Volume 1: Spirit Marriage Chapter 61: A Taoist Appears Midway

  Time passed minute by minute, and my yin-yang knife was still not taken out. Just as I was hesitating, a black shadow floated out of the iron box and slowly transformed into a human figure in front of me. Seeing that it was He Shuo, I asked him in a low voice how he had come out. He Shuo looked at Shu Yun and then asked me why I still hadn't taken action. I shook my head without answering. He Shuo said "boring" and wanted to go out and have some fun. As he spoke, he walked towards the door, and before I could even call him back, he had already disappeared from the doorway.

  I thought to myself, having promised Mr. Qian that I would operate on his wife, I shouldn't hesitate any longer, so I took a deep breath, opened the iron box, and pulled out the scalpel.

  The Yinyang blade was still icy as frost.

  He walked to the foot of the bed and looked at Shu Yun's feet, which were exposed outside the quilt. At first glance, they seemed like a snow sculpture, making people feel strange. The black part accounted for about one quarter of the instep, in a circular shape. Mr. Qian had said that his wife's leg injury had undergone surgery, but now it seems that this piece of skin is smooth as jade, without any signs of having undergone surgery.

  Because I was holding the yin-yang knife, my hand was frozen in pain. I didn't have much time to hesitate and decided to start from her left foot.

  To avoid her thrashing about in pain, I pressed down on her bare feet. As soon as I touched her foot, I felt a chill run through my whole body - who knew a person's foot could be so cold! It was like ice! Without hesitation, I raised the knife and cut towards that dark circle.

  From the experience of performing two surgeries on the red-clothed female ghost, I found that the faster my speed, the less suffering she endured. Originally, I had planned to make a circle on her heel with one swift motion of the knife, but unexpectedly, this was on her heel, and because Shu Yun was extremely emaciated, there was almost no flesh on her heel. I was afraid of cutting into bone, so I had to slow down my speed.

  As soon as the yin-yang knife entered the flesh, Shu Yun's foot suddenly sprang up, followed by a burst of exclamation: "Ah——" I reflexively pressed her bare foot tightly, carefully peeling off that piece of skin like peeling off a layer of skin. This piece of skin wasn't big, but it took me a full four or five minutes to remove it, despite the yin-yang knife and the human skin I was touching being icy cold, yet my forehead was still dripping with cold sweat.

  During this time, Shu Yun was groaning in pain and restlessly tossing about on the bed, but she didn't make any big movements. She was enduring the intense pain with all her might, so this operation went relatively smoothly.

  I thought that after cutting off the black skin, it would be like the red-clothed female ghost, with black blood flowing from the wound. But unexpectedly, as the skin came off, what slowly seeped out was red blood. In other words, what flowed out was human blood. This made me feel somewhat relieved in my heart - this woman named Shu Yun is a person, not a ghost.

  I quickly bandaged the wound with gauze, wiped away the sweat on my forehead and walked to the head of the bed, just about to ask if she could bear it, but when I saw her appearance, I was shocked. At this time, her whole face was sweating! It looked like she had just come out of a steamer. What's strange is that her left cheek turned rosy and was no longer as pale as before, but her right cheek remained as white as snow.

  Because her hands were tied, I picked up a towel to help her wipe away the sweat beads on her face and asked how she felt. She said with difficulty: "It hurts." I said that the surgery on her left foot was done, and the right foot still needed surgery, she nodded slightly.

  I really admire Shuyun, who can endure the pain of cutting flesh. From ancient times to the present, I only know the story of Guan Yu scraping his bones to cure poison, and I have always had a deep respect for this iron man. I didn't expect that in reality, there would also be someone who could endure such extreme pain, and it's a woman. It's probably hard to find one or two people like her in the whole world.

  Just as they were preparing to operate on Shuyun's right leg, a sudden urgent footsteps came from outside the door, followed by Qian Yi saying in a low voice: "Brother, there is a Taoist priest outside who claims his surname is Yu and says our family has an evil spirit, he insists on forcing his way in."

  As soon as I heard, the yin-yang knife in my hand almost fell to the ground. I quickly put it away in an iron box and listened carefully. Mr. Qian asked, "Has he come in?" Qian Yi said yes. Mr. Qian said, "How can there be evil spirits here? Is this not a swindling Jianghu shaman?" Qian Yi asked, "How is the surgery going for Big Sister?" Mr. Qian said it was still in progress. Qian Yi said, "Brother, you go see that stinky Taoist priest, he insists on seeing you." Mr. Qian seemed very embarrassed and remained silent for a long time. I put away the yin-yang knife, opened the door, and Mr. Qian and Qian Yi immediately came in, asking repeatedly, "Dr. Yang, how is the surgery going?" I said that I had already finished the surgery on her left foot, but to avoid any accidents, we needed to send her to the hospital quickly for a doctor's examination and disinfection. Mr. Qian and Qian Yi immediately walked into the room, looked at Shu Yun's left foot together, and Mr. Qian gently asked Shu Yun if she was in pain. Shu Yun slowly shook her head. Qian Yi examined Shu Yun's two feet again and again, his sword-like eyebrows furrowed, I don't know what he was thinking, could it be that he was doubting my medical skills?

  Mr. Qian instructed Mr. Qian Yi, "You immediately call Xiao Xiang and have him come over, bringing the necessary items with him." Mr. Qian Yi responded with a sound, hastily pulling out his mobile phone to make the call.

  I often look out the door, my heart is burning with anxiety. The reason for this anxiety is that I worry that the fish Taoist who broke into the private house discovered He Suo, that little ghost. Since the fish Taoist can see ghosts, he must have a very deep understanding of the Tao. What if he catches He Suo and takes him away? Wouldn't I lose my knife soul then?

  At this time, Qian Yi put away his mobile phone and said to Mr. Qian: "Xiao Xiang will come over right away, you'd better go out and see that stinky Taoist priest." Mr. Qian agreed, then turned to me with an apologetic face and said: "I'm really sorry, Dr. Yang..." I quickly said it was okay, let's go see the Taoist priest together.

  As I entered the living room, Zhang Yunhao and Wu Lele came up to me with a smile, asking in a low voice how things were going. A man was admiring a calligraphy painting, his back turned to us. At this moment, he turned around, and I saw that he was about forty years old, wearing a Changshan suit, with every hair on his head standing upright, looking spirited and sharp-eyed, with an air of elegance and refinement.

  That must be the Fish Daoist that Qian Yi was talking about. Mr. Qian hastened his steps to greet him, and naturally exchanged some pleasantries. However, the Daoist had a poker face, occasionally glancing in our direction, it's unclear whether he heard what Mr. Qian said or not.

  I whispered to Zhang Yunhao and Wu Lele that He Shuo was gone, Zhang Yunhao immediately said: "No way, where did that kid go?" I said I didn't know, he said he went out to play and never came back. Zhang Yunhao glanced at Yu Daoist and said, wouldn't he be caught by that stinky Daoist?

  Wu Lele became more impatient, saying forget about that Water Saint, this place feels weird, let's get out of here. I said but Hei Suo hasn't come back yet, how can we leave? Wu Lele however turned to Mr. Qian and said: "That...Mr. Qian, we're leaving first." After finishing speaking, she grabbed one sleeve each of mine and Zhang Yunhao's and headed towards the door. Neither I nor Zhang Yunhao wanted to leave, but then heard Mr. Qian say: "I'll have Qian Yi send you back." As he said this, he gave a signal with his eyes to Qian Yi, who quickly came over and said: "I'll send you back."

  Mr. Qian didn't ask us to stay, and neither of us felt like staying any longer with Zhang Yunhao, so we reluctantly left the living room.

  At the door I turned back and took a glance, but found that Yu Daoist was staring in our direction, so I quickly turned my head around and thought it's better to slip away!

  We arrived at Qian Yi's car, and Qian Yi invited us to get in. Zhang Yunhao said he had a car, so as not to trouble Qian Yi, Qian Yi seemed to be in a hurry to return to deal with the fish Daoist, and did not insist again. Seeing that we didn't want to send him off, it was also convenient for us, and he expressed his gratitude to me and asked me to come back tomorrow to perform surgery on his sister-in-law's right leg. I said that I had classes tomorrow morning and estimated that I could only come at night, Qian Yi said okay, then tonight.

  After getting on the car, Zhang Yunhao asked: "Are we going to leave He Suo's little ghost here?" I said this is definitely not okay, have to wait for him to come back. Wu Lele said that Yu Daozhang's Taoist practice was very high, and it's estimated that he had already caught He Suo.

  At this moment, a bright light came from behind and shot straight ahead, followed by a BMW driving slowly to our side. After honking the horn several times, we couldn't help but look inside the car, and the person inside also looked at us. I saw that it was a young man, about thirty years old, wearing a blue shirt, extremely handsome and extraordinary, giving people a very unusual feeling. Just as I was thinking who this godlike person was, Qian Yi rushed out quickly, called out to the young man "Xiao Xiang", then made a please gesture towards him. The man nodded slightly and drove slowly into the villa.

  That must be the person Mr. Qian called Xiaoxiang just now, and he should be a doctor.

  I suddenly remembered Zhang Yunhao's abnormal behavior when we first arrived, and asked: "Hao Ge, didn't you say there was a ghostly aura here?" Zhang Yunhao said yes, not only was there a ghostly aura, but it was also very strong. I looked at Wu Lele again, "Lele, didn't you say that Qian Yi had a ghostly aura on him?" Wu Lele said yes, and she glanced at me and Zhang Yunhao, as if asking: Can't you two see it?