The Celestial Master Comes Calling

The bell for the end of class rang. Students came out of the classrooms one after another, stretching as they reached the corridor to look about. Walking in the crowd, Su Tingxue was like a proud peacock, her head forever held high, giving off an aura that warned strangers away. She had the looks for it. Even after knowing her for two years, classmates were still drawn by her beauty and could not help turning back for another look. Those at school who secretly loved her and pursued her were beyond counting, and among them were no few rich second-generation young masters. Su Tingxue was famous at No. 2 High for her looks and her grades. Rumor said her origins were extraordinary, that her family possessed wealth beyond measure, and that luxury cars picked her up and dropped her off for school. Others guessed maliciously that she was loose in her conduct, because the car that came for her was different every time. None of these rumors were true. In fact, she was a Celestial Master registered at Mount Longhu. The luxury cars that came to fetch her belonged to wealthy people who had hired her to deal with demons and ghosts. Unlike charlatans who swaggered about cheating people, being entered in the register meant she was an inner-sect disciple of Mount Longhu. She had cultivation of her own, the true teachings of her sect, and real attainment on the Dao. She was qualified to descend the mountain in the name of Mount Longhu, slay demons and eliminate evil, and use the righteous to restrain the wicked. Those harassed by demons and ghosts honored her as a distinguished guest. Wherever she went, people flocked around her. Only she herself knew that beneath all that glory, a knot in her heart had troubled her all along. It was something from two years ago. She had just started school when she heard the old dormitory building was haunted. As a Celestial Master, the sense of duty that came with her status drove her to step forward. She tried to deal with the fierce ghost of the old dormitory building. Unfortunately, she had only just entered the Dao then. Her realm was not high, and she lacked experience. The fierce ghost toyed with her until she fled in disarray. She took it as a humiliation. She swore there and then that she would deal with this fierce ghost and avenge that grudge. To that end she studied and trained diligently, delving into talisman rites. Her realm advanced by leaps and bounds, and her talent showed itself to the fullest. The senior brothers and sisters of Mount Longhu praised her progress endlessly and sighed that they were no match for her. The materials required for talisman rites were all unusual. They were hard to gather in Chang'an, and even harder to buy online, where real was hard to tell from fake. Better to ask her senior brothers and sisters at Mount Longhu to send them. Once the materials were in hand, she meant to make another trip to the old dormitory building and break the knot in her heart! Suddenly Su Tingxue stopped. As she passed Class Three of the third year, she sensed a thread of chill that should not have belonged here! This chill was all too familiar to her. It was the chill unique to a fierce ghost! What was going on? Was this place haunted?! "Tingxue, why did you stop all of a sudden? Come on." Her best friend was calling her. She paid no heed. She roused the spiritual power within her and used a secret art of Mount Longhu to open the Yin-Yang Heavenly Eye, looking into Class Three of the third year. A single glance made her feel as if she had plunged into an ice cave. Cold rose all through her body! A fierce ghost in white drifted there. Yin energy hung thick, ghostly qi spread, and a ghost domain shrouded the entire class, meaning the ghost took the class as her own territory. From time to time she blew on the students' backs and wore an eerie smile. Seen through the Yin-Yang Heavenly Eye, the color of the whole class differed from the world outside. It was several shades darker! The students noticed nothing at all. They chatted and laughed. It was the fierce ghost who lived in the old dormitory building! She had left the old dormitory building! Su Tingxue's expression turned grave. The turn of events was beyond what she had expected and caught her unprepared. The fierce ghost felt even stronger to her than before! As things stood, she could no longer wait for the materials to be sent from Mount Longhu. She also noticed that the fierce ghost was chatting with a certain classmate. Su Tingxue had some impression of this classmate. They had been schoolmates for two years. If the other were a cultivator, she would have discovered it long ago. That meant the other was an ordinary person. An ordinary person, by rights, should not have been able to see a fierce ghost, much less chat with one. Even cultivators at the Qi Refining stage could not see ghosts. She herself was the exception. She had the Yin-Yang Heavenly Eye. The Yin-Yang Heavenly Eye was an exclusive secret of Mount Longhu, never taught to outsiders. Other cultivators at the Qi Refining stage did not know this art. An ordinary person who could see a ghost—every trace said this person had been bewitched by the fierce ghost. Yes. A fierce ghost would not appear here for no reason. This classmate must have gone to the old dormitory building to test his courage, been bewitched and possessed, and the ghost had followed him to Class Three and taken the place as her territory. "Do you know this person?" Su Tingxue asked her best friend. Since they were not in the same class, her best friend could not recall the name at once. She thought for a long while before saying hesitantly, "I think he's called Zhou You?" Su Tingxue nodded and walked into Class Three. Su Tingxue's entrance drew everyone's attention, not only because people rarely visited another class, but because she was Su Tingxue. "Hey, quit sleeping. Look, quick—Su Tingxue's come to our class." "Stop messing around. What's she coming here for..." A classmate rubbed his eyes. Once he saw Su Tingxue clearly, he froze. "Why would she come to our class?" "No idea. Looking for someone, maybe?" Just after class, everyone had been drowsy and sleepy, face-down on their desks. The moment Su Tingxue arrived, they perked up at once. Sleep was forgotten. They whispered and murmured among themselves. Su Tingxue paid no mind to anyone's gaze. She walked straight toward Zhou You, who was secretly chatting with Nuomi. Every step she took was precisely measured. If someone who knew the art had been there, they would have recognized it. These were the Tiangang Eight Trigrams Steps of Mount Longhu, able to gather momentum and suppress evil. When she reached Zhou You, her momentum had just hit its peak. Her cool tone brooked no question. "Zhou You, you've been bewitched by her. You must leave her." Zhou You, who had been chatting happily with Nuomi, froze. Bewitched? Me? By whom? A string of question marks popped up in Zhou You's mind, and none of them had an answer. "Su... Tingxue?" Zhou You had not caught on. He and Su Tingxue were not familiar at all. He only knew there was a very pretty girl in Class One, and he could not even say her name smoothly. Why would she come looking for him? "It's you, you damned rice-thrower!" Nuomi bristled, snarling with rage. Two years ago she had been ignorant and curious about everything, and it was Su Tingxue who had thrown glutinous rice at her. She could remember this for a lifetime! "That's right. It is I. It seems you still remember what happened two years ago." Su Tingxue nodded. Unafraid of the strange looks around her, she admitted it openly. Her tone was calm, her expression as still as an ancient well. Seeing Nuomi again after two years, Su Tingxue felt a hundred emotions at once. Perhaps this was Heaven's will, letting her meet Nuomi outside the old dormitory building, urging her to deal with Nuomi and break the knot in her heart. In these two years she had never once set foot in the old dormitory building again. Her battle with Nuomi had been put off again and again. Was that not the shadow left from that year still at work, so that she had never dared to face Nuomi? So Su Tingxue was the Daoist Nuomi had spoken of? Sensing that the air between the person and the ghost was wrong, and that they might well come to blows outright, Zhou You hurried to smooth things over. "Uh, is there some misunderstanding here? Why don't we sit down and talk?" Chu Xiaoyao had gone to the restroom, so the seat beside Zhou You happened to be empty. Considering this was a matter between Su Tingxue and Nuomi, and that much of it was inconvenient to say here, Zhou You added, "Or should we talk outside?" Both the person and the ghost were in a temper. Zhou You's suggestion clearly won support from neither of them. "Zhou You, she's the one who threw glutinous rice at me back then. She's a bad person!" Nuomi stamped her foot. It was not that she had never afterward thought of settling the score with Su Tingxue. Unfortunately she had searched for three months and never found her, and in the end she gave up. Now the chance lay right before her. No matter what, she could not let it go! Su Tingxue likewise did not yield half a step. She pressed in instead, step after step, the pressure in her cool eyes immense. Back then she had just come down from Mount Longhu, and her confidence had been at its height. She had never imagined she would fail so absurdly, unable even to beat some nameless little ghost at school. For a time she had doubted whether her own training was lacking. Fortunately, she had later helped people subdue demons and eliminate evil, cut down wickedness and drive out ghosts, time and again. Only then did her confidence gradually return. Afterward she had gone back over the fight. Nuomi had taken advantage of her lack of experience and caught her unprepared. Her skill had been the lesser. The loss was not unjust. She accepted it. "Back then I was inexperienced, and you took advantage of me. I admit it. These two years, I have thought about you every day. I think it is time there was a resolution between us." Though she said it flatly, Zhou You could hear emotion in it on the verge of breaking free. He would not have been surprised if they came to blows on the spot. Su Tingxue still could not forget Nuomi, and treated her as a goal to drive herself on. After Nuomi defeated her, she had asked the school for three months' leave and cultivated arduously at Mount Longhu. Only later, to catch up with the lessons, did she return to school. After she came back, she did not slacken in the slightest. Her free time was spent either subduing demons and eliminating evil, or cultivating with bitter effort. Her progress was astonishing. For her, this was revenge after a gap of two years! "What do you want to do?" Zhou You was asking Nuomi. After all, he had been around Nuomi more, and it was thanks to Nuomi that the class could be this pleasantly cool. "A one-on-one with her, of course." Nuomi huffed. "This young lady beat her hollow two years ago, and two years later I still can!" Su Tingxue gave a cold laugh. So the ghost still took her for the little Celestial Master of two years ago. She ordered Nuomi, "You leave him first. This is between you and me. It has nothing to do with him." By now Zhou You had more or less understood. Su Tingxue mistakenly believed he had been possessed or bewitched by Nuomi. No wonder her opening words upon seeing him had been like that. "Uh, Classmate Su Tingxue, I think you've misunderstood the relationship between us." Seeing that Su Tingxue was unmoved, Zhou You said awkwardly, keeping his voice low, "And there's one more thing I may need to remind you of. Ordinary people can't sense Nuomi's existence. Should the two of us go talk outside?" "So what?" Su Tingxue did not understand why Zhou You said that. Zhou You had no choice but to remind her quietly once more. "Try imagining the conversation just now if Nuomi weren't in it." "Hm?" Only then did Su Tingxue notice that the whole class had fallen dead silent, staring fixedly at Zhou You and Su Tingxue. Su Tingxue's looks were outstanding, and she had long grown used to being watched. But this time she felt that the way everyone looked at her was very wrong. In the eyes of the whole class, the conversation just now had gone like this. ... Su Tingxue burst straight into Class Three, aggressive, utterly unlike the impression she usually left. That meant her purpose in coming was no simple matter. She went straight to Zhou You. "Zhou You, you've been bewitched by her. You must leave her." The whole class perked up. The very first sentence set imaginations running. It sounded as if Su Tingxue were urging Zhou You to leave another woman. Had Zhou You gotten himself a girlfriend behind everyone's backs? Who? Chu Xiaoyao? Who could sleep through this? Get up and watch the show. "Su... Tingxue?" Zhou You was clearly startled by Su Tingxue's appearance, and he put on a look of not being very familiar with her. Su Tingxue nodded and admitted it openly. The look she gave Zhou You was complicated, many emotions mixed together in it. "That's right. It is I. It seems you still remember what happened two years ago." Two years ago? Zhou You and Su Tingxue had known each other two years ago? Had something happened between them? Judging by Su Tingxue's words, whatever happened two years ago was very special. Those with lively minds looked at the two of them strangely. Could it be... "Uh, is there some misunderstanding here? Why don't we sit down and talk? Or talk outside?" Zhou You urged them. It looked as if he were trying to deny it. Offering to speak outside meant he knew what Su Tingxue was talking about. This was something that could not be brought into the light. "Back then I was inexperienced, and you took advantage of me. I admit it. These two years, I have thought about you every day. I think it is time there was a resolution between us." Su Tingxue was not having it. She spoke in front of everyone of what had happened two years ago. She did not say exactly what had occurred, but the fragments, together with her manner, were enough to set imaginations running. It sounded as if Zhou You had wronged Su Tingxue, and Su Tingxue had been unable to forget him for a full two years before finally resolving to make Zhou You take responsibility. A romantic dispute. It had to be a romantic dispute! "What do you want to do?" the scumbag Zhou You asked, looking as if his conscience were perfectly clear. "You leave her first. This is between you and me. It has nothing to do with her." Su Tingxue was telling Zhou You to break up with his girlfriend. The students all loved a spectacle and did not mind the trouble growing. One after another, they applauded and shouted. "Uh, Classmate Su Tingxue, I think you've misunderstood the relationship between us." The scumbag Zhou You was powerless to explain himself. Su Tingxue had already said this much in front of everyone. How could there still be a misunderstanding? Pah. Scumbag. ... Aware of the strange looks from the whole class, Su Tingxue's lovely face, cold as ice and snow, gradually flushed red, the color climbing all the way to the rims of her ears. She did not dare meet Zhou You's eyes. Her gaze dropped in guilty embarrassment. She wished she could find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.