After breakfast, Qi Yan changed his clothes and said to Cen Baihe, “I’m going to draw a charm for you now, do you want to come with me to the study?”
“Would my presence be distracting?” Cen Baihe put down the magazine in his hands and looked at Qi Yan.
“No,” Qi Yan saw that Cen Baihe had already got up and guessed that he was curious about how to draw a charm. So he smiled and said, “I’ve been drawing charms for so long, I won’t be distracted by the people around me.”
If he were so easily distracted, it meant that he was not skilled. When sorcerers were competing against each other, they wouldn’t care whether or not there were people around you. For example, when he was fighting against the malicious spell the other day, the spell caster showed no mercy at all.
In order to take down the spell, he had spent most of his energy. If Cen Baihe hadn’t shown up, he would have collapsed.
In reality, Cen Baihe was not curious about the charm but about his study, as Qi Yan’s living room and front door did not match his identity. He didn’t know any master who was so down to earth.
When the door to the study opened, Cen Baihe was not surprised. The style was completely different from that of the living room. It looked very antique. The desks, chairs and bookshelves were all made of wood. The four treasures of the study were placed on the desk. There was no trace of modernity in the whole room.
Qi Yan took a wooden box from the shelf and a brush from inside the wooden box. Then he took two pieces of charm paper from another box and prayed three times towards the east before he started drawing.
He was talented in drawing charms since he was a child. After his master found out about this, he always felt pity for him, because people nowadays didn’t believe in charms. Even if they asked for them, they would ask for useless and baseless charms that give them love, career and children. If it had been hundreds of years ago, he might have become a famous figure in history.
When his master discovered that he was also good at other things, he no longer said it was a pity but told him that it’s all part of his fate.
He himself did not care much about this. He was interested in metaphysics and it didn’t matter if he was talented or not.
Since then, his master taught him many different techniques. His master didn’t actually know how to use many of them so he just let him learn from the ancient scripts.
Based on Qi Yan’s skills, drawing charms had become natural to him. He could even skip the tedious rituals before drawing and produced charms that were more effective compared to those drawn by others.
As soon as the brush touched the paper, it could not be lifted until one was done. If one’s spiritual energy was insufficient or stopped halfway, the charm would be ineffective.
The two charms were completed in one stroke, and there was no need to spray water on them, let alone hold a wood sword to invite the gods. The process was so simple that the bodyguard standing next to him wondered if Qi Yan was just messing around.
Qi Yan folded the two charms, put them into two pouches, and said to Cen Baihe, “The one in the pouch with the cloud pattern is an amulet of peace, and the one in the bag with the word ‘blessing’ is a peace amulet.” Speaking of this, he suddenly smiled, “But you may not need this. You can give it to your family when you go back.”
Cen Baihe looked at Qi Yan curiously. Qi Yan had only mentioned the peace amulet yesterday, but he gave him two today, did he mean something else?
However, as Qi Yan did not explain, he did not ask. Cen Baihe understood that if there was a need for clarification, Qi Yan wouldn’t hide it from him. If Qi Yan didn’t say anything, it’s not because he refused to, but because there was nothing to explain.
Regardless of the reasons, he did this out of kindness.
After finishing up, Qi Yan heard a “bam” from the unit downstairs when he opened the window, as though something had exploded.
“Baihe, something has happened below,” Qi Yan said to Cen Baihe’s bodyguard, “I need your help.”
The bodyguard looked at Fifth Master Cen. After seeing his slight nod, he said, “Just tell me what you need, I’ll do what I can.”
“Come with me first,” Qi Yan thought about it and turned to look at Cen Baihe, “Baihe, if you’re bored waiting, there’s a television in the living room and a computer in the room. Feel free to use it, there’s no password.”
“No, I’ll go with you.” Cen Baihe walked towards Qi Yan, “More people means more help.”
“Fifth master…” The bodyguard was worried about Cen Baihe’s health. As he was about to persuade him not to go, he noticed the look in his eyes and immediately shut his mouth.
“Sure,” Qi Yan did not refuse him, “Then let’s go.”
Qi Yan wondered if it’s because Cen Baihe was there that the elevator ran so smoothly today. The moment the three of them reached the elevator, the door opened but no one was there.
In a few seconds, they reached the sixth floor. Qi Yan said to the bodyguard as he walked out, “Turn on the video recorder on your phone, but remember not to film my hands.”
Before he could save someone, he needed to ensure that he himself would be safe. The recording would provide proof if something happened, although it didn’t seem likely that the young lady had a short life. However, it was still possible that someone hated her and hired a sorcerer to harm her.
It was better to be safe than sorry.
When they arrived at door 604, Qi Yan noticed that the door was not closed. There was a gap between the door and the door frame. He called out to Lin Yu a few times but there was no response. After thinking about it for a while, he called the property manager and the police.
After that, he noticed some malicious energy seeping through the gap but it disappeared quickly like steam. Qi Yan turned around to look at Cen Baihe who was surrounded by purple mist and immediately felt like he was wearing invincible armor.
“Ms. Lin?” Qi Yan was sure that she had already fainted but was still alive. So he first warded off the evil spirits in the house and waited for the property management staff to arrive.
After about three minutes, the security guards came.
The two of them were tall and sturdy. Perhaps the property manager was afraid that someone had broken into her house and sent them here.
After explaining the situation to the security guards, Qi Yan asked, “Should we go in to take a look?”
The security guards hesitated. They were worried about the tenant, but also afraid that she would complain about privacy violations. Hence, they were in a difficult position.
Qi Yan understood, so he said, “How about I go in? Then you can prove that I am not going to rob her.”
“I’ll go with you.” One of the security guards thought about it and decided not to let him go by himself in case the perpetrator was still there.
Holding the taser in his hand, the security guard carefully pushed the door open. There was no one there.
The moment the door opened, Qi Yan saw the unconscious Lin Yu lying on the floor of the living room.
“I met her in the elevator when I was coming up to your place.” Cen Baihe immediately recognized the lady on the floor.
Qi Yan did not go into the house but stayed at the entrance. He observed the surroundings. The house looked cozy. There were many cute animal pillows on the sofa and plants on the balcony, but they all looked lifeless. Only the cactus was doing well.
The house didn’t seem like it had a Feng Shui problem and he didn’t detect any source of evil. Where did the malicious energy on Lin Yu’s body come from?
“Ms. Lin!” The security guard was shocked to see Lin Yu lying on the ground and immediately called the ambulance. The 1.8 meter-tall man’s face was pale from the fright, even more so after he realized that a few lightbulbs in the house had blown up, causing glass to scatter all over the floor.
Those who worked in the real estate industry had heard about all kinds of stories, but most were fake, and some were doubtful. However, some phenomena could not fully be explained by science.
This situation seemed rather odd. The security gulped and tried to control his nervousness so that no other tenants would find out about this.
Fortunately, the police arrived quickly. The unconscious Lin Yu was sent to the hospital and Qi Yan explained everything he knew to the police before going home.
“Master Qi, wh-what just happened?” Even Cen Baihe’s bodyguard noticed that something was not right. He used to be a soldier and a policeman, so he could clearly see that there were no signs of forced entry. However, the house was filled with broken glass but all the electrical appliances were untouched. It was really odd.
If it was just faulty circuitry, the lightbulbs shouldn’t be the only ones that were affected. Even the air conditioner was still working.
Qi Yan poured a few glasses of water and placed them on the table. “There is no problem with the Feng Shui in Ms. Lin’s house. There is nothing wrong with her life either. If it’s not an illness, then it’s caused by external factors.”
“What external factors?” The bodyguard was curious.
Qi Yan took a sip of tea and said slowly, “For example, if someone wants to harm her, they’d do something bad by using her birth date. Or maybe there are too many people who resent her which accumulates into bad energy. In the first case, they need the exact time and location of when she was born. The latter is even less likely, she couldn’t be a murderous villain at such a young age, how can she accumulate such a large amount of resentment?”
“Is there a more… scientific explanation?” The bodyguard found it hard to believe this.
“Yes,” Qi Yan put down the teacup, “A scientist once discovered that everyone has their own unique magnetic field, and the magnetic fields of people born in different periods are also different. Some people’s magnetic fields attract each other, and some repel each other. This is why we have opposite emotions such as love at first sight or an unpleasant first impression of someone. Knowing a person’s birth date, you would know their magnetic field. If someone disturbs your magnetic field, your body and spirit will be troubled.”
Listening to Qi Yan talk about nonsense in a serious manner, Cen Baihe’s hand trembled while holding the teacup, and then he changed his sitting position, making his face look calm and serious, “Maybe it’s because of her occupation?”
“What kind of work would cause so much resentment?” Qi Yan touched his chin and wondered.
The bodyguard looked blankly at Master Qi who had a serious face. He started to question his reality. If Master Qi told him that this was a supernatural event, he would definitely not believe it. But Master Qi explained it with science that didn’t seem that scientific. So he began to suspect that perhaps there might be some unexplainable events in this world.
It was indeed a curious case.
Even when he was sending Fifth Master Cen back to his house, his face still looked lost.
“Baihe, you came back so early. You didn’t go to the company today?” Third Master Cen tugged on his tie and hurriedly took the suit and briefcase from the helper when he saw his brother came home.
“Third Brother, you’re going out when it’s almost lunchtime?” Cen Baihe looked at the clock on the wall. It’s a quarter to 12.
“I was just informed that there is an emergency meeting,” Third Master Cen smiled helplessly. He originally had plans to spend some time with his children, but that had to be canceled.
Seeing that his brother was about to leave, Cen Baihe called out to him, “Wait.”
“What’s wrong?” Third Master Cen looked at his brother who didn’t usually talk much and felt strange.
“My friend gave me this. Take it.” Cen Baihe handed him a pouch.
Third Master Cen took it and put it into his suit pocket. Even though he didn’t believe in these things, he had to respect his brother.
But which friend of his managed to make his brother, who was usually non-superstitious, to carry these things?
The power of friendship was indeed great.
