Part-Time Taoist Priest 34

---

Borrowing Soldiers from the City God

---

Never mind Xie Lingya, even Shi Changxuan had never heard that the supernatural army could pilot fighter jets. What a joke!

If you break it down carefully, the theory should be:

In funeral ceremonies, most of the wealthy people in ancient times buried real money and utensils so that they could enjoy them in death. The common people could only make imitations from paper to use in the netherworld. These paper products were definitely not as good as the real things. That was why there were many stories of spirits visiting family in their dreams asking for more paper offerings because they weren’t living well.

Such paper products, while functional in the netherworld, fell apart quickly due to the low durability of paper.

Think about how frail papier-mâché was—even if a fighter jet was made and burnt as an offering, how long could it fly before it disintegrated?

Of course, these discussions were meaningless. The ghostly soldiers did not battle in the same way as humans. Humans needed aircrafts to fly in the sky but ghosts could fly themselves. Humans needed weapons but ghosts could cast spells—as long as they weren’t like Qin Limin, who learnt a trick that only worked with candlelight.

Xiao Liang smugly looked at them being silent. He thought he had surprised them.

“You… should study more.” Xie Lingya thought for a long time and settled on saying that. Had the kid been more well read on Taoism, he wouldn’t have believed that the supernatural army could pilot jet fighters.

Xiao Liang harrumphed: “I graduated high school!”

Xie Lingya: “……”

At this time, Master Zhao had finished the talisman. With wind under his feet, he marched towards the second floor with his sword.

Elder Zhu’s room was upstairs. Mr. Zhu hurried after Master Zhao, who despite his age was hard to keep up with.

Madam Zhu also hurried after them.

“Do you want to come and witness the miracle?” Xiao Liang laughed, walking confidently.

Xie Lingya: “……”

They had to wait anyway if they stayed downstairs, so Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan headed upstairs together. Xie Lingya had just opened his Sight. Arriving on the second floor, the first thing he saw was not Master Zhao or Elder Zhu, but a room full of spirits squishing up against each other.

He reconsidered entering and just stopped at the entrance. It was just too crowded.

Elder Zhu was lying on the bed, his brow furrowed deeply. A horde of ghosts piled on top of his body and took turns harassing him. 

Master Zhao noticed none of this. He sat down on the bed and lifted Elder Zhu. He stuffed the talisman into the elderly man’s shirt and drew symbols on him with the tip of his sword while reciting an incantation.

Mr. Zhu and Madam Zhu were standing by the bed and stared intently at their father’s face, having no idea that they were standing amidst a crowd of ghosts.

After a while, Elder Zhu opened his eyes with difficulty and moved slightly.

Xiao Liang triumphantly looked around.

Almost everyone’s gaze was attracted by Master Zhao’s gestures when he drew the symbols. Xie Lingya, however, had seen clearly how Master Zhao had pressed on Elder Zhu’s back and neck several times with one hand while he drew the symbols with the other.

Elder Zhu was just sleeping for longer and longer but he was not in a coma. Xie Lingya knew that Master Zhao could not call upon the army of the Netherworld. Rather than magic, he felt that Master Zhao had some understanding of Chinese medicine and stimulated Elder Zhu’s acupuncture points to wake him up.

“Lao’da, Lao’er…” Elder Zhu yelled out.

His two children rushed to his side. “Dad, dad, are you alright now?”

“My body… feels heavy.” Elder Zhu said. After panting a few breaths, he closed his eyes again.

Master Zhao calmly let go of him and said, “Elder Zhu has been haunted by ghosts for too long. Although I subdued those spirits and put a talisman on him, he could only wake up for a moment. He needs time to rest and get back to health. Be at ease, the problem was solved.”

Mr. Zhu was completely convinced by Master Zhao. It was ironic. The previous master he had hired did have some abilities. He lost in the magic duel and spat blood from his injury. This Master Zhao on the other hand did nothing and was unharmed. However, he did manage to rouse Elder Zhu for a moment, leading Mr. Zhu to think that he was better.

“I have to perform an exorcism at the provincial capital tomorrow. I need to take my leave,” Master Zhao said, flicking his sleeves.

“Let me send you off!” Mr. Zhu replied.

“Hold on, my dad isn’t awake yet.” Madam Zhu stopped them. She was half-believing before but she was more straightforward in personality. It was simple to her, Elder Zhu was only awake for a moment, shouldn’t Master Zhao wait till he was fully healed?

“Did you not listen to Master Zhao? It’s all right now, he just needs to rest and recover his health!” Mr. Zhu exclaimed.

“Why isn’t he awake if he is alright, then?” Madam Zhu asked, raising her eyebrows.

“……” Mr. Zhu was speechless by her logic, ”You are simply making trouble. You go ahead then, can the people you hire make Dad recover right away? “

“Very good, let’s do it!” Madam Zhu shouted back immediately.

After shouting, she realized she hadn’t yet asked Xie Lingya if he could do it. But then again, remembering what Tang Qi said about his abilities, she regained her confidence. She coughed and said, “Teacher Xie, why don’t the two of you begin?”

Xie Lingya nodded. “Alright. Let me set up an altar on this floor.”

“Sure, let’s take a look then!” Mr. Zhu said fiercely. When he then turned to Master Zhao, his expression changed to a kind one. “ My apologies, Master. Please wait a while longer, I will have a car prepared to take you back.” 

Master Zhao was not afraid either. He’d guessed that these two youngsters were probably of the same… profession as himself.

He was prepared for everything. He had done something to the talisman on Elder Zhu. Tomorrow, after he left for the provincial capital, if Elder Zhu did not recover and Mr Zhu looked for him, he would tell him to take off the talisman. Then, he would say that someone had broken his spell and there was someone malicious in the household.

With this thought in mind, Master Zhao sat down to watch with Xiao Liang next to him.

“Teacher Xie, Shi Daozhang, can you also invite those armies?” Madam Zhu asked and added, “We need to pay back an eye for an eye!”

She asked because one of the masters said that her father was haunted by ghosts on order of someone, and Master Zhao also summoned a supernatural army. She was feeling a bit competitive.

Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan were silent for a while.

Xie Lingya couldn’t, but Shi Changxuan could. Although it was not an area his family specialized in and he didn’t normally summon the ghostly soldiers, he knew how.

There were indeed a lot of ghosts in that room. Ordinary people might think that summoning a bunch of Netherworld soldiers to fight against the ghosts would be a better choice.

But they didn’t know how to explain to Madam Zhu that it would be time consuming to summon the soldiers and even more time for them to fight it out. It would’ve been much faster if they let Xie Lingya go in with his sword and perform a violent suppression…

But Madam Zhu had made her point and she didn’t want to be the butt of a joke. She whispered, “If there is difficulty, I will add another 100,000 yuan.”

Xie Lingya: “Ahem, no, no problem. “

He thought, well, since Madam Zhu had such a request, he would try his best to satisfy it.

Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan discussed how to divide the work. Of course, Shi Changxuan was the one who set up the altar.

At this time, Shi Changxuan heard Pokeweed say in his ear, “Summon the gods and bless the soldiers, let the altar be set by Lingya.”

Xie Lingya noticed Shi Changxuan’s hesitation. “What?”

Shi Changxuan whispered to him that Pokeweed wanted him to set up the altar instead. This should also be Pokeweed’s prediction that it would be better for Xie Lingya to do it rather than Shi Changxuan.

Xie Lingya couldn’t hold back his exclamation, “But I don’t know how!”

Shi Changxuan: “……”

Xie Lingya: “……”

---

Sitting next to his master, Xiao Liang kept watching the two of them.

After setting up the altar, they did not commence with the ritual right away. Instead, one of them was whispering something to the other, and the other was making gestures while listening and moving his lips slightly, as if silently memorizing.

Xiao Liang could not help but utter, “Are you just learning now?”

He voiced everyone’s suspicions. In fact, even Madam Zhu was a little dazed. At first, she thought they were making preparations, but after preparing for so long, it looked like they were learning on the spot …

When Xie Lingya heard this, he immediately retorted: “No, I am not. We are discussing strategy!”

Xiao Liang said dumbfounded: “How could discussing strategy take so long? You don’t actually know, do you?”

Xie Lingya replied with conviction, “Why would we take this job if we didn’t have the skills? Your ghost army can fly fighter jets, can’t our soldiers use formations?”

Xiao Liang: “……”

When others thought about it, at least the first half of what he said made sense. If they really didn’t know how to do anything, wouldn’t they be worried of getting caught?

Xie Lingya turned back to Shi Changxuan. “There are still a few more paragraphs. Quickly, let me finish memorizing them.”

Shi Changxuan: “……”

When Xie Lingya was ready, he started the ritual to summon the army.

“Fragrance of the incense reaches all directions, Pray for the mighty spirit to come forth!” Xie Lingya walked in the formation of the celestial constellations and curled his fingers into a seal. His expression was much more serious than before.

What surprised Xiao Liang was that Xie Lingya’s aura was no less than his own master.

Even Master Zhao didn’t expect this kid to look so experienced at such a young age.

He was in this business for so many years, and he had met many colleagues. He could tell from the small details what they were worth as soon as they opened their mouths or set up the altar.

Just from looking at the aura of this young man, he knew that Xie Lingya could bluff very well. No wonder he dared to take this job.

Xie Lingya didn’t know that he was being compared by Master Zhao to a liar. He was reciting a long prayer, holding a sword in his hand, and summoning the ghostly army.

Darkness had descended upon the night sky outside. As Xie Lingya recited the line, “Welcome the mighty spirit”, the temperature indoors dropped by a few degrees suddenly. Goosebumps formed on the bare skin of everyone present.

This abnormality didn’t happen during Master Zhao’s performance just now. Master Zhao himself was a little puzzled. What is this? Did this kid have an accomplice here in the Zhu family?

For those who traversed the underbelly of society, there were a myriad of tricks. Smoke and mirrors were common and there were even cons and deception that were passed down from ancient times, scams handed down every generation.

There were some records in the “Baoyang Notes” of con artists that the previous masters of Baoyang Temple met on their travels. The notes included how the masters thought the con was carried out.

Like the trick involving a fairy’s descent to the mortal realm was performed by using aerial rope tricks. The black ropes used were virtually invisible at night and some visual obstruction like curtains provided additional distraction to the audience. After the ‘fairy’ made a swoop above their heads, some excuse would be provided by the scammers to let the ‘fairy’ leave and not actually descend to preserve the deception.

This type of trickery was considered a big con. It required premeditation and collaborators. There was a common saying within the circles of con artists that those with brains could work as a ritual master while those lacking in intelligence could perform acrobatics on the streets. The methods used by both were similar.

Of course, tricks like that were no good in this day and age. Some tricks were also debunked by science. However, the con artists and scammers would also improve their techniques over time.

Feeling the sudden drop in temperature, Master Zhao’s first thought was that Xie Lingya had another accomplice in his group or he had bribed someone in the Zhu family.

Xie Lingya on the other hand glanced around to see how many netherworld soldiers he managed to summon.

At this moment, a man wearing ancient-style clothes flew into the room through the window. After entering, he looked around and floated over to Xie Lingya.

Xie Lingya glanced behind him and asked disappointedly, “Just one of you?”

It was supposed to be a horrifying scene when Xie Lingya spoke to empty air. But when he said “Just one of you”, everyone turned speechless.

What is this here? Master Zhao had millions of soldiers under his banner and had claimed to have summoned a hundred thousand. Is it not too simple and cheap that you only summoned one?

It was Xie Lingya’s first time summoning spirits but he unexpectedly encountered a rare setback.

A touch of embarrassment appeared on the ghost’s face, and he immediately bowed his hand at Xie Lingya, “I am Zhang Shan, a lishi¹foot soldier from the Niuyang City God Temple. I am here humbly awaiting the command of Teacher Xie.”

Xie Lingya was amused, ”You even know that everyone calls me Teacher Xie.”

Zhang Shan: “……”

When Shi Changxuan heard the ghost’s self introduction, there was a flash of surprise. He coughed lightly.

Xie Lingya came back to his senses, he seemed to have missed the main point. He said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I see you are the lishi from the City God Temple.” If that’s the case, even one would be enough.

Madam Zhu exclaimed: “City God Temple? Shi Daozhang, this means that a civil servant from the underworld is summoned? “

Damn, she thought to herself, this is much cooler compared to big brother!

Xiao Liang looked back to his master dumbly. Master Zhao couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He felt that this kid was still young but acted cunning like an old fox. Even boasting of summoning a warrior from the City God Temple.

As mentioned earlier, a practitioner might rear their own army or conscript them. The conscription could either summon wandering spirits from the vicinity or borrow the troops residing in temples.

The city gods were local officials of the netherworld and the guardian gods of their locality. They were equivalent to their counterparts in the human realm like county magistrates and mayors. Just like in the human world, the city gods had ranks going up corresponding to the counties or provinces they oversee.

The post of city gods were usually occupied by heroes who died in the region. Under the city gods were ‘civil servants’, the so-called lishi, who would be chosen from wandering spirits by merits. Once these ghosts had a job they were no longer adrift—it could be considered a compassionate gesture of the city gods.

But borrowing troops from the temples was much more difficult than summoning wild spirits. First, the practitioner needed to have a good relationship with the city god and second, the practitioner must be skilled and powerful. Spirits that were employed by the city god temples were the best chosen from hundreds and thousands of ghosts.

In the words of Master Zhao, the performance was more compelling than summoning ordinary ghosts!

Look at this young man here, his performance was very good. It was as if there was really a ghost in front of him.

Xie Lingya told Zhang Shan: “The situation is that the master of this residence, Mr. Zhu Ding Feng, is haunted by ghosts on someone’s orders. I’m entrusted by the family to expel the ghosts.”

Zhang San replied with understanding, “Leave this to me. I will immediately chain these ghosts and detain them for a few days. I’ll leave one for Teacher Xie to interrogate. “

Xie Lingya smiled. As expected from an officer of the netherworld, he really knew how to get things done. “Sure.”

Hm, this section was a little lacking. How could one speak vernacular when communicating with soldiers from the temples? He should use more classical Chinese if he wanted the trust of the clients. Although Master Zhao hadn’t figured out how the temperature was lowered, he finally found a flaw and felt in his heart that young people were still too young.

At this time, Zhang Shan hovered into the room bringing a gust of chilly wind behind him. As an actual employee of the city god temple, his power was unmatched to those wild spirits.

The chilly wind gave everyone a hair-raising shiver.

This was far more terrifying than a simple drop in temperature because the windows on this floor were not opened. Where was the wind coming from?

Master Zhao’s face paled, and he froze on the spot.

Xie Lingya went up to the room and looked in through the doorway. Madam Zhu and the others hurriedly followed. They were about to step into the room, but saw that Xie Lingya did not go in. 

Mr. Zhu remembered that this person didn’t go in previously. Due to the latest development, his tone was much better when he spoke, “Well, teacher, why don’t you go in?”

Xie Lingya: “I’d rather not. It’s too crowded inside.”

Everyone felt another chill.

Xie Lingya saw Zhang San holding a command token in his hand and easily chained up the wild spirits one after another. The token was probably given by the city god, another benefit for the civil servants.

Zhang San chained up all the ghosts, leaving only one. He escorted the lone ghost to Xie Lingya, then clasped his fists together in a salute. “Mission accomplished.”

“Thank you, lishi.” Xie Lingya returned to the altar and burned ingots and coins of joss paper he prepared in advance to thank Zhang San.

Zhang San smiled embarrassedly: “How embarrassing is this? I’m just following orders, how can I take money from Teacher Xie.”

Shi Changxuan was surprised for the second time. It was still within reason that Xie Lingya could summon a lishi on his first conscription with that talent of his; Shi Changxuan was almost used to it. However, he had never heard of the netherworld civil servants refusing benefits.

In large ceremonies, for example the Ghost Festival, priests would summon lishi to help corral the ghosts. Food and wine, and joss paper were expected compensation for their service. Since when did they become so generous to refuse compensation?

Xie Lingya didn’t know so much. He continued to burn the joss paper and finished all that he prepared: “I’ve asked for your help and it is only appropriate. I would be embarrassed if you didn’t take it.”

He thought to himself, it’s cheap anyway, 3,000 ingots was only 20 or 30 yuan, everything here didn’t exceed 100 yuan…

Zhang San shyly accepted money, and said: “Then I will duly accept and not delay Teacher Xie’s business. By the way, the lord asked me to say hello to you on his behalf.”

Xie Lingya’s smile froze, “Lord? Who?”

Zhang San: “…The Lord, Lord City God. “

Xie Lingya’s eyes widened, “Why is his lordship saying hello to me?”

Zhang San was also confused. Now he was even more curious. He thought that Teacher Xie had a good relationship with the city god, that was why he was respectful to Xie Lingya. He thought Xie Lingya was very polite for someone with personal connections to the city god. Who knew that Xie Lingya didn’t even know the city god?

“This… I don’t know. I’m just acting according to the order. “ Zhang San answered cautiously. He was just a lowly lishi, why would his lordship tell him so much.

Hm, was it because the venerable founder knew that I needed to borrow soldiers and helped me speak to the city god? They were both gods—maybe the venerable founder was friends with the city god and asked him to take care of his disciple. After all, I’m probably the most outstanding disciple under our founder.

Xie Lingya was full of questions, and barely came up with an explanation. He temporarily put the questions aside and bid farewell to Zhang San.

An even bigger gust of wind billowed inside the room as Zhang San left with a long string of ghosts in tow.

As soon as they left, a sound came from the room. A few seconds later, Elder Zhu came out in slippers all by himself! 

“Dad!” Madam Zhu and Mr. Zhu exclaimed in unison. They rushed over to help hold Elder Zhu, but got waved away. Elder Zhu was fine by himself. Now, everyone was fully convinced by Xie Lingya’s skills.

On the sideline, Master Zhao sat with numb limbs and wide eyes. He couldn’t utter a single word.

His apprentice, Xiao Liang was even more dazed, still shocked with disbelief.

---

As shameless as Master Zhao was, he didn’t dare to claim any credit for Elder Zhu’s recovery. His only thought now was to leave quickly.

“Congratulations, Elder Zhu. Seeing you awake, I can leave without worry now. I still have other business tomorrow,” he said, keeping his calm.

Elder Zhu just woke up and didn’t know anything. He didn’t even remember that he woke up for a short time a moment ago. He answered blankly, “Thank you, see you.”

However, Mr. Zhu’s face darkened. He said through gritted teeth, “I won’t be sending you off.”

Don’t even think about getting any money. Master Zhao packed his things and walked out. He called out to Xiao Liang who was still standing around dumbly, “Well, why are you still standing here?”

Xiao Liang obviously couldn’t stay behind. Rationally, he already knew that Master Zhao had no abilities, but he hadn’t accepted it psychologically. 

With regret in his eyes, he glanced at Xie Lingya as his feet brought him reluctantly to the exit.

Xie Lingya didn’t notice. He picked up the ghost Zhang San left him and interrogated him about the person who summoned him.

These ghosts had to gather at the altar before receiving their commands, so he definitely knew where the altar was. The ghost immediately answered, “I’ll talk, I’ll talk. Don’t hit me!”

Elder Zhu was just filled in on what happened by his children. He said angrily, “I want to know who harmed me.”

These last few days he was becoming more and more lethargic as if his body was being crushed under a boulder. That was until just now, in his dazed state between darkness and consciousness, when he heard the sound of rattling chains. Then suddenly he was awake.

With the guidance of the captured ghost, they tracked down an apartment not far away. 

Mr. Zhu had ordered the door to be forced open. Inside, they found an altar and other religious items. A middle-aged man was sitting on the sofa with blood dripping from his lips. He watched them enter the house while he sat paralyzed. 

Xie Lingya knew this man was probably behind the attack. It was apparent that he’d suffered a backlash from his spell when the lishi had seized the spirits under his control.

Madam Zhu rushed up and clawed at his face. “How dare you harm my dad—”

The man couldn’t move as Madam Zhu scratched up his face. He screamed, “I’m only doing it for money! Stop scratching and I will tell you everything!”

Under Madam’s interrogation, the man finally gave a name. Madam Zhu and her brother exchanged a look of utter disbelief. For the first time, they didn’t quarrel, but warned, “You’d better not lie.”

The middle-aged man covered his face and said, “I didn’t. He would contact me every once in a while to ask about the situation. You just have to wait.”

Hearing the conversation, Xie Lingya deduced that Madam Zhu knew the mastermind behind the attack and probably had a close relationship with him. With the wealth Elder Zhu possessed, it was not surprising if there were people around him with ulterior motives. He didn’t pry into other people’s family affairs seeing how secretive the Zhu siblings were over the identity of the perpetrator. He just needed to do his job.

At this time, Shi Changxuan suddenly came over with an object, and asked coldly, “Where did you obtain this?”

Xie Lingya saw that Shi Changxuan was holding a few talismans in his hand, probably taken from the altar. He took a closer look and found that there were some red square seals on the talisman, and the shape was very familiar.

After a moment, Xie Lingya remembered, isn’t this the mark of the Dugong Seal?

Xie Lingya became attentive immediately. He snatched the man’s collar from Madam Zhu and growled, “Who! Who gave it to you! Where is that person now?!”

Neither he nor Shi Changxuan thought it was this man that took the Dugong Seal. The thief wouldn’t be so inept to only summon so few ghosts and be caught so easily.

But it was certain that this person had come in contact with the Dugong Seal. Now in Xie Lingya’s eyes, the man’s head had a one million yuan mark on it.

The middle-aged man trembled. “A friend I met only once gave it to me. I don’t know where he is. We met in Boshan last week. He saw that I was drawing a ghost-summoning talisman, so he said he would help me stamp it. “

The man didn’t even know it was the Dugong Seal on the talisman. No doubt he was only a folk practitioner, otherwise he would’ve known the Taoist Association was in a total uproar over the burglary. Xie Lingya let go of his collar.

Boshan—then this person was still in Queshan Province!

But that was last week, he might not be there anymore… Obviously he couldn’t get the one million with outdated news. 

Xie Lingya was a little disappointed, but thought maybe he could find some clues on Boshan.

Shi Changxuan asked, “What did this person who had the seal look like? “

The middle-aged man thought for a moment. “He was in his 30s or 40s, beardless, and always wearing a hat that covered his eyes… By the way, there was a willow sprite on his hat, the same as the one on your clothes. “

Immediately, Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan thought of the man they met at the high speed rail station when they came back from Xiangyin. The man was wearing a hat and had a willow sprite. There weren’t that many people who owned a willow sprite. Could it be such a coincidence that they had seen the same person?

Moreover, Xie Lingya remembered the man got on the train heading to the provincial capital. Soon afterwards, the Dugong Seal was stolen from the Provincial Museum.

The two fell into silent contemplation. Pokeweed, on the other hand, became furious. “What do you mean, the same? Where are we the same? One is willow, the other pokeweed. How could it be as cute as me?!”

---

Translator: Velvet
Editors: Miiya
Proofreader: Eques
QC: Eques

---