Taboo Mage - Chapter 124 - Xiao Meng Appears

A strand of white hair caught my attention. I walked over, picked it up, and squinted at it for a long time trying to figure out what it might have come from, but to no avail.

Lin Huan leaned over, took the hair from my hand, and held it up to his nose like a dog, sniffing it curiously.

I laughed and asked him, “What do you smell?”

Lin Huan squinted, “It has a strange odor.”

“Odor?” I frowned and leaned over to sniff it too.

Sure enough, I hadn’t noticed it earlier, but the fur did have a strange smell. It wasn’t noticeable from afar, but when you got close, it was quite pungent, hitting the nose and invading the mind with a striking intensity.

Lin Huan tossed the white fur on the ground in disgust. I picked it up again, thinking it might be an important clue and shouldn’t be discarded.

Over on the other side, Lin Xiao Meng had woken up. She pushed Uncle Lin aside and asked me if I had figured it out yet.

I held up the white hair and asked if she had seen it before. Lin Xiao Meng shook her head, indicating it was her first time seeing it. I nodded and decided to take it back for further examination.

As soon as I got back to Lin Huan’s house, I instructed him to keep an eye on Uncle Lin, then drove straight to Chan Guang Monastery.

Lately, I hadn’t known what Jue Chi had been up to, but when I arrived at the monastery, he was nowhere to be found. However, I did see someone I’d met before.

Bai Jie, the woman who was often seen alongside the Chi Family’s old man. She was wearing a white dress with a black coat over it, sitting on the stone chair at the entrance of Chan Guang Monastery.

“Miss Bai? What are you doing here?”

Seeing Bai Jie, I was surprised and stared at her wide-eyed. Bai Jie turned and smiled at me, “Mr. Gu, long time no see. As soon as you called, the great-grandfather instructed the entire Chi Family to search for the mountain flower. As soon as they found it, they instructed me to deliver it to you personally.”

Saying this, Bai Jie took out a box she had with her. I rushed over with joy to look inside. There, neatly placed, was a pot of flowers. Even the soil in the pot was fresh, not to mention the dew-kissed mountain flower.

It seemed that the great-grandfather of the Chi Family had delivered it overnight for me. The thought that such a respected figure would pay so much attention to this small matter of mine filled me with both excitement and gratitude.

“Where is Jue Chi? Haven’t you seen the monk?”

I carefully put the mountain flower away. The Chi Family isn’t skilled at containing spirits, so to prevent the hard-found Flower Spirit from getting lost, they delivered both the spirit and the flower pot to me together.

I reached out, placing my palm on the pot, feeling a warm flow circulating in my hand. Once I confirmed the Flower Spirit was inside, I quickly stowed it away.

Bai Jie stood up, “Master Jue Chi said he had something to attend to and would be out. If you come looking for him, he asked me to let you know that he won’t be back until before eight o’clock tomorrow evening.”

“Eight o’clock? That’s way too late!”

I nearly jumped up. Over there, Uncle Lin was in a critical state, only temporarily stabilized. Dragging this out until the next day could lead to who knows what sort of consequences.

Bai Jie nodded, then said, “Mr. Gu, I need to hurry back. Great-grandfather Chi can’t do without me.”

“Alright,” I said helplessly.

Since Jue Chi wasn’t around, it was pointless to stay there any longer. I drove Bai Jie to the airport and then returned home, planning to prepare the life amulet first.

By now, I was quite adept at crafting life amulets. First, I placed the Flower Spirit into the soul-capturing bottle. Then, I used a wooden amulet carved into the shape of a mountain flower and offered it before the ancestral tablet for over an hour. I induced the spirit into the life amulet using black dog blood and glutinous rice, and finally sealed the Flower Spirit inside with glutinous rice water, tying it up with a red string.

After finishing the life amulet, I placed it next to my pillow and went to sleep.

Half-asleep, I seemed to hear a sound, and that familiar fragrance once again reached my nose.

Thinking I was dreaming, I rubbed my head and got up, planning to get something to drink to wake myself up.

Just after opening my eyes, a dense white fog suddenly filled my vision, rendering everything unclear. The strange scent pervaded the entire room.

“What kind of fiend is lurking around, hiding like a mouse!”

I shouted angrily, stealthily reaching under my pillow to retrieve a peachwood sword. Then, I took out a bowl of black dog blood from the drawer and sprinkled it on the peachwood sword.

“Mr. Gu, it’s Xiao Meng,” a familiar, enchanting voice emerged from the fog just as I was preparing to chant an incantation to dispel it. The voice alone almost made me lose my composure.

I frowned, “Xiao Meng?”

From the mist, a woman in a red dress appeared. Her hair was curly, and her eyes were exceedingly seductive. She looked completely different from the Xiao Meng I had met before, but her allure surpassed that of the woman I had known by a hundredfold.

Even the most popular actresses couldn’t hold a candle to her in terms of grace and charm.

“What exactly are you?”

My mind buzzed, and I found my gaze involuntarily drawn to her face.

The strange fragrance around me grew more intense. Realizing that I was ensnared in an illusion woven by Xiao Meng, I hurriedly grabbed the life amulet beside me and hung it on myself. Although the amulet wasn’t crafted using my eight characters, it was still effective in providing some protection.

As expected, clutching the life amulet tightly in my hand, I closed my eyes and recited the Sutra of warding off evil taught by Jue Chi. The white fog before me quickly dissipated, and Xiao Meng’s bewitching form shifted bizarrely before finally transforming into a ball of white light huddled in the corner.

Although the immediate danger had passed, I didn’t dare to relax. After hanging the life amulet around my neck, I cautiously approached the ball of white light with my peachwood sword.

“Hey! Dead already? Can’t handle a bit of pressure? I haven’t even started.”

In the corner, the white mass huddled together. I prodded it with the peachwood sword, and suddenly it lifted its head with a squeak, glanced at me, and then scurried around the room in a frenzy.

“What? A Samoyed?”

I exclaimed in disappointment, walking over to pick up the small Samoyed puppy. Its fur felt surprisingly soft and fluffy to the touch.

Yet, I had never heard of a Samoyed turning into a spirit like this.

That night, I locked the Samoyed in a cage. To prevent it from escaping, I specially tied a red thread around the cage and stuck talisman paper on it.