Chapter 34.2 Red Embroidered Shoes 01
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Chen Yang was bestowed with the Fourth Grade Alliance Authority Seal, but it didn’t require him to convert to the Zhengyi Sect.
After the ceremony, Yi Fusheng said to Chen Yang, “If there’s an opportunity, I hope you can attend the Seal Bestowing Ceremony in Ba-Shu Witch Tribe and officially become a practitioner of the Ghost Dao.”
Grateful for the guidance he received from Grandpa Wu who taught him the Ghost Dao, Chen Yang didn’t refuse Yi Fusheng’s request. Yi Fusheng nodded in satisfaction and then left Dongyue Palace. As Chen Yang turned around, he noticed Du Shuo standing in the crowd. He happily ran over and asked, “Brother Du, when did you arrive? How did you come? Is everything over there… not busy anymore?”
Ever since their parting in Shen City, Du Shuo had been absent for seven days. No wonder Chen Yang was so delighted to see him. Du Shuo replied, “The matters over there kept me busy for a while, but I managed to make time to watch your Seal Bestowing Ceremony. Congratulations, Yangyang has officially become a Celestial Master.”
Chen Yang was dressed in a brand new Daoist robe, with the Alliance Authority Seal of the fourth rank hanging from his waist. Upon hearing Du Shuo’s praise, his joy was mixed with a hint of modesty and shyness. He held onto Du Shuo’s arm and asked, “Are you leaving today as well?”
“No, not today. It’s a day to celebrate your official induction as a celestial master.”
“How should we celebrate?”
“I made a reservation at a restaurant. Let’s go.”
“Let me change out of the Daoist robe first.”
“You can change in the car. Your clothes are in there. I grabbed an extra set on my way over for you.”
So, Chen Yang and Du Shuo casually chatted and laughed, got into the car after changing clothes, and left. Mao Xiaoli watched the entire show, her mouth slightly agape. She pointed the camera at herself and exclaimed with a mix of sadness and frustration, “Did you see that? The anger of a single dog.”
She had filmed Chen Yang’s entire induction ceremony, standing next to Du Shuo. Spotting his husband, Chen Yang completely ignore the subordinate, Mao Xiaoli, which greatly irritated her. “I need to find a boyfriend too!”
The official website of the Daoist Association periodically featured new promotional videos from the Celestial Master Community. The themes and materials were quite diverse, provided entirely by the celestial masters. Any celestial master could submit their own filmed promotional video for the Daoist Association’s publicity department to review. If selected, the video would be uploaded on the official website, and the filmmaker would receive 20,000 yuan as a reward.
Mao Xiaoli thought since she was there, she might as well film Chen Yang’s induction ceremony as a promotional video. After returning home that evening, she edited and adjusted the footage, sent it to the Daoist Association’s publicity department email, and then picked up her phone to continue indulging in gossip.
The Daoist Association’s publicity department had to choose five videos from hundreds of submissions, which was a difficult decision. The department head personally watched the five promotional videos and happened to select Chen Yang’s ceremony. He said, “Let’s use this one.”
“The Seal Bestowing Ceremony? It’s pretty ordinary and nothing outstanding. Why choose it?”
“Because the protagonist looks good.”
After officially becoming a fourth-rank Alliance Authority Celestial Master, Chen Yang could independently receive orders on the APP without being rejected. He also included the previous cases he had resolved in his portfolio. Sometimes, people even specifically requested Chen Yang to take their orders, but most of them were two-star or lower.
While he had handled three-star assignments and effectively resolved them, the trustworthiness of being a fourth-rank Authority Alliance Celestial Master didn’t quite match the assurance provided by the head office’s Five Thunders or Three Caverns Celestial Masters.
The first assignment Chen Yang received after becoming a celestial master was a case involving a young girl from a certain family. She had attended a relative’s wedding and something strange happened that very night. Witnesses claimed to have seen the girl inexplicably grabbing her own neck, squeezing it so tightly that her eyes bulged out, as if possessed by an inexplicable force.
Determined not to let a joyous occasion turn into a tragedy, the crowd quickly dispersed the guests and took the girl to the newlywed couple’s room. They initially thought she was having a mental breakdown, but even several strong men who tried to restrain her found it almost impossible to hold her down.
Among the onlookers was an elderly person who was well-versed in such matters. He immediately requested assistance by placing an order on the Dafu APP. Chen Yang received the assignment and rushed over. Inside the newlywed couple’s room, many young people were curiously watching Chen Yang.
There was nothing special about Chen Yang’s appearance. Like any college student, he dressed like an ordinary person and carried a shoulder bag. His friendly and smiling demeanor, however, exuded a particular charm that instantly endeared him to others.
Chen Yang: “Where is the person affected by the evil spirit?”
“Right here. How should I address you?”
“My name’s Chen.”
“Celestial Master Chen, this way, please.” The girl’s father stepped forward and led Chen Yang to the side room of the newlyweds. Inside the room, a girl was bound to the bed, screaming incoherently. “Celestial Master Chen, what kind of evil spirit has possessed my daughter?”
Chen Yang glanced at the girl, surveyed the newlywed’s room, and then cast a brief glance at the bride and groom standing at the door. The bride wore a displeased expression. She didn’t believe in evil spirits. She thought the girl was simply going mad. Having someone go insane at her own wedding naturally put her in a foul mood.
“It’s nothing, just encountered a gloomy ghost.” Chen Yang stretched his fingers while cracking his knuckles. “It’s not that serious. We just need to drive it away.”
The girl’s mother, her eyes reddened, asked, “What is a gloomy ghost? How did she become entangled with such a thing?”
“It’s a type of grudge ghost,” Chen Yang explained in detail when he saw the confusion on everyone’s faces. “A grudge ghost is formed from a person who died with deep resentment. The gloomy ghost is a specific kind of grudge ghost that meets its demise during joyous occasions, hence its name. To see it is to face death.”
In reality, encountering a gloomy ghost would lead to being haunted and ultimately killed. However, while they were a kind of malevolent ghost, they weren’t too difficult to deal with.
Among the crowd, there was a young man who didn’t believe it. He was from the bride’s side and felt that the groom was orchestrating this incident to demean the bride’s family. Consequently, he didn’t hold a favorable opinion of Chen Yang and half-jokingly asked, “Are there any joyful ghosts then?”
“TThre are.” Chen Yang glanced at the young man, who subconsciously fell silent. Chen Yang continued, “As the name suggests, they are ghosts that die during funerals. They love to wear red clothes and appear with an aura of happiness during funeral ceremonies. Seeing them will also result in casualties. As for the gloomy ghosts, they wear mourning attire and remain silent. Encountering them also leads to casualties.”
“Ah!” A middle-aged lady in the crowd suddenly exclaimed, as if she had just realized something. “I knew there was someone dressed in an ominous outfit on that side, even wearing a funeral white flower on their head. Isn’t that a sign of ominous influence?”
“Sister-in-law, please don’t make up stories.”
“I’m not making it up. I really saw it. Later, Ting collided with that thing, and now she’s being haunted by it.”
“I saw it too, it’s really creepy. When I saw it from a distance, I sensed something was wrong. I wanted to stop it from entering. But in the blink of an eye, that thing came inside.”
“Enough!” The bride impatiently interrupted, “Celestial Master Chen, now that you’ve revealed the cause of the affliction, please quickly drive away those joyful or gloomy ghosts. I don’t want my wedding, which was perfectly fine, to turn into a tragedy.”
The groom grabbed the bride’s arm, but she irritably shook him off, revealing her displeasure.
“Clear the area, leave just a few people. We don’t want anyone getting caught in the commotion,” Chen Yang said as he took out a dice from his shoulder bag and weighed it in his hand. It was a magical tool given to him by Kou Xuanling after receiving the Celestial Master Seal. It was especially convenient to use as containers for spirits.
The rest of the people vacated the room, leaving only four individuals. The girl’s father stayed behind, as did the skeptical young man who had questioned earlier. He even took out his phone to record. The bride and groom also stayed, with the bride refusing to leave. She wanted to see how long this charade of supernatural antics would last.
Chen Yang instructed the four individuals to hold onto each of the girl’s limbs tightly, preventing her from moving recklessly. He then placed a Celestial Master’s Ghost-Sealing Talisman, drawn by Mao Xiaoli, on the girl’s forehead. With a brush dipped in vermilion ink, he invoked the ancestral decree in the air, “…When malevolent spirits and wicked ghosts appear, may the wind, thunder, flames, and fire eliminate the evil presence, urgently as the law decrees.”
The bystanders didn’t feel anything significant upon hearing those words. However, to the gloomy ghost, they resonated like the wrath of gods, echoing like thunderclaps, filling it with intense fear, making it desperate to flee. The four people restraining the girl suddenly felt an immense surge of strength from her. Her struggles intensified, and in the next moment, she flipped them all over, emitting a rage-filled roar that seemed inhuman.
The bride, realizing the force she had exerted, understood even more clearly how formidable the girl’s strength had become. It was unlike anything a human could possess. She had seen the girl before, a gentle and delicate high school student who couldn’t even lift slightly heavy objects. How could she suddenly possess such extraordinary strength?
Then, they saw the girl hovering in mid-air, her eyes rolling back, leaving only the whites visible. Her face contorted into a grotesque, twisted expression as she glared fixedly at Chen Yang, spitting a man’s voice, “Filthy Daoist!”
She lunged toward Chen Yang, but he swiftly took out another talisman, leaped onto the edge of the bed, and affixed it to the crown of the girl’s head. With a loud thud, she fell back onto the bed, struggling and screaming but seemingly pinned down, unable to move.
Shortly after, a dark figure leaped out from the girl and dashed toward the window. Chen Yang raised his head and exclaimed, “Trying to escape?” Without the need for intricate hand gestures, he swiftly whipped the gloomy ghost into submission using his red string, binding it within the dice.
Initially, Chen Yang hadn’t used the red string because the gloomy ghost had possessed the girl’s body, manipulating her to self-harm and causing instability in her soul. He feared that whipping with the red string might extract the girl’s soul, creating even more trouble in retrieving it later. Hence, he had no choice but to resort to the method of exorcism and ghost suppression.
Witnessing the supernatural scene, both the bride and the young man, who initially didn’t believe in ghosts and spirits, were left shaken and took a while to regain their composure. Chen Yang had a brief conversation with the girl’s father, left some instructions, and took his payment before preparing to leave.
As they reached the living room of the bridal suite, the bride and groom rushed out to ask, “We heard that when getting married, we should match our Eight Characters and consider the auspicious time. But we didn’t believe it and randomly chose a wedding date. Master, could you check if it’s unsuitable?”
Chen Yang asked for their Eight Characters and calculated based on the timing before saying, “Although it’s not an extremely auspicious day, it’s not a terribly inauspicious one either. Encountering the gloomy ghost was just a coincidence, something that happened on your way. Just get some pomelo leaves afterward to dispel any lingering misfortune.”
After speaking, he added, “Luckily, you didn’t get married two days earlier or later.”
Worried, the bride asked, “Why?”
“Your Eight Characters would have clashed with the Mourning Star. Whether you marry two days earlier or two days later, you will still be afflicted by it. When encountering the Mourning Star, either you cancel the wedding or experience constant bloodshed within two years. Relatives and friends in the family will pass away one after another. If you happen to encounter a particularly powerful Mourning Star, one of you may meet a sudden death on your wedding night.”
The so-called Mourning Star was a kind of ominous omen based on the Eight Characters. It manifested when the current year or major life events clashed with an individual’s birth chart and was considered nearly unavoidable. Marriage, housing, and other matters could all be subject to the Mourning Star. Once encountered, it would inevitably result in death. “What the Master Would Not Discuss” contained records related to the Mourning Star, such as a newlywed woman encountering the Mourning Star during her wedding period. A person dressed in mourning clothes appeared in her new house, and the bride tragically passed away.
Hearing this, everyone in the bridal suite felt a chill down their spines. All that remained in their hearts was gratitude. They treated Chen Yang with utmost respect as they bid him farewell. That night, during the wedding ceremony, the young guests paid more attention to matching their fate and Eight Characters than even the bride’s family. They would rather not get married than choose a date that clashed with the Mourning Star and invited disaster.
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