(Side Story) Master Uncle 05

"Quick, see if that broken book has any other tricks!" At this point, Wang Qianyue stopped pretending.

He could read, but he couldn't make heads or tails of that book. Little Mouse, however, had a certain gift—he could actually understand it. The problem was, neither of them had any magical power, so they couldn't use the book as intended. But there was one way: tear the book apart and use the pages individually. The pages with talisman drawings carried the magic themselves.

Earlier, while they were pretending to argue, Little Mouse had stuck one of the pages onto the Ghost Bride, which was why Wang Qianyue had been able to touch her.

But now?

"I've got it, I've got it! The Five Thunder Curse!" Little Mouse ripped out a page and planted his feet firmly.

Wang Qianyue was overjoyed. He might only be a half-baked Taoist, but he'd certainly heard of something as powerful as the Five Thunder Curse.

He took the page from Little Mouse: "Heh heh, chasing me? This Daoist will blast you all to ashes!"

The ghosts had no idea why the two men had stopped running, as if they'd found some new trick.

The Ghost Bride shouted, "Careful! They're up to something sinister!"

Remembering the beating she'd just taken, she was the first to turn and run back. Though the other vengeful spirits didn't understand what was happening, seeing the two men charge at them with such ferocity, they too spun around and fled.

"Captain, the noise is heading back again," said the officer at the door, completely bewildered.

This time, it wasn't just him—even the squad leader pricked up his ears, catching only faint snippets of profanities aimed at someone's parents.

"Shh... what in the world is going on in there?"

Just as the door was about to slam shut, Wang Qianyue hurled the page with the Five Thunder Curse.

He laughed and cursed, and the next second, a blast rang out, like a firecracker going off inside the room.

Then the door opened again, and the crowd of vengeful ghosts stared at Wang Qianyue with icy, sinister eyes.

"That's it? The Five Thunder Curse?" Wang Qianyue instinctively turned back to look at Little Mouse, only to see him already sprinting away: "You're supposed to chant a hand seal before throwing it! You just chucked it—getting a bang at all is lucky!"

"Damn it! Wait for me!"

Five or six officers had their ears pressed right against the door, because the triumphant shouting had again turned into screams of terror, and the commotion was shifting to yet another direction.

"Shh... do you think maybe our master hired this guy just for his running ability?"

The other officers all shook their heads.

This was just too weird.

"Anything else in there?" Wang Qianyue panted as he ran. All this back-and-forth was taking its toll.

Little Mouse ripped out another page: "Got it! There's a sword incantation! Where's your peachwood sword? We can consecrate it!"

"Peachwood sword... by the well..."

"Then forget it!"

"Huh?" Wang Qianyue suddenly slammed to a stop, and even the vengeful ghosts behind them jolted to a halt.

He pulled a tiny, palm-sized peachwood sword from his hair: "Will this work?"

"Wait—where did that come from?"

Wang Qianyue grinned: "Saw it when I was buying the peachwood sword. Asked them to throw in a bonus, just forced them to give it to me..."

Little Mouse facepalmed: "Hand it over!"

As the page passed over the tiny peachwood sword, a golden glow flickered along its blade.

The ghosts all cowered in fear.

A consecrated peachwood sword had the power to slay evil spirits—it was an inherent bane to them.

Then they saw a wild-haired, half-crazed Taoist charging at them with the miniature sword, looking more terrifying than any ghost. Without hesitation, the vengeful spirits turned tail and ran again.

The officers outside the door had grown used to it by now.

Let him run. At least it looked like the Taoist was still alive—maybe even enjoying himself.

Eventually, everything returned to how it started.

"You chickenshits! Chase me if you dare, but open the door!"

"You got guts? Come in here, then!"

"I'm NOT coming in!"

"Then we're NOT coming out!"

A standoff.

"Taoist, what do you want?! We have no quarrel with you—"

But the words gave Wang Qianyue an opening: "No quarrel? No quarrel, but you tried to kill me? THAT'S what you call no quarrel?"

The room fell silent for a moment.

"That wicked official paid you to get rid of us. There were two before you—you're not a good man either!"

That set Wang Qianyue off. He jumped straight into the air.

"What?! Say that again!"

His roar made even the ghosts inside feel a chill of fear.

"Filthy Taoist! You're an accomplice to a tyrant!" the Ghost Bride cursed.

"No, not about that! I'm asking—he actually PAID?!?!"

Little Mouse looked utterly baffled, and Wang Qianyue seemed even angrier than before.

"He never gave me a single coin!! Bastard! The damn bastard! That crooked dog of an official!" Wang Qianyue, hair in disarray, swung the tiny peachwood sword wildly, like a man in a full frenzy.

The ghosts inside couldn't help but feel that the Taoist outside had more resentment than the lot of them combined.

"Um... Taoist, since you weren't paid, just leave," a ghost finally spoke up after a long pause.

But a single wide, staring eyeball showed up through the crack in the door, startling the ghosts inside.

"Leave? He didn't pay me, and he's got men guarding the door!"

Silence fell inside.

Outside, Wang Qianyue paced back and forth furiously.

When Little Mouse was about to say something, Wang Qianyue suddenly had a thought. A sly grin crept across his face—a grin Little Mouse knew all too well. It meant his scheming brain had hatched another stupid idea.

"Say... how about we make a deal?"

"Name it."

"I pretend I caught you, then go squeeze money out of him. Once I get paid, I hit the road, you all come right back. Sound good?"

The door was quiet. Then a sigh.

"Taoist... I'm afraid you won't be able to walk away from this one."

"Ha! Sprouting wings now, are we? Still tryna kill me?"

"Not at all, not at all—" a ghost hurriedly put in. "It's just... that wicked official will never spare you."

"Why?"

"Because... if you 'catch' us, you'll naturally learn what he's done. And he won't leave a witness breathing."

With that, a female ghost began her tale.

She was from Royal Village. Her parents, though they toiled as laborers, managed to live a passable life and had arranged a marriage for her. But on her wedding day, the prefect sent men.

His reason was simple: as prefect, he claimed the right of the first night with any bride.

Translation, he'd taken a liking to her looks.

Her parents refused and wept and begged. The officers, fierce as wolves, beat them half to death. Fearing for their lives, she parted with them, planning to flee with her family the next day. But the prefect, wary of her, dragged her back by force that very night.

Her groom tried to come to her rescue, pacing outside the gate, only to have both legs broken by the prefect's men. He died by the roadside that same night.

When she learned what had happened, she was still wearing her bridal dress.

The prefect, drunk, boasted gleefully of his deeds while making his move on her. But she chose instead to slam her head into a pillar and die.