Turbid World: Martial Arts Master of the Republic of China Era, I Cultivate Immortality!

Chapter 89 The Vanishing Mirror Ghost! (Please Subscribe!)

In the office, a few minutes later.

"————That's how it is. I only deduced that the other party's name was Xiulian. I know nothing else about her————"

Zhao Zheng recounted the entire incident in detail, starting with the resentment he sensed in Shi Lianlian and the other person.

And in order to ensure the safety of Shi Lianlian and others, he arranged for them, including Cheng Qingqing, to go home.

Similarly, to ensure the safety of Cheng Qingqing and the others, he did not allow them to come to the Xiqiao Girls' School.

As for why she sent Shi Lianlian and the other person, there was no other way; the two of them had already been affected and were already harboring resentment.

"Resentment — Mirror — Bewitchment —"

Master Tianyi repeated himself to himself, his eyes filled with thought as he paced back and forth in his office. When he finally stopped, he found himself standing in front of a window that offered a direct view of most of the girls' school.

"Something definitely seems off about this school!"

Master Tianyi frowned and spoke, his hands forming the Heavenly Eye Seal, silently reciting the Heavenly Eye Incantation and pointing it at his brow.

Master Tianyi looked at the girls' school before him with eyes that shone with golden light invisible to ordinary people because he had opened his Heavenly Eye.

Strangely, he clearly sensed something was wrong, but he couldn't see anything amiss, except that the resentment at the school was quite intense.

"Uncle-Master, Senior Brother isn't here?"

Seeing that Daoist Tianyi was also somewhat confused, Zhao Zheng asked, while also changing the subject.

"No, I let him stay and watch over the Taoist temple!"

Knowing that Zhao Zheng was giving him face, Daoist Tianyi replied, but to be honest, he was more curious about how Zhao Zheng had summoned the Central Palace than about the so-called Mirror Ghost.

However, his inner conviction told him not to ask, to ask—just don't ask.

Master Tianyi had no choice but to give up and instead began to ask Zhao Zheng how he planned to resolve the matter of the mirror ghost.

Dao Xin (道心): (。óo)

Dao Heart:

Some Daoist hearts breathed a sigh of relief, while others, like Master Zhang, were utterly devastated.

"Uh... Fellow Daoist Zhang, what's wrong?"

Zhao Zheng, who was discussing his next steps with Daoist Tianyi, looked at Daoist Zhang, who had just entered the office, with a puzzled expression.

Master Zhang's face was deathly pale, looking exactly like he had been seriously injured, which made Zhao Zheng look puzzled.

Seeing this, Daoist Tianyi swallowed hard, subconsciously relieved that he was someone who listened to his own Daoist heart.

"----fine!"

Master Zhang shook his head expressionlessly and began to speak to Fellow Daoist Zhao, who did not seem to be very kind.

Recurrence of an old injury?

A thought flashed through Zhao Zheng's mind. Since Master Zhang didn't say anything more, he didn't ask any further questions and simply continued speaking.

"I've already issued a bounty to invite my fellow practitioners in Anping County, but I'm not using the Mirror Ghost incident—"

"Isn't it about the mirror ghost?"

The two were puzzled by this and were about to ask for more details when Principal Luo's cheerful voice rang out from the office doorway.

"Haha, I couldn't find Master Tianyi, but you've come too! You've come at the perfect time, what a coincidence, I just brought your junior disciple over—"

Upon hearing this, Master Tianyi and the other two looked at a man who appeared to be in his twenties who had walked in with Principal Luo.

Wearing a faded blue Taoist robe and carrying a small wooden box smelling of herbs slung across his shoulder, a Taoist priest who looked more like a doctor than a Taoist master, followed closely by two men and a woman.

"Lu Chengyuan, Abbot of Qingning Temple, one of the Twenty-Four Temples of Gezao Mountain, greets Uncle-Master Tianyi, Senior Brother Zhang, and Junior Brother Zhao—"

Lu Chengyuan, carrying a small wooden box, stepped forward and bowed respectfully. Daoist Tianyi smiled when he heard the words "Gezao Mountain".

"No need for formalities, no need to be so polite—"

"Yes, fellow Daoist, there's no need to be so polite. We are all members of the Three Mountains Alliance, one family, so there's no need for such formalities."

Master Zhang, who had attended a meeting with the other party back in the martial arts school, smiled and said, and Zhao Zheng echoed him. Then he looked at the two men and one woman behind Principal Luo and the other.

Seeing this, Principal Luo smiled and introduced them to Zhao Zheng and the others: "This is Su Qinghe, this is Shen Yanzhou, and this is Lin Zhiwei. You must have all met each other during the meeting, right? Daoist Tianyi, don't underestimate Fellow Daoist Su and the others; they are also people of high moral character."

Translation: These three guys are really good fighters!

"Greetings, fellow Daoists—"

Zhao Zheng spoke first, because he was afraid that if Daoist Tianyi spoke later, his seniority would drop by a generation.

After everyone briefly introduced themselves, Zhao Zheng, at Principal Luo's prompting, reiterated the matter of the Mirror Ghost and the resentment.

It's a pity that the three very capable cultivators that Principal Luo brought seem to be only capable of fighting. Like Daoist Tianyi, they could only see that the girls' school was filled with resentment.

I couldn't see anything else!

Lu Chengyuan is the same!

"Why don't we go take a look at the girls' dormitory building that appeared in the mirror?" Lu Chengyuan, who was usually quiet and seemed rather aloof, suggested when he realized that he couldn't detect anything unusual.

"good!"

Zhao Zheng nodded and ordered someone to summon the vice principal and vice instructor who were temporarily in charge of Principal Lin and Instructor Zhou, as well as Chu Ruoxi.

The group didn't make a big fuss; instead, because of the rain, they all opened their umbrellas and used the school lights to head to the girls' dormitory building that had been temporarily lent to the martial arts school.

"It seems that Senior Brother Zhang has suffered a blow to his Dao heart?"

On the way, Lu Chengyuan looked at Zhang Daoshi's pale face and spoke. As he spoke, he opened the small wooden box he was carrying on his shoulder, took out a jade bottle, poured out a pill, and handed it to him.

"This is a healing elixir."

"Thank you so much, Junior Brother Lu!"

Looking at Lu Chengyuan, who was cold on the outside but warm on the inside, Master Zhang did not refuse, but accepted the pill with an embarrassed smile and swallowed it.

It seems that because Lu Chengyuan showed off his supposed alchemy skills, the three Daoist Su and his companions, who were originally a bit of a loner, immediately became sociable.

Unfortunately, Lu Chengyuan's attitude remained cold, causing the harmony among the three Daoist Su to last only a short while.

Master Tianyi didn't care whether Master Su and the other two were sociable or not. He was just curiously observing Principal Luo, who was very concerned about the Mirror Ghost, or rather, overly concerned about it.

Thinking that Zhao Zheng should be able to read his mind, he glanced at Zhao Zheng, who remained silent for a moment before whispering.

"The girls' dormitory where the mirror ghost appeared is inhabited by female students from Xinmin Martial Arts School. This happened right after Xinmin Martial Arts School finished its enrollment process. Do you think he wouldn't take it seriously?"

"----Too!"

Feeling as if he had been scolded by Zhao Zheng's gaze, Daoist Tianyi nodded expressionlessly. There was nothing more to say, because in the end, he still couldn't see anything and still couldn't find any trace of the Mirror Ghost.

Looking at the expressions on the faces of Master Su and the other two, Zhao Zheng had no doubt that if Principal Luo hadn't vouched for them, these three fellow practitioners would have turned around and left long ago.

As for Lu Chengyuan—Zhao Zheng discovered that his senior brother was just expressionless. Although he was cold on the outside but warm on the inside, his face was too cold.

His face-reading skills can't read what the other person is thinking!

However, the group did not give up and continued to search the girls' school using all sorts of methods. Unfortunately, the result was still the same, and they still found nothing!

More than an hour later, at the office building.

The group returned to the office with somewhat grim expressions because they hadn't found anything. Principal Luo, whose smile had faded slightly, put away his umbrella and frowned.

"This seems to be a bit troublesome—"

"Principal, did you invite the newspaper reporter I asked you to?"

Zhao Zheng didn't respond, but instead asked a question that puzzled everyone. Principal Luo nodded: "I've already had someone call to invite them, but why did you invite a newspaper reporter to the girls' school?"

"That's how it is—"

Instead of speaking directly in front of everyone, Zhao Zheng and Principal Luo went to the office door to start a private chat.

Immediately afterwards, everyone saw Principal Luo, whose face first frowned and then his smile returned, but he was not as happy as before, hurriedly walk into his office and start making a phone call.

"What's wrong with Principal Luo?"

Chu Ruoxi, who hadn't left yet, asked curiously. Zhao Zheng didn't explain, but just looked at the female teacher who walked into the office and told him that "several Taoist priests have come to exorcise the ghost as agreed."

"Hmm, tell them to wait a moment—"

An hour later, 100 meters from the back gate of the school.

Several Taoist priests, invited by Zhao Zheng with a reward, unexpectedly discovered a cellar.

Furthermore, they discovered a dense collection of infant skeletons in the cellar, along with some disturbing diary entries.

The newspaper reporters invited by Principal Luo happened to be led to the vicinity of this cellar by the lost female teacher.

Coincidentally, they saw the words "St. John's Church Orphanage" hanging in the cellar; coincidentally, they had brought a camera.

As Chu Ruoxi followed the others to the entrance of the cellar, she looked at everything before her, which seemed to be interconnected. She seemed to understand something, but at the same time, she didn't seem to understand anything.

Unlike Chu Ruoxi, Master Tianyi and the others didn't think as much. They all frowned as they looked at the skeletons in the cellar, even the three unsociable Master Su.

"It's a real shame you didn't become an official—with this incident as a shield, I believe the Mirror Ghost incident targeting the martial arts school should finally subside!"

Seeing the newspaper reporters taking pictures incessantly in the cellar, Principal Luo approached Zhao Zheng and spoke.

"I hope so —"

Zhao Zheng looked up at the sky where a light drizzle had started again and said, "Principal Luo asked with some curiosity."

"How did you know there was a cellar here? And how did you know there were these things in the cellar—skeletons and those experimental logs?"

"Look, they said it themselves, they are the ghost babies in the bounty I issued for the salvation of ghost babies—" Zhao Zheng pointed to a ghost baby that had slipped through the net and was invisible to ordinary people in the corner.

The reason he knew this was mainly because these ghost babies didn't treat him like an outsider at all when they were chatting.

He heard the ghost babies talking about how his bones had been stolen by field mice and how his house was leaking.

I also learned about the cellar!

'

A slight silence fell over the area as Principal Luo and the others slowly turned their gaze toward the corner of the wall that Zhao Zheng was pointing to.

In just a few seconds, Zhao Zheng was bumped by two protruding objects behind him. He glanced at Chu Ruoxi, who was actually afraid of ghosts, and turned to Principal Luo beside him.

"Does the principal really think someone is targeting the martial arts school?"

"Otherwise what?"

Principal Luo countered with a question, expressing his disbelief that the incident involving the mirror ghost was merely a coincidence; it was clear that some force was secretly targeting the martial arts school.

Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that a strange mirror ghost appeared in this dormitory building right after the female students from the martial arts school moved in?

This is why he cares so much about this matter, and it is also the main reason why he personally called to invite these newspaper reporters after learning about the remains in the cellar.

Zhao Zheng didn't reply, but frowned and looked up at the increasingly heavy autumn rain. Seeing this, Principal Luo offered words of comfort.

"Alright, don't worry too much. With the orphanage incident as a precedent, the Western Girls' School shouldn't cause any deaths. Otherwise, some people might get restless."

Zhao Zheng nodded without speaking, but his gaze fell on the favorability rating, which was still zero, in the Bone Painting Scroll that he had opened.

Xiulian's favorability towards you: 0.

Three hours later, in room 501, fifth floor of the teachers' dormitory building at Xiqiao Girls' School.

"Principal, they've all left, but—Principal Luo and that guy surnamed Zhao arranged for several female martial artists and two female Taoist priests to stay in that dormitory building, saying it's to protect the safety of students from both schools, since our school is haunted by a ghost baby—"

Instructor Zhou, looking rather displeased, addressed Principal Lin, who was not asleep but sitting at his desk.

"I understand, Hye-jung, go to sleep. It's already one o'clock, and you have to teach your students tomorrow!"

"Okay, but Principal, that guy surnamed Zhao—"

"Don't worry, the school is still ours. I've already made an appointment with Mr. Lin and the others for dinner on Saturday. They will help us take the school back then—" Principal Lin said with a smile to comfort us, though her smile seemed somewhat forced.

"Okay, I'll go with you!"

Instructor Zhou spoke up, saying that although she was older than Principal Lin, she acted like a maid.

As Instructor Zhou left and closed the door, the room fell silent. Principal Lin's smile vanished, and she looked grim as she thought about the contents of the previous phone calls.

Principal Lin, what do you mean I'm wrong? You haven't even looked at this year's girls' school financial report. We've already been very lenient by not dismissing you from your position as principal.

I didn't want to sell the school either, but I had no choice. Abbot Zhao gave me just too much. You know I've had some business troubles lately—

The school is just changing its board of directors; it's not closing down. Abbot Zhao has already promised us that this school will remain an all-girls school.

The words spoken by the school board members, who used to fawn over her, chilled her to the bone.

"Mirror ghost—haunted—ghost baby—hehehe—I think these are just excuses for you to take over my school. Don't worry, you can't take my school away—"

Principal Lin muttered to herself, and just as she was doing so, a blurry shadow appeared behind her.

Or rather, the fleeting image in the dressing mirror!

Zhao Zheng, who hadn't left the dormitory at all and had climbed over the wall to enter the school, stopped in his tracks with a frown.

"Quite cautious—"

Watching the dressing mirror appear and disappear in a flash, Zhao Zheng muttered something, then turned and climbed over the wall to leave the girls' school.

This scene left the female warriors of the girls' school speechless. They were even more speechless after seeing Zhao Zheng flip over three times.

Zhao Zheng, who appeared to have climbed over the wall three times but actually used an invisibility talisman to climb over the wall six times, jumped to the ground outside the girls' school wall.

He cursed inwardly, "What a coward!" He removed the invisibility talisman from his body and looked at a large tree not far away.

Why aren't you home yet?

"You didn't reply either, did you?"

The one who spoke was Chu Ruoxi, who was no longer hiding behind the tree trunk. She was surprised that Zhao Zheng could see through her concealment technique.

Sensing Chu Ruoxi's thoughts, Zhao Zheng remained silent for a moment, his gaze quickly sweeping over Chu Ruoxi's two prominent features.

Is it possible that I didn't just see through it, but rather—I actually saw it?

"Ha, men are just men—"

Feeling Zhao Zheng's gaze, Chu Ruoxi sneered inwardly. However, to be fair, given Zhao Zheng's good looks, she felt there was nothing wrong with him looking at her like that.

After all, this shows how charming she is!

Looking at Zhao Zheng, who remained silent, Chu Ruoxi glanced at the Western Girls' School in front of her and said, "What are you going to do about this? After what you've done, this school is going to be almost half empty."

She said this mainly because of the matter of the mirror ghost and the remains of the ghost baby, both of which she chose to keep from the students.

However, sometimes it's not possible to hide something just because you want to, especially for students from wealthy and powerful families, it's simply impossible to keep it a secret.

"It would be better if it were empty!"

After saying something cryptic, Zhao Zheng took his leave. Chu Ruoxi snorted coldly and then turned to leave.

Time flies. It's 7:00 AM on August 17th at Xiqiao Girls' School.

Since she had chosen to be a teacher, Chu Ruoxi, who wanted to be a good one, took the initiative to pick up the female students who were temporarily staying at the girls' school and take them to the martial arts school for classes.

Although Principal Luo hadn't assigned her this task, she was dumbfounded as soon as she entered the school gate.

Chu Ruoxi stared blankly at the row of elm wood tables and chairs in the courtyard, and then at the more than twenty female Western doctors and female traditional Chinese medicine doctors dressed in white coats sitting in a row on the stools.

In front of them sat female students, also on benches, with their hair in short buns and wearing blue school uniforms.

The female students blushed as they took off their shoes, revealing pairs of small feet that had been bound in a way that made them somewhat deformed. They timidly untied the layers of foot bindings, revealing their swollen and deformed foot bones.

The female doctors carefully examined her, pressing lightly with their fingertips. Their eyes were slightly red as they spoke words that were different but had a similar tone.

"Don't be afraid, your foot wasn't bound too tightly yet, and your joints aren't completely stiff. From today onwards, you can completely unbind your foot and use warm water to soothe it for six months. It will gradually recover, and you won't have to suffer like this anymore."

"Your condition—well, your arch can still be corrected. As long as you stop binding your feet, you will have no problem walking and standing in the future. A woman's feet are not meant to be bound—"

"Your foot shape is pretty good, it will recover very quickly. In the future, you will definitely be able to walk steadily like those girls who haven't come to school, without having to suffer on tiptoe anymore."

"—Your foot is just a muscle spasm and blood stasis. I'll prescribe a remedy for you later. Soak it in water for 15 minutes every night, then gently massage along the tendons. Once the blood and qi flow smoothly, the stiffness will naturally ease, and the pain will stop soon."

"—Although your joints are slightly misaligned, fortunately the skin and flesh are not damaged. Regularly pressing the Yongquan and Shenmai acupoints will draw blood downwards, and gradually the misaligned tendons and bones will be able to recover somewhat."

"Don't be afraid. You are still young and your foot bones are not yet strong. As long as the binding is removed, and you take some blood-nourishing and tendon-strengthening medicine or plaster, and rest for a year or two, you will be able to walk steadily as usual."

Looking at the foot-binding cloths piled on the corner of the table, and listening to the words of the female doctors, Chu Ruoxi thought about the words "female classmates" that the female doctors mentioned. She seemed to understand what Zhao Zheng meant last night, but she still couldn't figure it out.

"What? Don't you know that foot binding was just a shackle used to restrain women from the lower classes? The truly wealthy families would never stoop to subjecting their daughters to such physical torment."

Zhao Zheng's voice sounded from behind. Chu Ruoxi subconsciously looked over and saw Zhao Zheng, his eyes slightly red, quickly turning and walking towards the school gate. She was stunned.

"Master Zhao, you—"

For some reason, Chu Ruoxi's eyes also reddened slightly. Zhao Zheng didn't know this; he only knew that the taste was too strong.

"Damn it, we need to make it a rule that everyone has to wash their feet every day. It's not like there's no hot water in the school, why don't you guys wash your feet?" Zhao Zheng thought, rubbing his eyes, which were stinging from the smell.