Yinshenger

Old Man signaled Jiang Xiang with his eyes to take over the conversation, holding up five fingers. Jiang Xiang caught on immediately.

"Fifty thousand."

"US dollars?"

"Of course."

"That's... all right." The middle-aged man gritted his teeth and agreed.

Old Man seemed casual, but his eyes had never left the middle-aged man.

Only after the man reluctantly agreed did Old Man warmly clasp his hand. "Pleasure doing business with you. Leave your address, and we'll deliver it to your door."

The man hurriedly waved his hands. "Here's my number. Call me when it's ready. This is the deposit."

He handed Old Man a stack of US dollars.

Old Man continued enthusiastically, "We offer full service here. Home delivery is no trouble at all."

"No, no need."

The man fled as though escaping a famine.

Watching him leave, Old Man's expression turned serious, his brows deeply furrowed.

"A Xiang, close up."

"Okay."

Though Jiang Xiang found it a little strange, he obediently shut the front door.

"One more thing. Remember to bring Old Man a fresh pot of hot tea."

Old Man sat down at the table and waited for the tea.

As soon as Jiang Xiang brought it over, Old Man spoke.

"A Xiang, what did you make of that man?"

"His story sounded rushed, like he hadn't thought it through."

Old Man's eyes lit up. "Where were the holes?"

"First, he noticed something wrong with his adopted son several times but never investigated. Second, he was too vague about how he drove him away. Third, he didn't want us going to his house. He agreed to that steep price for a talisman far too readily. Either he's an idiot with too much money, or he's hiding something."

Old Man nodded with satisfaction.

"Good, good."

"What next? Are we still getting involved?"

"I am, not we. And of course I'll take the chance to make money. A Xiang, go home first. This business with demons and monsters runs too deep for you. You can't handle it."

Old Man got up and headed into the back room.

"One more thing. Put the cups away."

Jiang Xiang nodded.

Just before reaching the doorway, Old Man turned back again.

"One more thing. Shut the door when you leave."

"I'm home." The middle-aged man returned to his house.

His wife sat in a chair at the dining table.

She stared at him silently, her face calm. At times her gaze turned vicious; at others, it went blank.

The man's name was John, and he was a doctor.

Though he was no famous physician, he was fairly wealthy.

With practiced movements, he gathered the torn talisman papers scattered across the floor and cleaned up the broken bottles of holy water.

He took out fresh copies and pasted them onto the windows and doors.

He placed several bottles of holy water on the floor.

Once he finished, the woman's face had grown noticeably more sallow.

The violent shifts in her eyes subsided, leaving her looking like an ordinary person.

John sat down in a chair and looked at his wife.

Silence settled over the room.

Only the talisman papers stirred faintly.

John noticed the change in them.

Their effects were growing weaker and weaker.

The woman spoke with difficulty. "Let's go out for a walk."

John still said nothing, simply watching his wife in silence.

As he watched, tears gathered at the corners of his eyes.

Not far from the house, Old Man moved nimbly, easily locating John's home.

Well, actually, he had added a little something when shaking John's hand, allowing him to track the man.

"Aiya! Big trouble! What a strong, eerie presence."

Old Man took out the new dried lizard Jiang Xiang had given him.

"Demons and monsters, begone-demons and monsters, begone-demons and monsters, begone-"

The dried lizard emitted an emerald glow that enveloped John's already somewhat secluded home.

Old Man added a layer of protection around the place.

When Old Man released the emerald barrier...

Somewhere far away.

A bald woman standing on pitch-black ground frowned. She wore pale yellow monk's robes, and the symbol of the Sorcerer Supreme-the Eye of Agamotto-hung around her neck. She was the guardian of Blue Star, the Sorcerer Supreme, The Ancient One.

"Another new fluctuation of magic?"

Over the past hundred years, supernatural creatures and objects had gradually appeared on Blue Star.

When The Ancient One wanted to banish or imprison them, a mysterious intuition stopped her.

Even so, The Ancient One still had to do something.

She had a vague sense that this was not the time to leave these supernatural objects unchecked.

Following that feeling, she set up seals.

She also had to negotiate and communicate with powerful beings.

For instance, stopping these obviously far-too-powerful entities with malicious intentions.

Or speaking with friendly beings.

Clang-

Another corpse dropped onto the pitch-black ground, its head landing on a nearby mountain of skulls.

These were the malicious entities The Ancient One had slain over the years.

"Do you really never learn?"

"I told you, you cannot pass!"

Howl-

The many malevolent entities howled in defiance.

"Ancient One, you cannot protect this planet forever."

The Ancient One lashed out with a magical whip, driving the strange entities back once again.

With a casual motion, she opened a screen of water.

She could see what was happening in Kamar-Taj, but the people there could not see her.

"They're all maintaining the formations that keep the three guardian sanctums running."

"Never mind. That magical fluctuation doesn't seem to harbor any malice toward Blue Star. It shouldn't be a major problem."

The Ancient One sat hovering above the pitch-black ground.

Sigh... The cost of using the Time Stone has risen. The past and future I see aren't as clear anymore.

Sigh... Such troubled times.

Sigh... When can I retire?

After guarding Blue Star for so many years, The Ancient One was tired.

She rallied her spirits.

What mattered was eliminating the beings that wanted to destroy the planet.

As for the ever-changing future, The Ancient One was naturally happy to let it develop freely for now.

That would give her more options.

Old Man observed John's wife's behavior and John's reactions.

"This thing looks a little like a Yinshenger."

Old Man's expression grew grave.

"Aiya-"

Old Man clutched his head.

"We're in big trouble!"

"I'd better go back and make some preparations first."

Old Man turned and hurried back to the antique shop.

In the basement of Old Man's antique shop.

Old Man carefully took out a hidden key and opened a tiny secret room.

This was where he kept his real books of magic.

Other than Old Man, only Jiang Xiang knew about it.

The two of them had dug it out together.

Though Old Man did not want Jiang Xiang getting involved with demons and monsters yet, he still intended to pass on all his skills in Qi Magic to him.

It was never too late to learn Qi Magic. He himself had first encountered it in his thirties, becoming Mr. Fang's apprentice.

In less than three years, he had become a match for his teacher, Mr. Fang.

After five or six years of study, he had become just as learned as his master.

In his eyes, his nephew Jiang Xiang's talent was about equal to his own.

Old Man hurriedly leafed through a copy of the Record of Strange Creatures.

He remembered that it contained an entry on Yinshenger.

"Found it!"

[Name: Yinshenger]

[Abilities: Bewitches people's minds, takes forms shaped by human desires...]

[Past account: An old man once adopted a girl who resembled his biological daughter. The adopted girl grew increasingly like his daughter, and he devoted all his attention to her. Once he trusted her completely, she killed him. Because the place where it was discovered was thick with resentment, and it often takes the form of an infant or young child, it is called a Yinshenger.]

[Methods of disposal: 1. Restrain it and avoid contact with it. It will naturally fade away. 2. Dissipation incantation: ***##￥%***]