Chapter 76: Retirement Day 76: This is the rare time when he acts like a real man...

It was purely accidental that Shen Yucheng appeared at the full moon banquet.

Knowing that his brother was going to Ning Changsheng's hometown, Yuantie Province, Shen Yucheng's heart could not calm down. He kept pestering Shen Wanglan to go with him.

What attracted him, of course, wasn't the full moon party with a stranger, but rather the famous mountain race track in Yuantie Province. The track stretched over 30 kilometers, with 460 curves, including a narrow jungle path with no guardrails in some sections, making it a near-death experience.

Shen Wanglan was already opposed to his brother's interest in racing, and when he guessed that he wanted to race on that track, he rejected his request without hesitation.

But Shen Yucheng was not a man of quiet character. As soon as Shen Wanglan left Jingbei without him, he followed him secretly. Fortunately, Shen Wanglan reacted in time and arrested him before he headed for the mountain track. Considering that Shen Yufeng was like a monkey and might disappear at the turn of a head, he simply took him with him and went to the full moon banquet held by Ning Changsheng for his youngest son.

At first, Shen Yucheng was quite dissatisfied and kept muttering in Shen Wanglan's ear: "What's so good about the full moon banquet? Isn't it just praising a little brat and then having a meal? It's not as interesting as racing."

As a result, when he arrived at the hotel, he was stunned to see so many Taoists wearing robes of different colors.

Ben's mind was instantly diverted from the race car.

Hearing this, Huo Chengji smiled.

Chen Yucheng's personality was, to put it nicely, innocent, and, to put it bluntly, naive. Although he was already in his twenties, he was no different from a child. The Taoist priest at the full moon banquet was a novelty to him, indeed piqued his curiosity and attracted him.

"Yucheng is very outgoing. At that time, he was playing dice with a Taoist priest of about the same age—"

Having said that, Shen Wanglan's expression suddenly changed.

Keenly noticing the change in his expression, Huo Chengji and Sang Qiqi both looked at him immediately. Shen Wanglan pursed his lips, a hint of coldness forming in his eyes. He said, "Yucheng added his contact information at the time."

Huo Chengji: "..."

Sang Qiqi: “…”

The two were speechless for a moment, obviously not expecting this matter to involve Shen Wanglan's family. Huo Chengji opened his mouth, wanting to comfort his friend: "Don't worry, Yu Cheng probably added him on WeChat out of curiosity. After all, young people like them are quite interested in supernatural things. Or... why don't you give him a call and ask?"

Shen Wanglan had exactly this intention.

He apologized to Sang Qiqi, picked up his phone and walked to the window.

The call was connected after only two beeps. The voice coming from inside was lazy, and still had a hint of sleepiness. Chen Yucheng didn't check the caller ID on his phone. He fumbled for the phone in his sleepy state, pressed the key randomly, and asked unhappily, "Who is it?"

"Chen Wanglan."

Bang.

Shen Yucheng, who had originally prepared a curse in his mind, suddenly stopped talking, hurriedly climbed out of bed, and smiled awkwardly with his messy hair: "It's brother, what's the matter? I didn't go out to play, I'm sleeping at home now."

These past two days, Shen Yucheng had been eating gossip about Huo Gan and Huo Wenbin, the father and son, on Weibo, and he couldn't tell the difference between day and night. When he thought back to the days when he treated Huo Wenbin as a friend, he felt disgusted and uncomfortable.

I felt listless and had no desire to go out.

Shen Wanglan didn't doubt his brother's words. Knowing Shen Yucheng well, he wouldn't have answered the phone so quickly if he was truly out hanging out with his friends. He lowered his eyes, pinching a cigarette between his fingers. Considering the girl in the room, he put the cigarette aside and whispered, "Do you remember when you and I went to Yuantie Province for the full moon banquet a year ago?"

Yuantie Province, full moon banquet.

Combining the key words together, Chen Yucheng nodded repeatedly: "I remember, it's the family that hired a lot of Taoist priests, right? I still remember those Taoist priests saying how great their child would be in the future. I've never heard so many compliments piled on the same person in my life. If you didn't know, you would think that family had given birth to a prince."

Shen Wanglan: “…”

Although the statement is a bit exaggerated, it seems to be quite vivid.

Shen Wanglan didn't waste time with his brother and asked directly: "I remember you had a good time with a young Taoist priest at the banquet, and you even added WeChat. Are you still in touch?"

"Ah, you mean that idiot..." Chen Yucheng scratched his head, disgust showing on his face, "I blocked him less than two weeks after returning from Yuantie Province. He messages me every day, sometimes asking me to join a group full of masters as powerful as him. Sometimes he says that he can tell from my face that I'm successful in my career, but there's just someone holding me back. Although you always say I'm stupid, I'm not really stupid... I knew it was treasonous when I heard it. Besides, don't I know whether I have the ability to build a career? So I scolded him and told him to get out."

Shen Wanglan: “…”

To be honest, it doesn't seem very surprising.

He raised his lip in amusement and continued, "I remember you took a lot of photos of the scene. Do you still have them? If so, please send them all to me."

"It should be there. I'll go look for it." Chen Yucheng said as he climbed out of bed. As he went to the drawer to look for his old phone, he muttered, "Why do you want those photos for no reason?"

Despite his grumbling, Shen Yucheng still worked very quickly.

Five minutes after hanging up, Shen Wanglan returned to the table and heard his phone buzzing repeatedly. He glanced down and saw a string of photos his younger brother had sent him: a bewildered young man, drunk, a middle-aged bald man at a banquet flirting with his female companion, and even two men kissing in a corner.

Shen Wanglan: “…”

After deleting all the eye-catching photos, Shen Wanglan really wanted to pry open Shen Yucheng's brain to see what was inside him.

After all, he is the legitimate second young master of the Shen family, but he does all the things that entertainment industry paparazzi do.

Dozens of minutes later.

Shen Wanglan finally sent the photos he left behind to Sang Qiqi's account.

Shen Yucheng took a hundred or eighty photos, but only about ten were usable. Shen Wanglan said to Sang Qiqi, "The ones that showed the Taoist priest's face are all here. There was originally a video, but that video was taken by Yucheng on WeChat to complain to his friends. It has been cleared by the system and cannot be saved."

"It doesn't matter, having these photos is good enough."

After thanking him sincerely, Sang Qiqi lowered her eyes and looked at the photo.

Most of the photos were of ordinary Taoist priests, but three of them captured the scenes of the elderly Taoist priests performing a ritual to help Ning Chang give birth to his youngest son.

Ning Changsheng's son, wrapped in soft clothes, lay in a cradle, surrounded by several Taoist priests. They wore similar golden robes, their wide sleeves falling as they pinched their fingers, talismans or the tail of whisks tucked between their fingertips. Their eyes were calm and their expressions solemn.

At first glance, it does look like the real thing.

Sang Qiqi magnified the faces of those Taoists and observed them carefully, thinking that she could go back to the underworld to ask Qingcheng if his and Qingwan's master was among them.

My mind was full of thoughts and I ate the second half of the meal absent-mindedly.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Huo Chengji, the host, took the initiative to end the dinner and said, "Boss Sang, I'll let Zhao Zhu take you there."

Sang Qiqi didn't bother to be polite with Huo Chengji, so as to avoid having Duan Sui come to pick her up again.

Standing at the gate of the manor, watching the Maybach carrying Sang Qiqi drive away, Huo Chengji turned his head to look at Shen Wanglan, gestured, and asked: "Let's talk when we get back."

Shen Wanglan lit a cigarette and glanced at him in the hazy white mist: "If you want to thank me, then forget it. There is no need for our relationship to be so unfamiliar."

They were bunk beds together in college and had a very good relationship.

Huo Chengji smiled and tossed the jade pendant he was carrying into his arms. "I do want to thank you, but I also know that telling Boss Sang about Ning Changsheng has nothing to do with my reputation. You Shen family members are known for your kindness. Most of the Taoists Ning Changsheng knows are evil. They frequently come into contact with wealthy people, and most likely have ulterior motives. With your personality, you won't keep silent."

He raised his chin and said, "This is the amulet that Boss Sang gave me. I'll lend it to you for now."

Shen Wanglan picked up the fish-tail jade pendant and looked at it for a while, raised his eyebrows, said nothing, and did not reject Huo Chengji's kindness.

-

The black Maybach stopped at the door of the funeral service center. Sang Qiqi stood beside the car and waved goodbye to Zhao Hanhai, then turned around and pushed the door open to go in.

Only Zhang Lin was in the room, Duan Sui had returned to the underworld.

On the way from the manor restaurant to the funeral service, Sang Qiqi sent a photo of the Taoist priest to Duan Sui, asking him to go back to the underworld to inquire about the situation. She didn't know if everything was going well, or when he would return...

Just as the thought came to mind, a shadow flashed in front of the storage room, and Duan Sui's figure quickly came into view.

When Sang Qiqi saw him coming back, her eyes sparkled and she couldn't wait to ask, "How was it? What did Qingcheng say?"

Duan Sui met her face, her expectant expression, as it leaned forward. His fingers naturally rose to cover her face, but he reacted at a moment's notice. He twirled his fingertips and said with a smile, "The old Taoist with the long beard standing due east is Pingyangzi."

"Pingyangzi is here!" Sang Qiqi said with a sigh, "Finally, we caught him."

I had only heard of him before, but never seen him in person.

Now I finally see his true face.

"What are you going to do next? Go find Ning Changsheng?"

"That's what I thought." Sang Qiqi returned to the sofa and sat cross-legged, thinking seriously for a while. "But before I go find Ning Changsheng, I have to ask Mingxin to get some amulets for the Shen family. Although only a few of us know about my meeting with Shen Wanglan today, there's no guarantee that there aren't talented people among those Taoists. It would be bad if the Shen family was implicated in the investigation of the Tongshen Society and their lives were threatened."

"Don't look for Mingxin anymore."

"Hmm?" Sang Qiqi turned to look at him, "Who should I look for then?"

"Luofengshan still has quite a few idle employees. I've asked them to keep an eye on the Shen family." Duan Sui spoke slowly. "It's not that I don't trust Taoist Mingxin, but with the abilities of those Taoists, Taoist Mingxin's amulet probably won't be of much use."

That makes sense.

"Okay, then tell them to hire them as personal bodyguards, and I'll pay them then." Although she had never met Duan Sui's 'colleagues', Sang Qiqi trusted Duan Sui very much. It was strange to talk about this trust, as it was not generated by long-term contact. It seemed that the first time she saw the other person, Sang Qiqi felt that this person was reliable... well, although this reliable guy did not look reliable at all.

"Oh, right." Sang Qiqi hooked her finger at Duan Sui. The man leaned over quickly and heard Sang Qiqi say, "Didn't I go to Huo Gan to get the identities of those doctors? I also asked Master Bai Yuan and his apprentice along the way. You're right, this bird Taoist is quite cunning. He told me that Huo Gan's reward was just money, but it wasn't true."

The request made by the bird path was clearly to ask Huo Gan to build a temple.

"Build a temple?"

"Yeah. Huo Gan also found this request strange when he heard it, but Bai Yuan Niaodao said that more people were needed to worship his ancestor." Sang Qiqi recalled, "But Huo Gan doesn't need to worry about the ancestor's golden statue, Bai Yuan will provide it."

This reminded her of the golden statue that Tongxuan worshipped at that time.

"It's unclear whether the Baiyuan Bird Path has revealed other secrets or not. After all, Huo Gan can't find any clues."

"It's okay. These things can't be rushed." Duan Sui comforted her, "I'll go back to Luofeng Mountain first. You should think about finding Ning Changsheng first."

According to the information revealed by Shen Wanglan, Ning Changsheng obviously has a very good relationship with this group of Taoists, so he must be protected by Taoists. If they want to take action against him... they can definitely catch him, but it is hard to say whether it will alert the Jiuyou Tongshen Society.

Sang Qiqi learned about the existence of the Jiuyou Tongshen Society from Tongxuan, but it was only two days ago that she learned the name of the Tongshen Society and learned more information.

If all these Taoists hid away because of the alarm, it would really make the ghost mad.

While Sang Qiqi was still pondering how to deal with Ning Changsheng, her WeChat phone rang twice. She looked down at the note and froze for a moment. The message came from one of the girls she and Duan Sui had met and taken a photo with at the barbecue that night.

At that time, I also added WeChat and said that I wanted to go back and visit my friends who didn’t come to Beijing North.

Sang Qiqi read the message sent by the girl: Hello Qiqi, I would like to order these paper-made items from you and have them sent to this address in Yuantie Province by express delivery. Is that okay?

The other person sent her pictures from her WeChat Moments: a paper piano, a box of paper watercolors, and some random little girly gadgets like cosmetics and jewelry. Glancing at the store shelves, she lowered her head and replied, "Of course, they're all in stock. I'll send them to you right away."

The girl quickly sent a thank you message.

With little business this afternoon, Sang Qiqi and the other two stayed in the shop, enjoying the air conditioning and discussing how to deal with Ning Changsheng. During this time, Jingyu came by and, seeing the three of them comfortably enjoying popsicles, placed his hand in front of Sang Qiqi's face, his meaning clear.

Sang Qiqi glanced at him and pointed to the storage room: "There's a refrigerator over there, take your pick."

Jing Yu walked over and picked two. As he passed by Sang Qiqi, he mentioned the main reason for his visit: "The Taoist priest and the bird you left in my haunted house asked me to come over and ask when you plan to take them to Liuyun Temple to find Taiwei Sanren. No matter what, I've told you everything I need to know. If you want to regret it, he will cast a curse on you."

Jingyu had no idea about the interrogation of Bai Yuan that night. Seeing Sang Qiqi's indifference towards the bird-like Taoist priest, he didn't bother to listen to the bird's nonsense. It wasn't until he heard from the Taoist priest that Duan Sui had offered to be cursed in exchange for information that he finally thought of coming over to pass on the message.

...Well, although the more Jingyu looked at Duan Sui, the more he felt that she was a green tea girl, he still admired her for agreeing to this exchange just to get information.

After all, this is a rare place where the other party acts like a real man.

Sang Qiqi bit her popsicle and glanced at Duan Sui.

When Sang Qiqi learned that Duan Sui hadn't been cursed, she had already begun to murder Bai Yuan and his apprentice. Now that she had obtained Ning Changsheng's identity and photos of many Taoists from Shen Wanglan, Sang Qiqi felt even more that keeping these two around was pointless.

Not to mention that this bird is only half-hearted in what he says, which is really unpleasant.

Sang Qiqi asked Duan Sui: "Do you think it's okay to kill them now?"

Duan Sui raised his eyebrows: "It's a good choice."

After receiving a positive response, Sang Qiqi turned to Jingyu and said, "Let him move and see who dies first... Wait, I suddenly have an idea."

Her eyes suddenly lit up. Under the gaze of Duan Sui and the other two, she ate her popsicle in a few bites and asked excitedly, "How about making their souls scatter and then using their identities to infiltrate the Jiuyou Tongshen Society?"

Duan Sui: “……?”

The more Sang Qiqi spoke, the more she felt the situation was promising. "The reason we're looking for Ning Changsheng is to find those Taoists and kill them all. Since Ning Changsheng might easily alert them, why don't we just find someone else? Master Bai Yuan and his apprentice may be marginal figures, but marginal figures have their advantages. They've worked for the Tongshen Society for many years and have only come into contact with important figures there twice. We can just role-play, and the chances of us being discovered aren't high."

"Besides, Master Bai Yuan and his apprentice have built up quite a network of contacts over the years. If we infiltrate them one by one, we might even be able to uncover something else." She clasped her hands together in delight, "This is simply killing two birds with one stone!"

-

When watching Jingyu leave the haunted house and go to Sang Qiqi's funeral dragon, Bai Yuan was standing with his wings on his back, with a cold expression.

Bai Tong was stuffed back into his broken body again. The pain in his soul had not yet dissipated, and the pain in his body added to it, causing his face to be particularly pale. At first glance, it seemed that he was about to die.

In fact, Bai Tong really felt that he couldn't hold on for too long.

He crouched on the ground, feeling uneasy at the extreme silence of the haunted house. With difficulty, he turned his head to look at Bai Yuan, whose ankles were bound. His voice was hoarse and weak as he asked, "Master, is that woman really going to go back on her word?"

"Don't worry. They've gone back on their word. The curse on that man's soul should be taking effect."

"But in my current state... can I really perform a ritual?"

Casting a curse is not an easy task in the first place, otherwise Duan Sui would not have had to find a useful corpse for him when he cast the curse.

When Sang Qiqi packed up his body and threw it at him, Bai Tong was still immersed in the pain and didn't react. Only after the people left did he realize that his body was no different from the garbage thrown at the scrap yard.

But Bai Yuan was very calm about his worries, his eyes and eyebrows showing a calmness: "It's okay, all I need is a drop of your blood."

After he finished speaking, footsteps were finally heard outside the door.

Bai Yuan's tightly furrowed brows relaxed, and a humane ease appeared in his black bean-like eyes.

It seems that Sang Qiqi is a smart person.

With a click, the door was pushed open from the outside, revealing a slender figure standing in the doorframe against the light. Although his facial features couldn't be clearly seen, Bai Yuan knew it was Sang Qiqi. He flapped his wings back, took two steps forward with his chained feet, and said with an ambiguous smile, "I thought you had the guts to break your promise. Tell me, when do you plan to take us to Liuyun Temple to find Taiwei Sanren? And, how about exchanging my apprentice's body for—"

The thick black ghost energy flew past his eyes like a sharp arrow and shot straight into the body of the unsuspecting Bai Tong.

Bai Yuan's eyes, the size of black beans, instantly widened. After guessing what Sang Qiqi was going to do, he immediately yelled at Bai Tong, "Blood!"

Bai Tong reacted and resisted the terrible pain of his soul being pulled and tugged, and quickly lowered his head and bit his finger. At the same time, Bai Yuan silently recited obscure words. In just two seconds, the blood on the ground began to splash silently and formed a strange but familiar symbol.

With a snap.

The symbol took shape, and the strong smell of blood instantly filled his nostrils. Bai Yuan looked at Sang Qiqi coldly: "Are you sure you want to kill Bai Tong?"

Sang Qiqi raised her eyebrows slightly.

She remained lazily leaning against the doorframe, only to curl her slender fingers slightly on her right hand. A strange "puffing" sound echoed, followed by Bai Tong's heart-wrenching scream. Looking again, Bai Tong's soul had been separated from his body. The thick mist that had spread from Sang Qiqi's fingers, after ripping Bai Tong's soul out, began to tremble uncontrollably, like a wolf at raw meat.

Suddenly, thick fog enveloped Bai Tong's body.

Sang Qiqi looked at Bai Yuan with a smile: "You can see whether I am sure or not."

Time slipped by quickly, and the dense fog that had once revealed a human figure suddenly began to shrink, eroding the human silhouette until only a round sphere remained. Sang Qiqi's fair palms slowly opened, then suddenly closed under Bai Yuan's bloodshot gaze.

Pop.

Like fireworks exploding.

Accompanied by a scream, Bai Tong's soul was easily crushed.

The wind blew in from the window, carrying a wisp of remaining soul fragments across Bai Yuan's eyes, stinging them blood red. And even through the animal's skin, Sang Qiqi could almost see his expression of shock, anger, and bewilderment.

"What a pity, your curse didn't work." Sang Qiqi gave him a sweet smile, "Your spokesperson is dead, now it's your turn."

The thick fog that had originally engulfed and bitten Bai Tong instantly closed in on Bai Yuan, piercing through the bird's body and grabbing his human soul. Realizing that Sang Qiqi truly intended to pull him out of his body and allow the curse to burn him, Bai Yuan panicked and screamed frantically, "I was wrong, I was wrong! Don't kill me! You'll tell me to do anything, just don't kill me!"

"Really?"

"Of course, of course!"

"But I didn't ask you to do anything."

Sang Qiqi shrugged and raised her index finger. The black mist bit Bai Yuan's soul and pulled him out of the body of the gray ibis little by little.