Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor-PerpetualMreow, Proofreader-Spring Flower
On November 10th, Wednesday, at 6:40 in the morning.
The sun had just risen, and many kind villagers gathered outside the walls of the Liu family ancestral hall, waiting to see if the two Taoist priests who spent the night inside were safe and sound.
Although Liu Fan and his driver stayed in a town 30 kilometers away last night, they rushed over early this morning, afraid that something might have happened to Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan.
Last night, Young Master Liu couldn’t sleep a wink, constantly wondering if those two people left in the ancestral hall were in any danger.
They were people who an old classmate had vouched for, and he had even seen Bei Quan’s impressive tricks – his ability to transform into a live bird was quite intimidating. But, he was still well aware of his own family’s history. Everyone in the Liu family, all ten or so members, who had stayed overnight in the ancestral home, had all, without fail, encountered the “evil spirits”, and everyone who had been scared was left with a profound psychological impact.
He had even developed a paranoid belief that the other side was so powerful that they were unbeatable.
So Liu Fan couldn’t help but worry that Bei Quan and his disciples were just putting on a facade and that with one wrong move, they would be harmed by those ghosts and monsters.
Now, the reputation of the Liu family in the village was already synonymous with the “plague god”. If anything else went wrong, they might not be able to establish themselves in their hometown anymore…
Please, Master Bei Quan, your skills in exorcism must be powerful!
Liu Fan was lost in these thoughts, tossing and turning on the single bed in the hotel. Finally, he managed to endure until ten minutes before six o’clock and immediately woke up the driver.
The two of them quickly freshened up, not even in the mood to eat breakfast. Taking advantage of the early and smooth traffic, they went straight to the village.
By the time Liu Fan and the driver arrived, there were already many villagers gathered outside the courtyard walls, all craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the situation inside the ancestral hall. However, not a single person dared to step into the yard, which had been reduced to ruins.
As soon as everyone saw the Liu family’s private car parked in front of the ancestral hall, they immediately crowded around, urging the two of them to go in and take a look.
Somehow, Liu Fan felt a bit weak in the knees.
Just now, when he was on the road, he was so anxious that he wished he could grow wings and fly straight over. But now, he was standing outside the courtyard gate, but couldn’t muster the courage to go in.
“Gulp!”
Liu Fan swallowed hard, looked up at the increasingly bright sky, and gave himself a pep talk.
Then, he raised his hand and pressed against the door panel of the yard, about to push with all his might–
At that moment, there was a creaking sound, and the wooden door of the boarding house in the yard unexpectedly opened first.
Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan walked out of the shabby board house, one in front of the other.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Oh, Master Liu, good morning.”
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Ole Mjc ibbxfv ja Dfl Hejc lc jrabclrtwfca, “Cgf sbe…jgf sbe uesr bxjs?”
“Ojra cluta P jigfjvs lcnlafv atf Glnlcf Vbnfgfluc, Nfgwlilbc Dlgv bo atf Vbeatfgc Vxlfr, jcv kf fgjvlmjafv atf fnli rqlglar.”
Bei Quan smiled slightly, “Now we have personally proven that there will be no more haunting here.”
There was a commotion all around.
Liu Fan’s eyes widened, his expression still somewhat incredulous, “I-Is that true? That’s…that’s amazing…”
Bei Quan led Wei Fuyuan out of the ancestral hall.
Liu Fan noticed that Wei Fuyuan was holding something square-shaped in his arms, covered with a bedsheet, making it impossible to see what was inside.
It- Such a big box, he didn’t see it yesterday!
Bei Quan walked up to Liu Fan, tilted his chin towards the main house, and suggested with a smile, “There are too many people here. Come, let’s go inside and talk.”
——————————————-
Liu Fan, Bei Quan, and Wei Fuyuan quickly moved into the main house.
“Did you not encounter anything strange last night?”
Just as they settled down, Liu Fan couldn’t wait to ask, “No weird sounds? No one knocking on the door or window? No ‘people’ moving outside?”
These strange occurrences were all things he had personally experienced before, leaving a deep psychological impact on him.
“To be honest, something did happen last night.”
Bei Quan smiled, “But we have already resolved it perfectly.”
Liu Fan blinked in confusion, “Didn’t you exorcise the ghost last night?”
“No, actually, the ritual last night was just a performance.”
Bei Quan answered candidly, “It was only to put on a show for ‘someone’ and lure the snake out of its hole.”
“A show? For whom?”
Liu Fan became even more perplexed,
“It couldn’t possibly be for the villagers who were watching, right?”
Bei Quan smiled and lightly kicked the “box” covered with a bedsheet next to the coffee table with his toe:
“Of course, it was for this thing to see.”
“I was just about to ask you!”
Liu Fan touched his nose and quickly asked,”What exactly is in this box? Why does it smell like urine?”
Wei Fuyuan bent down and ripped off the bed sheet covering the “box.”
“Oh no!”
Liu Fan let out a scream, “Why is it, is it a Siberian weasel!?”
Indeed, that wasn’t a box at all, but a large iron cage.
The wire mesh was tightly woven, with many red ropes tied around it, and a bright yellow talisman was attached at the center.
Crouched inside the cage was a large Siberian weasel that looked like it had been treated quite miserably.
Its fur was disheveled, its expression was dejected, and at the moment, it was timidly holding onto its tail, its two little eyes looking fearfully at the three humans outside the cage, trembling.
“Of course, we caught it.”
Wei Fuyuan said, taking out his phone and swiping it a couple of times before placing it in front of Liu Fan.
“We’ve already reviewed everything that needed to be reviewed for you. Take a look for yourself.”
Liu Fan: “…”
He was a bit overwhelmed and couldn’t quite grasp the situation.
“Are you saying… this Siberian weasel was the one causing mischief? And you… you interrogated it?”
At this moment, Liu Fan’s mind was filled with thoughts like, “This can’t be possible, this isn’t a scene from ‘Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio’!”, “How do you interrogate a wild animal? Even if you can speak the Siberian weasel language, I wouldn’t understand!” and other sarcastic comments.
However, Wei Fuyuan couldn’t be bothered to explain and simply pressed the play button.
Afterward, Liu Fan saw a “forced confession under torture” video that completely shattered his already crumbling worldview.
It turned out that this Siberian weasel was originally a monster living in the mountains behind the village. It had been a spiritual being for quite some time and had attained a certain level of cultivation.
Although the village and the mountain it occupied were not far apart, well water does not offend river water. The Weasel Spirit had no intention of intervening, and the villagers were completely unaware that there was such a “great deity” living in their backyard.
However, this Weasel Spirit was facing a heavenly calamity that was about to strike. If it continued to stay in the mountains, the only outcome will be getting struck by heavenly thunder and getting turned into charcoal-like roasted meat.
It urgently needed to find a place where it could avoid the calamity.
Throughout history, it has always been difficult for animals to cultivate, especially when facing three rounds of heavenly tribulations, each one more difficult to endure than the last.
So, these enlightened little monsters have come up with their methods to evade heavenly thunder.
The riskiest and most challenging method was relying on their cultivation to withstand it. The next option was to hide in places like caves, graves, or dilapidated temples. But the best method, of course, was to borrow “human aura” from other humans, or to find a powerful magical tool that could protect them against heavenly thunder.
So, the Siberian weasel set its sights on the Liu family.
Or to be more precise, it was the Liu family ancestral hall—the roof beam.
The Liu family’s ancestral hall has a history of a hundred years, and the main beam is made of complete elm wood. When the beam was erected, a high monk was invited to inscribe a scripture on it.
After a hundred years, the ancestral hall continued to be filled with incense and offerings, and the Liu family was a prosperous and fortunate household. The beam was infused daily with the fragrance of incense and has absorbed “human aura.” It had become a precious item that protected the family’s home and was perfect for the The Weasel Spirit to seek refuge from heavenly thunder.
So, this Siberian weasel left the forest early and hid in the Liu family’s ancestral hall, perching on the roof beam every day, waiting for the inevitable calamitous thunder to come.
However, neither human calculations nor monster calculations were a match for divine calculations.
The Weasel Spirit never expected that before its heavenly tribulation arrived, continuous heavy rain would cause the collapse of the Liu family’s ancestral hall.
After all, being a spiritual monster, it couldn’t be crushed or killed by falling tiles and ruined walls. Moreover, since the main beam remained intact, it didn’t affect its plan to overcome the tribulation.
But the problem was that at this crucial moment, the Liu family planned to rebuild the ancestral hall – completely demolishing the half-collapsed house, clearing the ruins, and using new building materials to construct a brand new one.
This completely ruined The Weasel Spirit’s arrangement.
It wandered around the courtyard for a few days, until it confirmed the Liu family’s plans, and then it decided it couldn’t just sit and wait for its demise…
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Note from Editor PerpetualMreow:
Hello everyone!! I don’t usually leave notes, but as this is the final chapter I will be editing… I wanted to leave a thank you and a goodbye note.
Many thanks for bearing with me on this journey! Getting to edit chapters for TNT has been such an emotional roller coaster, but I couldn’t be more proud and grateful to Rhapsodite for the opportunity to meet our two protagonists!
Wishing Wei Fuyuan and Bei Quan happiness for many lifetimes~~
ᕕ(⌐■_■)ᕗ ♪♬
Thanks for the hard work 🥰🥰