“The teachings of Daoism are profound, intricate, ever-changing, and difficult to grasp. They require great intuition and talent,” Song Yuantian said with his hands behind his back, naturally adopting the role of a teacher. “But it’s okay if you lack talent; as long as you study diligently, you can still understand the boundless ways of the Dao. Although starting at your age is a bit late, with three to five years of practice, you’ll see some progress.”
Bai Lixin sat there attentively, trying to absorb the mysterious and complex teachings.
Song Yuantian: “Ahem, since you want to learn, let me test your aptitude first.”
He opened a cabinet, took out a small wooden plaque about the size of a mahjong tile, and held it between his thumb and index finger. “This little thing is called the Spirit Communication Plaque. Don’t be fooled by its size, it’s an essential prop for beginners in Daoism.”
“I’ll demonstrate how it works.”
Song Yuantian placed the plaque flat on his palm. Bai Lixin watched closely but couldn’t tell what Song Yuantian did. The plaque jumped twice in his palm, then suddenly stood upright.
Bai Lixin’s eyes widened.
Seeing Bai Lixin’s reaction, Song Yuantian snorted. “This tool trains the ability to gather spiritual energy. Try directing the energy within you into the plaque to make it stand.”
Bai Lixin marveled, “This is amazing! You could take this to a magic show. Can you manipulate objects like Magneto?”
“Of course not. You think we’re superheroes?” Song Yuantian replied quickly. “Daoist techniques are aimed at ghosts and spirits. To put it blankly, they are soul attacks. This plaque stands because it’s a Spirit Communication Plaque, it’s specially modified wood.”
“But you’re right, some have used it for magic performances, though doing so shortens one’s life. Most avoid it.”
As he spoke, Song Yuantian handed the plaque to Bai Lixin. “Give it a try.”
“Those two are not small characters. You have absorbed so much spiritual energy from them, so there should be no problem. Imagine there is a water pipe inside you, directing water toward your hand and pouring it onto the plaque.”
Following Song Yuantian’s instructions, Bai Lixin closed his eyes and tried to visualize.
He wasn’t sure if he was doing it right, but his body felt warm, as if a current was moving toward his palm.
The plaque in his hand gave a small jump.
Bai Lixin blinked and looked at Song Yuantian.
Song Yuantian seemed unsurprised. “It’s fine; it’s your first attempt. It took me three days to make the plaque stand.”
What he didn’t tell Bai Lixin was that his aptitude was exceptionally high; he only needed three days, while others typically took a month.
Gathering spiritual energy was easy to say but difficult to execute. Forcing the body’s internal energy to change its flow requires overcoming natural instincts.
Though Bai Lixin had that energy from those two, it wasn’t inherently his, which meant control would be even harder.
To preserve Bai Lixin’s confidence, Song Yuantian encouraged, “Keep practicing with this plaque when you have nothing to do. When it stands on its own, come find me.”
Suddenly, the plaque stood upright for five seconds, then fell again.
Bai Lixin blinked again. “This is hard. Song Yuantian, I’ll keep practicing.”
Song Yuantian: ?
‘Hard?’
‘Ancestor, could I have stumbled upon a genius in Daoism?!’
He swallowed and watched as the plaque in Bai Lixin’s palm rose again.
This time, it didn’t fall but remained steady in Bai Lixin’s hand. If you looked closely, you could even see that it was slightly suspended above his palm.
Bai Lixin: “Song Yuantian, is this okay?”
Song Yuantian was shocked.
Typically, the plaque touched the palm to allow energy transfer through contact. Only experts could make it hover by projecting energy so intensely that it created a field around the plaque and lifted it off the palm.
Those two guys’ energy surprised him, but Bai Lixin’s control shocked him even more.
After calming down, Song Yuantian said, “Very good. Take the plaque with you and practice whenever you have time. The energy you put into it will return to you, so don’t worry about exhausting yourself and your soul getting out of your body.”
Bai Lixin nodded seriously and held up the plaque. “What else will I learn? Meditation?”
Song Yuantian: “…” “Let me teach you some incantations.”
Meditation aims to calm the mind and aid in controlling spiritual power, but in this case, it could be skipped.
“For disciples of Daoism, gathering spiritual energy is only the foundation, visualizing it is the key. The three main practices are drawing talismans, setting formations, and incantations.”
“These aren’t standalone; they often work together.”
“Since your soul often leaves your body involuntarily, drawing talismans and formations isn’t useful for now. Incantations might help more.”
“I’ll demonstrate,” Song Yuantian extended his fingers, intertwined them in a complex sequence, and chanted, “Bind!”
As soon as he spoke, the plaque in Bai Lixin’s hand fell. He wanted to ask what happened but found he couldn’t move.
Song Yuantian explained, “This is the Soul Binding Incantation. Usually, it only affects ghosts. It worked on you because of your unstable soul, making you half-ghost.”
Clapping his hands, he said, “Release!”
Bai Lixin could move again.
Bai Lixin: “If I learn this, could I bind any ghost that bothers me?”
Song Yuantian: “First, you have to learn it. This is not as simple as the Spirit Communication Plaque.”
He pulled out a small, faded blue booklet from the drawer and handed it to Bai Lixin. “Here, study this and get familiar with it. It’s late, go home first and rest.”
“Thank you,” Bai Lixin said, accepting the booklet.
On his way home, he passed the artificial lake.
This time, he didn’t hurry away but stood by the lake.
The dark surface occasionally glimmered. In a trace, he saw himself begging for help, a water ghost grinning mockingly, and Cao Lin chasing him in a corridor, looking satisfied with his panicked, helpless expression.
The unwillingness rose in his heart again.
His eyes became deep as he stared at the lake. After a long pause, he finally left.
Before sleeping, Bai Lixin lay in bed and flipped through the blue booklet.
It was small, about a hundred pages and palm-sized, but it was packed with information.
It explained the principles of incantations, starting with simpler ones that only involved a few hand movements. The further he read, the more complex the actions became.
He found the Soul Binding Incantation that Song Yuantian had demonstrated; it required ten steps, a complicated sequence.
Originally, he thought Daoism would be enough to handle malicious ghosts if he grasped the basics, but after reading, he realized was too naive.
The simpler incantations had limited use. The truly effective ones were in the middle of the book, while the most potent, deadly ones were at the very end.
Even the Soul Binding Incantation only temporarily halted a ghost’s actions.
As he lay in bed, he felt he had nothing to do so practiced the Soul Binding Incantation according to the demonstration in the book. His fingers fumbled, each one seemingly acting on its own, making it hard to remember the moves. Often, he would forget the next movement after getting the previous one right.
After an hour of stumbling through, he managed to complete the sequence smoothly.
“Sigh,” the young man closed the book and placed it in the drawer before turning off the light. “It’s so hard. I’ll sleep and continue tomorrow.”
In the stillness of the night, on the lake at Bihai Bay, the water ghost was frozen in a very strange posture, its expression twisted in silent rage: What’s going on? Why can’t I move all of a sudden?!
…
The next day was Friday. Bai Lixin received a message from an unknown contact:
[Hello, Mr. Bai Lixin. I’m Zhang Lian, an agent from Sun Media. I am responsible for coordinating your advertisement with Xuan Yang Group. Here’s my contact number. Please save it and call me at your convenience to discuss the schedule.]
It was during a class break, so Bai Lixin went to an empty stairwell to call.
After two rings, the voice of a middle-aged man came over.
“Hello, Teacher Bai Lixin.”
Bai Lixin knew it was common in the entertainment industry to address others as “teacher” as a sign of respect, so he didn’t decline.
The agent: “Xuan Yang Group is in a hurry. They hope to complete the shoot soon. Would you be available over the weekend?”
“So soon? I’ve never filmed an ad before. Don’t I need some training?”
“President Sun mentioned it. It was Xuan Yang Group’s President Xuan that specifically requested you start tomorrow. He said he wants a raw, unpolished look that matches the fragrance’s essence.”
Bai Lixin pictured the strange red-haired man. “He personally requested that? Will he be there?”
“That, I don’t know. The shoot will take four days. Could you take Monday and Tuesday off?”
Bai Lixin paused.
A dose from Dr. Dijia could last four days, so four days on set should be manageable.
If the shoot started tomorrow, he would have to visit Dr. Dijia tonight.
“I can only be available until Tuesday. I must be home by Tuesday night; I have important school activities on Wednesday.”
Agent: “Understood, Teacher Bai Lixin. I’ll pick you up at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Could you send me your address?”
“I’ll text it to you.”
“Alright, see you tomorrow.”
Bai Lixin hung up and stared at the green field outside the window in a daze.
He would need a four-day supply, and to be safe, he’d probably need to consume a bit more this time…
If only the doctor could come to the filming location with him.
Bai Lixin couldn’t help but think of his ghost husband. If he were around, that would have been ideal.
It had been almost ten days since that time he almost killed him and then fled in a panic.
Was he planning never to show up again?
He suddenly missed him.
