Shen Mo saw the monk and frowned, unconsciously releasing his grip. Without support, Jiang Xiaosi’s wheels slipped, and with a yelp, she fell back onto the ground, clutching her backside in pain.
Shen Mo remained calm. “Master Yixiu, taking the Zi Yin Insignia from Zhenye Temple without permission was wrong on my part, but it was necessary to capture a ghost and exorcise demons. It wasn’t used for anything bad. Once I finished using it, I had Koudan return it to you.”
Jiang Xiaosi lowered her head, covering her mouth as she stifled a laugh. Master Yixiu? Haha!
Yixiu waved his sleeve, tossing something onto the ground. It rolled three times before stopping—it was the same Zi Yin Insignia Jiang Xiaosi had seen Shen Mo use to extract Ye Miao’s soul.
“This is a fake!” Yixiu’s face was full of anger. He didn’t possess the usual kindness and compassion of a monk. With his sharp eyebrows and strong presence, his gaze was intense and imposing.
“Fake?” Both Shen Mo and Jiang Xiaosi were taken aback.
Jiang Xiaosi picked up the insignia and examined it carefully. While the material was of high quality, compared to the glowing, spiritual Zi Yin Insignia she had seen before, this was nothing more than an ordinary object. The brushstrokes of the seal’s inscription were also stiff. If it had been in Shen Mo’s possession, he would’ve recognized it as fake immediately. If Yixiu wasn’t lying, there was only one possibility: the real insignia had been swapped out while in Shen Koudan’s care.
Shen Mo quickly realized the insignia was indeed fake. Given Yixiu’s character, he wouldn’t have come all this way to confront him without good reason.
“Master, please don’t be angry. There may have been a misunderstanding. Let’s return to my place, and I’ll ask Koudan about this. We can discuss it further.”
With that, Shen Mo turned and led Yixiu towards the mountain.
Jiang Xiaosi was left behind, sitting miserably on the ground. She wanted to get up and follow them, but not only had she sprained her ankle, she was still wearing rollerblades, making it impossible to stand.
“Professor!” she called out pitifully.
Shen Mo glanced back and saw her still sitting in the middle of the road, which was quite dangerous. He had no choice but to return and pick her up.
“I’m not a briefcase! Stop carrying me like that! Ouch, ouch, ouch! Be gentle, Professor!” Jiang Xiaosi protested with a pout, hoping for a princess carry.
Shen Mo ignored her complaints and carried her back to his home.
Yixiu seemed very familiar with the surroundings, indicating that this wasn’t his first visit. Jiang Xiaosi guessed that when the monk had come looking for Shen Mo earlier, Shen Mo must not have been home.
As soon as they entered, Yixiu wrinkled his brow. “Why do you still burn this incense? Why make yourself unable to forget?”
Shen Mo pretended not to hear. Jiang Xiaosi curiously stared at Yixiu, eager to know what was going on. But before she could ask, Shen Mo unceremoniously dropped her onto the sofa, leaving her to sulk as she bent down to untie her shoes.
“Don’t you have any other shoes?”
“I left them in the locker. I was planning to skate all the way home.” Jiang Xiaosi winced as she loosened the laces. The rollerblades had high cuffs that pressed against her swollen ankle, making the pain worse.
Shen Mo found a pair of Shen Koudan’s slippers from the shoe cabinet and knelt down to untie the complicated knots of Jiang Xiaosi’s laces, carefully removing her foot from the rollerblade.
In the past, only her dad would take care of her like this. But now, it was her strict professor—someone who was always scolding her! Jiang Xiaosi was stunned and didn’t dare move, afraid that she might scare away this brief moment of gentleness.
Yixiu stood stiffly to the side, looking just as shocked. His expression was as if he had swallowed a fly.
Shen Mo noticed the little bunnies on Jiang Xiaosi’s white socks and suddenly realized that she wasn’t Shen Koudan. This wasn’t the past anymore, when he had cared for a little girl all by himself—Shen Koudan had grown up.
His face turned icy as he stood up, heading into the kitchen to make tea for Yixiu. Then, he retrieved a bottle of tomato juice from the fridge for Jiang Xiaosi. The fridge still had several bottles left over from when Jiang Xiaosi used to visit and sneak food from his place.
After a moment of hesitation, he picked up a small, delicate bottle from the counter and mixed a bit of liquid into the tomato juice.
Jiang Xiaosi happily drank the refreshing tomato juice, feeling that the professor had suddenly become very considerate—even opening the bottle for her.
When she saw Shen Mo reach into his pocket to pull out his phone, she couldn’t help feeling smug. He had finally listened to her advice and kept his phone on him.
“Call Koudan.” Shen Mo ordered in his usual commanding tone.
Jiang Xiaosi pouted and dialed the number, but to her surprise, a familiar voice answered.
“Hello?”
Jiang Xiaosi was stunned. She checked the screen—she hadn’t dialed the wrong number, so why was her dad answering?
“Hello? Koudan isn’t available right now. Could you call back later?”
“Dad?”
There was a brief pause on the other end. “Xiaosi! Why is it you?”
“That’s my line! Why are you answering Koudan’s phone?” Jiang Xiaosi shouted. What were they doing together?
“Koudan dragged me out to Thousand Mile Fragrance to drink with her. She got drunk and passed out.”
Shen Mo’s face darkened further. “Douse her with cold water and wake her up!”
“Koudan, wake up! Your uncle needs to talk to you!” Jiang Liu’s voice could be heard through the phone, along with Shen Koudan’s sleepy mumbling.
“Give her the phone!” Shen Mo took the phone from Jiang Xiaosi and spoke directly to Jiang Liu.
Jiang Liu glanced at Shen Koudan, who had disguised herself as a middle-aged man this time, yet in her drunken dreams, she still acted like a little girl. Finding it amusing, he held the phone up to her ear.
“Shen Koudan! How dare you go drinking again!” Shen Mo roared into the phone.
As soon as she heard Shen Mo’s voice, Shen Koudan leaped up from the chair in a panic, frantically looking around, only to see that he wasn’t there. Thinking she was dreaming, she sighed in relief and slumped back into the chair, ready to go back to sleep.
“Shen Koudan!” Shen Mo’s familiar scolding voice rang out again, and this time, Shen Koudan realized she wasn’t dreaming.
“I-I’m here!” she stammered, hurriedly taking the phone from Jiang Liu. “Uncle, what’s going on?”
“Why did you return a fake Zi Yin Insignia to Zhenye Temple?”
“Fake?” Shen Koudan’s mind was still a bit foggy. “What do you mean fake? How could it be fake? I stole it myself and returned it personally. No one at the temple noticed, and no one knew I had the Zi Yin Insignia!”
Yixiu snorted coldly on the other end.
Shen Mo remained silent. He knew that as the head monk of Zhenye Temple, Yixiu couldn’t officially lend out the Zi Yin Insignia, so he had turned a blind eye, allowing Shen Koudan to steal it. Otherwise, with the temple’s formidable defenses, she would never have been able to take it.
“We’ll talk when you get back.” Shen Mo hung up, deep in thought about who could be the hidden mastermind behind all this.
An hour later, Jiang Liu and Shen Koudan arrived. Shen Koudan was now fully alert, showing no signs of drunkenness, and there was no trace of alcohol on her.
When Jiang Liu and Shen Mo saw each other for the second time, the mutual sense of unease between them hadn’t diminished. They gave each other a polite nod, which passed as a greeting. However, when Jiang Liu and Yixiu’s gazes met, Yixiu instantly tensed up, his sharp eyes narrowing. Something was off—the young one was strange, but this older one was even more so.
Jiang Liu, on the other hand, remained calm, meeting Yixiu’s gaze without a hint of avoidance, his face always maintaining a polite smile.
“Xiaosi, what happened to your foot?” Jiang Liu asked as he sat next to Jiang Xiaosi on the sofa, noticing her swollen ankle.
“It’s nothing. I twisted it while rollerblading.”
Jiang Liu didn’t want to use his powers to heal her in front of Shen Mo and Yixiu, so he asked Shen Mo for some medicinal oil and gently rubbed it onto her ankle.
“Uncle.” Shen Koudan’s voice was quiet and filled with guilt. She had been scolded too much as a child, and she still feared him to this day.
Shen Mo handed her the fake Zi Yin Insignia. “Is this the one you returned?”
Shen Koudan examined it. “I’m not sure. I kept it in a box the whole time. Before going to Zhenye Temple, I checked it thoroughly and found no problems. Once I was inside the temple, I never opened it again.”
Shen Mo frowned. “Are you saying the insignia was switched after you returned it to Zhenye Temple?”
“How could that be? I never left its side. No one could’ve taken it from me and replaced it without me noticing. Besides, I didn’t go at night; I went early in the morning, while the monks were doing their morning prayers. Maybe it was stolen after I returned it to the temple?”
Shen Mo shook his head. Apart from Shen Koudan, Yixiu wouldn’t let anyone else into the temple. And considering Zhenye Temple’s impenetrable defenses, if a thief had managed to steal it, they wouldn’t have waited for Shen Koudan to return it first.
“Think carefully. Did anyone approach you on the way, or did anything unusual happen?”
“It was already starting to get light, so no one could’ve gotten close without me noticing. Even if they were a ghost…” Shen Koudan trailed off, falling into thought.
“On my way back, I ran into a group of little ghosts fighting. I dispersed them, but they didn’t have physical bodies. If someone was skilled enough, they might’ve stolen it during the commotion. But demons and ghosts wouldn’t dare touch the Zi Yin Insignia, right?”
Shen Mo shook his head again. “What if there was a shikigami among them? This could be the work of a master. Whoever it is, they knew your exact movements when you stole and returned the insignia. It seems they’ve been eyeing it for a while.”
Yixiu frowned as well. “The Zi Yin Insignia is a sacred treasure of the Buddhist sect. It can control both living and dead souls. The consequences of losing it could be disastrous.”
“Don’t worry, Master. Since it was lost because of us, we’ll do our best to recover it as soon as possible.”
Yixiu had known Shen Mo for years and trusted him. The most important thing now was to recover the insignia quickly. Since Yixiu couldn’t stay outside the temple for long, it was up to Shen Mo.
“Alright. You must find it before anyone at the temple notices it’s missing. And make me another fake insignia—this one is too poorly made!”
Yixiu tossed the fake insignia onto the table, and Jiang Xiaosi couldn’t help but giggle.
Shen Mo nodded. “Give me two days. In the meantime, Master, you can stay here.”
Shen Koudan quickly offered, “I’ll go investigate right away. I promise to get to the bottom of this.”
With that, Jiang Liu carried Jiang Xiaosi, and they left together with Shen Koudan.
Jiang Xiaosi remained silent on the way home, which made Jiang Liu feel a bit uneasy.
“Xiaosi, what’s wrong? Does your foot still hurt?”
“No, it’s not that. I’m just thinking about something.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. It feels like I’ve forgotten something really important, but I just can’t remember what.”
Jiang Xiaosi suddenly felt a tear slip down her cheek. When she touched her face, she realized she had been crying.
Back at Shen Mo’s, Yixiu asked, “Who are Jiang Liu and Jiang Xiaosi?”
“Jiang Xiaosi is one of my students, and Jiang Liu is her father. He runs a shop in the city center, dealing with business related to ghosts and spirits. His body is tainted with a bit of corpse energy or demonic aura. I understand your concerns, Master. I had the same feeling when I first met them.”
Yixiu shook his head, still sensing something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Has anyone else recently attempted to steal the Zi Yin Insignia from Zhenye Temple?”
“No. The Zi Yin Insignia is one of the temple’s greatest secrets, known by very few. While everyone fears ghosts, many desire to possess the power of the insignia. Even while it’s sealed, it holds immense power. If it were unsealed and used for ill purposes, humanity would face a catastrophe.”
Shen Mo’s mouth went dry as he recalled the massacre of a hundred ghosts that had occurred years ago. “I can’t shake the feeling that he’s still alive…”
“Shen Mo, it’s all in the past. Why can’t you let it go?”
“You don’t understand. It ended too easily. He got so far, how could he lose to me in the end? I still feel like he’s not dead. That’s why I can’t forget or lower my guard. I can’t let the past repeat itself.”
Yixiu sighed and changed the subject. “Creating a replica of the insignia shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Yes, the main issue is the materials. I don’t have any good jade on hand right now. I’ll have to look for some tomorrow.”
Jiang Xiaosi knocked on the door for a long time, finally concluding that Shen Mo wasn’t home rather than ignoring her. She pulled out her phone and hesitantly dialed his number.
It rang for a while. Just as Jiang Xiaosi was about to give up, someone answered.
Shen Mo’s cold, stiff voice came through the speaker.
“Speak.”
“Professor! Are you alone? Did you finally learn how to answer the phone?” Jiang Xiaosi couldn’t hide her excitement.
“What do you want?” Shen Mo asked impatiently.
Did she think he was blind? He had seen that huge pink heart sticker she had put on his phone.
“Where are you? I’m at your place. I don’t know if you’ve found any jade for the Zi Yin Insignia, but I brought some from my shop for you to choose from… Hello? Hello?”
Jiang Xiaosi frowned, feeling frustrated that Shen Mo had hung up on her mid-sentence. But then she saw his figure emerging from the bamboo-lined path.
“Professor!” Jiang Xiaosi ran over, holding a box in her arms.
Shen Mo raised an eyebrow as he watched her sprint towards him, smirking. “Your foot healed pretty fast.”
“It’s… it’s all thanks to your medicine!” Jiang Xiaosi awkwardly smiled. She couldn’t exactly tell him that being half a zombie sped up her healing process, not to mention her dad’s medical skills and magic.
“Where’s Master Yixiu?” She handed the box to Shen Mo.
“He went to a nearby temple to visit a friend.” Shen Mo opened the box and inspected the jade inside. It was indeed better than what he had found so far. He shouldn’t have forgotten that her family dealt in this kind of business.
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