The Young Girl's Chronicles of Demon-Slaying

Chapter 42: Resistance

Wang Yiting let out a furious roar. Forcing himself to endure the excruciating pain—as if his body were convulsing and bleeding out—he lunged toward Song Jianqiu, who stood not far away. His sudden move startled Song Jianqiu. She hadn’t expected that while the Buddha’s light was the bane of ghostly beings, its actual effect on humans was far less potent than she’d imagined. To be sure, this stemmed from her lack of understanding of the intricacies involved. While “raising ghosts” might sound like some kind of heretical practice, within the Maoshan School, it was actually a highly orthodox and legitimate form of Daoist magic. In fact, the Mao Mountain Sect’s repertoire even includes powerful techniques like the “Five Ghosts Transport Technique.” As one might imagine, raising ghosts cannot truly be considered a heretical practice; the key lies in whether the practitioner’s methods have strayed from the path and in their daily conduct. Just as an ordinary person uses a kitchen knife to chop vegetables, while someone with murderous intent uses it to kill—it is not the knife that commits the evil, but the person. Furthermore, if any Taoist practitioners were present, they would instantly recognize that Wang Yiting’s current state was abnormal. Since spirit-taming is an orthodox Taoist practice, how could a practitioner possibly be affected by the Buddha’s light? The怨气 emanating from his entire body as if being purified is clearly abnormal; no one has ever heard of a spirit-tamer who ends up covered in怨气 themselves! What’s more, as this怨气 was driven out of Wang Yiting’s body, his power was gradually waning. Never mind his Taoist arts—even his physical body was constantly growing weaker. It was essentially as if the怨气 was his source of power, yet how could a normal Taoist practitioner possibly harness怨气 as a source of strength? Unfortunately, neither Wang Yiting nor Song Jianqiu had the slightest clue about any of this. Although Wang Yiting had been cultivating for many years, his only contact had been with Liu Yongbo. All he had learned and mastered was the art of raising ghosts; the few other minor magical techniques he possessed were ones he had painstakingly gathered on his own. Furthermore, under Liu Yongbo’s deliberate influence, he had always believed that raising ghosts was an act contrary to the ways of heaven—one that would draw the wrath of the righteous and lead to being hunted down. Consequently, he had always acted with extreme caution and secrecy, afraid to interact with fellow practitioners. With such limited and singular sources of information, his understanding was extremely shallow. As for the latter, her situation was even worse. She was a complete layman when it came to Daoism and Buddhism, having merely recited sutras for a few days. She knew only that Buddhist prayer beads could ward off ghosts, so she naturally assumed they could also ward off those who controlled them—wasn’t that perfectly logical? Raising ghosts! How evil! And evil people would naturally be subdued by the light of Buddha. Logically speaking, this made sense, but she hadn’t anticipated that the Buddhist light’s effect on Wang Yiting was nowhere near enough to kill him on contact. It merely caused black smoke to billow from his body, making him feel as if he were being scorched by the blazing sun, while his insides convulsed in agony. If his will were strong enough, he could still move. That was exactly Wang Yiting’s situation at that moment. After adapting to this agony—which felt like his body was being torn apart and bled dry—he immediately realized that only by subduing Song Jianqiu and stopping her from releasing the Buddha’s light could he save himself and prevent the power he’d cultivated over many years from being lost. So, gritting his teeth against the pain, he lunged toward Song Jianqiu. Caught off guard, Song Jianqiu recoiled in fear. Although she managed to dodge the lunge, she was forced all the way back to the foot of the bed, nearly falling backward onto it. Wang Yiting immediately seized this opportunity. He planted his foot firmly and was just about to lunge forward again when a beam of golden light shot out from the nightstand on one side of the bed. As it hit the floor, it transformed into a bronze pi xiu—one that was a full size larger than a full-grown golden retriever. This sudden appearance of the pi xiu was accompanied by a bestial roar that not only startled Wang Yiting but also allowed the creature to pounce, opening its massive jaws to bite him. Wang Yiting instinctively reached out to block the attack, but his left hand was immediately seized by the pi xiu’s jaws. He then heard the crunching sound of bones shattering—it felt as though the bones in his left hand had not merely snapped but were reduced to splinters. He let out a bloodcurdling scream and struggled desperately to break free, but once it had seized him, how could it possibly let go so easily? No matter how hard he struggled—pounding with his right hand and kicking wildly with his feet—it was as if he were striking a sheet of iron; he could neither harm the bronze pi xiu nor free himself, and could only lie on the ground, thrashing about. At that moment, Song Jianqiu finally snapped out of her daze. Although she was extremely surprised—the keychain she’d bought from that street vendor had actually materialized and saved her life—she realized this wasn’t the time to dwell on it. With Wang Yiting already in the bronze pi xiu’s grip, she had to press her advantage and kill him right then and there! She didn’t hesitate for a moment about killing Wang Yiting, but she was at a loss as to exactly how to do it. She didn’t have anything in her hands that could kill him—was she supposed to go up and strangle him with her own hands? No sooner had this thought crossed her mind than she suddenly heard the sound of a door lock turning from the room diagonally across from her. Clearly, the commotion they’d caused had finally roused Song Wencheng and Lin Yuqin. Song Jianqiu always recited her sutras every night before going to sleep, which, to some extent, had an effect on Song Wencheng and Lin Yuqin, helping them sleep more soundly and deeply. On top of that, the door provided good sound insulation, so the earlier noises hadn’t woken them up right away. It wasn’t until the bronze pi xiu let out a bestial roar and Wang Yiting screamed in agony that the two were truly roused, prompting them to open the door and come out to see what was going on. Seeing that the scene was about to be discovered, Song Jianqiu panicked for a moment. She had no idea how she was supposed to explain this to Song Wencheng and Lin Yuqin when they saw what was happening in her room. Perhaps because of her inner hesitation, the Buddhist prayer beads, which had been radiating a divine light, immediately dimmed. Without the suppression of the Buddhist light, the resentment within Wang Yiting was no longer being dispelled or purified. For a moment, he regained some of his strength. Seizing this opportunity—and using some Taoist spell whose nature was unknown—he suddenly transformed into a cloud of black mist. The bronze pi xiu, which had been clamping down on his opponent’s arm, vanished in an instant, leaving only an empty space. The black mist then lunged toward Song Jianqiu. She instinctively raised her hand to block it but felt nothing. By the time she realized what had happened and turned to look, the black mist had already flown out through the open window. “Hengheng？” At that moment, a voice filled with surprise and concern came from outside the door. Song Jianqiu recognized it as Lin Yuqin calling her. She turned her head and glanced quickly around, only to find that the bronze pi xiu—which had just saved her once again—had long since vanished. Without time to ponder exactly what had happened, she hurriedly replied, “What is it, Mom?” In the glow filtering from the door diagonally across the hall, she could see Song Wencheng and Lin Yuqin stepping out—one heading toward her, while the other turned a corner, presumably to check elsewhere. Shortly afterward, the light in Song Jianqiu’s room came on. After turning on the light, Lin Yuqin looked around the room. Seeing Song Jianqiu fully dressed, she asked in surprise, “Aren’t you asleep yet?” (End of Chapter)