The Gusu Mistake - Chapter 11

“This is the place!” As night fell, Old Lady Zhou led Yuanruo and Jiang Yilan to the riverside. “This is where I met her!”

Jiang Yilan looked at Old Lady Zhou. “This river isn’t close to your house…”

“It’s not!” Old Lady Zhou gave a bitter smile. “If it were, I probably wouldn’t even be able to die in peace.”

“It wasn’t your fault!” Jiang Yilan patted Old Lady Zhou’s shoulder. “Your good fortune is definitely still to come!”

“Is that so?” Old Lady Zhou’s mouth twitched. “I don’t dare hope anymore.”

“This is the spot!” Yuan ruo’s voice drew their attention.

Jiang Yilan asked, “Did you find it?”

“I think so!” Yuan ruo stared at the water’s surface. “But it’s hiding at the bottom of the river. We need to find a way to lure it out!”

“Oh, no, I can’t do that job!” Jiang Yilan spread her hands. “You must have a way, right?”

“I do have a way!” Yuan ruo gave Jiang Yilan a meaningful look.

Jiang Yilan felt a little uncomfortable under Yuanruo’s gaze. “Why are you looking at me?”

Yuanruo chuckled softly. “That evil spirit doesn’t like women; it only wants men. It won’t be lured out by a woman!”

“Uh…” Jiang Yilan’s eyes darted around, and she suddenly became frustrated. “I should have brought that stinky man with me.”

“He doesn’t have much Yang energy left. It would be useless even if he came,” Yuan ruo mused. “We need to find someone else!”

“Someone else?” Jiang Yilan counted the people present. “There are only three of us. Where are we going to find someone else?”

“Isn’t this young man…” Old Lady Zhou suddenly looked at Yuan ruo. “Aren’t you a man?”

“I…” Yuan ruo was speechless.

“Haha!” Jiang Yilan laughed. “She can’t do it. Her Yang energy isn’t strong enough!”

“How can that be?” Old Lady Zhou was even more confused. “I think this young man is very dignified and a practitioner…”

“Stop talking, she just can’t do it!” Jiang Yilan flatly dismissed what Old Lady Zhou was saying and asked Yuanruo, “Do you have any other ideas?”

“Yes!” Yuan ruo took out a spiritual talisman. “This is a Yang-strengthening talisman!”

Jiang Yilan’s eyes widened. “There’s such a thing?”

“Naturally, Taoism encompasses everything!” Yuan ruo waved the talisman in front of Jiang Yilan. “After I use it on you, you’ll have a pure Yang body for one hour. This will definitely lure that evil spirit out!”

“Well… I don’t really have an opinion on this!” Jiang Yilan sized up Yuan ruo. “But wouldn’t it be more suitable to use this on you?”

Yuan ruo said, “That evil spirit can sense the aura of a Taoist cultivator on me. If I were to do it, I can’t guarantee that it will fall for it!”

“That’s… a point…” Jiang Yilan pondered. “But will there be any side effects after using this talisman?”

“Yes!” Yuan ruo’s single word immediately made Jiang Yilan’s eyes go wide. “But it’s not a bad one!”

This sentence made Jiang Yilan’s racing heart calm down a little. “What is it?”

“For the next few days, you must eat a light diet,” Yuan ruo said. “You can’t eat anything too nourishing!”

Jiang Yilan asked, “What happens if I do?”

Yuan ruo said, “You’ll get a nosebleed!”

Jiang Yilan blinked. “That’s it?”

Yuan ruo nodded. “That’s it!”

“Alright then!” Jiang Yilan struck a pose. “Come on!”

“Wait!” Yuan ruo didn’t use the talisman immediately but instead made Old Lady Zhou hide behind a tree. “Just in case, you should still avoid it!”

Old Lady Zhou immediately became nervous. “Will she take revenge on me?”

Yuan ruo didn’t deny what Old Lady Zhou said. “Even if you hadn’t confessed, she would definitely not spare you after she cultivated into a Seductress Demon in the future!”

“But… but I really didn’t want to live at the time; she saved me!” No matter what, Old Lady Zhou still remembered the Seductress Spirit’s life-saving grace.

Yuan ruo said, “But it also beguiled you into helping it harm many people!”

“It was those people first…” Old Lady Zhou stopped talking mid-sentence.

Yuan ruo said, “I won’t say you were wrong in this matter, but it really shouldn’t exist in this world!”

Old Lady Zhou pursed her lips and said no more.

“Hide here well!” After Yuan ruo gave her instructions, she returned to Jiang Yilan, forming a hand seal and touching the spiritual talisman with two fingers. “Rise!”

With Yuanruo’s light shout, the talisman was placed on Jiang Yilan’s chest, and a surge of heat immediately rushed to all her limbs and bones.

“Hiss, it’s so hot!” Jiang Yilan endured for a while but really couldn’t bear the heat anymore.

“It will be over soon, just bear with it!” At this moment, Yuan ruo was staring intently at the river’s surface, afraid of missing any clues of the Seductress Spirit’s appearance. She was even more afraid of missing the opportunity and having Jiang Yilan suffer this in vain.

“Gurgle, gurgle!” Bubbles suddenly rose from the water’s surface, causing ripples.

“It’s here!” Yuan ruo said softly, then held a sword in one hand and formed a hand seal with the other, just waiting for the right moment to destroy the Seductress Spirit in one fell swoop.

However, when the Seductress Spirit emerged from the water, it didn’t rush straight at Jiang Yilan but instead went toward the tree where Old Lady Zhou was hiding.

“Ah…” When the red-robed Seductress Spirit suddenly appeared, the frightened Old Lady Zhou screamed and stumbled to the ground.

“Why did you betray me?” The Seductress Spirit questioned Old Lady Zhou in a sharp voice.

“I, I, I…” The Seductress Spirit approached, and Old Lady Zhou retreated backward. “I didn’t betray you…”

“You didn’t betray me?” The Seductress Spirit angrily pointed at Yuan ruo. “Then how did he find this place?”

“I forced her!” Yuan ruo interjected. “With your evil aura, it would be hard for me not to notice!”

“Evil aura? Hahaha…” The Seductress Spirit let out a sinister laugh. “No matter how evil I am, can I be more evil than those wretched men?”

Yuan ruo, who was about to strike, suddenly stopped. “Do you have a grievance?”

The Seductress Spirit angrily pointed at the river’s surface. “Look clearly, where is this? If I didn’t have a grievance, why would I have died here?”

Yuan ruo asked, “Why did you die here?”

“Yes, I was a courtesan, but I didn’t choose that life myself!” The Seductress Spirit started to sob when she said this. “My parents sold me to a brothel to get my brother a wife. Not only did I endure endless abuse, but if I couldn’t satisfy a customer, they would drown me in this river, making me a water Seductress Spirit that can’t be reincarnated!”

“This is… too much!” Jiang Yilan, who had been enduring the Yang-strengthening talisman, couldn’t help but speak up. “Who was the one who harmed you?”

Only then did Yuan ruo remember Jiang Yilan and quickly went to take the talisman off her.

“Whew!” With the talisman removed, Jiang Yilan immediately felt relieved. “I can finally breathe a sigh of relief!”

“You… did you do this to lure me out?” The Water Seductress Spirit asked in a sinister tone.

“Yes!” Yuan ruo admitted generously. “We didn’t know the truth. You’ve been harming people, and as a Taoist cultivator, I naturally wouldn’t stand by and do nothing!”

The Water Seductress Spirit sneered, striking a combat stance. “And now? Do you still want to capture me?”

“I’m not sure,” Yuan ruo didn’t seem to take the Water Seductress Spirit seriously. “But I want to hear your story. If you truly have a grievance, I won’t hesitate to give you a proper funeral rite to help you reincarnate!”

Hearing this, the Water Seductress Spirit was filled with hope. “Can you really help me?”

“Yes!” Yuan ruo nodded. “It’s not difficult, but I want to know everything behind it!”

“Okay, I’ll tell you everything!” The Water Seductress Spirit slowly descended and landed on the ground. Her red robe no longer fluttered, and her face transformed into that of an ordinary woman. “If I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t want to do things that harm people!”

Support The Gusu Mistake