The Tale Never Ends Chapter 178 Finale Furor

The can of Coke I was drinking clunked with Officer Song's as we together toasted to a song well sung! We emptied our drink and I swung my arms dramatically as if drunk by the excitement and exhilaration of the atmosphere. But no one knew that when I swung my arms, my hand was aiming at the black mass just beside me!

The punch landed right into the black bulbous mass with a soft thud and it careened away. I had no time to prepare any talismanic charms to deal with this malignant spirit, but charms were not the only one of the many disciplines of my repertoire in dealing with ghosts and spirits! My thumb was pressed against the stub of my ring finger when that fist smashed right into the black gaseous blob. This was a trick called the Vajra's Fist which faintly enchants one's fist with powers to repel evil. The strength of the punch might hardly be enough to fully destroy the spirits, but it was enough to show that I was not your ordinary university student!

A thunderous peal of roars and cheers erupted from the crowds of freshmen. But I looked away. Huang Li's eyes were bloodshot and the hateful glares from her shot right at me like a pair of arrows. I pretended to not notice her and returned to my place in the group of my class while the other students, with shrieking catcalls and howls, called out Officer Song for another performance from him. Instructor Cao quipped, beaming widely, "Most of you don't know, I'm sure. Officer Song is the real deal; he's really good with wushu... A style called... Ah! Yes! The Hung Ga style! Come on! Let's ask him for a show of his skills!" He got to his feet and led everyone to a blast of tumultuous claps, urging the army platoon leader for a demonstration. Officer Song smiled shyly and whispered to me, "Well... In truth, it was Lin Feng who taught me the Hung Ga style of wushu when he was still in the army. There's not much I know; just a few tricks." I smiled and flourished with a wave of my arm, gesturing him to go on and he assumed a stance...

But I had not any interest in enjoying Officer Song's display of his paltry Hung Ga wushu skills. I quickly took out a blank yellow piece of paper, the same ones used for talismanic charms, and looked around to make sure everyone's attention was on the demonstration before I quickly scribbled a message, saying, "That was a little price for your impudence! Now leave unless you want to be utterly destroyed!" Then I did my best to look normal while tossing the paper into the fire.

I watched as the paper was reduced into red-hot cinders that rose into the sky, my face wearing a devilish smile as my gaze shifted to the black effervescent form of the malignant apparition still hanging over the fire. It was not a ghost, but more accurately, a bunch of ghosts acting together as one. The ghosts are obviously doing the bidding of Huang Li, although it was still not known what price would come, or had come. But I would never allow such a sweet chance to slip away!

At the same time, true to my expectations, the malignant spirits obviously paid no heed to my warning! It hung up there momentarily before the bulbous mass of black renewed its charge at me! A few drifting embers of green flickered amidst the scuds of red cinders rising up from the bonfire, as if in response to the ghosts' burgeoning malice. At the very same moment, Officer Song's demonstration ended with a final punch in the direction of the fire. Another clamorous round of claps rose from the crowds. Everyone had mistakenly thought that the green embers were part of Officer Song's demonstration. I too clapped and shouted, "Bravo, Officer Song! That's a great demonstration!" As if caught up in the excitement and frenzy, I threw a few punches into the air. Officer Song grinned. "It's just some simple trick. It's just for show. I'm not as good as Lin Feng, who's actually skilled enough to really use it in actual combat."

But I scarcely paid any attention to what Officer Song had said! The few punches I threw earlier were in fact a series of Vajra's Fists delivered into the dark vaporous mass of ghosts which had charged at me!

In retrospect, I was still a brash and young fool then; I had hardly spared a thought before deciding to completely destroy the spirits. I looked around and found Huang Li still glowering seethingly at me from afar. Then an idea came to me, I cackled and shouted to everyone, "I see that tonight's finale will be dominated by you and me, Officer Song. How about a magic trick from me?"

The news of a magic show took everyone by surprise and joy! I beamed gleefully and raised an arm, flicking a finger at the black mass which had returned to its original position above the fire, taunting it to come at me again. But no one knew what I was doing and no one asked. But the ghosts realized what I was doing and incensed with rage, they lurched at me again! With a successive series of hand seals made behind my back, I aimed my finger like a gun at the black mass of ghosts dashing towards me.

It was a simple spell, the Binding Hex, that Father once taught me. It was a spell to restrain malignant or violent ghosts. But it could only be used to hold down ghosts with powers weaker than mine. The ghosts all separated from the singular black gaseous form and each of them froze in mid-air. But no one could see them; everyone was still under the impression that my movements were part of the magic trick. I looked around and opened my arms wide before making another hand seal in front of my chest while reciting an incantation. Then I thrust a finger at the fire before drawing it back, as if pulling something from the fire although my hand was empty.

There was not one face that was not flabbergasted among the crowd. No one knew what I was doing. I chuckled and yelled, "Don't blink your eyes!" Then I quickly recited aloud a simple "Hocus Pocus!" and pointed two fingers into the palm of the left hand which I extended towards the fire earlier. With a faint but conspicuous bang, a ball of flames burst alive in my hand, hovering just barely an inch over my spread-opened palm and that sent the crowds into surprised murmurs and exclamation.

This was actually another simple spell that Father taught be before, the Fire Charm. As mentioned before, the element of the magic I studied was of Fire and therefore, simple tricks like this were like mere child's play to me. But spells like this were hardly useful for any actual use in combat ever since Father had given me the Spirit Gourd.

But it was the right spell to use for this occasion. I cradled the ball of fire with my left hand and walked around the bonfire, holding it high for everyone to see while basking in the curious and wondrous stares from all my fellow freshmen whose eyes were fixed upon the red-flaming ball in my hand.

I circled the fire and returned to my spot and beheld the crowds of students before me and motioned for applause, and they responded with a hubbub of claps. Then I raised a hand to gesture for silence. "This is not the end. Let's see some fireworks!" With my two fingers still pointed, I muttered a quick spell, and I threw the ball of flames at the invisible but still-restrained ghosts in mid-air!

A blast of explosion rumbled in mid-air, splashing the dark sky with brilliant green and red lights that erupted over the old school field with joyous arches of lights before everything quickly returned dark! I heaved a breath and spread my arms, dramatically bellowing loudly, "Thank you for watching!" The merry crowd returned their gratitude with a huge thunderous ovation and screams and cries began to ring from their midst, "How did you do it?!" "Is there some instrument in your hand?" I shrugged helplessly and merely smile. Then I heard Lu Shengnan shrieking, "Huang Li! What's wrong with you! Talk to me!" Still wearing my smile, I hardly cast so much as a glance at their direction, for I knew Huang Li had merely fainted by the blowback of the ghosts I destroyed; she would regain consciousness in no time.

In the sudden outbreak of panic and chaos, Instructor Cao appeared to feed Huang Li some water and she slowly woke up. When she opened her eyes and first saw the army instructor, she dove into these arms and broke into tears. Officer Song was about to storm forward to separate them, but I held him back with an arm. I cast a look at them and nodded with a smile to the army platoon leader. He looked at me suspiciously but immediately emitted a dawning "Oh!" when he noticed my smile. "I see... There's something else to your magic show, is there?" He whispered furtively, "Could it be that you were..." He paused and mimicked what I did earlier with my fingers and hands. I understood what he meant but I said nothing. "Lin Feng had once told me before about something like this..." He muttered under his breath.

But I stopped him, raising a finger to my lips. Realizing that I offered no denial, Officer Song's expression relaxed, having understood at least a part of what was happening and said nothing.

From a distance, I saw Lu Shengnan was still trying to console her sobbing friend. She might be a weirdo, but she was nevertheless a good person and a great friend. This could be due to her lack of friends, and hence she treasured what little friends she had. But little did she realize that she was merely a third wheel when Instructor Cao was present. I crept towards her and laid a hand on her shoulder, motioning to her to come with me and we left Huang Li and the instructor alone.

The night of the finale would later go on, but I had no more interest in the rest of it as the rest of the evening went on with street dances and so on, including a Chinese allegro performance with castanet clappers too!

Lu Shengnan would then come to understand everything after a lengthy explanation from me, where she would later learn how much of a third wheel she had been to her friend.

A short period of break then followed after the military exercise, as it was a weekend and the school wished to allow some time for us freshmen to recuperate. But just when I thought the entire matter of Huang Li had come to an end, I was wrong; trouble came seeking me in Wu Zhong when I was on holiday.

Chapter end