When I was learning from the old man before, he introduced me to some knowledge about spirits and monsters, including specifically mentioning mouse spirits. At that time, the old man told me a story which was none other than a segment from Journey to the West, telling the story of Jinna Baimei Mouse Spirit.
The old man said that among all living creatures in the world with spiritual intelligence, many can cultivate and attain enlightenment. However, if these beings were ranked according to their level of spirituality, mice would definitely be at the top few positions.
I was very curious at that time because I thought mice were despicable and dirty animals without any intelligence or wisdom. How could they rank so high? The old man then explained to me that mice are able to coexist with humans without being eradicated due to their high level of spirituality. They are clever and cunning creatures who are good at observing human behavior over time and occasionally imitating it themselves. Therefore they naturally possess some degree of wisdom.
Moreover, as one of the twelve zodiac animals in Chinese culture, mice have always been favored by heaven and possess a high level of spirituality.
Because of these reasons throughout history there have been numerous examples where mice have cultivated into powerful spirits.
In Journey to the West for example Jinna Baimei Mouse Spirit stole oil from Buddha's lamp but later recognized Li Jing (the Heavenly General) as her adoptive father; she is known as "Half-Body Guanyin" with white fur all over her body except for her golden nose - having reached an extremely advanced stage in cultivation becoming a nine-turn spirit mouse.
However in reality there are very few mouse spirits who can reach this level; generally speaking most only achieve several hundred years worth of cultivation resulting in half-white clothing or possessing magical abilities such as shape-shifting etc., which is already considered quite impressive.
Mouse Spirits aren't usually ferocious nor do they harm people much. The only downside is that after they attain enlightenment and spirituality, their inherent nature of stealing cannot be changed. They still love to steal especially rare and precious treasures.
It is said that every mouse spirit has its own treasure trove.
Therefore when Jietou and I heard what Xie Yilin had said, our eyes lit up immediately. We felt like the God of Wealth had come knocking on our door. If we could catch this mouse spirit and find its treasure trove, we would at least make a small fortune.
Of course, my real concern at this moment was that the mouse spirit might steal something from Xie Yilin. Since she's a woman it's inevitable for her to have some jewelry or accessories on her body; so if the mouse spirit appeared in her room it would most likely be attracted by one of these items.
I didn't even have time to put on clothes before rushing with Jietou straight into Xie Yilin's room.
The layout of the room was similar to ours except there was no bed because hers was a single room while ours were double rooms.
The situation inside the room was somewhat chaotic; Xie Yilin's luggage case lay beside the bed open with colorful clothes spilling out along with some underwear scattered across the bed. From what I saw among those clothes I noticed a plastic bag which I had seen once before in Wang Qinyuan's wardrobe.
That plastic bag had already been torn open revealing a pad lying on top - indicating that Xie Yilin may have just started menstruating.
My gaze quickly moved away from these things. Then I opened the Tianmen and my vitality overflowed instantly, exploring the entire room, searching for the position of the mouse spirit.
Within two seconds, I found a shadow in the bathroom and hurriedly ran towards it with Jietou following closely behind me.
Entering the bathroom, I saw a big white-tailed rat squatting on the small window behind the toilet wall.
As soon as it saw us, it immediately jumped out and ran along a water pipe behind the house.
Jietou and I leaned over to look at the window but unfortunately it was too small to chase after it. In the end, we could only sigh helplessly.
"How is everything?" When we came out of the bathroom, Xie Yilin had entered into her room. She was obviously still frightened.
"It's okay now. Remember to close your doors and windows tightly when you sleep at night," I looked at Xie Yilin then asked again: "Do you have any jewelry? This thing likes stealing treasures."
"No, I don't have any jewelry," Xie Yilin said with wide eyes open.
"If you do have some just tell us boldly. We won't steal your things," I said to her reassuringly.
"I really don't have anything except for one necklace and two pairs of earrings that were bought cheaply by roadside stalls," Xie Yilin told me honestly.
Hearing this made me frown slightly as I approached her carefully sniffing around her body before finally understanding what was going on.
"Things are a bit troublesome," I frowned looking at Xie Yilin and Jietou.
"What happened?" Xie Yilin asked curiously.
"If you don't have any jewelry on you then there is only one explanation why this thing chose you - because it's an adulterous thief spirit which can be quite ferocious. It may come back to find you tonight and it could be dangerous," I explained.
"Adulterous thief spirit? What does that mean?" Xie Yilin asked in confusion.
"It means..." I looked at the small paper bag she had placed on her bed, finding it difficult to explain. Finally, I said: "In simple terms, this ghost cultivates Yin Qi so it might like sucking blood, especially women's blood."
"Will it bite me?" Xie Yilin shuddered and asked.
I shook my head. 'Then how does it suck blood?' Shaylin asked again. I could only remain silent. After a moment, Shaylin looked at me and then at the small white plastic bag on the bed, seeming to understand something. She quickly ran over, picked up the object, hid it in her suitcase and turned back to ask me: 'Could it be that...'
I nodded.
'How disgusting! You guys have to help me figure out what to do!' Shaylin said nervously.
'Don't worry,' I replied. 'The creature's range of activity is limited; we can just leave this place.'
'There are plenty of women in Hangzhou City, why did that thing choose Teacher Xie?' Jietou interjected.
'I don't know,' I said. 'That's why I think this situation may not be simple. So for now let's not run away; let's stay here and observe.'
After speaking with Jietou, I turned around and looked at Shaylin with some helplessness: 'We need to ensure Teacher Xie's safety first.'
I suggested that the three of us should share one room instead of separating into different rooms since we were all just resting anyway.
Upon hearing this suggestion, both Shaylin and Jietou nodded their heads in agreement. We helped pack up Shaylin's belongings before returning together to our room.