Shi Jian: This Disciple of Mine Really Does Speak Pleasantly!

"It's daytime now. Even if she means people harm, she wouldn't dare run wild in broad daylight!" Shi Jian, who had just learned on the road from Liu Xiu that the female ghost had left Daoist Sun and his disciples one dead and two injured, said it softly, helplessly. "Oh, oh......" "......" Don't just say oh! Talking like that makes me feel ashamed! The corner of Shi Jian's mouth twitched. His face still held its expressionless look. He only turned his eyes toward Master Tan, who was leading the way. Master Tan went on leading them. The three followed him to the bedroom where Eldest Young Master Tan lay. This female ghost had already posted a record of one dead and two injured, yet the bedroom did not hold only Eldest Young Master Tan on the bed. Several maids waited beside him, shivering, and Madam Tan sat at the bedside, weeping. Looking at the maids' deathly pale little faces, Liu Xiu frowned slightly and looked toward Eldest Young Master Tan lying unconscious on the bed. The man's face had a faint greenish cast and a washed-out pallor, giving off the kidney-deficient look of a man worn out by too many nights awake and too much time spent flying his bird. That was his first impression! Shi Shaojian was different. Once again, because every maid's gaze was on Liu Xiu, he felt unhappy. Also, he suddenly felt that this junior brother's talk was not so pleasant to hear after all, and that his face was not so easy on the eyes either. "It seems Master Tan still has something hidden from the three of us, master and disciples!" Compared with Liu Xiu and Shi Shaojian, Shi Jian's focus was different. He looked at Eldest Young Master Tan, whose state was plainly that of a man the female ghost had been tormenting little by little, then at the talisman paper in the room from Daoist Sun's own hand and the ritual implements set out to guard the body and ward off evil. His brows drew together, and he spoke on purpose, with some anger in it. He had learned of Daoist Sun's business from Liu Xiu and had prepared himself, yet at the sight of the ritual implements Daoist Sun had left behind, he still could not help being angry that this Master Tan had deceived him. This could get someone killed...... could get his two disciples hurt...... Shi Jian's brows knit slightly. Fine, then. He had realized this female ghost did not seem able to harm these two disciples of his. The reason was simple. Because he was here! With that said, he made as if to take Shi Shaojian and Liu Xiu and leave. Seeing it, Master Tan hurriedly blocked them, then spoke of what he had concealed. "Daoist Shi, don't go! If you leave, what will become of my son? I didn't mean to hide it from you, Daoist Shi. I was only afraid that if you knew, you wouldn't come......" "Hmph!" Shi Jian gave a cold snort. The snort was not because he minded being kept in the dark. It was because of the contempt in those words. Who was he, Shi Jian? He was the foremost disciple of the sixty-ninth generation of the Maoshan Sect, the senior brother of this age. What did Master Tan mean by that? What—looking down on him, Shi Jian, like this? "Heh, listen to you, old man. Don't you know that even a thousand-year fox demon can only serve as a watchdog before my master, and a Ghost King, at the sight of my master, has to bow, hang his head, and walk backward......" Liu Xiu let out a heh and cursed, jabbing a finger at Master Tan's nose. Hearing it, Shi Jian lifted his head a little, faintly taking on that air Shi Shaojian had of looking at people through his nostrils. Only, very quickly, that nostrils-looking-at-people posture was gone. "......The moment mountain wraiths run into my master, they bury their heads at once. A hundred-year jiangshi, on seeing him, has to kneel far off and dare not even tremble. Those immortal officials of the Thunder Bureau must cup their hands whenever they pass the mountain gate. Even a judge of the underworld, on meeting my master, has to yield and offer courtesy......" Hearing Liu Xiu pour out words like a string of doggerel, Shi Jian hurriedly coughed aloud several times to cut him off. He meant nothing else by it. It simply could not go on. He was afraid that if an immortal official really happened to come by and overhear, he would be in no position to bear the consequences. Hm? Why am I talking like doggerel too! Shi Jian hurriedly recited Huang Tingjian in silence within his heart, clearing the stray thoughts and washing away the slightly off way of speaking that Liu Xiu had led him into. Clearing the stray thoughts took no more than an instant. Expressionless once more, Shi Jian looked at Master Tan, who had been stunned blank by those few sentences of Liu Xiu's. Under that look, Master Tan hurriedly told the truth he had concealed. Only, the truth was far too simple, and Shi Jian and Liu Xiu frowned together. "All you hid was that the female ghost killed one of Daoist Sun's disciples and injured Daoist Sun and another disciple. You didn't hide anything else?" Seeing his master signal with a look, Liu Xiu put his mouth to use as a mouthpiece and asked again. Watching the somewhat blank Master Tan, he went on: "For instance, threatening and enticing that female ghost's family. Or, for another, that this female ghost was actually driven to her death by your Tan household......" "No, no, no......" Master Tan hurriedly shook his head to say there was nothing of the sort. Shi Jian frowned slightly. Shi Shaojian, his face full of displeasure, looked at this Master Tan who spoke so evasively and said, "So your son didn't do anything at all, and this female ghost just came looking on her own?" "It seems it really is like that...... Ahem. What I mean is, ever since my son came back from the neighboring town, this female ghost has had hold of him. I asked him too. He really didn't do anything......" Master Tan said, a bitter smile all over his face. "Master, let's go. The way I see it, he doesn't want to save his son at all!" Shi Shaojian said, displeasure on his face and unhappiness in his mood. "You three Daoists, I really have nothing else hidden from you......" Master Tan was close to tears. He had concealed that the female ghost had killed one and injured two, but he truly had not concealed anything else. He had said everything he knew. If his son were not plainly about to be finished, he would have wanted to give the boy a beating and ask whether he was hiding something and had not told him. "There's really nothing else hidden?" Liu Xiu asked. Watching Master Tan nod like mad and say no, no, he looked toward Shi Jian. Seeing Shi Jian frown slightly and say nothing, he roughly understood and went on as mouthpiece. "Master, let's stay and take a look. Lives are at stake, after all. Master Tan did deceive us first, but what if this female ghost later kills until her eyes go red, finishes the Tan household, and then keeps on killing? For the safety of the people in town, Master, you can't just leave this female ghost be!" "Mm......" He who knows me is Xiu! Shi Jian inclined his head slightly, feeling that Liu Xiu understood him better than Shi Shaojian did. In a daze, he began to understand why Shi Shaojian had back then forcibly given the Heavenly Thunder Sword magic treasure to Liu Xiu. To be fair, this disciple of his really did speak pleasantly!! And so the three stayed, except that Shi Shaojian still wanted to leave. He meant nothing else by it. He simply felt that this Master Tan was hiding something from him. It was absolutely not because he had seen those maids fawning all over Liu Xiu and gotten angry. Right. That was it. He, Shi Shaojian, was not that petty! Besides, he, Shi Shaojian, was only a little worse-looking than Liu Xiu. A little shorter, a little less handsome...... Forget it. He would not think about it. The more he thought, the angrier he got.jpg. Face dark, Shi Shaojian followed Shi Jian in inspecting the courtyard where Eldest Young Master Tan stayed. Shi Jian looked with a slight frown at Liu Xiu, over whom the maids were lavishing their attentions. To be fair...... A dozen seconds later, feeling that his new disciple was still quite clever and knew how to draw talk out of the maids, Shi Jian gave a slight nod, said he understood, and went on checking the courtyard with the luopan in hand. Along the way he also told Liu Xiu a little of what belonged to the art of feng shui, though Liu Xiu listened with six of his seven apertures open—and with the last one shut, he still didn't understand a thing. A dozen minutes later, Shi Jian put the luopan away with a frown. It was not that the check had turned something up. It was that it had turned up nothing at all! He told Master Tan how matters stood. Once the chance that the female ghost was close by had been ruled out, Master Tan offered an invitation to eat. Shi Jian had wanted to look a while longer, but things having come to this, they might as well eat first. After all, his...... disciples were hungry! Lunch was eaten, dinner was eaten, and just like that time came to evening. Because they ate in Eldest Young Master Tan's courtyard, the three did not have to walk back and forth again. Once the meal was done, they got straight to work! "A-Xiu, bring me a stool!" Coming out of the dining hall, Shi Jian spoke to Liu Xiu beside him. Liu Xiu froze, then said, a little blank, "Master, aren't we going to open an altar to perform rites?" "Do we need to?" Shi Jian frowned and asked back, puzzled. Shi Shaojian looked at Liu Xiu with open scorn. "You know what my master is capable of? Open an altar for a single female ghost? That would be rating it far too highly!" Liu Xiu was silent for a breath, thought of Shi Jian's strength, nodded, and said with certainty, "Mm. We really don't need to. Opening an altar to perform rites really would be thinking too highly of it." Though Liu Xiu felt this was a little less than safe, that was all. And so Shi Jian sat straight down, bold and wide-legged, at the door of Eldest Young Master Tan's bedroom. Shi Shaojian and Liu Xiu stood to his left and right, waiting only for full dark and for the female ghost to come. Time passed bit by bit. As the sun set completely, the stars overhead began to light, one after another. At the same time the stars lit, night had fallen, and a yin wind slowly blew in.