Volume 1, Chapter 6: You Are Possessed? I Just Happen to Be an Exorcist

"Mother, please don't go in. Dad and I will go."

Seeing the devastated state of her mother, Lu Shixin felt deeply uneasy. She feared that if the situation were as dire as Old Hu had described, her mother would never be able to bear the blow.

"No!" Mrs. Lu struggled to stand up. Her tear-filled eyes flashed with firm resolve. "I must go in. That is my son. I am not afraid; no matter what he has become, I am not afraid!"

Watching his wife's resolute figure, Mr. Lu’s eyes reddened involuntarily. His voice choked with emotion as he said, "Very well, we shall go see our son together."

With that, he and his wife leaned on one another, appearing to age a decade in an instant, and stumbled toward the door.

Watching her parents' retreating backs, Lu Shixin could not hold back her heartbreaking tears. She wiped them away and hurried forward.

"Mom, Dad, wait for me."

The room was in total chaos. Several doctors and nurses lay on the floor, having fainted from terror.

On the bed, Lu Yanzheng’s face was contorted in agony. His limbs thrashed in strange, unnatural ways, as if he were fighting a desperate battle against an invisible source of torture.

"A-Yan!"

The moment she entered, Mrs. Lu saw her son writhing in pain. She lunged forward, wrapping her arms tightly around his convulsing body.

"A-Yan, my A-Yan, oh, my son..." Mrs. Lu clutched his bleeding palms, feeling her own heart tearing with every spasm. "Let me bear this suffering instead! Let me take it for you! Stop torturing my son..."

"Brother..."

Lu Shixin’s pupils constricted, and she froze in place, stunned by the horrific sight. Her pale lips trembled, and it took her a long time to find her voice. "How could it come to this?"

Mr. Lu looked on in horror, stumbling back two steps. His tall frame swayed, and he nearly fell, only remaining upright thanks to Uncle Fu’s steadying hand.

"Ah..."

Lu Yanzheng let out a painful roar. His pupils were completely engulfed in a pitch-black hue, as if stained by thick ink. Veins bulged across his face and neck like twisted vines, standing out against his deathly pale skin in a shocking display.

"A-Yan, my A-Yan, what should I do... How can Mother save you..."

Mrs. Lu held her struggling son tightly, weeping uncontrollably, until she suddenly lost her breath and collapsed, unconscious.

"Mom!"

"Jingxian!"

Mr. Lu and Lu Shixin cried out simultaneously, rushing to check on her.

"Trust me, I can save them!"

Just as everyone in the room descended into despair, a calm, steady voice, carrying an inexplicably soothing power, sounded slowly from behind.

***

Only when the person stood before him did Mr. Lu snap out of his nightmare-like daze. But the moment he saw who it was, the hope in his eyes vanished, replaced by fury.

"Xie Wangning! I believe the Lu family has treated you well, yet you have cruelly harmed my son to this extent! If he were conscious, he would never want to see you. Uncle Fu, throw her out at once!"

Lu Boshan had presided over the Chamber of Commerce for years; the aura of authority he projected bore down on Xie Wangning like a crushing wave.

Yet, Xie Wangning remained composed, seemingly unfazed by any pressure or threat.

Catching sight of Uncle Fu moving to seize her, Xie Wangning cast a cold, sharp glance his way, which instantly made him freeze in his tracks.

Meeting Lu Boshan’s astonished gaze, she said coldly, "Your son is suffering from a 'Death Curse.' Medical science cannot save him. If you want your son and wife to die right now, feel free to stop me."

Hearing this, Uncle Fu hesitated for a moment before stepping forward. "Sir, perhaps we should let her try. The young master’s condition is truly bizarre; perhaps he really has been tainted by something unclean."

Previously, hearing Xie Wangning say such strange things, Uncle Fu had assumed she had been rattled by the head injury. But the young master had suffered for three years, and doctors could not find a single cause. Perhaps he truly had encountered something malevolent.

Thinking of this, he leaned in and whispered into Lu Boshan’s ear.

"When the young master brought her back, she had suffered severe, fatal wounds, yet she is standing here alive and well after only a day. If she isn't a monster, she might truly possess some heaven-defying abilities. Let her try—what if it actually works?"

Hearing this, a flicker of shock crossed Lu Boshan’s eyes. He nodded, half-doubting, half-convinced. "Fine... fine, let her try."

He then separated his wife’s hands from his son’s. "Shixin, help your mother up."

"Dad?" Lu Shixin, who had been holding her mother and crying, looked up in confusion.

Before she could react, she heard a "rip." Xie Wangning had torn open her brother’s clothes, revealing his fair, emaciated chest.

It looked as if a wild beast were thrashing inside him; his flesh bulged and retracted in a truly grotesque manner.

"Brother..." Lu Shixin was too terrified to speak.

Seeing the state of Lu Yanzheng, Xie Wangning’s brows furrowed deeply.

He really was possessed by an evil spirit!

If not for the protective purple aura of the Emperor Star shielding him, Lu Yanzheng’s body would have long since become a puppet for this malevolent entity.

"Xie Wangning! What are you doing? I’ll fight you if you dare touch my brother!"

Lu Shixin suddenly snapped out of her stupor, rushing forward to stop her.

"If you don't want him to die immediately, get back!"

Before she could even get close, Lu Shixin was frightened into retreating by the sheer intensity of Xie Wangning’s gaze.

"You...?" Lu Shixin looked at this unfamiliar version of Xie Wangning, her disbelief and confusion growing, leaving her unable to regain her senses for a long while.

***

With no one left to disturb her, Xie Wangning leaned down and drew a deep breath of purple aura from Lu Yanzheng’s neck.

She then bit her right index and middle fingers, using the blood to swiftly draw a ghost-repelling talisman on his body. Her movements were fluid and calligraphic, drawing every gaze.

"Heaven and Earth have spirit; evil spirits be gone, disperse!"

Xie Wangning jabbed with her blood-stained fingers, and the malevolent presence within Lu Yanzheng turned into a wisp of blue smoke and vanished instantly.

She then gathered her remaining strength, pressing her bleeding fingertips firmly onto the crown of his head, as if to suppress all remaining evil within him.

Time seemed to freeze.

Everyone stared in shock as she drew the talisman with lightning speed, chanting a mysterious incantation that made everyone hold their breath, terrified of interrupting her.

Soon, beads of sweat covered her forehead. Her face, already pale from blood loss, became almost translucent.

Fortunately, the blood-drawn talisman was effective.

The malevolent entities that had burrowed into Lu Yanzheng’s body fled like startled birds, but the moment they collided with the blood talisman, they were reduced to nothingness.

Suddenly recalling something, Xie Wangning gently pressed her fingertips to Lu Yanzheng’s forehead.

The moment the baleful energy inside him touched her blood, it seemed to encounter a far more powerful presence, suddenly retracting its edge and falling silent.

Xie Wangning felt a slight jolt of shock.

She hadn't expected the killing intent within her to actually suppress the Death Curse on him.

Seeing that deathly energy was still surging toward Lu Yanzheng from the surroundings, she had no choice but to grab his hand and drive the energy away for him.

With her protection, the death energy dared not invade his body again.

"This kid is really getting a bargain!" she thought. "I’ll have to drain more of his purple aura another day!"

"Sir, the young master... he seems to be in no more pain..."

Seeing Lu Yanzheng stop his struggling, Uncle Fu was both shocked and overjoyed. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, his voice trembling as if he feared he was seeing things.

"A-Yan?"

Seeing this, Mr. Lu hurried forward to check on his son.