TLDP: Ch10. The Cursed Makeup Case
Having inspected all the rooms in the apartment, I sat on the couch and began to ponder silently.
After my mind had been calmed, I faintly felt a trace of Yin qi. I carefully sensed the faint qi from the surrounding, and found that the source of the Yin qi actually came from a black wooden makeup case. The case seemed to be an antique and was exuding a faintly discernible amount of Yin qi.
This was exactly the Yin qi I was looking for! After using ‘Opening Eyes’ I was able to discover the Yin qi source.
Xu Xiaoling had her eyes coated by the cattle tears and could also see that the wooden makeup case was exuding a gloomy gas and asked in surprise: “How can it be like this?”
“Where did this come from?”
Xu Xiaoling quickly replied: “I bought it from the antique store, the case is said to have originated from the Qing Dynasty… don’t tell me the case is…?
I nodded: “You should also see that the makeup case is giving off a black and gloom gas right? That is Yin qi, and is harmful to the human body. Okay, I’ll take this makeup case first, and tomorrow when the sun is at its peak and the sunlight is strong, I will extinguish this case’s Yin qi with the aid of Yang fire. After that you can use this case normally again.”
Showing her puzzled expression, Xu Xiaoling asked: “But, how can this wooden case exude Yin qi?”
I slowly explained: “According to the ancient record, there are 2 kinds of possibilities for this situation to occur. First, the former owner of this makeup case was extremely fond of it and died with resentment. The soul then became attached onto the makeup case, therefore the case would give off Yin qi. Second, this makeup case was dug out from a tomb, and since it had been buried for long time, it unavoidably absorbed Yin qi.”
“Oh! If it’s that’s case then just throw it away, I don’t want it anymore.”, Xu Xiaoling immediately spoke after listening to my explanation that the case was possibly dug out from a grave. She looked at the makeup case with an expression like she wanted to throw the case.
“Even if we want to discard this case, it must wait until I remove the Yin qi from within it at around noon tomorrow. Otherwise if this case were to be picked up by others it would harm therm. Okay, since it’s very late, I will leave now, besides I also must go to work tomorrow.” I yawned after I finished talking. I needed to get out of bed at 3 am for morning exercises after all, therefore I must have sufficient rest. The quality sleep time was very precious. Besides, I have found the culprit, which was the makeup case. I should also take my time to sleep, moreover it was very late and I was still inside the apartment of an unmarried woman. It wouldn’t be good for Xu Xiaoling’s reputation.
Xu Xiaoling removed a few hundred Yuan bills from her wallet: “Xiaolong, I really want thank you for today’s help, although it’s not much, please take these as small token of my appreciation. And another thing… your magical charm……”
So, she wanted a charm…
Although the Sun Charm was only a basic charm for Daoists, but under the stimulation of some Daoist arts, the power it can deliver was quite astonishing. However it was mediocre if the user was an ordinary person.
I walked back to Xu Xiaoling’s bedroom and pasted a Sun Charm on the head of bed and on top of the door. Xu Xiaolong finally relaxed after seeing the two charms in her room.
I didn’t receive her money.
When I arrived downstairs, I couldn’t help but look at the makeup case. Deep down I always thought that something didn’t feel right. The faint Yin qi that was exuded from this makeup case was too weak to be the cause of the serious Yin qi overcast on Xu Xiaoling. But, the only object that exuded Yin qi in her apartment was this thing. If the case was opened would a dense amount of Yin qi gush out? I however was disinclined to find out about this tonight, I just wanted to go home quickly to get some sleep. But for safety’s sake, I pasted 10 Sun Charm on the case and put the Shadowbane sword on top of it and went to sleep afterwards.
The next day as usual I went to work, who knew that after a short while, around 9 am, Cheng Dong rushed in like his b.u.t.t was getting burned. He grabbed my arms and talked in a low voice: “Great master, bad news; Xu Xiaoling has been hospitalized because of severe mental traumas and she’s still unconscious, what has really happened last night?”
Mental trauma? I instantly frowned and thought to myself, when we were separated last night, she was still alright. I even took the wooden makeup case, how could this be? Xu Xiaoling’s mental trauma was not that simple, it should be caused by the invasion of Yin qi which led to this serious illness! Something must have happened when I left last night. Otherwise Xu Xiaoling should slowly recovered her Yang qi which would’ve prevented the Yin qi from getting worse. I thought over and over again, still the fact remained that this happened because of my negligence since I didn’t find the ghost that haunted her. Resulting in Xu Xiaoling’s danger. This matter must be resolved quickly! I talked to the boss to leave early and followed Cheng Dong to the hospital.
Cheng Dong told me everything along the way to the hospital; Xu Xiaoling didn’t come to work this morning. So her colleague made several calls to her, the phone was intact but n.o.body answered it. Therefore a female colleague who had a good relationship with Xu Xiaoling, said she had her house key and went to her apartment. She found her lying unconscious on the floor, she didn’t even respond to the female colleague when she tried to call and wake Xu Xiaoling up. The female colleague quickly called the emergency number and took Xu Xiaoling along with several other friends to the hospital.
When Cheng Dong got the message, he thought that last night’s matter must be related to Xu Xiaoling’s condition, and decided to find me.
When we arrived at the hospital, we discovered that Xu Xiaoling had been admitted to the VIP ward. There were six people inside the room, two males and four females. Xu Xiaoling was lying down on hospital bed, her complexion was deathly pale, there was a blackened area on her forehead and the Yin qi seemed to be denser than last night.
The several people looked puzzled and was curious upon seeing me and Cheng Dong came in together. Cheng dong pointed at me and gave an introduction: “This is …. Yes… Xu Xiaoling’s distant cousin!”
“Oh? Does Xiaoling have a relative here? I haven’t heard her mention anything about it”
“Yes, yes, Xiaoling is a little mysterious, no one knows her parents. Even her cell phone’s contacts list is comprised solely of the phone numbers of colleagues, fortunately her distant cousin can come here.”
Another female said to me: “Cousin, ah… contact her family as soon as possible, and quickly cover the hospital deposit. We have paid several thousand Yuan to pay for the initial examination series earlier, and it’s now overdue.”
Hearing that Xu Xiaoling’s parents cannot be contacted, and that her finance’s condition was also not good enough since she had only been working for a month, her colleagues didn’t want to expend more money for her. Moreover they thought that the responsibility of paying for her hospital bills fell onto me. It seemed like I had to pay the hospitalization expenses.
Fortunately, of the 50000 RMB left by the old swindler, I still had more than 20,000.
Cheng Dong originally didn’t want to expose my ident.i.ty, but he never thought that the situation developed to this extent. Therefore Chen Dong blurted out something to clarify my status, however I stopped Cheng Dong and immediately said: “Well, I’ll go back first to withdraw some money, but please look after my cousin before I come back”. I quickly left and pulled Cheng Dong closer while walking outside, and said: “I will cover the expense but you cannot reveal my ident.i.ty, I’ll be back shortly.”
I went back home in a hurry, and Mom asked: “Son, why did you come back so early?”
I loaded the black backpack with some things and said: “I requested an early leave today since I need to go to the museum with Miss Xu.”
“Son, that girl last night was very beautiful, she has a face like a melon seed. A face like an exquisite jade’s, her body is also good, and she has a rare big b.u.t.tock, can give birth to a boy… …” listening to my Mom chattering was really killing me!!! What the h.e.l.l was this and that about? The other was 5-6 years older than me, and how come she talked about a big a.s.s?
I took 20,000 RMB and 124 Sun Charms, which was my entire stock. Although I had studied drawing Daoist charms for several months. The success rate for drawing the Daoist charms and incantations was low. I also took 10 Heart and Mind Purifying Charms, a ginseng, the Shadowbane sword and the vial of cattle tears. After taking all the equipments I needed, I dashed out of the door quickly. Mom shouted loudly when I was about to leave the doorway: “Be good to that girl and make sure to marry her!”
I almost fell, rolling down from the staircase…
When I got back to the hospital, I immediately paid 10,000 RMB for the hospital bills in advance as a collateral and sighed. Hospitals these days were too vicious, the sick had not been examined but the money must be fully paid in advance. The first initial examination was more than 2,000 RMB. And after returning to the hospital ward, I took out 1,000 RMB and said to Xu Xiaohui’s colleagues: “Give this back to everybody, many thanks for all of your help in paying the bills before. Since it’s lunch time, everybody should go have some lunch, since I’m here, you can leave it to me!”
Cheng Dong was obviously didn’t want to leave, because he wanted to pursue Xu Xiaoling. But his presence here would give me some distraction and hindered my action, so I whispered in his ear: “There are many people die in the hospital every day so there are many ghosts here. If you don’t want to meet and have a mess with these ghosts, you better leave quickly.”
After Cheng Dong heard the ghost word, he immediately led all his colleagues and left hurriedly.
There was only Xu Xiaoling and I left in the room.
I took out a Moon Charm from my pocket and put out the Yang fire on my own shoulders. I quickly discovered that beside me were four ghosts! An old man ghost, an old woman ghost, a pot bellied middle-aged male ghost, and a ghost which looked like a 12-13 years old boy. However all of them were ordinary ghosts. They looked curiously to Xu Xiaoling, but at this time they were all actually observing my actions.
I ignored those ghosts and directly scrutinizing Xu Xiaoling’s condition. I could see that the Yang fire on both of her shoulders were already gone. The Yang fire on her head was very faint and was about to vanish. If this Yang fire was extinguished, she would be in great danger! Her soul wouldn’t stay in her body anymore, and I didn’t have the ability to call the soul back to the body since my power was not sufficient yet.
I turned around and looked at the four ghosts: “You are waiting for her soul to l the bodeavey? To then attach to her body to play with it?” While saying those words I took out a Sun Charm, ignited it and fused it with my Yang qi. The powerful Yang qi delivered by the ignited charms immediately made the four ghosts terrified and quickly float out of the room.
Originally, I didn’t want to frighten those ghosts. However I had to ignite the Yang fire in Xu Xiaoling’s body and didn’t want to be distracted by anything. I tried several times to light the Yang fire in her body only to find that it could not be ignited! This discovery made me really worried. Since the Yin qi in her body was too dense, she would not wake up it her Yang fire was not lit. Should I give her a ginseng?
What if I chewed the ginseng and fed it to her? The thought really crossed my mind.
~~~~~~~~~~End of Ch.10~~~~~~~~~~