Previous Chapter 6
In the days that followed, we made the necessary changes to Aunt Shen’s house, just as my uncle had instructed. Once everything was settled, we headed home.
With our apartment building in sight, I could no longer hold back my curiosity. “Weren’t you worried the yellow spirit might break the deal? Just because they’ve never broken a promise before doesn’t mean they never will.”
My uncle chuckled, his eyes twinkling. “You didn’t notice? I marked each cub.”
I blinked. "Marked them?"
"A tiny line on the forehead, nothing they’d feel, but enough to bind the agreement."
I stopped in my tracks, jaw dropping. “It was you! The yellow fur!”
Nearly shouting, I traced a vertical line on my own forehead. "I thought those were birthmarks, signs of their potential to become yellow spirits!"
"Nah," my uncle said, clearly enjoying my reaction. "That was me."
He stopped walking and turned to face me. “Marking a creature, especially in a truce, serves as a safeguard. If direct marking isn’t possible, a blood bond works just as well. By marking the cubs, I ensured the mother’s commitment to the agreement.”
Though his voice remained light, I knew he meant for me to remember his words. I nodded.
Then, his tone became serious. "Spirits rarely break promises. The cost is severe, they risk losing a portion, or even all, of their cultivation power. But it does happen. That’s why we take precautions."
He resumed walking, gesturing for me to follow. "What I said back there, it wasn’t just for you, it was for them, too. They might have been listening."
The memory of those two golden gleaming eyes in the darkness flashed through my mind. I quickened my pace, hurrying to catch up.
“You still have much to learn,” he added, and somehow, it felt like a promise of endless extracurricular work.
A week later, we received another call from Aunt Shen. She had discovered who had placed the talisman in their restaurant.
It turned out that when Aunt Shen and Zheng Yu visited Uncle Zheng’s grave, they found Wang Hu there, weeping. He cried and repeatedly apologized, and when they pressed him for answers, he finally confessed.
Wang Hu had always sought shortcuts to wealth, hoping for fortune without effort. Four years ago, he had invited a family of yellow spirits into his home. Skeptical at first, he started with small daily tributes, just in case. Then, valuables began appearing in his bedroom: gold, jewelry, even cash. Overjoyed, he convinced himself it was real and made even greater offerings, asking for more wealth.
What he didn’t realize was that the items were stolen. The owners had filed police reports, and when Wang Hu went to the city to sell them, he was caught red-handed. No one believed his frantic claims of innocence. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
After his release, his first priority was to send those spirits away. However, with belief in spirits fading and new invitations becoming rare, the spirits refused to leave. They chose to stay and continue benefiting from the steady stream of tributes that fueled their cultivation. Desperate, Wang Hu targeted the restaurant.
He believed they would be the perfect hosts because of the restaurant’s abundant food offerings, regular incense burning, and Aunt Shen and Uncle Zheng’s complete unawareness. They were safe from punishment, never demanded favors, and therefore never faced any consequences.
He never imagined Uncle Zheng would kill one of them.
"He didn't mean any harm. It was just... one thing after another. I don't even know who to blame." Aunt Shen sighed before ending the call.
I sat there for a moment, turning everything over in my mind. Finally, I asked my uncle the question that had troubled me for days. “If Uncle Zheng had kept wearing the talisman, would things have been different?”
“I don’t know. No one does,” he replied. "There are no 'ifs' in life, so don't waste time wondering 'what if’. Fate’s a complicated thing, like a tangled web. You can never tell what might change if you tug on one thread. Could be nothing, could be everything. You just never know.”
Gradually, life returned to normal. Aunt Shen postponed selling the restaurant until the spirits left and found a job in the meantime. Zheng Yu resumed his studies. With each passing day, the cloud that had hung over their family began to lift.
I, too, returned to school, but the world felt different now. After everything that had happened, I couldn’t see it the same way anymore.
My uncle, however, slipped back into his usual laid-back lifestyle, though now with a new excuse.
“I have to think of how to make you a wonderful shaman!”
I rolled my eyes at his words while reciting the steps of a new formation, pretending to be annoyed. But deep down, I couldn't help but smile.
My uncle had promised to teach me how to activate the formations after I mastered all the major ones and completed the ancestor worship ceremony in my hometown, a trip I eagerly anticipated.
“Can you grab me a soda from the fridge?” He yelled.
The End
And that's the end of my first ever story! Thanks so much for reading. Hope to see you for the next one.
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