Chapter 5: The Two Uses of the Maoshan Five Thunders True Technique

The dead child pressed on my chest like a thousand-pound boulder.

Just as I tried to get up, it rammed its head straight into my face.

With a deafening crash, I jolted backward, my head slamming into the ground. Water splashed up from the earth, mingling with the rain still falling from the sky.

A grotesque cackle escaped the dead child, snapping me instantly awake despite the searing pain at the back of my head.

Lying on the ground, I formed the Five Thunder Seal of Maoshan with both hands, chanting aloud: “Three thousand Daoist arts, thunder supreme above all; myriad heavenly thunders, eradicate all evil. I am the God of Thunder, the God of Thunder is I. By this urgent decree, let it be done!”

“Break!”

The Maoshan Five Thunder Seal, also known as the Six Paths of Heavenly Thunder True Technique.

Grandfather once told me that when mastered, it could summon celestial lightning to subdue demons and spirits—an unrivaled weapon against sinister evil.

The dead child shrieked, its entire body flung into the air. Through the haze, I saw white smoke curling from its skull.

I hurried to Principal Liu’s side, desperately trying to drag him back.

But with Li Xuan possessing him, I couldn’t move him an inch.

By now, two-thirds of his head was buried in the earth—only a little further, and death would claim him.

I never liked Principal Liu, but I could never stand by and watch him die.

The rain poured relentlessly, soaking the talismans I’d brought and rendering them useless.

In my panic, I gripped Principal Liu’s left hand, snatched two twigs from the ground, and used them like chopsticks to clamp his middle finger.

“Li Xuan! Come out! Come out right now!”

I wasn’t sure if Li Xuan could hear me, but I felt Principal Liu’s body start to tremble violently.

With a sharp snap, the twigs broke in half, and Principal Liu’s shuddering body suddenly went limp.

Li Xuan’s figure appeared before me again. With hollow eyes, she glanced my way, but instead of attacking, she drifted to the dead child’s side, cradling its twitching body tightly in her arms.

“Principal Liu? Principal Liu? Wake up!”

Li Xuan gone, I easily dragged Principal Liu out.

His nostrils and mouth were packed with mud.

I pounded on his back, scooping the dirt from his throat with my fingers.

He still didn’t wake, and Li Xuan, holding the dead child, was inching toward us.

Cursing under my breath, I summoned every ounce of strength to drag Principal Liu from the water to the shelter of the toilet’s eaves.

Taking a deep breath, I stripped off my shirt and wrung it dry.

I glanced at Li Xuan—she stood outside, clutching the dead child, her eyes fixed on us with a deathly stare.

The dead child howled in pain, crying out at me, but I ignored it.

Stripping off Principal Liu’s shirt, I used my own as a makeshift towel to wipe his upper body clean.

Then, biting open my right index finger, I squeezed out fresh blood and quickly drew a Six Yang Guardian Talisman on Principal Liu’s chest, to ward off evil and prevent another possession.

When that was done, I turned to Li Xuan and called, “Li Xuan, you’re a good girl. Don’t be deceived by that dead child in your arms! It’s a ghost infant! It’s the one that killed you!”

At my words, Li Xuan only clutched the dead child tighter.

“Nonsense! This is my child! My child!”

Her figure vanished. I whirled around, and suddenly found myself face to face with her—so close I could have kissed her if I pursed my lips.

A blood-curdling scream rang out as Li Xuan turned to look. The dead child had shrunk away, its right hand still smoking with black fumes.

“My child!”

In that split second while Li Xuan had distracted me, the dead child had tried to attack Principal Liu, but the talisman I’d drawn had hurt it again.

Now the dead child hated me with a burning vengeance. It couldn’t understand—after all, it still wanted to offer me its eyes to eat, so why did I keep hurting it?

Wailing in despair, it leapt into Li Xuan’s arms, sobbing, its gaze as vicious as a demon’s.

But no glare could kill.

The dead child was cunning. It knew I was too strong, and it saw the connection between me and Li Xuan.

It conveyed its hatred in a way that only Li Xuan could understand.

Though I couldn’t grasp the meaning, I could tell it wanted Li Xuan to destroy me.

“You hurt my child! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”

Li Xuan’s furious shriek sent the temperature plummeting. Shirtless, I felt the chill pierce my bones, and in the heat of August, my breath rose in a visible column.

“By urgent decree!”

Li Xuan reacted swiftly—the Five Thunder Seal missed her.

As I failed again, she seized me by the throat with one hand, slamming me against the wall.

I tried to form a seal, but the dead child spat out two streams of black mist, binding my hands fast.

“Li Xuan… the ghost infant is the soul of a great evil, failed in its rebirth… It isn’t your child—it took your life. Look closely… see the truth!”

For a moment, I felt her grip slacken. But at the dead child’s cry, her expression twisted with rage.

“Shut… shut up…”

I bit my tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood full of yang energy onto Li Xuan’s face. She recoiled with a wail, clutching her face and stumbling back.

The instant I regained my freedom, I spat another mouthful of blood into my left palm. My right hand formed a sword-finger and swiftly drew a talismanic Five Thunder Spell—the Palm Thunder.

“By urgent decree!”

I might not have summoned a true heavenly thunder, but my strike landed squarely on the dead child’s crown. Even so, it didn’t vanish—trembling and smoking from every orifice, it barely held itself together before darting outside, plunging headlong into the very pit where Principal Liu’s head had nearly been buried.

It vanished, leaving no trace.

“Where… where am I? Where is my… my child?”

Li Xuan’s voice was lost, bewildered.

I didn’t chase after the dead child. Instead, I turned to Li Xuan.

Her eyes, though still lacking their former light, now held a glimmer of clarity. She’d regained her senses.

Her face was streaked with sorrow, and in that cramped space she paced anxiously, her hands clawing helplessly at the air, making my heart ache.

“Li Xuan.”

I called her softly. She stopped, turning dully to look at me.

“Jiang Huai?” She recognized me, her head tilting like a puppet’s, her empty eyes boring into mine, making my blood run cold.

“My child… Did you see my child… my newborn baby…”

“Li Xuan…” I met her gaze and asked gently, “Did you… really have a child?”

“I have a child! Of course I have a child! I…”

Her words broke off abruptly. “You… you stole my child.”

“Is that so? Then tell me—who is the child’s father?”