JOS Chapter 129

Effort

 

The surrounding yin energy dispersed, and those ghosts who had lost their magic power were branded with the mark of the Register of Merits and Demerits. The moment the prohibition was lifted, they were finally able to move.

 

For a time, some were lying prostrate waiting to be captured, while others fled and hid. Jiang Feng paid no attention to any of them and put away the Register of Merits and Demerits.

 

“Why are these two crying?” Chu Xuanliang said. “What kind of dreams are they having?”

 

Jiang Feng only looked down briefly and said, “Dreams that can make them see reality clearly. Each will face their own fate.”

 

This fire had no heat and did not burn the vegetation or soil. But because the yin energy was truly too dense, the flames shot straight up to the sky, illuminating half the heavens.

 

Fortunately, this area was remote, near the suburbs, and it was late at night, so there weren’t many pedestrians.

 

After half an hour, the light gradually dimmed. The great fire flickered one last time, spread along the mountain ridge, and quickly extinguished itself.

 

The drawn-out sound of sirens came from the distance.

 

Chu Xuanliang said, “119 seems to be coming. Let’s take them to the roadside and let them rescue people. Leading two unconscious girls into the mountains in the middle of the night – we’d have to go give statements again.”

 

Jiang Feng agreed. They might even be treated as arson suspects. Even though there were actually no traces of arson, they could still be suspected of pranks that wasted police resources.

 

Chu Xuanliang carried the people on his back and said, “Let’s go.”

 

They carried the two girls toward where there were human voices, confirmed the others’ location, and put them down. Then they stood to one side, using the rustling of grass and trees to guide the firefighters over.

 

Rustling sounds came as Jiang Feng and the others hid behind trees, listening to their confused conversations.

 

“There are people here!”

 

“Two unconscious females discovered, no external injuries, no burns, breathing stable, specific condition uncertain, but unable to wake up. We need an ambulance now.”

 

“No fire situation discovered, no burning traces whatsoever. Please re-confirm the address with the caller.”

 

“……”

 

They walked out of the small path and mixed in with the crowd that had come to watch the excitement.

 

Some young people were still in their pajamas, having ridden electric scooters straight over – their mobility was absolutely excellent. Dozens of mobile phones were held high in the air, flash lights frequently blinding, enthusiastically reporting the situation here to friends.

 

“I clearly saw that mountain over there catch fire, and the fire was particularly big, right? But then it extinguished itself.”

 

“What extinguished? There are no traces of burning at all.”

 

“But it really was! I can guarantee I wasn’t the only one who saw it.”

 

“I saw it too. I don’t know him, so there’s no need to play games like this.”

 

“If there was really fire, someone must have taken photos, right?”

 

“I did take photos. It’s just……”

 

It was just that when they looked at the photos, they found nothing there, which made it strange.

 

“Damn, this is really like seeing ghosts.”

 

“We really do have a lot of ghosts around here. Go look at the Night Pool – it’s full of ghost stories……”

 

“Stop talking about it, okay?”

 

They took the opportunity to slip away.

 

Chu Xuanliang asked, “Don’t we need to worry about things here anymore?”

 

“No need to worry anymore,” Yama said. “I’ll command the ghost messengers to take away the ghosts here first. As for the feng shui affecting the gathering of yin energy in this place, or the possibility of old places reappearing many years later, the underworld can’t manage that. This is the influence of mountain and river air currents. If your mortal world wants to avoid it, then when building cities, find powerful feng shui masters to take more looks. If that really doesn’t work, build a tall, thin building with evil-warding properties in front of this mountain.”

 

Chu Xuanliang said with embarrassment, “I’m not from H Province, and I don’t have that money or those connections.”

 

Yama said, “Then let’s leave it like this for now. This kind of thing can’t be forced; we must go with the flow, otherwise it’s easy to bring fire upon ourselves.”

 

Moving feng shui was a major matter, let alone moving the feng shui of an entire region related to hundreds of thousands of people. Minor adjustments were still acceptable, but such major alterations were not something ordinary people could handle.

 

It would be better to place hope in natural disasters like earthquakes and typhoons for self-adjustment. Perhaps negative and negative would make positive.

 

Chu Xuanliang asked, “Then the guardian deity here……”

 

“I’ll go find Zong Ce,” Jiang Feng said. “There are probably many lonely souls from foreign places here. You find Taoist priests or monks to give them salvation. Those who can be guided back to their hometowns should be sent back.”

 

Chu Xuanliang thought for a moment. “Then I’ll stay here first to observe the situation while you go back to handle business.”

 

****

 

Jiang Feng and Yama took the high-speed rail back to A City that day, while Chu Xuanliang went to contact the Taoist temples in the area and also needed to survey the terrain here.

 

Zong Ce was currently being pressed by Jiang Feng to study and reform in the Shaoling Mountain range. He hadn’t checked on that side for a long time and didn’t know what the situation was like there.

 

At noon, the two ate lunch around the subway station, then took a taxi to Shaoling Mountain.

 

A fence had been added around the mountain area. They didn’t know how the people from Qianyuan Temple had convinced the relevant departments, but it was indeed much more regulated.

 

As soon as the two entered the mountain, they felt the spiritual energy in the mountain had surged dramatically. The previously bare ground had grown new vegetation in a short time, and the Mountain Xiao patrolling and observing in the distance also looked much more spirited.

 

There was real progress.

 

Jiang Feng looked up, about to call out, when hundreds of little Mountain Gods came running down from the mountain on their chubby little legs. They laughed “wah wah wah,” tilted their faces up and jumped around shouting, “Daddy, daddy! So happy that you’re back!”

 

They pressed toward Jiang Feng from all sides, reaching out their hands wanting him to hold them.

 

Some were squeezed down and said pitifully:

 

“Don’t squeeze me.”

 

“I am you.”

 

“Hug me, hug me, daddy! I’m little Mountain God!”

 

“Wah—— daddy!”

 

Jiang Feng: “??”

 

Yama was also surprised. “He learned magic so quickly? Where did he comprehend it from?”

 

Jiang Feng searched among the vast crowd of illusions for that small main body.

 

“Everyone move aside!” The little Mountain God rolled up his sleeves and ran down from the top, his face covered in mud. “Mine!”

 

The little Mountain Gods below either turned into mud piles or became fallen leaves, all disappearing on the spot and returning to the mountain forest.

 

“Daddy——” The little guy flew toward Jiang Feng. “Did you come to see me?!”

 

Jiang Feng caught him smoothly.

 

He was heavy – it seemed he had grown a bit.

 

The little Mountain God giggled with laughter.

 

“I’ll show you, I can already fly,” the little Mountain God said. “Am I working hard? Then can you come see me earlier next time?”

 

He kicked hard and climbed down from Jiang Feng’s body. He tightened his belt and grinned.

 

Yama stepped on a stone beside them to observe the growth condition of the Shaoling Mountain range.

 

The little Mountain God struggled to get into a horse stance and assumed a fighting posture, pressing his upper body center of gravity downward, with both hands in fists at his waist. You could see he was trying very hard to accumulate power in his feet, but after working at it for a long time, he only made “mmph mmph” sounds.

 

This… was hard to evaluate.

 

Yama turned his head and said, “……Are you constipated?”

 

The little Mountain God immediately lost steam, swayed backward and fell to the ground, turning his head to look at Yama with resentment.

 

Yama went over and grabbed his arm, lifting him high up. “Relax.”

 

Then he let go, and the little Mountain God floated in mid-air.

 

The little Mountain God was stunned for a moment, then desperately began flapping his arms. His originally stable form immediately began bobbing up and down in the air.

 

But he could indeed fly now.

 

“Look!” the little Mountain God shouted. “Daddy, look quickly! In the future I’ll take you flying together!”

 

Yama said, “You’re not a bird, why are you flapping?”

 

The little Mountain God said defiantly, “But I can fly!”

 

He flapped for a while, probably got tired, and landed on the ground himself. He rolled around in circles, got up and patted his hair, saying, “Look!”

 

Jiang Feng asked, “Did Zong Ce teach you this?”

 

“Yes!” the little Mountain God said. “Although she’s stupid and can’t do homework, she’s really amazing!”

 

Jiang Feng asked, “You didn’t let her out like this, did you?”

 

“No way. She’s great too.” The little Mountain God clenched his fists in a bodybuilder pose. “I worked very hard to grow up, daddy. I’m very strong.”

 

Jiang Feng patted his head encouragingly and asked, “Where is Zong Ce? I have business to find her.”

 

The little Mountain God pointed upward.

 

Zong Ce was locked in a room at the mountain top, within the little Mountain God’s barrier.

 

Jiang Feng and Yama politely knocked on the door. Getting no response, they gave notice and went straight in.

 

The room was furnished very simply, but had all the modern electrical appliances it should have.

 

Zong Ce had a blank exercise book spread in front of her and was shaking her foot behind a long table, playing with her phone. Seeing people come in, she sneered, “How about it? Don’t need to thank me. I told you I don’t need to study any comprehensive sciences. What kind of crap is that? My life is much more meaningful.”

 

The little Mountain God ran out to play, letting them chat.

 

Jiang Feng sat across from her and got straight to the point. “Why do you know Mountain God magic? Do you know that Mountain God from V City?”

 

Human Taoist arts, their underworld divine lord magic, and even ghost magic were all different. Even if spiritual creatures took form, Mountain Gods were different from Water Gods and Flower Gods.

 

Mountain Gods had natural spiritual power from the moment they developed intelligence, they just didn’t know how to use it.

 

Even if Zong Ce really was a guardian deity and had learned human Taoist arts from that Taoist priest, she shouldn’t know how to use Mountain God power. Unless someone had taught her.

 

Zong Ce finally gave them a glance. “You went to H Province?”

 

“Yes.” Jiang Feng was flipping through her exercise book and found the writing on it looked like ghostly scribbles. “There were quite a few of your believers there, waiting for you to return.”

 

Yama added, “But they’re gone now.”

 

Zong Ce: “……”

 

Then why the hell are you telling me!

 

Yama asked, “Don’t you want to go back and see your own place?”

 

“That’s not my place,” Zong Ce raised an eyebrow and said. “I don’t remember anymore, and I’m not living on faith now, so what would I go back for?”

 

Zong Ce said mockingly, “Human malice makes me feel sick. Am I supposed to go back and help a bunch of ghosts who won’t die fulfill their wishes?”

 

“Then let’s talk about that Taoist Master Feng,” Jiang Feng said. “He wanted the little Mountain God before and had once subdued you. Since you know Mountain God magic, you should have seen the Mountain God from V City, and perhaps that Mountain God was also related to him. So who is this Taoist Master Feng, and what are his goals?”

 

Zong Ce pressed her finger hard on her phone, clenched her jaw and ground her teeth, making a sound. “He’s the person I want to kill. Don’t compete with me for him.”

 

Jiang Feng looked at her quietly.

 

Zong Ce laughed again, saying carelessly, “If you’re capable, then keep following me and see if you can find him before I do.”

 

With Zong Ce acting like this, she obviously wouldn’t reveal any more information.

 

The two couldn’t force her to speak either. Jiang Feng didn’t say much more, took the power bank from her table, then turned and left.

 

“Hey!” Zong Ce angrily slammed the table. “Is this how you act?! Are you still a judge? Don’t you have any awareness of not taking a single needle or thread from the masses? History… did you study junior high history?!”

 

Yama said, “But your name isn’t on the masses list.”

 

Jiang Feng stood outside plugging in his phone. As soon as it turned on, a phone call came through, almost freezing the interface.

 

“My Feng, oh my god——” Zhang Yangyang took a heavy breath on the other end. “My Jiang, my bro! Finally contacted you. If I couldn’t find you again, the advisor would have killed me! Jiang Feng, don’t forget about the graduation defense here, and don’t forget Zhang Yangyang who risks his life calling roll for you every day!”

 

Jiang Feng was stunned. “Defense?”

 

Zhang Yangyang said, “Holy crap, what kind of memory do you have? Do you still want to graduate? Brother, if you keep being this carefree you’ll be an idiot. Hurry back! Your graduation certificate is waiting for you! The defense is next week, bro!”

 

Jiang Feng remembered he hadn’t even chosen a thesis topic yet.

 

Zhang Yangyang said, “Didn’t you tell me to randomly pick one for you? I even picked an advisor for you while I was at it. I helped you make up the attendance numbers for that class you’re retaking, and my roommate took the makeup exam for you. Anyway, it’s just… I don’t care, you’re on your own. So are you coming back or not? If you don’t come back, you’ll have to do a fifth year!”

 

Jiang Feng said, “……I’m already back. I’ll go to school today.”

 

“That’s good then.” Zhang Yangyang was tapping his pen on the other end. “Also, you haven’t found an internship job yet. What about your post-graduation plans? The class monitor is very worried. We haven’t finished filling out our graduation forms yet. The counselor requires 100% employment for the class to get a bonus. Why don’t you find someone to stamp a seal at a Taoist temple?”

 

Jiang Feng was considering the possibility of this employment route when something seemed to happen on Zhang Yangyang’s end. The sound became noisy, the microphone was moved away, and he kept shouting, “Holy crap! Holy crap, what are you doing?!”

 

There were some arguing sounds, and also the loud crying of a child.

 

Zhang Yangyang’s heartbroken emotions were beyond words. “My computer, my thesis, my! life!”