Chapter 160: Ghost Friend

The old man with a venomous snake embroidered on his collar held a sheet of yellow paper, counting on his fingers as he worked through a divination. "The road ahead for this man named Gao Jian is shrouded in fog, with ill fortune far outweighing the good. Even so, the Dao of Heaven always leaves a way out and has spared him a single thread of life. If you want to deal with him, you must snuff out that thread."

Jiang Chen knelt beside the old man. "Daoist Master, how can we snuff out that thread of life in his fate?"

"It won't be easy." The more the old man calculated, the more baffled he grew. "This man trudges through mire and darkness without a single star shining upon his fate, yet he turns peril into safety time and again, almost as if the stars themselves are deliberately giving way to him."

His counting fingers slowly came to a halt, his brows knitting tightly. "His fate is entangled with Yuan Chen, bound by a thread of karma. Moving against him carries the risk of being harmed by Yuan Chen."

"Yuan Chen?"

"One of the Eight Characters Divine Fiends, also known as the Great Consumer—something that must never be provoked." The old man spread the yellow paper flat on the floor, then took out his Inner and Outer Thirty-Three Layer Heavenly Orbit Compass and set it squarely on the paper. "If we want to find a flaw in his fate, we may have to start with the people around him."

The old man rotated the Compass, adjusting the rings for a moment before freezing in place. "Could my eyes be deceiving me?"

"Daoist Master, what did you find?"

"Not only is this man karmically tied to Yuan Chen, it seems he also shared a room with a Red Luan Divine Fiend. When Red Phoenix Heavenly Jubilee enters the Life Palace, wealth and smooth fortune follow every step. Supreme luck and supreme peril converging on a single person—in more than thirty years of reading fates, I've only seen it a few times."

"Is his fate really that strange?" Jiang Chen found it hard to believe. "That Gao Jian is just an unemployed bum idling his life away. Could one of his ancestors have been someone remarkable?"

The old man before him held no ordinary status—even Jiang Chen's own father had to address him respectfully as "Master." Seeing him take such a keen interest in Gao Jian left Jiang Chen deeply unsettled.

It felt as though an ant he could casually crush underfoot had suddenly risen to stand as his equal. The jarring contrast stirred a faint trace of murderous intent inside him.

"Strange hardly begins to cover it. It's downright..." Before the old man could finish, the Compass resting on the yellow paper began spinning all on its own. "The laws of Heaven obscured—ten unpardonable evils?"

His hand jolted, accidentally yanking out several hairs from his own beard. "This kid seems to be entangled in a grudge with the Ten Evils Divine Fiends as well!"

"The ten evils?"

"Utterly heinous, unforgivable by the laws of Heaven! An ordinary mortal who provokes even one of them can bring ruin and death upon their entire family, yet this kid is acting in the opposite way, playing no favorites and forging karmic ties with all of the ten evils at once!" The old man racked his brains without finding an answer, and before one anomaly on the Compass could settle, another arose. The Southern Heaven needle paused twice in quick succession before pointing toward the Southern Vermilion Bird.

"Meet it once and face the noose; meet it twice and lose your head! This is the fate sign of the Death Spirit Divine Fiends—why would it show up on him? Could he have killed a Death God? How utterly bizarre!"

The Compass seemed to be malfunctioning today—or else deliberately defying the old man. No sooner had he spoken of the Death God's fate than all thirty-three inner and outer rings of the Compass began spinning in reverse, finally halting beneath the Heavenly Yi Star as if bowing in submission before an emperor.

"The most auspicious star of all—the Heavenly Yi Noble!"

The old man blurted out, his expression shifting drastically as his fingers flew through another calculation. "Yuan Chen, Red Luan, the ten evils, Death God, and Heavenly Yi—five kinds of Divine Fiends interwoven in a single life. Never in my life have I seen such a fate pattern."

The stronger the old man's reaction grew, the more uncomfortable Jiang Chen felt watching him. "Daoist Master, if I wanted to put a curse on this man..."

"Out of the question. Against someone who can contend with Yuan Chen and the ten evils, ordinary curses are completely useless, and casting a profound curse on him would very likely bring a backlash." The old man put away the Compass, still clicking his tongue in wonder at what he had just witnessed.

"Is there really no way to deal with him?" Jiang Chen was unwilling to let it go. "He knows a few Daoist arts, sure, but I looked into his background and found no master or lineage whatsoever. He probably just hit a stroke of luck and secretly picked up a trick or two somewhere."

"Your Jiang family may stand at the very top of Jiangcheng and sit upon the dragon vein, but the Eight Characters Divine Fiends hold far too many variables. Mortals may only abide by fate, never defy it. Provoking him will do you no good." His mind made up, the old man had no intention of helping Jiang Chen.

"Daoist Master, it's not that I don't know how to let things go—it's just that Gao Jian is truly infuriating." Looking as though he were nursing a bitter grievance, Jiang Chen gritted his teeth. "To be honest with you, that Gao Jian is my wife's ex-boyfriend. On the day of my wedding, he made a huge scene at the venue and humiliated me in front of all of Jiangcheng. Worse still, he told my wife that I was raising a Little Ghost, and because of that, the two of us still haven't consummated our marriage."

"Wait." The old man's brows drew together. "You're saying he knows you're raising a Little Ghost?"

"Yes. The day of the wedding banquet, I meant to have the Little Ghost teach him a small lesson, never expecting him to actually know Daoist arts to defend himself."

"Foolishness!" the old man snapped at Jiang Chen. "The Little Ghost I gave you is no ordinary Little Ghost. Before he reincarnates, there must be no further mishaps!"

Under the old man's sharp rebuke, Jiang Chen did not dare talk back, answering meekly, "Daoist Master, there's actually another matter I invited you here to tell you today. My wife has grown suspicious of me now. She stays awake all night long, so the Little Ghost still hasn't been able to possess her. If this drags on, I'm afraid it will delay our timing."

"She is your wife, so it isn't my place to tell you how to handle her—but if this ruins my grand plan, don't blame me for showing no mercy."

"Of course." Jiang Chen lowered his head. "It's just that Gao Jian still hasn't given up on my wife, and I'm afraid he'll come spoil things. Besides, what if the two of them rekindle their old flame and the Little Ghost recognizes him as its father after reincarnating? Wouldn't we end up losing both the wife and the prize?"

The old man stroked the venomous snake embroidered on his collar, finally swayed by Jiang Chen's words. "You are the only one who can be that Little Ghost's father—that is the most crucial link in my plan. As for Gao Jian, I will deal with him myself."

He drew out a slip of black Talisman Paper and beckoned toward the door. Moments later, a thin, frail-looking young man dressed in black stepped into the room. "Ghost Friend, take this talisman of mine tonight and test that man's depths. Do not act rashly, and do not force things."

Only after the young man in black had left did Jiang Chen speak up. "Daoist Master, going by his looks, that disciple of yours is probably even younger than I am. Can he really be a match for Gao Jian?"

"Rest assured. Although Ghost Friend hasn't inherited my true teachings, he specializes in the Ghost Dao and is the most dangerous of all my disciples." A ruthless look settled over the old man's face. "The best way to deal with someone whose fate is shrouded in fog is to sever the tangle with a swift blade—either don't move at all, or strike to kill."

Having reached an agreement, the old man and the young one let out sinister laughs that echoed through the study.

Whether by coincidence or not, Ye Bing had locked herself alone in her bedroom at that very moment, murmuring someone's name under her breath as well.

Hugging a pillow in both arms with her slender legs bare, she looked far more haggard than before, and the terror lingering in her eyes seemed never to have faded.

Following her gaze, a newly bought toy doll sat in the corner of the room.

Tossed in the corner with no breeze around it and no one touching it, the doll was twitching faintly as if it had a life of its own. Some unseen force tugged at its head and body until, a moment later, the doll's delicate, pretty head slid off its shoulders and rolled all the way to the edge of the bed.

Ye Bing locked eyes with the black plastic pupils on the doll's face. An inexplicable chill ran through her, as though someone had crawled onto her body and was now crouching beside her face, tugging on her ear and saying, "Mama."

...

After leaving Tie Ningxiang's place, I headed straight for Blind Liu's home. Come to think of it, Blind Liu had helped me out quite a bit, and a favor like that had to be repaid sooner or later.

Walking into the rundown little shack where Blind Liu lived, I grabbed Old Liu—who was still in the middle of studying Daoist scriptures—without a word and hailed a cab straight back to Ting Tang Road.

I picked up a few side dishes to go with drinks along the way, then shut the shop door, set up a small table, and uncorked the remaining bottle of Child Immortal Wine, pouring Blind Liu a cup filled to the brim.

Staring at the table covered in fine food and drink and breathing in the mouthwatering aroma, Blind Liu still didn't dare pick up his chopsticks. He swallowed his saliva and eyed me warily. "Gao Jian, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time? I'm warning you, don't you dare get any ideas about my Liu family's thunder talisman. It's still only a talisman embryo and needs to be nourished for a long time before it can recover its vitality."

"Are you kidding? Am I, Gao Jian, that kind of person? I only brought you over today to thank you. Cut the chatter and try this wine of mine."

I pushed the cup in front of Blind Liu, but to my surprise, this Daoist master actually started chanting the Calming Spell right there at the table. "A cultivator's will is like a reef in the sea—how could mere wine and meat make me go against my conscience? Gao Jian, whatever you want, just come out and say it!"