Taboo Mage - A journey of fairy tale stories

This might just be a reminder that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Appearances are the easiest things to disguise and deceive with.

As for the Old Lady of the Xu family, she seemed deeply worried, sitting on the sofa with a helpless look, her eyes occasionally darting towards Jue Chi, as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t.

I wondered if the Old Lady was hiding something from us. Otherwise, why would she be so concerned about Jue Chi?

Could it be that she was simply afraid? I was caught in a web of confusion.

Suddenly, the ringing of my phone interrupted my thoughts. I glanced at the screen; it was Lin Huan calling. On the call, Lin Huan told me he had picked up the little fox, but the traffic was so bad that although he had expected to be back by around three in the afternoon, it now seemed like it would be a blessing to return before dark.

I told him not to rush and assured him everything was fine at home before hanging up.

Barely two minutes after hanging up, the phone rang again. This time it was Uncle Qin. As soon as I answered, Uncle Qin informed me that the owner of the manor said the manjusaka was currently in its wilting season. Since no one had tended to them recently, it was unclear how many were left, and we would need to check ourselves.

I quickly arranged to meet in an hour and hurriedly hung up, making my way to the storage room.

Inside the storage room, Zhou Qifang had almost finished organizing the other necessary items. I glanced at the table full of things and then asked Zhou Qifang.

“I’ve found the manjusaka, but I need you to come with me to take a look.”

Zhou Qifang nodded and followed me out.

Back in the living room, I informed Jue Chi that Lin Huan wouldn’t be back for a while, and Zhou Qifang and I needed to head to the manor to fetch some items.

Jue Chi nodded. I glanced at the Xu family mother and son; a strange expression flickered across Xu Benzhang’s face, and he looked at me as if he wanted to say something but held back.

“Don’t worry, with Jue Chi here, nothing will happen. We’ll be back soon.”

With that, I grabbed the car keys and followed Zhou Qifang out.

Just as I got into the car, Uncle Qin sent the location of the manor to my phone. I stepped on the gas, and in less than an hour, I was at the entrance of the manor.

Uncle Qin wasn’t waiting at the gate, but a young man stood there, presumably someone from the manor.

I parked the car at the entrance, and the young man quickly approached. “Hello, are you Mr. Gu? Uncle Qin has already called.”

I nodded, and the iron gate of the manor slowly opened. I remembered the road inside quite well, so I drove straight in and finally parked in front of the garden plot.

Indeed, as Uncle Qin mentioned on the phone, it was the season when the flowers were wilting, and most of the manjusaka in the garden plot had already withered.

Zhou Qifang and I exchanged a glance, and he shook his head, indicating that the chances of finding any were slim.

“Let’s give it a try; you never know,” I said, frowning. I was thinking the same as Zhou Qifang, but there was nowhere else to look.

Zhou Qifang nodded and dove into the garden plot, and I quickly followed.

According to Zhou Qifang, the manjusaka needed must be freshly bloomed, ideally with dew on them. I searched from the beginning of the garden plot to the very end, finding only dried flower stalks, with no blossoms in sight.

Things weren’t looking good on Zhou Qifang’s side either. I sighed, thinking that perhaps fate wasn’t on the Xu family mother and son’s side. If we couldn’t find the manjusaka, we’d have to proceed without it, and if anything went wrong, the Xu family mother and son would be the ones to suffer.

“Hey! Come over here and take a look!”

Suddenly, Zhou Qifang’s voice called out. I looked up and quickly headed over. Zhou Qifang was staring intently at a small flower stalk on the ground.

I glanced down and, sure enough, a small flower stalk had sprouted from the dried branches, with fresh buds and a newly blooming flower.

“Can we use it?” I asked cautiously, afraid my voice might scare the flower away.

Zhou Qifang nodded, then bent down and took out a small glass bottle from his pocket. The bottle contained a light blue liquid, which he poured over the flower.

The flower, which had been blooming, immediately closed up, and the entire flower seemed to be deliberately cut down, falling to the ground.

Zhou Qifang quickly caught it and carefully placed the flower into a silk handkerchief he carried, wrapping it up carefully.

Having found the manjusaka, the next step was to hurry back and make the life amulet, preferably before Lin Huan and the little fox returned. Otherwise, it would take much longer.

I wanted to resolve the Xu family mother and son’s issue as quickly as possible, freeing up time to deal with the phone number situation.

I drove back at top speed, returning to the shop in less than forty minutes.

Sure enough, the same people were still in the living room, and Lin Huan hadn’t returned yet. After greeting Jue Chi, I took Zhou Qifang back to the storage room.

Zhou Qifang had been carefully holding the silk handkerchief. Once back in the storage room, he opened it, and the manjusaka flower lay there quietly.

Using manjusaka instead of black dog blood was something I had never heard of, so I watched Zhou Qifang’s every move closely.

Zhou Qifang plucked each petal from the flower and soaked them in the same blue liquid as before. Then he burned a yellow talisman covered in incantations, adding the ashes to the liquid.

I squinted, trying to see what incantations were written on the talisman, but Zhou Qifang moved too quickly. Before I could make out the words, he had already burned the talisman.

I smirked and prepared to leave, but just as I took a step, a hand reached out from behind.

I turned to see a hand holding a yellow talisman, also covered in incantations.

“This rune is from our Zhou Family, a gift for you.”

Hearing Zhou Qifang’s words, I almost thought I was hallucinating. Was Zhou Qifang really willing to share his family’s heirloom with me?

“You…”

“Do you want it or not?”

“I do!”