Ha, Karma! – Chapter 8

Do you remember what was written on the wall?

Catching demons is about protecting the innocent and accumulating virtuous deeds.

Cultivators in the mortal realm do good deeds to accumulate spiritual merit, which benefits their ascension.

Therefore, they rarely refuse requests for help.

Chu Yun lacks spiritual bones, making immortal cultivation and ascension seem rather abstract to her.

Still, she’s willing to relay requests to her grandmother and sister when people need help.

Though accumulating merit doesn’t benefit her much, it’s good for her grandmother and sister.

When she learned this business partner was desperately seeking a spiritual master, she carefully inquired about the situation, and upon confirming it involved supernatural entities, she promptly went home to find her grandmother.

Her grandmother is the Chu family head, whose judgment is always reliable.

Coincidentally, her sister was there too.

Actually, her grandmother had called her sister into the house.

Grandmother said: “Let your sister handle this matter.”

Chu Zhaoqiu had no objections.

Becoming family head requires experience and practice.

The sisters immediately drove to the Lin family residence.

Bu Yu accompanied them.

On the way, Chu Yun briefly explained the situation about their business partner to Chu Zhaoqiu.

The Lins are a wealthy family with occasional business dealings with the Chu family.

The couple has only one daughter, Lin Yun, who recently started working and is their precious child.

This Lin Yun has been haunted by an unclean thing.

Chu Yun told Chu Zhaoqiu about Lin Yun’s encounter from a week ago.

After hearing this, Chu Zhaoqiu’s brows furrowed slightly, and she asked Bu Yu to drive faster.

When spirits haunt people, they either intend harm or have grievances to address.

To determine which it is, she needed to understand the full story from Lin Yun.

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They soon arrived at the Lin residence.

Mr. Lin hurriedly came out to welcome the guests, especially Chu Zhaoqiu.

He had heard from Chu Yun that this was her sister, who was skilled in such matters and could help his daughter.

However, when he saw her, he was slightly taken aback.

She was different from the spiritual master he had imagined.

She looked very young, only a year or two older than his daughter.

He had expected someone like those portrayed in TV dramas – somewhat older and dressed in traditional clothing.

But trusting in Chu Yun, he suppressed half his doubts and politely addressed her: “Master Chu.”

Chu Zhaoqiu’s brows furrowed slightly at this title.

The title felt too weighty for her; she couldn’t bear it and didn’t want to be placed on such a high pedestal.

Being praised too highly was never a good thing.

She politely said, “You’re too kind, Mr. Lin. I’m Chu Zhaoqiu – please just call me by my name or Xiaochu.”

Chu Yun chimed in, telling Mr. Lin not to be so formal.

Mr. Lin responded with a couple of “oh’s” but neither changed his form of address nor called her anything.

Not wanting to waste time, Chu Zhaoqiu asked directly, “Where is Miss Lin? May I see her?”

Mr. Lin replied, “She’s in her room. The child was frightened and is resting there.”

He thought to himself: regardless of whether this young person’s abilities were real or not, since she was here, they might as well see if she could help his daughter.

With this in mind, he immediately led the way: “I’ll take you there, this way.”

Lin Yun’s room was on the third floor.

With Mr. Lin leading, Chu Zhaoqiu and the others quickly arrived at her room.

Mr. Lin knocked first, then opened the door to lead them in.

There were three people inside.

A middle-aged woman and a young couple.

The girl was pretty and cute, wearing a copper coin pendant [tóng qián diào zhuì – traditional charm for protection] around her neck. She was currently crying in the woman’s arms, clearly terrified.

The man wore glasses and had a scholarly appearance, sitting nearby and gently patting Lin Yun’s shoulder, comforting her along with the woman.

Chu Zhaoqiu remembered her sister mentioning that the Lin couple only had one daughter, so who was this man?

Chu Yun had already voiced her confusion to Mr. Lin: “…Who is this?”

Mr. Lin explained, “Oh, this is my daughter’s boyfriend. He accompanied my daughter home tonight.

“My daughter was badly frightened and said having him nearby made her feel more at ease, so we let him stay here to keep her company.”

Chu Yun understood and turned to look at her sister, only to find her staring intently at Lin Yun, as if seeing something on her.

Having no magical abilities, she couldn’t see anything herself, and quietly asked her sister: “Sister, do you see something? Is there something there?”

“Yes.”

Chu Zhaoqiu’s voice fell softly.

The Lin couple and Lin Yun’s boyfriend’s gazes instantly focused on her.

Chu Zhaoqiu looked at Lin Yun, or rather around her—observing the dark qi [hēi qì – malevolent energy] lingering about her.

The dark qi was eerily ethereal, a trace left by spirit attachment [guǐ líng – ghost spirits], invisible to ordinary people.

Cultivators can see both yin and yang, able to perceive things ordinary people cannot, naturally including this.

She could not only see it but could tell the dark qi was dispersing.

That ghost was gone.

“Miss Lin was indeed haunted by a ghost, but that ghost is no longer by your side.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Yun asked fearfully: “She’s not here? Then where did she go?

“Is she hiding, waiting to come after me when you leave?

“Will she really try to harm me?!”

Chu Zhaoqiu answered patiently: “Maybe, maybe not.

“She might be hiding, or she might have left completely, or perhaps she’s changed targets.”

Supernatural entities never follow rules when haunting people.

If they want to cause harm, they might target one person today and another tomorrow—who can predict?

She wouldn’t lie to Lin Yun, nor would she allow this mysterious ghost to cause havoc.

Hearing her words, Lin Yun’s eyes showed confusion.

…Changed targets?

Chu Zhaoqiu asked further: “This ghost appeared a week ago. Hasn’t it haunted you during this week?”

She was puzzled why they’d waited a week to seek help if this had happened a week ago.

Lin Yun paused, then replied: “Well, I can’t say it hasn’t…

“The next day I dreamed of her again, and I could still hear water sounds, sometimes loud, sometimes soft, like hallucinations.

“I tried looking for traces around me, but couldn’t find even a drop of water.

“Oh right, it was just like this the night she first appeared!

“My parents helped me search the entire house up and down, but we couldn’t find the source of that water sound…”

Because of this, that night she and her parents thought she was just confused from sleep, unable to distinguish reality from dreams, so they didn’t immediately seek help.

“What happened next?” Chu Zhaoqiu continued asking.

Lin Yun glanced at her boyfriend beside her, raised her hand to grip the copper coin pendant on her neck, her brows relaxing as if finding security.

“Later I told my boyfriend about this, and the next day he went to a temple to get this pendant for me. The master at the temple told him it could ward off evil.

“The pendant really worked—after wearing it, I never dreamed of that female ghost again, and the water sounds became fainter, as if the ghost was getting further away from me.

“I felt at ease and wasn’t scared anymore.”

Speaking to this point, she gripped the pendant tightly, her voice suddenly rising with fear: “Then came today…”

Chu Zhaoqiu suddenly had a premonition that tonight’s events would be the breakthrough.

She asked Lin Yun to tell her again what had happened.

Without knowing the whole story, even the most skilled demon hunter would have no way to proceed.

Lin Yun hesitated for a moment, then, encouraged by her parents’ gazes, began telling Chu Zhaoqiu what happened tonight—

Today was a weekend off work, and she had planned a date with her boyfriend Chen Hong.

They had agreed to meet at Tianhe Park.

But because Chen Hong had something urgent come up, she waited a while longer at the park.

Tianhe Park had a distinctive white wall.

There weren’t many people passing by at that time, so she stood quietly by the white wall waiting for her boyfriend.

The sky was filled with stars then, and the city lights below were bright, forming a sea of brilliant lights, even the evening breeze was pleasant.

She was leisurely waiting for her boyfriend like this.

Then suddenly, the atmosphere changed drastically.

The cool summer breeze suddenly turned cold and eerie.

That faint water sound suddenly amplified near her ears, clearly striking her eardrums, occupying her entire world, impossible to ignore or escape.

The ghostly wind spiraled up from her heels, tightly embracing her.

The dripping water sounds continued endlessly, like crawling snakes coming from all directions.

Suddenly, she sensed something, and her body stiffly turned toward the white wall, her eyes instantly widening in shock—

Characters appeared on the pristine white wall.

The characters were large, grotesque, and distorted.

The crimson color was blindingly bright, dripping down with each stroke, like wet water trails, or like… viscous blood, a chilling sight.

Recalling this, Lin Yun was once again overcome with terror.

The eerie words, like a warning and threat, resurfaced in her mind, forcing her to relive that moment repeatedly.

She instinctively sought protection in her mother’s embrace.

Mrs. Lin immediately hugged her, comforting her with eyes full of concern: “It’s alright, it’s alright, mama’s here, don’t be afraid.”

Seeing Lin Yun so frightened, Chu Zhaoqiu stepped forward and gave her a triangular yellow talisman [huáng fú zhǐ – traditional paper charm used for protection].

“This talisman can ward off evil and calm the spirit.

“But don’t soak it in water to drink.”

Lin Yun looked up at her.

Chu Zhaoqiu said seriously: “It’s poisonous.”

Lin Yun: “…”

Did she look that foolish?

As a conscientious demon hunter, Chu Zhaoqiu was accustomed to giving this warning when handing out talismans.

Because some people were often misled into believing that burning the talisman to ash and drinking it with water could cure illness or have other significant effects.

Mrs. Lin hurriedly helped take the talisman and placed it in Lin Yun’s hand, then gratefully thanked Chu Zhaoqiu.

Lin Yun held the talisman and actually began to feel a sense of calm and peace.

She suddenly felt that this spiritual master before her, who didn’t look much older than herself, might actually have real abilities…

Chu Zhaoqiu waited until her emotions had settled before speaking again: “Do you remember what was written on the wall?”

Upon hearing this, Lin Yun immediately gripped the talisman tightly.

She would never forget those characters on the wall.

She raised her head to look at Chu Zhaoqiu and said clearly: “There were four characters written on that wall.”

“——Stay away from him.”

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