Chicken and Rabbit, This Is the Method

The man suddenly said that, catching me off guard.

I had chosen the rabbit according to my master's instructions.

It was meant to deal with ghosts and spirits. Though I didn't know

how the rabbit was supposed to be used at night,

it was definitely different from an ordinary rabbit.

Yet this kid had spotted at a glance that my rabbit was unusual.

That was enough to show that he might know a thing or two about this line of work as well.

Could it be that he also wanted to use a chicken against ghosts and spirits?

Seeing how serious he looked, and that he was willing to pay, I decided to do him a favor.

I had no particular need for the chicken anyway, and I could make a little profit off it.

I smiled.

"Good eye, brother. Since you want it, I'll let you have this chicken."

With that, I opened the cage and took out the Big Rooster he had picked.

The Big Rooster clucked wildly, kicking its legs and struggling fiercely.

But instead of being bothered, the kid showed a faint hint of excitement.

"Thanks."

After saying that, he handed me two hundred yuan, took the chicken from me, and turned to leave the market.

He did not say anything else to me.

I spent another few dozen yuan to buy a replacement chicken, making a profit of more than a hundred yuan.

After buying the chicken and rabbit, I bought a rope about ten meters long from a stall beside the market.

Only after finishing all that did I head back.

I also had dinner on the way and brought my master a boxed meal, but he told me to buy several extra boxes of White Rice.

By the time I returned to the little river, it was already past eight at night.

My master was still fishing, grumbling under his breath.

Apparently, he had not caught anything.

"Master, I bought the chicken and rabbit. This is your boxed meal."

As I spoke, I set down the boxed meal and several boxes of White Rice beside him.

When he saw me return, he glanced at the chicken and rabbit in the cage and nodded.

"Later, take those animals and go back to the school by yourself."

"Master, you're not coming back with me?"

I was puzzled.

But my master glared furiously at the river.

"A big one came into my fishing spot. I have to catch it tonight, no matter what.

Sooner or later, you'll have to face those things by yourself.

Might as well start early. Tonight, go ask for Fortune Blessing on your own.

Let your master see whether you've got the courage and nerve for it..."

After that, he tossed another handful of fish feed into the river.

His eyes remained fixed on the float without moving.

I was speechless. He clearly just wanted to fish.

But he was making me go alone.

This morning, I had thought this master of mine was pretty decent.

But now, he was starting to seem rather unreliable.

I truly had no confidence.

It was not that I was afraid. It was that I did not know anything yet.

If I went, wouldn't I just be delivering myself to them?

Seeing that I did not answer, my master spoke again.

"Scared?"

I replied.

"Master, it's not that I'm scared. I just don't know how to deal with filthy things."

But my master merely smiled.

"Isn't the method right there in your cage?"

I lowered my head and looked at the chicken and rabbit in the cage.

What kind of method was that?

So I asked him in detail what I needed to do.

My master told me this.

Chickens and rabbits were spiritually receptive and made the best substitutes for living people.

The reason he had told me to buy them was so that I could use them as substitutes.

Tonight, not only would he teach me how to ask for Fortune Blessing and send off the water ghosts, he would also teach me a way to send away the "baleful ghost" in the Experimental Building.

He said that our school's Feng Shui was bad and that there were many filthy things around.

There were ghosts in the lake, and ghosts in the Experimental Building too.

He wanted me to return to school and send away the water ghosts in the lake first.

Then I was to go to the Experimental Building and send away the Baleful Ghost inside.

And the method was the chicken and rabbit in my cage.

The ghosts in the lake could not come ashore because they needed substitutes.

There were two ways to send them away.

The first was to send them off through a ritual.

The second was to find them substitutes and let them come ashore themselves.

Obviously, in a place like the school,

it was impossible to set up a ritual altar and perform rites.

So I could only use the second method.

My master told me to first place a box of food at the exact western side of the shore.

Then I was to light two candles and three sticks of incense.

But I had to hold one of the incense sticks in my hand.

Then I was to tie a chicken with the rope.

I was to stuff my fingernails and hair into the chicken's beak and throw it into the lake.

Once the chicken drowned and the rope went taut,

I was to pull the rope toward the shore, and I would be able to drag up a Drowned Ghost.

After those Drowned Ghosts came ashore, they would eat the food, absorb the incense, and leave on their own.

During that time, all I had to do was hold the incense, hide myself well, and neither make a sound nor show my face.

This method of sending off ghosts was called the "Substitute Method" in the trade.

It could only send away Drowned Ghosts that were not especially vicious and had not yet become baleful ghosts.

If they had harmed people and their Baleful Aura was especially heavy, this method would not work.

But according to my master,

the few Drowned Ghosts in our school could clearly be sent away this way.

As long as I sent off one, I could ask it for a bit of Fortune Blessing.

During the day, I had seen five large fish surface in the lake.

That meant there were five Drowned Ghosts in the lake.

Repeating it five times meant I needed exactly five chickens.

As for the rabbit, it was meant to deal with the filthy thing in the Experimental Building.

My master said that although he had not gone inside during the day, he had already figured out the general situation.

The thing in the building had already become a baleful ghost.

Compared to the Drowned Ghosts in the lake, it was far more vicious.

It definitely could not be sent away.

I had to use another method to get rid of it, or it would harm people.

In a moment, he would give me a yellow talisman.

Before entering, I was to burn it in advance, mix it into Talisman Water, and make the rabbit drink it.

Then I was to write another yellow talisman bearing my birth date and eight characters, and stuff it into the rabbit's belly.

That way, the rabbit would become my substitute.

I was to take off my shoes and quietly enter the Experimental Building.

I was to find a place to hide first, then deliberately cough.

The filthy thing inside the building would follow the sound over.

At that point, I only needed to release the rabbit and hide near it.

That would confuse the filthy thing.

It would mistake the rabbit for me.

Once it caught the rabbit and bit it to death,

I was to wait three minutes before coming out.

Then I could use the Fish Bone Sword he had given me at noon to stab the filthy thing to death...

As my master fished, he taught me the methods for sending ghosts away and driving off evil.

I listened with utmost focus, not daring to miss a single word.

After my master finished, he said to me again.

"Remember everything?"

I nodded.

"I remember it all, Master!"

My master grunted in acknowledgment.

"Then rest for a while before you go ask for Fortune Blessing yourself.

If you die in there, it only means our bond as master and disciple was limited.

But tomorrow night, I will definitely avenge you."

He spoke with his back to me, his tone firm.

I was completely speechless.

This was my fucking master.

I even began to wonder

whether Song Decai had taken disciples before, and whether his reckless teaching style was why he no longer had any.

But there was an old saying that rang true.

A master leads you to the door; cultivation depends on the individual.

To put it simply, Song Decai and I were strangers with no ties between us.

Though we now had the title of master and disciple, he had only taken me in because my eight characters suited him.

My fate was thin, and I was burdened with the Four Calamities.

I had to keep sending off ghosts and dead souls, accumulating Merit and asking for Fortune Blessing, to suppress my fate.

Sooner or later, I would have to face these things myself.

Now, he had already explained the methods to me.

If I still died out there, then it would be my destined fate. It would mean I simply was not capable.

I was not meant to make a living in this trade, nor was I meant to walk this path.

There was no point blaming fate or others.

I took a deep breath and looked at my master's back.

"My fate may be thin, but my will is strong. Don't worry, Master. I will definitely come back alive..."