Seeing Su Xun ask that, the Taoist priest smiled. “It won’t be difficult, but we’ll need to prepare a few things. The sooner, the better.”
Wang Lei folded his arms, waiting to see how this charlatan planned to deceive them.
“I can prepare everything else. All that’s missing is a black rooster and a branch from an old locust tree.”
Su Xun answered instinctively, “A black rooster? I think Auntie Wu has one at home. As for the locust tree, there’s one in the village. It’s been there for many years.”
The Taoist priest nodded in satisfaction. “Then you two go find them. I’ll make some preparations.” He spread the odds and ends he had brought across the table, then urged the two of them to hurry.
Wang Lei looked at Su Xun. “Brother, you don’t really believe this, do you?”
Su Xun hesitated, but after thinking it over, he nodded. “It’ll give me some peace of mind.”
Wang Lei sighed. “Then point me in the right direction. I’ll go get you a locust branch.” Lowering his voice, he added, “It’ll be a good chance to learn how to scam people in the future.”
Su Xun gave him a wry smile and pointed out the direction. He then went to Auntie Wu’s house to borrow the rooster.
When Auntie Wu asked what it was for, Su Xun didn’t explain. He simply said that the Taoist master needed it. Auntie Wu didn’t refuse. Su Xun and his grandfather had always been well regarded in the village.
By the time Su Xun returned, Wang Lei was already standing there with several branches in his arms. He had his neck stretched out, watching the Taoist priest write, but he couldn’t understand a thing. He merely furrowed his brows and pretended that he did.
When he saw Su Xun come back, the Taoist priest began selecting a branch from the ones Wang Lei had brought. After choosing one, he picked up a small knife and began carving.
Su Xun suspected that the man’s real profession was carpentry. In rural areas, it was common for people to moonlight as Taoist priests. With a few cuts, the Taoist priest gave the branch some shape. A few more, and it vaguely resembled a human figure.
He picked it up, examined it, and made a few more adjustments. “That should do.”
He then took the yellow talisman covered in writing and carefully wrapped it around the little locust-wood figure. After that, he reached out and yanked several strands of hair from Su Xun’s head, making Su Xun nearly jump from the pain.
Wang Lei’s eyes darted from side to side. He clearly didn’t trust the Taoist priest very much.
The Taoist priest grabbed a length of red cord and began winding it around the wooden figure, muttering something under his breath.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Apparently, this wasn’t as easy as it looked. Once he had finished, he stood up and hurried outside without saying a word, leaving Wang Lei and Su Xun staring at each other.
“I’m telling you… he’s a fraud, right?” Wang Lei broke the silence. “We’re college students, after all! Students at a junior college still count as college students! You actually believe this stuff?”
Su Xun gave an awkward smile. “The atmosphere just sort of led us here… Besides, he said he wasn’t going to charge us.”
After a few seconds of silence, Wang Lei added, “Still, you’re a pretty good friend.”
“Huh?”
“I came all this way with you, and you didn’t let me make the trip for nothing. You even put on a little show for me.”
“Get lost.”
Su Xun fought back the urge to kick him, while Wang Lei chuckled. “That’s more like it. I hate seeing you looking so miserable.”
As they spoke, the Taoist priest hurried back inside.
“It’s done!” He handed the little locust-wood figure to Su Xun. “Now take it to the fork in the road at the village entrance, and bring the chicken with you.”
Su Xun felt rather foolish. He was holding a large black rooster in one hand and a piece of carved wood in the other. He began to regret listening to the Taoist priest’s nonsense. But he had already gone this far, and turning back now would feel like he was rejecting the man’s good intentions.
“Remember, there’s a ritual array at the crossroads. Put the little figure right in the center, then bite your middle finger and let your blood drip onto the wooden figure. After that, place the rooster on top of it. Then you can come back. But remember: you mustn’t speak on the way back. No matter what you hear, don’t turn around—and don’t run!”
What was this supposed to be, some kind of joke?
At that moment, the whole thing seemed utterly absurd. He was a well-educated man with a junior-college diploma, yet he had actually started believing in this stuff. Hadn’t he merely had a nightmare?
If only his grandfather were still alive…
The thought of his grandfather left Su Xun feeling melancholy.
He soon reached the place. Sure enough, a crude yin-yang diagram had been scattered across the ground with white ash, along with several symbols he couldn’t understand.
Su Xun nervously set the rooster aside. Its feet had been tied with red cord, so he wasn’t worried about it running away. He then glanced at the little wooden figure. For some reason, he felt that the crude carving looked rather like him.
He shook his head abruptly. He must have been losing his mind. It was nothing more than a carved branch.
He should just put it down and leave.
Su Xun set the wooden figure on the ground, but he hesitated when he remembered that he still had to bite his finger. He had to draw blood by biting himself. What kind of lunatic did that?
He crouched there, wavering. Just as he worked up the courage to bite down, he caught sight of something from the corner of his eye.
His scalp prickled. He didn’t dare look around. He immediately placed his middle finger between his upper and lower rows of teeth and prepared to bite down.
Something struck him on the head.
Su Xun slowly raised his head—and found himself face-to-face with a stranger.
“Are you human or a ghost?”
The newcomer frowned. “Are you blind?”
Su Xun leaped to his feet and took a step back, warily examining the man before him. He looked to be around thirty. He wore sneakers, ordinary jeans, and a white sweatshirt. His unshaven stubble gave him a somewhat weathered appearance.
He didn’t look like a ghost, but he didn’t quite look like an ordinary person either. What was a man doing out here in the middle of the night?
Su Xun panicked. Just as he was about to repeat what he had been doing, he was struck on the head again.
Su Xun angrily looked up. “Hey, what are you doing?”
The man stared at him as though he were an idiot. “I should be asking you that. What are you doing?”
“I’m… I’m performing a ritual! Could you stop interfering?” Su Xun blurted out. He was already feeling frustrated, and now he was both anxious and angry. Who went around hitting people on the head the first time they met?
The man suddenly kicked the white-ash array, smearing it into disarray.
Su Xun’s eyes widened as he stared at the ruined ritual formation.
“A black rooster, a locust-wood effigy, and a crossroads? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“No, seriously, who are you?” Su Xun asked, feeling a headache coming on as he looked at the destroyed array.
“Are you actually an idiot?” The man nudged the carved figure with his foot. “Locust wood is yin in nature and can serve as a vessel for a soul. A black rooster can suppress a soul.” He paused, then crouched down to examine the wooden figure closely. He even pulled out a lighter to illuminate it. “You wrote down your birth date and time, too. Are you trying to die?”
“Who are you, man? The Taoist master told me to do this.” Su Xun was completely baffled.
The man looked at him suspiciously. “Just as I thought. You really are an idiot. Someone set you up, and you don’t even realize it.”
“What did you say?”
The man seemed unwilling to touch the carved locust-wood figure, so he kicked it toward Su Xun instead. “Untie the red cord and take a look for yourself. Is that your name written on it? There’s even some of your hair inside!”
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
