Chapter 123: The Sinister Object

If an ordinary person saw this small item that resembled a ring but could definitely not be worn as one, they would most likely think it was just a little pendant.

But Su Chunfeng knew this thing was very sinister.

Aside from his past life as a master of the Esoteric Arts and his vast experience in the Jianghu of Esoteric Arts which made him knowledgeable, this small object also clearly emitted an aura of Esoteric Technique, allowing him to see its purpose at a glance—to contain evil spirits, guide soul energy, and disrupt the five elements.

The so-called ‘contain evil spirits’ meant it could hold evil spirits within this object, or serve as a hiding place for an evil spirit in danger, making it most suitable for protecting evil spirits in places like schools where they normally shouldn’t exist.

‘Guide soul energy’ meant it could guide the souls of the newly deceased into it, after which the caster could take the souls away.

‘Disrupt the five elements’ meant using the smallest Arcane Array method to create a small breach in a fixed area within a stable magnetic field environment. This wouldn’t quickly affect the entire magnetic field, avoiding a severe Natural Backlash, yet it allowed evil spirits or soul energy to smoothly enter or exit this object.

People who typically used such objects and set up arrays often had bad intentions. Or, it could be said for certain, they were bad people, practitioners of sinister arts.

Because only such people would guide soul energy to take away souls.

The debate over whether human souls reincarnate or go to another dimension after death persists even today. Not just ordinary people, but even those in the Jianghu of Esoteric Arts couldn’t give a clear answer, and they still argued about it—normally, after a person dies, their soul wouldn’t exist for more than a month. Weak ones might even vanish within seven days, while those with extremely strong willpower in life might have souls that could last half a year or even several years without dispersing.

But barring any accidents, the final outcome was still vanishing, or perhaps… going to another unknown world or dimension.

That was where the controversy lay.

There was another possibility: sudden extreme natural conditions like thunderstorms, earth energy eruptions, large fires, floods, etc., could cause a severe disruption of the five elements in a certain area. If, by coincidence, a soul encountered this, and the extreme natural conditions matched the soul in terms of timing, five-element state, and yin-yang properties, it could affect the soul’s nature, causing it to exist for a long time. These were what we commonly called ghosts in daily life, or what Jianghu mages called evil spirits or Malignant Supernatural Entities. Such cases were rare, but because of the vast land and large population, the base number was big, so the probability naturally seemed higher.

We mentioned before that the probability of Malignant Supernatural Entities harming humans was extremely low.

Yet with such a low probability, supernatural events still frequently occurred in our lives… This brings us to another way Malignant Supernatural Entities could appear—man-made!

In supernatural events, human factors accounted for the highest proportion, at least over ninety percent.

Although artificially creating Malignant Supernatural Entities or even raising sinister entities was considered a sinister art, an act that everyone had the right to punish, the truth was that for thousands of years, among the various schools of the Jianghu of Esoteric Arts, there were many such techniques that, while complex and tedious, weren’t too difficult.

However, most mages were too lazy to do such laborious and ultimately useless things.

Yet there were a few schools whose mages did engage in this. Because their practiced techniques included methods that used human soul energy to enhance their cultivation.

We usually very directly considered such people absolute villains, practitioners of sinister arts, who should be resolutely eliminated.

And in the Jianghu of Esoteric Arts… such people and the techniques they practiced were all classified as remnants of the “Esoteric Arts” school—of course, Jianghu mages also knew that these people couldn’t be considered true Inheritors of Esoteric Arts. They were just some minor offshoots from the Esoteric Arts, practicing very few techniques from the Esoteric Arts.

However, the distinction between righteous and evil in the world didn’t lie in the techniques, but in the people.

Having been a true Inheritor of Esoteric Arts in his past life, Su Chunfeng understood this too well, and felt deeply helpless—the conflicts between Jianghu schools, in the end, came down to being unscrupulous.

While he was pondering this, Li Zhichao brought in those students who had been bullying Cui Hao outside earlier.

“Chunfeng.”

“Hmm.” Su Chunfeng snapped out of his thoughts, casually clenched the small object in his hand and slipped it into his pants pocket. He smiled as he looked at the boys with apologetic, flattering, and embarrassed smiles, and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Chunfeng, we didn’t know it was you earlier, sorry.”

“Yeah, Brother Feng, don’t mind it…”

“A few of us discussed it, and we really feel bad about what happened to you. So we thought we’d treat you and Brother Chao to a meal at a restaurant outside.”

The guys spoke up one after another to express themselves.

Su Chunfeng smiled and shook his head, saying, “No need, it’s a small matter, why would I be angry? Besides, you gave me face today. Just don’t bully Cui Hao anymore in the future.”

“Definitely.”

“Brother Feng is magnanimous, and righteous!”

“We definitely have to give Brother Feng face. If you need anything in the future, just ask us.”

Su Chunfeng smiled and waved his hand.

Li Zhichao waved impatiently beside him and said, “Go on, get out of here. Chunfeng is magnanimous and won’t hold it against you. Keep your eyes open wider from now on.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Then we’ll be going…”

The boys left with apologetic smiles on their faces.

In the cafeteria hall, many students who had witnessed the incident earlier all looked at Su Chunfeng with admiration and envy—look at Su Chunfeng, that’s what it meant to have face. Just stepping out and saying a few words made a few boys notorious in the school obediently apologize.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a case of saving a beauty in distress, otherwise it would have been perfect.

The feeling of acting high and mighty and bossing people around always made Li Zhichao feel particularly good, and this time was no exception. Under the gaze of many students, he pretended to be nonchalant, went to get his food, came back and sat opposite Su Chunfeng. As he ate, he said, “Chunfeng, you played the good guy today.”

“Not really, I just couldn’t stand by and watch.” Su Chunfeng didn’t mind.

“Those guys are actually pretty tough too, the kind who dare to pull a knife on people. Luckily they ran into you and me today, we could still keep them in check.”

Su Chunfeng smiled and said nothing.

Seeing Su Chunfeng still so calm and indifferent, Li Zhichao changed the subject and said, “Chunfeng, I saw you put a small thing in your pocket earlier. What is it?”

“Hmm, a little pendant.” Su Chunfeng took it out casually and showed it to Li Zhichao generously—he knew Li Zhichao wouldn’t be curious about this thing, let alone value it. But if he didn’t show it to him, it would instead spark Li Zhichao’s great curiosity and some dissatisfaction.

Sure enough, Li Zhichao held it in his hand, looked at it, and handed it back to Su Chunfeng, saying, “It’s copper, not nice.”

“Yeah, I found it to play with. The workmanship is quite fine.” Su Chunfeng said. Just as he was about to put the small object back into his pants pocket, he saw Wang Haifei and a petite, slim, big-eyed girl from her dormitory carrying their food trays over. Su Chunfeng smiled and called out, “Haifei, come eat over here.”

“Okay.” Wang Haifei replied. She had long stopped deliberately avoiding contact with Su Chunfeng anyway, since everyone on campus knew the two were in a relationship and were extremely close. Usually, they were seen together often, walking around the Playground and campus, as common as daily meals. Sitting down beside Su Chunfeng, Wang Haifei looked curiously at the small object in Su Chunfeng’s hand and asked, “What’s this?”

“A little pendant.” Su Chunfeng said casually, slipping the pendant into his pocket.

Wang Haifei didn’t ask further. That was her personality; although she really liked that small object which looked especially unique and delicate, she didn’t have a strong curiosity about anything. So when Su Chunfeng put it in his pocket, she wouldn’t insist on seeing it.

But her dormmate Li Ling, who had come with her and seemed to be afraid of Li Zhichao, sat at the next table and suddenly spoke up, “Hey, that thing looks really familiar. Where did you get it from?”

Su Chunfeng, looking surprised, took out the small object, held it up in his hand, and asked, “You’ve seen it before?”

Li Ling reached out, took it, looked at it in her hand, and said, “No… but it’s such a coincidence. Last week when Qu Xiaoying and the others were playing with the Pen Spirit in the dorm, I was watching. They drew something like this on paper. Although the drawing wasn’t very clear, it was roughly like this.”

As she spoke, she handed the small object back.

Su Chunfeng took it back and put it in his pocket, smiling as he said, “You girls sure like playing with those spooky things.”

“It’s really fun.” Li Ling said excitedly. “But it’s pretty scary when playing. You have to lock the dorm door, turn off the lights, close the curtains, and only turn on a flashlight. It’s all dark… Two people hold a pen together and spin it around, then ask the Pen Spirit questions, and it can draw the answers on the paper.”

“Really?” Wang Haifei showed a surprised and curious expression.

“Yeah, let’s play next time too…” Li Ling obviously looked very excited.

Su Chunfeng frowned, showing displeasure. Picking up his chopsticks and eating, he said lightly, “Haifei, don’t play with people using such sinister things. It’s not good.”

“Oh.” Wang Haifei obediently agreed and turned to start eating.

Li Ling felt somewhat displeased inside that her suggestion, made out of curiosity, was so easily dismissed by Su Chunfeng’s light remark. She pouted and turned her head away, thinking to herself that Haifei, who wasn’t that pretty, somehow managed to win over such a great guy like Su Chunfeng just by being gentle and obedient.

At that moment, Su Chunfeng, who appeared calm on the surface, felt a strong sense of worry rising within him.

After the meal, he hurried off alone to the Faculty Dormitory Building.