Chapter 038: Nightmarish Spirit’s Cry, He Must Be Found

Song Kai was feeling frustrated, but Liu Zhishan was even more so. Liu Zhishan shoved Song Kai to the ground with a slap. "Kid, I'm not joking with you. If you dare get too close to my daughter again, if you ever dare video call her at night again, I'll skin you alive. Believe me, I can do it!"

Song Kai, incensed, scrambled up and pointed at Liu Zhishan. "Did you even listen to a word I said? Your daughter is in danger—serious danger!"

"I think you're the dangerous one!" Liu Zhishan shot a punch at Song Kai.

Song Kai dodged nimbly, and in that moment, he finally understood why, that day when he and Liu Miaoyu left the hotel, she had warned him to never let her father find out, or he'd kill him. So it wasn't an exaggeration at all!

Just a video call with Liu Miaoyu was enough to get his legs broken. Damn, if Liu Zhishan ever found out he’d slept with his daughter, wouldn’t he just eat him alive?

While those thoughts raced through his mind, Liu Zhishan lunged again, both hands reaching for Song Kai’s shoulders.

Song Kai dodged again and swept a leg at the back of Liu Zhishan’s knees.

Liu Zhishan staggered, glaring at Song Kai. "So, you’ve had training. No wonder you had the guts to mess with my daughter. Fine, come on then. Since I left the army, I haven’t had a real fight. Today’s a good day for us to spar."

Song Kai hurried to say, "Uncle, why won’t you believe me? Can’t we just talk? Liu Miaoyu is really in danger right now! Tell me, while you were in that room, didn’t you feel anything strange? Like it was colder than outside, or you kept having nightmares?"

"Nonsense! I didn’t feel a thing! Ghosts and spirits—those tricks only fool kids." Liu Zhishan was furious; after all, he’d been a soldier for twenty years and didn’t believe in the supernatural.

Song Kai paused, then realized why. With Liu Zhishan’s strong yang energy, he wouldn’t notice minor yin disturbances, and besides, the entity was probably only in Liu Miaoyu’s room.

Song Kai sighed. "Uncle, if you really think I’m a fraud, I’ll leave right now. But if Liu Miaoyu dies, or goes insane, don’t blame me, and don’t regret it. I won’t video call her anymore, is that enough?"

With that, Song Kai turned to leave.

"Stop right there!"

Song Kai inwardly scoffed—he knew Liu Zhishan couldn’t let his daughter go so easily.

He turned his head. "What is it?"

Liu Zhishan pointed at Song Kai. "Don’t play tricks with me. I’ll wake Xiaoyu up and get to the bottom of this. If you’ve lied to me, I’ll cripple you for life. Now tell me, what about those two talisman papers?"

Song Kai replied, "The color changed. The cinnabar turned black. That’s really bad. You don’t understand, Uncle—cinnabar is used specifically to ward off spirits, and its name sounds like 'execution' in Chinese, which is a powerful play on words. In ancient times, the tokens used to execute criminals had to be written with cinnabar..."

"Enough with the history. Just tell me what to do now." Liu Zhishan was still nine-tenths skeptical, one-tenth convinced. But since it was about his daughter, even that small doubt was enough for him to act.

Song Kai nodded. "Here’s what I think. That ghost is very powerful. Honestly, if it wanted to harm Xiaoyu..."

"Don’t call her Xiaoyu," Liu Zhishan shot Song Kai a glare.

"Fine, fine. If it wanted to harm Liu Miaoyu, it would be easy. But it hasn’t acted these past few days, which means there must be a reason. So I think we should go in right now, quickly get her out. But before we do, we mustn’t alert the ghost. If it senses our intent, it’ll turn vicious, and then it’ll be too late."

Liu Zhishan looked doubtful. "Ghosts can think?"

"Of course. The stronger they are, the smarter. Let’s go into the bedroom, and swiftly carry Liu Miaoyu out, alright?"

"Fine! But I’ll carry her. If you dare lay eyes on her, I’ll gouge them out," Liu Zhishan threatened.

Song Kai was speechless but agreed.

Liu Zhishan led Song Kai into the house. The villa was opulent, a school-zone property right next to the city’s top high school, in the city center—worth at least five million. Song Kai wondered, how could a retired soldier like Liu Zhishan afford all this?

At Liu Miaoyu’s bedroom door, Liu Zhishan paused, then abruptly twisted the knob and strode over to her bed.

Liu Miaoyu was cocooned in her blanket, seemingly having a nightmare, murmuring incoherent sounds and occasionally twitching.

Song Kai followed closely. Without another word, he flung the cinnabar and chicken blood in his hand across Liu Miaoyu’s body.

A sudden hiss—an eerie, venomous sound split the air, and the room instantly turned frigid.

The chill was so intense that even Liu Zhishan, with his powerful yang energy, shivered.

Now, Liu Zhishan completely believed Song Kai. He bundled up Liu Miaoyu, blanket and all, and dashed out of the room.

Another furious, bone-chilling hiss echoed, as if from the depths of the underworld.

Then, a wave of invisible, icy energy swept toward Song Kai.

He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it. Though a mere novice now, Song Kai had once been a true Taoist priest—dealing with ghosts was second nature.

Without hesitation, Song Kai thrust his peachwood sword forward, then pressed two talismans together; they burst into flames, driving the cold energy back.

He bolted for the exit.

In the villa’s courtyard, Liu Zhishan was clutching Liu Miaoyu, still shaken. Seeing Song Kai approach, he hurried over. "What the hell just happened?"

"I don’t know, Uncle. We need to find somewhere else to stay—this house isn’t safe anymore," Song Kai said.

"Alright." Liu Zhishan agreed. "I have a small place nearby. We’ll go there."

Song Kai was bewildered. In this neighborhood—the city’s most expensive—Liu Zhishan owned multiple properties?

The other house was a modest two-bedroom apartment next to the school.

Once inside, Liu Zhishan laid Liu Miaoyu on the bed. "Kid, come take a look. What’s wrong with Xiaoyu?"

"I thought you didn’t want me looking at her," Song Kai muttered.

"Cut the nonsense, get over here," Liu Zhishan barked.

Song Kai approached.

On the bed, Liu Miaoyu’s cheeks were flushed, her forehead hot, and she murmured with fear in her sleep.

"She’s just frightened," Song Kai said. "It’s nothing serious. Kids get scared easily. A quick acupuncture will do the trick."

"You can do acupuncture?" Liu Zhishan relaxed a little.

Song Kai nodded, took out a needle, and gently pricked Liu Miaoyu’s ear, letting out a little stagnant blood.

Soon, she stopped talking in her sleep and began to breathe steadily.

Liu Zhishan gave Song Kai a thumbs up. "Not bad. You’re really her classmate? How do you know all this?"

Song Kai smiled. "My father sent me to study on Mount Wudang. Uncle, I should go now. It’s safe here, but don’t go back to that villa for a while—especially don’t let Miaoyu go. If all goes well, I should be able to deal with that spirit in a few days, but until then, stay away."

"Got it." Liu Zhishan patted Song Kai’s shoulder. "What’s your name, kid?"

"Song Kai." He packed his bag, ready to leave.

"Alright, Song Kai. I owe you one," Liu Zhishan said.

Song Kai waved. "Just remember—don’t go back there."

He went downstairs and rode off on his motorcycle.

Having saved Liu Miaoyu, he felt some relief, but what on earth was that ghost? What did it want?

No point dwelling on it—he wasn’t a match for it yet anyway.

Finding polygonatum root was the real priority. Once he had Nine Thunder Inner Qi, he’d come back and settle the score!

…

The next morning, Song Kai called Jia Dongming, but no one answered.

He tried several times, but still got nothing.

By noon, he called again—the phone was switched off.

"Damn, did something happen to him?" Song Kai was worried.

If he couldn’t find Jia Dongming, he couldn’t find the polygonatum root.

After a moment’s thought, Song Kai decided to go to the herbal medicine factory himself.

Tang Ying happened to be off duty, so Song Kai borrowed her BYD and sped off to the address on the business card: Dongming Herbal Medicine Factory.

The factory was on the outskirts of Tengyun City, near Tailai City—what used to be rural wasteland.

Land wasn’t worth much there, and with a factory taking up so much space, it couldn’t possibly have been built in the city center.

Song Kai pulled up outside the factory gates. The main entrance was closed, but there seemed to be plenty of people inside.

Puzzled, he parked the car and walked over to the security booth—no one was there.

He looked into the factory and saw a crowd of people, though he couldn’t tell what they were doing.

After a moment, Song Kai simply vaulted the gate and headed inside.

In front of the main building, more than twenty people stood gathered. They looked like farmers, quietly discussing something.

Song Kai approached an older woman. "Auntie, do you know if Factory Director Jia Dongming is here?"

She pointed inside. "He’s in there, trapped. You’d better go help him—if you’re late, they might beat him to death."

"What?" Song Kai frowned and quickly dashed toward the building...