Chapter 31: The Gourd That Can Absorb Spiritual Energy
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Even Di Zhiheng himself felt embarrassed saying he needed to borrow toilet paper.
What was he supposed to do with it after wiping? Return it so the other person could use it again?
Just then, a packet of yellowish-brown tissues was passed through the gap beneath the stall door. The other person said nothing. Since it was clearly not one of the boys from the dormitory, it had to be a girl.
She was really shy…
Thinking this, Di Zhiheng took the tissues and said, “Thank you.”
He quickly wiped himself, pulled up his trousers, and was about to pass the tissues back when no one took them. Puzzled, he asked, “Classmate, you don’t want your tissues back?”
There was still no response from the neighboring stall.
What the hell…
The thought flashed through his mind. Remembering Teacher Li Xuan’s instructions, his nerves instantly tightened.
He pushed open the stall door and stepped out, calling twice. Still, there was no answer. He glanced at the time on his phone. Only two minutes remained before eleven o’clock.
If she didn’t answer now, he was leaving!
Growing anxious, Di Zhiheng crouched down and looked through the gap beneath the stall door. Someone was inside. A pair of feet in leather shoes stood firmly on the floor.
Wasn’t she in there?
After a moment’s thought, he pushed the tissues through the gap. Unexpectedly, a pale hand suddenly reached out and seized him by the wrist!
Di Zhiheng let out a howl, stumbled backward, and fell heavily to the floor.
He felt something burning hot inside his pocket. Acting on instinct, he pulled out a handful of ashes. The protective talisman Teacher Li Xuan had given him had turned completely to ash!
Run…
When panic struck, his legs seemed unwilling to obey him.
He struggled to raise himself up, only to suddenly notice a bloodless female face peering over the very top of the stall door. Her mouth opened and closed, while black tears slowly welled up in her eye sockets.
Through the gap beneath the stall, he could still see those feet and that hand. Above the stall, another head was hanging over the door.
Di Zhiheng did not even dare imagine what the rest of her looked like.
Summoning every ounce of courage he possessed, he staggered out of the restroom and sprinted into the boys’ dormitory. He slammed the door shut just as the time on his phone changed from 10:59 to 11:00.
The three boys inside found it strange that he had returned from using the toilet drenched in sweat.
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When Di Zhiheng had run back, he had even smashed the bridge of his nose against the door hinge, but that had not stopped him. Now that his nerves had relaxed, he felt something cool beneath his nose. He reached up and touched it.
He was bleeding.
He stuffed some tissues into his nostrils, took several deep breaths, then pulled the remaining ashes from his pocket and stammered, “There’s a ghost in the restroom. Damn it, it’s terrifying—just like a corpse! The horror story Teacher Li told us is true. The protective talisman he gave me turned into this.”
The three boys had no intention of violating the school rules. But when they saw the ashes, their expressions changed completely.
Studying at a school haunted by ghosts—wasn’t that practically asking to die?
Liu Zhuobin was already considering contacting his family and asking the school to transfer him elsewhere.
The night was long.
The four boys lay in bed, staring fixedly at the dormitory door, terrified that a ghost might quietly push it open while they slept…
…
Outside the school, in the living room of an upscale residential complex.
Li Xuan sat on the sofa, drinking plain water. Across from him sat a middle-aged woman—the current principal of Nalande Middle School, Song Fen.
After arranging the school’s formation, he had taken the time to visit the principal and see whether he could secure another layer of protection through her.
When he arrived, he had explained his plan to deal with Ruan Shiyin.
Upon hearing it, Principal Song Fen hurriedly invited Li Xuan inside and listened to his proposal.
The scandal involving Nalande Middle School’s former principal and head of discipline had long since ceased to be a secret. Combined with the hauntings and the students who kept disappearing, the school had been forced to close.
Over the years, the Education Bureau had attempted several times to reopen Nalande Middle School.
Unfortunately, no one wanted to take over a school like that. Besides, girls’ schools were no longer fashionable, and with the haunting on top of everything else, the place was practically drenched in bad luck…
For special reasons, Song Fen desperately needed an impressive record, but she had nowhere else to go. Reluctantly, she accepted the position at Nalande Middle School.
Who could have known that only a few semesters after reopening, the curse of the former head of discipline, who demanded students’ lives, would return? By now, two students had vanished without a trace.
She knew the reason, but she could not report that ghosts were responsible. If she did, the school would be shut down the very next day.
Although she knew nothing about Li Xuan, this young man certainly had courage. He had come straight out and declared that he intended to resolve the matter of Ruan Shiyin. Someone like that had to be brought in and treated with the utmost respect.
Song Fen poured a cup of tea and pushed it in front of Li Xuan.
“Teacher Li, please tell me what you need. If it is within my power, I will do everything I can to cooperate.”
Li Xuan got straight to the point. “I need Principal Song to go to the Education Bureau and obtain an official notice formally dismissing the former head of discipline, Ruan Shiyin. The seals of every relevant department must be included.”
Song Fen asked in surprise, “Can that really deal with Ruan Shiyin?”
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Li Xuan said, “According to my investigation, Ruan Shiyin’s primary method of claiming lives is to use the school administration office, which was demolished after the fire, as her lair, and the school regulations as a curse with which to torment students. So I want to strip her of her position as head of discipline at its root. That may weaken her power…”
Song Fen froze.
Shouldn’t a ghost be destroyed by having a truly accomplished monk or Taoist priest ambush it?
Yet you come in here demanding that Ruan Shiyin be stripped of her position. The idea… actually sounded rather reasonable.
Li Xuan continued, “Twenty years ago, the school burned down. Ruan Shiyin died, and her remains disappeared, but her records should still be preserved by the Education Bureau, right? In other words, she is still officially the head of discipline at Nalande Middle School even now. She simply punishes students who violate the school rules in the form of a ghost…”
Song Fen fell silent for a moment before making up her mind.
“I’m suddenly going to the headquarters of the Hong Kong Island Education Bureau to demand that the position of a head of discipline who died twenty years ago be revoked. There will probably be considerable resistance. But since you have put it that way, I will give it a try. It is all for the sake of the students.”
Li Xuan rose to his feet. “I’ll await your good news.”
Song Fen also stood and extended her hand.
“The times have changed. Genuine masters who have attained the Dao are exceedingly rare. Otherwise, the problem at Nalande Middle School would not have dragged on until now.
“But now that Teacher Li is willing to handle this matter, I would like to thank you on behalf of the school and all its students.”
…
In the days that followed, whenever Li Xuan left the school, he spent nearly all his time cultivating.
The speed of cultivation here was much faster than in the real world, as though everything had been set to double speed. The warm current that had originally been as fine as a strand of hair gradually gathered into a faint current of magical power.
Taoist cultivation placed great emphasis on one’s personal condition and strongly advocated the cultivation of both nature and life.
“Nature” referred to the true self, the spirit, one’s innate character, and so forth.
“Life” referred to the refinement and advancement of the body, vitality, and energy.
As his understanding of the Taoist scriptures deepened, the warm current within Li Xuan’s body circulated more smoothly. In the end, he could even sense the “spiritual energy” present in the air.
His task was to draw that spiritual energy into his body, refine it into magical power, and store it in his lower dantian.
To Li Xuan’s delight, the gourd given to him by the White Crane Youth seemed to slowly absorb the spiritual energy in the surrounding air and gather it inside itself. Whenever he opened the stopper, the spiritual energy would gradually spread out.
Cultivating at such a time doubled the results with half the effort.
Exactly.
How could the White Crane Immortal Sovereign have given him nothing more than a “storage pouch”? There had to be other functions waiting for him to discover.
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