Chapter 51: The Manner of a Great Master

After more than twenty years of ups and downs in officialdom, Chen Xian had long ago cultivated a strong ability to remain calm and composed under any disturbance.

Even so, when he heard Su Chunfeng directly state that his daughter Chen Yufang had once again attracted malignant supernatural entities, the recently suspicious and fearful Chen Xian couldn’t help but be greatly shocked—was this foresight? Or was there some mysterious, unknown pattern recorded in Qimen Divination regarding attracting disasters from evil, strange things, so that after Su Chunfeng saw Chen Yufang being invaded by an evil entity last time, he could know she would encounter it again later?

Looking at Su Chunfeng’s calm and collected expression, it was clear he was already certain.

After a moment’s thought, Chen Xian nodded, speaking with some helplessness and heartache, “She’s gone mad…”

“What happened?” Su Chunfeng asked, surprised.

“Every time she came back from outside last month, we felt her spirit wasn’t quite right. She often woke up from nightmares in the middle of the night and talked in her sleep…” Chen Xian sighed, seeming unwilling to recall, but continued, “This month, after I formally retired, her spirit became increasingly abnormal. She often didn’t sleep even late into the night. Once, her mother quietly went to her room and actually saw her sitting on the bed, hair disheveled, talking to someone. Later, she completely lost her mind.”

Su Chunfeng listened with some confusion and murmured softly, “It shouldn’t be…”

From Chen Xian’s description, it was highly likely Chen Yufang’s mental breakdown was caused by being invaded by an evil entity.

But this defied common sense—Chen Xian was a proper high-ranking official. Even though retired, the stable aura of authority he had accumulated over decades was not something minor evil entities could infringe upon.

Moreover, Chen Yufang had been living in the same house with him all along.

“What shouldn’t be?” Chen Xian asked urgently.

Su Chunfeng waved his hand, frowning and asking seriously, “Think about it, was there anything else that could have affected her…”

“Well…” Chen Xian thought for a moment and said, “She got a divorce at the end of last year.”

“Oh.” Su Chunfeng understood somewhat and added, “This divorce hit her very hard, didn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Chen Xian sighed lightly. “Her husband had an affair behind her back. The two often fought over it. Both sets of parents tried to advise them many times, but unfortunately they still divorced due to emotional discord. After the divorce, Yufang attempted suicide twice. Thankfully, she was discovered in time and didn’t go down that final path… Could it be that she isn’t harmed by evil entities, but her mental breakdown is caused by emotional setbacks?”

Su Chunfeng almost nodded immediately, but thinking of the faint, indistinct green line on Chen Xian’s forehead, he couldn’t help but shake his head in confusion and asked, “My aunt, does she often go out and play divination games like planchette writing with others?”

Chen Xian shook his head. “Probably not. Though her personality is somewhat stubborn and rebellious, she would never do something again once I sternly warned her against it. After you spoke to me on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, I specifically scolded her about this and instructed her that she must never touch that kind of thing again in the future.”

“Oh.” Su Chunfeng nodded half-convinced, half-skeptical, thinking this was strange.

If an ordinary person in a family was emotionally hurt and couldn’t let go, it could also lead to mental breakdown, which was understandable. But Chen Yufang’s mental breakdown was clearly not just due to emotional issues, because her father Chen Xian’s body was now being eroded by Yin Evil Energy. His own powerful, instinctively strong aura of official authority was counteracting it. Only under long-term confrontation and counteraction would a green line trace appear on his forehead, indicating the decline and eventual demise from Yin Evil Energy.

But Chen Xian was a high-ranking official, possessing his own aura of authority, sufficient to deter and drive away ordinary or even some already-formed ominous presences. How could he suffer this kind of long-term impact?

If he encountered a more powerful demon…

If Chen Xian ran into such a thing that only appears once in a hundred years, he’d really have the luck to buy a lottery ticket and win the jackpot. Oh no, he wouldn’t have the chance to buy a ticket; he’d just drop dead, not be standing here alive!

Just as Su Chunfeng frowned, pondering without understanding, Chen Xian suddenly sighed lightly. “Chunfeng, I know in the past I wronged all the relatives in our hometown, being too selfish, narrow-minded, and arrogant. So, if it’s because of the mistakes I made before, which caused your dissatisfaction, and that’s why you’re using art casting to punish us, then I hope, and I beg you… direct all this onto me, don’t involve my family.”

Su Chunfeng was stunned, then snorted coldly, his expression disdainful. “I’m not that petty! And if I were to take action, it would be much more vicious than this.”

Chen Xian’s heart trembled, his face showing fear.

However, Su Chunfeng paid no attention to Chen Xian’s expression. Instead, because of Chen Xian’s words, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind, and he immediately understood.

Only this one possibility could lead to the current situation in Chen Xian’s household.

After thinking a bit more, Su Chunfeng felt it necessary to help Chen Xian and Chen Yufang solve this problem.

First, the two families were relatives. Even if Chen Xian was unkind, he was still an elder relative. He couldn’t just stand by and watch their family being harmed by malignant supernatural entities. Moreover, he had been asking questions out of professional curiosity for so long now. If he didn’t take care of it, it would be somewhat inexcusable. What if this old man, out of pessimism and despair, became fearless and leaked the secret that he possessed secret arts? That would be more loss than gain.

Second, only by easily resolving this mysterious, bizarre event could he exert greater psychological pressure on Chen Xian, making him even more wary and afraid of him, so he wouldn’t dare spread the secret.

Furthermore, if it were an ordinary event, Su Chunfeng probably wouldn’t bother and might not even have the ability to help. But this kind of thing… it was just a piece of cake.

Anyway, this old fellow was already retired, no longer an official, and helping this time wouldn’t require art casting.

Thinking this, Su Chunfeng smiled and said, “Grandfather, don’t worry. Since you came today, of course I won’t ignore it. Here’s what to do: after you go back, search the house, especially in my aunt’s room, for anything resembling an invited shrine, or strange objects, like cloth dolls, wooden dolls, and such. Also, check if she recently bought or received jade jewelry, toys, or anything from unofficial channels recently. Whatever it is, anything suspicious, take it all out and burn it. In a few days, my aunt’s illness will naturally improve.”

“This… I don’t think I’ve noticed anything like that,” Chen Xian said, half-convinced, half-skeptical.

“Go back and look for it,” Su Chunfeng said confidently, waving his hand dismissively, then adopted an indifferent, cold expression as if disowning all relatives and said lightly, “This time counts as you owing me a favor, and it’s only this once—no next time. Also, be sure not to spread the word about me possessing secret arts. Otherwise, I won’t like it, and it will be very troublesome!”

Seeing Su Chunfeng’s calm, somewhat Great Master-like demeanor, Chen Xian still felt somewhat uneasy. “This… will this work?”

Su Chunfeng smiled. “Rest assured, I will perform secret arts from a distance here to suppress and expel the evil, eliminating it completely!”

“From a distance?” Chen Xian found this somewhat unbelievable.

“There’s nothing strange about it,” Su Chunfeng said, clasping his hands behind his back, looking up at the distant horizon, speaking lightly. “Qimen Divination secret arts sense the power of heaven and earth, borrow the forces of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements. Used to the extreme, there is no spatial limitation. Though I can’t yet achieve the extreme, Hetang Village isn’t far from Pingyang City.”

Chen Xian shivered, a chill running through him. He remembered the threatening words Su Chunfeng left him with on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year and also remembered that shocking fortune-telling by the mysterious old man back then that pointed out his fate for decades. He no longer doubted. Nodding repeatedly with a mix of joy, some respect, and fear, he said, “Okay, okay, Chunfeng, this time I really thank you so much. Don’t worry, I will keep your secret until I die!” Having said that, he turned to leave but immediately stopped, looked at Su Chunfeng with a bitter smile, shook his head, and mocked himself, “I lost my composure, lost my composure.”

Su Chunfeng, of course, could understand Chen Xian’s urgent mood now. He smiled and said, “Alright, I won’t keep you for a meal this time. Hurry back.”

“Okay, okay.”

“Stay calm. Don’t look so frantic; is that even like you?” Su Chunfeng said softly, half-scolding, half-reminding.

“Oh, right, right.” Chen Xian nodded repeatedly. Then he suddenly thought of something, couldn’t help but raise his head and laugh heartily, feeling joy and also a helpless, desolate sense that times had changed and nothing was constant—after all these years of ups and downs in the sea of officialdom, having experienced many storms, now nearly sixty, why did he feel restrained and submissive, timid and hesitant, in front of a teenager only fifteen or sixteen years old, and one who was his grandson’s generation at that?

So unbecoming!

It wouldn’t do for people to see this… not just for the sake of my old face, but also to consider Su Chunfeng’s situation.

Must keep his secret, can’t let people sense something odd and become suspicious, right?

Su Chunfeng grinned quite satisfiedly, showing a simple, slightly shy smile, as if he had just said something that made this Third Maternal Grandfather laugh heartily.

The old man and the youth walked toward home.

At the entrance of a lane near the village outskirts, a few neighborhood women stood there, staring hard in their direction.

Most village women these days with little exposure were like this. Seeing a car parked outside Su Cheng’s house felt novel. Then seeing the person who came by car go to Su Cheng’s house and take a stroll in the wheat field led by Su Cheng’s eldest son… they started gossiping with envy and jealousy.

“Look at their clothes, that demeanor. Must be someone of status.”

Unable to resist curiosity, a few women ran to Su Cheng’s house to ask and finally got a confirmed answer from the slightly embarrassed Chen Xiulan, “Yes, Deputy Municipal Party Secretary, my own uncle!”

Goodness!

Deputy Municipal Party Secretary, that must be really important…

Wait, what exactly does a Deputy Municipal Party Secretary do? How big of an official is that? Can he manage the police chief?

Now seeing Su Cheng’s eldest son making that official Third Maternal Grandfather laugh so heartily, these women were even more amazed and impressed: Oh my, this kid is going to be extraordinary in the future.

When Su Chunfeng and Chen Xian passed by these women chattering away, they all hurriedly shut their mouths, adopting expressions of whispered awe and respectful envy as they watched the old man and the youth walk home. Then they quickly resumed whispering among themselves until their husbands came out shouting for them to go home and cook, and then they dispersed.