Jiang Xia opened his eyes in the pottery classroom.
The moment his eyes snapped open, he nearly fell asleep again. He had just gone on a wild ride with an anonymous puppet, used the death-reappearance trick with Tengu Ghost (scare guilty people towards their death), and it had drained a lot of energy.
But before he could fully slip back into sleep, something caught his attention—a grandfather in the pottery classroom, sporting an artistic Mediterranean hairstyle, was wrapped up in a thick murderous aura.
Jiang Xia stared at him for a moment, considering whether to simply knock himself out with sleep or sip on some ghost mint to keep his mind sharp. After all, he didn't want to face the "murderous aura or ghost?" dilemma later, especially while in a sleepy state.
As everyone else went about the usual pottery business, Jiang Xia casually stepped out, sharing a ghost mint with the monk ghost who had just finished a move.
He had to admit, the death-reappearance trick was useful—especially if it could make the guilty jump off cliffs by themselves. However, it was terribly exhausting. The real problem lay in the puppet's wear and tear. Using it drained much more energy than normal.
Luckily, Jiang Xia had stocked up on plenty of ghost mints. After one mint, he instantly felt more awake and less likely to fall asleep on the spot.
After some light snacking, Jiang Xia didn't rush back into the classroom. Normally, once the puppets were done, the ghosts and the bound shikigami could simply return to the tattoo on his heart. But this time, the new shikigami and the murderous aura weren't bound yet, so he'd need Miyano Akemi's help to bring them back.
He stood by the door, waiting for her. After a while, Miyano Akemi floated back in, panting with the shikigami and murderous aura slung over her back.
Typically, ghosts were about the size of a pillow, while shikigami were palm-sized. But the four shikigami from the murderer had been rolled up into a little bundle by Miyano Akemi and were now resting on her back, wrapped in murderous intent.
Miyano Akemi made it to the door, dropped the shikigami and murderous aura at Jiang Xia's feet, and collapsed on the floor, drained and exhausted from her trip. It was tough to travel back and forth across mountains and rivers, apparently.
Jiang Xia rubbed her head, rolled some ghost mints with the murderous aura she brought back, and lit one of them.
Miyano Akemi, catching the smell, perked up, her eyes locked onto Jiang Xia's hand. She slithered over eagerly and grabbed onto his hand, happily munching on the ghost mint.
After feeding the ghost, Jiang Xia returned to the pottery classroom.
Earlier, Amuro had planned to let Jiang Xia catch up on pottery lessons to win favor with the senior potters. The convenience kits were nearby, so it seemed like a good move.
However, as soon as Jiang Xia walked through the door, he immediately slipped into his "sleep-standby" state from yesterday.
Amuro had never paid much attention to Jiang Xia before, so he couldn't be sure whether this sleepy state was normal or if something strange had taken over him.
Whatever the case, Jiang Xia's planned "talented apprentice" role was now a bust.
Fortunately, despite Jiang Xia falling apart, his two classmates—both lovely girls—were doing a great job and earned plenty of praise from the grandfather. The atmosphere in the pottery classroom was still pleasant and harmonious.
Jiang Xia returned to the classroom, gathered some new information from his ghost assistant, and decided to activate his "prophecy" ability.
The Mediterranean grandfather, Mino Soyuki, who had been emitting murderous aura, was the manager of the pottery classroom and a junior apprentice of Kikuemon, a national treasure-level pottery master.
Mino Soyuki had a daughter. A few years ago, Kikuemon's young apprentice had married Mino Soyuki's daughter, strengthening the two families' bond.
(TL Note: Some characters have different names. For example this potter, or even Okino Yoko as Kinoshita Yoko)
But two years ago, Mino Soyuki's only daughter had died in a car accident, and he had been devastated.
Jiang Xia eyed Mino Soyuki's murderous aura and then glanced at the young, beautiful female employee in the store. He made a mental connection.
The murderous aura was likely a result of Mino Soyuki's son-in-law—the little apprentice of Kikuemon—cheating on the female employee. Mino Soyuki's daughter had committed suicide after discovering the affair. Now, Mino Soyuki wanted to kill the scumbag son-in-law and frame the female employee for it.
Jiang Xia didn't want to get involved. From experience, avenging a child's death—especially when it was a parent doing the avenging—was almost impossible to resolve without bloodshed.
At first, he considered exposing the murderer to gain some recognition and pick up a ghost along the way.
But then the cheating son-in-law came back into the picture.
Jiang Xia did a double-take. His earlier "prophecy" seemed off—his son-in-law was now wrapped in a murderous aura too.
Jiang Xia looked between the murderous Mediterranean grandfather and the equally murderous son-in-law, lost in thought.
He couldn't tell who the son-in-law was planning to kill just yet, but based on his calm reaction to seeing Mino Soyuki, it was clear his target wasn't the old man. It was someone else entirely.
Jiang Xia began calculating in his mind: maybe he could first gather the shikigami triggered by the son-in-law's intended murder. If the son-in-law wasn't killed right away, he could always pick up the shikigami once the old man got to him. This way, he'd gain more ghosts and would still come out ahead.
Determined, Jiang Xia stood up, glanced at the grandfather Mino Soyuki, who was eyeing his opportunity to kill, and rolled up his sleeves.
Today, he was going to show this old man just how thirsty for knowledge he really was.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 25/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS*