Taboo Mage - Chapter 217 - The Old Lady Woke Up

Hearing Zhou Qifang’s words, I have to admit I was startled. It was the first time I had heard the phrase about throwing someone into a dog cage.

Furthermore, although Xu Benzhang was indeed quite unpleasant, he and Zhou Qifang had no personal grievances. If Zhou Qifang truly wanted to do something like this to Xu Benzhang out of a sense of righteous indignation, I wouldn’t believe it.

While Zhou Qifang wasn’t exactly a bad person, he was certainly not a kind-hearted one either.

It was a miracle that he wasn’t secretly stabbing someone in the back; expecting him to show compassion was too much. I pushed Zhou Qifang aside and dragged the unconscious Xu Benzhang, tossing him into a corner.

Once I had settled Xu Benzhang, I sat on the sofa, contemplating how to deal with this situation.

Next to me, Jue Chi placed Old Lady Xu on the sofa as well. I glanced at her; apart from the cyan-purple bruises, she seemed otherwise normal.

I asked Jue Chi if Old Lady Xu was still salvageable.

Without answering, Jue Chi removed the Kasaya covering Old Lady Xu and took off the Buddhist prayer beads from his wrist, placing them on her forehead.

As soon as the prayer beads touched her, Old Lady Xu began to convulse as if she had been electrocuted, her eyes bulging wide open.

Slowly, her previously murky eyes started to clear up. Jue Chi squinted, standing beside the sofa with his hands in a prayer position, silently chanting a Sutra.

The air around us suddenly felt heavy, and I sensed that the space in front of me was twisting as it radiated outward.

The sound of his chanting seemed to come from a distant place, yet it resonated firmly in my ears. I covered my ears, but the sound penetrated through my palms, drilling into each part of my ears.

The chanting struck my eardrums, and I frowned. After a while, Jue Chi finally stopped reciting.

I stayed covering my ears for a while before regaining my senses. On the other side, Jue Chi had retracted the prayer beads. I looked at Old Lady Xu again. On her usually stern face, a rare gentle smile appeared, and she even opened her eyes to blink at me.

I almost fell off the sofa in shock. She seemed to have improved a bit, but now she looked even more terrifying.

Those eyes, when they stared at you, were quite unsettling.

I asked, “What on earth is going on, Jue Chi?”

Jue Chi told me that Old Lady Xu had been possessed by the soul of a dead dog for quite a while. While he could temporarily suppress its influence, he couldn’t completely expel the soul from her body.

If he couldn’t fully exorcise it, things would be difficult. Xu Benzhang had already lost his mind, and if Old Lady Xu didn’t return to normal, there was no guarantee of her safety once Xu Benzhang woke up.

I had some resentment about getting involved with the Xu family. After all, this was something I could have chosen to stay out of, which would have spared me a lot of trouble.

But what intrigued me even more was that it was Zhou Qifang who had initially been adamantly opposed to Xu Benzhang, yet now he was the one who seemed to be stepping in.

What kind of schemes was he harboring? I glanced over at Zhou Qifang, who was sitting on the sofa with his eyes half-closed, dark circles under his eyes. I wondered what he had been up to last night; he looked exhausted.

Jue Chi wrapped the Buddhist prayer beads around his wrist again and placed the Kasaya back over Old Lady Xu. I asked him what his plan was next.

Jue Chi gestured towards the Xu Benzhang I had tossed on the floor. I raised an eyebrow, realizing he might be looking for a breakthrough through that bastard.

Zhou Qifang, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up, “Have you all noticed that something is strange about the Xu family’s situation?”

“What’s strange about it?” Lin Huan came out of the kitchen, carrying a glass of water, and curiously asked upon hearing Zhou Qifang.

“Think about it. They say dogs are humans’ most loyal friends, and for someone like Old Lady Xu, having a dog is like having another son. She might even care for the dog more than her biological son, Xu Benzhang. Logically, if the dog died, it wouldn’t make sense for its spirit to possess the old lady, would it?”

“What’s so strange about that? When a person dies, their obsessions transform into their souls. Generally, people’s obsessions lean towards evil, which is why we talk about ghosts harming people. Similarly, when an animal dies, its soul might also represent its obsessions,” I said, stroking my chin as I spoke.

Lin Huan sat down on the sofa and shot Xu Benzhang a resentful glare, saying, “Exactly. That dog died such a tragic death, and while it was alive, it was a good dog. It wouldn’t be hard to understand if it turned out to be a bad one after death.”

I nodded in appreciation at Lin Huan; he was performing well today. No wonder he was a good employee in China.

Zhou Qifang looked at me and Lin Huan as if he were looking at idiots. Then he turned his gaze back to Jue Chi. I couldn’t help but feel that my intelligence was being belittled.

“Hmm, if we follow your reasoning, does that mean the dog is not only seeking revenge on Xu Benzhang but also on Old Lady Xu?” Jue Chi met Zhou Qifang’s gaze, his brows furrowing together. When he looked at Old Lady Xu, there were inexplicable complex emotions in his eyes.

Jue Chi actually seemed to agree with Zhou Qifang? I narrowed my eyes, staring at Old Lady Xu. Could it be that this seemingly kind and gentle old lady had done something terrible behind the scenes?

“Speculating like this is just wild guesswork. The only way to know if we’re right is to wait until the old lady or Xu Benzhang wakes up,” Zhou Qifang replied.

After saying this, he rose from his seat and walked over to Old Lady Xu. He fumbled around in his pocket for a while, pulling out something I couldn’t quite see. He held it in one hand while placing his other hand on her forehead, bowing his head to mutter a few phrases.

About ten minutes later, Old Lady Xu actually opened her eyes. I stared at her in disbelief. The expression in her eyes when she did so had been terrifying just moments before.

But now she looked quite different, resembling the neighbor who was always trying to set me up with someone-a bit chatty, but fundamentally good-hearted and gentle.

“Old Lady Xu?”

I leaned in closer, tentatively calling out to her.

Old Lady Xu didn’t respond. She just stared blankly at the ceiling, her eyes vacant as if she were lost in thought.

“Old Lady Xu?”