Jiang Yi jumped straight onto the bed and went to work on the wallpaper patched with transparent tape.
“Don’t! If you tear that off, I’ll have to…” Sister Chen protested in distress.
Before she could finish, a ripping sound was heard.
Half of the wallpaper was torn away, revealing a complex and eerie pattern painted in blood on the mottled wall beneath.
The blood had long since dried, turning a dark red.
Sister Chen cried out in disbelief, “Blood! It’s blood!”
Ignoring her shock, Jiang Yi gestured lightly toward Room 109.
In her panic, Sister Chen suddenly had a flash of insight. She hurried into Room 109 and began tearing frantically at the wallpaper.
Just like in Room 108, there was a blood-drawn pattern hidden beneath a section of wallpaper.
Sister Chen stammered an explanation to Jiang Yi, “Little sister, believe me, I’m a good person. I wouldn’t dare kill anyone!”
Jiang Yi smiled gently, but her words sent chills down Sister Chen’s spine.
“When I came back earlier, I noticed something off about your inn.
Logically, even though this area is low-lying, it’s not a depression, so yin energy should flow downward along the terrain at night.
But now, all the yin energy is lingering inside your inn. Staying here long-term could lead to mental disturbances at best, or an untimely death at worst.
The sounds you thought were ghosts were actually yin energy carrying emotional residues, forming a sound-based malevolent influence.
With fewer people staying here, the sound influence couldn’t grow stronger and eventually dissipated after prolonged exposure to sunlight.
However, the yin energy has been soaking your inn for a long time, and you spend the most time here. I fear misfortune awaits you.
You should think about who holds such a deep grudge against you that they’d want you dead.”
Sister Chen forced her brain to work, and suddenly, she cried out, “It’s Lao Wanping, my ex-husband!”
“I went to Huashi to work when I was sixteen and met my ex-husband, Lao Wanping. We started a logistics company from scratch, and business was booming.
Six years ago, my father fell ill, and I returned to Liaoping County to care for him.
Unfortunately, my father passed away, and my mother couldn’t bear the grief and followed him soon after.
When I finished handling the funeral arrangements and returned home, I found Lao Wanping had openly moved his mistress into our house and had developed a gambling addiction.
In a fit of anger, I divorced him and returned to Liaoping County with our three-year-old son.
I used the assets I got from the divorce and mortgaged the house my parents left me to buy this small inn.
A month ago, my ex-husband Lao Wanping showed up.
He told me the logistics company had gone bankrupt due to poor business, and he’d found a job. He came to Liaoping County on a business trip and wanted to see our son.
Since it wasn’t convenient for him to stay at home, I arranged for him to stay at the inn.
At first, he slept in Room 108, but later he said the room was too close to the street and the noise from passing cars kept him awake.
So I moved him to Room 109 across the hall.
It’s him! It must be him!
That bastard Lao Wanping! If I die, our son would be the first heir.
Since our son is still a minor, he’d naturally have to go to his biological father.
Then Lao Wanping would seamlessly take over my assets! How ruthless! So utterly ruthless!”
After venting her anger, Sister Chen approached Jiang Yi, tears welling in her eyes, and pleaded earnestly, “Master, please help me. Help me.
I still have a child to raise!”
Jiang Yi remained silent, adopting the demeanor of a lofty expert.
In truth, her mind was racing with calculations.
She needed to replenish Ancestor Grandma’s vitality, buy her some chicken, and satisfy her ever-growing desires. There were so many places to spend money.
In the village, she only charged one or two hundred for each exorcism session. If she asked for more, would people even pay?
Forget it, no shame now—just ask for more. At worst, they can haggle later.
To support Ancestor Grandma, she had worried herself sick.
Jiang Yi steeled her heart. “Fixed price, five thousand yuan!”
Sister Chen had expected such a master to demand a much higher sum and agreed immediately. “Deal.”
Huh? Just like that?
“Sis, aren’t you going to bargain?”
“No.”
Sister Chen was afraid Jiang Yi wouldn’t give it her all and would have gladly paid more. Bargaining was out of the question.
Jiang Yi: …
You’re making me lose my rhythm.
With the price settled, Sister Chen anxiously asked, “Master, do you need anything for the ritual? I’ll prepare it.”
Jiang Yi shook her head. “No need. I can break it now.”
Of course—why delay when money’s on the line?
What if some rival in the field swooped in and took the job?
Jiang Yi, being new to this, had underestimated herself.
To ensure its potency, this Yin-Gathering Formation was mixed with the blood of both the caster and the victim. Once broken, both would suffer backlash, their dantians completely destroyed.
It was unlikely anyone in Country A could easily dismantle it.
“Oh, and you’ll need to withdraw the money for me. I want cash.”
Sister Chen didn’t dare refuse. “I’ll go, I’ll go right now.”
With that, she grabbed her card and rushed out like a gust of wind.
Not far from the small inn was an ATM. When Sister Chen returned with the money, she saw Jiang Yi sitting cross-legged at the end of the hallway.
Jiang Yi murmured softly, yet her voice echoed solemnly through the space, as dignified as if eight hundred arhats were chanting in unison, inspiring reverence and compelling one to straighten their posture.
Sister Chen only saw the surface. A knowledgeable observer would have noticed the yin energy shrouding the inn being shredded by streaks of golden light, rising in wisps of mist that swayed and dissipated.
As Jiang Yi uttered her final syllable, Sister Chen felt a gentle breeze brush her face. The long-suppressed weight in her heart lifted, her body felt light, and even the surrounding air carried a comforting warmth.
The master is incredible! Five thousand yuan was money well spent!
Meanwhile, in a modest-looking but lavishly decorated two-story house in Huashi, Lao Wanping, dressed in a wrinkled suit with bloodshot eyes and a scruffy beard, was speaking to a middle-aged man.
“Master, it’s been over a month since the Formation was set up, and that wretch is still alive.
The developer is about to announce the requisition of the land where that small inn stands.
If she renovates the place to drive up the price, she might discover the secret behind the wallpaper.
The five million I paid you was all borrowed from loan sharks.
If they don’t see returns soon, they’ll probably break every bone in my body.
Master, please help me, I beg you!”
The middle-aged man sat cross-legged on the sofa, fiddling with a bracelet, his demeanor aloof. “What’s the rush? In all of Huaguo, few can break my Formation, and those who can are all my fellow disciples.
I’ve used a sure-kill technique. Don’t worry, she’ll meet with disaster within half a month!”
As soon as he finished speaking, his brow furrowed, his face contorted in agony. Clutching his dantian, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
Lao Wanping cried out in shock, “Master, you…”
Thud.
Lao Wanping felt as if a knife were twisting just below his navel. The pain wracked his body, tearing through his very core, until his head lolled and he passed out.
The middle-aged man tumbled from the sofa to the floor, mustering all his strength to crawl toward his phone. He dialed a number and gasped, “Senior Brother… my Formation has been broken. I… I suffered a backlash, my dantian is destroyed.
Tell… tell Master that a… a master has arrived in Country A. Have him warn the other disciples to be ca… careful. Save… save me…”
Thanks to his cultivation level, he lasted a minute longer than Lao Wanping before his eyes rolled back and he fell completely unconscious.
After breaking the Formation, Jiang Yi stood up, dusted off her pants, her face beaming with the joy of having earned money.
Five thousand dollars—that should be enough for Ancestor Grandma to wreak havoc for a while!
Ms. Chen couldn’t believe it. The problem that had tormented her for so long had been resolved so effortlessly.
As if in a dream, she approached Jiang Yi and asked, “Master, is it really over? What about Lao Wanping? That dog thing nearly killed me—are we just letting him off like this?”