Dao Qi Wu Zang Guan Guan: I became a Daoist Master in the 1990s

Chapter 17 Consecration of the Dharma Platform

Midnight.

This slum in the north of Qingyang City was completely submerged in thick ink.

The sour, rotten smell of the daytime was frozen by the cold air and condensed deep in the alley.

The wind had long since stopped, and even the stray dogs were curled up silently in the garbage heap.

"Rock-a-bye baby...rock-a-bye to Grandma's bridge...Grandma praises me as a good baby..."

The sound was coming from the crooked, dilapidated door of the Song family's house at the deepest part of the alley.

Sharp and dry, like sandpaper scraping rotten wood, yet with a maternal gentleness.

It was the voice of that madwoman from the Song family.

During the day, she would huddle in the corner, hugging the tattered swaddling cloth and yelling and cursing, but now she was singing a nursery rhyme to soothe the child.

The tune drifted intermittently, sometimes high, sometimes low, in the dead silence of the cold night.

The wooden gate of the dilapidated courtyard next door creaked open a crack.

A few drops of dim, flickering light peeked out, illuminating several pale faces that were desperately trying to suppress their fear.

It was the neighbor aunt from earlier that day. She squeezed behind the door, her eyes wide open, staring intently in the direction of the Song family's house, not daring to breathe.

In the center of a small courtyard three households away from the Song family's house, a simple yet solemn altar has been temporarily erected.

A broken square table with a missing corner served as the base of the altar, covered with a faded blue cloth with worn edges.

In the center of the altar stood a small wooden board, half a foot high, on which was written a line of dignified and ancient vermilion characters: "The Divine Seat of the Heavenly Venerable Who Responds to the Origin of Thunder and Spreads Universal Transformation in the Nine Heavens".

In front of the memorial tablet is a rough pottery incense burner.

On either side of the incense burner stood a sturdy, plain white candle, its flame flickering slightly in the windless, cold night, casting long, uneasy shadows.

At the very top, three dark yellow talisman papers were offered. Intricate and twisted runes were outlined on the papers with thick cinnabar, and a faint red glow flowed in the candlelight.

Xuanji Zi stood before the altar.

His expression was solemn and dignified at this moment. A sharp glint shone in his cloudy eyes.

"The Heavenly Dipper Steps, the Earthly Fiends Follow!"

The old Taoist priest gave a low shout, and then his withered body suddenly moved!

The steps were not taken in a straight line, but rather in a mysterious direction.

Turning left and right, moving forward and backward, as steady as a mountain, yet as swift as a gust of wind.

The footsteps caused the wide, old Taoist robe to flutter and rustle, stirring the stagnant air around the altar.

His hands moved in front of his chest in a series of complex and mysterious hand seals, his fingertips sometimes blooming like lotus flowers, sometimes piercing like sharp swords, each change causing the candlelight to flicker and dim.

Then, it was unclear whether the wind was generated by the old Taoist's ritualistic movements or something else.

The paper began to tremble slightly, and the cinnabar runes on it faintly shimmered with light!

As Xuanjizi took his final step, he abruptly stopped, his body still as a deep pool and a towering mountain.

He faced the altar, his withered fingers picking up three incense sticks and lighting them with the candlelight.

It is respectfully placed in the incense burner.

Three wisps of green smoke rose and swirled above the altar.

"Edict!"

Xuanji Zi suddenly swung his robe sleeve at the three wisps of green smoke!
The originally scattered wisps of smoke suddenly gathered together, as if grasped by an invisible giant hand!

It condensed into a thick, solid, blue smoke ball the size of a pigeon egg!

The smoke ball hovered in the air for only a moment before suddenly splitting into three thin streams, which sprayed with perfect precision onto the three yellow talismans offered as offerings!
The wisp of smoke instantly disappeared into the talisman!

As if a red-hot iron had been pressed against ice, the three talismans simultaneously burst forth with dazzling golden light, disappearing in a flash!
The men and women of the clan who were crowded around the altar were already pale and trembling.

They had never seen such a strange sight before.

His gaze toward Xuanjizi was filled with awe, his knees buckled, and he almost knelt down on the spot.

Qi Yun stood to the side of the altar, but the corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. He had personally witnessed the old Taoist priest leading the way with a lantern in the ghost realm, and he had also felt the domineering power of the Crimson Hunt Immortal Fire in burning away ghosts.

I thought dealing with these little devils who entangle mortals would be a piece of cake, a swift and decisive strike.

Who would have thought that it would require such elaborate rituals as performing the Big Dipper steps, burning incense to invite the gods, and consecrating talismans?

This was far removed from his imagined demon-slaying and monster-eliminating endeavor.

The golden light faded, and the talisman returned to its original appearance, only the cinnabar runes on it seemed more profound and restrained.

Xuanjizi breathed a slight sigh of relief, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

He carefully took one of the talismans off the altar and turned to hand it to Qi Yun.

"This is the Golden Light Talisman," the old Taoist's voice carried a hint of weariness from casting the spell, yet it was exceptionally clear. "The ghost has grown powerful and is now residing in that woman's 'swaddling clothes'."

If I were to intrude so abruptly, I fear I might startle them and cause them to flee.

You were born with the ability to see ghosts, which allows you to perceive their forms and traces.

Holding this talisman and silently reciting the Golden Light Mantra will protect you temporarily and draw out that wicked obstacle.

Qi Yun accepted the talisman.

"The Golden Light Divine Mantra?" Qi Yun looked at the old Taoist.

Xuanjizi took a step closer, lowering his voice to barely audible to Qi Yun: "The Mysterious Ancestor of Heaven and Earth, the Root of All Qi, Golden Light Protects the Body!"

The incantation is simple and easy to remember.

“In times of crisis, if you concentrate your mind and recite this mantra, the talisman will naturally emit a protective golden light.”

"Go, be careful. Just lure it out, and I'll take care of the rest!" the old Taoist priest instructed solemnly.

Qi Yun took a deep breath of the cold night air, forcefully stuffed the golden talisman into his bosom, and pressed it tightly against his heart.

He silently recited the incantation, nodded to the old Taoist priest, and turned to leave.

Pushing open the creaking, dilapidated door that looked like it might fall apart at any moment, a chill even colder than the outside air, along with a strong stench, rushed out.

It almost suffocated Qi Yun.

Under the pale moonlight, the courtyard was shrouded in darkness, save for the woman's intermittent, off-key nursery rhymes, which drifted out like ghostly murmurs from the deepest corners of the darkness.

"...A bag of candy, a bag of fruit...after eating, I still want...Grandma...to hug me..."

The sound was not far ahead.

Qi Yun held his breath and, relying on his memory from the daytime, groped his way toward that corner.

The ground beneath my feet was uneven and pothole-ridden; stepping on a broken tile produced a slight "crack" sound.

The nursery rhyme abruptly stopped!

The courtyard fell into a deathly silence!
Next!

“Ah——!!!”

A frenzied, venomous scream suddenly erupted!
In the darkness, a foul, fishy stench suddenly assaulted our senses!

Qi Yun was startled! He instinctively dodged to the side.

The madwoman lunged at them from the darkness!

The woman missed her first attack, and like an enraged mother beast, she made strange "hoarse" sounds from her throat, and without any strategy, she pounced and bit wildly again!
In the darkness, Qi Yun quickly dodged.

Its fingernails slashed through the air, creating a sharp whistling sound, and narrowly grazed Qi Yun's neck and cheeks several times!

"Get out of my way, you evil spirit! Don't even think about taking my child! He's mine! Mine!"

The woman screamed, her voice distorted and filled with a frenzied possessiveness.

"This crazy woman is really troublesome!" Qi Yun thought to himself, feeling that the old Taoist had let him in not to lure out the ghost, but simply to deal with this crazy woman first!
He didn't have any good solutions to this.

The woman's body had long been hollowed out, and Qi Yun was really afraid that if he fought back, he might kill her with one punch!
He came here to catch ghosts, not to kill people.

(End of this chapter)