Yuanyuan was a sales girl of female apparels and most of her colleagues were girls about her age. Females of their age all shared a common habit: gossiping. They would spend every minute of their spare time prattling about boyfriends, relationships, and of course, the ever-so enigmatic topic of paranormal incidents.
Inadvertently, all eyes around the table were naturally directed upon the one single person who had no short of encounters with the paranormal: me! As the youngest and possibly the most powerful medium in town, the name of Murong Shiyan had become a household topic across the little hamlet of Wu Zhong County. As we ate, my companions and I endured the ceaseless bombardment of weird and strange questions unleashed upon us by the girls. "Oh, Brother Shiyan! Are the rumors about your encounters true, or were they merely publicity stunts?" One of the girls asked. My eyeballs rolled upwards involuntarily while I nearly scowled out loud. But Yuan Chongxi was quic
In the midst of our bewilderment and confusion, the third stranger rushed forward to the restrained Mr. Zhang and extracted something from his pocket, which he used it to wave around Mr. Zhang who was struggling to break free from the strong grip of his captors. With the situation almost under control, I realized that the object the man was using was a large wooden ruler! Lines of graduation, which I was almost certain were not measurements of length, were etched along the side of the ruler. He continued waving the ruler for some time like a magic wand until he finally stopped and motioned to his leader a spot near Mr. Zhang's chest. The leader nodded, and took out a needle and pierce through Mr. Zhang at the spot designated by his companion. Immediately, the thrashing Mr. Zhang began to simmer down like a balloon being deflated and fainted! The leader quickly stabbed more needles around Mr. Zhang's body with astonishing speed; a testament to his impeccab
The sudden remark made everyone's head turn. It was Xiao Qi and the rest of the Seven Sisters. She approached us, patting on my shoulder before patting on Zhang Zhigui's shoulder as if wanting us to back down, saying, "We will buy everyone a meal for the trouble today. We'll have it no other way; our brother-in-law's life would have been in danger if not for all six of you!" Zhang Zhigui was flabbergasted to find six women appearing around him suddenly. With a dumbfounded look, he bowed to them. "My greetings. You are..." In what seemed to be a fit of magnanimous profusion, Xiao Qi began introducing her sisters proudly. "Greetings to you too, Brother Zhang. I'm Xiao Qi. This is Xiao Liu, and that's Xiao Wu... That would be Xiao San.." And Xiao San hissed with great annoyance, "Off with you!" With an impish chuckle to Xiao San, Xiao Qi continued again, "Mr. Zhang's wife is the eldest of us Seven Sisters. That is why we are thankful for your help today. But you three are
The Creed of the Eight Trigrams was finally decimated after a long and arduous struggle. But that was hardly the end of my trials; or rather, it was only the end of the beginning. From Master Six and Father, I then found out that I, Murong Shiyan, was an unnamed orphan of unknown origins. Father had found me when I was still a toddler, and there was a sword with me which bore the name "Shiyan". Hence, I was so named, and I was raised until I reached adulthood. Something about how Master Six and my parents conveyed the trembling message told me that they knew about me and where I came from. I could see that there was something against them telling me the truth. But that mattered not to me. In anyhow there was nothing I could do save to wait and see. For a motor accident later cast us into another mysterious adventure where we met the three Champions of Yishui—Zhang Zhigui (born Zhang Ying), Lu Bugong, and Yan Jishi. The sudden appearance of m
The cry of "Young Master" was clear and unexpectedly strong, that I instantly realized who it was! There was no one else among the female brigands at Aunt Ulan's encampment who would address me as such; only one: Alatan Qiqige! I looked hard at the woman, and there she was, the one and the same Edelweiss who once disguised herself as a village farm woman and had tried to steal my bag! I would not have recognized her, given her present appearance in au courant fashion and makeup! Her current look was a stark difference to the amazonian female brigand I met in Mongolia that I was too bewildered to react! Lin Feng let out a whistle before saying, "Oh my, it's Edelweiss! Look at you now! I would have mistaken you for a woman of the metropolitan!" The remark made me I eye Lin Feng with narrowed eyes. Quickly, I chuckled weakly and returned Edelweiss' salute. "Really, I was not able to recognize you earlier," I admitted and said, "So you are the messenger that
What should I do, I asked myself. Should I share a room with Edelweiss, or should I bang on the doors of Yuan Chongxi's or Lin Feng's room and sleep with them instead? I might be in for a terrible and excruciating night if I indeed suggested to Edelweiss that we share the room together... A taut silence fell upon us both as I peered at her, hoping to detect any reactions that would help my decision, only to find myself the first to falter into shyness after we stood there, staring at each other for minutes. Finally, she said, "What are you waiting for, Young Master? Open the door." "B-but..." I muttered drearily, "W-we only have one room... H-how should we..." To my amazement, she bellowed as-a-matter-of-factly, "Why, you, of course!" I was stunned by her reaction and stammered, "B-but what about you?" Only to regret my probity. She began to realize what I was thinking of and began blushing herself. "I'll sit out here. Someone has to guard outside here so that you can
The members of the caravan who were dancing and singing merrily around the fire realized they were being surrounded by a ring of bandits and were horrified, more so, when Edelweiss let loose a shot from her gun which instantly smothered the music and laughter. We dismounted and marched ferociously into the campgrounds. The people inside were terrified by the sight of my six spirit wolves and the seething glares from the stony-faced female bandits. None of them dared move as Edelweiss raised her gun menacingly at them. There was even a plump tourist, clad in a windbreaker with a roasted lamb's leg in his hand, who was about to enjoy his feast when he was frozen in his tracks by our sudden arrival. I could see the fearful stares from the flickering illumination of the fire. They were no strangers to news of bandits roaming around the lands, although they did not expect to be assailed by a group of women led by a young man looking barely out of his early twe
I smacked my lips with surprise and relief! Yuan Chongxi was not only idling and enjoying his food; he had quietly worked his magic when the culprit fled away! The three bones on the tray were arranged to resemble the sign of Li (South in Yi Jing terminology) from the Manifested Bagua Signs! The sign itself represented the direction of South; the culprit must be fleeing south now, I realized! Yuan Chongxi's keenness whenever he was eating had yet to let us down! Behind me, Lin Feng was smiling too, obviously thinking the very same thing too. "What will we find due South?" I asked the woman still holding the tray of bones. The woman pondered for seconds. "There's a small town not far from here if you ride South. The journey on horse will take about an hour." I nodded and muttered a curt "thanks" and she replied with a bow, "Don't mention it. And urm..." I was about to leave after thanking her but her hesitation made me turned quickly. She pulled some notes
What an oaf, I thought. Despite recognizing my Spirit Gourd, Ha'ri Naohai deeply underestimated its power. With all of the malignant spirits drawn into my Gourd, I did not stop. Instead, I continued reciting my incantations and aimed the mouth of my Gourd at Ha'ri Naohai. With a low hum, the culprit immediately collapsed to the ground, dead. But as soon as Ha'ri Naohai's soul entered my Spirit Gourd, the entire hospital erupted into a clamorous cacophony of shrieks and howls from the ghosts roaming in the vicinity like a sirening horn. In the midst of the pandemonium, my thoughts wandered to my Godmother, wondering if she might be around. "Where is my Godmother's soul!?" I spoke bitterly into my Gourd. But instead of answering me, the soul of Ha'ri Naohai cackled gleefully inside. "So, this is how the Spirit Gourd looks like from the inside! Interesting! You wish to know your Godmother's whereabouts? Impossible! Heh heh heh heh!" A rush of anger filled me