The Taoist priest bowed, and I returned the same courtesy to him before I led him to our sitting place and poured him some tea. The priest was direct, saying, “I am here today, to implore for your help to join me in ridding evil and foul beings!” “You, yourself, command great powers, Master Priest,” I replied modestly. “We can only plead incompetence in comparison to one as great as you!” The priest heaved a long breath and sighed. “To tell you the truth, your name was recommended to me by a colleague. There have been whispers of a powerful person at the National Studies Institute around here. I had gone there to try to meet that great man, only to have my requests for a meeting rejected. But a lady there told me that the Head Person of the Institute rarely shows himself to strangers. But his son had just started a paranormal investigative firm here, she told me; and here I am.”

It must have been Aunt Fen who had recommended us to him. I slide the cup of tea I just poured towards him. “Let us first hear your case, Master Priest!” I said. The priest exhaled wearily and coughed once. “It was my senior. A fellow disciple of my order. He had received an assignment earlier this month to help subdue a demon who had charmed and possessed a village woman. But he did not expect to find out that the demon’s powers were way beyond his ability to defeat. He was soundly beaten and his injuries were so serious that until now, he is still bed-ridden!” An indignant Yuan Chongxi interjected suddenly. “What demon is this to wield such powers! I, myself, could hardly believe this!” But I almost snickered out loud. He had spoken those words in such boldness as if he commanded great strength himself. I waved him off to calm him down and turned to the priest again. “What can you tell us more about this demon, Master Priest?”

“I’m afraid there’s not much that I know myself,” said the priest. “My senior had gone alone that time and was brought back by the local villagers on a stretcher! Being inferior to my senior, I know full well that I was no match for the monster! This is why I have had to look for help elsewhere, to uphold the dignity of us, vanquishers of Evil to prove that Good will always prevail! Have no doubt that you shall be duly compensated! I have some savings of my own!” One way or another, his words had kindled the eagerness to challenge the monster that both Lin Feng and Yuan Chongxi stirred in their seats. This might be a good experience for them to see a demon for a first time themselves, I wondered. “Pack your gear! We’ll leave with the priest!” I instructed them both.

We followed the priest who was leading at the front in his own car with ours at the back. But it struck me odd that even priests these days drive cars, I pondered. Even they, a calling of ancient origins, could hardly resist the course of Time and Progress, I guess. We followed the priest straight into a village and came to a stop. The priest parked his car and got down; and we, too, got down our car and reached a house. The family of the afflicted girl came out to meet us and the priest whispered a few words to them. Hearing from the priest that we were here to help, the owner of the home immediately ushered us into his home warmly. He did not rush us to give treatment to the patient, but first led us into a side chamber of his siheyuan house and made us tea as if we were guests although our conversation began about the condition of the afflicted person. We requested for the patient’s birthdate and other details, and asked about the patient’s symptoms and quirks that had arisen after being sickened, among other information. Encouraged by our recent successes, we neither examined the details given to us nor did we first divine any underlying secrets about the patient, but we immediately went to see the patient. By the accounts of her family, the patient was a woman thirty-seven years of age who was also the mother of two children.

But when we met the patient, she looked hardly like a middle-aged woman. Instead, she looked as if she was still in her early twenties, a maiden in appearance and demeanor. Yet most puzzling of all, was not her looks and appearance, but her condition! There was a hopeful verve pouring from the depths of her eyes! This was definitely not how a patient being tormented should look like!

Some people, although stricken with sickness, might pretend to be healthy and robust by keeping their eyes wide and expressive. In truth, even a common person with hardly any supernatural abilities could easily deflate such phony facades. But this woman was different; we could well see and feel that now she stood before us, exuding all fathoms of vigor and permeating vim! Even before we had uttered anything, it was she who first seized the initiative of our exchange by first speaking when we first met! “I know you are here to deal with me. Return to where you come from!” She cried in a loud voice that bespoke her radiating exuberance and clout. “The likes of you curs are hardly a challenge to me! Get someone else!” Realizing our unwavering will to pit against her, she howled in laughter. “You wish to witness my greatness? Very well!” My Spirit Sight picked up a cloud of yellow energy rose from her body that not only stank of fetid odors like rotting flesh, but even my eyes were also stung by the pain at the mere sight of her corrosive miasma! Quickly, I extracted my Spirit Gourd and unsealed its mouth. At the whispers of several words of incantation, a powerful suction absorbed every shred of the trenchant and sulfurous smog into the gourd. Everyone held their breaths as they kept watch at our brief duel.

A look of distress formed on the woman’s face and intensified when she noticed that I did not unstopper my gourd. Instead, the mouth of the gourd was facing her as my lips continued muttering spells of command. But what had seemed to be a short-lived frightened look on her fleeted by, replaced with a cryptic smile as black strands of energies swirled around her. Her eyes flashed suddenly, with two incinerating bolts of lights shot out of her eyes. Even from afar, I could almost feel the blistering heat of the two bolts of light which could have flash-boiled our very blood! I drew my sword to parry the projectiles. With a loud “bang”, my sword cracked and shattered. Every inch of the exposed parts of my body screamed suddenly at the searing pain as if a burst of inferno had engulfed me. A huge force gripped my arm from behind, yanking me at break-neck speed out of the chamber. It was Lin Feng. With his prowess in martial arts, he had drawn me of out of danger! With a spin of his body, he brandished his whip and swung it forward, coiling it around Yuan Chongxi’s waist and pulled hard! Yuan Chongxi was lifted into the air and flew back, staggering uncontrollably when he landed. Without another word, we scrambled out of the house and into our car.

Lin Feng willed the car to life and kept his foot on the accelerator, racing as fast as he could away! There was no more time for us to worry about the priest! We looked ourselves; the smoldering patches on our clothes singed by the fire and the red flesh of our skins after being so badly scalded. Yuan Chongxi and I shared a dark look. Even his eyebrows were not spared. I fumbled for a calabash gourd and tipped it over, pouring out two tablets. I gave him one, and we both downed the medicine with a gulp of mineral water. Moments later, when the rush of blistering agony slowly diminished and subsided, Yuan Chongxi grumbled, “It’s lucky that you have these medicine. Were they given by the Taoist priest?” “No,” I said, “These were given to me by my father. I am still not yet skillful enough to brew them on my own.” Minutes passed and finally, we felt no more pain, but we could not feeling incensed by our defeat! Before going in the chamber for the encounter, we had planned thus: Lin Feng would act as a rearguard while Yuan Chongxi will stand in the middle as my support while I led the charge against the monster. It was fortunate that we had the prudence to first plan our confrontation, lest one of us would have shared the same fate as the Taoist priest’s senior who was still incapacitated.

We retreated back to the center, only to find Father already there waiting for us. Father always had a knack of appearing when we needed him most. He held out his hand and motioned for the sword he gave me the night before the De Chang Center for Paranormal Studies was opened. I handed to him the broken sword, which he took and strike at its blade with a flick of his finger. Much to our shock, the blade of the sword crumbled into shards of metallic shreds. “Have some rest,” he said to us. “I’ll go with you for a look!” The notion of Father coming with us revitalized all weariness in us. “We’re okay!” Lin Feng and Yuan Chongxi exclaimed, eager to see their pride redeemed. “We can go now!” Yet despite his fervor, I was sure that Lin Feng was badly exhausted. The journey there was no less than 100 miles, and it was he who had driven us to and fro. Moreover, it was he, too, who had salvaged what remained of our dignity from being utterly incapacitated, not to mentioned a fiery mutilation. We were almost there when Lin Feng pointed to the front, the tip of his finger gesturing towards a small town in the distance. “Past this curve. The house is just over there,” he said. “Stop the car there in front of the hilly mound,” Father instructed. We stopped and all got out. Father stood sternly on the mound and we flanked him from behind. A few rocks rolled down the cliff from where we were standing, bouncing off the surfaces of other boulders below as they continued their downhill descend. Father disappeared suddenly, reappearing at the top of the mountain where he cast a long look over the entire village. With a prideful smirk, he returned to us and beckoned for us to leave. “Let’s go!” he said loudly.

We journeyed our way back, going straight to a restaurant instead of returning to the Center. Father requested a private room and we went in, plopping our behinds on the comfort of the cozy seats as a server first made us tea before excusing himself. We sipped at our tea as we waited for our food and Father began his explanation. “This is the first time I encountered something like this,” he said. He paused for a tick of silence as if allowing his words to fully sink in before continuing. “When I looked upon the village, I sensed dark energies, foul and decayed as death, with another form of energy, yellowish, if I were to describe it by colors. It can only be the aura of demons. But in the midst of the putrid haze of these vile and horrid energies, there was the bright glimmer of a hallowed glow!” “Could it be… the weasel spirits of the Wudaxian (literally the ‘Five Great Immortals’, a group of five zoomorphic deities of northeastern Chinese religion and local shamanism)?” I blurted, shocked at the revelation. But Father merely waved his hand as a sign of no. “That was no ordinary aura! Only one of the deities of the Heavenly Court wielded such sanctity! The ones you mentioned are still demonic spirit nevertheless, in spite of their position,” said Father, refuting my guess. We were so astounded that we were agape with shock! This was simply unbelievable; a deity both righteous and evil? How could this be possible, I brooded. This is not Gemini or Janus of Western religions and myth! How could an immortal entity embody the traits of both Evil and Good! “That was not a single entity,” said Father suddenly, breaking my line of thought and answering my doubt. “The patient must have been possessed by three different entities. Two of Evil and one of Good. Still, like what I said earlier. I have not heard of any precedence of being possessed by three entities at the same time before! You will recall that before going to the village, I had examined your sword. It was broken to the hilt by a technique we colloquially call ‘overscorching’. It is a magical skill that can ‘flash-melt’ metallic objects. But the wooden hilt of the sword was neither damaged nor are you all badly injured! I’d say that the entities had stayed their hands and had shown you an ounce of leniency. But I will not be able to intervene on your behalf, due to the embroilment of a deity of Heavens in this case.”

“But how can we continue operating the Center now that we’ve been so ignominiously defeated!” Yuan Chongxi cried in dismay. “Nay. There is nothing to be shameful about losing to a deity, more so, one of the Heavenly Court!” Father said to us encouragingly. Our discussion continued amid the aroma and flavors of the food that came later. “We’ll leave it to the deity to handle his own matter,” said Father. “Meanwhile, here’s my advice. You will all…” His voice trailed as he turned to face me, “… go find your Third Uncle (on my mother’s side)!” “Ah? Since when did Third Uncle has such powers?” I asked, hardly being able to believe my ears. “Of course not,” said my father. “But he knows a man who wields power even over deities and immortals! Only he can influence the deity to solve this entire issue!” “So you want us to ask Shiyan’s Third Uncle to lead us to the man who can sway the deities to his will?” Yuan Chongxi asked. “Yes!” My father answered.

The next day, we went to visit my Third Uncle, bearing a boatload of gifts: a fruit basket, two bottles of white wine, and a carton of Yuxi cigarettes (A Chinese cigarette brand). He was in fact my mother’s cousin, a rowdy retiree who loves crowds. We came to his apartment, only find him sitting downstairs on a rattan chair in the garden with a small tea table in front of him, enjoying the simple vices tea and cigarettes. Seeing me from afar, he shouted loudly, “Look! My nephew is here! Hahaha! Come! Sit with me! Pour yourself a cup!” We laid down the items we brought and reached for some small stools and sat around him. “So, what brings you here?” He asked. “To see you, Third Uncle,” I replied. “Nay. You are not here to see me! Tell me, what happened to your eyebrows?” He scoffed, his hand waving loftily. “You are indeed wise and sharp, Uncle.” I managed with a grin. “Nothing escapes your knowledge!” “You impish rascal! I watch you grow up!” He giggled. “How do I not know your antics!”

He had just finished speaking, when a voice barked from over our shoulders, “Halt!”