Is she innocent? She is the least innocent! Making the son she bore go and seduce her own husband, she deserves to die!
Her son is only two years old; something seems to be wrong with his head. He can’t control his eating, drinking, shitting, or pissing, and he’s still wearing split-crotch pants.
She is guilty of heinous crimes and deserves ten thousand deaths. Even in death, she can’t touch the word ‘innocent’.
Gu Daosheng was desperately chasing a two-year-old child, chasing him from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain, and from the foot of the mountain into a crowded throng of people.
The road ahead was blocked.
He didn’t catch the child, and instead got an earful of wild, nonsensical ramblings.
Truly disgusting.
Gu Daosheng slapped the man across space. With a loud snap, it sounded particularly crisp.
The man was feeling quite pleased with himself, as others were shocked by the major news he was delivering. That expression on their faces was really interesting, when out of nowhere, his face was viciously slapped to one side. He looked completely bewildered.
There were too many people around, shoulder to shoulder. He turned back in a fury, assuming someone had accidentally bumped into him and hit him with the back of their hand as they squeezed past. He shouted, Can you not crowd me?!
At that moment, seeing the swarming heads of the crowd, the child got in a playful mood and nimbly ducked into the forest of legs.
Gu Daosheng snorted with his chin raised, quietly keeping his deed uncredited without stepping forward to claim it, shifting his focus back onto the brat.
The brat’s hair was pure white, floating vertically into midair, darting back and forth like a flash of lightning that couldn’t shock anyone to death.
He wore a small black vest; when he swung his arms out, he looked like a manta ray in the sea.
The small bow tie at his neck was twisted crookedly around to the back of his neck, swaying black and white in the wind, looking just like an eyeball that had fallen out of its socket and was dangling.
A cluster of people stood in front of an antique-style manor with a high threshold, packing the main road so tightly that not a drop of water could leak through. Shoulders pressed against arms, and the backs of hands rubbed against thighs, leaving no space in between.
Yet, as the child bumped and crashed through them left and right, they reacted with utter indifference, treating him like thin air.
Living people were completely unable to see him, nor could they feel him.
The child abruptly turned his head back and flashed a bright, radiant smile at Gu Daosheng.
This scene was not lovely in the slightest; in fact, it was utterly horrifying.
Because this child possessed an abnormal set of netherworld eyes: black whites, and white pupils.
Yin and Yang inverted.
This was no human child; it was clearly a ghost child!
The ghost child approached the man who had just been spouting nonsense and received a slap for it. Gu Daosheng immediately gave chase.
Unfortunately, being born human meant his actions were restricted. His physical body truly existed; unlike the ghost infant, he lacked free mobility. Bumping into people would get him cursed at for not having eyes.
The words Excuse me, please let me through had no choice but to stay hooked on the tip of his tongue constantly.
The man from earlier ran his mouth, starting to babble again: That woman got married at eighteen. Before even finishing her senior year of high school, she became the eleventh wife of the Lou family. Heh.
This overwhelming wealth was given to her, but she couldn’t hold onto it. After getting married, she didn’t act like a proper wife. Every day, she doll’d herself up and ran outside, even wearing skirts to act provocative. Plenty of men loved coming here to watch; I used to come often myself. That woman always smiled at me. Hehehe.
This person’s complexion was haggard and sallow, so thin he had nearly lost his human form. His eyes were as big as a bull’s and prominently ugly, while his two front teeth protruded outward. It looked as if he had taken a hard faceplant onto the ground that knocked his teeth loose, propping up his mean upper lip as they stuck upward one behind the other, living up to the title of a literal lightning rod.
When his lips twitched his few strands of mustache into a smile, he looked all the more greasy and vulgar.
Like mother, like child. That’s why her son is also… But if you ask me, those experts talking about human character being inherited through genetics are all lying. Native families are fake too, lowborn bastards are born that way!
He said, The ones best at using innocent, cute faces to do vile deeds are little kids, especially the ones aged one to three. They’re the most detestable. If they put on pants earlier, which man would ever have wicked thoughts? It’s their own fault for wearing split-crotch pants. Heh.
Gu Daosheng kicked the man right onto his knees.
He was on the outside of the crowd and not conspicuous. That kick was exceptionally harsh. If not for the wall of people packed in front of him acting as a human barrier, that foul-mouthed man would have flown straight out.
He would have crashed right onto the asphalt road, knocking his front teeth completely clean off.
Having been born eighteen years ago and spent eighteen years as a Celestial Master, this was Gu Daosheng’s very first time coming down the mountain and his very first time catching a ghost.
A bad start to the expedition: a single two-year-old ghost infant had dragged him out for this long.
It was evident his strength was nothing impressive.
When he left the mountain, his master had issued an ironclad order: do not return without catching 100 ghosts.
At this rate, by the time he could go back, it wouldn’t just be ancestral smoke rising from the grave; the entire mountain peak would have to be smoking.
Failing to catch the ghost was one thing, but to be forced to listen to such vile, filthy garbage was another.
What kind of beast could be considered human?
What a complete waste of a reincarnation slot.
A bystander couldn’t listen any longer: What on earth are you talking about?! Are you sick in the head?!
Did I say something wrong?! You’re so righteous, aren’t you, kicking me! The foul-mouthed man flew into a rage, assuming that this person was the one who had kicked him. Don’t tell me you don’t think the same way? I saw you right here yesterday. What were you staring at her for? You even said she was provocative! Do you dare swear on the curse of being struck dead by a car when you step out the door that you didn’t say it? You’re only this angry because I dare to speak what’s in my heart, while you don’t dare.
Today, Lou Guangrui is marrying his twelfth wife, and it’s even a man! Aren’t you curious standing here?!
The bystander’s face flushed with awkward embarrassment, and he sourly turned his face away.
If you can’t afford a provocation, you can afford to run away- stay clear of lunatics.
The man grew even more animated in his speech: This whole thing is truly interesting. Marrying a man yet still putting on the whole performance of three letters and six rites, complete with an eight-bearer sedan chair. In a moment, I’ll definitely take a proper look to see if he looks like a celestial fairy. Ha, speaking of which, is Lou Guangrui marrying a man instead of a woman this time because he had this taste all along, or because he realized how obscene and unlucky women are?
Women are just bad luck! His voice grew louder and louder until it was practically a shout. His eyeballs rolled around wildly, unsure of what he was looking at, as if sensing someone coming to claim him, prompting him to take a few more quick looks at the mortal world. When things happen, they don’t solve them; all they do is cry! Crying until the home falls out of harmony and nothing prospers! It’s clearly their own lack of capability to hold onto a man’s heart, yet they turn around and blame men for being philanderers—Urk!
All sounds came to a sudden, abrupt halt.
The man’s eyeballs, which had just rolled in a circle back to their original position, suddenly altered their trajectory and surged forward with a whoosh, bulging out of their sockets by more than half. His entire body twitched twice in a fit, and with his mouth wide open, he fell straight and stiffly to the ground.
The asphalt surface snapped off his front teeth, sending them bouncing more than a meter away.
The dust kicked up by half of his ugly face floated down slowly, sticking to his protruding eyeballs as if growing moldy fur.
A sudden yet seemingly ordinary sudden death startled the crowd, who had gathered hoping to watch a man marry a male bride and see the eight-bearer sedan chair. Shouting in panic, they scattered in all directions like birds and beasts.
Thump, thump, thump- a clear circle opened up instantly.
Gu Daosheng’s eyes opened slightly in shock.
How did he suddenly die?
It wasn’t his doing.
He was a Celestial Master; he only dealt with ghost affairs, not human affairs.
Giving the man a slap and a kick earlier was purely because he was young, had a hot temper, and was still full of a sense of justice, unable to hold back.
A burst of vertical, fire-like ghost hair suddenly floated up, arrogantly reflecting into the depths of Gu Daosheng’s eyes.
He saw the ghost infant’s upper jaw flipped past his fontanelle, and his lower jaw ripped all the way down to his chest, his mouth torn wide open like an abyss.
It was he who had bitten off the man’s ghost head.
Humans kill the body to take life.
Ghosts kill the soul to steal spirits.
Some people look like they died with an intact corpse, but in reality, their ghost soul lost its head long ago.
This was a ghost affair, and it fell under Gu Daosheng’s jurisdiction.
Little ghost, you dare to commit evil right in front of me? Gu Daosheng stood outside the crowd, speaking to the ghost infant invisible to human eyes. Out of pity that you died before reaching two years old, being young and pitiful, and since we know each other, I wanted to give you a chance. Who knew you would degrade yourself into walking the ghost path!
If the others hadn’t been anxiously whispering among themselves around the suddenly deceased corpse with no energy to look left and right, his appearance of cursing at the empty air really made him look insane.
The ghost infant rolled his white pupils upward, giving him a black glare. He giggled, speaking in the exact tone of a two- or three-year-old infant.
In a babyish voice, he snorted, Little brat. I hate you.
The last half of the ghost head shifted from his cheek on one side to the other, making a tooth-chattering chewing sound of clack-clack coming out.
It was as if even ghosts had skull bones that were being chewed to pieces bit by bit.
Provoked, Gu Daosheng gave chase once again like lightning.
Along the way, he smoothly swept up the dead ghost that had no head and only a body.
He pinched his thumb and index finger together, rolling the dead ghost into a thin strand of space-saving smoke, tossing it backward into his ghost-binding pouch.
Dead is dead; it’d be a waste not to take it.
It served nicely as a trophy.
Half a ghost is still a ghost.
That counts as 0.5 out of 100 ghosts.
Over here, a person had just died, but Gu Daosheng didn’t care for meddling in idle affairs or watching the commotion.
Over there, the grand red sedan chair arrived.
Eight strong, sturdy young men, their faces devoid of any festive joy typical of a wedding, were carrying an extravagant, luxurious bridal sedan chair. They emerged from the corner turn and stepped onto the main road.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, step by step, they entered the prominent house of a wealthy family before them, the Lou family.
The bride inside the sedan was dressed in red, yet his head was covered in white gauze, looking entirely mismatched.
It was impossible to tell whether they were holding a joyful wedding or a solemn funeral.
The ghost infant fled in that direction, bringing forth a gust of yin wind that disturbed the curtains and lifted the white gauze.
A youth with half-long hair had eyes filled with an ocean of tears. A silhouetted profile peeked out from the sedan window, his side face under the white gauze as delicate as spring, his eyebrows like distant mountains. Tears burst from his eyes, sliding down his face in a perfect, clear curve.
This marriage clearly looked entirely unwilling.
…So familiar. Gu Daosheng paused slightly in his tracks, racking his brain to recall if he had met the youth somewhere before.
He couldn’t remember.
The sense of familiarity vanished in a flash. Gu Daosheng centered his focus, immediately forming a hand seal to sense where the ghost infant was.
Humans and ghosts walk different paths, and Gu Daosheng was a Celestial Master- the natural bane of evil spirits.
Logically speaking, the ghost infant should be afraid of him.
However, Gu Daosheng had lived on the mountain all his life. His entire understanding of the society he currently found himself in came strictly from his master’s mouth.
Void of practical experience, possessing only theory.
Just like right now, he still didn’t know that the little bit of money he brought down from the mountain wasn’t even enough to rent a room in the big city for two days.
The high cost of living would require selling him off just to manage.
He was unfamiliar with the people, and even less familiar with the roads.
Twisting and turning around was exhausting work.
The ghost infant didn’t take the newly eighteen-year-old celestial master who had just descended the mountain to train seriously, but he didn’t drop his guard either.
As the sun sank into the west and the gloomy night descended, the surrounding scenery shifted. Yet the ghost infant still couldn’t shake off Gu Daosheng, realizing his vigilance had been justified.
This celestial master was like dog-skin plaster; at some point, he had stuck a ghost-tracking talisman on his body.
And he even used a talisman meant for catching little ghosts!
Not big ghosts! How hateful.
What kind of world is this, why are there so many people?! Gu Daosheng felt desperate facing the world below the mountain, which was covered in human heads as far as the eye could see. Will the underworld even be able to hold them all in the future? Little ghost, stop right there.
The ghost infant had no idea what he ate to grow up during his life; he wasn’t afraid of yang energy at all, specifically ducking into heavily crowded places.
It hindered Gu Daosheng from displaying his normal abilities.
The ghost had no physical form, passing through unhindered.
Gu Daosheng possessed real flesh and blood. Mindful of living people, he couldn’t use his talismans recklessly, leaving him unable to exert his strength even if he had it. Furthermore, he was still somewhat inexperienced.
Chasing all the way, he was cursed all the way.
Do you not have eyes?! Running so fast in the middle of the night, disturbing other people’s nightlife don’t you know you’ll get struck by lightning! Are you rushing to get reincarnated?! A guy wearing long hair? And with a little white face like that?! Are you wearing makeup? Sissy! No wonder you dare to treat yourself like a celestial fairy, acting completely lawless! Little fairy boy! Get lost!
After cursing, he let out a liquor-filled burp. Then, likely remembering that being drunk meant he could cause trouble without restraint and receive light punishment, and seeing that the little white face looked good and easily bullied, he raised his hand to strike.
Gu Daosheng swallowed the words I’m sorry back down, thinking to himself that people down the mountain really lacked manners.
His throat felt like it was cracking open, struck by lightning to strike this person dead.
Coincidentally, the ghost infant was right behind the man, sticking out his tongue and squinting his eyes with a ghostly face.
Beaming with joy, fluttering like a flower.
Making a prompt decision, he raised his leg, deciding to kill two birds with one stone. Like a wild goose soaring through an uninhabited realm, he delivered a devastating, lineage-ending kick.
I’ll send you to be reincarnated first!
The ghost infant clicked his tongue: Aren’t you afraid of getting yourself dragged into it too?
The bar street at night was no longer big enough to accommodate the indulgences of the wild men and women; the space was growing narrower and narrower.
The storefronts first expanded toward their front doors, then further outward toward the roadside.
Bars turned into street bars.
The different street bars blasted music in their own distinct styles, deafeningly noisy and chaotic.
Time felt as though it had slowed down infinitely.
A man dressed in a sharp suit held a thick textbook in his hand, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. He was young, yet possessed an extraordinary, dignified aura.
At a glance, he looked every bit an elite university professor.
As he passed by the crowd at the street bar, he felt a gust of wind sweeping in from his side and turned his head to look over.
Unluckily—
This exact path happened to position him to directly and squarely receive Gu Daosheng’s heavy kick!
Gu Daosheng drew in a sharp breath of cold air, his eyes suddenly widening. It was too late to pull back his ultimate move, nor did he think to yell out a warning to move away. He locked eyes helplessly with the man.
Yet the man remained calm and unruffled, as if a mountain were collapsing before him without a flinch, letting the danger approach without moving an inch.
He only fixed his gaze, unblinkingly, onto Gu Daosheng.