Bab 12: 012 Practicing Yin Yang Arts
When Chen Hao woke up, he found himself lying on a hospital bed, and it was daytime. There was a glaring white light coming in through the window, which hurt his eyes as it shone into them.
"You're awake!" Ye Yuqiao's voice immediately drifted into Chen Hao's ears.
Chen Hao turned his head to the left and saw Ye Yuqiao's cold face right in front of him, her eye circles dark and looking very tired. For a moment, he was mesmerized by Ye Yuqiao's beautiful visage. It was not until he realized that the middle-aged man with a ghastly pale face and a fierce look behind Ye Yuqiao might be a ghost that he suddenly came to his senses and asked her, "How did I end up in the hospital?"
Only then did the events of the previous night, when Niu Tou and Ma Mian had visited his home to pay respects and take away his grandfather, start to come back to Chen Hao. He urgently sat up in bed, and then asked emotionally, "Where's my grandpa?"
His sudden outburst drew the curious glances of the patients and their families in the nearby beds. Ye Yuqiao glared at him coldly, signaling with her eyes for him not to get too agitated.
Chen Hao frowned at the group of strangers who were staring at him, smiled awkwardly, and then lay back down on the bed, using Ye Yuqiao's body to block the gaze of others. He whispered urgently, "Where's my grandpa, has something happened to him?"
Ye Yuqiao didn't respond directly to Chen Hao's question, but instead asked, "First, tell me what happened last night. Did Niu Tou and Ma Mian come looking for you?"
"How do you know?" Chen Hao was very surprised, as it seemed Ye Yuqiao knew everything about him. After thinking for a while, he began to tell her everything from the moment Niu Tou and Ma Mian made an offer to when his grandfather was taken away by them.
After listening to everything Chen Hao had said, Ye Yuqiao let out a long sigh and then said, "Last night, the little ghosts from your house knocked on my door, saying that you and your grandfather had both fainted! When I broke into your house, the whole place smelled of gas, so I called for an ambulance..."
"And then? How is my grandpa?"
"The doctor said your grandfather had suffered severe brain hypoxia due to carbon monoxide poisoning and is still in a deep coma, with no indication of when he might wake up. But based on what you just said, your grandfather's Yin Soul must have been taken away by Niu Tou and Ma Mian. As for when he will wake up, that will depend on your performance!"
Chen Hao's expression darkened as he hung his head low, muttering in a tone bordering on despair, "Niu Tou and Ma Mian want me to clear away those deceitful Yin Souls and fierce ghosts within half a year, but I don't know any Yin Yang Arts at all. How can I possibly do that?"
"Hmph!" Ye Yuqiao let out a scornful laugh, "Look at you, such a disgrace; I feel sorry for your grandfather! He agreed to this condition from Niu Tou and Ma Mian because he believed that you could do it in half a year! You've always wanted to be filial to your grandfather, right? Then start by actually saving him, and then you can truly honor him!"
Chastised by Ye Yuqiao, Chen Hao had a sudden epiphany, his eyes suddenly shone with determination. He slightly turned his head to look at Ye Yuqiao, reached out, and firmly grasped her hand, saying, "You're right, I have to believe in myself that I can do this, I must save my grandpa. And I have you, you can help me!"
Ye Yuqiao's mouth curved into a slight smile, and she nodded faintly.
After gazing into each other's eyes for a long moment, Chen Hao instantly brightened up, his spirit lifted and his face cleared of any gloom. He jumped out of bed and followed Ye Yuqiao to the intensive care unit where his grandfather, Chen Che, was.
Standing in front of the door to the intensive care unit, Chen Hao glanced through the cold glass on the door and saw his grandfather lying unconscious on the bed. Tears cascaded down his cheeks in an instant, and he sobbed with self-blame, "It's all my fault! If not for me, grandpa wouldn't be in this situation!"
Ye Yuqiao, standing behind Chen Hao, gently comforted his drooping back, saying in a subdued tone, "Stop blaming yourself; it was grandfather's own choice; he chose to trust you!"
"Yes!" Chen Hao nodded, wiping the tears from his face. After a pause, he turned around, looked at Ye Yuqiao, and said, "While grandpa is in a coma, he'll need to stay in the hospital on oxygen. You know my family situation, I have to take care of grandpa and those dozen kids. If you're afraid of being dragged down by me, you can choose not to be my girlfriend. But don't worry, I'll still be your assistant, I need you to help me make money!"
Ye Yuqiao raised her eyes, glared fiercely at Chen Hao, and seemed a bit angry. With a dark expression, she said, "Since you haven't broken our agreement to be my assistant, I'm still your girlfriend! I can give you all the money we earn in the future, and I've even promised you that I'll take care of those dozen kids when you're not around."
Ye Yuqiao's words warmed Chen Hao's heart, and he didn't expect that this girlfriend, acquired through a deal, would be more dependable than a childhood sweetheart. Considering how Ye Yuqiao had risked her safety just the day before and now remained steadfast and encouraging when he was desperate, he couldn't help but secretly rejoice: he had found a treasure.
Unable to contain himself, Chen Hao stepped forward, placed his hands on Ye Yuqiao's shoulders, and whispered a soft "Thank you" in her ear.
Ye Yuqiao's eyes widened in a rather shocked expression.
After visiting his grandfather, Chen Hao quickly left the hospital with Ye Yuqiao and returned home. In his grandfather's room, Chen Hao found an old, yellowed diary in a drawer. When he opened the diary, it was filled with decades of Chen Che's exorcism records, with methods for dealing with various types of Yin Souls and real combat validations, but there were no basic training methods for learning the Yin Yang Arts. After skimming through the entire diary, Chen Hao's face was cast in a shadow.
"What's wrong?" Seeing Chen Hao walking out of the room with a worried look and sitting on the sofa, Ye Yuqiao, who was playing and laughing with the little ghosts, asked.
Chen Hao grumbled with a sour face, "Grandpa's book is utterly useless, it's all just stuff I can't understand!"
"What good does learning these things do you?" Ye Yuqiao asked, puzzled. "Don't forget, there's a mysterious power in your left eye, mastering that power is far more formidable than learning any Yin Yang Arts!"
Chen Hao sighed deeply and shook his head, "My grandpa is one of the members of the Y City Yin Yang Master Association. His everyday work is arranged by the association, and it's very well paid. To afford the hefty medical bills for grandpa in the hospital, I need to take over his job from him."
"This..." Ye Yuqiao furrowed her brows, sinking into thought. She seemed to hesitate. After a long while, she moved the little ghost baby from her lap to the sofa, walked up to Chen Hao, and asked, "What if the money you earn following me is enough to bear your grandpa's medical expenses?"
"Our family has always been a lineage of Onmyoji with a certain weight in the Yin Yang Master Association. If I don't know any Yin Yang Arts, how can I enter the association?"
Ye Yuqiao's pupils constricted, and she said emotionlessly with a sigh, "If that's the case, I can teach you some simple Yin Yang Arts. But you have to promise me, only the simple ones!"
"Yes, yes!" Chen Hao excitedly agreed, but he only heard the first part of what Ye Yuqiao said. The excitement in his mind drowned out the second half.
Afterward, the two went into Chen Hao's room. To avoid the disturbance of the dozen small ghosts at home, Ye Yuqiao used a Spirit Talisman to create a tiny yellow dog that stood guard at the door, frightening the small ghosts into hiding in the spirit tablet. Chen Hao and Ye Yuqiao sat cross-legged on the floor, palms facing each other, and what Ye Yuqiao called teaching was actually directly transferring some mana to Chen Hao.
Two hours later, they ended the hand gesture. Ye Yuqiao slowly opened her eyes, her face pale and drenched in cold sweat, looking extremely tired; whereas Chen Hao, having absorbed the mana, was glowing with health and vigor.
Seeing Ye Yuqiao so fatigued, Chen Hao quickly said, "You rest for a bit!"
Then, with an unstoppable vigor coursing through his body, he could not contain his excitement and flipped open his grandfather Chen Che's diary. On the third page, there was a record of a Spirit Talisman transforming into fire. He walked into the living room, picked up two Spirit Talismans from the Eight Immortals table, closed his eyes, and tried to transfer the vigorous strength within him onto his fingers holding the Spirit Talismans.
With a "boom," Chen Hao opened his eyes, only to see two balls of fire burning on the Spirit Talismans between his fingers. Just as he was getting excited about it, he realized that the burning Spirit Talismans seemed to be glued to his fingertips, impossible to shake off. As the flames nearly reached his fingers, Chen Hao frantically waved his hands trying to extinguish the fire and blew on the diary, flipping to the next page to see what to do next.
Seeing "shout 'Soul Chase'" written on the book, Chen Hao hurriedly shouted "Soul Chase." As soon as the words were uttered, the two nearly burnt-out Spirit Talismans flew from his fingers, rapidly circling in the air as if searching for a target. After a while, the Spirit Talismans burnt out and turned to ash, drifting down to the floor.
Chen Hao nodded his head in sudden realization, exclaiming with delight, "I know how to use this move now!"
After learning how to cast "Spirit Talisman into Fire," Chen Hao, who had just been complaining about the diary being utterly useless, suddenly found the book fascinating. He then browsed through a few more pages, learning the methods of fighting ghosts with a Wooden Sword soaked in dog blood and capturing ghosts with coins strung on red thread.
However, to Chen Hao's disappointment, the following hundreds of pages were filled with objects he had never heard of, and methods and content related to exorcism were extremely complex and profound, some even involving the mysteries of geomancy, which he couldn't understand at all.
However, the third to last page of the diary described methods to enhance spell cultivation. Chen Hao was overjoyed, and he proceeded to follow the steps written on the page: he first lit two candles and three sticks of incense, then sat cross-legged on the ground in front of the Eight Immortals table, closed his eyes, and started chanting incantations in a high-pitched whine.
As he chanted, Chen Hao suddenly found himself in a misty and ethereal place, shrouded in clouds and mist. In the far distance, a large red sun was shining with a brilliant glow. Some of its rays shone on him, and he could feel a warm sensation carrying vigorous strength flowing throughout his body.
"Chen Hao!"
Suddenly, Chen Hao was awakened by a loud roar from Ye Yuqiao. He opened his eyes only to see Ye Yuqiao standing in front of him, fuming with anger.
"Didn't you just promise me you'd only learn simple Yin Yang Arts?" Ye Yuqiao asked sternly.
Chen Hao asked with a skeptical tone, "Did I?"
"You...!" Ye Yuqiao clenched her teeth and glared at him, then stormily left the room.
Chen Hao scratched his head, puzzled by Ye Yuqiao's anger, and wondered why she wouldn't let him practice more advanced Yin Yang Arts. He got up and checked the time, only to be shocked to discover that five hours had passed without him noticing!
Hadiah
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