IMMFBCG Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Free Movie

After Ye Xue returned the students home, a surge of new clients flocked to Xuan Zhen Temple.

Young people are naturally full of energy, so without any extra effort from Ye Xue to promote the temple, Tan Jiade and his group spontaneously started spreading the word about Xuan Zhen Temple.

Even parents who never believed in ghosts and spirits began to feel a sense of reverence after experiencing their children’s out-of-body incident. Seeking peace of mind, they visited Xuan Zhen Temple to offer incense and even signed up for VIP memberships.

Besides the VIP clients previously referred from Tian Yi Temple, Xuan Zhen Temple began to establish its loyal following.

Tan Zhenghao, always keeping up with trends, was surprised when he learned that Xuan Zhen Temple didn’t have an official Weibo account. He asked why they hadn’t set one up yet.

It was only then that Xu Zhou and the others realized that most temples, except for Xuan Zhen Temple, had official Weibo accounts. Temples like Taihe Temple and Zhenwu Temple, even nearby Tian Yi Temple, all had Weibo accounts—some even had public WeChat accounts.

After scrolling through Weibo, Bai Liu couldn’t help but remark, “This is the evolution of the information age!”

After some discussion, they decided to create a small account specifically to manage Weibo.

On the first day of its launch, Bai Liu logged in and posted the first message, which was about a giveaway.

Xuan Zhen Temple V: Xuan Zhen Temple has officially launched its Weibo! Follow and repost this for a chance to win a ghost-repelling talisman. We’re giving away one to ten lucky people!

The response to the post was lukewarm at first.

Since Xuan Zhen Temple hadn’t done much promotion, apart from Tan Zhenghao and his friends, not many people knew they had an official Weibo. As a result, the report count for the giveaway was disappointingly low.

It wasn’t until Tian Yi Temple logged into its own Weibo and shared Xuan Zhen Temple’s giveaway post that followers of Tian Yi Temple started to notice. “Isn’t this the ‘sister temple’ of Tian Yi Temple that’s been gaining some fame recently? Xuan Zhen Temple opened a Weibo?”

Most people’s main impression of Xuan Zhen Temple came from the students who studied at the temple’s pavilion. As for its other services, they weren’t sure how effective they were. But now, seeing that Xuan Zhen Temple was holding a giveaway for ghost-repelling talismans, they became curious.

After all, other temples would typically only offer things like good luck charms or consecrated amulets, but here Xuan Zhen Temple was giving away ghost-repelling talismans.

A ghost-repelling talisman, as the name implies, is a talisman used to ward off ghosts and evil spirits.

With fewer than a hundred reposts and ten prizes available, people thought, “Why not? Maybe I’ll win.”

Even if the talisman didn’t work, there was no harm in trying. So, more and more people began to repost the giveaway, and the repost count eventually reached over 500.

Jian Caiying, upon seeing the Weibo account, called the head of the temple, Bai Ziang. “How do you guys have so many ghost-repelling talismans? If you’re just scribbling them out and faking it, I won’t help you if the Daoist Association comes after you.”

It wasn’t surprising that Jian Caiying would think that way.

Creating talismans usually involves a very complex process. It required bathing, burning incense, and praying before one could officially start drawing the talisman. Even after all that, the talisman might not be effective. If any part of the process was mishandled, the talisman could be rendered useless.

Creating a simple talisman was already difficult enough, let alone a ghost-repelling talisman with powerful effects. Even Jian Caiying himself had to put in a lot of effort to make just one.

Because of the difficulty in making ghost-repelling talismans, temples would usually keep them rather than give them away so freely. But here was Xuan Zhen Temple, generously offering ten talismans for a giveaway.

Although Jian Caiying’s words were a bit blunt, he was essentially giving them a kind reminder: if the talismans were real, it would be wise to keep them instead of giving them away so recklessly. Most of the users reposting the giveaway didn’t even follow Taoism and might toss the talisman into a drawer or the trash the moment they got it.

Bai Ziang knew Jian Caiying meant well, but he couldn’t help but feel conflicted as he thought about the dozens of ghost-repelling talismans his junior sister had left behind. In a complicated tone, he said, “Don’t worry. The talismans are real, and we have more than enough.”

Jian Caiying hung up, still half-skeptical. Could the talismans be genuine?

But how? These were ghost-repelling talismans!

Then again, when he thought of that sharp-tongued, quick-witted young priestess from Xuan Zhen Temple, he shamefully began to doubt himself.

Jian Caiying opened his phone, logged in with a secondary account, and reposted Xuan Zhen Temple’s giveaway.

What if it turned out to be real…

He decided to log into several other accounts and repost as well, just to increase his chances of winning and verify the talisman’s authenticity himself.

Jian Sinian, seeing his father repeatedly logging in and switching between multiple accounts to repost, was dumbfounded. He never expected his father to be capable of such tactics.

Staring in disbelief, Jian Sinian called out, “…Dad?”

How many alternate accounts did his dad have? He seemed to have even more than him!

Avoiding his son’s gaze, Jian Caiying cleared his throat and explained, “I’m just gathering intelligence! Know your enemy, and you’ll win every battle.”

Jian Sinian reflexively countered, “But isn’t Xuan Zhen Temple a ‘sister temple’? Are you trying to win a talisman to use? I guess I understand, considering how hard it is to draw ghost-repelling talismans. Ow, that hurt!”

Jian Sinian rubbed his head, feeling sorry for himself.

Jian Caiying, however, righteously declared, “I’m doing this for the Daoist Association! I’m just making sure there are no fakes out there!”

Ye Xue was already aware of the temple launching a Weibo account.

Before setting it up, her senior brothers had called her for approval, and they also asked for her opinion before using ghost-repelling talismans in the giveaway.

Even though the head of the temple, Bai Ziang, knew how talented his junior sister was, he was still amazed every time he saw how fast she could draw talismans.

Ye Xue didn’t need to go through any complicated procedures when drawing talismans—she relied entirely on intuition and could complete several in one go. She was a natural when it came to practicing Taoism.

During the National Day holiday, Ye Xue spent her time both studying and drawing talismans.

Aside from the ones she left at Xuan Zhen Temple, she still had over a dozen various talismans in her backpack, and that didn’t even include the ones she had used earlier in experiments with malevolent spirits. If it did, she would have had even more.

Bai Ziang began to see Ye Xue not only as a money-making machine but also as a talisman-drawing robot devoid of emotion.

He put a stop to Ye Xue’s idea of sending more talismans to the temple and told her to focus on taking care of herself at school. He also casually mentioned that the giveaway Weibo post had now been reposted over 500 times.

Ye Xue’s phone didn’t have much storage and couldn’t handle additional apps, so she’d never used Weibo and had no idea if 500 reposts were considered a lot.

After hanging up, she asked her roommates about it.

Wei Cainin looked up from her computer and said, “500? Well, if you spread 500 rumors, you could get sued. But for a giveaway post, it’s kind of… meh.”

Ye Xue sighed as if she had already expected this outcome. “I figured.”

It seemed that Xuan Zhen Temple wasn’t famous enough yet.

Gao Lan, curious, asked, “Ah Xue, are you following some celebrity now? Why are you suddenly so interested in Weibo stats?”

Ye Xue shook her head, looking deep in thought.

He Siqi put down her notebook and curiously pulled out her phone.

Siqi was quite invested in all things related to temples, so she had already followed and reposted Xuan Zhen Temple’s Weibo the day it launched. However, back then, the temple hadn’t gained much attention. Hearing Ye Xue brings up the Weibo topic now, Siqi guessed it had something to do with the temple. She logged into Weibo to check and happened to see a comment below the giveaway post asking if the temple could create talismans to summon ghosts, requesting that they include a few in the giveaway.

The commenter said they had never seen a ghost before and wanted to experience what it felt like.

Siqi thought to herself that this person was clueless. If they ever saw a real ghost, they’d probably be scared out of their wits. After all, not everyone could stay calm around ghosts like Ye Xue.

Still, the question piqued Siqi’s curiosity, so she leaned over and asked Ye Xue quietly, “Ah Xue, is there such a thing as a ghost-summoning talisman?”

Because if it were real and someone could just slap a talisman on someone to make them see ghosts, the world would be in chaos.

Ye Xue shook her head and seriously replied, “Of course not. We’re a proper Taoist temple.”

Siqi let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, that’s good to hear.”

But Ye Xue, deep in thought, added, “It would be kind of nice if it did exist, though.”

She would draw ten or so for herself, attract a bunch of malevolent spirits, and wipe them all out at once.

It would be a new secret to wealth! How could there not be such a good thing in the world?

Siqi overheard Ye Xue’s mutterings and, after hesitating, finally couldn’t resist asking, “Is this that thing people talk about—‘lure the ghost in, then kill it’?”

Ye Xue: “???”

…

Recently, Gao Lan heard about a new horror movie coming out and invited her roommates to watch it together.

Oddly enough, though both she and He Siqi were terrified of ghosts, they always rushed to the theater whenever a new supernatural movie was released.

Ye Xue, who was usually fearless, ironically had the greatest fear of ghost movies and anything related to ghosts.

The only one in the dorm who was never scared by these things was Wei Cainin.

Since they had no classes on Friday afternoon, the three ghost-fearing roommates, along with the one atheist, decided to head to the movie theater to watch a horror film together and go home afterward.

Maybe because it was a weekday, there weren’t many people around, and when Ye Xue and her group arrived at the theater, they realized they were the only ones in the screening room. It was like they had the whole place to themselves.

The movie begins with the female lead having a nightmare about sleep paralysis. As she woke up, a clump of hair brushed across her face. She opened her eyes and saw a woman’s head emerging from the headboard, slowly moving toward her.

Just as the woman let out a scream, the scene changed again—she woke up and realized that too had been a dream.

When the ghost slowly crawled toward the screen, the four girls in the theater screamed out of fear. But mixed in with their screams was an unexpected cry: “Holy crap, that scared the life out of me!”

Ye Xue was startled. It seemed like among the screams, there was a man’s voice as well.

But there were only four of them in the room.

Feeling uneasy, Ye Xue glanced back at her roommates. All three were focused intently on the screen, clutching themselves in fear, clearly oblivious to any other noises.

Ye Xue wiped her eyes and looked toward the direction of the sound. In the farthest corner of the theater sat the translucent figure of a male ghost. He was nervously watching the screen, jumping every time a ghost appeared, and screaming in terror as he clutched his head.

“…” Ye Xue slowly turned back around and quietly continued watching the movie, suddenly feeling better about how scared she had been earlier.

What’s the big deal if a Taoist priest gets scared by a horror movie? Even ghosts get frightened by ghost films!

When a scene with countless ghostly hands appeared, Ye Xue instinctively covered her eyes, too terrified to keep watching.

Her ears were filled with the screams of her roommates, accompanied by the ghost’s panicked wailing.

By the time the movie ended, Ye Xue felt physically and emotionally drained.

After the film, her roommates said their goodbyes and headed home.

Ye Xue didn’t leave right away. She lingered for a bit until she was sure no one else had entered the theater, then walked to the far corner.

The ghost was still sitting there, mumbling his review of the movie. He was saying how it was a mishmash of everything, featuring Wong Fei-hung, zombies, and vampires all mixed together.

The ghost was so absorbed in his critique that he didn’t notice Ye Xue approaching until she stood directly in front of him. He slowly looked up and, upon seeing the sword in her backpack, recoiled in fear and yelled, “Oh my god!”

The ghost was trembling, but Ye Xue didn’t seem intent on exorcising him. She just curiously asked, “What are you doing here? Why haven’t you moved on?”

The ghost had a pure and clean aura, so if he went to the underworld, he’d probably get processed quickly.

But the ghost replied, “Why would I go? As a ghost, I can watch movies for free. Once I reincarnate, I’d have to work and earn money to pay for movie tickets. Why would I want to do that?”

Ye Xue paused, finding his argument surprisingly reasonable.

The ghost continued, sighing, “Movie tickets are getting more expensive these days. It’s just too pricey! By the way, how much did you pay for your ticket?”

Ye Xue replied, “…84 yuan.”

Damn, the more she thought about it, the more she felt ripped off!

As the next movie was about to start, Ye Xue warned him not to scare people. After getting the ghost’s promise, she let him be.

She walked to the theater’s entrance, pulled out her phone, and called Bai Liu, asking him to come pick her up on his electric bike.

They had already planned to stop by a candle shop on the way back to buy some offerings for the wandering spirits nearby.

Once the call connected, Ye Xue said, “I’m done with the movie. Can you come pick me up?”

But there was silence on the other end.

Then, a pleasant male voice, completely different from Bai Liu’s, asked, “Where are you?”

Ye Xue, surprised by the unfamiliar voice, looked at her phone and realized she had dialed the wrong number.

She had recently spoken to Yu Qi, and due to the ancient and unresponsive nature of her old Nokia phone, she had accidentally called him instead.

Ye Xue decided right then that she needed to buy a new phone as soon as she had the money!

When Ye Xue didn’t reply right away, Yu Qi became concerned and gently called out, “Ye Xue?”

After a moment of silence, Ye Xue calmly responded, “I’m at Beihu Cinema. Thanks.”