Starting from the folklore forum, making up town objects

Chapter 402 Paper

Chen Xin had previously discovered that this thing was not a malevolent entity, but rather... a ghost!

Yes, this piece of paper is a ghost!
What puzzled Chen Xin was that this ghost didn't seem to have any initiative. Apart from occasionally provoking Chen Xin's will and making him write down what he wanted to do on paper, it did nothing else.

If Chen Xin hadn't seen what Wang Baolin looked like before, he wouldn't have known how this ghost killed people!

But that's precisely why Chen Xin was surprised by it.

This seemingly harmless piece of paper can create four malevolent spirits!

If left unchecked, it might become more than just a matter of misfortune.

Chen Xin found the paper by accident; it's uncertain whether the Bureau of Investigation could have found it.

In this process, the Bureau of Investigation will inevitably be preoccupied with a lot of energy, sending specialists to deal with the strange occurrences caused by the paper, and no one knows what the losses will be.

Even so, it's only because the strange things Wang Baolin did with that piece of paper were predictable. If someone less cunning had gotten hold of that paper, the Bureau of Investigation would have been swamped!
"But what is the principle behind this thing creating ghostly activity?"

Chen Xin thought for a moment, then called over the illusion and had it take the paper and start writing.

The first time, the illusionary body wrote about creating a fierce demon on the cemetery.

After I finished writing, I waited for ten minutes, but there was still no movement.

Chen Xin thought he might be setting the bar too high and should start with vengeful ghosts or wandering spirits, but the result was still wrong; he did not summon any ghosts or spirits.

This made Chen Xin reconsider whether he had used it incorrectly.

When he recalled the words Wang Baolin had written on the paper, he suddenly understood the difference between his use of the paper and Wang Baolin's.

Wang Baolin writes based on existing events, thus deriving supernatural elements from those events, unlike Chen Xin who creates things out of thin air!
Recalling the circumstances surrounding Wang Baolin's writing, Chen Xin pulled Wang Baolin out of the Copper Pillar Hell again, drained some of his blood, and then threw him back in.

Afterwards, Chen Xin selected a coffin on the cemetery, opened it, grabbed the vengeful ghost inside, looked at it, and then threw it back into the coffin.

Immediately afterwards, the phantom body dipped itself in Wang Baolin's blood and began to write on the paper.

"The evil spirit within the coffin, angered, broke through the coffin lid and surged into malevolent energy!"

Just as he finished writing, the coffin lid that Chen Xin had closed was suddenly flung open with a bang and landed to the side.

The vengeful ghost, its entire body now red, burst out of the coffin and charged straight at Chen Xin.

After casually crushing the charging ghost, Chen Xin discovered that its strength had not reached the level of a fierce demon, and the contents of the paper seemed to have only been half realized.

"Is it impossible to allow the vengeful spirit to break through the current limitations?"

Chen Xin suddenly had a strange idea: if he couldn't break through, what about lowering his level?

He found another coffin to conduct the experiment.

The phantom wiped away the bloodstains on the paper and rewrote a sentence:
"After being angered, the ghost in the coffin broke through the lid, its yin energy dissipated, and its strength suddenly decreased to that of a wandering spirit!"

Bang!
The coffin was blown open again, and the ghost rushed out, releasing a large amount of yin energy from its body right in front of Chen Xin.

In just two breaths, the vengeful ghost's strength had become that of a wandering spirit.

After doing all this, the ghost seemed to have no idea what it was going to do. After wandering around for a while, it tried to crawl back into the coffin.

Chen Xin grabbed him.

At first glance, it seems like nothing special; it's just a normal wandering spirit.

But when Chen Xin looked at the ghost with his net, he noticed that it had some of the light from the paper on it.

Chen Xin had been staring at the yellow paper and the coffin the whole time, without sensing any fluctuations, yet this piece of paper had already accomplished all of this.

In order to investigate, Chen Xin once again had his illusory body write new content on the ghost in his hand, allowing the wandering spirit to absorb yin energy and revert to a fierce ghost!

This time, Chen Xin brought a mesh screen with him!

Through his sieve-like eyes, Chen Xin saw that after the words were written, all the light on the paper converged on those words.

Then, the lights flickered a few times and disappeared.

At the same time, the light on the wandering spirit in Chen Xin's hand increased, and then the wandering spirit began to absorb yin energy, and soon it recovered its strength as a fierce ghost.

During this process, much of the light emanating from the ghost was consumed.

This led Chen Xin to some speculations.

Perhaps this piece of paper isn't so magical; it's just performing an 'equivalent exchange'.

Even so, it's already quite amazing.

After eliminating the ghost, he picked up the paper and examined it closely.

After testing the paper's capabilities, Chen Xin felt a sense of familiarity.

Once he figured out where this sense of familiarity came from, his desire to investigate the paper became even stronger.

The Complete Guide to Talismans!
This piece of paper possesses abilities similar to the "Complete Book of Talismans" in some respects.

They all influence reality through fabrication.

The only difference is that the "Complete Guide to Suppressing Objects" creates suppressing objects, while this piece of paper creates ghosts.

Of course, Chen Xin did not believe that this piece of paper was the same as the "Complete Book of Treasures". Even the existence behind this piece of paper could not compare with the "Complete Book of Treasures".

Putting aside everything else, the difference between the two can be seen from just one aspect.

The supernatural tales fabricated on this piece of paper can only be applied to specific occasions, such as a particular suicide incident.

However, the talismans compiled in "The Complete Book of Talismans" have an impact on the entire world.

Anyone in any corner of this world who knows how to make a talisman can create one.

Of course, perhaps it's because the paper is of too low grade.

If classified according to the level of ghostly activity, the fluctuations on this paper should only be considered as those of a vengeful ghost.

Even if it were to advance to the level of a turbid ghost, Chen Xin did not believe it could rival the "Complete Collection of Suppressing Objects".

After all, even the most turbid ghosts can only be suppressed in the face of the "Complete Collection of Suppressing Objects".

However, once this piece of paper fell into the hands of someone with ulterior motives, the consequences were quite serious.

"Huh? No!"

Chen Xin suddenly remembered something.

This piece of paper was manipulated, meaning it actually fell into the hands of someone with ulterior motives.
Otherwise, how could this piece of paper have ended up in Wang Baolin's hands?
"Who will it be?"

The sieve couldn't trace the paper back to its source, a situation Chen Xin had never encountered before.

Thinking about the talisman I possess, it seems there's really no way to find out what's behind it through this piece of paper.

Suddenly, Chen Xin thought of something.

Since this piece of paper can do such incredible things, could it lead me to the entity behind the scenes?
Immediately, Chen Xin asked the illusion to write on the paper.

But he stopped very quickly.

Ultimately, this piece of paper is still a ghost, a ghost that may be controlled by other evil spirits.

If I were to write down my search for the other person, would it be discovered and alert them?
Chen Xin's gaze shifted and landed on Huan.

He walked to the 'Mirror of Inquiry' that had not yet been put away and summoned the Seal Seal.

The needle and thread flew from his hand, pierced through the paper, and sewed it onto the ghost paper on the back of the Mirror of Inquiry.

As he sensed the information he gleaned from the sewn-up piece of paper, Chen Xin's eyes lit up.

Sure enough!

This was something he came up with from the method he had previously used to 'assimilate' and steal the illusionary body.

Since 'assimilation' can take away the illusory body, it can also take away this piece of paper!

In this way, the paper is no longer controlled by the entity behind it. This is based on Chen Xin's personal experience, and no one understands the 'robbery' nature of the stitched seal better than him.

After sewing the paper together, Chen Xin sensed some of its true abilities, similar to his previous guesses, but with some unexpected aspects. First, the paper was indeed being manipulated, but not by any other entity or person; it was itself that was controlling it!
This piece of paper is actually a piece torn off its 'original body'!
This is what Chen Xin obtained when he read the information from this piece of paper.

Secondly, the capabilities of this piece of paper are indeed limited.

This piece of paper cannot directly affect spirits of a higher level than itself, but it can create an environment that allows spirits to advance!

For example, the things Wang Baolin did raised four vicious beasts!
Moreover, because the paper's 'original body' is of a high level, the ghosts and spirits influenced by it advance very quickly.

It's like the feeling in novels where a martial artist has reached a bottleneck in their cultivation technique!

As long as there is enough killing and enough yin energy, the affected ghosts and spirits can be promoted.

This is also the reason why four fierce demons appeared at once.

There's also the issue of 'equivalent exchange' that Chen Xin had previously guessed.

This piece of paper itself has no killing power, but it can still promote one's rank.

Its method of advancement is to reclaim those ghosts and spirits, taking back the 'power' attached to them.

Because those evil spirits enhance the 'power' of the paper during the ascension process, the paper will ascend as a result after being retrieved.

Finally, this piece of paper has incredible abilities, but it also has significant weaknesses.

One is that it cannot attack proactively; it can only emit a bewitching power.

But it has no effect on anyone who is determined.

Another weakness is that it is afraid of fire!

If it encounters fire, even its main body will be burned to ashes.

When this paper is burned, all the evil spirits that have been affected by it will suffer a backlash, either being burned to ashes or having their increased power burned away.

It must be said that the weakness of being burned is indeed fatal.

At least Chen Xin had never encountered a ghost that could be destroyed by anything other than a talisman. As expected, this was the first ghost of its kind that Chen Xin had encountered.

To Chen Xin's dismay, when the Mirror of Inquiry sewed this piece of paper together, it gained its power, but also its weakness!

Now, a single fire could burn the entire Mirror of Inquiry to ashes!
If it weren't for finding that guy, Chen Xin would have probably taken this piece of paper off the Mirror of Inquiry.

Shaking his head, Chen Xin stood before the Mirror of Inquiry.

The sewn-up paper naturally didn't need any further description. After Chen Xin cut his finger, he splattered the blood onto the mirror.

The reason Wang Baolin's blood was used before was because Chen Xin was worried about spilling his blood on a ghost.

Now that the ghost has been stitched back together, Chen Xin naturally has no more worries.

The blood was absorbed by the mirror, and Chen Xin spoke directly to his reflection in the mirror: "Where is it?"

Chen Xin didn't even need to describe what 'it' was before the mirror began to change.

Soon, a room came into Chen Xin's view.

The room was small and dilapidated, but it was full of books!
In a room of less than ten square meters, a bookshelf took up most of the space, along with a table and a single bed next to it.

There were even some books and paper rolls piled up on the floor next to the desk.

Although it was crowded, the room was very clean.

Inside the room, a middle-aged man wearing glasses was engrossed in writing something.

The camera pulls out, revealing the scene outside the room.

That was a school, a dilapidated school!

If I'm not mistaken, that bespectacled man was a teacher?

After seeing the location of the target, Chen Xin put away the Mirror of Inquiry, took a step, and entered the Netherworld.

……

After carefully grading the homework, Xu Zhiheng glanced at the time.

It's already six o'clock in the afternoon.

As expected, there was a knock on his door right on time.

"Teacher Xu! It's time to eat!"

A clear, childlike voice rang out, and Xu Zhiheng smiled as he inserted the pen in his hand into the pen holder.

He called out "Coming!" as he walked towards the door.

crunch~
The wooden door opened, and a little girl with rosy cheeks and two topknots, less than a meter tall, held the bowl in her hand high above her head.

Xu Zhiheng glanced at the steamed buns, sweet potatoes, eggs, and a washed tomato in the bowl, a smile in his eyes.

Reaching out to take the bowl, Xu Zhiheng stopped the little girl who wanted to enter the room.

"Yaya, your papers haven't been graded yet."

Ya Ya touched her head and chuckled.

"Tiezhu made another bet with me. He said his score was higher than mine. If he lost, he would have to work for my family, and if I lost, I would become his wife."

"Teacher Xu, how many points do you think I'll get this time?"

Looking at Ya Ya's expectant eyes, Xu Zhiheng helplessly touched her topknot and said with a smile, "When has Tie Zhu ever outperformed you in a test?"

"Hehe, I think so too. Tiezhu's going to be doing chores for my family again!"

After saying that, Ya Ya took off running.

Xu Zhiheng followed Ya Ya's steps and came to the courtyard.

It's called a courtyard, but it's actually the school's playground.

This school, with only him as the teacher and one classroom, could easily be called his home.

There are only three students in the entire school.

Ya Ya, Tie Zhu, Gou Sheng.

Ya Ya loves to study because her father, who went to work in another city and never came back, told her that knowledge can change one's destiny. So she studies hard in order to go out and find her parents and bring them back.

Tiezhu likes Yaya and always makes bets with her about his exam scores. He loses to Yaya and ends up doing chores for her family, who only has her grandmother.

Gousheng loves his dog because it's just him and the dog at home.

Xu Zhiheng looked down at the 'rice' in his bowl and smiled.

As the only teacher in the village, his meals were provided by the people of Zhouzhuang using their own food. Although it wasn't every day, Xu Zhiheng was still very happy.

Xu Zhiheng came to Zhouzhuang to teach. He has been here for two years. He once thought about leaving, but now he doesn't want to leave.

With him gone, Ya Ya had no way to change her fate, Tie Zhu had no reason to work for Ya Ya's family, and Gou Sheng had no one else besides dogs who was willing to talk to him.

So he has to stay.

Not only did he have to stay, but he also had to help Ya Ya fulfill her wish, and he wanted to make Zhouzhuang more and more populated and lively.

Xu Zhi finished the rice in his bowl little by little, then went back to wash the bowl and put it away.

Sitting down at his desk, Xu Zhiheng pushed Ya Ya's perfect score test paper aside and took out a hand-bound notebook.

The notebook is very thick, but it doesn't have many pages because each page is quite thick.

Opening the notebook, red writing was revealed on the dark yellow paper.

"Ya Ya lives in Zhouzhuang just like a normal person. Ya Ya's favorite thing is to make bets with Tie Zhu. Tie Zhu is very stupid and always loses. He always ends up doing chores for Ya Ya's family. In order to make Tie Zhu smart for once, Ya Ya plans to get a zero on her exam when she turns eighteen..."

……

(End of this chapter)