"Thank God, the curse has truly vanished, and I’ve never felt so relaxed."
Throwing the travel bag into the car, Joles was still laughing ecstatically.
Sun Yan opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat, leaning against the seatback and reminded, "What you should be thankful for is the True Monarch of Pure Origin and Mysterious Dao. Don’t attribute all the credit to God; the Evil Spirit was suppressed entirely thanks to him."
"Yes, yes, Father, you’re right. I’ll never forget the grace of True Monarch of Pure Origin and Mysterious Dao."
Joles asked with a sincere face, "Father Jackson, how can I come to believe in True Monarch of Pure Origin and Mysterious Dao?"
This question stumped Sun Yan. North America has always been the domain of monotheism, and the westerners on this land mostly believe in God.
It was indeed unexpected to encounter a foreigner suddenly wanting to believe in True Monarch of Pure Origin and Mysterious Dao.
Eastern people believing in gods have always emphasized utility, and gods that aren’t useful can’t even attract passers-by to offer incense. The principle is all about doing what you can, and if you can’t do it, get out.
As a bodyguard who frequently interacts with high society and elite individuals, Joles naturally isn’t foolish.
His mother has taught him to believe in God from a young age, so that he could enter Heaven after death.
But this time, himself encountering such a huge trouble, almost tortured to death by the Mirror Evil Spirit, without seeing God extending a hand to help.
Finally, under Henry’s introduction, he came to the Evangelical Town Cemetery, where the crisis of the Evil Spirit was resolved.
This deeply made Joles realize that the Eastern divine spirit, True Monarch of Pure Origin and Mysterious Dao, is different from God; he simply asks and he truly takes action.
This is a reliable divine spirit, and compared to God, who is more worth believing in, it’s clear from the ties between life and death.
If he ever encounters another Evil Spirit, he’d have to ask True Monarch of Pure Origin and Mysterious Dao to save his life again.
Sun Yan casually said, "Chinatown generally has temples, so if you want to believe in True Monarch of Pure Origin and Mysterious Dao, just go there and find the Erlang Temple to offer incense and pray. There’s no need to be too troublesome; sincerity lies in the heart. If you are sincere, True Monarch of Pure Origin and Mysterious Dao will naturally sense it and protect you."
"I’ll remember, thank you, Father."
With a serious expression, Joles immediately started the pickup and drove away from the Evangelical Town.
Having had the curse removed from his body, Joles naturally had no need to continue staying in the cemetery; he also needed to work.
Knowing Joles came by car, Sun Yan had him give a ride to Saint Anna City, just to visit the scene of the murder case in Shajiao District.
Saint Anna City, being the closest city to Evangelical Town, often sees townsfolk driving to the city for various daily necessities not found in the town.
Ah Fen Restaurant, owned by Sun Yan’s family, is located in Saint Anna City’s Chinatown. Having grown up in Saint Anna City, he is quite familiar with this city.
"Thanks for your trouble, just drop me off here."
Driving all the way to Shajiao District, Sun Yan opened the car door and got out, bidding farewell to Joles with a wave, and stood by the roadside to take a look at the building in front.
This was a very classic American apartment from the last century, with a total of seven floors, its exterior looking particularly outdated.
At this time, a white-haired Asian old woman was sitting on a bamboo chair at the entrance, reading a newspaper, completely ignoring Sun Yan’s arrival.
"Open the Celestial Eye." Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on Nov3lFɪre.ɴet
Seeing that from the outside, nothing seemed amiss, Sun Yan silently chanted, feeling a slight itch at the center of his eyebrows, followed by the appearance of a faint golden line that outsiders could hardly detect.
This was the aid from the Tomb Guardian—the Celestial Eye.
At this moment, the world in Sun Yan’s eyes instantly changed, the entire old building emitting wisps of faint black mist, clearly indicating a problem with this apartment.
Just as Sun Yan intended to enter the apartment, the old woman put down the newspaper, smacking her lips and asked in a hoarse voice, "Young man, you aren’t a resident here, are you? There was a murder case in the apartment yesterday, so don’t wander around if you’re okay."
"Thanks for the warning." Sun Yan walked into the entrance with hands in pockets, ignoring the woman, and began scanning around with the Celestial Eye.
Due to the police having visited yesterday, remnants of the police caution tape could be seen on the stairs at the moment.
But after all, there were quite a few residents living in this building, and the police couldn’t indefinitely seal off the corridors.
Sealing the crime scene and moving the body back to the police station could be considered wrapping up the case.
Sun Yan went all the way to the fourth floor, with room 401 as the crime scene. The door was open at the moment, with voices coming from inside.
Upon entering, Sun Yan saw two Caucasian men in priest robes holding crosses and Bibles, wandering back and forth within the house.
"Do you really think it’s an Evil Spirit harming people? To kill so many ordinary people at once, if it’s truly an Evil Spirit, then the whole neighborhood is in danger."
"Betar, what happened on the 7th floor can’t be explained without Evil Spirits. Too bad Father Kael just went to Europe recently, otherwise we could’ve asked him to take a look at this case."
"Laine, we are believers loyal to the Lord, and the things Father Kael can do, we can do as well. Don’t always praise his strength; does our trust in the Lord pale in comparison to Father Kael’s?"
Quietly observing the exchange between the two priests, Sun Yan clearly noticed some disagreement in their opinions.
In the vision from his Celestial Eye, the room had significant issues; in the corner of the living room, very close to the two priests, a little boy covered in black water huddled with his legs, shrinking in the corner, his eyes ghastly white and cloudy, skin without a hint of blood and showing black veins.
However, the two priests seemed unable to see the boy, oblivious to the existence of the Evil Spirit.
Sun Yan squinted his eyes, silently took out a cigarette and lit it to calm his mood: "Serves me right, just arrived and there’s an Evil Spirit."
The image of the boy he had seen before; it was one of the deceased in the stack of crime scene photos Henry had shown him, died tragically, having his limbs broken and forcibly stuffed into the refrigerator’s freezer compartment to freeze to death.
Now, the boy instantly turned into an Evil Spirit after dying, evidently showing the intense resentment he had during his life.
The "Mountain Chasing Manual" mentioned that when living people die, they become souls; when souls don’t disperse, they become Evil Spirits, which then evolve into Dire Spirits. Each of the three are different, and their threat level to humans varies.
Souls are the lingering obsession of living people after death, able to slightly affect the environment.
But Evil Spirits cause greater harm; they can affect the five senses and body of a person, harboring extreme indiscriminate resentment towards the living.
If not promptly eliminated after appearing, it could lead to serious consequences.
As for Dire Spirits, the manual doesn’t record many cases.
"Who are you? Outsiders are forbidden to enter here. Please leave."
The sound of Sun Yan lighting the cigarette immediately caught the priests’ attention, as they promptly stopped their conversation upon realizing an outsider’s presence, lest others mock the church.
The hot-tempered Betar turned around and sternly reprimanded Sun Yan.
Both were priests from the Shajiao District Church, and were also two other spiritual consultants specially hired by Shajiao District Police Station, having many people praise them daily, which had cultivated the priests’ arrogant demeanor.
"Don’t get agitated; like you, I’m also a spiritual consultant for Shajiao District Police Station. You can call me Jack Sun."
Sun Yan calmly said while smoking, "Do the two priests have any special discoveries? Perhaps we can exchange some information with each other."
"You? Spiritual consultant?" Betar initially showed a bewildered expression, then revealed a hint of disdainful ridicule: "What a joke, they actually found an Eastern person to be a spiritual consultant. What methods do you people who don’t believe in God have to deal with Evil Spirits? Look at you, empty-handed, makes me really wonder what the police were thinking."
Sun Yan exhaled smoke from his lungs: "Seems priest has some subjective bias towards me and my homeland. To be honest, I actually think you folks who believe in God are mere posers, just holding a Bible to feign authority; otherwise, how could you stay in this room for so long without even discovering an Evil Spirit hiding here."
"Evil Spirit?" The two priests were startled and quickly looked around.
The Evil Spirit, huddled in the corner, was very angry to have been discovered, and quickly crawled towards Betar, the closest priest.
It crawled swiftly from his legs all the way to his back, tightly wrapping its arms around Betar’s neck, hanging its full weight on his back.
Betar had no defense at all, not even realizing what happened, just feeling his neck suddenly tighten.
It was as if an invisible pair of arms were choking his neck, leaving him breathless and unable to breathe, only able to kneel on the ground, struggling weakly with a flushed face.
Next to him, Father Laine was startled, incredulously looking at Sun Yan, who was still smoking: "What did you do to him?"
"Nothing to do with me; this priest has been entangled by an Evil Spirit. If you’re skilled at exorcism, you might save his life, but you’ll have to hurry." Sun Yan slowly said, staring at the Evil Spirit on Betar’s back.