Chapter 13: Decision

  Finally got to the point.

  "When did that apartment building across the street start being haunted?" Shi Yi'an saw an opening and continued to ask along this line.

  "I heard it was because the landlord drove out an old Taoist who lived in his house, and the old Taoist did something to the house, after which the house was no longer quiet."

  "It's an old way, I heard it was a monk."

  "You're all wrong, it's said that before the house was built, there was a crematorium there, after the crematorium was relocated, they built the current apartment."

  "Really? I heard it's because the landlord offended someone and was given a curse."

  "Speaking of which, a friend of my relative went to T country for tourism before, and soon after returning, he died. It is said that the death was miserable. Later, a master was invited to see it, saying that..."

  Then, the topic of ghost houses that had just started suddenly turned into a few old ladies telling stories about the strange events encountered by their seven aunts and eight aunts. Shi Yi'an rubbed his forehead, if he really wanted to listen to these stories, his third uncle who often caught ghosts and demons at the foot of the mountain could tell him a whole basketful.

  However, several old ladies were obviously high and couldn't stop at all. Shi Yian tried twice but failed to bring the topic back on track, so she had no choice but to give up.

  But after listening, it's not that there's no gain at all. Judging from the current situation of the apartment building, it's very likely that something has been done to it. According to common sense, if someone wants to cast a small spell on a building, it shouldn't be difficult. Just placing some filthy objects inside or nearby would make everyone living in the house uneasy. However, Shī Yuè ān is now facing an apartment building with at least one hundred tenant households. Where exactly this filthy object is hidden is really hard to say.

  Shi Yi An crouched at the entrance of the apartment building, watching the residents coming and going, feeling their auras. Except for one handsome young man with a slightly heavy yin energy on him, everyone else seemed to be fine.

  The bricks at the entrance were all cemented, and judging from the degree of wear and tear, it was clear that they had not been renovated in recent years. Shi Yian scratched his hair, feeling completely clueless.

  At this rate, three days is simply not enough time.

  Forget it, I'm hungry. Shi Yian felt that even with a huge task at hand, he still had to eat. Without filling his stomach, how could he have the energy to catch ghosts?

  After circling around the neighborhood for a while, Shi Yi'an still decided to go back to the restaurant from yesterday. At least that place looked clean on the surface.

  It was noon peak, the store was crowded with people holding plates. Shi Yian found no empty table after searching for half a day. Since there were many people, he decided to find someone to share a table with. Shi Yian liked sunshine and his eyes naturally drifted towards the window. He saw an old man sitting near the window, with white hair, wearing a clean white shirt, elegant in demeanor, sitting alone at a table.

  "Excuse me, sir, is there anyone else sitting across from you?" Shi Yian asked politely.

  The old man smiled and made a gesture of invitation: "There's no one else, you just sit here."

  Eating at the same table like this, there's still some awkwardness. Shi Yi'an, in order to avoid unnecessary things from happening, quickly stuffed food into his mouth. The old man sitting across from him slowly finished the food on his plate, holding a teacup and smiling as he looked at Shi Yi'an.

  "Hey young man, what's your occupation?" The old gentleman suddenly asked.

  "I graduated from college and haven't started working yet," Shi Yian replied.

  "Oh." The old man responded thoughtfully, stood up, tapped the glass with his fingertips and muttered to himself: "That gray apartment building is quite interesting."

  He finished speaking and turned around to leave.

  Grey apartment building? Shi Yian swallowed the thing in his mouth with a gulp, and quickly stuck to the glass to look outside. The side of the grey high-rise apartment building had no windows, and the grey rectangular building was covered with green ivy, which grew very regularly, almost symmetrical left and right. Outsiders thought it was an artistic masterpiece created by a gardener's painstaking efforts. But Shi Yian saw at a glance that it wasn't art, but a malicious talisman paper.

  This Taoist is really too clever, originally Shi Yi An had always suspected that he was hiding the filthy thing in some corner of the apartment, but unexpectedly he not only didn't hide it, but also openly hung it on the wall.

  Shi Yi'an had been learning to draw talismans with his younger uncle for over a year, but mastering the art of talisman-making wasn't something that could be achieved overnight. Moreover, this giant "talisman paper" wasn't in standard format. Shi Yi'an took pictures of the entire wall and found a piece of talisman paper to practice drawing according to its content several times, but still couldn't make sense of it.

  According to Shi Yi's words, these tests are usually not too difficult. Generally speaking, staying overnight and clearing out the ghosts in the house is enough to pass the test. However, it's clear that this case has already far exceeded Shi Yi An's half-baked level. But Xiao Shu also said that being a Tian Shi isn't just a simple and rough profession. It's not just about drawing a talisman on a ghost and sticking it on them to get rid of them. Many times, this profession may require speaking up for certain groups that can't speak out for themselves.

  Shi Yi'an sighed, found a piece of paper, and drew the things on the photo. This talisman has a part that is used to calm the soul, which may be the main reason why the yin energy in the building cannot disperse. As for other parts, Shi Yi'an couldn't determine yet, but every symbol on the talisman has its own unique meaning. The fact that this talisman can have such a great effect means that the person who cast the spell must be an expert, and experts wouldn't draw meaningless symbols on it.

  When the book is used, it's a pity that there are still a few symbols that Shifu An can't understand.

  After finishing the remaining half of his cold lunch, Shi Yi An returned to his apartment. He wanted to wait until nightfall to personally ask those ghosts what had happened here. Perhaps he wasn't the only one who could hear the ghosts speaking, but he was definitely the only one willing to listen to them.

  Shi Yi An used his mobile phone to search for the meaning of the symbols online, but made no progress. After all, most of the books on mysticism had disappeared in the repeated cultural cleansing, and only families like Shi's, who lived deep in the mountains as heavenly masters, could preserve so many such books.

  Shi Yi let out a sigh and simply tidied up the house. He knew that there would be guests visiting tonight.

  The last rays of the sun had just dissipated, and the small cottage's doorbell rang. Shi Yian walked over to open the door, although he had long been prepared, but was still a bit intimidated by the atmosphere. In the corridor, there were more than thirty ghosts standing, old and young, looking at Shi Yian, and what Shi Yian read from their eyes was expectation.

  "Master, we know you have great magical powers, please help us." The first one was a male ghost who looked like he was only in his thirties, with a gray sweater and a white shirt visible at the neckline. He had a very scholarly air about him, and must have worked with texts or something similar when he was alive.

  "Please come in."

  Those ghosts didn't all come in, but only sent a few representatives into the house. The other ghosts stood outside waiting, and if someone from 12B came back at this time, they would definitely be chilled to the bone.

  "Master, last night Xiaoran ran back to tell us that she met someone who could see her. We knew then that the apartment was definitely haunted. But we don't know if you're here to eliminate us or help us." The man in gray asked.

  Shi Yi'an sat at the table, gesturing for everyone to sit down. With a calm and composed tone, he said: "Actually, I'm not some kind of high-ranking person, I'm just a half-baked heavenly master who hasn't even graduated yet. After coming here, I feel that although the yin energy is heavy, the resentment isn't as intense as I imagined. I reckon you all aren't malevolent spirits either, so I want to get to the bottom of this matter."

  Several representatives exchanged a look, and finally it was the one wearing the gray woolen clothes who spoke up first: "Actually, things are like this. I used to be a language teacher at a nearby middle school, living here. Although I think it's a bit noisy here at night, as a teacher at a school, I am a firm atheist. However, later on in the building, I encountered a thief who was stealing things here. When I went to stop him, I was pushed down from the stairs by the thief and my head hit the steps. After that, I found out that I had died, but my soul was trapped in this building."

  "What is the central idea of this passage, then?" asked Shi Yian.

  The language teacher listened and smiled wryly, saying: "Master, you're joking. What I want to say is that apart from me, there are thirty-four souls trapped here, of course, it's also possible that they're ghosts."

  "Have you ever harmed anyone?" Shi Yi'an suddenly asked in a serious tone.

  "No." The language teacher replied seriously and firmly, then her expression turned gloomy and continued: "We are all people who died of illness, old age or accidental death. Before we died, we were all kind-hearted people, and after we died, we wouldn't do those evil things that harm the world. At most, a few young children couldn't bear the loneliness and made some insignificant jokes. This is what everyone calls a haunted house, so the deaths that occurred here would be shrouded in a layer of horror, but it really has nothing to do with us."

  No wonder you're a language teacher, even answering questions can be rhetorical. Shi Yi An waved his hand to signal the other party to stop and continued to ask: "I heard that the house I'm living in had three consecutive tenants who hanged themselves."

  "It's impossible, the boy who lived in this room before went to graduate school and how could he hang himself here?" The white-clothed young woman sitting next to him suddenly spoke out in refutation, her tone firm.

  Shi Yi'an raised an eyebrow and looked at the woman, saying: "How is it that you seem so clear about this?"

  "That was when I thought of killing him, so he could accompany me forever, but Teacher Zheng said that since I'm already suffering so much, don't let the one I love suffer with me."

  It seems that this Teacher Zheng, although very strict, has done a good job in ideological work, leading such a large group of ghosts and ensuring that they have not done anything out of line for so many years, which is quite impressive.

  "Alright, I'll believe you for now. So how can I help you? Or should I just use a fire talisman to burn that ivy?" Shi Yian asked.

  Upon hearing Shi Yi An say that, Teacher Zheng was taken aback at first, then immediately retorted: "Absolutely not, absolutely not. If you really burn that thing, all of us ghosts will have our souls scattered."

  "What can I do then." Shi Yi'an shrugged, this was the only method he could think of. After all, with that talisman suppressing it, even if they went to a temple to find a high-ranking monk to exorcise it, it might not be effective.

  Teacher Zheng suddenly slumped and said in a low voice: "We don't know what to do either."

  Looking at the people sitting opposite him with full of expectation, he really didn't know what to do. He thought for a moment and said: "Well, you've all been trapped in this building for so many years anyway, it doesn't matter if it's one more day. Let me think about it, I'll give you a definite answer by tomorrow night."

  After all, in this matter, Shi Yian was the only one who had the right to speak. The few ghosts were anxious but also understood that such things couldn't be rushed, so they thanked him and left one after another. Shi Yian also went to bed immediately, he had to get up early tomorrow, he still had things to do.

  Those ghosts, although they say they have never done anything that would harm the heavens or go against reason, are good at telling lies. After all, as the female ghost said, having wandered around here for so many years, it's possible that one day they might want to kill someone to keep themselves company, and that's not impossible.

  The next morning, Shi Yi'an visited many neighbors nearby and inquired about the deaths in this apartment building in recent years. The conclusion he drew was roughly the same as what those ghosts said. As for the information that San Shu provided about this building, most of it was just rumors and hearsay from outside, completely unreliable. It's really unknown what they were doing.

  As time was running out, Shi Yi'an stood in front of the building with a heart full of contradictions.

  If he now takes a talisman paper, lights it on fire and burns those ivy to ashes, he would have completed his task and become a real Tian Shi. However, the innocent souls in the apartment building who were waiting for reincarnation would be scattered forever. But given his level of ability, he really couldn't think of a better way to solve this problem, which also means that if he doesn't burn them, his test will definitely fail.