Taboo Mage - Chapter 8 - Capturing the Ghost

Li He dashed towards the female ghost, his steps swift and determined. In his hand, the swiss army knife snapped open mid-air, tracing a perfect arc before piercing the ghost’s shoulder, causing blood to gush out instantly.

I stood there, stunned by the sudden turn of events, struggling to process what just happened.

The only sound filling my ears was a piercing, eerie scream, filled with a woman’s furious anguish and a man’s rough pain.

My head buzzed as I squatted down, quickly rummaging through my bag for the rune I had prepared yesterday. I also grabbed a bottle containing Rooster blood and hurriedly lunged forward.

Li He had nearly lost consciousness, holding onto the knife with a tight grip, chuckling in a chilling manner.

Their laughter gave me goosebumps, and when I reached Li He’s back, I swung my foot, kicking him in the back.

Li He fell to the ground, and the female ghost glared at me with a hideous expression. There was no room for fear now. I took the rune, hastily smeared some saliva on it, and slapped it onto him.

With my other hand, I quickly unscrewed the bottle cap and poured the entire bottle of Rooster blood over his head.

Immediately, the smell of charred flesh filled the air. The female ghost shrieked, white smoke billowing from her head as if her hair was on fire.

“Ah! I’m going to kill you all!”

She screamed, waving her hands wildly and lunging at me. I quickly retreated, scanning my surroundings for a place to hide.

But to my dismay, I realized that, being the summer break, the entire dormitory building had its doors locked.

“Ah Biao! Ah Biao! Get out here if you don’t want to die!” In my desperation, I thought of Ah Biao, who had been hiding, and shouted at the top of my lungs.

Bang!

A tremendous noise echoed, and I looked towards the sound. In the corner of the corridor, Ah Biao was cowering behind a trash bin, trembling.

The footsteps behind me grew faster, and I had no time to waste. I turned and ran towards Ah Biao.

“Stay back! Don’t come any closer!”

Ah Biao saw the female ghost chasing me and was terrified, his hair standing on end as he waved his hands frantically.

I glared at him and roared, “Damn it, if you don’t want to die, come and help!”

Ah Biao jolted at my shout, and seeing the female ghost’s sharp nails almost within reach, he suddenly found the courage from who knows where and sprang up, rolling up his sleeves as he charged forward.

I cursed under my breath; sure enough, he’s all brawn and no brains, charging in bare-handed like that!

“Ah! Brother Gu, come here quickly!” Ah Biao’s excited shout came from behind me. I turned to see that the female ghost was actually pinned in a corner, unable to move.

Ah Biao’s hands, like iron clamps, gripped the ghost’s arms tightly. Without her “weapons,” the female ghost could only scream, incapable of any resistance.

I chuckled to myself. Could it be that the simple-minded have their own kind of luck?

I rummaged through my bag for a while. Though we had the ghost temporarily subdued, how to get her out was still a problem.

I poured the remaining Rooster blood over the ghost, and, as expected, her struggles grew weaker until white smoke started coming out of her mouth and nose, and she gradually collapsed to the ground.

Seeing her reaction, I was thrilled. I quickly instructed Ah Biao to keep holding the ghost, while I hurriedly set up white candles and red string around her.

“Brother Gu, what are you doing?” Ah Biao, feeling relieved, began to chat with me.

“Ghost catching,” I replied curtly. Following the instructions from the ancient books, I arranged the Array using the red string, then sat cross-legged in the center, forming hand signs and chanting an Incantation.

Before long, there was a heart-wrenching scream. White smoke emerged from the man possessed by the female ghost and began thrashing in the air.

The smoke was trapped within the space circled by the red string. Finally, I lit the yellow talisman paper and tossed it into the Glass bottle in the center. The white smoke was drawn into the bottle by the flames of the burning paper.

The yellow talisman paper guided the ghost out.

The Glass bottle vibrated rapidly as I stood up and sealed it with a lid that had been soaked in glutinous rice. The bottle fell silent instantly.

“Is it… over?”

The suffocating feeling that surrounded us suddenly disappeared. Ah Biao must have sensed it too. He leaned against the wall for support, standing up weakly, and looked at the Glass bottle in my hand with a face of bewilderment.

I nodded, instructing him to keep this a secret; otherwise, it could bring disaster.

Ah Biao raised his hand to swear, and only then did I let out a sigh of relief.

I was well aware that with my limited ghost catching skills, capturing this ghost was more about luck than skill. This time, luck was on my side. Next time, if luck turns against me, I could very well lose my life.

Having Ah Biao keep quiet was also to avoid others coming to seek help, which would be hard to refuse. It’s about preserving my own life.

We rested at the scene for a while before I remembered that I hadn’t seen Li He in a long time. Moreover, his dormitory roommate had a wound on his shoulder. Without prompt medical attention, he could be in serious danger.

This ordeal had drained me of my strength. Sitting on the ground, cold sweat streaming down my forehead, I could barely stand up even with the help of the wall.

Ah Biao noticed my weakness and volunteered to look for Li He. Not long after, he came back, carrying a fainted Li He.

We initially planned to take them to the hospital ourselves, but we were too exhausted to move. We had no other choice but to call 911, fabricating a story about students secretly using gas in the dormitory and getting poisoned, leading to a stabbing incident in their confused state.

As the ambulance sped away, Ah Biao and I helped each other back to the shop.

For three days straight, I lay in bed, barely getting up except to eat.

After a few days of rest, I finally felt some strength returning. I swore to myself that I would never take on such a job again.

During this period, Li He came to see me, expressing his endless gratitude. Seeing that he had mostly recovered, I was overjoyed and took him out for a couple of drinks. That night, I fell into a deep sleep as soon as I hit the pillow.

In the middle of the night, I was suddenly hit by a wave of cold air. Given the season, such bone-chilling cold was unusual. Struggling to sit up, I wrapped myself in a blanket and went to find the source of the cold.

When I wandered into the living room, I heard a heavy thud. I listened intently and knew something was wrong. Rushing to the ancestral tablet, I saw that the tiger head life amulet had fallen to the ground.

The cold air pervading the entire room was coming from the amulet.

I picked it up and couldn’t help but shiver at the chill emanating from it. The cold radiating from the amulet was much worse than when Liu Yineng had initially brought it.