Chapter 97: Bodyguard, Maid

The scheme is too deep; the female ghost sheds tears.

The embroiderer slumps to the ground, closes her eyes, and tilts her head back, exposing her slender, pale neck.

Today she is definitely not going to survive; since that is the case, if you want to do something, then just get on with it!

"Sss, it hurts so much—"

The embroiderer cries out in pain; she clutches her head with both hands, and the heroic resolve she had just built up to face death is instantly shattered.

It was Xu Qing who, without any mercy, slapped the back of the female ghost's head.

Fortunately, the female ghost has no tears; otherwise, she would likely have collapsed and burst into tears by now.

When she was alive as a human, she was bullied by others; now that she is dead and has become a ghost, she thought she could stand up, but she never expected to be bullied even as a ghost.

Seeing the female ghost collapsed on the ground, refusing to get up no matter what, Xu Qing shouts: "Stand up and speak properly to me; don't just lie down every time you get the chance. If you do this again, do you think I won't whip you with a lash?"

The lash Xu Qing mentioned is the corpse-driving whip he frequently uses in his daily business.

Hearing this, the embroiderer in the white skirt that pools on the ground immediately stands up; her two small hands, adorned with long ghostly nails, clench into fists, and the entire ghost looks like a quail, as obedient as one could possibly be.

Nearby, Daoist Yizhen is left speechless.

Truly, evil ghosts are ground down by evil people; when the female ghost was following her before, she never saw her being this obedient.

"How does Daoist Yizhen usually deal with ghostly entities?"

After disciplining the embroiderer, Xu Qing turns to look at the female Taoist beside him.

"Do not laugh at me, fellow Daoist; this humble Daoist is naturally averse to killing. When encountering demons or monsters with a decent nature, I mostly focus on converting them; if there is a karmic connection, I occasionally take them back to the Five Elders Temple to cultivate, and in their daily lives, they can also help guard the temple gates."

Xu Qing continues asking: "Then if one encounters demons or monsters with a bad nature, how does the Daoist deal with them?"

"The Golden Phoenix is the natural enemy of evil demons; usually, this humble Daoist does not need to intervene."

Xu Qing hears the implied meaning in Yizhen's words.

This female Taoist's cultivation is probably far superior to that of the Golden Chicken!

Xu Qing instinctively shifts half a step to the side; if one were to truly analyze it, zombies also count as ghosts and evil demons; if he carelessly lets this female Taoist see through him, it would not be a good thing.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing becomes even more careful to suppress his own spiritual energy.

"I wonder how fellow Daoist Xu intends to deal with this yin ghost?" Yizhen notices someone taking a step back, but the female Taoist's mind is pure, so she does not overthink it.

Xu Qing shakes his head and says: "No rush; if Daoist Yizhen has no urgent matters, you might as well sit down and listen to this female ghost tell her story."

"Story?"

Xu Qing brings two chairs, places them in front of the flustered embroiderer, and sits down, looking exactly like a slave trader interviewing for a job.

"Embroiderer, weren't you just about to swear by the lamp flame? As it happens, Daoist Yizhen is right here; explain clearly to the Daoist why you committed violence and harmed people, without hiding even a single detail."

In the fourth watch of the night, the flames in the mortician's shop flicker as a female ghost recounts the events of her life.

Xu Qing has already heard it once; it is basically the sordid tale of an old father and a young daughter depending on each other, with no strong male in the household, so relatives came to the door to bully them.

In these times, any household without a male is easily bullied.

If the male is still young, sometimes the shameless act of relatives coming to the door to 'rule from behind the curtain' occurs.

The malice of these people's schemes is sometimes even greater than the struggle for power within the imperial family.

After the embroiderer's father passed away, her uncle and aunt declared themselves her parents and elders, intending to sell the embroiderer as a wife to the old shoemaker in Chengnan.

They claimed it was the words of the matchmaker and the orders of parents.

The embroiderer, being alone, could not resist the oppression of her relatives and ultimately chose to commit suicide by ingesting arsenic stone.

The appearance of a corpse that died from poison differs from ordinary corpses; after discovering the embroiderer's death, the relatives who forced her, fearing official investigation, transported her body outside the ward and set it on fire to burn.

With everything cleaned up so thoroughly, after a few months, who would know that a pair of tailor father and daughter had disappeared from this world?

"The hatred of burning a corpse and destroying a family cannot go unavenged; apart from that, the embroiderer has no other thoughts."

Xu Qing asks if she has ever harmed innocent people; the embroiderer swears by the lamp flame, stating that all the people she killed were evil men with ill intentions.

"How does Daoist Yizhen view this matter?"

The female Taoist ponders for a moment, then turns to ask Xu Qing: "How does fellow Daoist view it?"

Xu Qing chuckles and says: "This female ghost has been enlightened by the Daoist; her nature is not particularly bad, she is just lacking in discipline."

"Just now, the Daoist said you once lured demons or monsters with decent natures into the temple to guard the gates."

"Speaking of which, besides this shop, I also have a residence that lacks a guard; if the Daoist does not mind, this female ghost might as well stay by my side, where I can discipline her properly."

Yizhen ignores the female ghost's pleading gaze, nods, and says: "Fellow Daoist's skills are remarkable; I assume you can discipline this yin ghost well, so this humble Daoist naturally has no objection."

Inside the mortician's shop, the embroiderer's hanging heart finally dies.

If it were possible, she would rather follow Daoist Yizhen and serve as a menial Taoist novice than go be a bodyguard thug for Xu Qing.

That sinister man is extremely skilled; why would he need her to be a bodyguard?

Who knows what other bad water the other party is brewing in their heart, just waiting to mess with her!

"It is getting late; if Daoist Yizhen does not mind—"

Upon hearing this, Yizhen immediately stands up and says: "This humble Daoist has a place to stay, so I will not disturb fellow Daoist."

"Do not misunderstand, Daoist; I mean if the Daoist does not mind, please wait here; I have something to give to the Daoist."

Xu Qing still remembers the matter entrusted by Hu Baosong; after briefly explaining the reason to Yizhen, he goes to the counter and begins to transcribe the content from the Dongxuan Talisman scroll.

Yizhen sits idly in the shop waiting; after a while, she cannot help but stand up, approach the counter, and look at the talisman scriptures Xu Qing has copied.

The embroiderer sits sideways on the coffin, staring blankly at the shop door; outside lies the freedom she has already lost.

Dawn is approaching; a rooster crows in the distance.

The Golden Phoenix, having recovered through the night, is now able to stand upright; unfortunately, when it flaps its wings to crow, it can still only produce a hoarse sound like phlegm choking.

The sword poison Xu Qing applied is extraordinary; although this rooster has taken the antidote, its scorched throat will likely need some time to recover.

At the counter, Xu Qing threads the fully transcribed pages with string and attaches a cover.

Then he writes the four small characters "Dongxuan Talisman" on top.

Xiang Yizhen had earlier politely refused, citing the principle that one should not accept rewards without merit, but Xu Qing cut her off.

He said at the time that it was the old gentleman's sincere intention.

It could also be considered a karmic connection for the Daoist's travels.

If heaven offers something and you do not take it, you will surely suffer the consequences.

The old gentleman offered this with a heart full of sincerity; if you do not accept it, you will hurt the old man's feelings.

Had it been Xiang Yizhen's usual nature, even if Xu Qing had spoken until flowers bloomed, she would not necessarily have accepted such a precious gift.

But thinking of the kindness Hu Baosong had revealed to her, she strangely did not refuse.

"Old Hu and the master of Daoist Yizhen were old friends; by seniority, he can be called a Shishu. Since it is a transmission from a senior, Daoist, you should simply accept it and do not decline."

After handing over the talisman book, Xu Qing conveyed Hu Baosong's invitation for Xiang Yizhen to receive a teaching and lecture in two days.

Seeing Xiang Yizhen agree, Xu Qing said cheerfully, "In that case, Daoist Yizhen and I can be considered half of the same sect. If Daoist does not mind, I would like to address you as Senior Sister, after all, constantly saying 'Daoist, Daoist' seems too distant."

Xiang Yizhen smiled faintly and nodded, saying, "Junior Brother Xu."

Seeing that he had successfully completed the task entrusted by Hu Baosong, Xu Qing was in high spirits.

"Senior Sister need not stand on ceremony; we shall meet again in two days."

Xiang Yizhen nodded, but before leaving the shop, she turned her head again and entrusted something to Xu Qing: "Junior Brother Xu, the sky is now bright and pedestrians are increasing outside. The poison of my spiritual bird has just been partially resolved, so it is inevitably weak in body and bone, unable to travel far; if people see it, it would be quite inconvenient."

"If it is convenient for Junior Brother, could you let it rest here quietly for two days?"

"This is a small matter, naturally convenient. It is just that I have never raised this kind of spiritual bird, nor do I know what food it usually eats or what water it drinks."

Xiang Yizhen smiled and said, "This chicken is easy to raise; it eats grains and cereals, rough rice and wheat, but speaking of it, what it loves to eat most is glutinous rice."

What the heck?!

Xu Qing was almost choked by these words.

Glutinous rice is the essence of the five grains, possessing the strongest Yang Qi; it can resolve corpse poison and simultaneously has a suppressing effect on some ordinary walking corpses.

Although for Xu Qing, glutinous rice no longer had any effect on him, he had still inherited the zombie's instinctive aversion to glutinous rice.

Just as some people dislike eating cilantro and fish mint.

In the funeral trade, when a person passes away, those performing the rites scatter glutinous rice around the spirit bed to prevent the spread of corpse Qi, and scatter glutinous rice at the main family's door to ward off evil.

All five-grain substances have a slight effect of dispelling evil and removing bad luck; Xu Qing, who previously disliked glutinous rice, often used white rice as a substitute when performing rites.

"No wonder this Golden Rooster has such strong Yang energy; it turns out its diet also has its subtleties." Xu Qing bared his teeth, and his heart could not help but feel a certain 'hating the house because of the bird' towards that Golden Rooster.

Xiang Yizhen did not catch the hidden meaning in Xu Qing's words; she smiled, took out a bag of glutinous rice from her wide sleeves, and placed it on the counter.

"This is the remaining glutinous rice; if it wants to eat, I trouble Junior Brother to feed it some."

Xu Qing looked at the rice bag weighing about fifty jin, then glanced sideways at Xiang Yizhen's wide sleeves, guessing the other party must also possess an object similar to a storage treasure.

After seeing Xiang Yizhen leave the Corpse Inspector's shop, Xu Qing turned around and disdainfully tossed the bag of glutinous rice to the Embroiderer.

"Embroiderer, the feeding of that chicken is now entirely your responsibility. In two days, I will take you to my Feng Shui treasure residence to assume your post."

The courtyard at Water Gate Bridge had been unattended for a long time; for Xu Qing, the Embroiderer was the perfect candidate.

Although, in the strict sense, she did not count as a person.

Xu Qing did not value the Embroiderer's cultivation level; what he valued was her talent for terrifying people.

If this talent were properly excavated and cultivated, even if a blind-eyed martial arts expert visited his residence in the future, they would likely be so frightened that they would flee through the door.

Let me feed the chicken? The Embroiderer looked at the large rooster that could swallow her whole in one bite like a bug, and her heart resisted abnormally.

But when a ghost is under someone's eaves, how can it not bow its head?

Fine, I'll feed it; being a chicken-feeding peasant woman is still better than being forced by that villain to do things she does not want to do.

Although she was not very happy about feeding the chicken either.

At this moment, the Embroiderer had not yet discovered the severity of the problem; she carelessly untied the cloth bag containing the glutinous rice. The next moment, a blinding white light that even ghosts could see erupted from the bag opening. The glutinous rice had been exposed to sunlight for a long time, absorbing enough Yang Qi; this substance has always been disliked by evil and yin things.

Now, the Embroiderer was suddenly blasted in the face by this white light, terrifying her into a sharp scream as she retreated repeatedly.

Her appearance was just like a young girl seeing a giant snake.

"What's going on?" Xu Qing, who was studying the Dao of Talismans, heard the commotion and glanced over.

The Embroiderer pointed at the cloth bag as if there were a great terror inside; she said in a trembling voice:

"R-rice! Glutinous rice! There is glutinous rice inside!"

"Making such a fuss; it's just glutinous rice. I thought you saw a rat inside." Xu Qing put down the book grumpily, then stood up and walked to the bag, grabbing a handful of glutinous rice and spreading his palm to show.

"What is there to fear? I raised you to scare others; if you are so timid, how can you achieve great things in the future?"

"Come here, open your hand."

Xu Qing grabbed the hand the Embroiderer dared not extend forward and forcibly stuffed a handful of glutinous rice into it.

"Your Young Master wants to study in peace now; why don't you hurry and go feed the chicken!"

"..."

The Embroiderer's eyes widened.

Indeed, he indeed treats me like a menial maid; everything about sublimating evil ghosts and letting evil ghosts cultivate is fake; he just wants a ghost he can use at will!

At the stove mouth, a female ghost in flowing white clothes was feeding the Golden Rooster with a trembling heart.

Her cautious manner was just like a young woman lighting a firecracker for the first time.

Xuan Yu sat on the stove; when it saw the Jin Luan eating rice happily, it could not help but speak: "That girl, your Young Lady Xuan Yu also wants to eat rice; hurry and send some over."

Based on past experiences living in the households of wealthy young ladies, Xuan Yu imitated the phrase with some semblance of correctness.

"..."

The Embroiderer silently grabbed a handful of rice and brought it before Xuan Yu.

A cat that can speak human language and can make the Golden Rooster bow its head and submit must be a great demon she cannot afford to provoke.

After serving the cat and the chicken, the Embroiderer, holding the wooden ladle just refilled with water, floated to the water vat and began to gaze at her reflection in the calm surface of the ancient well, pitying herself.

"You say, you say, being bullied by people is one thing, but how can you be outdone by a chicken and a cat?

Why is your life so bitter?"

Yet, at this moment, not even a single human shadow could be seen above the water's surface.

(End of this chapter)