With virtue

Having made up his mind, Zhao Yunshu left the west gate of Dingzhou City and hurried westward along an official road.

The midday sun was blazing overhead, but the young Taoist priest paid no heed to the heat and jogged along. After about an hour, he finally caught sight of the outline of the deserted village.

This deserted village is nestled in a shallow gully between two earthen hills, with a stream in front of it that is seven or eight parts dried up.

There are about thirty or forty households in the village, all of which are low mud-brick and thatched houses. Most of them have collapsed roofs, and wild grass grows among the ruins. The tallest wormwood is already waist-high. A few old trees stand crookedly at the entrance of the village.

Such a scene might be considered gloomy and desolate elsewhere, but at this time of year, such deserted villages are everywhere, so it's not surprising at all; we've seen it all before.

Moreover, the sun was blazing overhead, its blazing rays warming even the shadiest places. Not to mention demons and monsters, even stray dogs sought shade and hid, too lazy to move.

Upon arriving at the destination, Zhao Yunshu did not rush into the village. He found a half-dead old locust tree outside the village, leaned against the trunk, wiped his sweat, and surveyed the terrain of this deserted village.

This place is surrounded by mountains on all sides, with a low-lying area in the middle, shaped like an overturned cauldron. The stream that flows in front of the village is almost dry, the water does not gather, and the open space is not spacious. Logically speaking, it cannot be considered a feng shui treasure land. However, demons and ghosts build their nests, not choosing auspicious places, but only shady places, so this place is quite good.

The young Taoist priest circled around several times, silently chanting to the heavens and the earth, calculating and observing as he went.

What is he looking at?

The answer is to look at the direction.

He looked at the sun in the sky to confirm the cardinal directions, then used his fingers to calculate and match the directions one by one.

The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Dwellings states: "A Yang dwelling is one where Yang energy embraces Yin, and a Yin dwelling is one where Yin energy embraces Yang. Dwellings of Yin and Yang are like dragons. The head of a Yang dwelling is in Hai (亥), and the tail is in Si (巳); the head of a Yin dwelling is in Si (巳), and the tail is in Hai (亥).

It is also said: "When moving from Xun to Qian, from Wu to Zi, from Kun to Gen, from You to Mao, and from Xu to Chen, the direction is Yang. When moving from Qian to Xun, from Zi to Wu, from Gen to Kun, from Mao to You, and from Chen to Xu, the direction is Yin."

This method of geomancy is a money-making technique passed down by an old Taoist priest. Although it is not high-end and cannot be called feng shui, and it cannot be used to find dragons or mountains, ordinary people will ask a geomancer to take a look when building a house. It is useful in many places.

The old Taoist priest wandered around, and he couldn't possibly be slaying demons and monsters every day. If he were, he would have been killed by demons and monsters long ago.

If you walk by the river often, you're bound to get your shoes wet. No matter how capable you are, if you work yourself to the bone every day, you'll eventually die from exhaustion. So he avoids working himself to the bone whenever possible.

In reality, most of the work he did involved chanting scriptures for people, performing rituals, checking the location of houses, calculating birth charts, and even some things that weren't done by Taoists.

For example, when planning to leave this city and go to other places, he would bring some salted fish from the burlap sack, local specialties to resell elsewhere, and sometimes he would even help people drive away insects and catch rats in rice granaries, or use his medical skills to buy some medicine, or brew some cooling soup at the market to sell, whatever he could do as long as he had money.

That's just how unorthodox Taoist priests are.

He lived a peaceful and safe life, was cautious and prudent, and possessed genuine skills, which is why he was able to live a healthy and peaceful life to his seventies, dying peacefully in his old age without illness or disaster.

The young Taoist priest had also learned the geomancy techniques he used to help people find houses, and he put them to good use here.

When demons and monsters choose their lair, they will definitely choose places with heavy yin energy, which is what feng shui calls "yin dwellings".

Following the formula, he used the village entrance as a reference point to deduce the houses in the village one by one. He found out which house faced south and which faced north, and that the house had a higher east wing and a lower west wing, while the neighboring house had a higher west wing and a lower east wing.

After estimating that it would take about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, I had a better understanding of the situation.

Most of the houses in this village are built in the Yang house style, which shows that there are certain rules to follow when building houses. However, there are three houses at the end of the village near the foot of the mountain. They face north and are shady, with their doors facing the Kun position, which is exactly the number of Yin houses, "from Gen to Kun".

What's even better is that to the west of those houses, there is a dense forest of trees. The branches and leaves block out the sun, so even at noon, not a ray of sunlight can penetrate. It is very cool, and you can feel a chill from a distance that is different from other places.

Now that we've confirmed the location, it's time to venture into the lion's den...

Bullshit!

Without hesitation, Zhao Yunshu used fire magic to ignite a string of dry branches and then threw them violently into the mansion!

During the day, so we have to barge in and fight the ghost head-on?

That's just plain stupid! The Taoist priest would just burn your house down! Leaving you exposed to the open sun, you wouldn't even need to be burned to death, you'd be roasted to death by the sun!

Master said, safety comes first in everything!

But then he made a hand seal with his left hand, and the fire energy of his heart burst forth from his palm. With a whoosh, the dry branch that had just been lit burst into flames half a person high, and the flames licked the dry earthen wall, hissing as they climbed upwards.

He then went around to the other side of the house and did the same thing, setting fire to both the east and west sides in the blink of an eye.

Today was already hot and dry, and the wooden beams and thatched roofs of those old houses had been brittle from years of sun exposure. When a raging fire was lit, they crackled and burned as if oil had been poured on them!

Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, and the fire quickly spread to half of the roof.

Before long, a series of mournful ghostly howls were heard coming from inside the house. The voices were not the same. At first, they were melodious and plaintive, clearly female voices. Later, they gradually changed, becoming louder and louder, sharp and piercing, making people's teeth ache.

The old saying goes, "ghosts wailing and wolves howling," but today, ghosts wailing sounds much worse than wolves howling.

The young Taoist priest stood with his hands on his hips in the sunlight, listening to the sounds coming from inside.

Before long, the house collapsed completely and burned to ashes.

Zhao Yunshu waited a while, and only after confirming that there was no sound inside did she cautiously...

Step back.

That's right, of course we should back away. It stopped calling after a while, and who knows if it's dead? We need to check.

How can we confirm this?

But then he opened the yellow book.

The Yellow Book can automatically absorb the aura of a ghost as soon as it gets close, and the corresponding information will appear. If the ghost is engaged in strenuous activities, such as fighting, casting spells, or performing rituals, the speed of absorbing the aura will be accelerated.

The reason I got so close earlier was to absorb their energy.

Then, sure enough, two new pages appeared on the yellow book.

The first page features the white ape holding a sword, 'Yuan Zhisheng,' a monster that appeared during lunchtime, but we'll look at that later.

There's another page, featuring the character "Zhang Cuihua" from the Nine Beauties series.

It appeared as expected!

Upon opening it, one is struck by the portrait of a woman.

The woman in the painting has a seductive figure and a fairly beautiful face, but there's an inexplicable fierceness in her eyes and brows. Her lips are thin and tightly pursed, with a half-smile, and her robes are half-undone, revealing large expanses of skin, making her pose extremely alluring. However, the background of the painting is a sea of ​​fire, with the hem of the woman's clothes and strands of hair on fire, her face twisted and distorted in the flames, revealing a hint of ferocity.

The ink beside the painting was still wet, and lines of small characters were slowly emerging:

Zhang Cuihua, one of the "Nine Beauties".

Where there is love and pleasure, there are people who are infatuated; and where there are infatuated people, there are traps and pitfalls.

Those who act like prostitutes, sucking blood and grinding their teeth, disregard all morality and justice. They are ruthless and cunning, causing people to lose their fortunes, reputations, and even their lives.

It is said that prostitution is a bottomless pit and a well of dissatisfaction. However, prostitutes are accustomed to the ways of the world, and there are many who have tricks and few who do not. As for the virgins, they are swept along by the tide and do not know how to return to their roots. Among a hundred or so girls, there will always be a few who want to establish themselves as women and leave the profession, thus harming countless families.

Zhang Cuihua was originally a respectable woman from Xingzhou. At the age of thirteen, she was sold by a local man and repeatedly sold into various brothels, where she learned singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments.

As she grew older, she became quite beautiful, cunning, and scheming. She often tricked wealthy young men by claiming she would leave home and become a respectable woman, thus obtaining gold, silver, and valuables.

She once met the son of a wealthy merchant from Sichuan. He was young and inexperienced, and was bewitched by her. He secretly pledged his life to her and demanded no less than a million coins in gold and pearls. He wanted to redeem Zhang Cuihua's chastity and marry her after going through all the proper matchmaking and betrothal rites. He even offered most of his family fortune as a bride price.

Upon hearing this, the wealthy merchant sent someone to investigate her background and discovered all her frauds. He then reported her to the authorities and bribed them to arrest her in prison. Even in prison, Cuihua showed no remorse and instead cursed the wealthy merchant's family with vile words. She even wrote in blood on the prison wall, "Old thief, you've ruined me and tore apart my lover."

The wealthy merchant was furious and bribed the prison officials to have him executed by private torture, and then burned the body and crushed the bones.

His resentment soared to the heavens, and he transformed into a vengeful ghost.

Once its soul was formed, it initially roamed the outskirts of Xingzhou City. It would come out at night and use its beauty to lure lone men, absorbing their yang energy to solidify its soul.

Later, she met the Three Yin Elder, and the two hit it off and traveled together. After decades of hard work, they gradually achieved some success, and she called herself "Nine Beauties". She spread the word that she was sisters with Mei San Niang and the other eight beauties, but in reality, none of the eight beauties knew her name.

Because of the cause of his death, he was not afraid of flames.