Wang Ya brushed the sweat from her forehead caused by the intense fight, lifted her head, raised her chin, and flaunted her exquisite, beautiful young face. With a light “tch,” she drawled out her words with rising and falling intonation as she scolded: “You old thing, you’ve been buried for at least a century. Instead of staying underground counting ants and earthworms, what did you crawl out for? Look at your ugly mug—vicious eyes, short stature, can’t even stand up straight, and covered in yin qi. What if you scare a kid? Even if you don’t scare kids, if you startle passersby into nervous breakdowns, are you gonna pay the medical bills?”
The Old Lady suddenly plopped down on the ground, tossed her cane aside, slapped her thigh, and wailed: “Do you think I wanted to come out and harm people? These heaven-damned bastards! Poor me, an old lady who’s already buried, and they come digging me up. My coffin! My corpse! I’m so pitiful, and now even you bully me. How am I supposed to live…”
Wang Ya heard the Old Lady’s wail and thought to herself: Got it, the construction site dug up this old ghost’s coffin and corpse. This grudge is now huge! She felt no sympathy for the Ancient Old Ghost’s pitiful cries. Ghosts were yin spirits, spirit bodies without physical form. Their common method of harming people was to confuse minds and induce evil deeds. This old ghost was nearly refined into a demon—look at how ferocious it had been when possessing the host earlier. What was this crying act for now? Wang Ya pursed her lips and said: “Cut it out. You’re already dead; there’s no living for you! Stop pretending to be pitiful in front of me. What’s the point?” Having learned this trade, how could she not know the old ghost’s tricks?
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the bushes by the roadside.
Wang Ya, raised in the countryside, was all too familiar with that noise—it was the sound of a snake slithering through the grass. Her ears perked up in alarm, and she stood. Then she saw a small black shadow dart out from the bushes straight toward her.
A rat! Wang Ya kicked away the one lunging at her, but more rats followed, then snakes, frogs, and bugs all poured out. These snakes, rats, bugs, and ants surged like a market crowd from the roadside wasteland and bushes onto the sidewalk, pouncing at Wang Ya.
As a child, Wang Ya had been around such creatures plenty and wasn’t afraid, but the sheer dense numbers crawling over her made goosebumps rise all over her skin. She jumped up and stomped at the oncoming horde, crushing one only for another to lunge and bite. Even with her agile moves, she couldn’t handle the numbers. In moments, a rat bit her. It clamped down and wouldn’t let go, making her hop in pain. At the same time, Wang Ya felt the surrounding yin qi thickening, like a dense black fog enveloping her, constantly squeezing the force field of the Big Dipper Seven Stars Formation. And to top it off, something tried to snatch her Copper Coins. Wang Ya yanked the rat biting her calf, slammed it dead on the ground, and weaved through the Seven Stars Formation, stomping the snakes, rats, bugs, and ants lunging to bite her. Normally, a single talisman paper or handful of realgar would scatter them, but right now, she had nothing on her.
Who knew what viruses these rats carried?
Who knew if there were venomous snakes among them?
Who knew if there were ticks causing meningitis in those bugs?
This old ghost was trying to kill her!
Wang Ya stomped viciously at the snakes, rats, bugs, and ants on the ground; each stomp crushed rats, snakes, and insects underfoot. In just a few minutes, countless corpses littered the ground.
Wang Ya glared hatefully toward the old ghost in the middle of the road, but it had vanished! She shouted: “Dead Old Lady, just you wait!” She bit her finger, chanted an incantation, and dabbed blood on the center of her forehead, then drew downward. As her fingertip moved, a blood talisman appeared on her face. She stood still, chanted to activate it, and a faint golden rune glow covered her skin. The snakes, rats, bugs, and ants biting at her went limp upon hitting the glow, losing all ferocity. Why had they attacked? Because the ghost entity drove them. Her rune power broke the ghost force upon them, so they naturally lost their viciousness.
Wang Ya was annoyed at those people’s lack of loyalty and had no intention of capturing the ghost for them; she’d been unwilling to bleed and use real techniques, only defending herself. But now, this old ghost had truly enraged her.
With runes shielding her, she collected the seven Copper Coins, bit her already-broken finger hard again, and blood gushed out.
Wang Ya swiftly drew a talisman paper on her left palm with bloody finger, chanting quickly: “With blood as guide, burn my essence blood, tear through yin wind, blood talisman leads the way, seek ghost!” With a command, she slapped her left palm forward; the rune on it flew straight toward the construction site across the road. Wang Ya drew another talisman while stepping to the suppressive position of the White Tiger in the Four Symbols Positions. She swiftly intoned: “With blood as talisman, burn my essence blood, borrow the Four Symbols Divine Power, I beseech the White Tiger Holy Spirit to aid me in breaking evil!” A powerful force surged from her feet through her body, burning hot three inches below her navel. The energy rushed to the left palm rune, making the blood-drawn Talismans and Blessings seem to ignite. She roared: “White Tiger Suppresses Evil!” and slapped out; the blood talisman turned into rune light, flying along the previous ghost-seeking blood talisman toward the darkness. Three seconds later, an inhuman scream echoed from deep underground. Wang Ya dashed toward the construction site where the old ghost lurked. There, she saw a massive pit dug in the ground, like for an underground parking garage. Standing at the pit’s edge, her bright eyes peered in and spotted rune light flashing where yin qi was thickest. She stepped again into the Vermilion Bird position of the Four Symbols Positions, drew another blood talisman, and chanted: “With blood as talisman, burn my essence blood, borrow the Four Symbols Divine Power, I beseech the Vermilion Bird Holy Spirit to aid me in breaking evil, Heavenly Gang scorching sun, Vermilion Bird blazing fire, Vermilion Bird Burns Evil Talisman!” She roared “Ignite!” and launched the Vermilion Bird Burns Evil Talisman at the thickest yin qi spot.
