Shadow Weaver

Chapter 2 Demon Spirit
As Xu Yichi spoke, she curled her fingers tighter and tighter, the knuckles that were holding the teacup turned white, and her face showed an uncontrollable look of lingering fear.

"That night I was sorting out the materials I had collected during the day and planning the next process of collecting materials... I accidentally stayed up until two in the morning."

"The wind in Jin Province is still quite cold at two o'clock in the morning." Xu Yichi paused, "I saw that it was late, and I was planning to wash up and go to bed quickly, but I didn't expect that as soon as I turned off the computer, I looked up and saw a figure reflected on the window!"

"There's a shadow on the window." Lu Shinian frowned and raised his hand to interrupt the girl's chatter, "What kind of shadow... and which window?"

"Is it the kind of window that connects to the outside?"

——If it was a window that opened outwards, he would suggest that she go to the police station to report the case, or find the community security guard.

"No, it's indoors. The homestay we rented is a small duplex." Xu Yichi shook his head, looking a little embarrassed, "--That window is the ventilation window of the guest bedroom on the second floor."

“Master Jiazi, we are not so inexperienced in life… If there really was a figure emerging from the outdoor window, I would definitely fight the demon spirit first.”

"That figure... looked a bit like a teenage girl wearing ancient costume. She was not tall, maybe only about 1.34 meters tall. The figure was a bit blurry, and she was holding a bag of potato chips that we had just thrown away two days ago."

Xu Yichi stroked his chin and carefully recalled what happened that night: "She was standing in front of that window eating potato chips... The sound of the potato chips being chewed was 'crunch, crunch'. The computer was turned off and I didn't have time to turn on the light. It sounded a bit creepy."

"However, because the main artist from our studio who came out with us this time is also a short, baby-faced girl dressed in Chinese clothes, I thought it was a prank on her part at first, and I even had the nerve to tell her to just eat if she wanted to, and not to stand in front of the window, as the crumbs would fall down and be hard to clean up."

"Then?" Lu Shinian leaned forward slightly, pretending to listen attentively.

"Then... she disappeared out of thin air." The little girl said this with some difficulty, "and the potato chips disappeared with her."

"The place was clean, as if nothing had happened just now and it was all just my eyesight blurring from staying up too late."

"It's only now that I realize that what I just saw might not be our main beauty. I don't know what it is exactly..."

"I was frightened, so I rushed upstairs and into the house, only to find that they were all sleeping soundly, and the cabinets and boxes were not opened. There was no one standing outside the window just now, and it was even more impossible for someone to disappear out of thin air."

Xu Yichi trembled his teeth: "When you think about the odd things we encountered a few days ago, they were minor, but very frustrating."

"I felt like I might have really encountered something unclean - I did some research before coming to Jin Province, and I remember that two years ago, there were many rumors about ghosts in Daicheng, also in Jin Province - so I quickly went to Big Eyes and Little Green Book to carefully check the records of that year, and by the way, asked which master or Taoist priest was more reliable and effective."

"I saw a lot of people recommending Master Chen on the little green book." The little girl said as she scratched her head sheepishly, "so I came all the way here."

"But I didn't expect your master to say that he didn't have enough affinity with me, so he couldn't make an exception, so he pushed you to me again."

——She felt quite regretful about this matter. Taoist Master Chen looked like an immortal and seemed more reliable than this Taoist Master Clamp.

Xu Yichi took a sip of tea from the teacup, but he didn't dare to say the last words in his heart. "So." Lu Shinian seemed to be thinking about it, so he looked up at the girl opposite him with a normal expression.

After sitting in the tea room for more than half an hour, the ghostly aura on her body was obviously diluted a lot by the spiritual charm of the mountain, but the demonic aura that did not make people feel disgusted became more and more intense.

It seems that what Master Xu encountered was a good demon, not an evil monster... At least the demon was not afraid of the ancestor worshipped in their temple.

This would allow her to prioritize whether she had encountered any ancient artifact demon spirit like Senior Feng Xi.

As for those demons that live in Jin Province and have been registered——

Lu Shinian took out his cell phone and opened the encrypted document his master had sent him. He glanced at the man opposite him and said, "Master Xu, besides this time, have you ever had a similar 'ghost-seeing' experience before?"

"Also, what relevant intangible cultural heritage protection institutions have you visited recently? Would you mind telling me briefly about them?"

"Uh... this seems a bit too much." Xu Yichi choked on the spot when asked, "There are a total of 182 national intangible cultural heritages in Shanxi Province. Considering the scale and technical limitations of the studio, we mainly focused on folk literature, traditional drama, traditional skills, and traditional art. We roughly screened and picked out about items, and visited all the county-level cultural centers and museums in Yunzhong next door that have protection qualifications."

"I estimate... I've probably visited, uh, 17 or 18 places so far."

Lu Shinian's hand that was swiping the screen suddenly stopped: "...Then you guys are quite good at shopping."

"This is the beginning of the project, and no one has any good ideas." The little girl's eyes wandered around the room, "We can only walk around and see which one is more suitable to be extended and derived into the game."

"Besides... our studio is poor, small, and unknown. Not all companies are willing to cooperate with us. They are also afraid that we don't know the business and will mess up the product."

"Okay, that makes sense. No problem, Master Xu." The young man in the Taoist robes grinned and said, "Please continue."

"As for that, is it the first time to 'see a ghost'?" Xu Yichi rubbed the teacup uncomfortably, "To be honest, this is not the first time, Taoist Clamp."

"When I was a kid, I would often see strange shadows and couldn't sleep all night."

"At that time, my grandmother specially invited a famous local Taoist priest to help me. The Taoist priest said that I was young and weak, my fate was biased towards Yin, and my Yang Fire was weak, so I was prone to seeing these things..." The little girl supported her chin and tried to recall, "Then my grandmother asked him for a blessed amulet for me and told me to wear it until I reached adulthood."

"I really never saw those things again—until I came to Jin Province this time."

"I had a similar experience when I was young, and I even wore a talisman for a while..." After reading through the entire document, Lu Shinian smiled and put away his phone.

"Okay, Master Xu, now I know where your problem lies."

(End of this chapter)