IMMFBCG Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Corpse Oil

Ye Xue looked at the young man lying on the ground, feeling a mix of amusement and exasperation.

After a struggle, she finally managed to wake him up, only for him to faint again.

With such a timid nature, how had he ever had the courage to buy a ghost-summoning talisman and go to the haunted science building to play ghost games?

She placed the cotton doll aside and turned to help him up, settling him into a chair.

However, she turned her back for just a moment, and Ruan Xinghua nearly fell again.

Seeing this, Ye Xue quickly supported him, deciding not to grab anything else for the moment.

She looked at the unconscious Ruan Xinghua and pondered for a moment before reaching out to press on his philtrum.

But Ruan Xinghua remained with his eyes closed.

Ye Xue was momentarily taken aback. “…No response?”

Not willing to give up, she pressed again, and the area was already turning red, yet Ruan Xinghua still showed no reaction.

Now Ye Xue was puzzled. “What’s going on? He’s still not awake?”

This method had worked well in the past.

Ye Xue frowned in thought for a long time and finally had an idea.

She leaned closer to Ruan Xinghua and shouted in his ear, “A ghost is coming!”

As expected, the previously unresponsive Ruan Xinghua suddenly jolted awake, looking around with great vigilance. He shouted as if the fire was burning his eyebrows, “What?! Where’s the ghost?!”

After a moment, he realized what was happening, and his expression twisted in pain as he cried out, “Ah… it hurts!”

Ruan Xinghua instinctively covered his mouth, wincing in pain.

Ye Xue couldn’t help but remark, “You woke up from that! I pressed your philtrum earlier, and you didn’t budge, but just saying ‘there’s a ghost’ did the trick. How did you get so timid?”

Ruan Xinghua chuckled nervously. “Heh, I was scared, it’s just a reflex…”

After a while, he finally understood the meaning behind Ye Xue’s words and sighed in relief, “So there is no ghost! I knew there couldn’t be one at the Taoist temple.”

Ruan Xinghua let go of his mouth, but the area where he had pressed turned bright red, looking rather comical. He caught sight of the cotton doll again and nearly jumped up.

Yet the cotton doll remained silent and still.

Ye Xue had just told it to behave and not scare the guests, so it calmed down.

Seeing Ruan Xinghua’s jittery demeanor, Ye Xue couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s okay, it won’t hurt you.”

Ruan Xinghua moved his chair a bit closer to Ye Xue, his heart finally at ease. “Oh, okay.”

Now that Ye Xue saw him calm down and regain his composure, she asked, “Alright, since everything’s fine, can you tell me what’s going on with your eyes?”

“My eyes? I don’t know…” Ruan Xinghua looked confused as he rubbed his eyelids. “Ye Xue, are you talking about the yin energy you mentioned earlier? Does it relate to my eyes?”

Ye Xue nodded slightly.

She took out a box of vermilion and began to draw symbols on his face with a brush, saying, “Your habit of making incense offerings at Xuan Zhen Temple saved your life. Otherwise, by the time you realized what was happening, you would have probably gone blind.”

Ruan Xinghua didn’t dare to move, letting Ye Xue draw symbols on his face. He felt the gentle brush strokes lingering on his skin as if something was being blended away. The thick vermilion mixed with ink clung to his skin. While it should have felt somewhat uncomfortable, it instead felt quite soothing, with a cool sensation around his eye sockets.

After hearing Ye Xue’s words, Ruan Xinghua couldn’t help but feel a sense of fear. “It seems I did come to the right place for incense.”

Ye Xue finished the last stroke and said, “Alright, don’t touch it for now. Wait until the yin energy dissipates before you wipe it off.”

Ruan Xinghua nodded obediently. “Got it.”

She then placed the doll back by the window to bask in the sun and continued, “Your eyes must have come into close contact with something. Are you not sure what it was?”

Ruan Xinghua looked even more confused. “I’ve always been obedient; I haven’t been anywhere…”

He seemed to remember something and hesitated before continuing, “I just remembered, a few bottles of essential oils were delivered to my home recently. My parents don’t like the smell, so I took them all for myself…”

Ruan Xinghua’s face fell. “That can’t be!”

Ye Xue pondered for a moment. “Bring the essential oils over for me to take a look.”

After Ruan Xinghua was able to wipe the symbols off his face, he went home.

Half an hour later, he returned with the essential oils.

The bottles were green, and exquisitely crafted, and as soon as Ye Xue took it, she detected an unpleasant odor even before bringing it closer.

Ye Xue frowned slightly, took the essential oil, and lit it.

The scent was strong, immediately filling the entire room, with an underlying hint of something rotten.

Ye Xue reached out, lightly tapping the bottle. “Do you hear anything?”

Ruan Xinghua replied, “No…”

Suddenly, he paused, focusing on listening closely.

His expression changed dramatically. “Ye Xue, this is…”

Ye Xue replied calmly, “It’s the sound of someone crying.”

She casually picked up a talisman, lit it, and tossed it into the bottle. The cries from inside the essential oil became even more anguished.

A shadow emerged from the essential oil, and Ye Xue struck it with her sword, piercing it cleanly through.

Accompanied by a blood-curdling scream, the shadow vanished without a trace.

Ye Xue said, “It is made from corpse oil.”

“Corpse oil…” Ruan Xinghua was already timid, and hearing those two words made him gag.

Ye Xue opened the window to ventilate the room and asked, “Who gave you this?”

Ruan Xinghua looked like he was about to cry, his face a picture of despair. “It was my uncle… but how could this happen…” He mumbled to himself, “He’s my uncle…”

Ye Xue said, “It doesn’t necessarily mean he wanted to harm you. Perhaps your uncle was unaware of what was happening.”

Ruan Xinghua couldn’t accept this reality and said, clearly distressed, “My uncle got into gambling and owed a lot of debt. My parents helped him pay it off several times, trying to persuade him to quit, but he wouldn’t listen. Eventually, my dad didn’t bother with him anymore. The last time my uncle came asking for money, they had a huge fight over it. Then, sometime later, my uncle came to apologize, saying he realized he had made a mistake, brought us a lot of gifts, and promised he wouldn’t gamble again.”

“I thought that was the end of it…” Ruan Xinghua was deeply affected. “But I never expected…”

Ye Xue gently patted his hand in comfort. “You should still tell your parents about this and let them investigate.”

Ruan Xinghua nodded and left, looking burdened.

“Phew—”

Once the room was empty, the cotton doll finally spoke up.

It whispered, “That smell is so terrible! That shadow scared me to death!”

The cotton doll was extremely clean; it didn’t want to wear anything that was even slightly dirty, and now that it had been tainted by the scent of corpse oil, it was remarkable that it managed to keep quiet.

Ye Xue walked over to it and said apologetically, “Sorry, little one. I took care of that shadow. Are you still scared?”

The doll paused for a moment, chattering away, but Ye Xue couldn’t catch all of it.

When she leaned closer, she finally heard the cotton doll say, “Ye Xue, kiss me. If you kiss me, I won’t be scared anymore!”

Ye Xue was briefly stunned, then chuckled softly as she picked up the cotton doll, brushing her cheek against its soft face. “There, there, nothing to be scared of.”

The cotton doll’s eyes widened with shock, and it went completely silent, even quieter than when it first arrived.

Ye Xue thought the doll might be whispering too softly, so she leaned in but still heard nothing. She had other tasks to tend to, so she shrugged it off, picked up the remaining aromatherapy jars, and went to the main hall to seek Master Bai’s help.

A few hours later, Xu Zhou arrived. He planned to take the doll for a quick wash and change of clothes but was greeted by the doll’s excited exclamation: “Ye Xue kissed me!”

Xu Zhou: “…?”

He wondered if he’d misheard.

The doll insisted loudly, “I’m not taking a bath today!”

Xu Zhou finally understood. “…Got it.”

A few days later, Ruan Xinghua came by the temple to talk to Ye Xue about aromatherapy. He looked disheartened. “It turns out my uncle sent that aromatherapy on purpose, hoping to hurt my parents. He wanted to cause chaos in our family and take advantage of it to team up with the board and push my parents out. But he didn’t expect I’d take all the aromatherapy myself. My parents said I don’t need to worry—they’ll handle it. Oh, right, this is for you…”

He pulled a red envelope from his pocket and handed it to Ye Xue. “My parents asked me to give this to you. They’re busy now, but they said they’ll come to pay respects soon.”

Ye Xue refrained from commenting too much on his family issues, simply offering a few reassuring words. “No rush; just take it easy. Let the adults handle the rest.”

Ruan Xinghua nodded, soon perking up again. “I haven’t paid respects to the founder in a while; I’ll go do that now.”

Ye Xue smiled. “Go ahead.”

…

After Ye Xue reported the matter of the man in black and the ghost charm to the Daoist Association, they promised to keep her updated with any new findings. The mysterious figure was skilled and had managed to evade the association’s tracking, covering his tracks carefully. They tried various ways to locate him but had no luck.

Bai Liu heard about this and sighed. “If only we had a piece of his clothing or hair.”

Ye Xue asked curiously, “What would that do?”

Bai Liu replied, “Then we could cast a curse to hunt him down!”

Ye Xue stared at him in surprise. “We’re Daoists, not shamanic curse masters.”

Bai Liu paused, then nodded in realization. “Oh, right.”

But he couldn’t help grumbling, “That’s three million on the line…”

If they found the man in black, they could retrieve the demon-slaying sword.

Ye Xue patted him on the shoulder and encouraged, “Just work hard; catch thirty fierce ghosts who escaped from Ronggui Well, and you’ll get there.”

Bai Liu’s face fell. “Master, it’s my day off today; no need to spoil it with reminders like that.”

Ye Xue nodded, humorously appeasing him. “Alright, noted.”

Bai Liu glanced outside the bustling main hall and turned back to Ye Xue. “Master, why don’t we go out later? I heard a new hotpot place opened on New Avenue…”

Ye Xue thought for a moment. “Sure, we can head out this afternoon. Let’s check if Senior Brother is free.”

Bai Liu replied quickly, “Oh, I already asked. He said he’s busy, so it’s just us.”

Since no one else was available, Ye Xue didn’t press further. “Sounds good.”

Bai Liu began gathering his belongings.

Ye Xue finished her assignments, but he still hadn’t memorized his spell for the day.

Shaking her head, Ye Xue decided not to disturb him and quietly left the room.

The traffic accident ghost, now wearing a helmet, was increasingly fond of darting through the ground. Ye Xue almost stepped on him as she approached the back door.

“I have to say…” she started, but stopped.

“Huh, Daoist Ye, did you call for me?” The ghost popped his head up, holding a rag, clearly in the middle of cleaning.

Ye Xue said, “Nothing. Just keep up the good work.”

…

Finally, Bai Liu finished memorizing his spells for the day, realizing it was already nearly six o’clock. Nearly faint from hunger, he dashed to find Ye Xue, pulling her outside.

The new hotpot place was in a rather remote area, so Bai Liu checked the GPS on his phone and guided Ye Xue along.

Soon, they reached the plaza.

Bai Liu looked at his phone, mumbling, “Left at the next intersection, then straight for 500 meters… Master, remember to turn left up ahead.”

After reminding her, Bai Liu noticed Ye Xue was unresponsive.

Unable to resist, he called out, “Master?”

Ye Xue was gazing off into the distance, where she thought she saw a familiar face and called out in surprise, “Yu Qi?”

Yu Qi was just getting out of the car, speaking to the driver, who nodded in response.

Hearing his name, he looked back, recognizing Ye Xue and showing a faint smile.

He turned to say a few more words to the driver, then made his way over.

Ye Xue asked, “Are you heading to Xuanzhen Temple?”

Yu Qi nodded.

He’d come specifically to find Ye Xue, so that wasn’t wrong.

Ye Xue understood.

Bai Liu, however, looked at Yu Qi and said, “Uh, Mr. Yu, we’re about to grab hotpot, so…”

Bai Liu was suggesting they’d go ahead and not disturb him.

To his surprise, Yu Qi looked at Ye Xue hesitantly, and she nodded with a smile.

He quickly lowered his eyes and nodded. “Alright.”

Bai Liu: “???”

Wait, that wasn’t what he meant!