Commissioning

This old woman, whose surname was Tian, lived by the marketplace in Feng Hua County. Her husband died early, leaving only a modest dwelling and a son.

Her son, Tian Sangen, was a soldier in Anshen City and could only return home once every two months. In addition to her, there was also a daughter-in-law, Ru Qiu, living in the house. Ru Qiu was seven months pregnant, and because of her poor health, she spent most of her time in bed recuperating and was relying on Tian Sangen's monthly income. Although the family wasn't well-off, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law got along well and lived a good life.

Seeing that she would soon be able to hold a grandson, Mrs. Tian was naturally doubly concerned about her daughter-in-law. In her free time, she would do some handicraft work to sell at the market, hoping to make Ru Qiu eat better. But what she did not expect was that half a month ago a sudden change happened in the family.

First, it was just a noise. Late at night, there would be a strange sound in the house. Sometimes, it seemed to be on the beams, and sometimes it seemed to be in front of the window sill, and even sounded occasionally from beside the two of them, making the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law break out in cold sweat.

Then, the situation gradually became serious. Tiles and rice bowls would inexplicably break, holes were drilled into their window paper, and the sound began to affect reality bit by bit.

Even when the two of them lit candles all over the house, they couldn't stop the vision from appearing.

Tian Sangen's wife already needed to recuperate, and her whole body was emaciated by such torment. Not only had she lost a lot of weight, but her mental state was also becoming more and more unstable. So, if this continued, not to mention a safe delivery, she might not even be able to keep the child in her womb.

It wasn't that Mrs. Tian hadn't thought of a way, such as moving out for a while. However, the family was not well-off, and renting a room or an inn couldn't be sustained for too long.

She also looked for nearby temples to buy sacred water and exorcism talismans. But the strange sound continued and seemed to be closer and closer to people.

In desperation, she begged Zhao Dahai.

When she first arrived in Feng Hua County, Zhao Dahai had dealt with several "spiritual problems" under the banner of a real demon subduer and made a bit of a name for himself. Of course, in Xia Fan's eyes, most of those spiritual phenomena were only the imagination of the villagers or heart disease, and the so-called fame, at most, was that the neighbors would mention him when chit-chatting. He didn't expect that Mrs.Tian had not only heard of him but also took note of him, such that when there was nothing to do, she approached Zhao Dahai.

At that time, his master had already gotten rid of the debt dilemma, so he naturally agreed. Unfortunately, this time he didn't succeed in fooling people. After several "exorcisms", he still couldn't make the strange sound disappear. So, he could only close the door and thank the customers. But Mrs. Tian apparently did not give up, she just thought Daoist Zhao didn't use all his strength. Every day or two, she would come to the door to beg once. It was only when Xia Fan returned to Feng Hua County that she made some progress.

"Daoist Zhao said that if even his disciple can't solve it, there isn't a second person in the whole Feng Hua County who can." The old lady looked at Xia Fan with bewildered eyes. "Little Daoist… Little Immortal Master, please save my family!"

He really found a good master. Xia Fan silently rolled his eyes. He wasn't looking for things to do for him but purely wanted to shirk responsibility. He didn't even think about how everything his disciple learned had come from him. If even he couldn't handle the evil spirits, how could his disciple be able to handle them?

Wait… perhaps he really could succeed. If he cast the Thunder Technique, Thunderclap directly in the house, no matter what evil things were hidden, they would probably fly into oblivion. The problem was that after such a round of heavenly thunder split down, the old lady's house would probably be half destroyed. Then, wouldn't the help be equal to no help?

This method wouldn't work.

Should he refuse? Honestly, Xia Fan couldn't steel his heart.

The old woman in front of him was around fifty years old, and her hair was already fully white. From her wrinkles and sun-scarred face, one could tell that she had suffered a lot in this life. For her, seeing her children and grandchildren was probably her greatest solace in this life, so she spared no effort to kneel in front of a young man less than a third of her age.

If she miscarried, the frail and sickly Ru Qiu would become fraught with grim possibilities, and the family, even if it was still there, would become tattered.

Xia Fan grew up being educated to help people. But in the past, he had limited ability to help and at most stayed at the level of not pocketing the money he picked up and giving directions to strangers. Now that he could save lives, it was difficult for him to turn a blind eye.

As he thought, Xia Fan's gaze suddenly rested on the shadows of the inner room.

Wait, isn't there still a direct disciple of a Privy Council Azure Sword here?

If he asked her to take a look at the scene, he might be able to find some clues!

The fox demon was injured and couldn't fight, but this wasn't the key. The key was to find out the problem. Fighting and other things could all be done by him instead.

Xia Fan thought about it silently and found that the idea was feasible.

First of all, from what Mrs. Tian said, the "strange thing" in her house wasn't some kind of vicious demon. If not, his master wouldn't have gone a second and third time after failing once. If the opponent was a little more dangerous, he would have run far away.

Secondly, the county's control wasn't as strict as the big city's. There was neither a curfew nor a night patrol. So, the risk of the fox demon being exposed was very low.

The only problem was whether Li was willing to get involved in the matter.

But when it came to the ability to persuade, Xia Fan felt extremely confident in himself.

"I can give it a try, but there are a few conditions that must be made clear in advance."

"Little Daoist, just say what you want. As long as I can do it—"

"You can do it." He interrupted. "First, no one can stay in the house while I work, you can only wait outside. Second, do not publicize this matter. I don't want others to know that this matter is related to me. Third, no guarantee of the results. Evil spirits are strange, I can only say that I'll try my best."

"I understand, I understand…" The old lady nodded repeatedly.

"And the fourth point… I need a set of your daughter-in-law's clothes, a looser set." Xia Fan slowly said, "I'll also need a straw hat and straw coat, I will pay for it."

"You don't need to pay! But… what do you want these for?"

"Just in case the sky changes late at night."

…

After Mrs. Tian left, Li poked her head out from inside the inner room. "Who told you I agreed to help her? I'm a demon, she's a human. I don't have any reason to help an unrelated human, just as a human wouldn't help a demon."

As expected of a fox demon, he hadn't even said anything yet, and the other party already knew his intentions.

Li's tone was quite unpleasant, and she seemed displeased with Xia Fan's self-initiated behavior. "Let's be clear, just because I agreed to cooperate with you doesn't mean I'll listen to you on everything. I'm not your subordinate, cooperation should be fully negotiated before making a decision—"

"You're right, but a life is at stake here. I didn't have a chance to discuss it with you just now." Xia Fan said in a soothing tone, "As for the first point you said, I think it's biased."

"Biased? It'll already be very good if humans don't call for demons' blood."

"Have I ever helped you?" Xia Fan asked rhetorically.

"Yes."

"Am I a human?"

Li momentarily paused. "Um, you're not quite the same…"

"Then, it'll be okay if you don't help her but help me, right?" He took advantage of the situation. "The other party is not a Privy Council mystic and doesn't have a direct stake in matters regarding demons. If you help me, there won't be any bad consequences. Didn't we happen to talk about the classification of evil spirits before? You can just treat it as teaching me."