He Bi listened to me briefly and quickly handed me the address in his hand. Then he picked up his bag and wanted to go with me.
"I'll go alone. You stay at home and watch over the shrine."
He Bi could hardly believe his ears. Before this, whenever I went out on a mission, there must be a spiritual being from the shrine accompanying me. Without a spiritual being, I would never go alone.
To be honest, even I was a bit surprised. After waking up from this sleep, I suddenly seemed to have an epiphany and became much bolder than before.
Just as Bai Qi told me, I could now handle things on my own. Wasn't it just going out to deal with spiritual matters?
It was just a matter of facing whatever came. If I was lucky and managed to subdue a spirit, I could save a person or a whole family from suffering, which could be considered doing good deeds and accumulating merit.
If I was unlucky and couldn't save them and died there, then I would be freed from suffering.
Thinking about it, it didn't seem like I had much to lose.
I patted He Bi on the shoulder and told him to get ready quickly. Then I rushed to the bathroom to take a shower.
As soon as I stepped into the bathroom and saw myself in the mirror, I was almost scared out of my wits.
I had lost a lot of weight. Can you imagine seeing yourself getting visibly thinner? It must have been a long time since I last saw myself.
Looking at myself in the mirror, unkempt and haggard.
My eye bags were as big as plastic bags. If someone gave me a bowl, I could definitely get some sympathy if I went begging.
I didn't want to become a haggard woman in my twenties. I grabbed my toiletries bag and rushed into the bathtub to wash off all the dirt I had accumulated these days.
I also cleaned up all the disturbing thoughts in my mind.
When I came out of the bathroom, I was really full of energy. The pretty and optimistic Lan Chiyu was back.
I stood in front of the mirror, gave myself a pep - talk, then walked out of the shrine, took the car keys from He Bi, and drove towards Granny Chu's place.
Granny Chu lived quite far away, in a small village called Chujiabao on the outskirts of the suburbs.
This place was so remote that most navigation systems couldn't locate it.
He Bi had told me before that as long as I followed this village road all the way to the end, I would reach Chujiabao. It was about a four - hour drive.
But now I had been driving for about six hours. It was already pitch - black outside, but I still hadn't reached Chujiabao.
This seemed very strange. Even if I drove very slowly, I shouldn't have driven for two extra hours without reaching my destination.
I suddenly had a bad feeling. It seemed that I had encountered the phenomenon of being trapped by ghosts.
It seemed that someone was deliberately causing trouble and didn't want me to enter the village.
I turned on the car lights to their brightest to illuminate the road ahead. All I could see was a country road shrouded in fog. There was nothing else in sight.
The deeper I drove, the thicker the fog became, and the lower the visibility. The mountains in the rural area at night were damp and cold. There were occasional flashes of light in the fog, and from time to time, there came the howling sound of the strange wind passing through the mountains, like sobbing.
To be honest, driving on such a road alone at night was really nerve - wracking.
I slowed down the car and was thinking about what to do.
Suddenly, a white figure appeared in front of me. I was so scared that I slammed on the brakes.
The car stopped abruptly. I stared ahead, but there was no sign of the white figure.
Did I hit someone?
I quickly unbuckled my seatbelt and wanted to get out of the car to check. But then I thought it seemed strange.
Who would be in this desolate mountain area at night?
At the same time, it became extremely cold inside the car. The cold air was just like the chill when you just opened a refrigerator.
My heart skipped a beat. I shouldn't have stopped the car just now. Now it seemed that some evil spirit had gotten into my car.
I summoned up my courage and glanced at the rear - view mirror, trying to see if there was anything behind me.
However, I couldn't see anything in the rear - view mirror, but the evil aura behind me was getting stronger and stronger.
I seemed to feel that the evil spirit was now sticking to the back seat of my car. There came hoarse "ah~ah~" sounds in my ears.
At this moment, I didn't dare to delay for a second. I quickly reached into my waist bag with my right hand, took out an exorcism talisman, and slapped it towards the back with lightning speed.
Before the talisman could touch the spirit, a black figure suddenly appeared in the passenger seat. A big hand reached out and pulled the evil spirit.
I heard a shrill scream. I didn't even see what the spirit looked like before it was captured by the person in the passenger seat.
I didn't even get a chance to do anything.
I quickly turned my head and looked at the passenger seat. The person sitting there was none other than Gu Yuan.
My heart, which had just calmed down a bit, suddenly jumped into my throat again.
I wasn't mentally prepared at all to see him.
"You... Why are you here?" I quickly moved to the side, my face showing a look of panic.
"It's normal for an exorcist disciple to take their own spiritual being when going out to deal with matters, isn't it?"
Indeed, I was just saying in a fit of anger that I wanted to dissolve the shrine. But I was just venting my anger and didn't actually take any action. His memorial tablet was still in the middle of the shrine.
At this moment, he was still the chief spiritual being of my shrine.
"I... I can handle it alone. Moreover, if I'm in trouble, I'll naturally invite spiritual beings like the Dragon Scale to help. You don't need to worry about it, Third Master. Please go back."
My attitude towards Gu Yuan didn't soften at all. I still treated him coldly.
But Gu Yuan wasn't angry. His deep, pool - like eyes stared at me, making me feel uncomfortable all over.
"If you don't go, I will..."
Saying that, I turned my head and was about to open the door and get out of the car.
But at the moment I looked out of the window, I was so scared that I almost wet my pants.
I saw a dirty person with festering sores all over their face and even their eyes rotted, lying on the window glass, trying to get in.
I let out a scream in fear and turned my head to hug Gu Yuan's neck.
Tears were welling up in my eyes. It was really terrifying.
Gu Yuan didn't expect me to throw myself into his arms. His body stiffened for a moment, then he quickly reached out to pat my back to comfort me.
"Don't be afraid... I've driven him away." His voice was so gentle that it made my heart feel warm.
But the next second, I realized something was wrong. We had already broken up. Why were we still hugging each other?
I suddenly pushed him away and awkwardly raised my hand to tidy up my hair. "Don't get me wrong. I just like to hug things when I'm scared."
Gu Yuan curled the corner of his mouth but didn't refute me.
"Let's go. It's getting late. We need to get to the village as soon as possible, or that child might be cremated."
"I'll go alone. You don't need to worry about it, Third Master."
"I believe you can do it, but do you know the way?" Gu Yuan asked.
This seemed to be a real problem. I was directionally challenged. Without a navigation system, I really couldn't find my way.