Taboo Mage - Chapter 13 - The Official Rank Amulet

The intense light overhead suddenly illuminated the small room. I looked up, and that lump of dark hair stood right up.

It was a woman, dressed in a white robe.

“Brother Gu…”

Li Mi suddenly looked up and rubbed her eyes as she saw me.

I stood on the bed, stunned for a moment, then snarled, “What are you doing! Scaring people in the middle of the night!”

Li Mi was startled awake by my roar and pouted, “I got scared sleeping alone, so I came to find you.”

“Scared of what!” I continued to shout.

I know my behavior wasn’t exactly gentlemanly at that moment, but please don’t blame me for being unchivalrous. Anyone who wakes up in the middle of the night to find such a figure standing by their bed would lose their temper too.

Thankfully, the hotel had good hygiene standards; if I had any weapon on hand, Li Mi might have had her head cracked open by now.

Seeing my fury, Li Mi looked aggrieved and handed me the soul-capturing bottle.

Looking at the faintly trembling soul-capturing bottle, I realized that it was the Tree Spirit from the Wutong Tree colliding within it.

I took the soul-capturing bottle from Li Mi and waved her out of the room.

Li Mi looked back at me reluctantly as she left. I was already lying back in bed with the bottle in hand, exhausted from a busy day, and fell asleep immediately.

The next morning, I checked us out, took Li Mi back to the city, and dropped her off at school. Then I hurried to make the official rank amulet.

I placed the soul-capturing bottle on the desk and took out a piece of Wutong Tree wood I had secretly cut off yesterday. Then I used a small knife to meticulously carve a flying Phoenix on it.

Here, I must thank my high school Art Teacher. He never properly taught us to draw in art class but made every effort to impart his carving skills to us.

Unfortunately, out of a class of dozens, only I managed to grasp a bit while the rest of the students slept on their desks.

After I finished carving the official rank amulet, I removed the lid of the soul-capturing bottle. Then I placed yellow talisman paper over the bottle and covered the official rank amulet. A yellow light spot flashed briefly and instantly entered the amulet.

Next, I used runes and glutinous rice to seal the Tree Spirit of the Wutong Tree inside the life amulet. As usual, I made a hole at the top of the life amulet and threaded a red string through it.

Once the official rank amulet was complete, I held it up to examine. Except for the slightly ugly Phoenix carving, everything else was perfect.

Sure enough, practice makes perfect.

As I was admiring my handiwork, the door suddenly burst open. Fatty Ling stormed in angrily, his already plump face now bruised and swollen.

I quickly put away the life amulet and approached him, “What happened? Got beaten up again?”

“All because of you!” Fatty Ling flopped onto my sofa, glaring at me with one eye and speaking coolly.

A chill ran down my spine. Could something have gone wrong with Liu Yineng’s life amulet?

But even though I did tamper with his life amulet, there was no reason for it to cause trouble so quickly.

Fatty Ling bared his teeth and said, “Old Hu from the next street came looking for me this morning. He wanted me to introduce him to you. But since I remembered you had ‘retired,’ I refused. Who knew he’d start beating me without another word.”

I chuckled and quickly went to the kitchen to boil two eggs for him to apply to his face.

After comforting him for a while, Fatty Ling finally calmed down, muttering only about getting his revenge.

I echoed a few words in agreement then quietly hid the life amulet under the sofa cushion.

Just as I finished hiding it, the shop door swung open again, and a strong scent of Chanel perfume wafted in.

I didn’t even need to look up to know who it was!

Sure enough, Fatty Ling was already rubbing his hands together and standing up with a grin, “Xu-Jie, long time no see. Where have you been making money lately?”

“What money? Just doing some small business to avoid starving.” Xu-Jie laughed heartily, ignoring him and walking straight up to me with an outstretched hand.

I silently cursed in my heart but maintained a clueless facade as I asked, “Xu-Jie, are you short on money? I’m just a poor guy; I don’t have any money to lend you.”

While speaking, I shot a meaningful glance at Xu-Jie.

Xu-Jie seemed a bit off today. The usually sharp and perceptive woman didn’t catch my obvious hints. She extended her index finger and jabbed it against my forehead, laughing as she said, “Why are you playing dumb? Li Mi spent the whole night with you, and you forgot what she needed?”

“Forgot? Not at all. Aren’t you supposed to check on your husband? He might be missing you!”

I tried to change the subject, but Xu-Jie seemed determined to expose me in front of Fatty Ling today.

She snorted, “Shy now? Where’s Li Mi’s life amulet? Have you finished it?”

“Life amulet? Gu Qingshu, you’re making another life amulet for someone else?”

Before I could finish, Fatty Ling grabbed my arm, glaring at me with a menacing look.

I silently cursed again. At this point, I couldn’t hide it anymore, so I admitted, “Don’t get me wrong. It’s for an old friend, and it was hard to refuse. Besides, it’s a matter of life and death.”

“And isn’t my situation a matter of life and death? I nearly got beaten to death because of you!”

Fatty Ling shoved me away, waving his arms and shouting angrily.

I felt guilty. After all, it was my fault for telling Fatty Ling I had retired while agreeing to make a life amulet for Li Mi.

Xu-Jie finally understood the situation. She looked at me apologetically and then sat down on the sofa, watching the drama unfold as Fatty Ling’s yelling grew louder.

I waited for Fatty Ling to finish his outburst. To my dismay, he seemed to be venting all his frustration about getting beaten up onto me. He yelled for a full half-hour before finally stopping to take a sip of water.

I quickly retrieved the life amulet from under the sofa cushion and handed it to Xu-Jie, urging her to leave. After reassuring Fatty Ling and promising it would never happen again, I finally managed to get them both out of the shop. Peace and quiet at last.

Having dealt with Li Mi’s matter, I decided to close the shop for a few days to avoid any further bad luck.

Fatty Ling came by a few more times after that day, always probing with his questions, but I firmly refused each time.

Seeing no hope here, Fatty Ling eventually left, never bringing up the subject again.