Despite Xiao Yan's every protest, under the Second Elder's unquestionable orders, he and Xiao Yi were still "escorted" away by several guards. Flanking the pair on either side, the guards marched them out of the chaotic courtyard toward an empty room in the Xiao Clan's rear compound, normally used to temporarily confine disciples who had broken the rules.
As for the "ritual altar" covered in bizarre objects, along with the wooden beads and talisman ashes scattered across the ground, no one dared go near them. The Second Elder merely ordered the courtyard sealed off for the time being, forbidding anyone from approaching until the matter could be dealt with. Those things were far too eerie, and nobody wanted to invite unnecessary trouble.
The door slammed shut with a bang and was locked from outside. Only Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi remained in the cramped room, the air thick with awkwardness and anger. After a brief silence, their pent-up fury finally erupted.
"Xiao Yi! You lunatic! Look what you've done!" Xiao Yan struck first, pointing at the lump on his head and the still-wet stains on his face as he roared in exasperation. "Instead of sleeping in the middle of the night, you came over to play ghost! First you set fires, then you spat everywhere! And now you've gotten me locked up too! What did I ever do to you?!"
"Pah! You've got some nerve saying that!" Xiao Yi shot back without yielding an inch, planting his hands on his hips and glaring at Xiao Yan. "If you weren't hiding that old ghost who's been secretly sucking away your Dou Qi, would I have had to go to all this trouble?! I did this for your own good, to drag that thing out! Fine if you won't thank me, but now you're turning around and blaming me! You've taken a good heart for a donkey's liver!"
"Bullshit! What old ghost?! I think you're just trying to screw with me!" Xiao Yan didn't believe a word of his nonsense. He lunged straight at him and grabbed the collar of his strange Daoist robe. "Give me back my peaceful night's sleep!"
"There's a ghost on you! Stop denying it!" Refusing to back down, Xiao Yi reached out and yanked Xiao Yan's hair. The two immediately tangled together, rolling around the cramped room and cursing each other. Their punches and kicks had no technique to speak of, but every blow carried the full weight of their anger.
In the chaos, Xiao Yi's hand found the crude Wooden Sword-they had actually let him bring it inside. Forgetting all about technique, he snatched it up and brought it down on Xiao Yan's head while Xiao Yan was still tugging at his clothes! Thonk! Another dull impact rang out.
"Oww!!" Xiao Yan clutched his head, which had suffered yet another blow, and let go, tears nearly spilling from the pain. Seeing Xiao Yi raise the Wooden Sword as though ready to strike again, Xiao Yan hastily threw both hands up in front of himself and shouted, "Stop! Stop! Wait!" He took a couple of ragged breaths, then stared at Xiao Yi and the Wooden Sword in his hand, still shaken. "You... how did you bring that piece of junk in here too?!"
Xiao Yi froze at that, looking down at the Peachwood Sword in his hand before instinctively feeling the crumpled talismans pasted to the front of his Daoist robe with glutinous rice paste. Both their gazes slowly shifted, in unison, toward the plain, old-fashioned black ring on a finger of Xiao Yan's right hand. Silence fell once more. That elderly apparition that had been beaten out, that furious cry of "this venerable Yao Chen," and this Wooden Sword and these talismans that seemed to have some genuine "evil-banishing" effect-could it be...
Silence spread through the cramped room, broken only by their heavy breathing. Their fierce fight and anger seemed to have frozen beneath that terrifying suspicion. Xiao Yan looked at the Peachwood Sword in Xiao Yi's hand, then at the ring on his own finger, his expression becoming extraordinarily conflicted, filled with shock and uncertainty.
Xiao Yan swallowed hard, his gaze wavering. If... if everything this lunatic Xiao Yi said was true, then my time as a useless loser... was all thanks to this ring? The thought sent a chill through him.
Carefully, with slightly trembling fingers, he slipped the old-fashioned black ring he had worn for years off his finger. It felt icy to the touch, as though it still carried some ominous presence.
Xiao Yan glanced around the shabby confinement room and finally placed the ring on a dusty, battered wooden table in the corner, as though it were a hot potato. Once he had set it down, he instinctively took two steps back.
Noticing Xiao Yan's actions, Xiao Yi's lips curled into a smug smile. "Hmph, scared now?" After that mocking remark, he cleared his throat and decided to press his advantage, exposing this "old ghost's" true face once and for all.
Xiao Yi pulled another crumpled yellow talisman from inside his robe, wet his finger with a little saliva, and carefully stuck it to the tip of the Wooden Sword. With his preparations complete, he began another round of that "ritual" Xiao Yan considered utterly dubious.
Xiao Yi stood on one leg with the other raised, his body swaying as he chanted completely incomprehensible "incantations" in strange, mingled tones. "Spirits of heaven, spirits of earth, come, come, su, su, manifest your worth! Demons and monsters, begone from sight, swiftly obey the law's decree!"
As he chanted, he held the talisman-tipped Wooden Sword and hopped around the table where the ring lay. His movements were both ridiculous and eerie, making him look exactly like a street-corner spirit medium performing a sham ritual.
Watching this theatrical display, Xiao Yan couldn't keep the corner of his mouth from twitching, even though he already believed most of it. At the same time, a chill crept quietly up his spine, leaving him unnerved.
After hopping around a few times, Xiao Yi abruptly stopped. A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes as he raised the Wooden Sword high and aimed it at the Black Ring on the table!
"Evil fiend! Reveal your true form!" With that shout, his hand rose and the sword fell. With a light smack, the talisman-tipped Peachwood Sword struck the ring squarely.
Almost at the same instant, an elderly soul apparition, even fainter and angrier than before, was knocked out of the ring once again!
"Owww! What blind fool is disturbing my peace again?! Can't an old man get some sleep?!"
Yao Chen's apparition rubbed his lower back, looking as though his pleasant dreams had been interrupted and his whole body ached. His voice brimmed with the maddening frustration of being disturbed twice.
"You're going to shake these old bones of mine apart! Did someone stir up a hornet's nest tonight? This just never ends..."
"Old ghost! It really was you!" At the sight, Xiao Yi immediately stepped forward, pointing the Wooden Sword at Yao Chen's apparition as he demanded sharply, "Tell us! Have you been secretly sucking away our Dou Qi?!"
Yao Chen's still-spinning eyes finally steadied as he tried to see who was causing trouble this time. But when he looked down, he saw Xiao Yi holding a Wooden Sword in an "exorcism" stance, and Xiao Yan on the other side, frantically trying to stick the talismans Xiao Yi had dropped onto his own forehead. Yao Chen's complaints cut off abruptly, his aged face filled with stunned disbelief.
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