Chapter Twenty-Five: The Ninth Division
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The lightning talisman had left Liu Jun’s entire body numb and powerless, rendering him unable to move. The vengeful spirit beside him had apparently noticed that the golden light around him had been replaced by electric sparks. Without the slightest hesitation, it let out a furious roar and lunged at him with its ghostly claws.
Just as Liu Jun thought he was doomed, a streak of sword light tore through the air with a thunderous boom, breaking the sound barrier as it struck the vengeful spirit. The ghost shrieked miserably and staggered like an eighty-year-old grandmother trying to dance, swaying so violently that it nearly fell over.
Yes, you guessed it—Mo Li had arrived. The classic scene of the beauty rescuing the hero was now unfolding.
The instant Mo Li saw Liu Jun covered in blood, she lost her composure. Raising her hand, she sent a talisman flying toward the vengeful spirit.
“Six Wu and six Ji, let the evil spirits halt. Six Geng and six Xin, let the evil spirits divide. Six Ren and six Gui, let the wicked spirits be destroyed! Annihilate!”
Liu Jun recognized the incantation. It was the Annihilation Spell, one of the talismanic arts. Its power was comparable to that of the Five-Thunder Spell, and when dealing with ghosts, it was even more effective.
The red-robed vengeful spirit had just been slashed by the sword, and the force of the blow had not yet dissipated. It took the full impact of the Annihilation Spell and was blasted into fragments—so thoroughly scattered that not even the finest puzzle master could have put it back together. The resentment clinging to its body was wiped away completely as well.
“How are you? Are you all right?” Mo Li rushed to Liu Jun’s side and looked at him anxiously.
“I’m fine. Just a minor injury. Who do you think I am? Don’t worry.”
Having finished showing off, Liu Jun promptly fainted.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a familiar ceiling, lay on a familiar bed, smelled the familiar scent of disinfectant, and saw a familiar nurse.
A nurse?
Damn it. Wasn’t she the one who had stuck him with that enormous syringe the other night?
Liu Jun instantly came fully awake and tried to inch away from her.
“Don’t move around. Don’t be afraid. You’ve injured the muscles in your shoulder, and moving could pull at the wound,” the round-faced young nurse said.
Right. As if you didn’t know how I injured my shoulder.
Liu Jun complained silently.
“Brother, listen to the nurse and stop moving around. You’ve been unconscious all night. The doctor said you lost too much blood and injured the muscles in your shoulder. You need to rest.”
Liu Jun looked up and saw that it was Fatty.
“Where’s Mo Li? What happened last night?” Liu Jun asked.
“Sister Mo stayed with you all night, then went back this morning. After you passed out last night, a whole group of police officers came, followed by several people in suits. They seemed to know Sister Mo. They exchanged a few words, didn’t give us any trouble, and let us leave.”
People in suits? They were probably higher-ranking than the police. And they had likely dealt with supernatural incidents before, which explained why they knew Mo Li. Otherwise, with all the commotion last night, there was no way they would have let them go so easily. It would have been stranger if they hadn’t hauled them away for dissection.
Liu Jun pondered this for a moment.
“And what about you? Weren’t you the nurse from the intensive care ward? Am I in intensive care now?” Liu Jun asked the round-faced nurse.
“This isn’t intensive care. It’s the orthopedic ward. I specifically requested a transfer here to look after you. After all, I’m the one who injured your shoulder. Oh, right. My name is Tiantian. I’m sorry about what happened last night.”
The round-faced nurse bent at the waist in apology.
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This little nurse had quite some influence. She had asked for a transfer and gotten it just like that. Was the hospital director her father or something?
After the nurse left, Fatty told him that the hospital director really was the round-faced nurse’s father. Her name was Zhang Tiantian, and her father was Zhang Qi, the hospital director.
Sigh. The doctor ordered Liu Jun to stay in the hospital for a week and rest for another two weeks. So he lay in the hospital just like that.
“Fatty, could you get out of here to eat? If you keep smacking your lips, I’ll blast you with a lightning talisman!”
“Brother, how can I eat somewhere else? You’re a patient. I can’t just leave you alone.”
“You bastard! You know I’m a patient, and you’re still eating spicy hot pot right next to me?”
Liu Jun could only drink a little porridge, while that bastard was stuffing himself with spicy hot pot and noisily smacking his lips. It was downright cruel.
“Ow, come on! Could you be a little gentler?” Liu Jun complained.
The round-faced nurse was helping him turn over, and she had quite a grip.
“I’m barely using any force. Why are you being so delicate? When I turn critically ill patients over, they never complain about the pain.”
For heaven’s sake. Critically ill patients were either wearing oxygen masks or unconscious. Of course they couldn’t complain about pain.
After struggling through an entire week, Liu Jun finally left the hospital alive. He went home to rest for a while, then continued working the night shift at the shop. He wondered whether the old man would still pay him for the days he had spent in the hospital.
There was now another person working the night shift: Fatty. They had originally refused to let him come, but Fatty insisted that he wanted to train his courage.
Liu Jun practiced drawing talismans behind the counter. Fatty snored in the grand master’s chair, clutching a Buddhist scripture titled The Diamond Sutra. As for the little white fox, it seemed to have developed a particular fondness for the old man’s chair and had started gnawing on it again.
At eleven that night, Mo Li came downstairs right on schedule. She walked over to the counter, glanced at Liu Jun, and said, “Why didn’t you stay home and rest a little longer? I can keep watch here.”
“My injury is almost healed. Besides, I can’t stand staying at home. I might as well come here for a while.”
Mo Li said nothing more. She took out an ancient book beside Liu Jun and began reading quietly, occasionally offering him pointers on his talisman drawing.
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The talisman was indeed extremely difficult to draw. The slightest deviation rendered it useless, and Liu Jun still had not managed to complete a single proper talisman.
A car suddenly stopped outside the shop. Three men in black got out. The two in the back were also wearing sunglasses. They were trying so hard to look cool that it was almost ridiculous. At that hour of the night, weren’t they afraid of tripping?
The suited man in the lead entered and looked around before walking up to the counter.
“Master Mo Li, greetings. According to our agreement with your sect, we need to register these two masters.”
Mo Li nodded lightly without saying anything.
The suited man took out two forms and placed them on the table. A quick glance showed that they mainly asked which sect one belonged to, where one was based, and what one’s religious or ceremonial name was. Below that were several regulations, essentially prohibiting the use of magic in public and forbidding the indiscriminate killing of innocents.
It was understandable. There were quite a few people capable of using magic. Without some form of regulation, the world would have descended into chaos long ago.
“Susu, wake Fatty up.”
The little white fox, which had been gnawing on the grand master’s chair, stopped and turned around. Its tail suddenly swelled in size, and with a loud crack, it whipped Fatty across the body. The three-hundred-pound man was sent tumbling onto the floor.
By the time Fatty woke up, the little white fox had already returned its tail to its normal size and was innocently gnawing on the chair as though nothing had happened.
Fatty got to his feet with a bewildered expression, apparently trying to figure out what had happened.
What had just happened?
Seeing that Fatty was awake, Liu Jun beckoned him over to fill out the form.
A short while later, the two of them finished their forms and handed them to the suited man. His eyebrows lifted slightly when he saw their religious names. After reading for a little longer, he asked, “Why did this Buddhist master write ‘unknown’ for his sect?”
Fatty truly did not know which sect he belonged to. He only knew his master’s religious name. His Buddhist cultivation had always been confused and haphazard.
“Put down Tantric Buddhism,” Mo Li said, looking up at Fatty.
“All right.”
The suited man picked up his pen, scribbled twice in the space Fatty had filled out, and wrote in Tantric Buddhism.
“Masters, we won’t disturb you any longer. Thank you for your contributions to social stability. Goodbye.”
The suited man finished speaking and turned to leave with the forms. He paused briefly when he reached the little white fox, but said nothing and continued outside.
After the suited men had left, Mo Li explained, “They’re from the Ninth Office. They have considerable authority and are specifically responsible for supernatural incidents and for dealing with people like us. As long as we don’t violate our agreements or break the law, they’re quite reasonable. The Ninth Office also has many extraordinary individuals and accomplished masters. Don’t provoke them casually.”
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