"Have fun investigating. Be careful, it takes time to craft another set of wooden figures to die for you. So, don't die." when Caroline and Jason prepared their backpacks again and were about to leave the inn at almost the same time, Jianmen said to them while playing on his phone from behind the receptions' desk.
"Can you take care of Kane and Alex and keep them here while I'm gone?" Caroline walked to the reception's desk and asked.
"Kane is a grown man so it's kinda hard to respectfully do that if he insists on leaving." Jianmen put down his phone and said: "But I'll tell him that you'd like him to stay. You have 'the talk' with him yet?"
"What do you mean?" Jason was confused for a brief moment.
"You know? The talk?" Jianmen laid back on his chair: "'Hey mom and dad and family. I'm a cultivator with super power capabilities. Ghosts and monsters are real and I'm probably not gonna give you grandkids in a few decades.'?��
"Umm… yeah… no..." Jason hesitated: "My younger brother kinda knew a little. But my parents don't know anything yet. But I kinda need to tell them today."
"Okay, just be tactful and avoid showing off." Jianmen nodded: "And come back early, additional lesson tonight, I'll teach you how to craft a protection array around a place. Figured that you would want to know about that."
"Thanks Boss. I'm about to check on that corpse we found from the hotel, any advice?"
"Keep your phone charged and take pictures. I'm no necromancy expert but I can still give you some pointers." Jianmen pointed at the diner: "Have you filled your flasks?"
"Yep." "Yes."
"Okay, go then. Be careful."
It did not take much time for Jason to arrive at his parents' house, as the early traffic had yet to reach its peak.
"Jie, what a surprise. What brings you here?" Jason's mother opened the door and let him in: "Have you eaten breakfast yet? I have some steamed buns on the stove. "
"Maybe a bit later. Mom, are you feeling already? You look tired."
"It's nothing, no worries." Jason's mother showed him the sofa: "It's just that you father and I had been having a little bit of trouble sleeping recently."
"Dad, Jason's here. " Mack's voice came from the other room, "Let's go and meet him. I invited him for tea."
"Ah, Jie, what brings you here?" Jason's father walked into the living room with a tea cup in his hand, also looking tired and slightly sleep deprived: "How are you feeling? How's your job at the inn?"
"It's good. Reasonable hours and pay. I got food and a place to stay. If you calculate the savings on living expenses, I am actually saving tons of money for myself. "
"Good, good. Glad to hear you are doing good." Jason's father sat down in front of him and said: "As long as you can support yourself, I'm happy for you."
"Thanks Dad, that means a lot. But I didn't come just for tea." Jason slowly picked up the cup of tea his mother put in front of him: "I heard that you are having trouble sleeping? What is happening? You didn't tell me much last time I called you when you were in Los Angeles. "
"Ah, it's nothing to worry about. Just that we're old now and you know old people don't need as much sleep." Jason's mother sat down by his father.
"Yeah. But that does not mean you don't sleep at all." Jason frowned: "Did you go to the doctor?"
"We did, they didn't find anything." Jason's mother said: "Just need some medication and light exercise."
"Yeah, mom I don't think that's working." Mack said while sitting on an arm of the sofa: "You still look very tired."
"The process of relief is like the process of de-threading. Just be patient." Jason's father dismissed Mack's concern with a hand wave: "We just need some light exercise! We'll go hiking with some friends this afternoon, both of you should join us."
"No, Dad, you're not getting better. You were sleepwalking last night!" Mack got off the arm of the sofa, appearing to be a bit upset: "This is not good! That's why I asked Jason to come back and help. This is important!"
"What? Sleepwalking? How?" Jason's father appeared to be genuinely surprised.
"Yeah, Yan, what are you talking about?"
"Here." Mack showed a video on his phone to his parents and Jason. From the looks of it, it was he and Jason's parents in sleepwear circling the living room during late night.
"When is this?" Jason's parents finally became concerned and even somewhat horrified.
"Just last night. I woke up thirsty and wanted some water." Mack pulled back his phone: "And this is the first time I saw you do this. I don't even know how long you've been doing it!"
Jason and Mack's parents sat back on the couch and stayed silent for a short while, then their mother asked: "What do you think we should do? "
"We should make another appointment with Doctor Lee..." Jason and Mack's father wanted to get up and get his phone.
"That won't help." Jason stood up, extended his right hand towards his parents and said firmly: "Show me your hands."
His parents were confused, but still held up their hands to Jason's.
Revisiting the spell and the use of Xuanli as well as the power of mind and will in his mind, Jason took a deep breath and then activated the spell silently.
A chilly and a bit depressing feeling came over Jason's mind, as Jason looked over his parents, he saw two small clouds of cold, black smoke above their heads. And from the clouds of smoke, small tendrils extended from it were wrapping around his parents' head, ear and neck.
The moment Jason saw the black smoke, the black smoke seemed to notice that Jason as well. The small clouds of black smoke retracted its tendrils and were starting to move away, also revealing extremely thin black lines connecting these clouds to something in the other room. Jason immediately grabbed onto both clouds of black smoke with Xuanli concentrated on his hands to prevent them from moving away.
"Ah!" "What happened!?" Jason's parents seemed to endure a sudden pain from Jason's actions, which caused Jason to flinch and almost let go of the black smoke.
"Just hang on a second." Jason clenched his hands, and pulverized the black smoke captured by him. His parents twitched and squirmed in pain, and the thin lines from the smoke started retracting to the other end. Jason immediately hop over to go after the retracting black lines after hastily telling Mack to take care of their parents.
As Jason caught up to the retracting black lines, he saw that the lines went back into his parents' bedroom. When he busted into the room, he saw a vague shadow of human shape coming out from the closet. Even from a bit of distance, he could still make out that the shadow looked a lot like the ones he and Caroline battled when they were trapped in the limbo in the Prime Royals Hotel.
The shadow saw Jason busting in, and tried to make a run for the window, but it did not get a chance to, as Jason already activated a Demon Suppression Sigil, and a powerful silver energy shock wave blew through the room and tore that shadow into pieces and then tiny harmless particles.
When Jason got back to the living room, he was relieved to find that his parents were sitting on the sofa and staring at his direction, with concern and worry on their faces.