Chapter 484: Chapter 448: Divination Stick
Qin Ze was so startled that the water grasses around him twisted wildly. Suddenly, two strands of red hair flew out from behind him, instantly entangling the Daoist tightly, rendering him unable to move.
With a clang, a scarlet blade light flashed before his eyes, and the head of the Ghost Taoist fell from its shoulders, rolling away.
"Trust is a rare commodity!"
This ghost was at least a fifth layer, and this blade from Sang Que couldn’t take the ghost’s life. Without a head, the ghost Taoist’s body remained, its arms bound by Xia Chan’s hair, still holding a flag in one hand, while the other hand clutched a shaking sign tube.
A stick was about to fall out, with ’Bad Luck’ written on it.
If that divination stick hit the ground, nothing good would happen.
Sang Que acted quickly, dismembering the sign tube from the Ghost Taoist’s hand before the stick could fall.
As soon as the sign tube left its hand, the Ghost Taoist’s aura rapidly diminished. Qin Ze reacted, and the water grasses from his body shot out, together with the two strands of red hair, completely subduing the Ghost Taoist’s body.
Dressed like an opera troupe martial artist, the Paperman quietly appeared behind the Ghost Taoist. Paper scraps flew like snow, layer upon layer pasted on the Ghost Taoist, and within a few breaths, they turned the Ghost Taoist into a Paper Mache Man.
Sang Que flicked open a painting, collecting the Paper Mache Man.
The danger was resolved without incident. They obtained a sign tube and a fifth-layer strength Paperman Substitute. What luck!
After the crisis, Qin Ze breathed a sigh of relief but turned to find two Xia Chans behind Sang Que.
"Why do you look like Little Chan?" Xia Chan tilted her head in confusion.
Hua Qianmian slyly smiled with Xia Chan’s face, "Because Little Chan is cute."
After speaking, Hua Qianmian slowly reverted to her original appearance. She not only transformed into Xia Chan earlier but also attacked the Ghost Taoist with hair like Xia Chan.
In recent months, Hua Qianmian constantly tested and tried various personas, having impersonated every Yin Walker on Bright Moon Mountain.
During her impersonations, she could also simulate their abilities, though only up to half strength. The more people recognized her disguise, the stronger the simulated abilities became.
After this small incident, Qin Ze felt a sense of despondency. Around Sang Que, there were hidden dragons and crouching tigers; everyone was a master. Even Liu Tianyou, who looked like a frail scholar, commanded the once sixth-layer Zhuangyuan Ghost, now also at fifth strength.
Being a fourth-layer strength, Qin Ze used to be considered an expert in the Evil Suppression Bureau, but coming to Bright Moon Mountain, he found himself lacking, leaving him quite defeated.
When the Ghost Taoist approached earlier, he was immediately subdued. This couldn’t continue; he needed to find a way to improve!
Once the three boarded the carriage, Qin Ze tugged on the reins, urging the horse to continue on their journey.
Inside the carriage, Hua Qianmian and Xia Chan curiously observed the sign tube in Sang Que’s hand.
The sign tube was very old, with the typical characteristics of a yin object, stained with blood. It held twenty-five sticks, and the divination sticks and bamboo tube were a single unit, not meant to be taken directly from the tube.
When the divination sticks stayed in the sign tube, the writings on them couldn’t be seen clearly.
Xia Chan reached out to draw one, but Sang Que slapped her hand away, "Don’t be reckless, or it might fulfill the omen."
Sang Que carefully disassembled the divination sticks one by one from the tube, laying them on the table, revealing the blood-stained characters only when out of the bamboo tube.
"My goodness, twenty-five sticks, and twenty-four are Bad Luck! Only one is the Best Luck," Hua Qianmian exclaimed.
Sang Que examined carefully, confirming the sign tube’s use and operation, reassembling the twenty-five divination sticks back inside with his assembling capability.
If used separately, the effects would weaken.
"The sign tube’s function is simple. Shake it towards an enemy, and if a Bad Luck stick falls, it matches that fake Taoist’s common scam, ’Within three steps, there will certainly be a disaster,’ meaning something bad will definitely happen within three steps."
Upon hearing this, Xia Chan shook her head like a rattle, retreating hastily.
Hua Qianmian pressed on, "Is there a way to break the omen?"
The journey was long, and with nothing to do, Sang Que teased, "When you encounter such a scamming fake Taoist on the street, what do they usually ask for?"
Hua Qianmian’s eyes lit up, "Got it, pay them to help relieve the disaster."
Sang Que nodded, "Exactly, to break the bad luck stick, you have to give exactly three copper coins to the person holding the sign tube within three steps."
"What if it’s the Best Luck stick?" Hua Qianmian asked again.
"Great luck and success, but the holder of the sign tube gets unlucky instead."
"Thankfully, there’s only one Best Luck stick," Hua Qianmian comforted, "What’s the cost of shaking the sign tube?"
Sang Que said, "I haven’t figured that out. It seems to come without cost, but thinking it over, there must be something to lose."
"Right!" Xia Chan agreed, nodding vigorously at the side.
Hua Qianmian leaned against the carriage and yawned, "No worries, the road is long. We’ll try next time we meet a ghost."
The carriage rumbled along, leaving longer and longer tracks, under Qinzhou’s overcast skies, hard to distinguish day from night.
Along the way, ghosts not strong enough sensed the carriage’s aura and dared not get close. They hardly encountered ghosts like the fifth-layer Evil Ghost Taoist.
To save time on the journey, they chose to cross the river when they reached its edge, spotting a female ghost washing her hair and singing melodiously by the river.
Sang Que handed the sign tube to Red Ghost, sending her to test it on the female ghost. Red Ghost took just two steps, and the female ghost plunged into the river, disappearing.
Later, when Sang Que spotted powerful ghosts inside blood mists, he would release the Ghost Realm, pulling up the Opera House to trap the ghost inside, then let Red Ghost, holding the sign tube, test it out.
Through repeated testing, after Red Ghost rolled a Bad Luck, the opposing ghost would inevitably suffer misfortune within three seconds—either failing to escape, getting hit, or hurting themselves when trying to retaliate. It was certain to be a disaster.
There was indeed a cost, as after using the sign tube, Red Ghost also became unlucky. A Flying Corpse with speed and reflexes far beyond an ordinary person, she managed to crash into trees while dashing at full speed.
She would even slip while standing still, or scratch her face with her nails when ripping apart ghosts, persisting for three days before easing up.
Sang Que was only glad she could control Red Ghost to use the yin object. Otherwise, such bad luck happening to him would indeed be a disaster.
Day after day, they traveled relentlessly. Qin Ze immersed himself in novels, Xia Chan, bored, fidgeted with her hair, and Hua Qianmian wrote character sketches, studying the personas she intended to portray.
Sang Que never returned to the modern world, staying on the carriage with the three of them.
This day, Sang Que had just exited a visualization state, still easing the soul pain from the tortures of the Ninth Floor of the Nine Netherworld, Copper Pillar Prison when he suddenly heard Qin Ze’s ’whoa,’ and the carriage slowed.
"Everyone, we seem to have reached outside Wangshan City. Come and take a look."
