Chapter 55: The Mysterious Spell

Resistance, there must be resistance!

Shui Miao could never submit, let alone offer his first time to this perverted masochist.

Liu Hongmei was like a female dog, crawling on top of Shui Miao, touching, scratching, biting, and kissing him in a near-mad frenzy. Shui Miao happened to see a pair of red high heels beside the bed. He grabbed one and smashed it against Liu Hongmei’s head. Unexpectedly, that single blow knocked her unconscious. After hitting her, Shui Miao realized that the heel wasn’t just hard, but also sharp. It must have struck a sensitive spot, because she lay motionless on the floor.

Had he accidentally killed her?

A wave of panic surged through Shui Miao. Although he hated Liu Hongmei, he didn’t hate her enough to want her dead.

He quickly checked her and found no wound on her head, only a small bump. Her breathing was normal.

So, he helped her onto the bed. Considering it might be awkward when she woke up, he tidied her clothes so she wouldn’t look like she had been raped, covered her with a blanket, picked up the buttons from his shirt that had fallen on the floor, and then left the room.

Coincidentally, the hallway was empty at that moment.

Shui Miao returned to his room next door, immediately changed his shirt, washed his face, and began anxiously imagining all sorts of scenarios. Had Liu Hongmei suffered an internal hemorrhage and died? If she had, he would be in serious trouble. After all, several neighbors had seen him bring her back. If he accidentally became a murderer, his life would be ruined.

The more he thought, the more worried he became. After waiting in his room for over half an hour, he couldn’t stand it anymore and returned to Liu Hongmei’s room.

Her complexion looked normal, but the bump on her head seemed slightly larger.

Her breathing was still fine, and her eyes showed no signs of distress.

It seemed she was going to be okay.

Shui Miao exhaled in relief. Suddenly, an idea struck him. Why not take this opportunity to search her room? There might be some clues to find. He looked around. The room was elegantly decorated with simple white furniture. In the five elements, white represents water, which symbolizes wealth. Such a decor was fitting for a landlord like her.

Thinking of the five elements, Shui Miao recalled the concept of feng shui.

He began to examine the room carefully and realized it had been meticulously arranged according to the principles of the five elements. The red door represented fire, which wards off evil and shields against negative energies. In a place full of tenants, where most people have strong birth charts and are not vulnerable to fire, a red door was appropriate. The floor tiles were gray, representing earth, which connects with the ground and follows the principle of metal generating earth. On the wall inside the door hung a cross-stitch of golden coins scattered on the ground, symbolizing earth generating metal. Against the west wall stood a white wardrobe, representing metal generating water. Looking clockwise, the TV stand to the south was made of natural wood, symbolizing water generating wood. The bed in the east was red, representing wood generating fire. Continuing clockwise, the flower stand, golden bull sculpture, desk by the window, and bamboo mural formed a harmonious sequence of the five elements.

However, red was the dominant color in the entire layout, especially the red bed, which was unusual.

Shui Miao speculated that Liu Hongmei must either be of the earth element or have an extremely strong birth chart. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to withstand the energy of this room. His eyes fell on the red high heels he had used to hit her. Looking at them, he thought, if she really belonged to the earth element, the fire-red color shouldn’t harm her much. She should wake up soon. This evil woman—this time, he wouldn’t let her off so easily. He had to find a way to get back at her.

Of course, Shui Miao knew his speculation was baseless.

But it convinced him not to rummage through the room. If Liu Hongmei suddenly woke up and caught him going through her things, it would be hard to explain.

However, subtly disrupting the five-element balance of the room was something Shui Miao could easily do.

The room was dominated by the fire element.

To disrupt the balance, he just needed to break one link in the five-element cycle. Different points of disruption would have different effects. Shui Miao focused on the TV stand facing south, representing wood generating fire. Breaking this link would be simple.

He activated his qigong and opened his yin-yang eyes. He saw the furniture emitting their elemental energies, flowing in a cycle that gathered strong energy on the bed, with only a weak point for dissipation, yet sufficient for normal balance. But Shui Miao was puzzled—why were the elemental energies so strong in this room? Compared to his own room, they were at least ten times stronger.

Take the wood element, for example. The strongest wood energy usually came from trees growing naturally in the wild. Once made into furniture, the energy weakened significantly. Yet the furniture in this room emitted wood energy nearly as strong as that of wild trees.

Why?

After observing carefully, Shui Miao noticed the strong wood energy was coming from beneath the TV stand.

What could be under the stand?

He quickly searched and found a talisman hidden underneath. As soon as he removed it, the wood energy from the TV stand vanished, becoming extremely weak.

What a magical talisman!

Shui Miao’s heart raced. He knew he had found something valuable. He quickly checked other areas and found four more talismans.

Once all four were removed, the room became lifeless and dull.

So that’s it!

Shui Miao suddenly understood. The energy of the room wasn’t naturally strong—it was all due to these talismans. But how could such ordinary-looking talismans be so powerful? He couldn’t figure it out. He even speculated that they might be mysterious cosmic symbols capable of connecting to unknown universal forces.

His wild thoughts were interrupted.

After disrupting the room’s elemental balance, Shui Miao felt a secret thrill. He quickly left and returned to his room. He carefully arranged the four talismans on his table, took photos with his phone, and sent them to his grandfather, Xiong Ying. Then he tried calling his grandfather, only to find his phone was turned off again.

For now, he decided to use the talismans first.

All four were hidden in corners of the furniture, covered in thick dust and faded in color, clearly placed there a very long time ago. It was safe to assume Liu Hongmei hadn’t touched them in years, so Shui Miao wasn’t worried about her discovering their absence.

He didn’t store the talismans in a box. Instead, he used his yin-yang eyes to rearrange his own furniture according to the five-element cycle, creating a harmonious elemental energy field in his room.

Half an hour later, when Shui Miao looked around his room again, the energy had surged, and the atmosphere had completely changed!

After closing his qigong, taking a shower, and pulling out his grandfather’s notes, he lay on the bed ready to read—but noticed a thin layer of mist rising from the floor. He quickly opened the windows and doors to ventilate, but there was no wind tonight, and the mist wouldn’t dissipate. So he closed everything and turned on the air conditioner, hoping to blow the mist away. But the mist on the floor remained stubbornly.

Could it be the five-element balance at work?

His bed was golden, representing metal generating water. The floor and walls were white, representing water, which was strong in energy and could produce mist. Shui Miao thought it through and removed the talisman that enhanced the water element. Sure enough, the mist soon vanished.

Shui Miao was thrilled. He hadn’t expected the talismans to be so powerful. He wondered how much Liu Hongmei had paid and which mysterious master had created them. By sheer chance, they had ended up in his hands—perhaps the heavens felt they owed him something and were compensating him.

Excited and unable to focus on reading, he put the books away.

Then, he turned off the lights, sat on the bed in meditation, and began practicing his qigong.

※※※

Unconsciously, the sky had begun to lighten.

“Knock knock knock… knock knock knock…”

Suddenly, a series of urgent knocks echoed.

“Shui Miao, Shui Miao, it’s Auntie Liu, the landlord. I need to talk to you. Please open the door…”

Hearing Liu Hongmei’s voice, Shui Miao’s eyes flew open. He felt relieved at first—she was alive.

But immediately, anxiety followed. He feared she had discovered the talismans.

“Could I be so unlucky? Did she find out about the talismans right after I took them?” He regretted taking photos and not returning the talismans to their original spots. If he had simply moved them slightly out of alignment, he could have still gained some advantage without risking exposure. Now, even though he had gained a small benefit, if Liu Hongmei reported it to the police, he might be implicated.

“Coming… coming…”

He responded, steeling himself as he walked to open the door.