Chapter 153: Beating People and Burning Cars

I never expected Li Zheng to strike me. That slap left me completely stunned.
Damn it! I really wanted to return the blow. With my current physical strength, a single strike probably would have flattened his head.
"What gives you the right to hit people?" Just as I was dazed, Li Xiaofei, standing nearby, couldn't bear it any longer. He lunged forward and grabbed Li Zheng by the collar, and the two of them started shoving and wrestling.
Before I even had a chance to intervene, a commotion broke out over by the side. Li Xiaofei’s motorcycle had been set on fire, and the flames were crackling and burning fiercely.
Li Xiaofei shoved Li Zheng away, grabbed a rock, and charged forward.
I hurriedly pulled him back. "Xiaofei, don't be impulsive."
Xiaofei’s eyes were red with rage. That motorcycle had cost five or six thousand yuan—it was bought with the earnings from his father's three mu of peanut fields. The villagers of Huangjiahe watched the black-smoke-choked flames and burst into mocking laughter. In their eyes, the two of us were no match for them at all. There were dozens of them, and they were armed with shovels, mattocks, and other farming tools.
"Hmph! Let's see if you dare to come to our village and act tough again," a few young men taunted as they walked up to Li Xiaofei and me.
Just a moment ago, I had wanted to leave. I had wanted to walk away from this group of ignorant and barbaric people, but now, I didn't want to leave anymore. I could endure taking a slap, but my brother's motorcycle could not just be burned to ashes in vain. On what grounds should they get away with this?!
"What are you staring at? Are you looking for a beating?" One of the young men walked toward me, holding a wooden stick over a meter long. It was obvious at a glance that it was meant for fighting.
"Gangzi, Gangzi, get over here!" Just at that moment, a disheveled woman burst out from behind him. I recognized her—it was Li Zheng's wife, whom I had seen the last time when they arranged the ghost marriage for her son.
The woman hurried over and immediately grabbed the young fellow named Gangzi by the collar.
"Auntie, what are you doing?" Gangzi looked at Li Zheng's wife in astonishment, probably never expecting her to react this way.
"What am I doing? What else could I do? I'm going to beat some sense into you, you ungrateful little punk. I'm going to thrash you, you bastard!" Grabbing Gangzi's collar, Li Zheng's wife began raining slaps across his face. This sudden turn of events left everyone completely bewildered.
Gangzi, whose real name was Li Gang, was the son of Li Zheng's younger brother, Li Jun. He was usually quite overbearing and far from a good person. Ever since Li Zheng lost his son, he had been very fond of his nephew. Faced with today's situation, Gangzi had wanted to stand up for his uncle and aunt, but he never expected to be viciously beaten about the head and face by Li Zheng's wife herself. Losing face completely, he gave a fierce shove and pushed Li Zheng's wife to the side.
Standing to the side, I was utterly baffled. The last time I came here, Li Zheng's wife had wailed and made a scene, acting the quintessential shrew who looked ready to boil my second uncle and me alive. Yet now, she was actually taking my side, and doing so with such ferocious intensity.

Li Zheng's wife was shoved to the ground by Gangzi, which instantly infuriated her. Springing back up without even bothering to brush the dirt off her clothes, she leaped forward and tackled Li Gang to the ground. For a woman, she possessed surprising strength, raining a fierce flurry of blows on him while cursing at the top of her lungs, "You unfilial, motherless piece of trash! Today, I'll teach you a lesson on behalf of your mother!"
The woman was as shrewish and ferocious as ever. This vicious beating left Gangzi completely unable to fight back, his face swelling up rapidly.
Finally snapping out of his daze, Li Zheng rushed forward, grabbed his wife's hands, and cursed, "Have you lost your damn mind, you crazy bitch? Get your ass back home!" With that, he hauled his wife off his nephew's body.
His wife let out a cold laugh. "Li Zheng, I'm not beating him? Fine then, I'll beat you instead!" Leaping up, she delivered a direct blow to Li Zheng's nose. His nose bridge fractured instantly, and bright red blood smeared across his face.
That wasn't the end of it. Li Zheng's wife promptly knocked Li Zheng to the ground and proceeded to rain a frenzy of blows upon him. When a woman turns ferocious, she can be even more violent than a grown man, beating Li Zheng so hard he forgot his own name.
The villagers of Huangjiahe finally regained their wits and hurriedly pulled Li Zheng's wife away. Standing with her hands on her hips, she pointed directly at Li Xiaofei and me, shouting, "You all listen to me! If anyone dares to bully these two young brothers again, I will never let them go!" As soon as she finished speaking, her body shuddered, and she slowly collapsed, unconscious.
Chaos immediately erupted on the scene. Li Zheng scrambled to his feet, initially intending to properly discipline his wife, but seeing her suddenly collapse and pass out, he was terrified out of his wits.
Under Li Jun's direction, the villagers hoisted his sister-in-law onto their shoulders and hurried back to the village in a flurry.
Within mere minutes, the graveyard was completely empty, leaving only Li Xiaofei and me behind.
Li Xiaofei stared at the motorcycle on the ground, now reduced to a charred hunk of scrap metal, burning with anger. "I must have my revenge. They have to compensate me!"
I smiled and threw an arm around his shoulder. "Xiaofei, let's go home. Trust me, they will come to Wangjiapu to beg us. When the time comes, not only will they pay for our motorcycle, but they'll buy us a brand new one."
Li Xiaofei kept looking back every few steps, deeply reluctant to part with his bike.
This incident was indeed infuriating, but I believed it would lead to a favorable outcome.
Though doubtful and unsure what to think, Li Xiaofei followed me back, looking thoroughly aggrieved. After offering him a few words of comfort, I sent him home.
I returned to my own house and quickly bolted the courtyard gate. Opening my soul urn, I found it completely empty—Qingting was gone. Just as I had suspected, it was Qingting who had possessed Li Zheng's wife. She was the one controlling her, which explained the bizarre behavior. While I was somewhat relieved, I also felt a deep sense of worry. In broad daylight, with such strong *yang* energy around, possessing someone at will could cause her immense harm. What if Li Zheng's family realized what was going on and hired a Daoist exorcist to deal with her? That would be disastrous.
On second thought, I didn't need to worry too much; there were no Daoist exorcists around here. In the past, any supernatural matters in the vicinity were handled by my second uncle, and after the recent chaos involving Xingyun, no one dared to meddle in such things anymore. Qingting was a clever little girl; she should be fine. Even so, a knot remained in my chest, and I couldn't completely set my mind at ease.

Seeing me return, Wan'er greeted me with a smile. As I followed her inside, I saw that Wan'er had actually undressed Wang Ying. This gave me a huge shock—this ghostly girl wouldn't swing that way, would she? "Wan'er, what are you doing?"
"It's nothing. She's been traveling in the dust, and I noticed her body was a bit dirty, so I'm helping her wipe it clean. I just took a bath myself, too!" Wan'er smiled gently, her face full of tenderness.
Only then did I notice that the girl had changed her clothes as well. The clothes were ones I had bought her from the town market; although they weren't particularly trendy and looked slightly loose, they took on an entirely different appeal when worn by Wan'er. The girl possessed classical facial features, and paired with modern autumn attire, it created a very unique vibe—so unique that it stirred a sudden urge in me to hold her and kiss her. But with Wang Ying lying motionless right there, the mood instantly vanished.
"Wan'er, thank you for your hard work." I took the towel from her hands and began helping Wang Ying wipe down her body.
Wan'er smiled sweetly. "Why are you being so polite with me? I need to make it up to Sister Ying. I have to butter her up so that she'll accept me when she wakes up."
I gave a bitter smile, not knowing what to say. As I wiped her body with the towel, I wondered when she would finally wake up completely. *Sigh!* I would just have to channel more true qi into Wang Ying tonight and see what happens.
After helping clean her up and getting her dressed again with Wan'er's assistance, I walked outside. I needed to check on Li Xiaofei's place, as his motorcycle had been burned entirely because of me. However, there was nobody home at Li Xiaofei's house, and the front gate was tightly locked.
As I walked back, I saw several hand tractors driving toward me from a distance.
At the lead were none other than Li Zheng and Li Jun. I recognized Li Jun, but I almost didn't recognize Li Zheng—his face was swollen to the size of a pig's head.
Li Jun stopped the hand tractor, hopped down, and immediately grabbed my hand. "Daoist Master Wang, my elder brother knows he was wrong. Please be the bigger man and spare him."
Taken aback by his words, I remained somewhat bewildered, though I knew full well that Qingting must have put Li Zheng through absolute torture. I forced a smile and asked, "Uncle Li, what do you mean by this? I don't quite understand!"
"Great-nephew, come take a look. She's practically dying," Li Jun said, pointing toward the cart bed where Li Zheng's wife lay.
"Uncle Li, this has nothing to do with me! I don't have abilities like that! It's all because of your family's feng shui. Your brother refused to believe it, and now it's too late—I can't help you anymore." Remembering Li Zheng's hateful demeanor, anger still simmered within me. Beating people up, burning motorcycles—did he really think he was someone important? If I didn't teach him a lesson, how could I justify everything he had put us through?