Shen Zhiyi stopped in her tracks, staring at the group of playing children in silence.
"Big brother." A child ran over from the stairwell and gently tugged at Yu Qing's sleeve, pointing toward the banyan tree on the lawn. "Mimi jumped up there. Big brother, can you help me get Mimi down?"
Yu Qing followed the direction she pointed.
Crouched on the thick branch of the banyan tree was a large yellow cat.
The big cat's brown eyes stared in their direction, its vertical pupils narrowed into thin slits, full of wariness toward outsiders.
"The director said Da Huang isn't allowed to climb trees. If it doesn't come down, it won't get dinner." The little girl continued to plead. "Big brother, please help me, please."
Unable to refuse the little girl's request, Yu Qing subconsciously said, "But—"
"Shut up." The moment he spoke, Shen Zhiyi reached out and clamped her hand on the back of his neck, snapping, "Don't respond to her."
The girl's ice-cold fingers pressed against his skin, as if nine feet of frost had instantly frozen him awake.
Yu Qing shuddered and snapped back to his senses.
"Didn't your clan elders ever tell you that when dealing with ghosts, once you acknowledge them, you've opened that door?"
The living and the dead walk different paths—yin and yang are separated by an unbridgeable divide. For ghosts to move about in the human world, they must cross the line between the two realms.
It's like being separated by a wall. For them to enter, they must obtain the consent of the house's owner.
That's why many ghosts wandering the mortal world conjure illusions or transform into various shapes, luring the owner of the house to agree to let them in.
Yu Qing had naturally heard of this before—he just hadn't thought of it at that moment and had nearly made a grave mistake.
Reminded by Shen Zhiyi, he quickly held his breath and focused his mental energy, avoiding being ensnared by the illusion again.
"Big brother… big brother…"
The little girl still clutched at his clothes, pleading without giving up.
"Help me… please…"
Gradually, her voice grew lower, and two streaks of bloody tears slid from the corners of her eyes.
"Why won't you help us?"
She murmured.
"You adults are all liars!"
"Liars!"
With a sharp curse, the laughter and joy all around receded like the tide.
"Liars!"
"Kill him!"
"Kill them!"
The children's shrill voices pierced his eardrums. Yu Qing raised his hands to cover his ears, watching the corridor twist into a kaleidoscope, and blurted out, "This thing is really powerful!"
"Yeah." Shen Zhiyi's voice was neither loud nor soft, betraying no emotion whatsoever.
She walked forward two steps without any reaction, then reached out and wiped at the empty air.
Whoosh.
The illusion was torn apart.
The twisted corridor returned to normal, the beam of the flashlight shining straight to the end, illuminating a dark-colored totem on the wall.
Shen Zhiyi walked up to the wall and looked up at the vivid totem.
On the wall scorched black by the fire, only it retained its original color, as vivid as a flower that had just bloomed.
Eerie yet stunning.
Yu Qing steadied his breathing, glanced around nervously, and quickly ran to Shen Zhiyi's side.
"What is this?" He stared at the dark red totem, his mind rapidly sifting through all kinds of totem-related knowledge, but none of it matched what he was seeing.
"China has revered totems since ancient times, and their styles and types vary greatly. Many great families have their own totem emblems. But this totem—I've never seen it before."
"This isn't a simple totem." Shen Zhiyi said. "This is a Rune."
"Huh?"
"Someone fused runes into the spider lily motif and painted it on this wall."
"Oh, so these are spider lilies!" Yu Qing suddenly realized. "Red spider lilies—that's manjushaka, isn't it? The flower of rebirth said to grow along the banks of the River of Three Crossings?"
"That's just a legend." Shen Zhiyi commented. "This motif isn't important. It's pretty, but it doesn't mean anything."
She tilted her chin, signaling him.
"Look at the center of the flowers—those runes are the real focus. Do you know what these runes mean?"
Yu Qing looked again and again, then shook his head awkwardly.
"Sister Zhiyi, what do these runes mean?"
"I don't know either."
The girl answered with complete confidence, and Yu Qing's mouth twitched. "So… what do we do now?"
"Go back." Shen Zhiyi yawned lazily and turned to walk out. "Note this down and have your people look into it. We'll come back once we've figured it out."
"That's… it?"
"What else? Stay here and play soccer with those little kids?"
Yu Qing was at a loss for words again.
He took out his phone and photographed the spider lilies blooming on the wall, deciding to do a thorough search in the association's library later.
Just before stepping out the door, Shen Zhiyi glanced sideways at the dusty gray hall.
An orange shadow flashed by and slipped into the storage room downstairs.
She looked away, pretending not to have seen it.
…
Summer thunderstorms came and went quickly.
By the time Shen Zhiyi and Yu Qing left the orphanage, the wind and rain had both stopped.
The air carried the fresh scent of earth after rain.
The moment he stepped out the gate, something finally clicked in Yu Qing's mind.
"Sister Zhiyi, if you just perform the Transcendence Ritual on all those Little Ghosts, wouldn't that solve the orphanage's problem?"
Shen Zhiyi shot him a glance. "Is your head just there to make you taller?"
"Huh?"
"If it's that simple, why don't you go perform the Transcendence Ritual on all of them yourself?"
"Uh." Rebuked, Yu Qing rubbed the tip of his nose and said with reddening ears, "I'm too weak."
Shen Zhiyi said coldly, "I can tell."
The runes were right in front of him, and he still suggested just performing the Transcendence Ritual outright.
Not only was he weak, he didn't even want to use his brain.
If it were her, her master would have already scolded her bloody.
Having long experienced Shen Zhiyi's sharp tongue, Yu Qing shrank his neck and dared not provoke her further.
The man outside had been waiting for a while. Seeing the two of them, Zhang Quan immediately came forward.
"Master Yu, Master Yu, how is it inside?" he asked nervously. "Is there… is there any problem?"
"There is." Shen Zhiyi spoke before Yu Qing could. "It's full of Little Ghosts in there. If you don't want to die, don't touch this orphanage for now."
"Huh?" Zhang Quan looked at Shen Zhiyi. "You are…"
"Oh, Sister Zhiyi is a senior in our association." Yu Qing made it up on the spot. "She's stronger than me. I was worried I couldn't handle it alone, so I asked a senior to come help."
"So you're a master!" Zhang Quan rubbed his hands together and probed cautiously, "Master, you say there's a problem inside—what should we do? Waiting around isn't a solution either."
"Yu Qing will handle it." Shen Zhiyi said. "Once it's done, he'll contact you."
The dark clouds dispersed, and moonlight poured down like water.
"Then… how long will it take?"
Shen Zhiyi looked at Yu Qing.
Zhang Quan followed her gaze and looked at him too.
Yu Qing froze, then said uncertainly, "One… one week?"
Wait—the words came from Shen Zhiyi. Why was everyone looking at him?
Shen Zhiyi smiled faintly, turning the question into a statement: "One week."
Before Zhang Quan could speak, Liang Yousheng sneered, "One week? You sure talk big."
He shoved Zhang Quan aside, swaying his big belly, and squinted at Shen Zhiyi with his narrow eyes, raising an eyebrow. "Miss Shen? Ah, but you're no longer the young lady of the Shen family."
He scoffed, "What's this? Can't make it in the Shen family anymore, so you're out here playing tricks and swindling money?"