Chapter 115: Feng Shui and Ferocity

As we were talking, the elevator arrived.
We walked out.
Xiao Qing and Mo Qingyan had been to my home before, but this was Bai Yue’s first time here.

At this moment, Mo Qingyan noticed the wreath hanging on the door of apartment 12-1 and asked, “Did someone in your neighbor’s house pass away recently?”
“This wreath wasn’t here the last time I came.”

“Is this wreath a symbol of someone’s death in the family?” I asked.
My knowledge of folklore and occultism was severely lacking.
I could basically only rely on luck to make judgments.
This wreath was not an artifact, so I hadn’t given any deep thought as to why an extra wreath was hanging on the door.

“This is also not normal.”
“Usually, wreaths are placed in front of the mourning hall, not hung on the door.”
“This could mean that someone in the family has passed away, or a relative has passed away, but to hang a wreath on the door, isn’t that summoning spirits?” Mo Qingyan said, puzzled.

Ou Zhiqin looked at Bai Yue.
Bai Yue also shook her head and said, “I don’t know.”
“I haven’t studied funeral customs.”

“Then forget it, let’s not meddle in other people’s affairs.”
“Don’t cause any trouble for Xia Yubing,” Mo Qingyan said.
I opened the door and let them into the house.

As soon as we entered, Bai Yue’s muscles tensed up.
She looked warily towards the study and said, “There’s something in there, it’s very fierce!”

Mo Qingyan immediately took out her red pencil and said, “Xiao Qing, Yubing, you two step back.”
“Keep the door open and be ready to escape at any time.”
“Yue’er, send your Gu insect over to take a look.”

“Wait! Don’t be nervous yet.”
“That’s a vanquishing object I bought to protect the house.”
“It’s not a dangerous thing!” I quickly explained to them.

“A vanquishing object?”
“You bought a vanquishing object and didn’t tell us?” Mo Qingyan asked with a hint of complaint, but she relaxed a little.
Bai Yue also relaxed her tense muscles.

“Uh, I forgot.”
“The haunting this time made me overly nervous, so I forgot to mention the vanquishing object,” I said with a laugh.
This Pixiu had been placed in the study and hadn’t made a sound, so I had just been treating it as a wood carving.

“When did you buy the vanquishing object?”
“What exactly is it?” Mo Qingyan asked.
There were many types of vanquishing objects.
Before she was sure of the type, she didn’t dare to enter the house rashly, in case she was attacked.

“I bought it at the same shop where I bought the incense holder for my parents.”
“It was originally just an add-on that I bought on the side,” I replied.
Xiao Qing gave me a sidelong glance, “A two-hundred-thousand-yuan add-on, is that right?”

“An add-on?”
“And such a powerful add-on at that.”
“You go and appease the vanquishing object, so it doesn’t accidentally hurt us,” Mo Qingyan said.

“Huh? How do I appease it?” I asked with a puzzled look.
Could a wood carving be appeased?

“Go and bow to it, or stroke it a few times.”
“Logically speaking, you are its master, so it should be easy, unless that carpenter had ill intentions,” Mo Qingyan said.

“Okay, I’ll give it a try,” I told them to stay at the door while I went in.
But Xiao Qing also followed me.
Xiao Qing was also present when the vanquishing object was installed last time, so she felt that it wouldn’t harm her.

I opened the study door and, to my surprise, saw that the Pixiu’s posture seemed to have changed a bit.
It was originally in a reclining tiger-like posture, but now it felt like its head was raised, assuming a vigilant stance.

A wood carving could actually move, and its head was even facing the door.
I could feel the yin energy inside it gathering, and it did indeed look like it was about to attack at any moment.

If I had discovered the moving wood carving at the same time I discovered the haunting yesterday, I might have been frightened for a while.
But now that I knew the reason, there was no need to worry.

The question was, how to appease it?
I remembered what the carpenter had told me, that as long as I was respectful, it would be fine.
So I bowed to the Pixiu, but there seemed to be no reaction.

“Brother Xiao, try stroking it.”
“Don’t touch its head, stroke it slowly from the side,” Xiao Qing suggested.

“Stroke it?”
“Okay, I’ll give it a try,” I thought for a moment, then reached out my hand and cautiously touched the Pixiu’s neck.
The wooden ornament actually had a temperature, as if I were touching a real body, but it was not soft, still rigid.

By touching it with my hand, I seemed to feel the Pixiu’s attention, which was actually directed at Bai Yue.
She was indeed the most dangerous person in the Supernatural Events Department.

Then my vision suddenly blurred.
The Pixiu’s posture changed, and it actually lay back down.
Its aura returned to a natural, relaxed flow.
How should I put it… it was a bit like a dog that stops barking at a visitor after its owner has confirmed they are a guest.

“Brother Xiao, it really worked,” Ou Zhiqin clapped her hands.
In fact, when she had suggested stroking it, she hadn’t known if it would be effective.

Before I could go to the door to inform them, Bai Yue relaxed and said, “It’s okay now.”
“That vanquishing object no longer sees us as intruders.”

She and Mo Qingyan walked over.
Mo Qingyan looked at the Pixiu carefully and exclaimed, “Good stuff, this is really good stuff.”
“Only a craftsman who has truly inherited the Art of Vanquishing Sorcery could make something like this.”
“Where did you buy it?”
“How much did it cost?”

“At a coffin shop on Xiangshan Road, next to the crematorium.”
“He also sells urns, shrines, and other wood carvings.”
“I spent two hundred thousand to buy this Pixiu,” I said.

“You got a bargain.”
“This wood carving is probably worth far more than two hundred thousand!”
“You’ve run into a master.”
“Write down the address of the shop for me, I’ll go and take a look next time,” Mo Qingyan said.
Of course, she and Bai Yue did not forget to bow twice to the Pixiu to show their respect.

‘Introducing some business to that carpenter should make him happy,’ I thought, and wrote down the name of the shop and its approximate location.

Mo Qingyan took the address, looked at it, put it in her bag, and then said, “If your incense holder was also made by a master, then the effect of raising a ghost will definitely be very good.”
“This can also explain why Xia Yubing’s parents were able to take form so quickly.”
“Open the door of the ancestral hall and let us take a look.”

I went to open the door of the master bedroom where the incense holder was placed.
Mo Qingyan frowned again and asked, “Why did you set up the incense holder in the master bedroom?”

“That carpenter told me that this is the Gate of Death and told me to set up the incense holder here.”
“He also told me that the study is the Gate of Injury and that the Pixiu should be placed inside,” I replied.

“Tsk, tsk, Qi Men Dun Jia.”
“That carpenter even knows Qi Men Dun Jia.”
“A master, definitely a great master hiding in plain sight.”
“Your luck is too good.”
“I’ve only ever seen this kind of luck on Bai Shi before,” Mo Qingyan said.

We walked in and looked at the incense holder enshrining Xia Yubing’s parents.
The offerings I had placed yesterday were also gone.
I bowed three times, opened the doors of the cabinet, and the two paper figures were still standing properly inside.

Mo Qingyan, Ou Zhiqin, and Bai Yue bowed three times in turn.
Then Mo Qingyan adjusted her black-framed glasses and took a serious look at the incense holder.

Before she could see anything, Bai Yue had already made a judgment, “The ghosts have indeed been successfully raised.”
“They are already in a usable state.”