014

Bo Chuan returned from outside the Taoist temple, but when he entered, he noticed nothing unusual. The only thing that stood out at the threshold was a leaf, which was slightly out of place, and there was nothing else.

He placed three incense sticks into the incense burner and wiped the plaque next to the statue. Inside the temple were two plaques: one for Bixia Yuanjun, and the other for Yanxia Yuanjun.

Bixia Yuanjun is the mountain god, more specifically, the mountain god of Mount Tai, also known as Tai Mountain Goddess. Therefore, statues of Bixia Yuanjun can be found on many mountains.

Yanxia Yuanjun, on the other hand, is the mountain god of Yanxia Mountain itself. However, even though Yanxia Mountain has its own mountain god, the god’s power is weak, so it still relies on Bixia Yuanjun’s protection.

Bo Chuan first bowed to the statue of Bixia Yuanjun. After standing up, he placed a few wild fruits he had picked from the mountain in front of the statue of Yanxia Yuanjun.

“Thud,” the wild fruit seemed to be pushed to the ground by an invisible force.

Bo Chuan raised an eyebrow like a blade, picked it up, and placed it back.

“Thud.”

Bo Chuan: “If you don’t eat it, it’s gone.”

He bit into the sour fruit and then put it away from the offering table.

He thought the deity would quickly take the offering out of pity, but unexpectedly, the deity blew out the incense as well.

It seemed to say, “Who cares?”

Bo Chuan didn’t understand: “You’re still in recovery. You have to eat, you know… this fruit isn’t that sour.”

—

Silence was the comfort of the night.

Bo Chuan waited for a while, but seeing that the small mountain god was still unwilling, he decided to go along with it.

“I really don’t know what’s going on with you. You used to eat everything fine. Why are you so picky lately?”

—

At this moment, in the Jingshui County hospital, Yao Yun was holding her feverish son and crying so hard that she seemed numb.

Her husband was holding the examination sheet, muttering for a while, “How could this happen? All the indicators are normal.”

After muttering, he saw his son curled up from the fever and couldn’t help but snap at his wife, “I told you, you must have taken Duoduo to your parents’ home and fed him something unclean! Otherwise, he wouldn’t be like this. What did your mother give him? Look at you, you can’t even handle the little thing of looking after our son while I’m busy…”

Yao Yun cried so much that her voice was hoarse, ignoring her husband’s words, muttering to herself, “Not good for the south… Not good for the south, everything he said is true…”

Yao Yun was about to take her son back to her parents’ home.

Her husband, both angry and anxious, still cared about his pride and didn’t dare to raise his voice. “What are you going back to your parents’ house for? Haven’t you already caused enough harm to Duoduo?”

Yao Yun, in a daze, began to talk about that night’s events to her husband.

She hadn’t said anything before, because after the argument with Lin You, she had completely forgotten about it. It wasn’t until her son started feeling unwell that she realized that she had indeed walked south that night!

Yao Yun’s husband felt a chill run down his spine.

A person of unknown origin suddenly tells you that it’s “not good for the south”…

Yao Yun: “Since he was able to predict, he must know how to save our son. No matter what, I’m going to beg him.”

Yao Yun’s husband gritted his teeth. “Let’s go!”

Whether it was some kind of trick or real ability, they still needed to find that person for their son’s sake.

Riding a motorcycle, the couple quickly arrived at Lianhua Town.

The moment Yao Yun saw her mother, she burst into tears.

Aunt Chunling was startled, and after hearing her daughter’s story, she was even more shocked.

“You… you actually went to find Lin You? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

Aunt Chunling had just realized where her daughter had gone that night. It turned out that she hadn’t listened to a word of her advice but was too focused on finding trouble with others.

Yao Yun’s husband interjected: “Mom, it’s not like that. Yao Yun had good intentions…”

Aunt Chunling could still remain calm with her crying daughter, but when it came to her son-in-law, who only knew how to speak nicely but always pushed everything onto his wife when problems arose, Aunt Chunling lost all restraint.

“Shut up!”

Aunt Chunling’s face turned cold as she scolded, “My good daughter, although she’s a bit spoiled, completely changed after marrying you. Now, when we talk, you have no right to speak! If you keep talking, I’ll sell all the cows in the house!”

Yao Yun’s husband immediately fell silent. Aunt Chunling’s cows provided the milk that made up a large part of their household income. If she got angry and sold them, he’d have no easy way to find cheap milk in the future.

Aunt Chunling, disappointed, scolded her daughter: “What should I even say to you? You were completely wrong about Lin You. I won’t even mention that, but you didn’t care about the child’s condition at all. You let it drag on this long before coming here!”

Aunt Chunling took her feverish grandson from Yao Yun, who was now crying even harder. “You adults don’t accumulate virtue, and yet you let the child suffer.”

Yao Yun cried out, “So what should we do now?”

Aunt Chunling replied, “What else can we do? Go to his place and beg him. Maybe he knows a way to resolve it. I think Duoduo must have encountered some bad luck. He’s so young, and you’re still so careless, doing such wrong things and bringing him along.”

For the first time, Yao Yun felt ashamed of her actions. She had never believed in such things, but seeing her son’s condition made her regret asking Lin You for help that night.

When Aunt Chunling’s family arrived at Lin You’s house, she was still in a daze.

Yao Yun was crying uncontrollably, and Aunt Chunling was apologizing profusely.

Lin You quickly stopped them. “Let’s not talk about this for now. The child is the priority.”

When she heard Aunt Chunling’s explanation, her first thought was, “This must be fake. Are there still people who believe in such superstitions?” But then she remembered how she had crossed over from another world…

Hmm, why not?

Aunt Chunling asked, “Youyou, do you know the person living next door?”

Lin You couldn’t bring herself to say that she knew them.

Aunt Chunling had no choice but to leave her grandson at Lin You’s house while her family waited outside at Bo Chuan’s door.

They waited and waited, and finally, they saw Bo Chuan returning under the stars.

Bo Chuan didn’t hesitate. Seeing how sincere Aunt Chunling was, he agreed to take a look.

Entering Lin You’s small yard, Bo Chuan awkwardly turned his head away.

Compared to his own empty, desolate yard and room, Lin You’s place was obviously much more comfortable.

A small stone table, sparkling lights hanging in the yard, along with vegetables planted and chickens raised…

“Where’s the child? Bring him to me.”

Lin You walked forward holding Duoduo. The two neighbors, who had been living next door to each other for almost a month, finally met in person for the first time.

Lin You: …So, are Taoists now all this good-looking?

Bo Chuan: …So, all those meals that disrupt the Taoist mind, she made them, right?

Bo Chuan reached out his hand. Lin You thought he was going to pat the child’s head, but instead, Bo Chuan casually performed a gesture with his fingers.

As he did so, Bo Chuan also seemed puzzled.

Yesterday, when he looked at the child, there was a faint dark aura in his features, indicating a major disaster. But today, upon closer inspection, the dark aura was still there, though there was now a faint golden light protecting him.

“Before you came, did you have anyone take a look?”

Yao Yun, fearing that this serious-looking young man would think they had tried other experts with no results before coming to him, quickly explained, “No! We came straight here from the hospital!”

Bo Chuan lightly sensed the child’s energy. This was strange. Children’s souls are unstable and often see unclean things, so they are at risk of encountering bad influences. However, this child wasn’t encountering such things. Instead, it seemed like he had come across some obscure method. Although Bo Chuan didn’t know exactly what method it was, logically, the situation should have been more severe.

“Did you take the second road south of the village yesterday?”

Yao Yun, no longer having the confidence she had yesterday, nodded hurriedly. “Yes, the second road! There are a few empty houses over there.”

As more people moved out of the village, many houses were left vacant, with the southern part of the village having the most.

Bo Chuan concentrated and pointed to a direction. “Who lives over there?”

Aunt Chunling answered, “It’s the Huang family. They all moved away, so their house is empty now. There’s also the Lu family, and two other households. All of them moved, leaving empty houses behind.”

That was the answer.

Last night, Bo Chuan had only casually calculated, not looking for exact details, but today, with the specific location confirmed, he knew what had happened.

Yao Yun’s husband had originally expected the “expert” here to be a Taoist with a fairy-like appearance or, at worst, a disabled, blind person. Seeing the other person dressed in slightly worn clothes and looking especially young, he began to doubt everything and started to underestimate Bo Chuan.

“Master, may I ask how to resolve this? And how much is the divination fee?”

Bo Chuan took out a piece of yellow paper from somewhere and casually made a few small paper figures resembling children. “Put these in front of the doors of those houses. Afterward, walk in the opposite direction with the child, and that should resolve it.”

After saying this, Bo Chuan left.

Yao Yun’s husband muttered to himself, “Is this real…?”

Aunt Chunling shot a glare at her son-in-law, then quickly turned to call her husband, “Hurry up, go place these papers in front of the doors. I’ll take the child and walk in the opposite direction.”

Lin You watched this scene unfold, observing what seemed like a case of feudal superstition, but it was different from what she had imagined—there was no elaborate ritual, no offerings, and definitely no talk about paying for exorcising evil spirits…

Was it really this casual?

However, the results were clearly not as casual as they appeared. The next morning, Aunt Chunling came to find Lin You.

“Last night, after we walked around with the child, the fever broke shortly after, but the child is still young, so he needs to rest for at least a month. His mother took him to the hospital,” Yao Yun said.

Lin You: …So it really worked?

Yao Jiu heard about this and was so upset that she pounded her chest and asked Lin You why she didn’t call her last night.

“I heard Aunt Chunling say that the person living next door wasn’t crazy… He’s actually a great master!”

Yao Jiu: “I also want to see what a great master looks like.”

Lin You: “That’s not hard.”

Yao Jiu: “?”

Lin You: “Aunt Chunling said she wanted to thank him but didn’t know what he would accept, so after thinking it over, she decided to invite him to dinner.”

Lin You: “I’ll take care of it.”