Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The yellow weasel gripped the knife, its head twitching from side to side as it stalked toward the nearest person, Li Xun.

Li Xun tried to resist, but he was shocked to find his body paralyzed. Panicked, he shrieked for mercy.

“Immortal Aunt! Oh, mother! Save me!”

I stood my ground, unmoving.

This brother and sister had appeared at a suspiciously convenient time, and they had just happened to break my Formation.

Since ancient times, among the spirits and monsters, fox spirits and yellow weasels have always been the most cunning. In the Northeast, many people worship Great Immortal Huang. I wasn’t sure if these two were in league with the creature.

The weasel walked up to Li Xun, bared its large yellow teeth, and flicked its tongue out to lick his arm.

“You pervert! Help! Sis, save me, Sis!”

Sister Jima was hiding behind the sofa, trembling violently.

“What the hell is the point of calling me? You’re so big, fight him!”

Li Xun was on the verge of tears.

“I can’t move, Li Jiajia! You damn well went to a martial arts school, this skinny monkey is no match for you! Come save me! His tongue is scratchy-he’s going to lick me to death!”

The siblings bickered back and forth like a comedy duo. I listened for a moment before seeing the weasel bare its teeth and lunge to bite Li Xun’s neck.

At that critical moment, I gripped the Seven Star Sword and thrust it forward. The blade should have slid past Li Xun’s neck to wedge itself perfectly inside the weasel’s mouth.

Unexpectedly, a figure suddenly lunged forward and slammed into Li Xun. The Seven Star Sword was knocked flying, and Li Xun tumbled to the floor, pinning the weasel beneath him. The weasel wrapped its limbs around him and sank its teeth into his arm.

“Ah! Fuck! Fuck!”

Li Xun let out a heart-wrenching scream.

I pulled a coil of hemp rope from my bag.

Though it looked ordinary, it possessed a prestigious name: the Demon Binding Rope.

The Demon Binding Rope is crafted from the vines of the Thunder God Vine. Since ancient times, shamanism and medicine have shared the same roots; many names of traditional Chinese medicines, whose meanings are lost on modern people, are recorded in Taoism.

The Thunder God Vine can absorb the scattered Thunder Light from stormy days, making it the bane of monsters. Once a thin coil of this rope binds a target, the Thunder Light dissipates and pierces into the creature’s flesh, stripping it of its ability to resist for a short time.

While Li Xun was pinning the weasel down, I quickly looped the rope around his neck. He struggled, turning his head to bite my arm.

I was stunned.

He wasn’t a demon.

I reached out and pinched his cheeks. His eyes were bloodshot, but his pupils were sharp and focused; he didn’t look like he was possessed by an evil spirit.

Then where did the weasel’s demonic energy on him come from?

In my moment of distraction, the yellow weasel stared fixedly at me and suddenly burst into laughter.

“Are you that little Taoist from the Maoshan School, Lu Lingzhu?”

Its voice sounded like rough stone scraping against glass-grating and ear-piercing.

I gave a cold snort.

“Who is Lu Lingzhu?”

This weasel must have been dealt with by a Maoshan Taoist before and had mistaken me for someone else. There are many Taoist sects: the Shangqing Register of Maoshan, the Lingbao Register of Mount Gezao, and the Zhengyi Register of Mount Longhu all belong to the Zhengyi Sect.

The Zhengyi Sect is also known as the Way of the Celestial Masters. Their motto, ‘Orthodoxy to govern evil, Unity to command all,’ marks them as the most powerful sect for exorcising evil and capturing demons. Much of the Taoist magic I learned came from their tradition.

If this thing had managed to escape from a Maoshan Taoist, it certainly wouldn’t be easy to deal with. I immediately braced myself with total focus.

Just then, the window suddenly began to clatter. Sister Jima, hiding nearby, let out another scream.

I turned my head and saw a swarm of paper money fluttering outside the window.

No, it wasn’t paper money. It was Paper Effigies.

White paper, the size of a palm, cut into human shapes, was squeezing through the cracks of the window.

A few of the Paper Effigies that made it inside circled the air before suddenly lunging at Sister Jima’s face, sealing tightly over her mouth and nose. Sister Jima struggled frantically, trying to tear them off, but she couldn’t rip the thin sheets of paper no matter how hard she tried.

The agony of suffocation caused her to groan as she began rolling on the floor.

Li Xun lunged over to save her, helping her pull at the paper on her face.

As soon as he let go, the yellow weasel broke free from his restraint and immediately reached into its robe.

A cloud of yellow smoke erupted toward me, and I was instantly blinded.