Gu Daosheng had never been this close to something so unearthly. The wandering spirits on the mountain knew he was a living human; even if they pinched his cheeks to scare him, it was only for a fleeting moment, and they knew when to stop.
But this thing behind him… it felt as if its entire face was buried against the side of his neck, sniffing him like a dog.
Gu Daosheng’s hand suddenly clenched, grabbing someone’s hand without knowing whose. A short, low whimper sounded beside him, quickly stifled.
He had no time to think. He pulled a handful of talismans from the Golden Flag Net and slapped them all behind him.
“Get back!” Gu Daosheng roared, his voice fierce but his heart trembling as cold sweat poured down his face.
“Sheng Sheng, look at you… touching someone else’s hand. I don’t like that. I’ll come find you after I’m done with that bald guy.”
“Wait for me.”
The flickering lights suddenly flared to life, leaving the entire living room exposed. Neither the dead nor the living could escape the Heavenly Master’s gaze.
There was no one behind him, only air and a white wall.
The talismans had missed the unruly ghost, fluttering weightlessly forward. They bloomed like a yellow flower in the air, most of them curving downward before they even hit the wall.
Just a bunch of wasted paper.
“…Did the Eldest Young Master just lean on your back?” Lou Ling asked, his voice intermittent and as faint as a wisp of smoke, his entire body drained of all vitality.
It seemed that if Gu Daosheng dared to answer in the affirmative, he would immediately cause the spider silk suspending his life to snap, sending him to meet King Yama in death.
When he had first woken up, he saw Gu Daosheng holding a toy gun, spraying paper at the window and the door. He had no intention of paying attention to him at all. Coincidentally, he also had no intention of paying attention to Gu Daosheng. The entire Lou Family was full of freaks, and this newly arrived Young Master Twelve was the most ridiculously strange of them all.
The toy gun spraying yellow paper was just like scattering spirit money on oneself in advance, utterly inauspicious.
At that time, Lou Ling wanted to close his eyes and keep his heart clean by not seeing; then he discovered that the toy gun was spraying paper, and the paper disappeared after hitting the wall and the ground, his face blank.
To embolden himself, he used Lou Guangrui to mock Gu Daosheng, saying some nonsense in a sarcastic tone, coaxing himself that there were no ghosts in the world, and the head he saw in the mirror was a dream, until the door was knocked three times, and just now the power went out again, Lou Ling clearly felt the surrounding temperature drop a few degrees, as if he had fallen into Avici Hell.
Let alone struggling to break the ropes and escape, he didn’t even have the strength to die.
Lou Ling trembled like a sieve. “Is the Eldest Young Master talking to you while perched on your back…?”
“Stop talking nonsense!” Gu Daosheng retorted. “The Eldest Young Master is perched on your back!”
As he spoke, he hurriedly extended his arm and began frantically slapping his own back, only calming down once he was sure nothing was there.
Nan Ying deliberately circled behind Gu Daosheng to take a look. “The Eldest Young Master isn’t on you,” he confirmed.
Still, he started helping Gu Daosheng slap his back, his small palms making a loud smack-smack sound.
Hearing that the Eldest Young Master was perched on his own back, Lou Ling’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he started to faint again, regardless of whether it was true or not.
“Don’t you dare faint!” Gu Daosheng punched him awake, striking his arm. The more people awake, the more strength we have, he thought.
Earlier in the darkness, Lou Ling had been pinched by someone, the pain so excruciating he had forced himself to stay silent as a ghostly wind swept past. Now, being punched, he couldn’t hold it in any longer and let out a loud wail.
Gu Daosheng: “…”
Meanwhile, outside the “transparent” wall, Lou Hongchen remained calm and composed, showing none of the contorted fury seen on Teacher Cheng’s face. He seemed devoid of hatred or resentment, a soulless paper effigy both in life and death, yet his actions were unexpectedly ruthless.
He had the form of a human, not a spirit; he was “solid.” This made Gu Daosheng wonder if a ghost had actually breathed icy yin energy onto the back of his neck earlier.
Yet he seemed to hear a voice…
Lou Hongchen began to act in a way that was “not human.”
With a casual wave and a tug, the talismans Gu Daosheng had pasted on the outside of the house all revealed themselves. It was as if a gale had struck the tails of the yellow talismans, making them rustle and flap. One by one, they peeled away from the wall, eventually “letting go” under the strain and flying into Lou Hongchen’s hand.
The talismans floated within his broad palm, chasing each other like cats chasing their own tails, forming a blindingly bright sphere of light. They linked head to tail, resembling a cluster of small swords, with golden light erupting from the inscriptions on the talismans in thin, sharp rays, ready to explode at any moment.
“I just wanted to come inside; I just wanted to see him. Why did you stop me?” Lou Hongchen asked, his voice filled with confusion. He spoke slowly, each word sounding like an interrogation from the depths of his soul.
His eyes were saturated with ink, so black they were terrifying. It seemed that even the arrival of day would never be able to dispel the darkness. “Teacher Cheng? Cheng Shulin, what… are you?”
As he spoke, the sword-like talismans shot out with a whoosh, swarming around Teacher Cheng’s head, enclosing it, trying to stick themselves to his skull.
Teacher Cheng had probably taught Chinese in his previous life. He knew nothing beyond his books, a scholar too weak to bind a chicken, whose anger was more refined than anyone else’s.
But in a fight, it wasn’t a matter of who had the right because they were dead, nor did getting angrier make one more formidable. There was no such thing as an “off-the-charts” combat power level. As a disembodied head, he had no moves other than opening his mouth to bite.
If he kept getting angrier as the fight went on, he might accidentally let out a “Woof!” and die of rage.
With such combat ability, if those talismans managed to cover him completely, Teacher Cheng’s head would instantly be reduced to a blood mist, if ghosts could even have blood.
Even the Great Luo Immortals themselves couldn’t save him then.
Gu Daosheng gritted his teeth, his brow furrowed. He couldn’t afford to hesitate any longer.
At the critical moment, the door burst open with a loud crash!
A fierce wind, so strong it made it hard to keep one’s eyes open, howled into the room. Gu Daosheng shot out of the corner like a bolt of lightning, heading for the doorway. Nan Ying, terrified, instinctively reached out to grab him, but missed.
Gu Daosheng’s eyes blazed. He pressed his right index and middle fingers together, and a drop of blood from his fingertip was instantly flung into the air.
A path of bright red blood streaked through the sky, striking the “ball” of talismans.
He roared, “Bastards! You are talismans I drew! How dare you allow a fierce ghost to use you? The Heavenly Dao will not tolerate such a thing!”
If the situation weren’t so dire, his words would have sounded like a childish complaint, I drew these talismans, so no one else is allowed to use them. Only a child would act like that.
Yet, as that slender, upright figure stood by the doorway, his expression solemn and his stance unyielding, he truly exuded the aura of a Heavenly Master.
“Shatter!” Gu Daosheng commanded.
As if they understood his words, the thousands of talismans instantly fell into chaos. They froze in mid-air for a moment, then began colliding head-to-tail in a confused scramble, fleeing aimlessly.
A droplet of blood splashed onto one talisman, turning it crimson. The red light rapidly spread to the others, its brilliance suppressing the golden runes until they shattered and faded into oblivion.
The talismans were destroyed.
Their power gone, they became nothing more than ordinary yellow paper, fluttering down from the sky like a rain of funeral offerings.
The Lou Family estate was a vast tomb, burying countless souls.
Before Teacher Cheng could even process what was happening, the talismans descended upon her. A searing pain, the agony of certain death, engulfed her entire head. In her mind, no, in her head, she felt a wave of profound sorrow and unwilling resignation.
Just then, Teacher Cheng’s bloodshot eyes, still reflecting the crimson light, went black. When she opened them again, she was in Gu Daosheng’s arms, no longer outside.
Thud!
The door slammed shut.
“Hah… alright, alright, Sheng Sheng…” Lou Hongchen’s voice, tinged with a sigh of lament, seeped through the crack of the closed door, sounding somewhat amused.
Gu Daosheng pulled his head back and retreated to a safe spot, wishing he could curl up like a cooked shrimp. Despite how cool he’d seemed just now, his heart was pounding out of his chest.
The Little Celestial Master was scared to death.
He stared at the “transparent” wall from the outside, while Lou Hongchen watched him from the inside.
Even though he knew Lou Hongchen couldn’t see him, Gu Daosheng still had the unsettling feeling of being locked on by this freak.
This is going to be a huge problem.
A few ordinary-looking talismans lay scattered at his feet, the ones he’d slapped out when Lou Hongchen was “whispering in his ear.”
It was bad enough that his various offensive talismans were useless against evil spirits; now, Lou Hongchen could even use them at will. It wasn’t that Gu Daosheng had some childish sense of ownership, like “these are my toys, you can’t play with them” or “no one else can use the talismans I draw.”
It was nothing like that at all.
Any Heavenly Master with true skill could use talismans drawn by anyone, but ghosts and Evil Spirits could not. Gu Daosheng’s brow furrowed deeply as he recalled his Master’s words: “The malevolent creatures of the Underworld most fear talismans, which are inscriptions of the Human World. They can never be used by them. Yin and Yang are always in opposition.”
Even a fierce ghost who had committed countless atrocities, whom a single talisman could not subdue, would never be able to seize such talismans to attack a Heavenly Master.
So how could Lou Hongchen use his talismans so proficiently?!
What kind of damned thing was he?!
“The talismans outside the door… they weren’t from the Heavenly Master Lou Guangrui hired… Are you a Little Celestial Master? No wonder you could release me from Mr. Malevolent Ghost’s stomach,” Teacher Cheng finally spoke, her voice faltering in confusion. “I’m just a head… Why did you save me?”
Nan Ying hadn’t expected her to speak. Almost in unison with Teacher Cheng, he looked up at Gu Daosheng and asked, “He’s a ghost, and you’re a Heavenly Master, aren’t you? You’re born to be the natural enemy of ghosts. Why save one?”
All these thoughts flashed by in a heartbeat. Though Gu Daosheng seemed to be thinking deeply, only a moment had passed. His eyes remained fixed on the wall outside, refusing to relax for a second. If Lou Hongchen made any move to break through the door… he would have to fight with everything he had.
Hearing this, Gu Daosheng didn’t look at anyone, his gaze still fixed outside. The Heavenly Master’s instincts, etched into his bones since childhood, made him answer subconsciously, “What’s wrong with being a ghost? Ghosts can be good or bad, too. For a ghost who has never harmed anyone, the best fate is to be reincarnated, not to be killed by another ghost.”
Teacher Cheng and Nan Ying were both short, one “standing” flat against the floor, the other not much taller even when standing straight. Gu Daosheng glanced down at them and said, puzzled, “Do you two even understand? When a ghost, that is, a person’s soul, is dissipated, they are truly dead. From then on, they will no longer exist in Heaven, the mortal realm, or the Underworld. Their name will be forever erased from the Path of Reincarnation.”
Teacher Cheng had only been dead for a few days and had never dealt with the Underworld. She hadn’t even figured out how to be a human for the decades she’d lived, let alone how to be a ghost.
Nan Ying, however, had been a ghost for a long time, so long he’d lost count of the exact years. He believed he’d been dead for three thousand years. He knew everything Gu Daosheng was saying; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so cowardly all these years, afraid to provoke anyone for fear of being clawed to death by a fierce ghost. He hadn’t played enough yet and was still waiting to be reincarnated.
Nan Ying clenched Gu Daosheng’s clothes tightly.
Gu Daosheng’s mind and body were focused entirely on Lou Hongchen outside, so he didn’t notice Nan Ying’s strange behavior. Then his breath hitched as he watched the door be pushed open a crack.
“Sheng Sheng, you are the master of this house… As the master, you have the right to decide whether or not to let me in as a guest.”
Lou Hongchen said, “But, since you’re unwilling to open the door…”
Then the guest would just have to come in on his own.
The door suddenly seemed to have fallen into disrepair tonight. The gap widened a bit more, letting out a creaking sound of rusted iron.
It was a sound that set one’s teeth on edge and chilled the heart.
Gu Daosheng roughly brushed Nan Ying’s hand away, patting him to stay back. He steeled his resolve, intending to use his meager martial arts skills to go out and fight the evil spirit.
He could probably exchange a few moves, right?
That would at least buy some time for the others, human or ghost.
His ideals were too lofty. Before Gu Daosheng could even stand up, his entire body flew out uncontrollably, shoo,
Just as he had reached out to pull Teacher Cheng’s head back earlier, he was now being sucked toward Lou Hongchen by the same gesture!
Bang,!
The door swung wide open.
Gu Daosheng slammed into Lou Hongchen’s embrace. His hands braced against the man’s rock-hard chest muscles, and a coffin-like chill instantly seeped into his palms, freezing his hands through.
The low gasp he’d been holding in his throat finally escaped a beat late. Gu Daosheng shivered and looked up. “…Huh?”
The gap in their strength was this huge.
How am I supposed to fight this?!
Lou Hongchen pulled Gu Daosheng into his arms, his arm clamping down like an iron shackle. His abnormally dark eyes seemed to peer right through Gu Daosheng’s clothes to see what lay beneath.
It must be absolutely exquisite.
“See? I caught you,” Lou Hongchen said, a predatory smile curling his lips. “You can’t run now.”
“You helped others, but not me. Sheng Sheng, what should we do about that?”