El misterio de la casa antigua

Capítulo 5

Ma Ming felt extremely uneasy. Too many things had happened tonight. First, the ghost-suppressing artifact in the library was destroyed, and now a strong yin energy was surging in from not far away, with faint fluctuations of the sect's spiritual talismans mixed in. There must be some connection between this...

"Hey, don't run away with a mountain of debt!" Ma Ming subconsciously touched the bracelet on his wrist—if this thing, which would trigger an alarm and break when a fellow disciple was in grave danger, was still there, then that kid should be alright, right? Thinking this, he rushed towards the direction with the strongest yin energy. He had roughly confirmed the direction; it should be the botanical garden.

The closer Ma Ming got to the botanical garden, the stronger his unease became. Even an ordinary person could sense the ominous changes in the surrounding environment. A cold wind suddenly rose, and the branches of several small trees around him swayed in strange directions. Wisps of black mist seeped into the air, and there was even a faint stench.

A stench? Ma Ming frowned, but he had no time to think about it. Before him stood the rusty iron gate of the botanical garden, the eerie energy so strong it was visible to the naked eye; clearly, it was right at the entrance. Ma Ming stopped, catching his breath, and reached into his robes. Just then, the eerie chain on his wrist snapped with a soft "clink," startling him as he prepared to fight. "You bastard who hasn't paid back the money yet, don't die!" he cried out, gritting his teeth as he kicked open the door and rushed in. The sight that met his eyes chilled him to the bone, and he instinctively shouted, "Feng Xi—"

A female student lay unconscious on the ground. Less than two meters away, Shen Fengxi, eyes tightly shut and face deathly pale, leaned back and fell heavily onto the dust. A horrifying corpse demon, dripping with putrid liquid, reached out towards him, its sharp, bluish-green teeth less than five centimeters from his throat…

"Go!" Ma Ming pulled a mechanical pencil from his pocket, aimed it at the corpse demon, and pressed the cap—a slender, silvery-white lead shot out. The corpse demon roared, its hands pressing against its right eye. Ma Ming noticed small, golden particles floating in the air. His gaze swept over his junior brother, who lay unconscious among a pile of flowerpots. Thankfully, although his complexion was terrible, there seemed to be no fatal external injuries. "This kid, Master told me long ago not to use the Heavenly Gang Technique carelessly. Failed, huh! Tsk."

Ma Ming fired another pen refill, which pierced the corpse demon's tailbone with a "thud," causing it to stagger back several steps, its screams growing even more shrill. Any demon with human form has three vital points: a pierced eye, a pierced tail, and a pierced navel. Ma Ming struck two of these vital points, severely injuring the corpse demon. While muttering, "I really don't want to use this move; it's too uncool," Ma Ming seized the opportunity to advance a few steps, placing his hands in front of his chest—left hand holding a talisman, right hand a silver chain, fingers interlaced—and shouted, "Heavenly Thunder!"

A dazzling light burst forth, and a gust of wind rose around Ma Ming, whipping his clothes. The corpse demon, intimidated by this powerful force, couldn't advance. Ma Ming, still in this position, walked step by step to Shen Fengxi's side. Checking his breath and finding he was still breathing, he sighed and said, "Junior brother, you were too careless. You won't get medical insurance compensation like this." After speaking, Ma Ming took out a piece of chewing gum and put it in Shen Fengxi's mouth. At the same time, he placed his right hand on Shen Fengxi's forehead and slowly infused it with spiritual energy. The gum contained Three Fragrance Pills and Artemisia annua, which could temporarily alleviate the paralysis caused by the spell's loss of control.

Ma Ming's breath and the medicine in the chewing gum quickly merged into his meridians and blood vessels. Shen Fengxi's eyelashes fluttered, and he suddenly let out a long breath, expelling the power that had backfired into his body from the Heavenly Gang XX Technique.

"I'm going to beat that bastard to a pulp!" The boy, who hadn't even opened his eyes yet, uttered his first words with a vicious glare.

"Hey, before that, shouldn't you say 'thank you, senior brother' first?"

Shen Fengxi snorted coldly through his nose: "Too late."

The corpse demon, of course, hadn't heard the conversation between the two. After a brief retreat, it slowly and menacingly approached again, poised to pounce. Shen Fengxi leaned against the wall, clutching his chest and panting. While trying to suppress the excruciating pain caused by the previous explosion, he asked Ma Ming, "Senior brother, did you bring the Yin Soldier Talisman?"

"Uh, I brought it. Why?"

"Give me."

"It's very expensive, and in this kind of setting..."

"I said give it to me!" Shen Fengxi had a fierce expression, like a child who had just lost a fight but was still unwilling to accept it.

“I have to make this clear first. You’ve already used the Heavenly Gang XX Technique, your strength is exhausted, and you’re definitely suffering internal injuries. If you use something as energy-consuming as the Yin Soldier Talisman, you really will die.” Ma Ming hesitated as he handed the talisman to Shen Fengxi.

"If you still want me to pay you back, then don't let me die." Shen Fengxi said this and rushed forward. Ma Ming was stunned at first, then followed helplessly.

Shen Fengxi and Ma Ming, being fellow disciples who had come to understand each other through their struggle for inheritance, cooperated seamlessly. If one showed a weakness, the other quickly filled the gap, the two locked in a fierce battle around the corpse demon. The small botanical garden instantly transformed into a stage for a fantastical drama, a chaotic scene of figures and swirling lights… though the flying dust and flowerpots tossed around in the air made it resemble a demolition site more like a construction site.

Twenty minutes passed. Whether from impatience or exhaustion, Shen Fengxi's steps became unsteady, his face paled further, cold sweat dripped from his forehead, and his attacks lost their previous sharpness and precision. The corpse demon's fist hurtled towards him with a whooshing sound. He tried to jump to dodge, but his legs suddenly went weak. Just as the foul-smelling fist was about to hit his face, Shen Fengxi had a flash of inspiration. He lay down and rolled on the ground, barely avoiding the force of the punch.

Although this move avoided the heavy blow, it left him tumbling in a sorry state. Ma Ming hurriedly shouted, "Watch out!" In that instant, the corpse turned and lunged at him. Seeing that he couldn't dodge in time, Ma Ming simply crossed his arms in front of him, bit his tongue, and spat a mouthful of blood at the corpse. The corpse hesitated slightly upon being stained with blood, and Ma Ming spat and covered his mouth, crying out, "Ouch!" Taking advantage of the moment, he leaped up and flicked out two talismans with a "snap, snap."

Unexpectedly, the corpse reacted quickly, turning around and using its broad back to catch the two talismans. The talismans spontaneously combusted upon contact with the corpse, and the corpse demon roared in pain, trying to push them away with its head.

"Not good!" Ma Ming cried out inwardly. He was falling through the air and couldn't adjust his posture. He was hit squarely by the corpse demon. With a loud "bang," he was thrown several meters away and crashed into a small poplar tree.

Seeing this, Shen Fengxi immediately summoned the Yin Soldier Talisman with both hands, chanted an incantation, and prepared to unleash his power. To his surprise, the corpse that had repelled Ma Ming did not attack him afterward, but instead pounced on Xiao Gu, who was lying on the ground.

Shen Fengxi had no time to think. He flicked out the Yin Soldier Talisman, which traced a silver trajectory and cut between Xiao Gu and the corpse. As soon as the Yin Soldier Talisman touched Xiao Gu's body, it flashed with a cold light, enveloping her entire body. Although the light was weak, it could conceal her aura. The corpse demon, which mainly relied on human aura to identify itself, suddenly lost its target and was somewhat at a loss.

He let out a deep cry and turned to look around, just in time to see Shen Fengxi standing beside him. Ma Ming's face paled at the sight, and he hurriedly scrambled to his feet, but it was too late. The corpse stretched out its arms, and a gaping maw crawling with worms and slime lunged at Shen Fengxi's neck. But Shen Fengxi, who had been listless, suddenly leaped up, barely dodging the corpse's attack, and jumped onto the wall.

A sudden gust of wind arose around Shen Fengxi. He abruptly opened his eyes, clasped his hands together, and with a "crack," a small bolt of lightning exploded between his palms, followed by the gradual formation of a golden sphere of light in front of him. Shen Fengxi stared directly into the empty eyes of the corpse, his handsome face filled with a calm and malicious expression, a mocking smile appearing at the corner of his lips: "Although I'd love to make you die a hundred times to atone for injuring me, I'll be merciful this time."

"Go to hell."

He uttered those three words calmly. The ball of light pierced into the corpse's abdomen and exploded, dozens of golden beams, like golden swords, piercing its body from the inside out. The corpse let out a final, shrill roar, and like a collapsing clay figure, its entire body crackled and crumbled into pieces of putrid flesh, emitting a foul stench, scattered on the ground.

The botanical garden returned to calm. Ma Ming scrambled to his feet, picked up his glasses that had fallen to the ground, wiped them clean, and put them back on. He walked up to Shen Fengxi, staring at the dismembered body on the ground and shaking his head: "If someone were to call 110 right now, the two of us would definitely be the murderers in this dismemberment case." As he spoke, he casually picked up a golden particle floating in the air and laughed: "So the Heavenly Gang XX Technique didn't completely fail; some of its power was preserved. Was this your original plan, or was it just good luck?"

Shen Fengxi remained silent, standing stiffly in place, letting the fragments of the corpse turn into a puddle of pus at his feet, his expression grave. He turned his head away; Xiao Gu was still motionless, not yet regaining her senses, completely unaware of the fierce battle that had just taken place.

"Did you do this on purpose to save that girl?" Ma Ming asked, somewhat surprised.

Shen Fengxi turned around, revealing his usual expression, and coldly replied, "Sorry, I don't have any reactionary thoughts like sacrificing myself to save others. But any fool who dares to offend me, I will make them pay ten times, no, ten times to the power of six."

After saying that, he leaned back and actually fainted. Ma Ming reached out and caught him, rolling his eyes and sighing at the devastated scene before him: "That's it, I'm definitely going to get my salary docked this month. A poor PE teacher and a penniless Taoist priest, either identity sounds so tragic... Sigh."

Shen Fengxi slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the yellowish-brown ceiling of the dormitory covered with cobwebs.

"An unfamiliar room, an unfamiliar ceiling, isn't it?" Ma Ming's father leaned closer and said in a deep voice, his deliberately furrowed brows revealing an undisguised schadenfreude in his eyes.

"Winter is over, so don't tell old men those corny jokes."

Shen Fengxi expressionlessly shifted his gaze away from the close-up of his senior brother's face. At the same time, he tried to move his body, but his muscles felt as if they had been injected with a muscle relaxant, sore and unable to move at all.

“Your magic and physical strength are severely depleted. You’re completely exhausted and probably won’t be able to get out of bed for the next few days.” Ma Ming stood up, casually picked up an apple from the table, and weighed it in his hand. “But you should look on the bright side. At least you have a good reason to skip class. Not every transfer student is so lucky.”

The dazzling sunlight streamed in through the window, cut into several golden rays by the window frame. Shen Fengxi squinted, feeling warm and comfortable. The dormitory window faced west, and the fact that he could see the sunlight now meant it was almost evening; he had actually slept all day.

Suddenly, he noticed a vase of flowers on the bedside table. The vase was an ordinary, wide-mouthed, transparent jar, the label still attached. It was more than half full of water, with a single pale blue daisy perched diagonally inside, looking simple and clean. Shen Fengxi didn't recall having such leisure time, and Ma Ming clearly didn't possess such taste. So, who was the owner of this vase…?

"You mean that vase? Oh, it was given to me by that girl named Xiao Gu. Youth is wonderful." Ma Ming winked mischievously.

Shen Fengxi twitched his eyebrows, indicating that he had heard. "Remember to tell her to keep it a secret. It would be troublesome if she told anyone and caused a commotion."

"Don't worry about that, I've already hypnotized her. She's probably completely forgotten about the corpse by now, only vaguely remembering that she was in danger and then you rescued her like a hero."

"How ridiculous. I just didn't want her in the way," Shen Fengxi snorted impatiently.

"Oh dear, they came all the way to give you flowers to express their gratitude and even looked after you for half a day. You should at least be a little touched." Ma Ming said with a mix of regret and pity. "You're a minor. Don't always put on such a grumpy face. You should spend your youth doing some wonderful and innocent things instead of wasting it."

"Let's get down to business," Shen Fengxi interrupted Ma Ming.

When are you going to pay me back?

Shen Fengxi turned his face to the other side.

Ma Ming put away his relaxed expression and adopted a serious demeanor. He slowly recounted what had happened in the library the previous night to Shen Fengxi. After listening, Shen Fengxi remained silent for a long time, but his expression clearly showed the words "What a hassle."

"This matter seems quite troublesome right now. The students and teachers at the school are currently unaware of what happened last night, but if this intense yin energy persists, it will eventually affect ordinary citizens, and then things will get really chaotic." Ma Ming frowned, his hands clasped in front of his chest. "Now that the weathervane has been destroyed, the gates are wide open, and the temporary barrier I've erected there simply won't hold for long..."

"Human intelligence truly knows no bounds." This was Feng Xi's final assessment of the three teenagers in the feng shui hobby group. "Let them pay for the sins they've committed. It's said that evil spirits like to use idiots as sacrifices."

Ma Ming was used to Shen Fengxi's sharp and vicious tongue and didn't take it to heart. Instead, he continued, "Actually, they told me some things yesterday. Although they were full of mistakes, they gave me a direction. It was only after they reminded me that I noticed the mysterious layout of this school's buildings." He emphasized the word "mysterious," but Shen Fengxi only managed to squeeze out an "oh" through his teeth.

"They thought the school had bad feng shui, so they went to investigate it themselves. Of course, they made a lot of mistakes, being laymen. So this morning I went there again in person, only to find that things were far more serious than they imagined." Ma Ming took out a crumpled sketch from his pocket and carefully unfolded it. On the paper was a hastily drawn overhead view in ballpoint pen, with many places marked with red circles.

"Look, the feng shui layout of this high school is full of traps, every location is an inauspicious spot. For example, the pond in front of the library should be a flowing pond, but the source is blocked by the artificial mountain, and it's further sandwiched between two serpentine propaganda walls, creating a trap; while the cafeteria is located in the south, a position of strong fire, which is originally a good location, but because of the trapping situation of the pond, the airflow is not smooth, and the water and fire cannot harmonize, instead becoming a symbol of excessive heat..."

"Let's skip the technical details and get straight to the conclusion."

"The conclusion is that this feng shui layout is too ingenious, with each element interconnected. Even an architect who doesn't understand feng shui at all wouldn't design so many taboo-breaking layouts. It was definitely intentional."

Ma Ming paused for a moment, then took out a pen and drew several arrows on the map: "If we follow this trend, all the predicaments and the 'yin energy' in the evil palace will eventually flow to only one place, which is the library, also known as the pivot of the weather vane and the lock."

"Doesn't that mean this school itself is a super bomb, and the weather vane is the switch?" Shen Fengxi gasped. Both of them suddenly felt a chill run down their spines. When Shen Fengxi first entered the school, he felt a cool breeze; in this summer heat, he didn't feel hot at all, but rather a slight, bone-chilling cold. Now it seemed that this was clearly due to the excessive yin energy.

The thought of thousands of faculty, staff, and students living and studying in such a bombshell is terrifying, and now it seems that bomb is about to explode...

"It sounds just like a Hollywood blockbuster," Ma Ming said with a smile.

"Come on, watching Hollywood blockbusters is enjoyable, but being the protagonist in a blockbuster is unfortunate," Shen Fengxi said irritably.

Ma Ming suddenly asked, "By the way, when were you attacked by the corpse?"

"Around 11 p.m. last night."

"That was the time when the weathervane was destroyed...it seems that says a lot."

“That’s right, and I remember now, there was a lot of five-colored rice scattered on the ground in the botanical garden.”

"Is this it?" Ma Ming opened his palm, revealing several grains of rice of different colors.

"That's right, you went back to the botanical garden?" Shen Fengxi looked at him in surprise. Ma Ming nodded; he was always a man of action.

"Aside from this type of rice, there are no other suspicious points in the botanical garden. I have checked some ancient books, and this should be a tradition in western Hunan. Five-colored rice is one of the essential materials for local sorcerers to perform spells, used to ward off evil spirits and summon them. Later, the Maoshan School also learned this technique."

Shen Fengxi twisted his neck with difficulty, wincing in pain: "Although I don't know the details, I can already guess the reason. This corpse was definitely not formed naturally. It must have become a corpse a long time ago or been subjected to a spell."

“Could it be that while the weathervane was being destroyed, something else was happening…” Ma Ming scratched his head in despair. “My God, there are just too many things going on here. Who built the campus? Who is summoning the zombies? What are they trying to do? What’s their connection?”

"I'll leave this matter to you, my fellow senior brother, who is healthy and unharmed. I'm injured, so I can only support you morally," Shen Fengxi said with a hint of schadenfreude.

Ma Ming stood up, tucked the lesson plan on the table under his arm, glanced at his watch, and said, "Alright, I'm leaving. There are still many things to investigate. Oh, by the way, I've already asked someone to take care of you."

"What?" Shen Fengxi was shocked and struggled to get up. "Don't meddle in other people's business. I don't want to be harassed by those ridiculous boys."

"I know." Ma Ming winked and hurriedly pushed open the door to leave.

It was nearly 5 p.m., almost the time for the last class of the afternoon.

Through the window, Shen Fengxi could faintly hear the sounds of reading aloud from the classrooms in the distance, shouts from the sports field, and the clatter of playing cards being swung by truant students beneath the window. The sunlight, at this time, had softened, becoming gentle and no longer glaring. Shen Fengxi lay quietly on the bed, squinting his eyes to enjoy this rare moment of peace.

It would have been perfect if Ma Ming, that careless fellow, had remembered to close the curtains before leaving.

Just then, the dormitory door clicked open. Shen Fengxi couldn't turn his neck much, so he couldn't see who it was from this angle. He could only remain motionless, thinking to himself that if it was a corpse, he was probably doomed.

The footsteps of the newcomer were peculiar, almost imperceptible, as if lightly touching the ground. The newcomer reached the bedside, making a few soft clinking sounds as they carefully changed the water in the vase. After all this was done, the newcomer silently stood beside Feng Xi, remaining completely still.

Shen Fengxi pretended to be asleep, but his eyes were slightly open. He saw the newcomer's fair face, which was as smooth as silk and had a natural, elegant beauty. It was Xiao Gu. Xiao Gu moved a stool and sat down next to Fengxi, but remained expressionless, as if he didn't know how to express his feelings.

"Hey, hello." Shen Fengxi pretended to have just noticed Xiao Gu and greeted him calmly. Xiao Gu picked up some fruit and asked, "Want some fruit?"

"Oh, I don't like to eat it. I've heard that fruit is a lot of meat and it's easy to get tired of it."

"Apples are rich in vitamins, not meat," Xiao Gu replied seriously, leaving Feng Xi, who had intended to joke, momentarily speechless. The atmosphere in the dormitory became awkward; neither of them knew what to say next. After a long pause, Xiao Gu finally spoke first: "Um... thank you for saving me yesterday... but I don't remember what happened."

Shen Fengxi thought to himself, "If you still remember, that would be terrible..." Of course, he couldn't just say that, so he just hummed in response.

What exactly happened back then?

"Ah, well... it's complicated... ouch..." Shen Fengxi was thinking to himself how to cover up this lie when he didn't notice that his body tilted to one side, pulling on the muscles in his neck, and a sharp pain suddenly shot through him.

Xiao Gu quickly got up and reached out to touch Feng Xi's neck with concern. He spread his fingers and pressed two acupoints, which relieved Feng Xi's pain slightly.

"I didn't expect you to know acupressure." Shen Fengxi was quite surprised.

She moved her fingers to two other acupoints, secretly applying pressure. Shen Fengxi felt the girl's delicate and soft fingers sliding across his neck, a ticklish and comfortable sensation. He couldn't help but exclaim, "So comfortable!" Xiao Gu's face flushed slightly, but the blush vanished in an instant. "My family is a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. I learned some massage when I was a child."

Xiao Gu continued to push for a while, her movements delicate and gentle, like the touch of velvet. When her hand finally left Shen Fengxi's neck, he felt a pang of loss. Shen Fengxi glanced at Xiao Gu and said briefly, "Thanks." Xiao Gu tucked a strand of her long, black hair behind her ear with her fingers, smiled slightly, and said, "Really, it's me repaying a debt of gratitude."

"Uh, okay." Shen Fengxi didn't know what to say next; he wasn't used to talking to girls like this. Xiao Gu didn't continue talking either. She picked up an apple, silently peeled it, carefully removed the stem and seeds, cut it into six slices, and placed them on the bedside table.

"Shen, you should finish eating quickly, it's good for your health."

Xiao Gu picked up a slice and handed it to Shen Fengxi. Having no other choice, Shen Fengxi took it and put it in his mouth, chewing it a few times with difficulty. Seeing his expression, as if he were taking Chinese medicine, Xiao Gu couldn't help but chuckle. Shen Fengxi glared at her in annoyance and chewed the apple with even more force.

Xiao Gu watched him eat all six slices of apple before getting up and saying, "I'm sorry, I have to go to class. I'll come see you again tomorrow." After saying that, she tucked the blanket around Shen Fengxi, gave him a concerned look, and then turned and left.

Shen Fengxi gazed at her slender back, a few lingering fragrances wafting over him. He became so engrossed that he forgot to observe whether her gait was still as strange as before.

To put it another way

After leaving Shen Fengxi's dormitory, Ma Ming went directly to the school history room.

The school history room is located in an inconspicuous corner of the reading room on the fifth floor of the library; it's just a small room of less than 9 square meters. The room is usually locked, and the key is kept by the teacher on duty in the reading room.