang case may be hidden in that fire. "Sorry, Qingzhou City is too far away. I don't like traveling far." Zhang Jiuyang waved his hand and refused decisively. He is only at the first level of cultivation now, and the Yunniang case is too complicated, so it is better not to meddle in it. Even if he had to intervene, he had to refine the Ghost-Slaying Sword first. Otherwise, he would be unarmed and too weak to rely solely on the Zhong Kui Ghost-Killing Seal. Seeing that the other party wanted to say something, Zhang Jiuyang interrupted and said, "Besides, I have to go to the Cui family in Dongguang County to deal with something now, so I don't have time to deal with anything else." After saying that, Zhang Jiuyang walked into the house, picked up the sword that he had failed to refine before, and then knocked on the Yin doll. Ah Li automatically flew back to the Yin doll. "Brother Jiu, can we kill ghosts again? Kill, kill, kill!" She actually seemed a little excited. The little girl had been obsessed with listening to "Journey to the West" recently and was becoming more and more interested in fighting and killing. Shouting to kill ghosts all the time is simply a ghost traitor. The middle-aged man did not leave, but stepped forward and said with a smile: "Master Zhang, you want to go to Dongguang County? That's dozens of miles away. I have prepared a carriage outside the city. If Master Zhang doesn't mind, I can give you a ride. How about it?" Zhang Jiuyang looked at him and had to admit that this man had good eyesight. "So, thank you very much." "Okay, you're welcome!" …… The carriage was moving very fast, and an hour later, Zhang Jiuyang arrived in Dongguan County. Unlike the remote Yunhe County, Dongguan County is the largest county in Qingzhou, with nearly 10,000 households. It is more prosperous and lively, with all industries thriving. The Cui family is located here. Zhang Jiuyang asked a few people and finally arrived at the Cui family. This magnificent mansion was hung with strips of white cloth, indicating that there had been a funeral recently. He did not knock on the door rashly, but walked around Cui's mansion, turning left and right under Ali's guidance. "Master Zhang, where are we going?" The middle-aged man also came. He wanted to see with his own eyes how Zhang Jiuyang cast spells to exorcise ghosts. And for the sake of the other party's carriage, Zhang Jiuyang acquiesced. "Shh, don't talk." Zhang Jiuyang looked serious, and finally stopped outside a wall in the backyard of Cui's mansion. "Brother Jiu, the old man is right there!" Ali used her predictive ability and successfully helped Zhang Jiuyang find the ghost of Old Master Cui.
He looked in the direction Ah Li pointed, but did not see Old Master Cui. Instead, he saw a bamboo pole standing high on the eaves somewhere in Cui's mansion, with a piece of clothing hanging on it. The style seemed familiar, and Zhang Jiuyang suddenly remembered that when Old Master Cui came to see him in a carriage that day, he seemed to be wearing this dress. There was wind blowing around, but strangely, the thin dress did not flutter and seemed unusually heavy. From a distance, it looks like a silent scarecrow. Zhang Jiuyang's eyes turned cold, and he said, "What a cruel method!" Although most of the diaries left by Blind Lin are nonsense, there are also a few interesting stories about his exorcism and catching ghosts, which mention some taboos. The current scene coincides with an entry in the diary. "Master Zhang, what's wrong with this dress?" The middle-aged man was puzzled. "Do you think this is drying clothes?" "Is not it?" Zhang Jiuyang looked at him deeply and slowly uttered three words. "Soul-drying spell." …… (End of this chapter)