PCJ – Chapter 39 Taking Action

“Qiaoye, bring out a needle. They say they want to see if Jinxiu has been possessed by a Yellow Skin Creature.” Luo Ximei and several other women struggled to hold down the desperately struggling Ma Jinxiu on the chair.

Liu Qiaoye hurried into the room.

Zhang Jiaohua stood aside, carefully observing Zhang Benrui and his wife. No wonder Zhang Benrui was so unlucky. There was a dark aura emanating from his forehead. The old Daoist once said that the aura emanating from the forehead could reveal a person’s fortune. If it emitted green smoke, it would naturally be auspicious. But Zhang Benrui’s aura was deep black, indicating that his fortune had reached its lowest point.

But Ma Jinxiu’s aura on her forehead was somewhat strange, actually emitting a red aura. This was a sign of great misfortune! There was also a gray aura. How could there be two different auras on one person’s body? Zhang Jiaohua scratched his head. The old Daoist never mentioned this before. He vowed to scold the old Daoist in his dreams one day.

Liu Qiaoye brought a needle from the room and handed it to the old carpenter Zhang Jiwang in the village.

Carpenters, masons, or anyone with the word “craftsman” in their profession, were somewhat related to the Daoist spells. The old carpenter knew many rituals. Rituals like topping off beams and rounding coffins. The more skilled ones could even perform Daoist spells.

Zhang Jiwang sharpened the needle. “You girls hold Jinxiu down. She’ll definitely struggle later, she’s strong, so put some effort into it.”

As soon as Zhang Jiwang approached, Ma Jinxiu immediately screamed in agony, “Let me go! Let me go! I’ll burn you all to death!”

Ma Jinxiu’s voice was strange, as if it wasn’t her shouting.

Zhang Jiwang said loudly, “I don’t care who you are, get lost while you still can! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rude!”

Although Zhang Jiwang had presided over some rituals, he didn’t understand spells. He said this just to scare whatever was attached to Ma Jinxiu.

“Hmph! Trivial tricks! How dare you show off in front of me! You’ll regret this! I won’t let you off!” Ma Jinxiu’s face twisted into a grotesque smile as she looked disdainfully at Zhang Jiwang.

Zhang Jiwang felt a bit nervous, but now that the arrow was on the bowstring, he had to let it fly. With determination, he stabbed the needle into Ma Jinxiu’s philtrum acupoint.

“Ah!” Ma Jinxiu suddenly struggled violently, her strength seemed to multiply instantly, almost breaking free. Fortunately, she had already been tied to the chair beforehand. With Zhang Benrui also helping, after some struggle, they finally subdued Ma Jinxiu.

The needle in Zhang Jiwang’s hand pierced into Ma Jinxiu’s philtrum acupoint.

“Ah!” Ma Jinxiu let out a sharp scream, her voice piercing as if it could rupture eardrums.

“Quick, hold her down! Don’t let her escape!” Sweat beads appeared on Zhang Jiwang’s forehead.

But his method seemed ineffective. Although Ma Jinxiu looked in pain, the entity still hadn’t left her body.

Zhang Jiwang removed the embroidery needle and stabbed again.

“You’re dead!” Ma Jinxiu’s eyes widened suddenly, and at that moment, she broke free from the chair, knocking over the women who were holding her down. She grabbed Zhang Jiwang’s neck with both hands.

Zhang Jiwang’s neck was firmly gripped, his eyes bulging, unable to breathe. He couldn’t break free at all.

Everyone hurried forward, trying to regain control of Ma Jinxiu, but they couldn’t do anything to her.

Zhang Jiwang was already old, and being choked by Ma Jinxiu, he soon lost consciousness. His eyes rolled back, fainting.

“Wulei three thousand generals, thunder eighty thousand soldiers, great fire burning the world, evil spirits turn to dust. If there is great power, sweep away all evil spirits, Emperor Jade grants me the name of the world, grants me copper armor and iron armor to slay demons. If there are strong people who refuse to submit, disciple requests the five hundred savage thunder to burn their bodies. Fear of former teachers and disciples, detained in the ten-thousand-foot golden well. If there is a dispute with the disciple, the illusion of escape is impossible. I serve the Supreme Elder, urgently decreeing.” Zhang Jiaohua, who had been watching the commotion, suddenly chanted a spell, stepping forward with gestures changing on his hands. After the spell, he pointed his finger at Ma Jinxiu. A faint spiritual energy turned into a sword energy, rushing towards Ma Jinxiu.

“Ah!” Ma Jinxiu screamed in anguish, a black mist flying out of her body. She then slumped to the ground, completely weak, sitting down.

“Jiaohua?”

Everyone looked at Zhang Jiaohua in surprise. No one expected that in the end, it was Zhang Jiaohua who drove away the demon spirit by casting a spell. But Zhang Jiaohua was just a little kid, how could he know Daoist spells?

When Zhang Jiwang was young, he traveled around as a carpenter, seeing a bit of the world, and heard various legends about Daoist Temple. He had even witnessed Daoist Temple performing rituals. But he never expected that Zhang Jiaohua, at such a young age, could perform Daoist spells. He easily drove away such a powerful demon spirit.

“Quick, go search nearby. The thing possessing her must be nearby. Now that it’s suffered a big loss, it’s at its weakest. This thing holds grudges, so since we’ve already offended it, we might as well destroy it to prevent future troubles!” Zhang Jiwang hurriedly said.

Everyone didn’t care to wonder how Zhang Jiaohua, at such a young age, learned Daoist spells. They all went out to search nearby.

Ma Jinxiu finally returned to normal, but she was extremely weak after being possessed by the demon spirit. Her face was pale, and she probably didn’t know what had happened at home yet.

“Are you awake now, wife?” Zhang Benrui was also startled by his wife today. Now that she was safe, the house wasn’t that important anymore. After all, the granary in the house was built by the stream. This was a generational tradition of mountain village families. Of course, these traditions were also formed through lessons learned from blood and tears. Building the granary by the stream, away from the house, even if the house burned down, the granary would give people hope to continue living.

“What exactly happened? How did we end up at the Zhangs’?” Ma Jinxiu was quite puzzled.

“Alas! Our house has been burned down by you. How are we going to live from now on?” Zhang Benrui sighed.

At that moment, they heard a commotion outside.

“We found it, we found it. It’s indeed a Yellow Skin Creature!”

“Don’t kill it, let Jiaohua take a look!” Zhang Jiwang’s voice rang out.

After a while, Zhang Jiwang and others brought a Yellow Skin Creature to Zhang Jiaohua’s house.

“This fellow was hiding in the haystack behind Benrui’s house. I knew it must be nearby. When it saw us coming, it tried to escape, but it couldn’t run today. I caught it in one fell swoop.” Zhang Enzhong held the skin on the back of the Yellow Skin’s neck with his hand, making it unable to move at all.

This Yellow Skin had suffered severe spiritual damage from the spell attack while possessed, and now it was very weak, unable to even use its innate offensive talent – the stench attack.

“Jiaohua, how do you want to deal with this Yellow Skin Creature?” Zhang Jiwang asked.