Taboo Mage - Chapter 93 - Releasing the Spirit
The woman grasped the peachwood sword with both hands, a scorching smell emanating from her palms. She merely frowned before tossing the sword to the ground.
The glasses-wearing man was so terrified that he collapsed, covering his face with his hands and wailing miserably.
Sensing something was amiss, I rushed forward. Jue Chi had already taken the initiative, throwing his prayer beads at the woman.
The woman suddenly turned her head, her black pupils staring fixedly at Jue Chi and me. She tilted her stiff neck and her lips stretched into a wide grin.
What on earth is this? Even the prayer beads Jue Chi had offered to the Buddha for over a decade didn’t scare her!
“This spirit was originally meant for the temple, and nothing I have works on it,” Jue Chi said, frowning as he glanced at me.
I groaned inwardly. Was I the only one who could deal with something this powerful?
The woman smiled eerily, moving towards me as if she were dancing ballet. There was no time to think. I quickly pulled the copper coin sword from my bag and confronted her.
Jue Chi seized the opportunity to grab the glasses-wearing man, dragging him to the bathroom and shutting the door.
I thrust the copper coin sword towards the woman’s nose, and she dodged. I swung the blade, slashing it across her face.
“Ah!” she screamed as black smoke poured from the cut.
Suddenly, the woman charged at me like a madwoman. Holding the copper coin sword, I blocked her attacks, managing to hold her off for a while.
At that critical moment, the doorbell rang. I lured the woman into a corner as Jue Chi dashed to open the door.
Standing outside was the police officer who had interrogated me earlier. He entered with two others, glancing around before asking, “Where is it? You said it was here?”
“Damn it! Help us out!”
Hearing the voices at the door, I felt a surge of relief and shouted, leading the woman towards the entrance.
The police officer, seeing me engaged in a fight with the woman, joined the fray without a second thought. With the extra help, the woman was quickly cornered.
“Hold her down! I’ll be right there!”
With that, I dashed towards the backpack. Jue Chi had already pulled out some items I might need.
I glanced briefly; unsure what exactly had possessed the woman, I decided to try everything that might work.
“Is this even a woman? She’s so strong! Hurry up!”
The police officers were struggling to maintain their grip. I grabbed the bottle of black dog blood and the yellow talisman paper inscribed with an exorcism incantation, signaling Jue Chi to take the soul-capturing bottle. Together, we charged at the woman.
Her face twisted into a snarl, and her eyes glared at me with hatred. I splashed the black dog blood on her, causing her to thrash wildly. Then I stuck the yellow paper on her.
After a few struggles, she finally calmed down. Jue Chi stepped forward, positioning the mouth of the soul-capturing bottle towards her. I recited the Incantation, and a wisp of black smoke emerged from the top of her head.
The smoke floated in the air briefly before entering the soul-capturing bottle.
Once the bottle was sealed, I let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the sofa, pointing towards the bathroom.
The police officers quickly rushed in, bringing out the glasses-wearing man. Terrified, he trembled and offered no resistance as they handcuffed him and took him away.
The issue of the life amulet was resolved, but I was at a loss about how to deal with the spirit.
Jue Chi suggested that the spirit had likely absorbed spiritual energy for a long time at the Child-Giving Guanyin temple, which gave it such powerful strength and resistance to Buddhist items. Unfortunately, it was caught by me and trapped in the life amulet.
Hearing Jue Chi’s insight, a twinge of guilt crept into my heart. I realized that the backlash I suffered could be due to two reasons: first, because the life amulet had been used by the glasses-wearing man for unlawful purposes, and second, the spirit trapped within the amulet might have had a better path for cultivation.
With this in mind, I sighed softly and discussed with Jue Chi about finding a prosperous, incense-filled place to release the spirit.
We debated this for quite some time, and it just so happened that, on the day we arrived in Shenyang, Jue Chi had insisted on visiting a particular temple, which perfectly met our requirements. Thus, we decided to release the spirit in that temple at night.
In the evening, Li Meng and Du Qiang came to retrieve their life amulets. After hearing about our plan, they insisted on accompanying us to the temple, likely worried about any issues with the spirits in their own life amulets.
The four of us gathered our things and set off for the temple together.
The temple was as bustling as ever. Jue Chi took Li Meng and Du Qiang to offer incense while I set out to find a suitable spot.
This was my first time releasing a captured spirit. Before arriving at the temple, I had consulted ancient books, which mentioned that if one were to release a captured spirit, it should be done in a place resembling its original environment. Most importantly, the spirit should choose the place it prefers.
To avoid attracting attention, I selected a spot hidden behind a prayer flag in a corner. I opened the soul-capturing bottle, from which a wisp of black smoke emerged.
I stuck a rune on my forehead and, upon reopening my eyes, saw the black smoke transform into the shape of a flame in mid-air.
The flame hovered briefly before wandering around the temple. I quickly followed it, weaving through the crowd until it settled on a red candle in front of a Buddha statue.
Feeling relieved, I realized it had finally found a place it was satisfied with. Now, I just had to wait for it to merge back into the red candle, and the matter would be resolved.
The flame circled the red candle, as if attempting to merge, but it couldn’t manage to do so.
Suddenly, the flame turned towards me, seemingly looking in my direction. I smiled, took a red string from my bag, tied one end to the red candle, and laid the other end on the ground.
The flame flickered a few times, then climbed along the red string towards the candle, eventually merging with the original flame dancing atop the red candle.
Seeing it disappear, I finally felt a wave of complete relief wash over me…
