“Uh, I see.” Shi Yitong was speechless.

I looked at Coo and then look at Wen Jiubo, it suddenly occurred to me that this cat’s former owner should be Wen Jiubo..

“Wen Jiubo, what was its previous name?”

Wen Jiubo looked at and sighed, “Xuanse.”

I looked at that cat, then at Su Xiaoyun and burst into laughter.

“Hahaha!”

“Why are you laughing?” Su Xiaoyun became angry, waving her fists towards us. “It’s Coo! Coo is a beautiful name!”

Shi Yitong and I couldn’t stop laughing even though she was angry.

“But, now that Coo is back, does it mean that the curse on me is lifted?” Su Xiaoyun asked.

“The curse will never be broken, but the cat will offset some of its negative effects for you.” Wen Jiubo narrowed his eyes and glanced at me and Shi Yitong. “Like what happened to your friends today, the closer they are, the more probable they will suffer some misfortunes. Also, the positive energy in your body is still weak, so if you don’t take care of yourself you might easily get sick.”

“I see..” Su Xiaoyun lowered her head.

“Of course, there is a solution that will work once and for all,” Wen Jiubo continued, “that is to break up with these two friends and never let them near you.”

Almost at the same time, Shi Yitong and I stared at Su Xiaoyun, waiting anxiously for her reaction.

Su Xiaoyun looked at us and then at Wen Jiubo and sighed, “Well, even if I want to do this, these stubborn guys will never agree, don’t you think?”

Shi Yitong and I cheered before giving Su Xiaoyun a big hug.

“Wow, what are you doing? Stop it, I can’t breath!”

Shi Yitong and Su Xiaoyun left the house in the evening. I walked them to the front door.

“Wen Jiubo told me to give this medicine to you.” I gave each of them a bag of herb medicine. “He said it should nourish your qi and body. Decoct it when you get home before you drink it.”

Shi Yitong grabbed one of the bags of herb medicine and skeptically looked at it before smelling it. “What is this, it can’t be poison, right?”

“It’s my gift to you.” Wen Jiubo walked out from behind me and said, “You have been fighting with the evil spirit and were exposed to its miasma for the last few days. These herbs can help to rid of impurities, cleanse your body and nourish your qi. If you don’t trust me, you can throw it away, I don’t mind. After all, Gu Yu will pay for it.”

“Hey!” I yelled discontentedly

Su Xiaoyun couldn’t help but grin, “Okay, thank you, Mr. Wen. We’ll drink it.”

Shi Yitong stood aside, still studying the ingredients of the medicine. But Su Xiaoyun dragged him away by the ear.

“Come on, stop studying the medicine!”

“Ah, go easy on me, goddess, it really hurts..”

After watching them laughing and talking until they were out of sight, I suddenly felt a little upset.

“Ay, Wen Jiubo.” I turned around and looked at him. “I fought with the evil spirit as well, and I even gave him a punch. Where is my medicine?”

“Oh?” Wen Jiubo began to play dumb. “Really? I can’t remember.”

I was so angry that I swung my fists at him, but he easily blocked them.

“I’m joking. I have something for you too. Let’s go inside.” After saying this, Wen Jiubo turned around and entered the house.

I was confused but followed him inside.

Wen Jiubo walked into the room with a horizontal board inscribed with ‘House of Exorcism’ hanging above the door. He picked up a fan from the table which I recognized immediately as the one he used to kill the parasite spirit.

“Here.” He passed the fan to me.

I took it, puzzled. The fan looked very old like it was from the Ming or Qing dynasty. The covering was made of green silk with a phoenix embroidered on it and a red decoration was attached to the handle. Clearly, it was not something that was used by a man but an accessory that could be found in a lady’s bedroom.

I studied it carefully. It felt weirdly familiar. However, it belonged to Wen Jiubo, so maybe I had once seen it in his room.

“So?” I looked up at Wen Jiubo. “Are you.. giving it to me?”

Wen Jiubo nodded.

“But, isn’t it your exorcism tool or something like that? And you’re just giving it to me?” I was skeptical. “I don’t even know how to use it, so it is useless to me. And a man holding a fan made for women? It would be so awkward.”

Wen Jiubo laughed out because of my description. He gently pushed my hand back.

“Keep it. Even though you don’t know exorcism, it may help you in the future. The situation is getting more and more dangerous, you need to have a suitable weapon on you in case you’re threatened by some demon or spirit and I’m not around to help. If you were killed by a nobody, wouldn’t that be pathetic?”

How could he say something like this! I tightly gripped the fan in my hand. Anyway, since Wen Jiubo looked so awesome when he used this fan to kill the spirit I guessed it must not be an ordinary antique.

As if Wen Jiubo read my mind, he softly said, “This fan once belonged to a princess who used it to seal an ancient giant monster.”

“Really?” I had more respect for the fan after hearing that. “So cool. No wonder it can kill that parasite spirit in just one strike. You really have a lot of weird stuff.”

Wen Jiubo smiled. “Well, you should keep this fan, but don’t lose it. If you dare to lose it, I will make you into a fan.”

“Wow, I’m so scared.” I blew him a raspberry.

“This small city is losing its peace.” Wen Jiubo stood by the window, looking up to the sky. The bluish grey sky looked as usual. The sun was going down and the night was rolling in.

“Really? Why?” I looked in the direction where Wen Jiubo was staring at, but I couldn’t see anything strange.

“Gu Yu, are you afraid of the dark?” All of a sudden, Wen Jiubo asked me a weird question.

I paused for a moment and didn’t know how to answer him. “Um..a little. Everyone is afraid of the dark, more or less.”

Wen Jiubo nodded. He looked up to the sky again. “But, did you ever wonder why people are afraid of the dark? It’s almost like it’s instinctual for humans to be scared of the dark. But, what is there in it that makes people so terrified?”

I was tongue-tied.

“The big furred monster you met on Mt. Yanjin, the curse on Su Xiaoyun and the strange Taoist priest who gave her a conjuration method,” Wen Jiubo enunciated, “When you look at all of this separately, then nothing comes up. But if you link them all together, it is bizarre.”