When Gu Mochou was still a member of Maoshan Sect, she was never fond of the so-called peach wood swords, wooden beads, and other strange-looking, if not stupid looking, props that her fellow disciples mostly used.Ever since she could remember, she was into herbology and talisman making. She was a girl, anyway, so the sect let her pick a relaxing specialization that had no high demand for physical capability. Yet also because she was a girl that in her own way, Gu Mochou wanted to prove that she could beat boys in her chosen field.
Sure enough, hard work smiled at those with both determination and talent, cooperating with them and giving desired results.
Gu Mochou became accomplished in producing talismans.
In the current generation of seniors and masters in the sect, no one would be able to refute how she was the best in subduing ghosts using talismans, a female Daoist who learned all the techniques but only strived to master a non-mainstream art. Look, as if the heavens could not agree more, a proof showed right after the formation lit up and the talismans activated. Not even a second pa.s.sed and a guttural groan came from the door.
The trespa.s.ser was struck by the spells released by the charms!
"d.a.m.n."
"Arrggghhhhh!!!:
Gu Mochou"s heart tightened upon hearing that male voice. But not long after, relief flooded her senses.
The form of a malicious ghost was starting to materialize. It must mean he could not escape. Moreover, the word uttered just now was full of pain, as if he was suffering from unimaginable torture. That fact made her incredibly relieved, then pleased, and it showed on her face. After all, the ghost king on her camp clearly emphasized what level the opponent was, and here she was subduing it by herself!
If her hunch was correct, this ghost might even be the enemy who made her life a bit h.e.l.lish these past six months!
"If it"s really you, meddlesome scourge, I can finally have my revenge!"
A playful thought came to her. "Should I recite a Buddhist poem or line from a movie?"
Just when a wide grin was forming on her lips as her grip on the wads of charms in her hand tightened, noises began to echo from her right side.
"Hnnngh! Nnngggg!!!"
Because the sounds were not dwarfed by the rhythmic noises of the mini-cyclone made of swirling pieces of paper, Gu Mochou subconsciously traced them, her eyes settling on a wounded woman tied up and gagged in one corner of the room.
"Oh my. I almost forgot about you," said the villainess with an apologetic voice that did not match her facial expression.
There were hints of ridicule in Gu Mochou"s gaze as she watched that face which was more beautiful than hers became wreathed in fear and shock.
The bound woman looked in pain, the rope binding her feet and hands behind her was coa.r.s.e and tied too tight. However, when this woman saw a black ma.s.s looking like a cl.u.s.ter of clouds falling into the room, alarm and fear flickered in her eyes. She, albeit with great difficulty, began to crawl forward crazily. She kept shaking her head and making those unintelligible words.
The woman was none other than Zhan Rong, a Business Management student older than her by a year.
Gu Mochou captured this person this afternoon because the female ghost king finally remembered to tell her that there was another ghost king lingering around Zhan Rong.
Gu Mochou was quite the paranoid and sharp woman so when she heard it was Zhan Rong, she immediately remembered that the girl was a friend of both Zhao Ai and Fan Zheng.
The female ghost did not forget to add that she suddenly could not feel the other party"s presence which gave the villainess the courage to kidnap the woman.
"Haha."
Gu Mochou walked towards the woman and appreciated the latter"s sorry appearance. Then she walked back to the bed where her bags and paraphernalia were scattered.
She could not help but laugh. She laughed madly as she looked at the pathetic looking senior of hers whose face had some large beads of sweat. Was this still the apathetic queen who regularly acted like a flower on top of a mountain? That same girl who was always faked calmness and elegance and rarely acted carefree unless to an awfully close friend?
"Miss Zhan."
The girl called turned to her with a glare. It was quite frightening, capable of intimidating and making one ponder on the meaning of their life. But Gu Mochou did not get scared. In fact, she felt happiness welling up from within.
There is pleasure in seeing someone you don"t like suffer. She forgot where she heard this. However, she quite agree with this notion.
The villainess disliked Zhan Rong and actually, it was not because she was acquainted with Fan Zheng and Zhao Ai, but because when the female ghost king brought her in, she refused to tell her connection with Zhao Bolin. Gu Mochou believed in her guts and memories, that it was really that autistic guy she felt from Zhan Rong when they first met at the mall.
"You won"t tell me what I want to know?" She sneered.
"Look. I told you I won"t need to interrogate you since your ghost king did come as expected."
"This ghost king or that something related to that person, which is more important?"
Needless to say, Gu Mochou had no idea the two were the same, only a.s.suming that Zhan Rong somehow possessed an item that contained his spirit.
So she once again laughed. With a smile that did not really reach the eyes, the villainess said, "Miss Zhan, don"t worry, I know that you are smart, the offer still stands, you just have to nod. But if you will continue to refuse, oh well... A pity that my thread of patience is short... so after this guy, I could only send you to h.e.l.l to be with him."
The unintelligible protests became louder. Evident from the girl"s expression was unwilling and fright. That expression which was clearly for the evil made her wonder how strong was the bond between Zhan Rong and the ghost king.
She did not remove her gaze from Zhan Rong, waiting for the other woman to move her head. She stood by the bed and slowly pulled up all her most powerful talismans and threw it towards the door.There was no trace of hesitation in her action.
She truly wanted to not only exorcise, but to wipe out the existence of the ghost king. In her imagination, she could already see herself boasting about this feat to the people of the cultivation world. About the offer, well, she never once said she would stay her hand if Zhan Rong agreed. She didn"t believe Zhan Rong would remain stubborn if it was regarding her own life.
"Let"s see how long can you stay stubborn."
With this in mind, Gu Mochou turned and faced the door. The talismans must have reached the enemy already and silently burning his soul. Was that why the ghost king became quiet?
A corner of Gu Mochou"s lifted up.
Yet a moment later, the smile on her face froze and became stiff.
"... What?"
Something happened that really caught her unprepared. The pieces of paper that had just left her hand were gently floating down, with no trace of power of them. This meant that no spell was triggered. In other words, the scene she was imagining could not take place since the target suddenly disappeared.
"He vanished?" Gu Mochou was really dumbfounded.
"He"s really gone? Just like that? Was it when I spoke with Zhan Rong?"
"Then where is he now?"
Gu Mochou"s face became alert.
She didn"t know when the struggling blackish vaporous cloud that should be stuck suffering in the middle of the formation disappeared. There were no signs, she felt no disturbance in the air so she thought all was well and that her prey was still struggling to free himself from the door. Moreover, when she was taunting Zhan Rong, she clearly heard the ghost still making pained moans! So what happened? At most she only looked away for a few seconds.
Because she didn"t know and her heart was starting to get anxious, thoughts turned and churned inside her brain.
Then an idea suddenly flickered.
"Wait... I just thought of this now, but it seems from the beginning, something was wrong?"
What she knew about high-tier evil spirits were limited after all.
Was it possible that if from the beginning, the opponent did not really fall into the trap and was just faking it to lower her defenses?
Now that she thought about it, the other party was somebody only an elder or sect leader could deal with.
So what made her feel complacent that she could emulate them? Why the h.e.l.l did she slack off just now and even thought of annoying her captive just because she kept her mouth shut about Zhao Bolin?
When Gu Mochou came to her senses, her eyes shook. She felt the colors draining from her face, remembering that the feeling of satisfaction had been too sudden, like she was influenced to feel and act like that.
The villainess knew herself. She was somebody who preferred a seamless, if not complicatedly layered, plans. Regardless if the opponent got caught in the formation or not, there was no way she would only throw killing and sealing talismans. Even if she did, she would not do it only after talking to a n.o.body, giving the opponent some more time to breathe.
However, in reality, she had chosen to implement a layered plan. There were scattered ghostly items in the room and their purpose was to aid her in creating a large pa.s.sage that would automatically suck spiritual beings into it. And she had planned to open it right after the array was triggered. In case that too failed, there were other cards prepared.
So why did she pause? Just to watch the scene at the door or relish on Zhan Rong"s reactions? As a lady with nearly sixty years of wisdom in her head, would she truly be that careless?
"Not good."
As alarm bells rang in her head, another realization flashed and she finally had an inkling of what happened to her.
She must have been controlled! Or hypnotized for a few seconds! If not, then the ghost must have a way to influence her thoughts and emotions to a certain degree!
Gu Mochou"s face blanched and her eyes instinctly began to swim around. Her hands and mouth were not idle too, searching for a defensive item and chanting protective spells respectively. This time, she was regretting taking pride in not learning un-girly stuff from the sect since in her current situation, a peach wood sword could have provided her some sort of security.
"d.a.m.n, where is that ghost now?"
The confused and anxious villainess tried to send SOS signal to the female ghost king.