Taboo Mage - Chapter 201 - Leaving the Illusion

“You’ve accompanied me for so long, that’s enough…”

“Yuzhi, I’m sorry. I couldn’t fulfill my promise to you.” Jue Chi furrowed his brows, and his tone instantly grew heavy.

Pan Yuzhi shook her head, wrapping her arms around Jue Chi, her expression a mix of sorrow and contentment.

“I’m… I’m sorry…” Seeing her like that, I couldn’t help but whisper.

Jue Chi didn’t speak. He gently laid down Pan Yuzhi, whose breath had already ceased. As her body touched the ground, it began to slowly fade away.

Jue Chi sat cross-legged in front of her lifeless form, bowing his head and silently reciting the Sutra. I put away the copper coin sword and sat down beside Jue Chi, then started reciting the ancestral Sutra of the Gu Family for the souls of the deceased.

When I opened my eyes again, the corpse had completely vanished, as if it had never existed at all.

I stood up, and the Illusion before me gradually disappeared, like a shell of an egg cracking open, revealing the pitch-black night.

Eventually, the Illusion completely faded away, and the hillside beneath our feet transformed into a half-dry grass field in front of an old theater stage.

“Jue Chi?”

I looked at Jue Chi, who still sat on the ground, feeling an indescribable emotion swelling inside me.

Hearing my voice, Jue Chi raised his head, glanced at me, then stood up without saying a word. He bent down and picked up a small bead from the ground, placing it into his pocket.

“Jue Chi!”

Watching him walk further away from me, I hurried to catch up. Suddenly, I lost my footing, and my whole body fell onto the grass field.

Damn! This annoying monk! After all I went through for him, now that I’ve fallen, he doesn’t even help me up.

I felt a surge of frustration and decided to lie back down on the ground, gazing up at the starry sky, filled with countless emotions.

Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of me. Jue Chi crossed his arms and, smiling slightly, looked at me, “Do you really think I was bewitched by a woman?”

“Of course! Besides, it’s not just any woman; it’s a female ghost! And a rather ugly one at that!” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

Jue Chi sat down beside me. “Pan Yuzhi was a very unfortunate person; I couldn’t exorcise her.”

I paused in surprise. Was Jue Chi’s situation even more complicated than I had imagined?

I turned to look at Jue Chi, who was twirling the bead in his hand. In a low voice, he said, “Two months ago, I received a message from a woman. It said that if I didn’t find the theater stage in this village within a week, the entire village would be shrouded in a massive, unexorciseable resentment.”

“I locked myself in the meditation room and thought for an entire week. In the end, I decided to set out to find this theater stage. Once I arrived, I discovered a decade-old corpse in a pit behind the stage. That was Pan Yuzhi’s body, completely decomposed.”

“I uncovered the corpse and then used the Buddhist teachings to enter a dream. I wanted to exorcise Pan Yuzhi, but I found that the teachings had no effect against this Resentful Spirit. In the end, she told me that she didn’t need to be exorcised; she just wanted to fulfill a wish.”

“I asked her why she chose me. She said it was because she liked me. I agreed to her request and fabricated an Illusion, one that only involved her and me.”

I felt a mix of emotions stirring within me-bitterness and a sense of dawning realization. I understood why Jue Chi had created the Illusion, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t feel the sense of relief one usually gets after resolving a big problem.

Jue Chi explained that before Pan Yuzhi passed away, she had left behind a curse. Therefore, after her death, the resentment surrounding her was far more intense than that of an ordinary deceased spirit.

That was why Jue Chi chose to fulfill Pan Yuzhi’s wish in order to exorcise the resentment she carried.

Suddenly, it dawned on me that when Pan Yuzhi’s spirit vanished in Jue Chi’s arms, her smile held a deeper meaning than I had realized.

But unfortunately, I would never get to see Pan Yuzhi again. If I had known this earlier, perhaps I would have said a few words to her. Or maybe I would have just said I was sorry.

The two of us sat quietly on the grass for a while, lost in thought, until Zhou Qifang finally came looking for us. Seeing him made me feel a bit embarrassed; this time, Zhou Qifang had come to help Jue Chi.

Yet at the final moment, I had left him alone at the inn, and I felt a twinge of guilt in my heart.

Zhou Qifang seemed unfazed as he pulled Jue Chi and me up, driving us back to the inn.

None of us mentioned what had happened that evening, and the next morning, the three of us prepared to head back.

I woke up first and decided to go to the nearby expressway service station to buy some food. We hadn’t eaten dinner last night, and everyone was hungry.

As I stood at the entrance of the supermarket, memories of what had happened that day flashed through my mind, causing me to shiver slightly at the door.

“What’s wrong? Feeling scared?”

Behind me, Zhou Qifang had appeared out of nowhere. Seeing my hesitation, he teased me with a smile.

I rolled my eyes and stepped inside.

Unlike last time, I didn’t feel the suffocating pressure as I entered the supermarket; it was as if nothing had ever happened.

I quickly grabbed a few loaves of bread and bottles of water from the shelves, paid for them, and headed for the exit.

Just as I stepped out the door, I heard the voice of the cashier calling after me. I stopped in my tracks, turned my head, and saw her holding an envelope.

“Mr. Gu, you left something behind.”

I paused in surprise, glanced around to confirm she was indeed speaking to me, and a strange feeling surged within me. I stared blankly as the cashier walked over and handed the envelope to me.

For the rest of the journey back, I felt as though I were walking on clouds, my feet barely touching the ground. I didn’t even notice when Zhou Qifang had disappeared behind me.

When I returned to the inn, I found Jue Chi already awake. His long robe was gone, replaced by his usual Kasaya, and he sat on the steps at the entrance, chatting amiably with a passing child.

As I approached, Jue Chi had just finished speaking with the child. He patted the boy’s head and looked up, asking me, “Why are you back alone? Where’s Zhou Qifang?”

I froze for a moment, instinctively glancing behind me. Sure enough, Zhou Qifang, who had been following me, had suddenly vanished. I rubbed my forehead and casually replied, “He’s probably still in the supermarket.”