Everyone's ears perked up and their expressions changed to that of looking for gossip as they looked at Chen Jing, Wu Fan, Fei Lin and Xi Ling. Not only did Cheng Sheng name them four but he said he wanted them to do something for him… isn't this a secret task?!
Xie Lan, Fan Wen, Chen Han, Wu Yuan and Sun Yi, as well as Shu Mu, Xiao Le, Xi Ming and Xi Xing look at the four people. Shu Mu, Xiao Le, Xi Ming and Xi Xing have helped Cheng Sheng go down the Abyss five months ago together with Fei Lin and Xi Ling. Now, Cheng Sheng is issuing a secret task again…
Shu Mu, Xiao Le, Xi Ming and Xi Xing suddenly missed doing a mission. Is this them becoming masochists?! Thy thought. Meanwhile, Sun Rong and Qie Shi fell silent. Sun Rong is looking at Qie Shi while Qie Shi shook his head, indicating that he doesn't know anything this time of what Cheng Sheng is planning.
Zheng Fu Gong, Pai Lie, the other sect leaders and elders were silent as they looked at Cheng Sheng who is writing some kind of talisman… they know it is a different talisman this time since the figures written are different.
"Ehem… Cheng Sheng, what do you call this talisman?" Tang Zhe asked as he looked at the talisman for their sect.
"Visual Origin Talisman." Cheng Sheng answered.
"'Visual Origin Talisman'… what does it mean?" Qian Tian asked.
"It means that your vision will return to its origin, that is, you will see everything – including what's obscured from your sight." Cheng Sheng answered. "For example, if you have smelled the mother Eating Worm's pheromone, your vision won't be affected this time and you still will see it as it is a worm and not some other object like a talisman." He explained as he glanced at Jing Kang who grimaced and lowered his head.
"Oh… we understand now…" they said and used the Visual Origin Talisman to inspect the Eating Worms that they caught. They began sorting the dead ones from the still living ones.
But, Cheng Sheng could see them perking their ears, wanting to listen to what he is about to say to Chen Jing, Wu Fan, Fei Lin and Xi Ling.
"Father, uncle Wu. Elder Fei. Elder Xi." Cheng Sheng called, ignoring them all. "These are the Spirit Tracing Talismans." He said as he handed the four talismans to them. "You use it first and then go back later and tell me how was it. Then, I'll give you more." He told them.
Chen Jing, Wu Fan, Fei Lin and Xi Ling took the Spirit Tracing Talismans. "Sure." They answered and left.
Everyone. "…" that's it?! They thought and looked at Cheng Sheng. They didn't even ask what is its use?! They left just like that?!
"Ah Sheng… what are the Spirit Tracing Talismans?" Chen Han asked.
Cheng Sheng turned. "Spirit Tracing Talismans are talismans that can trace spirits." He answered. Then, he looked at Jing Kang. "Jing Kang should know what are spirits." He spoke.
Everyone looked at Jing Kang.
Jing Kang's brows knitted and his face looked clouded for a moment before his eyes suddenly widened when he recalled something. He looked at Cheng Sheng in shock. "It couldn't be - ?!" he exclaimed.
"What? What is it?" Jing Rui asked.
"Uncle…" Jing Kang turned to Jing Rui. "The spirits… like the ones my father, and also I, used before." He told him.
Jing Rui, Jing Cheng and Jing Bai were shocked. "A shikigami?! Spirit… spirit servants?!" he exclaimed.
Zheng Fu Gong, Pai Lie, Xie Lan, Fan Wen, Sun Rong, as well as the others also remembered. It was when Jing Kang fought against Qi Ling and Jing Fu, Jing Kang's father, appeared, only to be found out that he was actually a spirit servant. Jing Kang have inherited the method from his father, but he didn't continue since it was an evil method by binding a spirit and also sharing your life with the spirit, as well as their injury, which will harm yourself.
"So, Cheng Sheng created the Spirit Tracing Talismans… because there are spirit servants in Zhongyang?!" Jing Bai exclaimed.
"That is just a guess." Cheng Sheng spoke.
"But, shouldn't the spirit servants come from the east?" Fan Wen asked.
"If Jing Kang's father learned it, then why can't others learn it, too?" Xie Lan spoke and patted Fan Wen's head before he turned to Cheng Sheng. "You feel… that there might be spirit servants here, that's why you had Chen Jing, Wu Fan, Fei Lin and Ling-er check?" he asked.
Cheng Sheng heavily nodded. "Didn't you realize that no one has noticed how the Eating Worms were placed on someone else's door?" he asked them.
They fell silent. That's right… one's residence shouldn't be carelessly touched since it is their shelter, their home. That is why if there is a visitor, the visitor would have to stand before the threshold until someone from inside the residence invited them in. Thus, if someone would place something on somebody's doorway, then they should have been already noticed.
Yet, no one noticed anything. So, it should be due to –
"The spirit servants…" they all muttered.
Jing Kang nodded. "The spirit servants could be seen or transparent… it depends on their master's will." He spoke. "They can be seen to serve their master, like the servants in my residence. They can only be transparent to do secret tasks." He explained.
"Secret tasks… like placing the Eating Worms on someone's doorway." Jing Cheng frowned.
Cheng Sheng nodded. "You should also have already noticed that Wu Bai's puppets can also be attacked." He spoke. "That is, once the Eating Worm come in contact with one's skin, they would immediately drill into that person's skin and started to parasitize them by living in their brain." He explained.
Everyone shuddered in horror.
"That's right… Wu Bai's puppets are human-like, including their skin." Feng Mo spoke.
"So… there might be spirit servants in Zhongyang?" Tang Teng was shocked.
"The Spirit Tracing Talisman could deal with them?" Li Nanzi asked.
"No." Cheng Sheng answered. "As its name implied, it can only trace them." He spoke.
"Then… how do we deal with them?" Pai Lie asked.
Cheng Sheng didn't answer and just looked at Jing Kang.
"One way to deal with them is to kill them. The other way is to kill their master." Jing Kang answered.
"Such a direct method!" they nodded in understanding.
"But – " Cheng Sheng suddenly spoke. " – there is another one." He said.
Everyone looked at him.
"Jing Kang." Cheng Sheng called. "Didn't you say that the master and servant share a life?" he looked at Jing Kang. "Then, why wasn't your life affected?" he asked.
Jing Kang's eyes widened and his pupils shrank. "That's right…" he muttered under his breath.
"Jing Kang?" Lei Ling worriedly called.
"I saw a thread of life on Jing Kang's spirit servants." Cheng Sheng spoke.
They all looked at him. "What?!" they exclaimed.
"Yes. It's just like the strings attached to the Eating Worms." Cheng Sheng looked at them. "But, the thread of life on the spirit servants… they weren't connected to Jing Kang. They were connected to his father, instead." He told them.
BANG! Jing Kang's seat overturned when he abruptly stood.
"J – Jing Kang!" Lei Ling called and hugged him. "Calm down! Calm down, please!" he said as he hugged him tight.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to hide this from you." Cheng Sheng spoke as he sincerely looked at Jing Kang.
"… it's nothing." Jing Kang spoke in a hoarse voice. "I'm not mad at you… thanks for telling this now." He said and then left to cool his head off.
"Jing Kang!" Lei Ling called and ran after him.
Silence fell upon them. Jing Cheng hugged Jing Rui whose eyes reddened.
"There's one more reason why I feel that there were spirit servants in Zhongyang." Cheng Sheng spoke after a while.
"What is it?" they asked.
"Kang Ce. Did you remember that early morning when I left?" Cheng Sheng asked.
"Ah, yes. I remember." Kang Ce nodded. "You said you are going to cure someone's daughter and that was the best time to cure her." He said.
Cheng Sheng nodded. "That's right. She was possessed by a demon." He spoke, then made a pause. "Or so, I thought a demon…" he said.
"You thought?" they asked.
Cheng Sheng turned to them. "It actually wasn't a demon. I just realized it after I cured her." He spoke. "And I realized it not long later what exactly was it. It was a spirit servant." He said.
Their eyes widened in shock. "A spirit servant?!" they exclaimed.
"Yes." Cheng Sheng nodded and glanced outside.
Everyone turned and sighed in relief when they didn't see Jing Kang. It would definitely hurt him if he will hear that a spirit servant harmed someone. So, it's better for him to go outside.