Chapter 30: Fighting head-on

After a while, the old man finished drawing three talismans and handed them to my mother, saying, “This talisman is the simplest kind of talisman for warding off evil spirits. You should stick it on the door of the house, the door of this bedroom, and the head of the bed. I don’t want to hurt the evil spirit now, I just want to block it, so that it knows it is difficult to retreat. Three talismans are enough. Everything will be solved when I go there tomorrow. After solving the evil spirit, we will find the lost soul of my second sister.

My mother quickly followed the old man’s instructions and placed the three talismans in the positions he had designated.

After that, there was nothing else to do. Everyone just waited quietly, looking very nervous. Except for the old man and me, I inexplicably felt a sense of trust in the old man, although I disliked his lewdness. At the moment, all my thoughts were focused on my curiosity about the old man.

As for the old man, perhaps this kind of situation was just a piece of cake for him, and he didn’t need to be nervous at all.

Time passed quickly, and soon it was 11 o’clock.

In the past, when the female ghost came to bother Sister 2 at 11 o’clock, it was silent and quiet. But today, as soon as 11 o’clock passed, a sound similar to knocking on the door came from outside the house.

“The ghost is at the door.” Old Master Jiang stood up calmly, crossed his arms and took a few steps.

“Master Jiang, I feel that the ghost has become more vicious. In the past, it was silent, but today it is knocking on the door.” My mother was disturbed by the sound of ‘pang pang’ and asked Master Jiang with a pale face.

“It’s not knocking on the door. There’s a talisman at the door to block it. It’s entangled with the talisman, but a talisman like that can’t hold it for long. Just watch.” The old man said calmly. Sure enough, as soon as his words fell, the “pang pang” sound stopped. A gust of wind came, and the talisman, which had originally been stuck very firmly, actually floated down in a spiral.

Because of the angle, all of our family members saw this scene and couldn’t help but feel a little creepy. Only the old man Jiang drank a sip of tea very calmly and said, “The second one!”

The second talisman was stuck on the door of this bedroom. We all stared at the second talisman nervously. Sure enough, in the blink of an eye, the second talisman actually rose up by itself, accompanied by a “clattering” sound.

“Hey, old man, do you think these three talismans can stop the female ghost? What if they can’t?” I am a very easygoing person. I was just upset that I had attracted the ghost that was haunting my sister, but now that my sister was better, I felt a little better. I just swore that I would be good to my sister in the future! Since I had come out of the shadow, I also had the desire to talk. Seeing this scene, I couldn’t help but ask.

Instead of the kind answer I expected from the old man, I was greeted with two of his fingers, which he slammed down on my head! I don’t know if his fingers were made of iron, but the sound of them hitting my head was so loud that I finally understood what it felt like to have stars in my eyes.

“You little brat, everyone in the world can be disrespectful to me, but it’s like a breeze to me. But you can’t. What do you mean by old man? Do you understand the meaning of respecting teachers and the way?” Old man Jiang scolded me for no reason, but I covered my head and dared not speak. In fact, I was grateful to this old man. He was saving my second sister, and I believed that he was really capable. So, I endured it and dared not retort.

But after the lecture, the old man explained to me, “I have calculated the three talismans precisely, and they will be exhausted and retreat. Besides, if I can’t stop it, I’m still here, aren’t I? What are you so anxious about? Cultivators must avoid being agitated and impatient. People who are agitated and impatient have an unstable aura, which not only lowers their luck, but also makes them vulnerable to attacks. Calm down.”

But I didn’t expect that, at the end of the explanation, the old man Jiang actually scolded me. I didn’t understand what he was talking about at all, so I just shut up and cursed myself in my heart for being so nosy. The old man didn’t scold anyone else, but he loved to scold me.

In the blink of an eye, the second talisman fell to the ground. The family members sitting in the middle of the room could clearly feel a cold wind blowing in their faces. The chill made everyone shiver, except for the old man Jiang.

“Hey, you really have a lot of resentment. Two little talismans can actually make you think like this. But do you have the ability to do that?” Then the old man suddenly started walking around the family members sitting around us in strange steps. Finally, he stopped in one position, with one foot about to fall.

With this movement of the old man Jiang, the gusts of cold wind that had been circulating in the room suddenly stopped. The next moment, I saw the pillowcase on my sister’s bed being blown up and heading towards her.

The old man snorted, and the foot lightly landed, only looking coldly at the second sister. After a while, the talisman on the second sister’s bedside floated and fell. The old man closed his eyes and concentrated, and could not help but say, “So crazy? Hmph… the soul-binding knot I personally tied is not something you can break, is it?”

While speaking, the old man suddenly stepped in front of his second sister’s window, with one hand behind his back and the other hand stretched forward, muttering in his mouth. At the same time, the hand he extended quickly changed its fingers. As the muttering in his mouth stopped, the hand seal had already been formed.

As the old man’s hand gestures were completed, his entire person’s momentum also changed abruptly, looking upright and powerful. The hand gestures formed by the outstretched hand were like an iron fork, giving people the feeling that the hand was very sharp and powerful.

“I didn’t want to let you fly away, and you couldn’t break the soul-binding knot. If you provoke me again and again, I will have to subdue you today.” The old man shouted, and at the same time, the hand gesture that looked like an iron fork was about to be sent forward.

At this moment, our whole family felt the room suddenly become warmer, as if something had left, probably the ghost had left.

At this time, the old man Jiang also relaxed his whole body, and then looked at the situation of my second sister before saying, “This ghost’s resentment is so strong that it is rare. The two talismans that I used to ward off evil spirits angered it. After entering the house, it even wanted to attack your whole family. I stepped out of the way in time, and when I finally summoned the spirit, it was scared off. It was unwilling to give up, and it wanted to get to my second sister again. When the talisman broke and it was exhausted, it still wanted to get to my second sister with a hatred.

At this point, Old Master Jiang snorted and said, “But how can it break through my soul-binding knot? Even so, it cannot be so arrogant. I used the Iron Fork Finger. As long as it is a little disrespectful, I will definitely make it fly away.”

The old man’s words made me feel hot and boiling. What a great power! Just a few moves scared off a ghost, which was even more powerful than the tiger claw hanging around my neck. If only I could do those moves.

The old man was originally explaining to our family what had happened, but now he stopped talking and turned to look at me with a smile, as if he could read my mind. He said, “Sanwa, are you jealous of my skills? Well, now call me master. After your second sister’s matter is completely resolved, I will take you to the mountains to complete the initiation ceremony.”

I refused, and immediately shouted in the room, “I don’t care about your skills. I want to be a soldier when I grow up, not a Taoist priest!”

In my eyes, the old man Jiang was a ghost catcher, so in my logical thinking, a ghost catcher is the same as a Taoist priest. I want to grow up to be a Taoist priest? Impossible, absolutely impossible, that is too far from my ideal of a fighting hero.

Seeing my antics, the old man just laughed. After he finished laughing, I saw him take a few steps, and then I saw his hand come up and grab me! What’s going on? What’s going on?

I was three feet off the ground, and I panicked. I had already been taken advantage of twice in such a short time. Was this going to be the third time? This old man was really fast. I didn’t even feel him grab me.

After grabbing me, I was still struggling, but the old man didn’t care about me. He just took off my pants in front of my parents and my older sister, and then sat me down on a stool. He didn’t even wait for me to cry out, and then he slapped me on the butt.

“You old fart, how dare you take off my pants! My face was as red as if it was going to bleed. My sister was there, but the old man took off my pants, which were as heroic as mine. If Su Rou and the others knew about it, my reputation would be ruined.

“You don’t respect your teacher.” The old man didn’t even look at me, and he said to himself, “Pop!”

“I’m going to fight you, you old fart! If you’ve got the guts, fight me one-on-one, not with your fists!” I was going crazy.

“Unruly.” Another ‘pop’.

“Stupid old man…”

“Pat,” “pat,” “pat.” No matter how I screamed, all I heard was the crisp sound of my butt being spanked!

At first, I didn’t feel anything in my rage, but after a while, the burning pain in my butt was unbearable. The old man’s iron palm was much stronger than my father’s heavy fist.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” I begged for mercy. I had no choice. I was so angry. My parents just let me get beaten by a strange old man. I clearly saw my eldest sister’s concern, but she was held back by my mother!

What kind of parents are these? Betraying their own son! I was sad and angry, but I couldn’t keep getting beaten up. After the old man Jiang hit me a dozen more times, I finally begged for mercy and admitted my fault.

“Oh? Where did I go wrong?” Old Jiang smiled, as if he wasn’t satisfied and hadn’t beaten me enough.

“I… I don’t respect my teacher… I… I’m unruly… I… I’m unrepentant…” I sobbed while repeating the words that Jiang had just said to me, looking like I had been defeated.

The old man let go of me with a “hehe” and said, “You’re a Red Army soldier, and you admit your fault after just a dozen slaps. Aren’t you a typical traitor?”

This old man! He poked me wherever it hurt. I quickly pulled up my pants and stood up straight, holding my pants tightly with both hands. Only then did I say with a look of determination, “I’m relaxing the enemy’s vigilance. I will never surrender.”

Well, even heroes have to wear pants. I was just relaxing the enemy’s vigilance so that I could put on my pants.

“Haha…haha…good…good…” Old Master Jiang smiled and didn’t get angry. God knows what he was thinking, but I was still a little bit scared of the old man, and I unconsciously took a few steps back.

“Sanwa, do you want me to beat you? Do you know who he is? When you were a child, you were possessed by a hundred ghosts, but Master Jiang saved you. Do you think the tiger claw on your neck was given to you by anyone else? It was given to you by Master Jiang. You’re like this, don’t you think you’re asking for a beating?” My father had been standing next to me and hadn’t said anything, but seeing me like this, he couldn’t help but say a few words, just to scold me and tell me not to be so presumptuous.

Of course, this was also a disguised way of showing that he cared for me. This old man Jiang was a man I could never fathom. Sometimes he was awe-inspiring, and sometimes he was carefree. I could never understand which was the real him.

Although my father knew that the old man regarded me as his disciple and cared for me, it seemed that he was also very strict with me. In addition, he had a very changeable personality, so it was not certain what harm his own son would suffer, and yet he, the father, was unable to control him.

Regardless of what my father was thinking, I was stunned after hearing this!