Chapter 2: Fate or Opportunity

  That day, the hospital had a lot of patients. Ye Nan had another critical patient in the afternoon just before getting off work. After dealing with the patient and finishing writing the medical records, he finally finished all his tasks at 9:30 pm.

  It was already half an hour past the last bus, Ye Nan thought for a moment, looked at the good moonlight outside, and gave up the idea of sleeping in the duty room, so he decided to walk and wait for a taxi halfway.

  After greeting Yan Jie, who was on the night shift, I took off my work clothes and strolled slowly along the hospital entrance road, looking around to see if there were any taxis passing by.

  The weather in September still had a bit of heat, but the cool night breeze blowing across his face made Ye Nan feel very relaxed after a busy day. He lifted his head and stretched out his arms, arched his back twice, took two deep breaths, looked up at the sky and softly sighed: "What a beautiful moonlight..."

  It was already after 9 in the suburbs, and there were basically no people on the road. Occasionally, one or two cars flashed their headlights and whizzed by. After walking for over ten minutes, I still couldn't see a taxi.

  Ye Nan looked into the distance at the blackness of the highway, rubbed his forehead, and let out a helpless sigh: "I didn't think that when my luck was bad, even taxis wouldn't give me face, who knows how long I'll have to wait, sigh..."

  It's almost ten o'clock, and a hint of drowsiness is creeping in. Ye Nan yawned, thinking that it was already late anyway, and since he rarely had the chance to be alone with his thoughts, he decided to take his time and stroll slowly, hoping that good luck would remember this unlucky kid and occasionally pay him a visit.

  Continue walking slowly forward, and the luck that was just murmured about seems to be coming, but it's not clear whether it's good luck or continued bad luck.

  Ye Nan had just taken a few steps when someone suddenly jumped out of the grass ditch by the side of the road, moving quite fast and with considerable force. Before Ye Nan could react, he was knocked to the ground, flying more than two meters back with a loud "whoosh".

  In the dark and desolate wilderness, where not a single person was in sight just now, Ye Nan's luck today could be said to be one in ten thousand.

  That person also seemed to have been hit hard, lying on the ground, half-conscious and unable to get up. Ye Nan had just been hit so hard that he almost suffocated, and with great difficulty managed to crawl up, took two deep breaths, followed by a bout of coughing, before slowly recovering.

  Ye Nan touched his chest and thought, this person's strength is not small, bumping into him like a small four-wheeled vehicle. He looked at the still somewhat suffocated chest again, rubbed it again, and didn't feel any tearing pain, so it seemed that his ribs were fine.

  That man finally managed to crawl up from the ground and seeing Ye Nan was fine, he hastily shouted: "Quickly run..."

  Ye Nan was taken aback for a moment and thought to himself: "You bumped into me, I haven't said anything, why are you yelling at me to run?"

  That person saw Ye Nan not reacting, sighed, and turned around to run. However, he didn't take two steps before seemingly bumping into something again, making a "bang" sound as he fell back. This time, he fell even harder than Ye Nan, landing just two feet in front of him. Ye Nan estimated that the person had flown at least three or four meters backwards.

  Although he was hit by this person for no reason, Ye Nan still helped the person up with ease. Only after pulling him up did he take a closer look at the person under the moonlight, and found that he was quite young, probably in his early twenties, with a short haircut, and looked pretty handsome.

  This guy is also fierce, being knocked flying this far, after crawling up, he pulled Ye Nan and turned to run again. Ye Nan estimated that this person might have been a small strongman in his previous life, and even after being hit like this, he could still jump around vigorously, his vitality was too powerful. However, this time the board inch man ran for two steps, suddenly stopped running.

  At this point, Ye Nan also saw the situation, a cold gust of wind blew across his face, causing Ye Nan to shiver and break out in goosebumps all over his body, as if he felt something was not quite right.

  Just then, a black shadow suddenly emerged from the front, gloomy and eerie. The shadow floated lightly in mid-air, with its feet off the ground, staring at Bōinchi with an ominous gaze, shouting in a stern voice: "You little brat, hand over your stuff."

  As soon as he heard the sound, Ye Nan's whole body shuddered and his scalp began to tingle. What was this thing? He stood there for half a moment, and unconsciously let out a mournful cry: "Ghost..."

  At that time, he turned around and wanted to run, but after running for two steps, he suddenly remembered the end of that board inch man. Ye Nan was so scared that his liver and intestines were broken, his legs went soft, and he sat down on the ground with a thud. He thought of what Old Lady Wu had said a few days ago and cried out in a sad face: "Old Lady Wu, Old Lady Wu, your words are not good for good things but come true for bad things, this time you really got it right!"

  The plank-inch man looked at Ye Nan, who was scared to death with a pale face, and sighed sympathetically. When he first saw this thing himself, it was just like that too.

  He quickly pulled Ye Nan back and smiled wryly at him, saying: "Brother, sorry about this. Now you're also dragged into the water."

  Ye Nan only then borrowed the moonlight to see this person clearly, who was an inch taller than himself, with a clear and distinct face, sporting a short haircut, looking very refreshing and handsome.

  Ye Nan thought to himself that today was really unlucky, rubbed his forehead, and the words of Old Lady Wu appeared in his mind: "Wearing this pendant should be able to help you get through this disaster!"

  Thinking of this, Ye Nan calmed down a bit, forcing a smile: "It's okay, this was probably destined to happen, don't blame yourself..."

  That plank-inch man can still smile when he sees Ye Nan is also too surprising...

  Only the vengeful spirit had waited for half a moment, but saw that Banzai Otoko didn't react at all. It seemed he wasn't planning on handing over the goods. With a fierce whistle, it pounced forward. Banzai Otoko pushed Ye Nan behind him and produced a dagger from his right hand, swinging it forward. The vengeful spirit appeared to have suffered losses from this dagger before, and with a "whoosh", it floated backward again, retreating once more.

  The plank-inch man looked at the resentful ghost and retreated a bit, hurriedly taking out a box from his bosom and handing it to Ye Nan behind him, saying: "Open it and take a look, I was in such a hurry to escape that I didn't have time to see what it was. You open it and take a look, if it's not something good, we can throw it away and maybe we can still escape with our lives."

  Ye Nan took over the box, opened it and was stunned. The black jade pendant inside looked so familiar!

  The vengeful spirit saw Ye Nan open the box, and in a rage, let out another shrill cry, pouncing on him fiercely. Despite being stabbed by Ban Zhen's dagger, it swiped at Ye Nan with one claw, sending him flying several meters away. At that moment, Ye Nan was stunned, only managing to grab the jade pendant from the box before being knocked back.

  With a "thud" sound, he rolled over on the ground several times, and his hands and forehead were all scratched and bleeding.

  Ye Nan finally managed to crawl up from the ground, looking at the small jade pendant in his hand, he was so sad that he wanted to cry but had no tears. He thought to himself: "Old Lady Wu, Old Lady Wu, didn't your words come true? You said that with this small jade pendant, I would be able to get through this disaster safely, but now I have two of them and it's turned out like this... Waaah..."

  Ye Nan fell heavily to the ground, while the ghost was stabbed by Ban Zou's dagger and a burst of black smoke emerged from its body. However, its shadow only faded slightly, apparently not having much effect on it.

  The plank-inch man looked at the jade pendant in Ye Nan's hand and also sighed, thinking: "I knew it was just a small trinket like this, I wouldn't have taken it. Now it's good, I'm afraid my life will be lost because of this!"

  But things are always unexpected, Ye Nan looked at the black fish-shaped jade pendant in his hand, sighed, and took off the white small jade pendant from his neck. The two fitted together to form a round yin-yang fish jade pendant, it seems that they were indeed a pair.

  Even if it seems useless, this calamity is probably unavoidable. Just as Ye Nan was holding the two jade pendants and feeling sad, a sudden change occurred.

  Ye Nan's hand was injured and bleeding, the blood suddenly dripped onto the two jade pendants, which were activated by Ye Nan's blood and instantly merged into one body, transforming into a perfect round Tai Chi jade pendant. As the fusion was completed, "Whoosh..." A dazzling golden light burst out.

  Not far away, the resentful ghost was illuminated by the golden light and let out a mournful cry. With a "hiss", it transformed into a wisp of black smoke that dispersed without a trace in the evening breeze.

  Ye Nan was dazzled by the golden light, and it wasn't until the jade pendant finished emitting the golden light that he could see again. He then saw a small golden light floating out from the pendant.

  Ye Nan was staring at the small light spot, still puzzled, when suddenly it floated in front of him and with a "whoosh" drilled into his forehead between his two eyes.

  As the small light spot drilled in, Ye Nan's eyes turned black and he fell backwards, fainting...

  In a daze, Ye Nan's mind conjured up strange images, one of which was a small Taoist priest in an apricot-yellow robe facing a group of bizarre ferocious beasts. He tossed out yellow paper talismans, some of which ignited in the wind and transformed into a large fireball that suddenly smashed onto a half-human-high wolf, blowing it to smithereens.

  Some symbols suddenly turned into a huge icicle, accurately inserted into the chest of a giant black bear that was rapidly approaching, and the black bear stood up, let out a miserable howl, and then rolled to the ground.

  There was also a fierce and powerful symbol of Ling Kong that self-ignited, making a "crack" sound as it summoned a bolt of lightning from the sky to strike down, blasting a giant python as thick as a water bucket into two segments!

  That little Taoist priest had just finished dealing with the few monsters when, feeling pleased with himself, several large rats about the size of dogs suddenly burrowed out of the ground not far in front of him and pounced on him.

  The little Taoist remained calm in the face of danger, a talisman suddenly appearing in his hand. He slammed it to the ground and shouted: "Long..."

  A cluster of thick, dark green vines suddenly sprouted from the ground. The vines danced in the wind, whipping back and forth in mid-air, and in an instant had bound several large, rat-like monsters together.

  The little Taoist looked at the tightly bound and struggling mice, chuckled lightly, pulled out a yellow talisman from his chest, concentrated his expression, urged his spiritual energy, slammed it forward, and shouted: "Five thunders gather... explode!"

  Suddenly, a loud "crackling" sound was heard in the air, several huge lightning bolts struck down, hitting the green vines and sending several large rats flying with blood and flesh scattered everywhere, with black smoke billowing up...

  The scene changed again, and it became a dark and chaotic graveyard. The little Taoist priest faced the giant vengeful spirits floating in the air, making gestures as if they were about to pounce. He calmly threw out several paper talismans and shouted: "Heaven and earth are boundless, Qiankun borrows the law, trapped..."

  Those few pieces of paper symbols transformed into several golden-yellow Bagua arrays, trapping the vengeful spirits inside. The vengeful spirits howled incessantly within the array, charging left and right, but the golden-yellow Bagua array trapped them firmly in place. Under the Ghost King's impact, it didn't show any signs of wavering.

  Then the Taoist picked up a resentful ghost, threw out a paper charm, and shouted: "Order..." The charm turned into a ball of fire and hit the resentful ghost in the array, burning it to make a "hiss" cry, with black smoke rising from its body. After throwing several more charms, the resentful ghost was transformed into a wisp of green smoke that dispersed in the wind.

  The little Taoist easily solved several vengeful spirits one by one and then floated away.

  The scene changed again, and the little Taoist appeared in an ancient military camp, surrounded by a large group of wounded soldiers holding spoons, broken bowls and other things.

  The little Taoist looked at the wounded soldiers with pity, took out a talisman, activated his spiritual power and threw it into a large water vat. The talisman dissolved in the water immediately, then the little Taoist turned around and left.

  The soldiers saw the little Taoist priest leave, and they swarmed up. Some scooped up a ladle of water from the large water tank and drank it on the spot, while others held broken bowls to scoop up a bowl and poured it directly onto their wounds...

  The water symbol was poured down the throat, and the soldier who was vomiting blood immediately stopped vomiting. Those with wounds were also quickly healed by the water symbol, and their bleeding stopped. Smaller wounds even completely healed on the spot, without leaving any scars or marks on the skin.

  The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of heaven and earth. The Named is the mother of all things. Therefore, always desireless, one observes its wonders; always desiring, one observes its manifestations. These two are the same in source but different in name. This sameness is called mystery. Mystery within mystery: the door to all wonders. Thus the sage manages affairs without ado and spreads doctrine without words.

  Xiao Dao Tong's voice, sometimes distant and sometimes right next to his ear, kept swirling in Ye Nan's little brain. When he finished reading the last page, Xiao Dao Tong "slammed" the book shut.

  As the sound of reading suddenly stopped, Fang Nan's eyes opened and he woke up.