Chapter 12 Language and Faith (1/2)

The old man standing beside looked expectantly at me.

“Zhu Xuan!” This time my voice was louder, so he finally heard me.

“Yeah?” Zhu Xuan knitted his eyebrows.

How dare he! I gnashed my teeth and asked, “The charms…”

“What about the charms?” Zhu Xuan showed me a puzzled look.

I took a deep breath and had to soften my tone. “Charms… how do I write them?”

Zhu Xuan straightened his body, looking even more confused. “Master, you’re the exorcist, how can you ask someone else about how to write charms?”

“You!”

Zhu Xuan, you’re a heartless asshole! I’m starting to regret the fact that I helped you in the past!

When I looked back, the old man cast a suspicious glance at me. However, I had to pretend I was a true exorcist master even though I was such a bad actor.

I pretentiously picked up the brush pen and dipped it in the ink. I was worried sick as I looked at the white sheet.

There was no way out… I had to do this. I held the pen and began to draw on the paper.

“Okay!”

After a while, I put down the brush pen and looked at my ‘painting’ with satisfaction. “Mister, please help me cut the painting … Ah, no, the charm into four rectangles and stick them respectively on each wall of this bedroom!”

The old man hastily came over, but he froze up when he saw my charms.

“Are these…apples?” The old man asked confusedly.

That’s right. I didn’t even know how to use a brush pen, let alone draw charms. I had no choice but to draw four ugly apples…Thank God the old man didn’t say they were butts.

Zhu Xuan, who was standing nearby, burst into laughter.

How dare you laugh at me! I mercilessly gazed at him. It was you who dragged me into this. If it weren’t for you, how could things turn out like this?

“This, this…” The old man looked at Zhu Xuan and then at me while holding the charms in his hand. Clearly, he was at a loss for words.

“Well, Mr. Yang, just do what the master told you,” Zhu Xuan said with a smile. “This is the master’s order, nothing will go wrong.”

“Ah, okay!” After the old man was reassured by Zhu Xuan, he nodded and began to cut the charm as I told him. In the evening, I saw that the ugly apple paintings I drew had already been stuck in the old woman’s bedroom.

Zhu Xuan!” I angrily dragged Zhu Xuan to a quiet corner. “Hey, what are you doing?”

“What’s wrong?” Zhu Xuan was puzzled as if he really did not understand my question.

“You tell me!” I was so angry that I pointed at the old woman’s bedroom and said, “What are you doing? I can accept that you make me pretend to be a Taoist priest, but how dare you ask me to draw charms? How would I know how to draw charms and exorcize ghosts? All I could do was draw apples to fool the old man. Now, look! The old man completely believes that I’m a master and listens to my every word. If this continues, what will happen to the old woman? Do you want her fever to continue and see her die?”

“When did I let ever let a person die in front of me?” Zhu Xuan looked at me in displeasure. “Besides, how can you be so sure that the charms you drew are useless?”

“Huh?” I was dumbfounded by his words.”But, I’m not an exorcist and I don’t know how to draw charms, let alone knowing anything about banishing spirits…”

Zhu Xuan shook his head. “Listen to me, it doesn’t matter whether or not you have exorcist skills, or how you draw charms or what kind of charms you draw.”

“It doesn’t matter?”

“What matters is your faith, not your strength,” Zhu Xuan said. “Or rather I should say that the power to exorcise spirits and subdue demons comes from faith. Gods appeared only after humans found their faith. The power of deities is also derived from human faith. Can you understand what I just said?”

I shook my head in confusion.

“Language and symbols are a form or a way to use the power. In other words, it’s the language that holds power.”

“The language?”

“In Japan, there is a specific word for such a language, called ‘ Kotodama’, it means the language with power,” Zhu Xuan enunciated. “Every word they say becomes spells, and everything they write becomes charms, but fundamentally, their power comes from their faith.”

“The more you explain, the more confused I become…” I replied.