Taboo Mage - Chapter 61 - Exorcising the Departed Spirit

The departed spirit clinging to Li Meng suddenly turned its head towards us, its originally dark eyes exuding thick black smoke. I distinctly saw a smile curl up at the corner of its lips, then it opened its mouth, revealing a set of sharp teeth.

Jue Chi removed his Kasaya and draped it over Auntie and Du Qiang, leaving himself dressed only in shorts and a T-shirt. He then charged towards Li Meng.

I didn’t know if Jue Chi had the ability to subdue this spirit. All I knew was that such a small spirit could unflinchingly make its way to the center of the red string Array right before our eyes.

This was definitely not an ordinary departed spirit.

At some point, a wooden fish appeared in Jue Chi’s hands. He stepped on the Seven Stars Heavenly Gang Array around Li Meng, the sound of the wooden fish intertwining with the Sutras he chanted.

My originally agitated heart began to calm down swiftly at the sound of the Sutras.

Looking up towards Jue Chi, I saw Li Meng standing stiffly in place, her face expressionless but her eyes revealing uncontrollable fear.

The pitiful wails of the departed spirit echoed in my ears, like the cry of a baby and the mournful meow of an abused kitten.

I bent down and rummaged through my backpack for a while, finally pulling out a bagua mirror¹.

It was one of the items my Grandfather had left me for warding off evil, because as a family of Yin-Yang life amulet makers, our main ability is to create life amulets, but anything related to the amulets would somewhat attract evil spirits.

Catching ghosts was not my forte, so I had to rely on magical items for protection, as Grandfather had told me.

I held the bagua mirror in my hand, quietly moved behind Jue Chi, and then gave him a look.

Understanding, Jue Chi stopped his movements. He continued to strike the wooden fish and nodded slightly at me. I raised the bagua mirror, aiming it at the departed spirit on Li Meng.

Moonlight streamed through the open window, shining on the bagua mirror, then reflected onto the spirit.

The spirit instantly reacted as if scalded by boiling water, leaping from Li Meng’s body and flailing its arms towards me.

I staggered back several steps as Jue Chi bellowed, “Evil creature!”

The sound of the Sutra grew louder, and the departed spirit fell from mid-air to the ground, writhing desperately like a flesh worm. I pulled out the soul-capturing bottle and aimed its mouth at the spirit, shouting, “Capture!”

With the power of the Sutra resonating, the spirit effortlessly entered the bottle. I sealed the bottle and weighed it in my hand.

To my surprise, the bottle started jumping in the palm of my hand. If I hadn’t been quick to grasp it, the soul-capturing bottle would have almost crashed to the ground.

“How can this thing be so malevolent that even the soul-capturing bottle can hardly contain it?” I frowned and glanced at Jue Chi.

Using the soul-capturing bottle to contain it was only a temporary measure. Given this spirit’s strength, it would break free from the bottle in less than a week. By then, capturing it again would be even more difficult.

Jue Chi seemed to understand my thoughts and took the bottle from my hands, putting it in his pocket.

After a fierce struggle, both Jue Chi and I were exhausted. Auntie and Li Meng had completely passed out, and Du Qiang was barely able to stand.

The three of us carried Li Meng and Auntie to the bed. I returned with Jue Chi to rest first, while Du Qiang stayed behind to take care of his family.

Once back at Du Qiang’s house, I was so tired that I collapsed onto the bed and fell into a drowsy sleep within minutes.

Jue Chi took out the soul-capturing bottle containing the spirit and pulled a piece of talisman paper from his bag, sticking it on the lid of the bottle.

The previously trembling bottle instantly calmed down.

Curious, I moved closer and saw that the runes on the bottle were unlike anything I had seen before. The characters, flowing like dragons and phoenixes, did not resemble Chinese script.

Jue Chi set up a candlestick and a wooden fish on the table, explaining that the runes were in Sanskrit, used to suppress evil spirits.

But this was only a temporary fix to restrain the departed spirit. If we wanted to resolve this matter completely within a week, we needed to exorcise the spirit immediately.

Guessing what Jue Chi was planning to do, I had never witnessed him exorcise a spirit before. Finally, I had the chance to see it with my own eyes.

I mustered the strength to get up and hurried to the bathroom to wash my face, trying to refresh myself.

When I returned to the bedroom, Jue Chi had already donned his Kasaya and was gently tapping the wooden fish, with two white incense candles arranged on the table, and a soul-capturing bottle placed between them.

Jue Chi was seated on the floor, legs crossed, rotating Buddhist prayer beads in his hands, with a Sutra spread out over his legs. I crawled onto the bed and turned to look at the characters in the Sutra.

Still, I didn’t recognize them.

I had thought that to exorcise would be an exhausting task, but there Jue Chi sat on the floor the whole night. By the late hours, I couldn’t hold up any longer, and fell asleep sprawled on the bed.

Mid-sleep, I suddenly felt someone shaking my arm.

I jolted awake, turned over, and rubbed my eyes as I sat up.

Jue Chi stood at the head of my bed, his gaze icy cold. Despite knowing him for so long, this was the first time I saw such an expression on Jue Chi’s face.

Sensing that something must have happened, I quickly sat up and asked him what was wrong.

Jue Chi didn’t speak; he just tilted his head, gesturing for me to look on the floor.

I glanced at him suspiciously, then leaned over to look at the floor. Just one look almost made me vomit on the spot.

Lying on the ground was a mass of flesh as if it had just been taken out of a blender. The flesh was soaked with blood, and I could even see an eyeball within the mess…

“Holy shit! What is that!” I jumped out of bed, yelling.

Jue Chi removed his Kasaya and covered the bloody flesh with it. The bulging mass gradually disappeared as if it had never been there.

A baby’s cry echoed, and my head started buzzing. That sound was so familiar-it was the voice of the departed spirit.

But wasn’t Jue Chi in the middle of exorcising him? How could I still hear the crying?

It was only a nap, and what on earth had happened…

Jue Chi picked up the Kasaya from the floor, and the mass of blood and flesh had transformed back into the departed spirit from before.

“Damn it! What are you doing! We went through so much trouble to capture him, and you let him out again!”

Seeing the departed spirit on the ground, worm-like with a mouth full of sharp teeth, I felt the urge to slap Jue Chi’s bald head hard.

Footnote:

1. Bagua mirror(八卦镜):A Bagua mirror is a traditional Chinese talisman used in Feng Shui.