Taboo Mage - Chapter 21 - I Want Revenge

I sat dejectedly on the steps at the entrance of the hospital, unable to understand why Liu Yineng would harm my mother.

If he really needed my help, even if it was to surveil my mother to threaten me, he shouldn’t have attacked her before I had even completed the life amulet…

Unable to figure it out, I decided not to dwell on it and called Ah Biao, finding an excuse to meet him.

Ah Biao and I had always been on good terms. As we sat at a street food stall, downing several bottles of beer, Ah Biao broke down, crying bitterly.

He told me that Liu Yineng couldn’t wait any longer. Already in a foul mood, he was introduced to a new life amulet master. This master told him that to achieve a permanent solution, a human life was needed to activate the life amulet.

Liu Yineng, harboring a grudge against me, ordered someone to kill my mother, intending to infuse her spirit into the amulet.

Ah Biao clung to me, swearing that he didn’t know beforehand. If he had known, he would have fought to the death to stop Liu Yineng from harming my mother.

I gave a cold laugh and said nothing.

Returning home, I spent a sleepless night.

Early the next morning, I prepared a few things and went to find the yin-yang life amulet master. He lived in a high-end apartment, supposedly given to him by Liu Yineng.

The door was answered by a middle-aged man with a goatee, dressed in a phony yellow taoist robe, looking like a ghost-catching taoist priest from a zombie movie.

I threw the rag doll, holding the peach blossom spirit, in front of him. The doll’s glass eyes glowed red, its stiff limbs crawling towards him.

The fake taoist priest was terrified, kneeling and kowtowing frantically.

I asked him why he was spouting nonsense. He told me that recently, many people had become interested in life amulets, but that Gu Qingshu had already retired.

Seeing the quick money in this line of work, he pretended to be Gu Qingshu’s apprentice, deceiving people all around.

In fact, my purpose in finding him was only to confirm his identity. If he had been real, I would have done everything to reclaim my mother’s spirit.

Failing to fulfill my filial duties in life, and being unable to let Mother’s spirit rest in peace after her death-this is my unfilial failure as a son.

Knowing that this man was a genuine fraud, I said nothing more and turned to leave.

Upon returning home, I personally selected a burial plot for Mother. Without delay, I laid her to rest. My last remaining family member had departed, and from that moment on, I was truly alone, with no one left to care for.

Kneeling before Mother’s grave, I swore to the heavens that I would avenge her.

That night, I called Qin Hao. Upon hearing that I was willing to help, Qin Hao promptly transferred three hundred thousand yuan into my bank card.

That same night, I lay alone in the empty room. In my dreams, I once again saw my Father and Grandfather.

Since I had promised Mother to give up creating life amulets, it had been a long time since I had dreamt of them.

In the dream, Grandfather looked at me with shining eyes and spoke earnestly. He reminded me that the Gu family had only me left, and making life amulets would bring disaster upon one’s family. As I was now alone, I had been chosen by the heavens to be the heir of the yin-yang life amulet master.

However, due to the cyclical nature of Cause and Effect, and the conflict between Yin and Yang, I must be careful not to act recklessly.

I remembered Father and Grandfather’s teachings and swore in my dreams to carry forward the Gu family’s yin-yang life amulet legacy.

The next morning, Qin Hao came to see me in person to discuss methods to neutralize Liu Yineng’s life amulet. He also informed me about the fake life amulet master.

I assured him not to worry and to focus on handling his own affairs. As for the life amulet, I would take care of it.

After seeing Qin Hao off, I locked myself in and started researching ways to counter the tiger head life amulet.

Liu Yineng’s tiger head life amulet was created by my Father, who was much more skilled in making life amulets than I am. Creating a new life amulet to counter Liu Yineng’s is not feasible, given the tight timeline and my current ability.

The simplest method was to target the original life amulet directly.

To suppress the vengeful spirit within the amulet last time, I had infused it with the spirit of a female ghost to subdue it, but I had left a contingency in place, which is why Liu Yineng had recently started having bad luck.

Ghosts are not as formidable as people imagine. They are merely floating entities that have lost their physical bodies. The female ghost within the tiger head life amulet already harbored immense resentment, and after the incident with Li He, her resentment became even harder to control.

By now, the imprisoning incantation has begun to gradually lose its effect. To unleash the female ghost’s full resentment at a specific time and break through the incantation completely, she needed a stimulus.

That stimulus was Li He.

When I found Li He, he was happily eating breakfast with a young woman in the university cafeteria. They were feeding each other joyfully. I didn’t intend to interrupt their date, but given the urgency of the situation, I couldn’t afford to care about such niceties.

When Li He saw me, his face visibly tensed. He quickly sent his girlfriend away and pulled me aside to a secluded spot.

Upon hearing my request, Li He flatly refused and said he wanted nothing more to do with those events. He insisted I should never come to him again.

I had anticipated Li He’s response. I told him that the imprisoning incantation on the life amulet was beginning to fail. Sooner or later, the female ghost would break through and come after him again.

Given that inevitability, it was better to address the situation now and be done with it, ensuring his peace of mind thereafter.

After much hesitation, and upon my assurance that I wouldn’t fail, Li He reluctantly agreed.

With that matter settled, I asked Li He for further details on how to deal with Liu Yineng and meticulously prepared for the upcoming confrontation.

During the National Day holiday in October, the weather turned chilly. Qin Hao called to inform me of the location for the following day.

The day of vengeance had arrived in the blink of an eye. I wanted to see with my own eyes Liu Yineng left with no place to bury.

The next morning, Qin Hao sent a car to pick me up. Li He had stayed at my house the previous night. I had him dress in a Zhongshan suit, which made him look even more dashing than usual.

The negotiation site between Liu Yineng and Qin Hao was set at a neutral space between the Regal Grandeur Hotel and another hotel owned by Liu Yineng.

Contrary to the typical gangster showdown, Liu Yineng and Qin Hao sat amicably at a round table, each backed by their respective entourages.

As I walked into the room with Li He, I noticed the twitch in the corner of Liu Yineng’s eye.

Smiling, I greeted him, “Brother Liu, long time no see.”