Chapter 22

"Are the bloodstains on the young gentleman's clothes from when you killed the strange monkeys outside the city?"

"That is correct."

"You must wash them quickly; if you wait too long, they won't come out."

"I was just planning to wash them after eating."

"Then you must delay it a while!" The man frowned and said solemnly, "Besides, there are women in this inn who can help with the laundry; why not ask them to wash it?"

The inn attendant happened to be serving a dish and heard this. He immediately felt that business had arrived and nodded repeatedly:

"My mother is in the inn washing clothes for guests. She has washed clothes for a lifetime; she can wash even the dirtiest clothes clean without damaging them!"

"Then what are you waiting for?" Before Lin Jue could speak, the man spoke first, reached into his bosom, took out money, and slapped it on the table, "Why don't you take the young gentleman's clothes and wash them clean!"

"All right!"

"Eh, eh..."

The attendant moved extremely fast, almost running over. Before Lin Jue could stop him, he grabbed the copper coins with one hand and picked up Lin Jue's clothes from the stool with the other, walking toward the back.

Lin Jue frowned in confusion and looked at the man.

The man just cupped his hands toward him, his words extremely polite:

"The attendant makes sense. Washing clothes doesn't cost much, but if you aren't skilled at scrubbing and ruin the clothes, that's a bigger loss. Such things should be left to those women. The young gentleman's hands are for slaying demons and eliminating pests for the people."

Lin Jue, however, began to feel that something was wrong.

He had actually heard of such things from the village elders—

A jianghu martial artist who had just eliminated pests for the people would come to a tavern, meet someone moved by the martial artist's heroism, who happened to be a generous person, and thus be gifted a pot of wine and invited to drink together.

This was understandable.

But for those who admired the martial artist's heroism, besides sending dishes and wine, would they even pay to have his clothes washed?

Lin Jue turned his head again and looked carefully.

This time, he saw a trace of worry between the man's brows and a bit of haggardness faintly visible on his face.

"So that's it..."

Lin Jue fell silent and put down his chopsticks.

"You have something to ask of me."

With one sentence, the man was stunned.

"This..."

He was dazed for a moment, then stopped hiding it, hurriedly stood up, walked two steps to Lin Jue, and bowed deeply.

"I am Wei Yuanzhong. To tell you the truth, some strange things have happened in my home in the last month. My family and I are always woken up for no reason by being whipped in our sleep. We reported it to the officials and invited people to take a look, and they said yaoguai and ghosts were causing trouble. We used many prescriptions, but they weren't of much use. People nearby all said that if you invite someone with great courage and strong vitality to stay in the house for a night, they might be able to scare away the yaoguai and ghosts."

"Whipped for no reason?"

Lin Jue found it novel and scary.

"That is correct!"

This man named Wei Yuanzhong immediately lifted his clothes to show Lin Jue—

On his body, there were clearly crisscrossing scars, each about the thickness of a finger, or a bit thicker, purple, red, and black. They didn't look like they were all whipped in one day, and they looked exceptionally clear and ferocious against his white, fat body.

"These were all whipped out by that thing for no reason, making my whole family afraid to live at home! My elder brother is the same, living in the tea shed all day!"

"Tell me about it in detail."

Lin Jue asked him to continue.

"There's not much detail to give, because we don't know what's going on either," Wei Yuanzhong sat down helplessly. "My father died this year, and we handled the funeral. There was gossip on the street saying we were unfilial and angered our father, or that we angered the gods and ghosts, but we didn't have any lack of etiquette. At most, there were some problems because of dividing the property, but that wasn't a big deal. Moreover, these strange things didn't happen when my father died; they appeared two months later, which is enough to prove we weren't unfilial and that it had nothing to do with that."

Lin Jue just hummed, not daring to say much.

How could someone come over so casually, without saying what the matter was, using other reasons to gift dishes and wine, and then ask for such a favor?

Moreover, he wasn't really a Daoist who could get rid of yaoguai.

"It started at the end of last month. We were living at home, sleeping peacefully, when suddenly we were whipped. It was very painful, and we vaguely heard some sounds. At first, we thought a thief had broken in, but when we got up and lit the lamp, there was nothing, and the doors and windows were all closed tightly. Since then, this has happened repeatedly, and we are all very scared."

"It sounds a bit like what's said in stories, where ghosts want to occupy a person's residence, or people have offended ghosts, and they create such scenes."

"Everyone says so too."

"Is it just whipping?"

"Just whipping. But it's tormenting. Now we don't dare to live at home at all, only daring to live in an inn outside. With a family of twenty-something people, money is flowing out every day."

"You just said you used many prescriptions, but they weren't of much use?"

"I used many folk prescriptions. Some were useless, some were useful, but not much."

"For example?"

"For example, people in the city said you could sprinkle black dog blood and boy's urine on the ground, and the evil spirits wouldn't dare to enter. This was almost useless; instead, it made the thing angrier, and the whipping became more severe. For example, sprinkling flour on the ground at night, saying it could tell where the thing came from and where it went—that was completely useless. For example, asking for talismans at the temple—this worked a little, but only for a few days."

Wei Yuanzhong was also a bit scared, drinking water as he spoke:

"The most useful thing was a statue of a martial official invited from the City God Temple. After inviting it, my nephew slept at home for several days without being whipped by that thing, and we even moved back in. However, after a few days, this statue stopped working, and the whole family was whipped again. This was the last method we tried. If the City God martial official's statue doesn't work, I imagine other methods won't work either."

"There is actually such a thing..."

Lin Jue already had a deep interest in this story.

This type of strange story was something he liked to hear when he was in the village. Hearing it now was naturally different, as if he had seen it with his own eyes and experienced it himself; they were gradually turning from stories into reality.

The wonders of this world were constantly being revealed before his eyes.

"Sigh, after all the tossing and turning, we realized that the alchemists and sorcerers in this area are all swindlers and have no great use."

"Then why did you find me, Wei Gong?"

"It's just that there's no other way; a sick person will seek any doctor. A very powerful Daoist came nearby yesterday, and the very powerful yaoguai in the neighboring county were all removed by his Daoist methods. I don't know if it's true or false, but we have already let the young people in the family go look for him. Now it seems that we probably won't find him." Wei Yuanzhong became more worried as he spoke. "Fortunately, my elder brother came to find me today, saying that two heroes got rid of those yaoguai monkeys outside the city. It is often said that people with great courage and heroic spirit can also suppress yaoguai, so I came to find you, young gentleman. There is no other reason; I just see that you worked hard to eliminate the pests, and that eating only a small side dish and a bowl of rice is truly not enough, so I invite you to drink a pot of chicken soup to nourish your body."

After finishing, he looked at Lin Jue expectantly.

It sounded like it wasn't much different from Old Master Wang's idea in Heng Village—both were using humans to control yaoguai.

Lin Jue didn't speak for a moment.

It was true that he was interested in this type of thing, but only in the story. This Wei Yuanzhong wanted him to help, which was different.

Lin Jue looked down at the food on the table, the wine cup, and the chicken soup, falling into deep thought.

Thinking and deliberating.

If he agreed, he wasn't a real Daoist with magical arts, nor a martial artist with superb skills; he didn't necessarily have the ability to deal with that thing.

If he refused...

He had come out to seek immortality and ask about the Dao, and he had an ancient book that could react to magical arts. If he said he had no interest in yaoguai and ghosts, that wouldn't be true. At least the people at the Wang family in Heng Village and the temple by the road had told him that as long as yaoguai and ghost magical arts could be used by humans, they could trigger a reaction from the ancient book.

Moreover, he had drunk the soup and tasted the wine.

And there was the kindness of lending the blade to vent his anger today.

Therefore, his thoughts were tangled.

"Sigh..."

Lin Jue couldn't help but let out a long sigh, lamenting, "If you wanted to ask me for help, brother, you could have just come over, stated your name, and spoken directly. With the kindness of lending the blade, I might not have refused. Why did you have to do this?"

"It was truly a last resort..."

"I really thought someone admired me and invited me to eat meat and drink wine."

"Young gentleman, please understand! That is also a reason! Even without the matter at home, I, Wei, would still be willing to invite you to a pot of meat and a bowl of wine!"

"If what you say, Wei Gong, is all true, if I go to your house to stay for a night, would you dare to accompany me?"

"Accompany you?"

Wei Yuanzhong couldn't help but be stunned.

"Do you dare?"

Lin Jue stared tightly at his expression.

He saw that the man was a bit timid, his eyes flickering, but finally, he gritted his teeth and stomped his foot: "If you, young gentleman, dare to help with my family's matter, how could I not dare? At worst, I'll just be whipped again!"

"Good!"

Seeing him like this, Lin Jue believed what he said—that the yaoguai only whipped people and didn't kill them.

It probably had some origin.

"By this half-chicken and cup of wine you gifted, and by the kindness of your elder brother lending me the pu dao today, what would it matter if I go to your house to sleep for a night? But I will say this in advance: I only promise to go and sleep for a night; I don't have the ability to subdue demons and eliminate pests. At worst, I'll just accompany you and be whipped!"

Lin Jue really thought so.

Therefore, his words also had a bit of crispness and freedom.

"I would never dare to ask you to do such a thing just for half a chicken and a cup of wine. Please go first, young gentleman; there will definitely be a great reward tomorrow."

"I won't be polite then."

"When shall we go?"

"Wait until I finish eating!"

Lin Jue then picked up his chopsticks again.

The matter was settled, the request was accepted, and his heart felt comfortable. Eating this meal, he felt much more at ease.

He reached out a hand, first tearing a chicken leg from the half-chicken, chewing it in his mouth—the texture of the meat fibers mixed with the taste of the chicken—and then shoveled a large mouthful of rice. How satisfying!

If he had stayed in the village, he feared it wouldn't be easy to live such a life.

Two quarters of an hour later, Lin Jue was full of food and wine. He dropped his chopsticks, went upstairs to get his firewood chopper, and went out.