Chapter Thirty-Three: The Great Battle

Bang! Wang Heng’s entire body was blasted backward!

I was stunned for a moment before realizing that Wang Heng had lunged at me, the one bearing the heaviest aura of yin energy, but Xijun had struck him away.

Xijun somehow summoned the strength to send his massive frame flying, weighing no less than a hundred and sixty or seventy kilograms.

This scene jolted Wang Cheng, Lin Feiyu, and the others back to reality.

“There’s no other way. If you guys can’t handle this, I’m going to have to shoot… We can’t let him get out of the morgue; otherwise, one or two people outside will definitely die, and I can’t bear that responsibility!” Although the weather wasn’t particularly hot, Ho Dadong was sweating profusely, gun cocked and ready.

“Brother Wang, I have to go all out too, or none of us will get out of here. Xia, you cover me—don’t let it sneak up on me!” Lin Feiyu gritted his teeth, crouched down, and pulled out a bundle of rusty nails and a scalpel from the safe.

I was at a loss about what Lin Feiyu intended to do, but there was no time to ask. I could only order, “Xijun, keep blocking it! Don’t let it get close to us!”

Xijun roared like a wild beast, his fierce gaze fixed on Wang Heng, who had stumbled out of the corpse storage box. His slender hands stretched out like bamboo sticks.

Bang!

Wang Heng’s entire chest cavity was pierced through, but the vengeful spirit inside crawled out. His body was covered in black and red, billowing with surges of yin energy as he twisted into strange shapes, entwining Xijun.

Xijun was never a spirit specialized in combat, and perhaps the strength he used was excessive. After being entangled, his soul and body began showing signs of instability. If even he was going to vanish, I truly didn’t know how to face my deceased grandmother.

I immediately glanced at Lin Feiyu and Wang Cheng. “Is it still not enough?”

“Done!” Lin Feiyu’s scalpel cut deeply into his middle finger, blood splattering over the nails. “Wang Cheng! Aren’t you going to show your tricks? Aren’t you afraid you’ll get Xia and me killed? It’s only right for me to beat my son!”

“Damn you! Who do you think you’re yelling at? He’s not your son! Ah Dong! Bring the dog blood I prepared!” Wang Cheng shouted, pulling out a red whip from his coat. The whip cracked sharply with a crisp sound.

Wang Dong’s trembling body went limp, but his father’s shout brought him back to his senses. He scrambled to the door to fetch a bucket of dog blood and rushed back in. “Dad! The blood’s here! What now?”

“Pour it on me!” Wang Cheng yelled and closed his eyes.

Without hesitation, Wang Dong dumped the entire bucket of dog blood over him.

With a splash, the blood drenched Lin Feiyu’s head and face. Lin Feiyu was in the middle of casting a spell; this sudden dousing ruined it. He immediately cursed loudly, “Damn you, fool! Pour it on your own father, don’t splash it on your Uncle Lin!”

“Uncle! I didn’t mean it!” Wang Dong cried, tears streaming. “It’s your fault for standing so close!”

Wang Cheng was momentarily stunned but quickly recovered. Seeing the still-wet dog blood on the floor, he whipped the ground with his whip, then rolled on the floor in the blood, turning himself deep red. “First: Vital spirit, stained with blood!”

“Second: Death strikes, three souls perish!” Wang Cheng shouted, snapping his whip to lift the blood trail and lash it toward the vengeful spirit!

With a sharp crack, the spirit writhed in pain from the whip strike. I thought to myself, this old man’s got some moves; why didn’t he use them earlier?

“Third: Seal the coffin, crack the white bones!” Wang Cheng cracked the whip again, striking the spirit hard.

“Fourth: Bind, thunder strikes, seven souls extinguished!” The final lash wrapped around the spirit, which howled and struggled fiercely.

“Lin Feiyu! Are you still working or not? I can’t hold it forever!” Wang Cheng shouted loudly.

“Damn it! It’s all that brat’s fault! My stock is ruined!” Lin Feiyu tossed aside the rusty nails, swearing as he rummaged in the safe for more supplies.

Seeing the crisis, I recalled Xijun. Just as Lin Feiyu pulled out a scalpel again, I snatched it away. Lin Feiyu was furious: why was someone always messing with him today?

Ignoring the old man, I painfully pricked my middle finger and quickly drew a diamond-shaped talisman on Xijun’s forehead, finishing the final stroke inside his mouth.

This was a method to forcibly transfer my essence into the tamed vengeful spirit. Although the book said its effect wasn’t very obvious, in this situation, I was willing to try anything.

Xijun’s eyes immediately turned red, and his hair seemed to stand on end, floating in the air. Then, as if electrified, he lunged ferociously at the entangling spirit.

After a fierce biting attack from Xijun, the vengeful spirit that had almost entirely escaped Wang Heng’s body lost part of its soul and body mass.

Wang Cheng hastily retracted his whip while Xijun devoured the black ghostlike creature like a madman, quickly consuming it all.

When Xijun stood up, his soul and body were much clearer. Eating such a powerful spirit had noticeably enhanced his abilities.

However, his eyes were still bloodshot, glaring fiercely at everyone except me. Those soulless black pupils made Wang Cheng and Lin Feiyu break out in cold sweat, silently praying that after driving away the wolves, they hadn’t just summoned a tiger.

Ho Dadong’s hand holding the gun trembled. “Brother... can you still control him?”

“Exorcism!” I quickly drew a dispelling talisman on Xijun’s head and used the soul urn to seal him back in.

The soul urn felt scorching in my hands. Just as I was about to investigate, there was a sharp cracking sound—the urn had developed a fine crack.

The soul urn was about to fail in containing Xijun.

The fiercer the vengeful spirit, the more complex the sealing talismans on the urn, and the more precious the materials used.

I couldn’t fuss over details now. I wrapped the urn with a soul-sealing talisman, then tied it with the red string I had taken from the Zhao family yesterday.

After finishing all this, I put the soul urn back into my pocket.

“I still have some business to attend to. The rest is up to you two and Captain Ho. I won’t stay here.” I was worried something might happen with the urn. If I was safe but everyone else suffered, I had to leave first.

“Alright, that’s good. You and Xiao Han should leave first. We’ll stay here,” Lin Feiyu agreed after seeing the issue with the urn.

“Xiao Han, you’re shaken up. You should go back first. I’ll make up the fake later,” Ho Dadong also wanted to leave but had official duties to attend to. Politely, he took the documents from Han Shanshan.

Wang Cheng cupped his hands toward me in thanks but didn’t say much, instead going to check on his son’s body.

Wang Heng’s corpse had a bloody hole in his chest, black blood seeping out. The morgue was in complete disarray. Fortunately, though sounds of fighting came from inside, no one outside dared to enter at this time.

Han Shanshan seemed affected by the yin energy, her whole body numb and aching. Just as she tried to stand, she collapsed again.

I had no choice but to drag her up. “You acted tough, but in the end, you didn’t even fire the gun.”

“Heh, I was counting on you being here,” Han Shanshan said, eyelids barely open, refusing to admit defeat.

She was quite tall, probably close to a hundred jin. Her arm hung heavily on my shoulder.

After leaving, I locked the door behind us before the two detectives dared to come out.

The thugs outside, seeing us emerge in such a sorry state, turned pale, knowing something serious had happened inside.

I had no time to deal with them and hailed a taxi to take Han Shanshan back to the police station.

At the station, Zhao Xi and Ren Yun were nowhere to be seen—likely out working their network. Zhao Qian had finished her statement and was sitting on a bench in the hallway waiting for me.

Seeing her state, I knew nothing had improved here. I said, “You should come with me. Your brother’s situation won’t be resolved anytime soon. You haven’t slept for a day and night, and you just got out of the hospital. Staying here won’t help. The Wang family is in chaos too—the kids are crying in front of the morgue. It’s terrible.”

“Oh.” Zhao Qian’s tears fell silently. She glanced once at the temporary detention place for Zhao He, then quietly stood up.

I took her back to the car. On the way, Han Shanshan had already fallen asleep. I explained everything to Zhao Qian.

When we reached the neighborhood, Han Shanshan was still out cold. I called her a few times, but she seemed deep in sleep, nearly hitting me.

At Zhao Qian’s suggestion, I had no choice but to carry her into Zhao Qian’s bedroom so they could sleep together.

After comforting Zhao Qian and agreeing to accompany her back to Zhao’s village to keep vigil for the old man that night, I returned alone to my study and took out the soul urn.

I saw no further cracks forming, and feeling slightly relieved, I called Xijun out. He had returned to normal and kept trying to come over when he saw me.

Pressing on his shoulders, I sat down and carefully checked the talisman I had drawn on his forehead—it had disappeared. My heavy heart finally lifted.

It seemed his earlier aggressive behavior toward the living was only an instinctive reaction, not a mutation caused by consuming the vengeful spirit.

However, I could not ignore the cracking urn. I decided to visit the antique street in the market while Zhao Qian and Han Shanshan slept. Perhaps I could find better soul urn materials and buy cinnabar pens, spirit money, and talisman paper.

After today’s fierce battle, I deeply understood I couldn’t rely solely on Xijun to fight. I needed to better arm myself. Even if my talisman skills couldn’t compare to Master Canyun, a last-minute effort was necessary.

Knock, knock.

“Brother Tian! You’re back?”

“Yeah.” Seeing it was Yu Xiaoxue, I sealed Xijun back into the soul urn and opened the door.

“Brother Tian, I want to go to the market. Qianqian’s clothes are a bit big,” Yu Xiaoxue said, showing me the dress Zhao Qian had given her.

It was a deep green dress, very figure-flattering and expensive-looking. It would suit Zhao Qian perfectly, but the style didn’t match Yu Xiaoxue.

After all, Zhao Qian’s style leaned Western, while Yu Xiaoxue was still a high school student who needed livelier clothes.

“Sure, I’m actually going to the market too. I’ll take you there,” I replied readily, then went with her to the garage to get the car.