Divine Level Witch Doctor

”I went to that village you mentioned today, but I didn’t find the treasure. Something unexpected happened...”

Ying Ji recounted her experience in the mountain village, speaking as if there were truly someone in the room listening to her.

Only upon closer inspection would one discover that the object of her conversation was, surprisingly, a Wooden Token placed inside her suitcase.

The Wooden Token was shaped somewhat like a deceased person’s Spiritual Tablet. It was ink-black and had some characters written on it in vermillion ink. However, the handwriting was so messy that it was impossible to discern what was written; it looked more like some kind of bizarre Rune.

After finishing her story, Ying Ji tilted her head slightly, adopting a listening posture. But the room was silent, save for the low hum of the air conditioner.

A moment later, Ying Ji nodded and continued, ”Don’t worry, I’ll go back to that little mountain village again tomorrow. Oh, right, we also met a rather interesting person today. He’s young but has exquisite medical skills. It’s said he single-handedly took down a medical Noble Family! I observed his parents and relatives; they’re all ordinary people, nothing special about them. I have no idea where he learned those skills.”

After speaking, she once again tilted her head to listen.

Several minutes passed. After the non-existent voice stopped, Ying Ji spoke again, ”A fellow practitioner? I had the same suspicion, but I didn’t sense anything unusual about him...”

Immediately after, a trace of joy appeared on her face, as if she had heard good news. ”You’re willing to go and investigate for me?” she said happily. ”That’s great! Actually, when I ran into that kid during the day, I was thinking it would be great if you were around to help me test his abilities. It’s a shame you can only move at night and can’t go out during the day.”

Ying Ji took the Spiritual Tablet from her suitcase and placed it on the desk in the room. She then took out an Incense Burner, also from the suitcase, and set it before the Spiritual Tablet. Next, she produced incense, candles, and other items, lit them, and inserted them into the burner. Then, she pressed her palms together, closed her eyes, and began to chant.

A few minutes later, Ying Ji opened her eyes. A bewitching, blood-red glint flashed through her dark pupils. ”The incense is lit,” she said in a low voice. ”Go, and return quickly.”

A sudden cool breeze stirred inside the room, forcing the window open.

At almost the exact same moment, two figures in black appeared in the silent mountain village, speeding toward the broken temple.

Upon entering the broken temple, the two immediately took out something that looked like a compass and began searching everywhere.

But they found nothing.

After more than ten minutes, the two regrouped and spoke in low voices:

”Did you find anything?”

”No. You?”

”I didn’t find any Qi Containing items!”

”Me neither. The Qi-Seeking Compass isn’t reacting at all. There must be no treasure here... I say, Old Pan, could your Divination have been wrong?”

”Absolutely not!” the man called Old Pan denied flatly. A thought suddenly struck him. He looked up toward the top of the temple, his brow twitching. After shining his flashlight up there, he exclaimed in a low voice, ”Crap, someone’s already taken the treasure!”

”Taken by someone? That’s impossible, right?” his companion said, stunned.

Old Pan said, ”If I’m not mistaken, the treasure was supposed to be the temple’s crossbeam. But look, the crossbeam is gone!”

His companion frowned and said, ”Who else could be after this treasure? Oh, right, I remember when you performed the Divination the day before yesterday, the results still showed the treasure was in this location, right?”

Old Pan replied, ”That’s right. From this, we can deduce that someone must have beaten us to it and taken the treasure within the last two days.”

His companion urged, ”Why don’t you quickly do another Divination? See who took the treasure and where they took it...”

Before he could finish, Old Pan couldn’t help but roll his eyes and snap, ”What, you think my Divination is a search engine? That I can just type in a question and get an answer?”

”Then what do we do?” his companion asked.

After a moment of contemplation, Old Pan said, ”Let’s check the village. Maybe one of the villagers took the crossbeam back home.”

”I guess that’s our only option,” his companion sighed, nodding in agreement.

The two quickly left the broken temple and crept toward the village.

Strangely, although every household in the village kept dogs, not a single one was barking. They were all cowering on the ground, trembling, as if terrified by some kind of aura emanating from the two men in black.

Walking through the village, the two men in black didn’t need to climb walls to enter courtyards. They just stood outside, held up the Qi-Seeking Compass, and took a look to see if there was any treasure inside.

Unfortunately, after a thorough search, they still found nothing.

The Exorcism Talismans and Fearless Pearls that Zhao Yuan had given to his parents and sister did contain Qi, but they were already Magical Artifacts, capable of containing their Qi without leaking it. Even though the men in black had a Magical Artifact for detecting Qi, they couldn’t discover their existence.

When the search was complete, the two men in black met up again and whispered:

”Old Pan, the Qi-Seeking Compass didn’t react at all. The treasure must not be in the village.”

”It seems the person who took the treasure is long gone!”

”What should we do now?”

Old Pan’s expression was grim. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He spun around in alarm, but there was nothing behind him.

’A trick of the mind? No! This is... a Ghost Spirit!’ Old Pan’s expression changed drastically. He was about to shout a warning when his companion suddenly went berserk, pulled a sharp dagger from his clothes, and lunged, aiming for his back.

Old Pan spun around, grabbed his companion’s hand, and twisted it forcefully, disarming him. His other hand shot into his pocket, pulled out a talisman paper soaked in Black Dog Blood, and slapped it onto his companion’s forehead.

A gust of cold wind rushed out from his companion’s body, making Old Pan shiver involuntarily. He felt as if he had suddenly been plunged into an ice cave, and he seemed to hear a sharp screech in his ear.

His companion regained his senses, looking thoroughly shaken. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he asked in a trembling voice, ”Old Pan, what the hell was that thing?”

Old Pan took out a blood-red talisman paper and stuck it to his own forehead before replying, ”A Ghost Spirit! You’re not wrong to call it a ’ghost thing,’ because it is a type of Ghost! This creature can affect a person’s mind and even control their body. But we have talisman paper soaked in Black Dog Blood, which should be able to defend against its spiritual attacks!”

The two immediately stood back-to-back, senses on high alert, guarding against the unseen enemy.