Chapter 33: Five Thunder Talisman Part 2

In the instant he clenched his fist, his fingers passed straight through the Black Mist. He’d grabbed nothing but air, pinching his own palm hard in the process. A sharp sting followed. When Chen Ji spread his hand, two crescent-shaped marks marred his palm—the nails on those two fingers weren’t much better, each bearing a white scrape where they’d dug in.

Uncle Liu mustered his courage. “Xiao Chen, you alright?!”

“Fine,” Chen Ji said. He glanced up and spotted the smoke detector in the center of the ceiling—thankfully, it was on the far side, away from Xiao Wang’s bed.

“Uncle Liu,” he instructed, “go shut the door. Don’t let anyone in.”

Uncle Liu nodded and hurried to comply. Auntie Wang anxiously asked, “Xiao Chen, how can I help?”

Chen Ji thought for a second. “Auntie Wang, pull the curtains closed.”

Auntie Wang did as instructed. Chen Ji fished out a sheet of white paper from his backpack—the one he’d doodled on for fun yesterday. He had no idea if it would work, but it was worth a shot. The System Cat was curious too, watching intently as Chen Ji prepared to try. Then he asked it: 【Xiao Ba, search how to use a yellow talisman?】

【……】The System Cat rolled its eyes. 【Stick it on the body, burn it, burn it and drink the ashes… You’re the one drinking? No, make Xiao Wang drink! …But are you sure that white paper drawing even works?】

【Let’s give it a try. Who knows?】 Chen Ji chuckled softly. 【I’m not that insane, right?】

The System Cat muttered under its breath: 【Can’t say for sure.】

Chen Ji clutched the paper talisman in one hand while reaching out with the other to touch Xiao Wang’s arm. Sure enough, that strand of black qi slithered out seductively, coiling around his finger. Chen Ji felt no contact, yet the black mist behaved as if it had touched him, wriggling along his skin in a way that sent shivers down the spine.

The System Cat was among those getting the shivers. 【You really feel nothing?】

【Nothing at all.】 Chen Ji replied. 【Holding it like this doesn’t do a thing.】

The System Cat suggested: 【Try chanting an incantation?】

With that, the System Cat played a short animation for him. In it, the hero gripped a yellow talisman and bellowed “Hasten as the Decree!” The talisman burst into flames amid a flurry of flashy effects, summoning a towering divine general.

Chen Ji: 【……】

He went quiet. Back when he was sixteen, he could’ve hollered that line himself without prompting. But a decade later, he just couldn’t force the words out.

The System Cat snickered a couple of times before clearing its throat. 【Come on, give it a whirl! Someone’s life is on the line here!】

Left with no choice, Chen Ji mouthed the words “Hasten as the Decree” in a voice so faint it was barely audible. Nothing happened—no spontaneous combustion, no dazzling effects. His hand brushed the black mist without a single sensation.

An excruciating silence settled over the hospital room, radiating mostly from Chen Ji.

If he hadn’t been wearing shoes, he would’ve gouged ten holes in the floorboards with his toes right then.

【Ahem…】 The System Cat eyed Chen Ji’s ashen face and held back a laugh. 【Guess cartoons lie. Might as well light it up.】

Chen Ji yanked his hand back with cold indifference, pulled out a lighter, and set the paper talisman ablaze.

The instant the flame touched the white paper, it sprang to life like a living thing, erupting into a roaring fireball. Chen Ji released it immediately, letting the talisman slip from his fingers. At that moment, a profoundly mysterious sensation washed over him—subtle, indescribable, but unmistakable: the talisman had activated.

He flexed his fingers. The fireball had engulfed his entire hand in blistering heat, singeing his skin in the process, or so it felt. Yet when he examined his hand, there wasn’t a mark on it—not even the slightest redness.

【Whoa—!】 The System Cat whooped with excitement. 【Test it out!】

Chen Ji pressed his fingertip to Xiao Wang’s arm. An intense chill assaulted him at once. The black mist—which had looked almost innocuous moments before—now exuded a crushing pressure that nearly made him jerk away.

But since he’d committed to trying, Chen Ji held firm. The City God Temple wasn’t far, after all. Worst case, the System Cat could ring up the resident Taoist priest for an emergency exorcism right here in the hospital.

A dry, soft, yet freezing touch surged from his fingertip straight into his mind. The black mist wrapped around his finger, rubbing against the tip. Revulsion twisted Chen Ji’s features as he clenched his fingers slightly, feeling the mist caught in his grip.

In that split second, he seized the black mist and yanked it outward—!

A sharp ripping sound echoed, like silk tearing. A tendril of black mist peeled away from Xiao Wang’s body. It thickened the deeper it went—from pencil-thin at Chen Ji’s grasp to as thick as an arm where it anchored to Xiao Wang.

No telling how much more lurked inside.

The mist’s tip writhed against his palm, evoking a weird, licking sensation. Chen Ji fought back his nausea and clamped down harder. Dry and pliant in his hand, the black mist slithered like a snake, its leading end twining up his arm while the trailing end refused to let go of Xiao Wang.

That tip even probed at the cuff of his sleeve.

Chen Ji shivered violently and flung it free. The black mist splatted limply back onto Xiao Wang. The System Cat retched: 【Eugh—! What a vile thing—!】

【Didn’t you say the Spectacle King Cobra was stone dead? Is this that bastard again?!】

Chen Ji regarded the black mist pooled over Xiao Wang with calm eyes, then rolled up his sleeve. A faint blue mark had surfaced where it had made contact—thinner than before, but otherwise identical to the “Fire Dragon Waist Entwine” that had inexplicably appeared on his body earlier.

The young man stared down at the slender blue line marring his pale skin, tiny goosebumps prickling in its wake. His lips compressed into a thin line.

No doubt about it—this was the same entity.

The one that had dogged him relentlessly since his return to Little Azure Mountain, the one he could ignore only thanks to Grandpa Mountain Lord’s influence.

Why was it going after Xiao Wang?

Had it fixated on him because he’d been toiling up the mountain?

Sharing his senses as they did, the System Cat read his thoughts effortlessly. 【If that’s the case, isn’t it a good thing? Now that it’s latched onto Xiao Wang, maybe it’ll leave you alone.】

Chen Ji replied evenly: 【By the usual rules, letting it devour a person would supercharge its cultivation. Guess who it comes for next?】

【You could always skip town while it’s digesting.】 The System Cat grew solemn. 【All I want is for you to finish my tasks—not for you to die. Chen Ji, Little Azure Mountain isn’t right. You know that.】

【If you’re just after a fix for those nightmares, you’ve got options now. Head out with Second Grandpa Huang, partner up with Zhang Cheng, hit up the Taoist at the City God Temple… I’ll line up your next gig somewhere else. No need to stick around Little Azure Mountain.】

【You’re just a regular guy, Chen Ji. Back in my world, I’m nothing but a chunk of tech. Don’t saddle yourself with some grand destiny.】

Chen Ji’s face remained impassive. 【You’re getting the wrong idea, Xiao Ba.】

【I turned you down before because my gut screamed I’d drop dead the second I left Little Azure Mountain again.】

【Figured you wouldn’t buy it, so I kept quiet.】 His gaze hardened. 【We could chalk the dreams up to nightmares back then. Think you can still call them that now?】

Roughly three years back, the nightmares had started. At first, endless fog and frantic flight from some unseen pursuer. Soon, grotesque spirits joined the hunt, toying with him like a cat with a mouse—choking him awake by the throat, gouging his eyes with blood-red claws, roasting him alive on racks, tearing out his still-beating heart…

Escape came rarely, but when it did, the dream always led him back to Little Azure Mountain. Everything vanished. He’d shrink to boyhood, finding his grandpa waiting at the temple door to usher him inside. A comforting pat on the head: no more fear—the monsters were gone. They’d burn incense for Grandpa Mountain Lord, kowtow devoutly, then tuck into a hearty homemade meal.

A nightmare here and there? Sure, stress. But night after night? It planted seeds of doubt—was something supernatural tangled around him?

Enter the System Cat. Chen Ji figured he’d cracked, snapped into schizophrenia. Doctors, temples, Daoist shrines, miracle workers—he tried them all, begging for relief. Nothing stuck. In the end, he accepted the impossible as reality: System Cat, spirits, the works. He hauled it all back to Little Azure Mountain.

Only for the nightmares to bleed into waking life.

The System Cat fell quiet for a beat, watching as Chen Ji lunged forward and snagged the black mist once more. It twisted wildly up his arm. This time, Chen Ji didn’t fight it; the mist grew frenzied, straining to engulf his limb entirely.

【All right, all right… Suit yourself if you’re not scared.】 The System Cat grumbled.

【Being scared changes nothing.】 Chen Ji seized the far end and hauled with all his might. Another silken tear rang out. The black mist came free completely, snaking and coiling over his arm like a serpent.

The System Cat, fighting off goosebumps, asked: 【So what’s the plan now?】

They couldn’t just let the damn thing stay wrapped around him.

Chen Ji cracked a faint smile and produced a yellow talisman from his pocket. Vivid cinnabar traced intricate patterns across its surface, the characters for “Five Thunder” standing out bold and clear. Pinching it between his fingers, he told the System Cat: 【Light this one up.】

【One point! No exploits!】

【Take it from my total.】

In the next heartbeat, the Five Thunder Talisman ignited on its own, flames blooming around the charm and dancing through the air. Chen Ji felt himself sheathed in crackling static electricity. Five arcs of multicolored lightning flared in his vision, accompanied by distant roars and agonized shrieks echoing in his skull. He refused to blink—he had to see this.

The lightning converged on his right arm. Searing agony and piercing stabs erupted in an instant. The black mist convulsed upon his skin, spawning a web of blue marks across its pallid canvas. Chen Ji stood unmoving. A thunderous crack split the air, and the black mist exploded into nothingness.

Chen Ji shut his eyes for a restorative moment.

When he opened them again, the sickly pallor had fled Xiao Wang’s face. His young body flushed with returning vitality, lending him the look of a living, breathing man at last.

【Badass—! Chen Ji! Master this stuff—!】

【Deal.】 Chen Ji swept back the curtain and addressed Uncle Liu and Auntie Wang, who stared at him with wide-eyed anticipation. “He’s all good now. Get him some supplements—make sure he eats well and stays hydrated.”

Uncle Liu and Auntie Wang opened their mouths for more questions, but Chen Ji waved them off and departed.

…

He didn’t go far.

Downstairs, he grabbed another consultation slip.

Before long, the old doctor huffed into the room. Spotting the blue marks on Chen Ji’s arm, he adjusted his bifocals, his expression a tangle of concern. “…On second thought, maybe you should get that bone marrow biopsy after all.”