Chapter 7: Qi Eating Spirit (2)

Zhou Xin raised the peachwood sword upright and wiped her left ring finger along the blade. Once stained with blood, the peachwood sword instantly gave off a faint glow.

Then she pointed the sword at the energy-feeding spirit.

But she made no further move.

The spirit remained motionless, still holding its original posture, as if it too were waiting to see what would happen.

Zhou Xin’s focus wavered. Somehow, from that featureless face, she actually sensed a trace of contempt.

Could ancient energy-feeding spirits have different temperaments from modern ones?

…Maybe she should go back and ask Immortal Linghe to handle this after all.

She lowered her sword and turned around, only to meet Shen Jibai’s strange look and Madam Shen’s complicated gaze.

How embarrassing.

Zhou Xin was so ashamed she wanted to crawl into a hole.

Gritting her teeth, she suddenly thrust her sword backward. The energy-feeding spirit floated upward, easily dodging the strike, then hovered upright in midair.

With a loud shout, she raised her sword and attacked again. This time, the spirit did not move at all. It had no intention of dodging.

A strand of black hair swept toward her head-on. It avoided the peachwood sword, wrapped around her wrist, lifted her entire body into the air, and slammed her hard onto the ground with a heavy thud.

Immediately after, its eerie laughter filled the room.

“Hehehehe—”

“There’s an evil spirit here. Aunt, be careful!”

Shen Jibai immediately escorted Madam Shen outside, slammed the door shut, and drew the dragon-patterned saber at his waist. He swept a wary gaze around the room and asked, “Lady Lingyun, how can I help?”

Zhou Xin lay sprawled on the floor, her whole body bound in black hair. Even her fingers were wrapped so tightly she could not move.

Seeing the hair coil up to her neck, about to spread over her head, she thought, Is this damned thing trying to imitate a spider and turn me into a human cocoon?

“Pick up the peachwood sword and hit me with it!”

“Hit hard! Hit me several times!”

“Don’t hold back!”

“…What?” Shen Jibai froze slightly, as if wondering whether he had heard wrong.

“Quick—”

The moment she opened her mouth, strands of black hair slipped inside and probed straight toward the depths of her throat.

Her stomach churned violently. Blood and qi surged upward, and tears streamed uncontrollably from her eyes.

An unprecedented feeling of suffocation crashed over her. Zhou Xin retched nonstop, her face flushing red as she curled up and rolled across the ground, letting out painful groans.

Seeing this, Shen Jibai immediately picked up the peachwood sword and swung it down hard at her.

Although he could not see the spirit, he realized something was wrapped around her. After several strikes, he still did not dare stop.

And since the peachwood sword would not harm a person, he hacked away with all his strength — with such force that it almost looked like he was using the chance to settle a private grudge.

But from Zhou Xin’s perspective, every strike from Shen Jibai cut through a sheet of black hair. The severed strands instantly turned into wisps of black smoke, slowly spreading through the room.

That black smoke was vital energy the energy-feeding spirit had painstakingly absorbed from others. How could it allow that energy to drift away?

It abruptly withdrew its hair. No longer caring about attacking anyone, it busied itself darting around the room, swallowing the scattered black smoke.

Only then was Zhou Xin freed. She retched up a mouthful of sour liquid.

Lying on the ground with tearful eyes, she gasped for breath and said weakly, “…That’s enough. If you keep hitting me, I’ll start suspecting Vice Minister Shen of using this chance to vent his anger.”

The chopping stopped at once.

“What is it? Why can’t I see it?”

Zhou Xin shakily climbed to her feet. “…There’s no time to explain. Open the windows for ventilation. Open the door too.”

He immediately did as she said.

With the doors and windows wide open, the black smoke gradually drifted outside. The energy-feeding spirit cried out in distress and chased the smoke out of the room.

Zhou Xin squeezed the tip of her ring finger, smeared the blood that welled up onto the space between Shen Jibai’s brows, and opened his Heavenly Eye as well.

Although Shen Jibai had seen many demons before, when he saw the energy-feeding spirit’s true form, he still could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

“What is that?”

“An energy-feeding spirit. It has no physical form, so ordinary eyes can’t see it. It feeds on the vital energy of living people and always bullies the weak while fearing the strong.”

Zhou Xin did not want to admit that the spirit had looked down on her, so she glanced at Tannu and changed the subject.

“Every person has three inner flames, corresponding to the soul, the spirit, and the vital essence. Tannu has an extremely yin fate, so he naturally attracts things like this. On top of that, he was sick and weak, so his three flames were faint. That gave it the chance to slip in.”

Shen Jibai murmured, “…So that’s why.”

Zhou Xin drew the dragon-patterned saber from his waist, stretched out her hand, and brushed her fingertip against the tip of the blade, cutting open a wound. Blood immediately welled up.

She silently recited the mental formula and used her blood to draw a demon-subduing talisman on the blade. When the final stroke was complete, the blood talisman gave off a faint golden light, then disappeared.

The demon-subduing talisman was the spell she had used most often in the past when pretending to catch ghosts, so it was also the one she was most skilled in.

Now, with the deep Daoist power inside Chaonanyi’s body, the talisman’s effect was incredibly strong.

She handed the saber back to Shen Jibai and lifted her chin toward the energy-feeding spirit outside.

“It has been lured out of the room. I’ll have to trouble Vice Minister Shen to stall it for now. I need to set things up inside to prevent it from coming back and harming Tannu.”

But Shen Jibai did not take the saber. Instead, he stared blankly at her right hand.

Zhou Xin said, “Vice Minister Shen?”

Shen Jibai barely snapped back to himself. He reached out and took the dragon-patterned saber, then suddenly swung it backward, slashing through the empty air between them.

Zhou Xin: “?”

After the strike, he clearly froze for a moment. Then he glanced at her again.

Following his gaze, Zhou Xin finally realized he was looking at the ring finger of her right hand.

But there was nothing on her ring finger.

Shen Jibai walked outside with a thoughtful expression, his lips moving slightly as if he had muttered something under his breath.

“Why can’t it be cut?”

Zhou Xin lowered her eyes and stared at her ring finger.

Strange. What did he see? Why can’t I see it?

Shen Jibai’s voice came from outside the door.

“Aunt, go inside and hide.”

The next moment, Madam Shen entered the room with a worried expression. She stood beside the Luohan couch, pressed her hands together, and bowed repeatedly in all directions, praying over and over that neither of them would get hurt.

Zhou Xin opened Tannu’s collar to expose his chest. Then she dipped her still-bleeding fingertip into cinnabar and drew a talisman on his chest.

The moment the talisman was complete, the cinnabar sank into his skin, turning into a talisman tattoo.

Then she helped Tannu sit up and said to Madam Shen, “Hold him.”

Madam Shen quickly did as told.

Zhou Xin held a clay bowl filled with glutinous rice in her left hand. Pressing the index and middle fingers of her right hand together like a sword, she lightly touched Tannu’s brow and slid down to his philtrum. Then she tapped the Bingfeng acupoints on his left and right shoulders before striking his abdomen with her palm. At the same time, her left hand swiftly raised the clay bowl beneath his lips.

Tannu opened his mouth and exhaled.

The porcelain-white glutinous rice instantly turned black, like a bowl of charcoal ash.

Madam Shen was stunned.

After expelling that black energy, Tannu’s complexion returned to how it had looked after he drank the talisman water. Zhou Xin gave Madam Shen a look, signaling her to lay him flat on the couch.

“Madam Shen, Tannu was invaded by evil energy, and his three inner flames are weak. This talisman will keep him safe. Once his three flames recover their strength, the talisman will disappear on its own. At that point, Tannu will be out of danger.”

Only then did Madam Shen finally let out a breath of relief. Her eyes filled with tears of joy, and she gripped Zhou Xin’s hand tightly, thanking her again and again.

Zhou Xin lightly tapped the space between Madam Shen’s brows with two fingers, leaving a dot of cinnabar there.

In an instant, the darkness between her brows seemed to brighten like sunlight shining on snow. Even her expression looked clearer, like the sky after rain. Her complexion visibly improved.

“Daoist priest, this is…?”

Zhou Xin smiled faintly.

“This cinnabar mark will protect you from evil energy. Until Tannu recovers, Madam Shen, please bear with it for now and don’t wash your face.”

“I’ll do everything you say, Daoist priest!”

“The evil spirit hasn’t left yet. Madam Shen, stay inside for now and take care of Tannu.”

After giving these instructions, Zhou Xin shut the door and walked outside with the peachwood sword in hand.

Shen Jibai cut off another section of the spirit’s black hair and shouted, “Lady Lingyun, why don’t you come a little later?”

Zhou Xin had been about to draw her sword and help, but after hearing that, she took a step back, crossed her arms, and started watching the show.

“Since you insist, I’ll obey. I’ll observe Vice Minister Shen’s masterful saber technique a little longer.”

Shen Jibai was furious. That moment of distraction gave the energy-feeding spirit an opening. Its black hair shot out with a whoosh, avoiding the blade and wrapping around his wrist.

In an instant, it lifted him high into the air and slammed him down hard.

Thud!

Although it was the same move, the spirit had not used nearly this much force when throwing Zhou Xin. The sound this time was far louder.

No matter how skilled he was, he was still flesh and blood. That fall was truly not light.

Shen Jibai clutched his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood. Then he clenched his jaw, glared at her, and snapped, “Chaonanyi! You did that on purpose!”

“Wasn’t Vice Minister Shen the one who told me to help a little later?”

Zhou Xin pulled him up with one hand, her face carrying an apology that was half real and half fake.

Before the two of them could steady themselves, the black hair attacked again. Zhou Xin swung her sword and cut it off, shouting, “Shave its head!”

Shen Jibai said nothing more and simply did as told.

Pushing off with the tips of his toes, he leapt into the air and swung his saber down hard, cutting through the energy-feeding spirit’s black hair.

Then, stepping from one foot to the other in midair, he flew even higher and brought the tip of his blade down toward the spirit.

The man and the spirit fought endlessly in the air. More and more black hair was cut away. Zhou Xin wanted to help, but unfortunately, she did not know qinggong, so there was nowhere for her to start.

All she could do was occasionally take out a yellow talisman, fling it at the energy-feeding spirit, form hand seals, and recite spells to launch long-range attacks and add a bit of “magic damage.”

But she had brought only a limited number of talismans, and before long, she had thrown them all.

So she could only tilt her face upward, watch, clap, and cheer sincerely.

“Amazing!”

“That move was beautiful!”

Good grief. This man’s combat power was off the charts.

He had shaved the energy-feeding spirit down to a buzz cut so quickly. That was way too efficient.

In the middle of his busy fight, Shen Jibai found time to glance at her.

“Have you watched enough? Aren’t you going to help?”

“At once!”

Zhou Xin pulled out the talisman hidden against her chest.

The second page of The Record of Strange Beasts described energy-feeding spirits. Since it was called a spirit, it was formed from the essence of the sun and moon. It could only be destroyed by heavenly thunder.

This creature was born without a heart, vicious by nature, and the vital energy it consumed turned into black hair. The longer its hair, the stronger its demonic power.

It held grudges fiercely. Once battle began, one had to summon heavenly thunder to destroy it. Otherwise, once it found a chance for revenge, it could very likely suck someone dry of vital energy.

When Zhou Xin had returned to Water Cloud Retreat to fetch the peachwood sword, she had looked up the thunder-summoning talisman and copied a few by imitation. She had even specifically asked Immortal Linghe to inspect them. She had kept them hidden on her all this time, waiting for the moment when the energy-feeding spirit’s hair had been shaved away and it lost its power, so she could summon heavenly thunder.

She pinched the thunder-summoning talisman between two fingers and loudly recited the spell.

“By command of the nine seals — thunder arts, descend! Thunder, come! Break!”

The words had already fallen, but the talisman did not ignite. The sky was silent too, with no sign of thunder descending.

Forget thunder — there was not even a single dark cloud. She had not even summoned a gust of wind.

Zhou Xin tried again.

“By command of the nine seals — thunder arts, descend! Thunder, come! Break!”

The result was exactly the same.

Zhou Xin: “?”

What was going on?

At that moment, the now-bald energy-feeding spirit trembled with rage and kicked Shen Jibai away.

“Hah—!”

“Hah—!”

It screamed as it floated into the air. A sinister wind suddenly rose on all sides, and black smoke spiraled upward with the wind, all of it returning to the spirit’s belly.

The severed black hair began growing wildly like weeds. In the blink of an eye, it was already more than a meter long.

Then it bent down and charged straight toward the two of them.