Chapter 18: Chen Mian’s Embarrassment And Social Death
Soul Soothing Technique.
Folk legends say that people have three souls and seven spirits, which are the innate spirit of a person. Normally, a person’s soul attaches to the body, but after a person suffers a sudden fright, the soul will leave the body and scatter, making it difficult to return, leading to lethargy, mental confusion, and even bedridden illness—this is “soul loss.”
For those who have died but have obsessions in their hearts and are unwilling to rest in peace after death, they trigger supernatural events, or even corpse rising—this is “startled soul,” also known as haunting.
Whenever such situations occur, there are two ways to handle them.
One is to completely exorcise and eliminate ghosts and monsters using means beyond ordinary cognition.
The other is to use the Soul Soothing Technique to soothe these frightened souls, making them no longer cause trouble, thereby achieving the effect of indirectly saving the country.
The reason even ordinary people can use the Soul Soothing Technique is that it is like a collection of real exam questions—as long as you learn the routines in it, you can set up the corresponding formation or items; it has very low value.
However low the value, Jiang Ce doesn’t mind it. After all, it’s still sorcery.
It can’t be that when he really becomes a Half-Immortal, he opens his mouth and spouts fragrant words when taking action—that would be so uncool.
Hmm? It seems not impossible either.
In any case, Jiang Ce eagerly studied the Soul Soothing Technique, while Chen Mian poured two cups of tea, gave one to Jiang Ce, then sat beside him, put on reading glasses, and started reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Jiang Ce carefully read each paragraph, sometimes frowning, sometimes smiling knowingly. In no time, he fully understood and memorized it all.
“Uncle Chen, I’ve finished reading.”
He rubbed his temples and handed the Soul Soothing Technique back to Chen Mian.
Chen Mian put down Romance of the Three Kingdoms in his hand, pushed his reading glasses down a bit, squinted at Jiang Ce, and said: “Finishing reading is useless; what matters is understanding it and being able to apply it.”
“I’ve understood it, hehe, totally understood. It’s just this thin booklet with those few setup methods—nothing difficult.”
“Oh.” Chen Mian smiled: “Do you know how long it took me to fully master it back then?”
Jiang Ce shook his head.
“Three years!” Chen Mian wasn’t annoyed by Jiang Ce’s ignorance and said half warning, half reminiscing: “You only see that the setup methods and incantations are simple, but you don’t know that you need to control the amount of offerings each time, adjust the setup according to the severity of the supernatural event—this also involves experience and the ability to adapt on the fly.
I know you successfully handled the Su Da Yong incident. You don’t say it, but you’re definitely proud inside—that’s good; young men need sharpness and drive.
But learning a craft can’t be sloppy. It’s not always going to be this lucky. To put it bluntly, underestimating those filthy things might mean you die without knowing how.
You have to imagine it as a battlefield. You’re a rookie soldier now, and what you’re doing is constant training—train these things into your subconscious, into your muscle memory, so you can guarantee your own safety.”
Chen Mian paused, looked at Jiang Ce seriously, and said earnestly:
“I value you and teach you these things hoping you can rely on them to make a living, protect peace in one area, and I don’t want to see you encounter disaster because your skills aren’t solid. If that happens, it would not only be your misfortune but also my responsibility!
You have to let me rest assured and hand over this thirty-year burden of mine to you with peace of mind.”
Suddenly, Jiang Ce felt an indescribable complex emotion well up in his heart. This was the first time in his life he had been valued by someone else, and the first time he felt the weight of the word responsibility.
How many thirty years does a person get in life?
And now, an old man nearing sixty was about to hand over his lifelong career to him.
It would be fake to say he wasn’t moved.
Jiang Ce nodded too and promised solemnly: “Uncle Chen, rest assured. I will remember what you said, and I definitely won’t let you down.”
Hearing this, Chen Mian patted Jiang Ce’s shoulder happily: “That’s excellent. No rush—even if you can’t learn it in a short time, it’s fine. I can wait two or three years. Meanwhile, I can help you build some relationships and introduce you to friends from other funeral homes. In the future, for troubles I can’t help with, my old friends who haven’t retired might be able to lend a hand.”
“But.” Though moved, Jiang Ce smiled awkwardly: “I really have learned it.”
Chen Mian’s smile froze, and after hesitating a moment, he asked seriously: “Really?”
“Really.”
Chen Mian stroked his chin thoughtfully, then got up and said: “Then come with me.”
Jiang Ce followed Chen Mian curiously to the courtyard, where Chen Mian took out some offerings and items for performing the Soul Soothing Technique from a small wooden shed in the corner that resembled a latrine.
There was glutinous rice, candles, and incense holders he’d seen at the funeral home, as well as talismans, blood, animal hooves, peach wood sword, and the like that he hadn’t seen before.
“Then give it a try—set up a Soul Soothing Technique magic array for soothing someone who died unjustly.”
Chen Mian stood to the side with hands behind his back, planning to test Jiang Ce.
Jiang Ce didn’t waste words. In front of Chen Mian, following the key points in his memory, in less than twenty minutes, he really set up the corresponding Soul Soothing Technique magic array.
Chen Mian was somewhat surprised. After checking, he found it truly flawless.
But to prevent Jiang Ce from having just memorized this particular magic array, he tested again:
“Next, for one with unfulfilled last wishes.”
This time even more skillfully, Jiang Ce finished in just ten minutes.
This time Chen Mian couldn’t stand steady and suddenly doubted the value of his own learning of the Soul Soothing Technique back then.
But after asking several different questions in a row, Jiang Ce completed them all one by one, leaving Chen Mian completely dumbfounded.
“This… this shouldn’t be.”
Jiang Ce was drawing a talisman on the ground with blood and looked up puzzled upon hearing this: “What’s wrong?”
“Uh, nothing. Keep drawing; don’t mind me. I suddenly remembered some unpleasant things.”
“Got it. You think about it.”
Chen Mian’s expression grew worse and worse. Though he hoped Jiang Ce would learn it soon, seeing him master it so quickly made him inexplicably a bit unhappy.
Especially since he had just boasted in front of him that it took him three years to learn these.
If he hadn’t said that, he might have felt better inside.
This emotion was complex, like elders at home who hope their children will succeed early but don’t want to see their children become independent too soon.
Especially for someone who had been competitive all his life, seeing things that made him feel old was actually a big blow—desolation often comes in an instant.
Soon, Jiang Ce straightened up: “Done! Take a look, Uncle Chen.”
“Uh, yeah, no problem. That incantation… cough, forget it. The incantation is even simpler—just those few phrases.”
Chen Mian inexplicably felt a bit awkward, his old face a little untenable.
Seeing Chen Mian like this, Jiang Ce slapped his forehead and realized.
He had been too careless. Uncle Chen said it took him three years to practice, but he read the book and set up so many magic arrays in just over three hours—wasn’t that deliberately tearing down his stage?
So he immediately adjusted his expression to look troubled: “Ouch, Uncle Chen, look at my memory—I forgot the incantation. And I was so confident just now.”
Chen Mian’s brows relaxed instantly, and he smiled comfortingly: “No worries, it’s already impressive—much better than I was back then. No wonder they say the waves behind drive the waves ahead.”
“You’re too kind; it’s all thanks to your good teaching.” Jiang Ce flattered along.
People lift the ornate sedan chair—nothing more than that.
The small courtyard was suddenly filled with a harmonious atmosphere.
But at that moment, in the originally quiet late night, a series of footsteps sounded outside the courtyard, followed by a voice that broke this harmony and, incidentally, made Chen Mian, who had just eased his embarrassment, socially die on the spot, wanting to find a crack in the ground to crawl into immediately.
“Xiao Mianzi, didn’t you say you were planning to find someone to take over? Found a big sucker yet? When can you retire so your master can wander the world?”
Thinking about it, I haven’t asked for collections and follow-up reading yet. If nothing unexpected, we should hit the trial push this week. Hope the good brothers reading here can casually click a collection—much obliged. Also, as a newbie writing books for the first time, if there’s anything not written well, please be tolerant. If there are toxic points, feel free to point them out. Thanks everyone.
