Divine Level Witch Doctor

Zhao Yuan's words were like a warrior's taunt, instantly drawing all the fire onto himself.

Mage Zhang's brow twitched, a vicious glint in his eyes. He said coldly, "Where did this little brat come from, daring to bark at me like a dog? Aren't you afraid of angering the Divine Spirits and being punished for your blasphemy?"

The villagers of Xiaqiao Village also started to voice their objections.

"Don't talk nonsense if you don't know what you're talking about!"

"We've seen Mage Zhang's skills with our own eyes! How could he be a fraud?"

"Yeah, that's right! We saw the Evil Ghosts with our own eyes, and we saw Mage Zhang catch and burn the Ghosts for us! How could he possibly be a fraud?"

Granny Xing recognized Zhao Yuan and said in surprise, "Aren't you Zhao Yuan from Jinhua Village? Child, let me tell you, Mage Zhang is a man of great power. You must not disrespect him. Otherwise, if you bring disaster upon yourself, it will be too late for regrets! Listen to this old woman—hurry up and apologize to Mage Zhang. Be sincere, be heartfelt, and make sure you earn his forgiveness!"

Zhao Yuan ignored Mage Zhang's threat and simply said to the villagers of Xiaqiao Village, "I can do those tricks he just did!"

With that said, before anyone could react, he strode over to the altar table and grabbed a bag covered with a yellow cloth.

Seeing this, Mage Zhang's expression changed drastically. He wanted to stop him, but it was too late.

Zhao Yuan grabbed a handful of something from the bag and threw it. All at once, clusters of eerie, blue will-o'-the-wisps appeared all around!

Even in broad daylight, the scene was bizarre and bone-chilling.

"It's the Evil Ghosts! The Evil Ghosts are back!" a few of the more timid Xiaqiao Village villagers immediately cried out in alarm.

But more people, after a brief moment of shock, looked on with suspicion.

"What's going on? How can Zhao Yuan also make the Evil Ghosts appear?"

"Does he know Magic? When did he learn this skill?"

"You don't think he was actually studying in the provincial capital, but ran off to study Magic with some master, do you?"

Many people were whispering amongst themselves. Some, however, had begun to catch on. They looked back and forth between Zhao Yuan and Mage Zhang, muttering to themselves, 'Could Mage Zhang really be a fraud? Was the ritual he just performed really a trick?'

Zhao Yuan shook the yellow cloth bag in his hand and said, "What you're seeing is just phosphorus fire, not will-o'-the-wisps at all, and certainly not Evil Ghosts revealing themselves. This bag is filled with White Phosphorus. When Mage Zhang walked past you earlier, he secretly sprinkled it on you. White Phosphorus has an extremely low ignition point. The slightest bit of warmth will make it release an eerie blue flame…"

A trace of panic flashed across Mage Zhang's face, and his gaze toward Zhao Yuan was filled with venomous hatred.

The villagers of Xiaqiao Village, on the other hand, gathered around Zhao Yuan, curiously inspecting the White Phosphorus in the yellow cloth bag. A few bold individuals even reached in, grabbed a handful, and threw it out just as Zhao Yuan had done. Sure enough, much of the White Phosphorus ignited instantly, bursting into clusters of eerie blue flames.

"Zhao Yuan's telling the truth! This stuff really does catch fire just like that!"

"Damn, and here I really thought I was being Chained by an Evil Ghost. Turns out it was just a cheap little trick!"

"I can't believe Mage Zhang is a fraud. And to think I trusted him so much!"

In that moment, many of the Xiaqiao Village villagers 'defected'.

But some people still believed in Mage Zhang implicitly. They shouted, "Even if making the will-o'-the-wisps appear was fake, what about him catching and burning the Ghosts afterward? We all saw it clearly! As soon as that Yellow Paper touched the candle flame, it burned into the shape of menacing Evil Ghosts!"

Zhao Yuan smiled and said to Mage Zhang, "If I'm not mistaken, this trick of yours is called 'Celestial God Arresting a Ghost,' right? Sounds impressive, but unfortunately, it's still just a con. You first used a saltpeter solution to draw the image of an Evil Ghost on the Yellow Paper. After it dries, you can't see any trace of it. But the saltpeter solution is flammable, so once you light the Yellow Paper, the parts you drew on burn faster than the rest, creating the shape of an Evil Ghost!"

To prove his point, Zhao Yuan had the villagers fetch some nitrate fertilizer. For farmers, it was something they more or less all had on hand.

The fertilizer was brought over quickly. Zhao Yuan mixed it with water, picked up a stick from the ground, dipped it in the solution, and quickly drew on a piece of paper. After he was done, he set it aside to dry. Sure enough, once the paper was dry, there wasn't a trace of the drawing. But when it touched a candle flame, the part he had drawn on instantly ignited, burning a mouse-shaped hole in the paper.

Seeing this, the villagers of Xiaqiao Village were completely silent.

At this moment, they were eighty to ninety percent convinced they had been duped.

Still, one or two of Mage Zhang's die-hard fans remained doubtful. "But Mage Zhang's skills really are amazing. He said something bad would happen to Wang Gui, and something really did happen to him…"

"That was just a coincidence," Zhao Yuan explained. "Wang Gui didn't give him money, so he placed a Curse on him, saying he'd have bad luck. Whether or not Wang Gui actually had bad luck in the end, he could have spun the story either way."

"If he had bad luck, it would prove the Mage's skills were genuine. If he didn't, it wouldn't be because the Mage lacked skill, but because he'd had a change of heart at the last minute and spared Wang Gui. I bet even he didn't expect Wang Gui to actually die, and in such a bizarre, self-inflicted way. He sensed an opportunity and used the incident for a publicity blitz."

"In fact, the instructions he gave you just now were also a trap. Think about it carefully. Didn't he say that during these forty-nine days, if your heart isn't sincere, your illness won't be cured? But whether your heart is sincere or not—isn't that for him to decide? If you get better, it means your heart was sincere and he is skilled. If you don't get better and die, it's not because he lacks skill, but because your heart wasn't sincere! Either way, it's never his fault!"

This explanation was perfectly logical. Once the crowd thought about it, they realized he was right, and many were immediately convinced.

In an instant, all the villagers of Xiaqiao Village understood that Mage Zhang was no enlightened Daoist master, nor did he have the power to summon Divine Spirits down to the mortal world to exorcise Ghosts and break curses for them. It was all just street-performer tricks and scams! They all turned to glare at Mage Zhang, their eyes filled with indignation.

Zhao Yuan walked up to Mage Zhang, holding the paper with the mouse-shaped hole burned into it. He said coldly, "If you were just swindling people out of a little money, I might have let it go. But you're not just cheating them out of money; you're also stopping the villagers of Xiaqiao Village from getting proper medical treatment. That's something I can't ignore! This paper is my gift to you. The mouse on it represents you—a fat rat who scams people out of their money and endangers their lives!"

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