Chapter 298: Bewitching Curse

Pangzi's first flower‑sending operation was such an unspectacular start and a bland failure. Even if the tale of a tiger sniffing roses is beautiful, it cannot be applied to this naturally dim‑witted Pangzi to interpret its good meaning.

He kept grabbing me and asking nonstop: Why exactly did I fail? Why is Sister Jingjing angry with me? How did I end up failing?

In response, I could only roll my eyes and retort, 'Go ask your sister.'

Bored and hungry, I went to the school's noodle stall and bought a bowl of pork offal noodles for three bucks, filling my five viscera. Pangzi kept muttering to himself about how unreasonable and unfair it was, completely ignoring my feelings as a bystander.

In the evening, Pangzi and I strolled around the school playground, never expecting to actually run into an acquaintance.

That acquaintance turned out to be the feisty girl from our class, Yao Yirong.

That man looked somewhat handsome, with a middle‑parted bangs; his face was paler than an average woman's. He followed Yao Yirong closely like a flower‑guarding envoy.

However, this middle‑parted man didn't seem to be welcome by Yao Yirong; although he meant well, she appeared to dislike him intensely, walking while glancing back and pointing her badminton racket at him fiercely, muttering some threatening words.

Perhaps the middle‑parted man was scared off by Yao Yirong's scolding, so he stopped following her. Yao Yirong, meanwhile, simply sat down on the lawn and chatted with a few girls, completely ignoring the middle‑parted man.

I asked Pangzi beside me, 'Who is that guy?'

Pangzi curled his lip: 'Ou Yaoyang, just a second‑generation heir.' After saying that, he added, 'A second‑generation heir who looks like a pig but wants to flirt.'

Look at his eyes, hear his tone—obviously naked jealousy that others are more handsome than him.

Pangzi and I simply sat down on the grass, watching the bustling students on the playground—some reading, some playing ball, some strolling.

By now it was evening; the sun gradually sank westward, and the sunset always casts its last faint glow—not hot, but very poetic.

I watched the basketball game at the far end of the playground, while Pangzi kept his eyes on the girls playing badminton. It was hot summer, and the female classmates mostly wore short sleeves and shorts, their lovely figures unmistakably on display, letting groups of lechers feast their eyes.

"34.85.92..." Pangzi muttered, pinching his fingers.

I turned my head to look at him, puzzled, and asked, 'Pangzi, what are you doing?'

Pangzi flicked his hand: 'Don't disturb me; I'm divining our fate with these girls' three measurements!'

I… Is this how the Plum Blossom Divination is being ruined by you, you dead fatty?

I curled my lip, turned my head away to ignore that dead fatty. But the instant I turned, a sight caught my eye and made my gaze freeze.

The middle‑parted man whom Pangzi called Ou Yaofeng quietly scattered something behind Yao Yirong's back; it was too far for me to see what he scattered, but I could tell it landed on Yao Yirong's shadow.

Immediately afterward, Ou Yaofeng pulled something from his pocket, making me suck in a breath of air.

Ou Yaofeng held a nail in his hand, which, in the sunset's glow, emitted a white cold light.

A bone nail—this nail Ou Yaofeng held is definitely made of human bone. Yes, I can be absolutely certain: as a disciple of the Yin Mountain Sect, we like to cultivate in graves using bones and other yin‑magnetic objects; if anyone knows this stuff well, aside from the Mountain‑Moving experts, it's none other than our Yin Mountain Sect.

"Pangzi, look quick…" I shoved Pangzi hard twice.

"Damn, don't mess with me, I'm annoyed" Pangzi casually flicked his hand; with a bang, it struck my brow bone. Instantly tears of pain streamed down— the brow bone is one of the most fragile parts of the body, and with this dead fatty's huge strength, I couldn't even open my eyes from the pain for a moment.

When the pain subsided and I opened my eyes, I saw Yao Yirong marching angrily toward us, with Ou Yaofeng trailing behind her like a laborer, carrying her badminton racket and clothes.

As she passed by us, Yao Yirong glared at Pangzi and me fiercely twice: 'What are you looking at?'

I looked up at the sky and said leisurely, 'Strange, how can a pig talk to me?' This made the little hussy's face turn green with rage; she stamped her foot and snapped, 'You've got guts.' Then she turned and stormed off.

Ou Yaofeng seemed to be coaxing this feisty little princess; while Yao Yirong scolded her, Ou Yaofeng wore a fawning smile, but I saw him seize the moment when Yao Yirong wasn't looking and pluck a hair from her head.

After they had walked away, I then gave Pangzi a hard push.

"Cut it out, Pangzi, there's a situation."

Pangzi stared at me, astonished, and asked, 'What situation?'

I told him that Ou Yaofeng was going to cast a spell on Yao Yirong; Pangzi didn't believe me, saying I was spouting nonsense. I repeated what I'd just seen to him, and Pangzi still half‑believed, half‑doubted, saying 'Impossible!'

So I led Pangzi to the spot where Ou Yaofeng was standing.

Upon looking, I was stunned—there were rings of white petals on the ground; Ou Yaofeng had actually been scattering flowers onto Yao Yirong's shadow.

Pangzi curled his lip: 'I told you you're being paranoid; maybe he was just scattering flowers to create a romantic atmosphere.'

I didn't believe Pangzi's words; his explanation sounded far‑fetched to me. Even if he wanted to create romance, there was no need to use a bone nail, and why did he pluck Yao Yirong's hair just now?

I crouched, picked up a petal and smelled it; after identifying it, I found it was a Solanum flower. Though few may know the Solanum flower, many know the name Datura—the petals Ou Yaofeng scattered were indeed Datura petals. Moreover, those Datura petals carried another scent.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. The petals contained corpse oil, mulberry branches, and a wine fragrance...

Bewitching—Ou Yaofeng actually intended to cast a bewitching spell on Yao Yirong; at that instant, the thought that popped into my mind startled me.

Seeing me startled and jumpy alone, Pangzi gave me a shove and asked, 'What's wrong?'

I extended the petal in my hand toward him so he could smell it himself.

Pangzi sneezed, frowned, and said, 'Corpse oil.'

I shook my head and said, 'It's not just corpse oil; it also has mulberry twigs and wine fragrance.'

Pangzi sniffed more carefully, said it really seemed to be there, and asked me, 'What is Ou Yaofeng using this stuff for?'

I told Pangzi, 'If my guess is right, Ou Yaofeng is casting a bewitching spell on Yao Yirong. Corpse oil extracted from corpses is said to be love oil. Datura also has an aphrodisiac effect; what he just did was meant to bewitch Yao Yirong's soul and cast the bewitching spell on her.'

At sunset, when yin and yang intersect, the yang energy gradually weakens. Folklore says a person's shadow is the soul. Ou Yaofeng chose this moment to scatter petals onto Yao Yirong's shadow, aiming to bewitch her soul. I dare guess this because the petals contain mulberry branches and wine fragrance.

Mulberry trees, symbolizing funerals, are yin wood just like pagoda trees. I've seen in ancient texts that to make a ghost get drunk, you stir yin wood into the offerings; after drinking, the ghost becomes as intoxicated as a human. Wang Pangzi often used this despicable method to tease Little Fat, so mixing yin wood with wine can indeed intoxicate a soul—an indisputable fact.

Now, Ou Yaofeng scattering these petals, by using the bone nail to disperse Yao Yirong's yang energy, aims to let yin energy erode her soul; combined with the effects of corpse oil and Datura, it arouses his lust.

This method is a type of bewitching technique; its origin also comes from tampering with the harmony technique.

Speaking of this harmony technique, it was originally a proper Daoist art, mainly by inviting the two righteous deities, the Harmony Immortals, to increase affection and resolve discord between couples and kin, smoothing out their conflicts. Thus, if a married couple has a minor quarrel or a father and son a slight dispute, using the harmony technique can quickly restore them to their original harmony, with no side effects, and Daoists are willing to perform it. Because these are proper affinities, their disharmony stems from yearly fortunes; Daoists who harmonize them are also accumulating merit.

However, after tampering by those with ulterior motives, the harmony technique evolved into bewitching. Although bewitching stems from harmony, their natures are completely different. Bewitching mainly binds two people who have no affinity—or rather, a karmic grudge—into one. Such people are either home‑wrecking mistresses or act out of selfish desire. The caster usually has to pay a huge price. Moreover, this bewitching is rather useless; it requires periodically feeding the other party talisman water. If the talisman water is cut off or the target backlashes, the accumulated resentment will erupt doubly. Those who rely on bewitching to maintain relationships usually meet a bad end.

After the bewitching technique spread to Thailand, head‑lowering masters altered it, giving it a pleasant‑sounding name: Love Curse. But frankly, it's merely using bewitching to satisfy one's lust and achieve some shameful aims. Such head‑lowering sins are deeper, because their targets are often young, beautiful women who have no relation to the caster.

Without a doubt, what Ou Yaofeng used is the bewitching curse; his purpose is self‑evident: to drag Yao Yirong into bed.

After I told Pangzi all this, he was shocked, cursing Ou Yaofeng as a beast and vowing to go kill him.

I rested my chin, pondered for a moment, and asked Pangzi, 'What should we do about this—help or not help?' To be frank, Yao Yirong is indeed pretty. But no matter how pretty, I have no fondness for such high‑and‑ mighty people; yet I can't bear to see her bewitched, so I left the decision to Pangzi.

Pangzi hesitated not at all, speaking righteously: 'Help—when we encounter such a thing we must help. I, Wang Weiqiang, may not be a perfect gentleman, but I harbor a heart that exorcises demons, upholds the Dao, and is firm in justice. Faced with this, I naturally will step forward.'

Big Fat's words were edgy and just, his justice firm; they almost made me change my opinion of him. But, when Pangzi said one sentence…

"Damn, such a fine cabbage—I've never even teased it, how could I just hand it over to someone? Really not worth it."

I... Pangzi is still that lecherous Pangzi; I must have been seeing things just now.

Since we've decided to help, we'll start preparing the tools, but before that we need to get Yao Yirong's birth date and time and home address; otherwise, even if I want to help, I'm powerless.

"What's so hard about that? Leave it to me, I'll get it done." Pangzi slapped his chest, speaking firmly, as if obtaining someone's birth date and time and home address were no big deal.

After a while, Pangzi mysteriously produced a little notebook and handed it to me. I asked him what it was. Pangzi bluntly told me: "The birthdates, family backgrounds, measurements, and hobbies of the top ten campus belles are all in here, Yao Yirong's included."

I was filled with black lines: "Pangzi, why are you recording this stuff?"

Pangzi gave a hehe laugh: "I'll just use their measurements and birth dates to cast a hexagram, see which of them I have fate with!, but……"

"But rest assured, aside from Sis Silijing, any girl in my eyes is just a pile of skeletons, no, it's dung, absolutely dung." Pangzi explained while slapping his chest, his face not flushed, his heart not racing.

As for Pangzi's words, only a brainless person would believe them; I have no doubt he tested these beauties and found no fate with them, which is why he gave up and went after Silijing instead.

However, now that Yao Yirong's birth date and time and address have been found, the subsequent matters are much easier.

I and Pangzi rushed home and drew a few talismans of my Yin Mountain Sect, grabbed the command flag, and ran out. Asking what I'm going to do? Naturally, to borrow troops from the temple.

The Merging and Binding Technique is, within my Yin Mountain Sect's Ghost King Method; the Ghost King Method includes soul-tuning, merging and binding, opening, summoning souls, driving away souls, locking souls, and such techniques. The merging and binding of other sects in the folk world, the Thai lowering-head's merging and binding, are originally transmitted from my Yin Mountain Sect. Speaking of merging and binding, my Yin Mountain Sect is the originator; the technique of merging and binding and driving away souls—who in the world could match it?

I said without hesitation, in the Yin Mountain Method there are indeed some exceptionally sinister arts that can put people to death. But I still hold to that old saying: no matter how dark the art, it is merely a method, with no inherent good or evil. The distinction of good and evil lies only in the person who uses it. Using the art for good is virtue; using it for evil is vice. For those whose intentions are not upright, even if they join a great sect or school, whether the divine arts they cultivate are proper or not, they ultimately serve their own desires and money. A person with a steadfast mind, regardless of where they come from or what art they practice, can always hold onto a heart inclined toward goodness.

Every sect passes down some forbidden arts, but the patriarch transmitted these techniques so that disciples would understand their principles; when encountering someone harmed by these arts, they could resolve them according to the principles. Of course, whether it's an orthodox sect or a folk Daoist, there are always some who disregard the precepts, doing things against their conscience for wealth.

One cannot judge a sect's good or evil based solely on its arts and name, nor can one hastily conclude based on a few treacherous disciples of that sect. As the saying goes, one sees that even in high-prestige orthodox sects there are 'experts' who cloak themselves in the guise of guiding goodness while seeking profit. One also sees that among wandering folk Daoists and ritual masters, there are unnamed individuals who, while exorcising evil and averting disaster for others, lose their own lives.