Chapter 20: The Anti-Evil Talisman

After dinner.

Su Chunfeng mentioned going to Li Zhichao’s house to play. After telling his parents, he strolled out the door. He turned right, then left, arriving at the front of Liu Jinming’s house.

There was a low red brick wall and an old, rust-covered red gate, with no archway or anything.

The courtyard gate was half open. Su Chunfeng walked right in. In the countryside, there weren’t so many rules or formalities. Usually, the courtyard gates weren’t closed until bedtime. If you were a familiar face from the same village visiting someone’s home, you didn’t need to call out from the gate; you could just enter directly.

Only after reaching the middle of the yard did Su Chunfeng call out, “Uncle, are you home?”

“Who is it?” Liu Jinming’s voice came from inside the house.

“It’s me, Chunfeng.”

“Little Feng, what’s up? Come on in…”

Su Chunfeng walked up the steps with a smile and entered the tall, flat-roofed house. The house was new, almost without any decoration, yet they were already living in it.

The living room was dark, with no lights on.

The light was on in the east bedroom on the right. The whirring sound of a ceiling fan mixed with the noise from a black-and-white television. Walking in, he saw Liu Jinming, his wife Hu Ling, and his old mother all sitting on a mat on the floor, leisurely watching TV.

Liu Jinming held a cigarette in his mouth and said with a grin, “What’s the matter, Little Feng?”

Su Chunfeng wore a simple-minded smile and sat on a small stool by the bedroom door. “It’s a small thing. I don’t really know how to bring it up…”

“Nonsense, just say it straight,” Liu Jinming laughed heartily.

Hu Ling also smiled. “Little Feng is such an honest kid… can’t even speak his mind freely.”

Old Madam Liu looked displeased. Trembling, she leaned on a chair to get up and sat on the edge of the bed. “If you have something to say, say it. Don’t dawdle if it’s nothing important. What are you doing?”

Su Chunfeng scratched his head and pointed at the ceiling. “Uncle Jinming, did you know there’s an earthen jar placed at the northeast corner of your roof?”

At these words, a flash of guilty panic immediately appeared in Old Madam Liu’s muddy eyes. Her wrinkled old face looked somewhat gloomy under the light as she said, “What’s wrong with putting a jar there? How does it concern your family? That’s my house…”

The old woman’s reaction surprised both Liu Jinming and Hu Ling. Su Chunfeng was just a half-grown kid and hadn’t said anything unpleasant. He had merely mentioned the jar on the northeast corner of the Liu family’s roof. Why was the old woman so worked up?

“What jar?” Liu Jinming asked, puzzled.

“Nothing, I put it there. It can protect the home and ensure our family’s safety,” Old Madam Liu hurriedly answered.

“Oh.”

Liu Jinming and Hu Ling nodded with understanding. The old woman in their family had always been superstitious. As her son and daughter-in-law, they usually didn’t say much about it. Moreover, given the old woman’s temper, they didn’t dare criticize her too much. So as long as she didn’t cause any major trouble or waste too much money, they basically let her do as she pleased.

Since the jar was for superstitious purposes to protect the home and ensure family safety, Liu Jinming and Hu Ling naturally didn’t mind. They looked at Su Chunfeng with some confusion, wondering what this half-grown kid was really here for.

Su Chunfeng said with a smile, “I heard from my teacher at school that there’s this kind of feudal superstition in our countryside. If you put an earthen jar on the roof with its mouth tilted downward facing someone’s house, it’s meant to cast a curse on that family… So I think it’s not very nice, right?”

“A curse?” Hu Ling showed a look of horror. Country women were extremely wary of such things.

Liu Jinming frowned. He had heard that the old woman had argued with Su Cheng’s wife a few days ago over raising money for the village temple renovation. He also knew that the old woman’s actions in that matter were indeed somewhat improper. But regarding superstitious things like this, he held an indifferent attitude—if you believe it, it exists; if you don’t, it doesn’t. Besides, the two families had always been on fairly good terms. So after hearing Su Chunfeng’s words, he waved his hand with a laugh and said, “I thought it was something serious. It’s just a broken jar… Little Feng, you’re a student after all, how can you believe in this stuff?”

“Uncle Jinming, I didn’t tell my dad or mom about this,” Su Chunfeng shook his head. “It’s not about believing or not. It just doesn’t seem very nice between neighbors, don’t you think?”

“Hmm,” Liu Jinming nodded. “Then I’ll take it down tomorrow.”

At that moment, the old woman suddenly stood up, furious. “Who dares take it down? It’s my house. I can do whatever I want with it. Even the emperor can’t interfere!”

“Mother, what are you doing…” Liu Jinming quickly said.

“I just won’t take it down!” The old woman glared, shooting a contemptuous look at Su Chunfeng.

Liu Jinming was helpless against the old woman. He could only shake his head and look at Su Chunfeng. “Little Feng, you said it yourself. It’s all feudal superstition. It’s nothing, alright?”

Su Chunfeng looked at the old woman. “Really not taking it down?”

“Just won’t!” The old woman’s wrinkled face was full of defiance.

“Grandma Liu, my teacher also said…” Su Chunfeng sighed lightly. “In the superstitious beliefs of our countryside, using an earthen jar to cast a curse has a backfire effect. If you fail to curse others, you’ll curse your own family instead. It’s bad for you. And our two families never had any conflict anyway. Why do this?”

The old woman froze, a bit guilty and scared.

As the saying goes, in those days, country folk placed a very high degree of trust in the words of educated teachers.

Hu Ling grew even more nervous. Not daring to speak to her mother-in-law, she quickly nudged her husband with her elbow. “Take it down. Just hearing about it gives me the creeps.”

But Liu Jinming didn’t like Su Chunfeng’s words. He felt that a little kid was coming to his house to question him, demanding he do something based on baseless matters, even subtly using threatening language to scare the old woman and his wife. This was almost an insult to him. Moreover, he already harbored a hidden jealousy towards Su Cheng’s sudden wealth in such a short time. So now he put on a stern face and scolded Su Chunfeng, “Little Feng, what’s wrong with how you’re speaking? Who are you trying to scare?”

Su Chunfeng was taken aback for a moment, then smiled. “Uncle Jinming, I was just saying. It’s not really scaring anyone. Besides, it’s not a big deal anyway. Just take that jar down. It’s good for both our families.”

“Not taking it down!” Liu Jinming waved his hand dismissively. “Go on, get out of here with this nonsense.”

Seeing her son’s attitude, the last bit of hesitation in the old woman’s heart vanished immediately. Her old face turned fierce as she said, “That’s right! Why should we take it down? It’s our house. We can do whatever we want.”

Su Chunfeng felt a sudden surge of anger inside, but on the surface, he remained calm as he stood up. “Grandma Liu, Uncle Jinming, don’t be angry. I was just here to talk. Feudal superstition, I don’t really believe in it much myself… Since you don’t want to take it down, then forget it.”

With that, Su Chunfeng turned and walked out.

Behind him came Liu Jinming’s cold words: “His feathers aren’t even fully grown, and he dares to come here babbling! What nonsense!”

“I think, this matter must have been stirred up by his father and mother behind the scenes. Otherwise, why would a little kid come to our house to talk about this?” Old Madam Liu also grumbled.

Liu Jinming’s tone grew even harsher: “Couldn’t Su Cheng come and say it himself? Thinks he’s better than others just because he has some money now? Pah!”

By then, Su Chunfeng had already reached the courtyard.

Su Chunfeng, of course, heard Liu Jinming and his mother’s conversation. However, he didn’t pay any more attention to it. In this world, there were always many people doing unreasonable things. And some of those unlucky ones would taste the bitter fruit of their own making.

Back home, Su Chunfeng didn’t mention the matter to his parents.

He knew that even if he told them, they wouldn’t believe it. Moreover, they wouldn’t bother quarreling with the Liu family over something that most people would consider utterly trivial.

And, to be fair, it really was their house. They could do whatever they wanted on their roof.

A little after 2 a.m.

Su Chunfeng quietly got out of bed. He covered his younger brother with the thin blanket that had been kicked off and tucked the mosquito net in place. Then, he tiptoed out into the yard.

The moon was bright, the stars sparse. The village was peaceful and quiet.

Su Chunfeng climbed onto the roof using a ladder. He made his way to the west end of the main house, slowly descended onto the west wall, and walked south along the top of the west wall until he reached the southwest corner. There, he crouched down. He lifted his hands, using them to aim and measure the direction pointed by the mouth of the earthen jar on the corner of Liu Jinming’s roof across the way.

After confirming the spot, he pulled out a screwdriver he had prepared earlier from his pants pocket. On two red bricks at the corner, he carved two inconspicuous talismans—the Anti-Evil Talisman.

Unlike ordinary protective or evil-repelling talismans, the Anti-Evil Talisman had a powerful backlash effect.

Once its effect took hold, the talisman would deal significant damage to the malignant qi from nature that harmed people’s health. Or, it would inflict a strong counter-attack against a person who had cast a harmful art.

The reason he used the Anti-Evil Talisman…

It wasn’t because Su Chunfeng was cruel or because he hated Old Madam Liu to the bone. It was simply because he didn’t know any other talismanic techniques for suppressing or dispelling evil. In his previous life, he had practiced Esoteric Arts, which were recognized as the most ruthless and domineering techniques in the Jianghu of Esoteric Arts.

For example, when he had treated Zhao Shangang’s mother last time, if it were any other mage or occultist, nine out of ten would have just driven the malevolent entity away. That way, the caster themselves wouldn’t suffer too much backlash from the art.

But what Su Chunfeng had done then, though seemingly effortless, was to directly destroy the malevolent entity!

It also happened that Zhao Shangang’s blood possessed far more vigorous yang energy than an ordinary person’s. To put it bluntly, Zhao Shangang’s blood was much more potent in repelling evil and suppressing malignant forces than black dog blood or rooster blood. That’s why Su Chunfeng could easily perform the art and resolve it.

After carving the Anti-Evil Talisman, he bit his right index finger until it bled. With his left hand forming a seal and silently reciting a spell incantation, he gently smeared his blood onto the talisman.

Then, sucking on his finger, he calmly made his way back across the main house roof, climbed down the ladder, and returned to his room.

If the nearby magnetic field didn’t change, no extreme weather caused fluctuations, and the malignant qi from the jar’s mouth didn’t harm anyone… then all would be well for everyone. But once the malignant qi from the jar’s mouth rushed into Su Chunfeng’s home, the Anti-Evil Talisman would activate immediately. It would push the malignant qi back, and by borrowing its force, create an even more powerful and vicious malignant energy, causing severe harm to that family, especially to the caster themselves.

Back in his room, lying on the bed, the natural backlash from casting the art kicked in right on time. Su Chunfeng fell into a deep, drowsy sleep.