Taoist Priest 08

As dusk fell, I tucked the small porcelain vial containing Sister Hong into my pocket and made my way to the Western Teaching Building. Zhou Wen was already waiting for me there, waving from a distance the moment he spotted me.

I carried a backpack filled with items—a peachwood knuckle duster given to me by Master, a peachwood sword that usually hung on the shop wall, and a stack of talismans. Jing Tian had told me these were ones Master had drawn and then tossed into the trash, but they might still come in handy.

Led by Zhou Wen, I followed him upstairs. The building had long been abandoned, its main entrance sealed shut. Fortunately, we found a broken window to slip through. As we climbed, he kept lecturing me: "You should either focus on your studies or go see a doctor. Students these days are under so much pressure—it’s easy to develop mental health issues. Take me, for example. Or you."

I was starting to feel cold, but he rambled on, as if trying to make up for the distance that had grown between us lately.

But when we reached the fifth floor, Zhou Wen fell silent. He clearly saw a girl in a white dress standing by the railing.

I saw her too.

Zhou Wen took a deep breath and strode forward. "This is just my hallucination. You probably can’t see it, but I’ve been researching lately. It’s a symptom of schizophrenia—"

I nodded and cut him off. "I see her."

He stopped in his tracks, staring at me in disbelief. "Are you messing with me? How could you see my hallucination?"

The girl slowly turned her head, her neck twisting at an unnatural angle with a crisp crack—definitely beyond 180 degrees.

Zhou Wen locked eyes with her.

"Don’t look!" I shouted, but it was too late. Master had told me that many ghosts couldn’t directly harm people—they relied on illusions. This female spirit was clearly one of them.

I watched as a grin spread across Zhou Wen’s face. Then, still staring at me, he spread his arms as if about to take flight. I knew I had to act fast. I grabbed a handful of talismans and flung them into the air. The papers fluttered in the wind, a few sticking to Zhou Wen’s body. They glowed red for an instant before fading. His expression twisted into something monstrous, his hands clawing at the talismans as his entire body convulsed.

I rushed forward, tackling him to the ground. Thankfully, Zhou Wen was smaller than me, and the ghost inside him was too busy struggling against the talismans to fight back. With one hand pinning him down, I fished out the porcelain vial with Sister Hong inside and popped the lid open.

Sister Hong materialized beside me, graceful as ever. She took one look at me lying on top of a man and gasped, covering her mouth with a playful smirk. "No wonder you weren’t fooled—so the young master prefers this sort of thing."

"Enough jokes! A ghost possessed him!" I grunted, struggling to keep Zhou Wen under control.

Sister Hong sighed, unfazed. "I’ve seen Taoists before, but none used talismans like you. Possession isn’t handled by slapping talismans on the host—you’re just trapping the ghost inside with no way out."

It hit me. I quickly tore off a few talismans from Zhou Wen’s body. The moment I did, his strength surged. With one shove, he sent me flying. He stood up, glaring at me with pure malice.

"You all deserve to die!" His voice was now a girl’s.

I scrambled for the knuckle duster and peachwood sword but hesitated. Honestly, if she hadn’t possessed Zhou Wen, I could’ve handled her—the shop’s resident ghosts had been my sparring partners for weeks.

But this? I had no experience.

Sister Hong shook her head. "Little sister, why cling to such bitterness?"

Zhou Wen’s gaze shifted to her, confused by the presence of another spirit. After a pause, he pointed at me. "Men deserve to die! All of them!" I briefly considered recording Zhou Wen’s current state on my phone but thought better of it.

A wave of icy energy erupted from Sister Hong. "Normally, I wouldn’t interfere. But under this roof, I have no choice." In a flash, she appeared in front of Zhou Wen, then gracefully stepped behind him—and walked straight into his body. As she forced her way in, a white-clad figure was shoved out, stumbling to a stop right in front of me.

The girl and I stared at each other, dumbfounded—me, surprised Sister Hong’s solution was to physically evict her; her, bewildered at being ejected.

"What are you waiting for?" Zhou Wen’s voice now carried Sister Hong’s tone.

Snapping out of it, I swung the peachwood sword at the girl. The blade glowed faintly yellow as it struck, sending her flying. Remembering Master’s teachings, I raised my hands, revealing the pre-drawn talismans on my palms, and lunged at her.

Sister Hong (still in Zhou Wen’s body) watched from the sidelines, wincing as I brawled with the girl before finally shaking her head in resignation.

As a bound spirit, the girl wasn’t particularly strong. I subdued her easily enough, but then I was stumped—Master never taught me how to actually capture a ghost.

I tied her up with a red cord and tried dragging her out of the building. But when I stepped outside and looked back, she was still inside, the cord severed in my hand.

So Sister Hong and I could only watch as she reappeared on the fifth floor—and jumped.

That night, she leaped five times.

Still, Sister Hong had done me a huge favor.

The next morning, a haggard Zhou Wen woke up. Eagerly, I showed him the video I’d taken—his own body swaying with feminine grace, his voice dripping with a woman’s cadence. He froze.

Without a word, he left the school—not even bothering to pack his things.

Sister Hong figured he’d gone to see a doctor. I suspected he was just too embarrassed.

Back at the shop, with Sister Hong gone, the other ghosts had switched their entertainment to poker.

I slept soundly, vowing to train harder—at least enough to avoid getting pinned down and slapped by a ghost again.

But the next morning, before I could even wake up, I sensed someone nearby. My eyes flew open to find a woman’s face inches from mine. I shrieked, scrambling back under the covers until I bumped into someone. Looking up, I saw Master.

Master said he’d brought me a senior sister.

Except I was the one who’d joined first. But Master insisted she was older, stronger, and—most crucially—a former sanda fighter.

I was no match for her.

This senior sister was stunning, with features reminiscent of Liu Yifei, but her expression was perpetually cold—even toward Master. Not that he seemed to mind.