Chapter 109: These Doors Are Yellow Talisman Paper
Huang Ke saw Qu Xingxuan and immediately felt his eyes heat up, feeling as if he had seen a relative.
After all, in his mind, Qu Xingxuan was Master Yuan’s disciple, so he must also be a formidable figure.
“Master Qu!” Huang Ke excitedly called out to Qu Xingxuan.
To Huang Ke, Qu Xingxuan was his lifesaver at this moment.
Qu Xingxuan felt very awkward: “Uh…”
“Master Qu,” his own lifesaver was still nearby.
Huang Ke struggled with his exhausted body and finally staggered to his feet. It was only at this point that he remembered to care about his image.
Unfortunately, he had just fallen, been dragged, and struggled earlier, so his current disheveled state was beyond saving.
Huang Ke simply gave up and eagerly wanted to say something to Qu Xingxuan.
But Xuan Xia cut in first, “Brother Huang, are Brother Ji and Xiuxiu with you?”
Huang Ke was stunned at first upon hearing this, then slowly recalled the events before he appeared here.
He said repeatedly, “Oh right right right, just before I appeared here, Xiao Ji came to find me.”
He had rushed from Yanjing to Hengcheng, and after arriving at the hotel, he first met Lu Mindan, but their chat was not pleasant.
Lu Mindan had just left when he leaned on the sofa with his eyes closed to rest. Then there was a knock, Xiao Zhao opened the door and said Xiao Ji had arrived.
He responded, waiting for Xiao Ji to come in, and then…, when he opened his eyes again, he was here!
After that, he remembered something chasing him and dragging his things.
Huang Ke’s limbs turned cold, his face turning green.
“When I opened my eyes, I was all alone, I didn’t see Xiao Ji or Xiao Zhao…”
But actually, if he thought about it carefully, it wasn’t just him alone, right? Could Xiao Ji and the others…
…Huang Ke quickly stopped himself, not daring to think further.
Then he asked Xuan Xia again, “How did you end up here too?”
He really hadn’t seen her at all; who exactly had saved him earlier.
But this question was really hard to answer; Xuan Xia wanted to know too.
So she told the truth: she didn’t know how she got here either. Before he could speak again, she said first, “Let’s go back to the elevator first.” This place clearly didn’t feel as safe as the elevator area.
Her words immediately got Qu Xingxuan’s agreement.
Since Qu Xingxuan agreed, Huang Ke naturally said nothing. Because his legs were weak, Li Xinze supported him, and the four of them returned to the elevator together.
Once in the elevator, under the bright lights, Huang Ke saw his own disheveled appearance and quickly sighed and turned his head away.
It was truly…, so disheveled that even he couldn’t bear to look at it!
But because it was bright here again with people around, Huang Ke calmed down a bit. Just as he wanted to talk to his lifesaver, he saw his lifesaver squeezed with Xuan Xia at the elevator door talking.
Qu Xingxuan asked Xuan Xia, “I just saw you make a move; why didn’t you just take out that thing directly?”
Couldn’t it be like last time, directly and cleanly crushing its bones and scattering its ashes?
Then he glanced at Huang Ke and lowered his voice: “That Mr. Huang is my master’s old client, and will be my client in the future too. You have to help me out.”
“So Brother Huang is your master’s client.”
She had thought Huang Ke recently had a calamity, but it was vague and unclear. Turns out there was an expert protecting him; that expert was Qu Xingxuan’s master.
But if it was his master protecting him, how did he still end up dragged into the Illusionary Scenery?
Xuan Xia couldn’t say this.
Now Qu Xingxuan’s meaning was clearly that he didn’t want to lose a client, and even more couldn’t let the client know he was actually scared too, so he wanted Xuan Xia to quickly break the Illusionary Scenery.
Xuan Xia thought for a moment and said, “Since he’s your client in the future, you should show some real skills.”
Qu Xingxuan: “???”
If he could do it, would he be secretly begging her for help now?
Seeing Qu Xingxuan getting anxious, Xuan Xia felt both amused and exasperated, and quickly said, “Go ask Brother Huang what happened after he came in, in detail.”
“Oh oh.” Qu Xingxuan hurriedly agreed, his attitude extremely obedient now.
After agreeing, he even asked, “Anything else to ask?”
“No.” Xuan Xia said, “Go on.”
Qu Xingxuan turned to Huang Ke, “Uncle Huang, can you tell me about your situation just now?”
“Just now…” If it weren’t Qu Xingxuan asking, Huang Ke really didn’t want to recall it again.
Huang Ke said that as soon as he closed and opened his eyes, he was here. At first he thought he had slept in a daze, but it felt strange—why would he be lying on the sofa sleeping.
He hadn’t thought much at first, but soon he felt something scratching his skin. Unable to bear it, he opened his eyes and looked.
After that glance, it was the terrified scream that Xuan Xia and the others heard.
Then Huang Ke burst out the door, but unexpectedly was chased. He thought he couldn’t escape, luckily he met Qu Xingxuan and the others.
Qu Xingxuan coughed, Huang Ke was convinced it was he who saved him.
“Uncle Huang, can you describe what that thing chasing you looked like specifically?” Qu Xingxuan was smart and knew Xuan Xia wanted details, so he quickly added, “As detailed as possible.”
Huang Ke’s face stiffened.
He was going to die; he had to describe it in detail?
But seeing Qu Xingxuan’s serious expression, Huang Ke could only grit his teeth and describe it.
He called it a thing, but Huang Ke was sure it was a woman.
That woman’s hair was extremely long—how long exactly? Anyway, when Huang Ke fell on the floor earlier and was dragged back, he was certain it was that woman’s hair that bound him.
Right, when he woke up before, he felt something scratching him; now Huang Ke suspected it was that woman’s hair too.
“That woman’s hair was alive, right?” Huang Ke sought confirmation from Qu Xingxuan.
Qu Xingxuan hemmed and hawed, “Please continue.”
Had to continue.
Huang Ke resignedly continued describing.
To confirm it was a woman, besides the hair, he had actually seen the woman’s face clearly too.
Just…, how to put it, it was really too hard on the eyes.
Not to mention the woman’s face was deathly pale, her facial features were all streaming with blood!
Huang Ke thought he had seen plenty of horror TV shows and movies, but none had that kind of impact—it was a feeling no real actor could achieve.
While describing that shocking feeling, Huang Ke shuddered.
Then Qu Xingxuan shuddered along with him.
While shuddering, Qu Xingxuan looked at Xuan Xia, as if asking her if it was detailed enough, if they could end it.
Xuan Xia smoothed her long hair with her hand, gave Qu Xingxuan a look, then cast her gaze toward the depths of the dark corridor.
After a moment, she muttered to herself, “So playful yet such a coward.”
Qu Xingxuan, who had just approached her: “???”
Who? Who was playful?
At this time, Huang Ke asked full of hope, “Master Qu, do you have a way to get us out of here?”
He had a conscience too, including Xuan Xia and Li Xinze in his words with “us.”
Qu Xingxuan felt uneasy; he really wanted to tell Huang Ke that he should be included in that “us.”
But who made his status special?
He could only give Huang Ke a dry smile, then immediately quietly ask Xuan Xia, “How is it? Any ideas?”
Xuan Xia didn’t speak.
But seeing her thoughtful expression, Qu Xingxuan didn’t dare urge her.
Xuan Xia did have some ideas, but was still considering whether to implement them.
But moments later, she made a decision.
“Let’s give it a try.” she said.
Qu Xingxuan’s eyes lit up upon hearing this.
He immediately asked her, “Need any help from me?”
Xuan Xia turned to look at him and suddenly smiled, “Yes.”
Qu Xingxuan’s heart sank suddenly, feeling something bad.
He heard Xuan Xia say, “You go lure that long-haired woman out of the room.”
“…”
Qu Xingxuan instantly felt doomed.
Seeing his unpromising look, Xuan Xia laughed again, “Forget it, change that.”
Qu Xingxuan steadied himself against the elevator and asked along, “Change to what?”
“Do you know how to draw Ghost Exorcism Talismans?”
“This I can do.” Qu Xingxuan answered very quickly.
Xuan Xia “mm”ed, then said, “Then let me tell you my idea.”
“Go ahead.”
Xuan Xia pointed to the doors on both sides of the corridor, “Look, don’t these doors look like Yellow Talisman Paper?”
Before Qu Xingxuan could refute, she continued, “We’ll treat these doors as Yellow Talisman Paper and draw Ghost Exorcism Talismans on each one.”
Qu Xingxuan looked at the corridor and those doors, and aside from anything else, asked her, “What about cinnabar and Talisman Brush?”
Xuan Xia said, “Didn’t bring any.”
“Then what to draw with?”
Xuan Xia silently raised the water pipe in her hand.
Qu Xingxuan: “…”
Xuan Xia said, “Don’t give me that look. It’s useful. I just drew a Lightning Talisman with this.”
Qu Xingxuan: “…”
I don’t want to hear it, I don’t want to hear it.
After refusing to listen to Xuan Xia’s wild tale, Qu Xingxuan countered, “What about your talismans? Don’t you always carry a bunch when you go out?”
Xuan Xia said, “This is what I wanted to tell you earlier. Didn’t you see I didn’t bring a bag?”
Qu Xingxuan suddenly felt very upset.
This upset was in two parts.
The first part was that she didn’t have an endless supply of talismans, the second part was that he clearly saw her activate a Lightning Talisman earlier.
Could she really have drawn a Lightning Talisman in the air with a section of water pipe?!
It wasn’t that there was no precedent, but that was something only super powerful big shots could do.
There was a saying: ‘A bit of Spiritual Light forms the talisman’; you needed Spiritual Light to do it!
In any case, Qu Xingxuan admitted he didn’t have that kind of Spiritual Light.
Without Talisman Brush and cinnabar, he couldn’t do it.
Seeing his thorough refusal, Xuan Xia didn’t push him further and walked to the nearest door outside the elevator to start working.
What she was doing, Qu Xingxuan couldn’t do, and Li Xinze naturally could only watch from the side.
It was called drawing talismans, but the current operation was more like carving the talisman onto the door.
Then Qu Xingxuan noticed she drew really fast, as if she wasn’t afraid of making mistakes at all.
The more he watched, the more envious Qu Xingxuan became.
Xuan Xia carved Ghost Exorcism Talismans on over a dozen doors in one go, then walked back to the elevator entrance and started carving on the wooden floor.
This was treating the floor as Yellow Talisman Paper too.
Huang Ke had watched for a long time and finally couldn’t help asking, “Xuan Xia, what are you doing?”
Xuan Xia said without looking up, “Master Qu told me to do this.”
The question was directly tossed to Qu Xingxuan.
Huang Ke looked at Qu Xingxuan and asked again, his tone extremely respectful.
Qu Xingxuan was almost embarrassed to death.
“Um, yes, preparing to draw some talismans to lure that thing out.”
“Oh oh.” Huang Ke stopped asking questions.
Though Huang Ke wondered inwardly why Xuan Xia was drawing the talismans instead of Qu Xingxuan himself.
Could there be some particular reason?
After drawing dozens of Ghost Exorcism Talismans, the elevator lights could barely reach her front anymore, so she had Li Xinze turn on his mobile phone flashlight to illuminate for her as she continued.
At this point, she stopped drawing Ghost Exorcism Talismans and switched to Lightning Talismans.
Even the floor was drawn with several Lightning Talismans by her.
After busying for half a day straight, Xuan Xia’s arms were sore, yet the woman in the Illusionary Scenery still hadn’t shown up.
Xuan Xia felt the other was really incredibly cowardly.
But speaking of cowardly, Xuan Xia turned back to the elevator and saw Qu Xingxuan and Huang Ke huddled together, watching them from afar.
Xuan Xia couldn’t help calling out “Master Qu,” then said, “Come take a look; is what I’ve drawn enough?”
Qu Xingxuan: “…”
The next second, Qu Xingxuan rushed out from their rear base.
As soon as he ran over, he pleaded, “Can you please not call me that anymore?”
“What’s wrong? Giving you face in front of your future client, and you don’t like it?” Xuan Xia grinned back at him.
Qu Xingxuan’s face was full of dislike.
He even wanted to say forget it, he didn’t want this future client anymore.
He was afraid that every time he faced Huang Ke in the future, he’d remember this experience.
Thinking this, Qu Xingxuan looked at the Lightning Talisman marks on the floor, frowned, and uncertainly asked, “Will this actually work?”
Xuan Xia said, “Don’t know. I’ll draw a few more, then we’ll try.”
Qu Xingxuan said, “You’re still drawing? You’ve already drawn so many.”
If it didn’t work later, this would be pure wasted effort.
Xuan Xia pointed ahead with the water pipe, “But look, it stretches far ahead; who knows which room she’s hiding in. What if she keeps playing hide-and-seek with us?”
Qu Xingxuan thought yes, paused for a second, then said, “It’s really weird. The Illusionary Sceneries I’ve heard of aren’t like this. The Evil Spirits in Illusionary Scenery are all eager to jump out and kill the intruders; I’ve never seen one that hides away.”
Xuan Xia said, “Everyone’s different, and Illusionary Scenery isn’t just one kind. This one might like luring people into rooms before killing them.”
Plus creating this atmosphere, even the timid could scare themselves to death.
The Evil Spirit here didn’t even need to exert effort; how convenient.
Qu Xingxuan was thinking when suddenly, a door near the elevator entrance made a loud “bang.”
The three hurriedly looked over and saw a patch of black mist extending from under the door near the elevator entrance.
But when that black mist touched the talisman marks on the floor, it immediately recoiled as if frightened, quickly retreating back under the door.
Looking closely, that wasn’t black mist at all—it was hair!
Exactly the living hair from Huang Ke’s description!
Seeing this, Xuan Xia wouldn’t let it retreat back into the door and immediately formed hand seals with incantation.
The next second, all those dozens of doors carved with Ghost Exorcism Talismans sparked with fire, one after another, the scene incredibly shocking.
Just as the sparks reached the last door with a Ghost Exorcism Talisman, the door instantly burst into raging flames. A black-and-white shadow leaped out from the fire, landing on the floor.
Black in front, white behind, straight toward the three of them.
Qu Xingxuan instantly felt doomed.
