Chapter 500

I and Yao Wenju studied it carefully for a long time, and discovered that Yang Shouyi had a serious problem. Yao Wenju suggested that we go together to the Yang family, I had no objection, thinking it was a good suggestion. A face‑to‑face confrontation might just bring the truth to light.

I did not drive back the car borrowed from the Yang family; instead, I got into the car that Yao Wenju had prepared.

In the car, Yao Wenju received a phone call; it was from his subordinate, presumably having found background information on Ye Qi.

After hanging up, Yao Wenju told me Ye Qi's background. He said that this woman, Ye Qi, was met by Yang Shouren when he traveled to Malaysia; she had lost both parents as a child and only had a foster mother. However, that foster mother died not long after Ye Qi married Yang Shouren. Worth mentioning is that Yao Wenju's subordinates, while investigating the foster mother's bank transfer records before her death, discovered several large sums of money that had been sent from abroad.

Following this lead and investigating carefully, the first remitter's account holder turned out to be Yang Shouyi. To conceal the trail, Yang Shouyi would transfer the money several times before finally sending it to Ye Qi's foster mother. Moreover, this money was sent before Ye Qi had even met Yang Shouren.

"In that case, Yang Shouyi knew Ye Qi before she married into the Yang family; this person really is cautious in his actions!" The focus of suspicion once again pointed to Yang Shouyi and Ye Qi.

"No matter how cunning a fox, it will eventually show its tail! However, I have no interest in the Yang family's internal squabbles; my purpose in accompanying you to the Yang household is solely to recover the losses owed to my Yao family," Yao Wenju said.

Incantation Witch Sect

Yao Wenju snorted and retorted, "You talk as if not eating or drinking could make you an immortal; nowadays, living in this society, where doesn't one need money? Furthermore, the foundation of my Yao family was built by our ancestors—you can't just say discard it and it's gone."

While we were talking, the car suddenly jolted, causing me and Yao Wenju in the back seat to shake twice. Yao Wenju's cigarette, which he had been holding in his mouth, fell onto the floor of the carriage.

"Little Zhang, what's going on here!" Yao Wenju looked at the young driver.

The front‑seat Xiao Zhang apologetically said, "It's nothing, it's nothing; maybe there was a stone on the road just now, and the car bounced when it rolled over it."

This little setback didn't bother us too much; I and Yao Wenju continued sitting in the carriage, chatting about everything, occasionally talking about the Plowshare Witch Sect and also mentioning folk mystical traditions. It's rare that I and Yao Wenju have the chance to sit together.

Right, Wen ge, since we still have a bit of time before reaching the Yang family, why don't you take this opportunity to tell me about the Witch Sect? I'm curious why some call the Witch Sect the Prayer-and-Incantation Witch Sect while others call it the Plowshare Witch Sect. Is there any connection between the two?

Have you heard of white witch and black witch? Yao Wenju asked me with a smile.

I nodded and said I had heard of them, but I didn't know the specific differences between white witch and black witch.

Yao Wenju spread his hands and gave an analogy: "You can regard the Prayer-and-Incantation Witch Sect as white witch and the Plowshare Witch Sect as black witch. Because our two sects have different emphases. The Prayer-and-Incantation Witch Sect focuses on using talismans, medical theory, and the thirteen needles to cure illness and save people. Meanwhile, the Plowshare Witch Sect is versed in various subterranean suppression secret arts, using the plowshare talisman to break the yin-yang feng shui qi of both graves and houses, and employing talismans to punish evildoers."

Of course… you can't therefore conclude that the Prayer-and-Incantation Witch Sect is white witch and the Plowshare Witch Sect is black witch. The names of white and black witchcraft are merely labels outsiders use to distinguish them; they call the good witchcraft white witch and the poisonous craft black witch. However, both the Plowshare Witch Sect and the Prayer-and-Incantation Witch Sect dabble in black and white witchcraft; they just have different emphases.

Yao Wenju held nothing back, leisurely recounting the origins of the Witch Sect.

He said the origins of the Witch Sect can be traced back to antiquity. In ancient times, doctors were shamans, the people closest to spirits and gods. This was roughly the same for all ethnic groups worldwide. Shamans used their arts to command spirits, to relieve disasters, rescue people, and cure illness. They could even raise the dead. Thus, in antiquity, the words "shaman" and "doctor" were always linked. Later, when medical treatment using drugs was invented, doctors who did not use shamanic arts appeared, and only then did "shaman" and "doctor" separate.

?? The Prayer-and-Incantation Witch Sect are descendants of shamans, their origins ancient. In the Eastern Han, Zhang Lu established the 'Ghost Dao Teaching', this sect served ghosts and was an evolution of shamans. In the Northern Wei, Kou Qianzhi advocated the establishment of 'Daoism', deleting the 'ghost' character to indicate they served gods not ghosts, and also adopting Laozi's philosophical foundation, thus becoming a new religion. After the Tang and Song dynasties, the Prayer-and-Incantation Witch Sect has always been considered heretical by the Daoist gate and excluded, but in many Daoist traditions, the Witch Sect's talisman arts are actually integrated.

The Plowshare Witch Sect is a school that formed only later. Its emblem is the plowshare talisman. Don't underestimate this tiny little plowshare talisman; its effect can be great enough to ruin the foundation of a yin grave, or small enough to bring someone relentless misfortune, making life worse than death.

Of course, there is no inherent good or evil in the law; every school's existence is justified. Although the plowshare talisman's use mostly brings negative effects, I believe the ancestors who created this school did not intend to teach disciples to harm people. Initially, the Plowshare Witch Sect punished only those heinous, unforgivable evildoers whom ordinary strength could not punish.

Yao Wenju's explanation greatly broadened my horizons and also refuted some of my previous mistaken notions. However, we did not delve deeper into studying the various talisman arts of the Witch Sect. It wasn't because Yao Wenju was hiding anything; rather, we all discovered something very strange.

When Yao Wenju and I set out, it was past four in the morning; after walking for over an hour, the sky should have been light by rights. Yet Xiao Zhang kept the headlights on, and the sky not only showed no dawn, it grew darker and darker.

I was in the back seat, looking through the windshield at the road ahead; I saw nothing but a dim darkness, the road itself invisible, the air filled with thick fog, a hazy expanse with no visible edge.

Wen ge, look? Our cars are gone. I glanced back unintentionally and was shocked again. When we came, Yao Wenju had brought two carloads of people; before departure, two Hondas followed steadily behind us. But… now those two Hondas are gone.

The rear cabin lights projected an image that remained a pitch‑black blur, showing not a single object.

"Stop!" Yao Wenju frowned and shouted at Xiao Zhang in the front seat.

"Boss Yao, what's happening?" Xiao Zhang turned his head, puzzled.

"Are you a pig? You've driven this long and still can't see there's no road." Yao Wenju snapped at Xiao Zhang.

After being scolded like that, Xiao Zhang finally came to his senses, though he still said in a dazed way, "I thought it was just because it was dark, so I couldn't see anything."

I have to say, this Xiao Zhang is indeed overly muddled. From his face you can tell he probably overindulged last night, leaving him spiritually listless, doing things lackadaisically; he couldn't even notice something this simple yet strange. We left at dawn; even if the sky didn't brighten, it certainly wouldn't be this gloomy.

"Get out and see what's going on." Yao Wenju said coldly, opening the car door to get out; I also opened the opposite door, preparing to get out with him.

"Wait, don't get out from that side, follow behind me!" Yao Wenju grabbed my arm, making me release my grip on the door latch; he was doing this out of concern for my safety.

"Oh, okay…" Yao Wenju did this out of concern for my safety, not wanting anything to happen to me. This small gesture further shows that Yao Wenju is not a bad person.

Yao Wenju opened the car door first, I followed him out, and Xiao Zhang also got out from the front seat.

As soon as we got out, I immediately felt eerie gusts of wind; at this moment we thoroughly sensed the strangeness of our surroundings. This is certainly no highway, more like a desolate mountain ridge, all around a murky darkness with no visible horizon.

Yao Wenju took out a flashlight and shone it; even the powerful beam couldn't reach the ground, nor find any obstacle, the strong light plunging into a bottomless abyss, never reflecting back.

Feeling something amiss, I immediately chanted a spell to open my spiritual eye. In my sight, the drifting strands of black qi in the air became clearer, yet I saw no trace of any ghostly beings.

Just then, Yao Wenju swiftly grabbed my left hand and glanced at the watch on my wrist. I wondered why he was looking at the watch, but when I lowered my head I saw my watch had stopped, stuck at the four‑o‑clock position in the early morning.

"Strange, is my watch broken?" I tapped the watch.

"Don't bother tapping!" Yao Wenju lit a cigarette, glanced around solemnly, and said: "Barring any mishap, we must have entered a trap set up by someone else."

Just as Yao Wenju finished speaking, a strange hand suddenly stretched out from the air; I sensed a yin wind attacking from behind and darted aside with a start, but Xiao Zhang wasn't so lucky—that strange hand seized his collar and dragged him backward.

By the time Yao Wenju and I reacted, the strange hand and Xiao Zhang had vanished without a trace, the air echoing with Xiao Zhang's anguished scream before he was dragged away.

In that voice lay a fear that made one's heart tremble; this ill‑fated place exuded a eeriness that made one's scalp tingle.

This time, just where have Yao Wenju and I ended up?