69 – Lei Ting

Li Yun tried spirit detection on many objects around the hospital, but nothing triggered. He tried in the morgue, the police office, and even the cemetery, but his ability seemed broken.

"Should I try going back to the herbal shop?" Li Yun thought.

Other than the library's attic, the herbal shop was the only location he had felt a sudden chill. Early morning on a dry and blistering Saturday morning, Li Yun walked toward the herbal shop on Caoben street. His eyes focused on the various trinkets and gift items on the street. The vendors hollered for his attention when they saw a gift bag in Li Yun's hand. Li Yun ignored them as he walked along.

"Mr. Li!" Pao Lie cried out as he saw a tall man approaching. He thought Li Yun was a bit odd. It was chilly outside and all the vendors were wearing jackets, but Li Yun wore a simple tee and jeans. He shrugged away his thought and quickly welcomed Li Yun into the front shop and immediately tried pitching the sale. "Look Mr. Li, if you really want to buy the property, I'll lower it to 350k."

Li Yun smiled and shook his head, "We can talk about it after I take another look around."

After a quick greeting, they walked through the courtyard with the willow tree. Pao Lie was about to compliment the beautiful shape of the willow, but Li Yun hurriedly walked to the well without waiting for Pao Lie. Inside the rear courtyard, Li Yun didn't notice anything different from before other than the eerie chill. He concentrated on the well similarly to how he entered Zuowang and activated spirit detection.

A dark vibration emitted from the well like a pulsar. Yet, despite its desire to escape, a dark static energy was keeping the vibration from escaping completely out of the courtyard. Li Yun wasn't sure how useful the ability was as he didn't understand how to interpret the energy.

"You really can't feel anything?" Li Yun looked back to look at Pao Lie who had just arrived in the courtyard.

The vibration interacted with Pao Lie. Some energy absorbed into Pao Lie and some reflected out, very much like a light wave. Pao Lie shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He didn't particularly feel any different, except his nose being a bit itchier than usual. He suffered from chronic sinuses, and being in the shade of the willow wasn't helping his ailment.

Li Yun turned back to the well and studied the negative yin wave as it approached him. As soon as the vibration was within a meter, it slowly dissipated. He curiously looked at the gift bag in his hand, lowered it to the ground, and walked closer to the well. After a few steps, he felt the chill. The yin energy had passed through his body and into the other side.

"Thank you for showing me around," Li Yun reached out to shake Pao Lie's hand.

"Already?" Pao Lie wasn't expecting Li Yun to leave as soon as he entered and subconsciously shook his hands. He was sad to see Li Yun running off again without making an offer.

Li Yun had sensed that Pao Lie's sinuses had increased. It was probably why his nose was constantly runny when entering a shop. If a person stayed in the area for too long, it was possible for them to fall ill.

***

While he was in Yide, Li Yun made a trip home to eat lunch with his family.

"It's so good to see the lazy son coming back to visit!" Lu Suyin passed Li Yun a bowl of rice. "Why didn't you even tell us you were coming home!"

"Ma! It's a surprise," Li Yun said as he took the bowl.

"You're going to turn bony if you don't eat," Li Fan gently reminded his son to eat regularly. His gentle father took his chopstick and gave him a large chunk of beef. Knowing his son's unusual lifestyle and sleeping habits, it was always good to remind the family to eat well.

Li Yun nodded. He was a lazy eater, but not because he didn't eat, but because almost every meal took less than 5 minutes to finish. Green vegetable smoothie and occasional meat. He didn't care much about food and only ate elaborate meals at dinner parties. "Thanks for dinner everyone, time to head back to work."

"You didn't buy any gifts while you were in Magic City?" Lu Suyin glared at her son as soon as he finished and was about to head out.

"Come on ma, you can buy anything online, Magic City isn't all that special," said Li Yun with a bit of sarcasm.

"Suyin, Little Yun visiting us is enough," grandpa Lu Yan scolded his daughter.

Li Yun laughed as his mother's eyes squinted and took out the little gift bag. "Ta da! I made everyone a Lei Ting amulet from Magic City soapstone."

Four coin-shaped amulets held up by red string appeared from the bag. There were elaborate Chinese scripts that didn't seem to perform a particular word. Lei Ting amulet was a type of charm that Taoist used against evil spirits. It was commonly associated with thunder, coins, and metal. However, Li Yun wasn't familiar with metal engraving or etching. The soapstone also felt better as an accessory, so he used that instead.

Li Yun had spent some time making them since it was his first attempt at carving stone. He made four, giving one to grandpa Lu Yan, grandma Lu Nai, and his parents. It was +1 Ward Evil, and it seems a bit useful since it had ward off some of the negative yin energy. The area of effect wasn't too big, but it was enough to protect a person from falling ill due to the yin energy.

"Li Yun is always thoughtful, Suyin," said grandmother Lu Nai, putting on the amulet. "Thank you sweetie."

"It would be thoughtful if you actually bring back a girlfriend," his mother was starting to become worried about his love life. She didn't use to be. As she hear wedding stories from her friends' children, her anxiety increased.

"Mom, I'm still a resident, no time for dating," said Li Yun. Li Yun had been dating for a little over a month, and he wasn't planning to introduce Rouxi anytime soon. It was also best not to tell her he was recently promoted to attending.

"Then you better make time. Once you become an attending, you will be too old and all the good ones will be taken."

"Mom, I'm 24, not 30 like Wu Bin, I'll be a good little brother and wait for my big brother to marry first."

"You brat, Wu Bin is different. He was at least engaged at your age."

The mood of the room suddenly changed. Everyone rarely talked about Wu Bin's former finance. Lu Suyin decided it was her fault for bringing it up and quickly cleared the dinner table.

His father Li Fan sighed. "You should go see your cousin. He hasn't been in a good mood lately."

"Why is that?" Li Yun thought Wu Bin was always in a foul mood, but for his mood to be bad enough that even his father would notice was pretty bad.

"I think it has something to do with an argument with Little Ling. I am not sure what it is, but Little Ling stormed out of the apartment."

Thunder Curse Charm <Lei Ting>