Zuo Qingmu inspected the circular ribbon controlling the shadow spirit and nodded his head, breathing a sigh of relief as he did so. Walking around it once more, he straightened his jacket and began moving his hands in familiar tactics. "So, my shadowy friend, tell me why you're being so troublesome. You can't blame me for your ferocity. Word is you've been bugging people for quite some time." He said to the dancing black figure.

Shang Haoming and I watched in awe as Zuo Qingmu challenged the spirit so casually.

The spirit stilled inside of its new prison and looked at the three of us one by one. His strange singing voice harmonized with the hum resonating from the taut red line, but he made no move to answer. I strained my ears, but still couldn't understand the words.

"What he is singing?" I asked.

"He comes from Hunan province." Zuo Qingmu replied, "It'snot suitable for children's ears." He looked at me seriously. "Trust me, you don't need to know."

Shang Haoming and I exchanged a curious glace. We'd come to know many years later that the song was called "Eighteen Touches."

Zuo Qingmu scowled at the spirit's song. He gave a derisive snort and spoke, "You're a tricky little bastard aren't you?" He raised his finger and a snake of fire shot out of it. I gasped in surprise, but Shang Haoming must not have been able to see it.

The spirit's black eyes didn't falter at the licking flames. He stood in place and continued to sing the low song. Slowly, he began to rock back and forth into a dancing rhythm.

Zuo Qingmu's frown deepened. He took a step closer, bringing the flames near enough to lick at the spirit's frozen face. I waited for it to scream out in pain, but nothing happened. My ears waited for the scream that must follow, but found only silence.

Zuo Qingmu grunted in disbelief and pulled his hand away as if it'd been burnt. He shook his hand and held it up into the moonlight. "Your finger!" I said in shock, "It's blue!"

He inspected it closely, "It's the cold."

Zuo Qingmu gave a sardonic smile, "I was careless." He said. "The bastard froze to death! Of course its ferocity is frigid. Ordinary fire won't hurt it." He looked at the spirit with malice. "You're gonna die today."

Zuo Qingmu withdrew his compass and the copper sword hanging from his hip.

"He can't be serious?" Shang Haoming asked me.

I shook my head uncertainly.

Zuo Qingmu's copper sword was a short curved blade. It looked more like a dagger than a sword. "He only makes yellow grade amulets and he's got a short sword. Who is this guy?" I thought.

He reverently placed the compass on the ground before him and moved his hands in a new incantation. After a flurry of movement, he swung the short sword and pointed it at the compass, turning it slightly to catch the moonlight. The light reflected off the blade and shone into the compass, turning it into a spout of yellow light that shot back onto the blade. With a careful swish, the blade was glowing in bright yellow light, just as we'd seen Master Ge's before. Only, Master Ge could summon the power of the sun using his own power, while Mr. Left had to use the moon.

I gaped at the sword. It was much more brilliant than anything I'd seen at nighttime, shining like a star in his hands. "He's going to kill it." I thought, "He's going to strike it down without even trying to help it!"

"Senior Fellow Apprentice Left, stop!" I cried. I raised my hand out like it would make all the difference. "He's just a poor man who died in a strange village! We can't interrupt his reincarnation! We can't kill him!"

Zuo Qingmu turned to me, interested instead of angry. When he averted his gaze from the line of ribbon, the shadow figure struck. It hunched its dark body back and then launched itself towards the ribbon with an impossible bang. The ribbon split with a huge crashing noise and a flash of red light illuminated the ditch. I stood blinking, unable to move and heard Zuo Qingmu shout, "No! Get back here you bastard!"

Shang Haoming stood just outside the broken ribbon like a statue. His face was pale and hands shaking. "What, what happened?" He asked in a quivering voice.

"It got out." I said simply and walked over to my friend. He was shivering like he'd been dunked in water and squeezing my little compass to his chest.

Zuo Qingmu walked back to us with stomps and curses.

"What happened?" I asked, mirroring Shang Haoming's innocent tone.

"I was careless!" Zuo Qingmu spat. "I spent damn near fifty days crafting and enchanting that ribbon and a shadow spirit broke it! A shadow spirit!" He shook his head and stomped towards us, digging in his pocket as he went. He pulled out a lighter and bent down, catching the ribbon on fire with a quick flick and snap.

"What's next?" I asked.

The smile he gave back to my question was unnerving. "We wait!" The dark grin widened and he sat down. "When he broke my line he strapped his own Yin air to it. The next time he tries to sneak up and spook some kids, he'll bleed out Yin air like a stuck pig. After the second time, he'll be terrified to try and bother anyone."

"Whoa." Shang Haoming said. I was nodding my head excitedly.

We clambered out of the ditch and Zuo Qingmu bid us goodnight. We walked Shang Haoming back to the schoolyard and watched him trek towards the dormitory where his father had a private living space.

"Where are you staying?" I asked Zuo Qingmu.

"This way." He said and began walking towards my house. I wracked my brain for any recollection of the man meeting with and talking to my parents, but none came. When we passed Zhao Jie's house, my friend came bolting out the door. I raised my hand to wave, but Zhao Jie called out, "Senior Fellow Apprentice! You're here! Welcome! Welcome!" Zhao Laohei and his wife were standing in the door with polite smiles.

I felt a pang of jealously that this new master didn't want to stay out our house, but shook it off. "Good for Zhao Jie." I thought. I bid them goodnight and walked the rest of the way to my house.

When I got home I made sure to paste safeguarding amulets around the building, one on the front door, one on the back, one on each window. I'd made each of them myself and put the best looking ones around my parent's bedroom. I put the last one on my bedroom door and then went to bed, falling quickly into a deep sleep.

I woke up the next day in a fright that I'd missed my alarm and forgot school. When I rushed into the kitchen with my clothes half on I was surprised to find Zuo Qingmu and Zhao Jie sitting at the table. "Where you goin' so fast on a Saturday?" Zhao Jie asked with a big dumb grin.

I slapped my forehead and pulled my pants the rest of the way on. "What are you two doing here?" I asked, feeling a bit put off by the surprise.

"Senior Fellow Apprentice Left is my new master!" Zhao Jie said, the grin still plastered on his face. "He's gonna teach me everything!"

Zuo Qingmu smiled politely, "Only Kong Fu," He added, "Not Taoism."

Zuo Qingmu gestured to the safeguarding amulets plastered around the house. "Did Master Liu give you these?" He asked.

I gave him my own big dumb grin and said, "Nope. I made those myself! Master Ge taught me to make paper amulets."

Zuo Qingmu's eyes widened in surprise. He leaned in and said, "Really? You made all of these yourself?"

The unnerving look crept back onto his face. It scared me a little. My own smile faltered and I nodded, adding a small, "Yeah." When he leaned back I darted my eyes around wondering where the heck my parents were.

"That is wonderful! My junior fellow apprentice, you are so powerful!" He clapped me on the back. "Oh what great fortune! Could you make amulets for me? What kinds can you make?" He was smiling from ear to ear and staring intently through me.

I thought about my promise to Master Ge and the rules, were there eighteen of them? I can't make amulets for bad men. "What are you going to do with them?" I asked.

Zuo Qingmu face turned serious. "I only need four." He raised the corresponding fingers and ticked them off. "The first is a meditation amulet for beginning religious rites. Second is an igniting thunder amulet for expelling ghosts. Third is a God invitation amulet to get rid of the damn spirit. The last one is a soul suppression amulet to keep control of the one I've summoned, like before."

It suddenly all made sense. Taoists could do any number of things with the power of paper amulets, but without them Zuo Qingmu was almost useless. He couldn't deal with the shadow without our amulets.

I ticked through them in my head and recalled which ones I was proficient at. Remembering the chapter on soul suppression, I absentmindedly shook my head.

"Junior apprentice, what's the trouble? I could exchange some things with you" He offered.

"No, no!" I shook my head. "You misunderstand. I can give you the amulets. I've spent the last year practicing, but" I dropped my head a little, "They're only in yellow grade. They're not the best"

Zuo Qingmu gave a bellowing laugh and knelt down so our eyes met. "Kid, you're too modest." His grin widened impossibly further. "Thank you."